The Lead Mines Of Austinville

My cycling destination yesterday: the lead mines at Austinville, Virginia. What's special about this locale is the fact that it holds a history that no other spot in America can boast of - it is the site of the longest continuing mining operation in American history.

In the 1750's a retired British colonel (remember - Virginia was still part of the British empire then) began mining lead here. Successive owners did the same for the next 225 years. In addition to lead, the area had considerable zinc deposits as well. 

The lead mines of Austinville were of critical importance to the nation for well over a hundred years. In the Revolutionary War King George's military leadership felt that it was of such importance that in 1780 a loyalist force was sent there to capture it. However a militia unit was able to prevent the capture. 

Then in the Civil War the lead mines, being critical to the South, were twice assailed by Union forces, the first time failing to reach their goal, but the second time, in 1864, managing to temporarily wreck machinery there. It is thought that in the last months of the war the Confederacy's entire source for bullets was right here in Austinville.

The Environmental Protection Agency came into the story and decided, in 1981, that the lead mines were too dangerous to be allowed to continue. The mines were sealed that year, the pumps were shut off, and a mile and a half of shafts were flooded, never to be reclaimed.

A company still operates on the site today (that's why I couldn't get close-up photos) but the only mining that is done is surface limestone mining. Once a massive operation, it is now essentially a strip mine pit.

Hiking the New River Trail

The happy ending to this story? This photo doesn't just highlight a railroad tunnel (and me). It shows a tunnel that was carved into a dolomite rock formation. 

It was, for the most part, dolomite that proved to be the "waste" that ended up in mountains of "tailings" at the lead mine operation. Eventually some 29 million tons of "waste." 

If you understand what pH is all about you know that the best soils for growth of crops, lawns, or flowers are those that are pH neutral - neither acidic nor alkaline. 200 years ago the concept was unheard of. 

Here in Virginia, particularly on the old Tidewater plantations where tobacco was a cash crop and was planted year after year, the soil became so poor (from a lack of fertilization and from pH imbalance) that farmers abandoned the fields and moved west to find fertile ground. It was only in the last century that the value of dolomite has been realized and developed. Dolomite is high on the alkaline side. Soils all up and down the east coast tend toward the acidic. Especially if overfarmed. 

Dolomite makes for a great balance. Thus, if you go to Walmart, Lowe's, or Home Depot, you'll find "aglime"  - agricultural lime - for sale (either dolomitic or calcitic). And here in Virginia and West Virginia and Tennessee where does that dolomitic lime come from? You guessed it. Those mountains of tailings in Austinville. They're being reclaimed. Recycled. Rocks from the Lead Mines crushed, pulverized, and bagged for your convenience. 

Biking the New River Trail

So what do you do when you want to hike the back country but you also want to cover a lot of territory? You buy a bike! 

History Is All Around Us

This was my biking destination today. A hundred years ago there was a town here called Bertha, Virginia. It came into being in the late 1800's when the Caufee family found a sizable zinc deposit on their farm. They subsequently began mining the precious mineral and their farm became the Bertha Zinc Company, with a huge mining operation on site.

This house sits on the bank of the New River in what was then Bertha and was, I think, owned by one of the Caufees. It served as a home, and an inn for travelers, and as an office for the Caufee Ferry that operated here.

Ore was mined nearby and was brought in wagons to the river. From here it was floated down to Pulaski, Virginia where a huge smelter was set up.

The ore in Bertha played out by 1910. The operation ceased. The town was completely abandoned. Today there are a couple of cottages along the river and a handful of campers and … jungle.