Mining
in Northwest Arkansas
Is there gold in Benton County? Well, yes, and lead,
zinc, and copper as well! The geology of Northwest
Arkansas, with its layers of sedimentary rock and its
numerous caves, gave birth to the hope that mineral
wealth was to be found here. Throughout the years,
prospectors and investors have tapped into the richness
of these Ozark hills, extracting gold, copper,
limestone, coal, and a variety of other minerals.
Success, though, can be hard to come by. While some
ventures were merely dreams, others proved more
prosperous. In the end, lime and silica showed the true
wealth of the land.
Pictured at right is an image of Rogers White Lime
Works near Monte Ne in the 1910s. This processing
facility was just one of many such industries in the
area. Tons of raw materials have been processed locally
over the years for use in agricultural, building, and
finishing products.
Limestone is abundant in
Northwest Arkansas and in Benton County especially.
Limestone kilns were operated in the late 19th
and early 20th Centuries in Rogers and
Garfield. Much of the limestone in Benton County is
from the Boone Chert. Limestone was responsible for
approximately $100,000 of the annual income of Benton
County during the first decade of the 20th
Century.
Dolomite is also a common
mineral in Benton County and was heavily mined in the
1920s and 1930s. It is commonly used in soil
fertilizer. Likewise, Tripoli is another common Benton
County mineral. Used as an abrasive material, it is
derived from and much like the crystalline compound
silica. Rogers is home to the most extensive and
thickest deposits of Tripoli in Arkansas and our silica
industry produced large quantities of this mineral for
use in rubbing and buffing agents, paints, glass, and
concrete.
These minerals found in the Ozark Mountains remain
important to the economy of Northwest Arkansas.
According to data from the US Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Mines, Washington and Benton
Counties continue to maintain a concentrated crushed
stone mining center in the Northeastern and Southeastern
corners of the counties, respectively.
