I was recently reading through the diary of John Fontaine, a participant of the expedition, Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. On their travels, Fontaine had this to say about the Germans and the mine: August 24, 1716: "......and about nine of the clock we came to the German-town, where we rested that night--bad beds and indifferent entertainment. German-town, 25th.---After dinner we went to see the mines, but I could not observe that there was any good mine. The Germans pretend that it is a silver mine; we took some of the ore and endeavored to run it, but could get nothing out of it, and I am of opinion it will not come to anything, no, not as much as lead. Many of the gentlemen of the county are concerned in this work." Something else of interest to me that he wrote about during the expedition is a place the group passed through and that they named "Mine River." Here's his explanation as to why he named it such: "30th.--....we came up with our baggage at a small river, three miles on the way, which we called Mine River, because there was an appearance of a silver mine by it." This would have been 6 miles from Fort Germanna as they had already traveled 3 miles. Wonder who would have dug this silver mine?!? Barb Price In a message dated 11/10/2008 12:53:41 Pacific Standard Time, holtzclaw.research@yahoo.com writes: Craig, My understanding of the 1714 group is that they were never involved with iron-making at Germanna. There is some mention in one document that I am aware of that they were involved in quarrying. I take this to mean working with stone, rocks, etc., not iron ore. I think Spotswood's initial interest was in silver but he had a difficult time getting an answer from London regarding his "take" from any silver found. I think he wanted to know the profit possibility before he invested time, money and people in the venture. Lt. Governor Spotswood was a prolific writer of letters to the London Board of Trade. These letters provide interesting insights into a very complicated man. Suzanne Collins Matson ________________________________ From: Craig Kilby <persisto@earthlink.net> "The Spotswood Iron Empire" by Col. Robert D. Burhans, in the 1971 issue of the magazine. The first sentence of the 4th paragraph reads "The Spotswood story of iron development is closely interwined with the early German immigrants to Virginia..." and continued much of our well known story. It could almost have been written by our own John Blankenbaker, as it correctly sums up the "many sided Spotswood" and his claims to his superiors in London that he was seeking silver, when in fact he was establishing an iron-making community at Germanna. If anyone would like copies of this article please contact me off list. Craig Kilby ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANNA_COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANNA_COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message **************AOL Search: Your one stop for directions, recipes and all other Holiday needs. Search Now. (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212792382x1200798498/aol?redir=h ttp://searchblog.aol.com/2008/11/04/happy-holidays-from-aol-search/?ncid=emlcntussear00000001)