History Minute

August 1959 was a difficult time for one North Arkansas community. The mine that had long been the focal point of the community of Cushman closed, forcing many men out of work and beginning a decline for the community as it struggled to find new ways of maintaining its economy. The cause for the collapse of one community’s economy was the mining of one almost unheard-of metal: manganese.

Manganese is a hard, brittle metal. It is almost always found combined with other elements. For centuries, it has been used to color glass. Manganese dioxide is often used in producing chemicals in laboratory experiments. Manganese was also found to be useful in coating metals to protect them from corrosion. Modern uses also include its use in batteries and another form of the metal is commonly employed in the circuit boards of various electronics products.

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