Joplin, on the edge of the Ozark Highland, began as a sparsely settled farming community in 1838 with John C. Cox, followed by the Rev. H.G. Joplin and others. Its first post office, established in 1840, was named Blytheville in honor of Cherokee Indian Billy Blythe. Lead discovered in 1849 by Neosho miner David Campbell while visiting William Tingle attracted settlers mainly from the Ozarks, though major development came after the Civil War. In 1870 E.R. Moffet and J.B. Sergeant sank the first bonanza shaft on Joplin Creek, setting off a mining boom. Rival interests soon founded Murphysburg west of Joplin Creek and Joplin City east of it, and after a brief union as Union City, they became the City of Joplin in 1873. Zinc ore, known as blackjack and at first discarded, later became more valuable than lead, and by 1890 Joplin had gained national recognition as a lead and zinc producer. Capt. E.O. Bartlett's process for making sublimed white lead added to the city's prosperity. In a resort region of spring-fed streams, rugged mountains, and deep valleys known as the Ozark Playgrounds of Missouri, Joplin lies in both Jasper and Newton Counties and became an industrial, commercial, transportation, and distributing center for parts of four states. Its growth was supported by Smelter Hill, where much Tri-state ore was converted into commercial products, by vast truck-in stockyards, and by a distributing center for electric power. Nearby Webb City, also founded on lead and zinc, shifted to diversified industry at the end of World War One, while Carterville declined after that war. The area also includes the abandoned Oronogo Circle Mine, said to have produced thirty million dollars in output, the Tri-State Mineral Museum in Schifferdecker Par, and Joplin as the home of John M Malang, a noted leader in Missouri's highway development.