Silver mine of Silver Run Maryland???

[Maryland Searcher 2]

Hello all!!!

I had to create a new screen name because its been so long since I have been on. I used to be just Maryland Searcher.

Anyways.....I recently learned of a legend about two miles from me. I live in Westminster Maryland and the old legend goes as follows.

Years ago, there was a local silversmith. Local Indians liked him and he noticed they had an overabundance of silver so he asked them to show where they got the silver. They agreed to, but only if he kept the location to himself.
Things went well for a while until his daughter asked where he was getting the silver and he broke down and told her. He then led her to the place the mine was, but the mine was nowhere. The mine and the Indians had vanished and the "mine" has never been found since.

I know that there is silver in at least trace amounts in the area, as are other minerals of value but I don't know if it would be true of major enough quantities to have a silver mine considering the area.

Does anyone else have any information from this area such as geologic possibilities, native Americans in the area and such

 

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[Rebel - KGC]

Isn't there a Silver Springs, MD.? I would "TH" THAT area...

 

[Maryland Searcher 2]

No doubt Rebel. If I knew anyone with land there I would go in a heartbeat. Even according to the Md. geological report I believe they said there was placer gold found in the area of Jones Falls and in Silver Springs, and even a few active mines still here and there.

I would really like to know if the area of Union Mills and Silver Run Md. (Im in the middle of it) if there is really a chance mineral wise of finding any silver and if so, what should I be looking for. I really dont know other than if you find quartz, you can find gold and silver and there is a lot of quartz in the area, as well as as mica and other common minerals.

I cant even find what a piece of raw silver looks like on the web. As far as I know, I could have shoveled my driveway this winter and threw a few pounds into the street!! Dang, I gotta love being "un-edguma-cated", LOL.

 

[Oroblanco]

HOLA amigos,

The important ores of silver can be divided into three main classes, namely, the siliceous ores, copper ores and lead ores. The siliceous ores those which contain large proportions of quartz with small amounts of gold and silver minerals and are comparatively free from other metals. Most of them contain both.

Here is a site with excellent photos of Silver ores
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/prospect/gold_specimen/Silver_ores.htm
example of a silver-lead ore, a fairly common type

here is an article explaining about Silver ores
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Source-of-Silver---Its-Ores-and-Silver-Bearing-Minerals&id=1686797

Any place where LEAD has been found is a likely place to hunt SILVER. Any place where Gold has been found is also a good place to look for silver. The Maryland Geological Survey has a good range of publications,
http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/publications/internet.html

especially the geologic map of the Maryland Great Falls Gold District

http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/geo/gfgl.html

this region ought to be promising for finding silver veins. This article:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2154757_ide...ce=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
explains how to identify silver ores.

If you find a ledge or vein of what you believe to be a possible silver ore, I would chip off at least a quarter pound or break a hunk off and reduce it to quarter inch mesh by pounding it, and send it to an assayer to have it assayed for silver and gold. The cost is quite reasonable, here are a few assayers
http://www.prescottlab.com
http://www.rmcgold.com
http://www.aaametals.com
http://nationaltestingstandards.com

I have not used these companies, we use Root and Norton, among others but I fear that Root & Norton have gone out of business. (Root and Norton Assayers, P.O. Box 316, Montrose, CO 81402 ) If you get to the point where you have a LOT of assaying to do, it might pay you to learn how to do it, here is a site that will teach you the business http://www.butlerlab.com

anyway what you would want is the FIRE ASSAY which will detect both gold and silver with great accuracy. A spectrograph assay might be in order if you suspect the ore contains other valuable minerals such as tin, zinc, lead, copper, etc.

Native silver, that is nearly pure silver not chemically bonded with another mineral like the ores mentioned above occurs in quite different types of rocks and is much more rare. Southern Arizona is known for this type of deposit, which can also produce a silver PLACER just like a gold placer, so you could actually pan out silver dust and nuggets from stream gravels but silver placers are much more rare than gold placers. In the native state silver can form nuggets, veins, wires, and thin sheet-like coatings, all of which are highly valuable as "specimen" minerals - here is an example

<from site http://www.themineralgallery.com/silver.htm great photos>

You can find Native Silver with your metal detector. I would suggest you pick up a good book on Geology, such as National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals (National Audubon Society Field Guides) which you can find on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or other book outlets - I like this one best as it has a plastic cover and will fit in a pocket.

I hope this is helpful to you. Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek! I also hope you will keep us posted when you find that lost SILVER MINE too!
Oroblanco

 

[Oroblanco]

PS - I forgot to add this, Native silver often occurs as inclusions within limestones, along with other minerals (usually sulfides) the origin being due to the limestone being eroded by mineral-loaded solutions which then fill the cavities formed with minerals including native silver. Native silver also is found in calcites and even granitic rocks. As your area mentioned (Silver Run) has a lot of limestone (Silver Run Limestone) it would not be that surprising if a deposit of native silver exists there.

Good luck amigo I hope you find it!
Oroblanco

 

[Maryland Searcher 2]

Woooooo-Hooooooo!!!!! Thanks for the info! Now Im armed with some idea of what Im actually looking for, I just may find it.

As a matter of fact, when I was young and dumb I think I may have had a piece of quartz with gold running through it. It went the way of the DoDo bird somwhere between the time young men think of rocks and then turn to the ladies (not that Im complaining!! ).

I may find some after all. Even in the great city of Westminster there are roads named such as Sluice Drive, Tailings Drive and so forth.

If I ever get my back straight, I have an old original property I have permission to MD on that supposedly held a passing encampment from Colonel Rossinger in the civil war. The old man that lives there said he doesnt have any idea where it was, and alas his wife who knew the history died a year and a half ago, taking the secret with her.

Hmmm...Thanks to all of you, I now have the info I need to at least LOOK intellegent out there with my XLT!! Thanks again for the information and hope you find a treasure greater than the last each time.

May all your days be sunny, the ground full of metal (not pull tabs!) and your batteries charged.

 

[Oroblanco]

BTW Maryland Searcher - WELCOME TO TREASURENET! I will post some more links for you, Maryland is a great place to search with history stretching back into Colonial times, and quite a few GOLD MINES too!
your friend,
Roy ~ Oroblanco

 

[wendysox]

I just came across this post. My grandfather turns 100 this weekend and grew up in Silver Run. He always told this story of the mine in Silver Run. I remember that when I was little he would point to a place on the north side of Old Hanover Rd where he said the silver mine had been. I don't know if I remember exactly where. I will ask him tomorrow at Easter dinner if he remembers anything else about it. He has some good days and bad days.

 

[Cobradon]

I've been pursuing this mine for a number of years. I'm part native indian and have stories from ancestors relative to this silver mine. Yes Carroll County is the most likely place based on my research. Old mine shaft openings may collapse after no use or by being intentionally closed. Look for hilly areas that are near silver run (the stream). In those hilly areas, look for depressions that could be old mine shafts. I have wanted to get up that way, I'm in Baltimore, but have no contacsts in the immediate area. I would love to get with some people to track down this potential silver mine. You can also check silver run and other streams nearby for silver that may have gotten into the stream from underground the silver mine. Let me know if anyone is interested. My email is cobradon94@msn.com

 

[Oroblanco]

Be sure to bring along your gold pan, there are a number of known gold discoveries in Maryland (placer) and you never know! Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek - and wishing you all a very prosperous and Happy New Year!
Oroblanco

 

[SilverRunRob]

Howdy, I grew up just outside of silver run and, as a matter of fact, lived across the road from where the lost silver mine was supposed to be. It's location, according to legend, was on rattlesnake hill which is at the end of Kirkhoff road (I think I spelled that wrong, I haven't lived there for 10 years). If you drive north on old hanover road you will see cherrytown road on your left and kirkhoff road will be on your right. Drive to the end and (on private property fyi) you will see some large rock formations back in the woods where the mine supposedly was. In the 1860's the area was used by the Confederates to spy on union forces headed to gettysburg and a mining operation was there in the 1880's. Another source that I know of was an older lady that lived there as a child (she was 90 at the time of telling me this story). While playing in the backyard, she accidentally unearthed some old skeletons not far from the outcroppings (where exactly she didn't say). The bodies seemed to be part of an indian burial and her father, for the sake of not having trouble with the authorities, told her to rebury them and, so far as I know, remain there still (provided this was a true tale and not simple folklore to entertain a curious child). If this story proves to be true, than it would lend a certain amount of credibility to the tale.
As an amateur folklorist I am very familiar with this tale, it was actually the story that first started my interest in folklore. It supposedly is a "haunted" area though the presence of willo-the-wisps in the area (one of only two places that I have seen them)would explain why people thought it was haunted as they didn't know these are naturally occurring. If you would like to know any more particulars about the story I would love to answer any questions. A few words of warning though: The story supposedly came from the dutch settlers in the 1770's but some detractors believe the story to be an elaborate means of hiding a still that ran in the area during the late 1800's, also keep in mind that all that area is privately owned so you would need to contact the homeowners before paying a visit.

 

[Oroblanco]

WELCOME TO TREASURENET SilverRunBob!

That is pretty interesting! One point though, you wrote:

you will see some large rock formations back in the woods where the mine supposedly was.

While it very well may be true that it is the location where the mine was, remember that mines do not move - if it were there doesn't it seem logical that someone would have found it, and it would not be lost today? I am not saying you are wrong at all, just that sometimes a lost mine can be associated with some place without any hard evidence that it was ever there. Do you know of anyone that has seen the actual mine, or found some piece of ore that got left behind etc?

I look forward to reading more, as it sounds like you have a good deal more folklore related to this; thank you for posting and in advance;
Oroblanco

Coffee?

 

[csadigger]

Gold Prospectors...The GPAA has a New Chapter in Frederick MD..
next meeting is...
Friday, May 11, 2012
8:00pm

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[Cobradon]

I've been tracking down the Silver Run mine for years. I think I've narrowed it down to Carroll County in the area of Silver Run creek. Problem is, it was so long ago it may be built on or caved in. I have a geological background and am excellent with horizontal 'grazing' of the lay of the land. There is also a possibility of old mines along the Susquehannah River in Northern Baltimore county and up thru southeast PA. My deep descendants are Native American and have lived & still live on the banks of the Susquehannah in what used to be Washington Borough. The Wertz name is well known in that general area and there is a museum on River Road that runs along the Susquehannah that is loaded with Wertz memorabilia & trivia. There are also petroglyphs on many of the rocks. Would you be interested in pursuing Silver Run?

 

[Rebel - KGC]

GREAT job, Oro! Working TOGETHER! YEAHA!

 

[Oroblanco]

Muchas gracias mi compadre Reb - but no credit is due to me, as you said this is us working together!

I will get some of that promised links posted here one of these nights, if I can remember to do it.
Oroblanco

 

[Cobradon]

I'm in Baltimore and I've been 'tracking' this for ages. I am part American Indian from the Susquehannah River area along the east coast. I've hiked along the stream from the Conowingo Dam downstream and go off into the woods seeking anything that might be collectible. I have come across some remains of old Indian sites, arrowheads and some silver ore rocks. I have even found some silver ore pieces like in the picture you received right in my back yard after digging out an old swimming pool about 3 feet down. I live in a very high hill area that eventually goes to the Mid Atlantic shelf out in the bay.Try to locate the Silver Run Creek or Stream. It supposedly may contain bits of silver ore washed down from the original mine, wherever it may be. Find it, and follow it as far as possible looking for anomalies of what may be a hilly humpy area covering an old mine entrance or a depression area where a mine entrance may have collapsed. Be careful and respectful of owner property. Some may let you 'search' around to see what you can come up with. Eventually, I'll work my way up there after retiring later this year. Good luck.
P.S. Now near my home one of the largest above ground sections of the Mid Atlantic shelf is being excavated to put up some new commercial buildings. I get yelled at when I nose around the diggings because it isn't really safe. Lots of interesting stuff to explore. Multiple types of dirt, rocks and residue and some ancient trees have been dug up. They are huge, solid and black as coal. Possibly some meteorites but I need my magnet next time. Don

 

[Rebel - KGC]

I'm in Baltimore and I've been 'tracking' this for ages. I am part American Indian from the Susquehannah River area along the east coast. I've hiked along the stream from the Conowingo Dam downstream and go off into the woods seeking anything that might be collectible. I have come across some remains of old Indian sites, arrowheads and some silver ore rocks. I have even found some silver ore pieces like in the picture you received right in my back yard after digging out an old swimming pool about 3 feet down. I live in a very high hill area that eventually goes to the Mid Atlantic shelf out in the bay.Try to locate the Silver Run Creek or Stream. It supposedly may contain bits of silver ore washed down from the original mine, wherever it may be. Find it, and follow it as far as possible looking for anomalies of what may be a hilly humpy area covering an old mine entrance or a depression area where a mine entrance may have collapsed. Be careful and respectful of owner property. Some may let you 'search' around to see what you can come up with. Eventually, I'll work my way up there after retiring later this year. Good luck.
P.S. Now near my home one of the largest above ground sections of the Mid Atlantic shelf is being excavated to put up some new commercial buildings. I get yelled at when I nose around the diggings because it isn't really safe. Lots of interesting stuff to explore. Multiple types of dirt, rocks and residue and some ancient trees have been dug up. They are huge, solid and black as coal. Possibly some meteorites but I need my magnet next time. Don

Then, there is SILVER SPRINGS, MD. HH! Good Luck!

 

[Cobradon]

Hello all!!!

I had to create a new screen name because its been so long since I have been on. I used to be just Maryland Searcher.

Anyways.....I recently learned of a legend about two miles from me. I live in Westminster Maryland and the old legend goes as follows.

Years ago, there was a local silversmith. Local Indians liked him and he noticed they had an overabundance of silver so he asked them to show where they got the silver. They agreed to, but only if he kept the location to himself.
Things went well for a while until his daughter asked where he was getting the silver and he broke down and told her. He then led her to the place the mine was, but the mine was nowhere. The mine and the Indians had vanished and the "mine" has never been found since.
I know that there is silver in at least trace amounts in the area, as are other minerals of value but I don't know if it would be true of major enough quantities to have a silver mine considering the area.

Does anyone else have any information from this area such as geologic possibilities, native Americans in the area and such

Lancaster County, not Carroll. Click on this link and go thru entirely, clicking on internal links. Excellent article! After looking thru all the pictures, the only one that has the steel welded entrance gave me a clue to the infamous Silver Run Mine. I found this: ("You can learn more about the 300-year-old Pequea Silver Mines here") Pequea Indians also called Sushuehannock.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...0&set=gm.713416569504874&type=3&theater&ifg=1

 

[smokeythecat]

The best KNOWN silver location is in Lancaster County, PA. It's called the Pequea Silver Mine. It is a park now. It's not too far from the Susquehanna River. The silver is contained in the galena that has been mined there, even by native Americans. There is a line, generally speaking, from the northern side of Washington, DC, all the way to Lancaster County, PA where native gold exists. Carroll, Baltimore and Harford County in Maryland have gold in many creeks in the northern parts of the county. York County has gold in the southern part of the County. Silver occurs in Harford with the gold in small amounts. (I had a SEM test done on a sample a few years ago.) But all of it is very, very small, with a nugget found on great occasion. The "line" goes south from Washington, DC all the way to eastern Alabama.