Even Feldspar mining was done in Delaware County 100 years ago.
NOTE This article is from a New York newspaper from 1907. We have all been on Garnet Mine Rd. in Upper Chichester Township and at one time Garnet Mining was a big business in Delco. Please read below
Delaware Garnet Mining in 1907
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.
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