Alexander Spotswood would have been correct, if had meant, by "newly discovered iron mines", that it was 130 years previous. Iron ore was known to exist extensively in the territory that became Virginia several years before the first settlement at Jamestown. A small trial had been made by " a metal man " about 1582, and it was so promising that twenty barrels of the ore were shipped home to England. (See my references to Thomas Harriott/Harriot/Hariot at Germanna History Notes, Page 3, Note Nr. 52 , Germanna History Notes, Page 6, Note Nr. 139 , and Germanna History Notes, Page 6, Note Nr. 140 . Also see references to Harriott in connection with iron ore in Virginia at The 1911 Edition Encyclopedia , The Georgia Workshop in Early American History and Culture at the University of Georgia , Project Gutenberg , and North Carolina Historic Sites .)
The experiment was so promising that a subscription of five thousand pounds Sterling was raised on behalf of a charity (I don't remember now, but I think it was a school) for an iron furnace to be built in Virginia (about 1621). The location was on Falling Run, a tributary of the James River, not far from the present site of Richmond. The fire had been lit in this blast furnace by Easter of 1622, when the Indians attacked the site and killed all of the Europeans except two small children who had hid. The furnace was destroyed and one-third of the European population of Virginia was killed.
Eventually, this land fell into the hands of the Byrd family. When Alexander Spotswood came to Virginia, William Byrd proposed that an iron furnace be built with public money on the site. He would donate the land to the agency if they would give him a job that he was capable of fulfilling. Alexander Spotswood first proposed that this public agency be the Virginia Colony itself. When the Burgesses opposed the action, then Spotswood suggested that the Queen might like to sponsor the furnace as a personal venture. He was aware that the expense was more than a private individual could afford.
It was ignorance on the part of Spotswood that he had not understood the history of iron in Virginia. He misunderstood Byrd and thought that Byrd was describing some iron ore that had been newly found. The only thing that was new was the proposal. The existence and the quality of the iron had been known for almost 130 years.
Spotswood's first letter on the subject had been written in October of 1710. By December, he clarified the situation when he wrote to the Board of Trade and Plantations and said the land belonged to a private individual, who was willing to sign his interest over for public development if he could have a job.
At no point did Spotswood claim to have found the iron ore himself. Nothing in his writings ever suggests this. He was not to own any land with known iron ore on it until 1720.
These errors have led to the false claim that Spotswood owned iron mines himself as early as 1710. He had no private interest in iron until much later. He was interested, for good reasons, in promoting the public development of iron ore almost from his arrival in Virginia.
(29 Jul 04)
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