The word Spelter means commercial or smelted zinc. Beginning in 1910, workers from Spain were brought to this company town in West Virginia to operate a new zinc smelter. Over the next 90 years, some four billion pounds of slab zinc were produced, along with 400 million pounds of zinc dust. Zinc ore was in high demand during World War I and fetched up to $112 per ton according to an August 1915 article in the New York Times. Zinc was used in rustproofing products, paints, and batteries, among other…
