The exact location of this postcard from c.1910. Perhaps a blog follower can help. There were several garnet mines in the Upper Chichester, Bethel Twp. area. Some 110 years ago garnet mines were a big business in Delco.. hence Garnet Mine Rd.
NOTE: The "History Mystery" Picture will appear in tomorrow's or Sunday's Delco Times. They ran out of space in the paper.
A number of people donated to my website, delawarecountyhistory.com and it is back up and on line!! I still have a number of map's, atlas's etc. I would like to add to my website but the more you add the higher your server fees. Please take the time and make a donation on my website thru Paypal.
I'm still looking for someone or a business that has a large scanner I can use. I have 4 scarp books I want to get copies of. They are 30 plus years old and the paper is starting to fail and chip. Please email me if you have one, keith106@rcn.com
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November 29, 1907 -
Chester
Times
THE GARNET MINES OF DELAWARE COUNTY
Large Deposits Recently
Discovered, but Minerals Have Small Value as Gems
Under date of Media the New York Herald
prints the following concerning Delaware County’s garnet mines:
Pennsylvania promises to take the lead in
garnet mining, according to the rich yields that have already been reported in
sections of Delaware County and the discoveries recently made. The Boothwyn garnet mines were the first to
prove financially successfully some five or six years ago. Before these had become practically exhausted
the winding veins of rich garnet had let the miners with their tracks and hand
cars a mile or more into the hillsides in various directions.
Then more profitable garnet was discovered
along the Brandywine Creek, beyond Boothwyn, and Lansdowne next reported rich
finds and still more recently reports of garnet discoveries promise to attract
considerable attention to one of the most picturesque of the historic sections
of Delaware County’s beautiful old Sycamore Mills.
Singularly enough, this is the section of
the State where the value of anthracite coal as a fuel was first practically
demonstrated, according to an early report of the Pottsville Board of Trade. At that time the present Sycamore Mills
section was known as Bishop’s Mills several mills at that time being dotted
along the Ridley Creek in the locality and utilizing its abundant water power.
A grist mill, a saw mill and an iron mill
were in operation at the time of the cost test.
According to the early records, this occurred after Thomas Bishop, the
younger had acquired absolute ownership of the property. His ownership began in 1786, and a frame
third story and an overchute were then added to the mill, the eastern end of
the latter resting on three stone piers, the public road passing
underneath. It is further recorded that
during Thomas Bishop’s ownership of the mill many changes of management took
place. He himself operated the mills
until 1802, when Francis Bishop began operating them. In 1817 Thomas was again conducting the grist
mill, while in 1811 he operated the saw mill and Amor Bishop the grist mill.
Tradition says that the employer, in charge
of the furnace of the Delaware County Rolling Mills, when the load of
anthracite coal first came to the works late in the afternoon, threw into the
fire a considerable quantity of the material with the oft expressed opinion
that the “boss had been fooled,” an opinion which became more and more
confirmed when the coal refused to ignite, although frequent attempts were made
to kindle it. Late in the evening the
fireman gave up in despair and went to bed.
An hour or two later, being restless, he arose and went to the mill,
when he found the furnace door red hot, the building intensely heated and the
woodwork almost ready to burst into flame.
There had never been such a fire in the mill before. From then on Enoa Helms was sent to Mauch
Chunk with a five-horse team and hauled the fuel for the rolling mill from that
place. The coal cost $2 A TON AT THE
MINE.
MAY BE BETTER PROFITS
According to recent predictions a profitable
industry may be established here if the garnet finds continue. The garnet which has been discovered here is
of excellent quality, on the gem order; but if it should later be mined in
paying quantities it will probably be utilized as the other garnet of Eastern
Pennsylvania – for the manufacture of a fine grade of sandpaper and the best of
emery for polishing purposes. None of
the garnet mines so far discovered in Delaware County have yielded valuable
jewels, like those of Cornwall and Bohemia, although some of the deep red
stones taken from the Boothwyn and the Lansdowne mines and along the Brandywine
are so perfect when cut that they closely resemble the most expensive rubies.
The mining of garnet in Eastern Pennsylvania
is an industry of which little has been heard so far, although large profits
have been secured by the owners of the various mines for several years past.
When a rich vein is struck the big profits
are not derived from the so-called gems, but from the superior grade of garnet
for the manufacture of the best polishing papers.
It is true that the workmen in the mines are
ever on the lookout for the big flawless stones, and that they preserve the
best of the brilliant, glistening specimens as valuables; but the majority of
the large stones are shoveled into the buckets with the “garnet dirt” without
the slightest ceremony, and ground up
with the inferior ones.
In preparation of the garnet for commercial purposes, after the heavy buckets of garnet are wheeled from the different caves on hand care, they are lifted from the mines by derricks and swung in the washing troughs, where the worthless soft dirt and the garnet in the mass is then transferred to the grinding machines, where it is ground to the desired degree of fineness. There is abundant water power at the Sycamore mills for establishing the machinery for utilizing the garnet if it is discovered in paying quantities.
