Let me try a recapitulation of the activities of the people in the first Germanna Colony when they were at Fort Germanna. At first, they were in a holding pattern. There was hope the royalty question on the silver mine would be resolved. Until it was, they had two things to occupy them. The hard labor was clearing ground for farming. They were not supplied with food; they had to grow their food. The second thing, their official duty, was to watch for the Indians and to impress them that the Colony of Virginia was serious (and wanted peace).
When the expedition through the western lands and across the Blue Ridge Mountains was assembling at Germanna in 1716, John Fontaine seems to have been assigned the task of determining whether the silver mine did, in fact, contain any silver. He visited the mine more than once, and even collected some ore to take back to Williamsburg. Fontaine is clear that he did not believe there was any silver to be found.
At this time the Germans had been at Germanna a little more than two years, almost two and a half years. You would expect them to explore the countryside and to look around. I believe, that during the period leading up to Spotswood's visit, they had found iron ore, though they might not have been very positive about the quality and extent of it. While Spotswood was there, they discussed this with him.
I do not think Spotswood was very excited by the news. He was already committed to land acquisition as his retirement plan. (The major purpose of the people on the western trip was to find land.) This was a proven route to financial independence. There was an excellent reason not to be too excited about iron, and that was the trade law which England enforced on the colonists. Spotswood had already been warned once that an investment in iron production might have to be abandoned because of these laws. Also there was the little question about how to finance any iron production. He probably told the Germans to keep looking to quantify their findings better.
The Germans were primarily farmers at this point and they continued to farm. They probably did intensify their search and broaden it, but they were not at the point of developing any mines. According to Spotswood, about the time the Second Colony came (most likely, early 1718), he received a letter from Sir Richard in England asking if Spotswood could look for iron ore. Sir Richard and some friends thought they might go into the iron business. Spotswood saw this as an opportunity to be pursued. The people in England might provide the political support and the financial support that he lacked himself.
Still, it was not a change in his investment plans. He had just launched a partnership with a claim on more than 60,000 acres of land. This was still priority number one. He had the labor for this in the seventy-odd Germans that Capt. Tarbett had brought.
Still, the iron might be interesting, and, so, more serious exploratory work was undertaken. In 1718 (by Spotswood's statement), the Germans commenced a serious search for the iron ore. Of course, Spotswood knew they would be successful as they had already informed him of their finds. But now the work became more intensive, and upwards of sixty pounds was spent in the iron mine development.
(14 Apr 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.