Big River Zinc Corporation plant, Highway 3 - November 2007.

Sauget, Illinois

The most prominent industrial plant along the highway through Sauget is the Big River Zinc Corporation, which long operated the nation's 3rd largest zinc smelter here. The plant closed down in 2005 in the face of decreased zinc mining in the United States.

As of late 2007, the shuttered plant is retooled to reclaim zinc from the byproducts of the steel manufacturing industry. The company's own web site contains a surprisingly open and informative media center, complete with photos of the work in progress.

Immediately south of Big River Zinc is the more spawling -- and more infamous -- Monsanto chemical plant. The plant was the entity that essentially founded the town. It is an EPA Superfund site, heavily contaminated with PCBs and numerous other toxins.