312 Notice of Steal Mine and Iran Works. 



tends for upwards of a mile in a north and south direction up- 

 on the river, and back for about the same distance. Hurlburt 

 commenced digging at a spot within fifty rods of the summit of 

 the mountain, and at a distance of nearly half a mile from the 

 river. He was assisted in the undertaking by some of his neigh- 

 bors ; one of whom, by the name of Hawley, became a joint part- 

 ner with him in the enterprise. Their only object was silver ; but 

 whether they believed the Sparry Iron to afford this metal, or 

 supposed it to e.\ist in the occasional admixtures with it of other ores, 

 is not now known. Neither is it certain, to how great depth they 

 followed the vein ; but it may be presumed that their limited re- 

 sources, added to the embarrassments then existing in the scarcity ot 

 proper instruments and the dearness of gunpowder, must have pre- 

 vented their penetrating the ore to any considerable depth. After a 

 few 7 years of fruitless search for silver, they abandoned the undertak- 

 ing, and sold out their right in the mountain to the Brunsons, (broth- 

 ers.) These men, struck with the richness and extent of the vein, 

 which had already been uncovered in numerous places, and imagin- 

 ing, no doubt, that ignorance and limited resources had been the sole 

 causes of the ill success which had attended the opening of the mine, 

 resolved upon the organization of a company to carry forward the 

 work in a more energetic and scientific manner. Accordingly, 

 the mine was divided into sixteen shares ; which sold readily for 

 £100 the share, — a sum, which, if w r e take into consideration the 

 value of money at that period, clearly evinces the high expectations 

 of profit which were then formed of this mine. Many of these 

 shares were divided and sub-divided, and sold out in halves, fourths 

 and eighths. The object of search with the company was the same 

 with that of their predecessors. They procured as their agent, a 

 German, by the name of Feuchter. This man was a goldsmith by 

 trade ; and his ignorance of ores and of the whole business of mining 

 was equalled only by the credulity of his employers. The working 

 commenced with great spirit, and following the shaft at a, (see map 

 on opposite page,) they began to throw out an abundance of the Sparry 

 Iron, A building was erected, near by, for the accommodation of the 

 workmen ; and a furnace for the reduction of the ore. As the German 

 carried on all his processes of reduction and refining in secret, we have 

 no certain knowledge as to the kind of ore which he used ; but from the 

 small value attached to the Sparry Iron until a period long subsequent, 

 and the contracted dimensions of the furnace used, it seems most 



