When the German "miners" did arrive in Virginia in 1714, Spotswood settled them on the frontier, in a fort built with public monies. He did not say that this location was only a few miles from the land where he thought he, with his partners, would find silver. He did not allow the Germans to begin mining on the silver land because he was afraid they would find it before a division of the metals had been agreed to by the crown.
Johann Justus Albrecht and Jacob Holtzclaw said that they began mining operations in March of 1716 (new style calendar). Apparently, judging from the remarks of John Fontaine, this was at the silver mine. In August and September of that year, when the western exploration was underway, John Fontaine and Spotswood spent several days at Germanna. Fontaine seemed to be very interested in the silver mine, to judge by the time that he spent there. One begins to gather that one of his responsibilities on this trip was to examine the mine and determine whether there was actually any silver there. Fontaine's description makes it appear that the Germans had done some work there.
On this trip, Fontaine says they arrived at Germanna in the evening of 24 August. On 25 August, he went to the mine and collected samples of ore, and noted that the Germans pretend it is a silver mine. On the return to Germanna (12 September), Fontaine and Mr. Robinson attempted to "run" some of the ore in the forge but could get nothing. On the next day, Fontaine and Spotswood rode to the mine and collected more samples of the ore, which they took with them back to Williamsburg.
Fontaine paints a very negative picture of the prospects for silver. Probably about this time, but perhaps shortly thereafter, Spotswood and his partners discontinued the search for silver. By then, the Germans may have found iron ore several miles down the river. Spotswood was not ready to pursue this as a private endeavor. He was well aware what could happen to any enterprise of this type. Merchants in England might protest to the Board of Trade, and the Board might tell him that he would have to discontinue the activity. This was brought home to him in another venture he was engaged in, an Indian trading company, which was declared illegal.
Spotswood's private interest was now fixed on land. That had been the chief purpose of the trip over the mountains, namely to explore the land up to the Blue Ridge. His plans were laid for this as his major personal endeavor. Probably, the Germans had told him of their finding iron ore, and he had let them continue their search; but iron was not yet in his private plans. It would be several years before iron became a solid element in Spotswood's projects.
(30 Oct 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.