Mine La Motte is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

in Madison County,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, United States. It is located approximately six miles north of Fredericktown. Europeans discovered

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

here and had also hoped to find

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

. The French Governor of Louisiana, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, failed to find silver, but succeeded in recruiting investors in The Company of the West, which was organized in 1717. Mine La Motte was eventually settled by about 200 French settlers along with their slaves from

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

, under the leadership of Philip François Renault, to develop mines in 1717, making it one of the oldest settlements west of the Mississippi River. The presence of

, a critical ingredient for ammunition, attracted unusually early mining by French colonists in this otherwise remote interior region of the North American continent. That same lead, still used for ammunition at the time of the American Civil War, was also a factor in the

Battle of Fredericktown Engagement at Fredericktown, also known as the Battle of Fredericktown, was a battle of the American Civil War that took place on October 21, 1861, in Madison County, Missouri. The Union victory consolidated control of southeastern Missouri. B ...

in which forces aligned with the Confederate States of America fought for control of the lead smelters in nearby Fredericktown with the Unionist forces, aligned with the United States of America. Mine La Motte historical marker 1

La Mothe named the mine after himself, and the town that grew up nearby was named after the mine. While dispatching workers and supervisors to the mines, La Mothe settled for a time in the

Illinois Country The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...

east of the mid-

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

, where the first French colonial villages were founded. In 1804 the village had a population of 150. These settlers were mostly French Canadians who developed agriculture. Due to the rich soils, they were quickly able to produce grain surpluses that were critical to the survival of the lower Louisiana colony. The ''

habitants Habitants () were French settlers and the inhabitants of French origin who farmed the land along the two shores of the St. Lawrence River and Gulf in what is the present-day Province of Quebec in Canada. The term was used by the inhabitants ...

'' shipped tons of grain to New Orleans and other points south on the Mississippi River. La Mothe later served as Governor-General of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

.State Historical Society of Missouri: Madison County http://shs.umsystem.edu/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_madison.html

Demographics

References

See also