History of Use

Resources in the Economy

“The stone age did not end because we ran out of stones, and the oil age will not end because we run out of oil.” - Don Huberts, CEO Shell Hydrogen

Resource	History of resource use - Why do we start and stop using our resources?
Barite	Barite was discovered in 1840. Beginning about 1900 with the rise of oil production, barite became an important. In the 1940's Tennessee was the second largest producer of barite in the US. After that, production declined. While barite was mined as recently as 2002, it is not being mined any longer.
Chert	Chert was used by native people to make tools and weapons. When Europeans arrived with iron tools, native people stopped using stone tools. Chert is now one of a number of insoluble rocks used as road bedding
Clay	Clay was used for pottery by native people for thousands of years. The ball clay of west Tennessee has been used since the early 1800's but major production of porcelain did not begin until World War I, when trade with England was interrupted. Fullers earth has been quarried in west Tennessee for cat litter since the 1930's. Bentonite has been quarried only in one place, Evansville. Common clay and shale have been quarried for brick making in Knoxville
Chalcopyrite (copper)	Chalcopyrite was first discovered in Polk County in 1847. The first mine opened in 1850. The first smelter was opened in 1885 and was in operation until 1987, when it closed due to unfavorable economics. Chalcopyrite has many minerals in it - copper, zinc, sulfur, iron. All were produced at different times. At first, copper was the most important product, and sulfur was a poisonous waste product. By the 1980's, 70% of production value came from the production of sulfuric acid.
Coal	Production started in 1814 in Roane County. Railroads spurred production, both because they ran on coal and because they enlarged the market for Tennessee coal. Coal production was hurt by the rise of alternative energy sources - first oil and then hydroelectric. However, in recent years, increase in demand for electrical energy has increased the need for coal. Now 70% of Tennessee coal is used by TVA to produce electricity (about 2/3 of all electricity produced by TVA).
Fluorite	It's unclear when production started. Fluorite was used to make hydrofluoric acid and as a flux for the steel industry. Recently it is only produced in Sweetwater.
Galena (lead)	Since the Revolutionary war lead has been mined locally to make bullets. It was mined commercially through the first half of the 20th century.
Gypsum	Although gypsum is found in much of Tennessee, it is not found in large enough deposits to be economical to quarry.
Ilmenite (titanium)	Ilmenite is found in the Cretaceous McNairy sand in Henry, Benton, Carroll and Henderson counties. It has never been mined, but may be at some time.
Magnetite (Iron)	Magnetite was mined intermittently in Carter County from the late 1700's through the 1930's.
Hematite (Iron)	Hematite was mined in Meigs, Roane, Campbell, Claiborne and Marion Counties from 1856 through the 1930's
Limonite (Iron)	Limonite was mined on the western Highland Rim and in east Tennessee from the 1790's through the 1930's
Pyrite (Iron/Sulfur)	Pyrite is not generally mined for iron, although it is sometimes mined for sulfur. It was at times mined for sulfur in the Copper Basin of Polk County.
Limestone and Marble	Limestone has been used in many different ways. In the 18th and 19th centuries, limestone was used as a building stone. In Nashville, all of the early government buildings were built of locally quarried limestone. By this century, the use of so called dimension limestone has been replaced in construction by cement. In the iron mining regions of west Tennessee, limestone was quarried for use in smelting. Middle Tennessee limestone has been used as an artistic medium. The early 20th century sculptor, William Edmondson is the most famous sculptor to work in Tennessee limestone. Limestone is still quarried in middle Tennessee but now it is crushed and used as crushed rock or to make cement or use as an agricultural chemical (to neutralize acid soil). The very pure dolomite of the Ordovician Holston Formation, quarried in east Tennessee is polished and sold as decorative rock under the name Tennessee marble.
Mussel Shells	Native people probably ate freshwater mussels from the time they arrived, but as this is a study of mineral, not food resources, that doesn't concern us. Native people did, however, also use the shells to make ornaments. Native people of the Mississipian Period (900ad-1500ad) used crushed mussel shells as an ingredient in their pottery. Europeans-Americans have used mussel shells for buttons and jewelry. Until recently, mussels and mussel shells were collected where they grew naturally. In recent years, because the mussels have become endangered, mussels have been farmed.
Oil/Natural Gas	Oil and gas have been extracted only on a very small scale in Tennessee. The first wells were drilled in 1916 and since then there has been scattered extraction mainly on the Highland Rim and Cumberland Platteau.
Phosphate	Phosphate was discovered by a prospector in Maury County in 1888. Chemical fertilizers had been introduced into American agriculture in the 1840's and by 1890, production of fertilizer had become big business. Many local mining companies were formed to exploit the new opportunities. By the 1930's local mines had been bough up by a few national companies and production became mechanized. Beginning in the 1970's phosphate mines started closing in Marry County. The opening of new quarries in Florida, where the cost of extraction was lower, made mining in Tennessee unprofitable. The industry closed down entirely in 1990.
Saltpeter	Saltpeter had been used as a fertilizer since ancient times, and as an aid in starting fires since the middle ages. With the discovery of gunpowder, demand for saltpeter exploded. In its early days the federal government bought large quantities of it. For this reason, mining of saltpeter occurred in a large number of Tennessee caves. Abraham Lincoln's grandfather , mined saltpeter in Clay County at the start of the 19th century, before being killed by Indians in 1814. After the Civil War, cheap saltpeter made from bird guano in Chile became available and demand for domestic saltpeter dropped. During the First World War (about 1918) scientists developed methods for producing nitrates in the laboratory, further reducing the demand for natural saltpeter.
Sand & Gravel	Sand and gravel have been mined for a least a hundred year and still being mined and dredge from rivers across the state.
Sandstone	Sandstone has been quarried for a long time on the Cumberland Plateau. While production has declined since the 1960's it continues to be quarried.
Sphalerite (zinc)	Zinc productions began in east Tennessee, when an open pit mine started operation in Jefferson County in 1856. Production grew slowly until after World War II. Then increased demand spurred exploration, which led to the discovery of the deposits in Smith County in the 1970's. After than production rose rapidly through the 1990's . (It fell briefly in the 1970's, when a major mine was closed.) Until 1990, Tennessee produced more zinc than any other state. As recently as 1992, the Division of Geology believed, "The future of the zinc industry in Tennessee is encouraging. Ore reserves appear to be adequate . . . and there is a market for nearly everything brought to the surface." However, it is now cheaper to get zinc from mines elsewhere than from mines in Tennessee. In 1990 two huge mines opened in Alaska. In the early 1990's multinational corporations started buying Tennessee zinc mines, and by the second half of the 1990's these companies had started closing down the Tennessee mines because they no longer made money. As of 2004, there is no zinc mining in Tennessee.