Thanks for the info to date.
Young's citation is Bishop, p 599, but it states the first part of the
sentence in that 30 hundredweight of copper ore in 1730. The Cargill
Mine reference is from Byrd where "appearances of copper" were noted,
but no actual reference to production. Bishop cites Anderson (1787) as
the source of the ore shipped. I can't make the leap from that to
Cargill without having seen Anderson.
Lyle Browning, RPA
On Aug 18, 2008, at 11:36 AM, Bode Morin wrote:
> Otis Young (Origins of the American Copper Industry, 1983) cites
> Leander Bishop, "A History of American Manufactures from 1608-1860"
> p.599, claiming three thousand pounds of copper concentrate was
> shipped from Cargill Mine, Southern James River, in 1731.
>
> Almost without a doubt, 17th and early 18th century American copper
> smelters constructed small cupola or square-hearth blast furnaces
> and worked mainly oxide ores on the eastern seaboard.
>
> Bode Morin
> MTU
>
> Peter King wrote:
>> I think you are over-pessimistic about the 16th century British
>> copper
>> industry. My view is that is was rendered uneconomic by the
>> discovery of a
>> very large deposit in Sweden.
>> Dealing with the original question: in trawling through customs
>> records, I
>> have observed mentions of the import of copper ore from various
>> places,
>> probably including America, but do not know any details. The
>> totals by
>> colony would be available in The National Archives in the CUST
>> series, but
>> these are unpublihsed.
>> Peter King
>> 49, Stourbridge Road,
>> Hagley,
>> Stourbridge
>> West Midlands
>> DY9 0QS
>> 01562-720368
>> [log in to unmask]
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Arch-Metals Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
>> Behalf Of
>> Peter Claughton
>> Sent: 18 August 2008 08:35
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Copper Exports from US 17th to 18th centuries
>> At 02:32 18/08/2008, Lyle E. Browning wrote:
>>> There are early records of copper mines in southern VA but nothing
>>> on
>>> production. I've checked the Colonial Statistics volumes. Would I be
>>> correct in assuming that bole furnaces would be used for smelting in
>>> that time period?
>> Lyle,
>> The wind blown 'bole' hearth would not be suitable for the
>> multi-stage copper smelting process. English copper smelting did not
>> take off until the last decade of the 17th century, using the coal
>> fired reverberatory furnace. The attempts to work copper there in the
>> 16th century was an economic failure but relied on expertise from
>> central Europe and it is to that area that you might look for
>> examples of the techniques which might have been used in the north
>> American colonies.
>> Peter
>> ______________________________________________
>> Dr Peter Claughton,
>> Blaenpant Morfil, nr. Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales
>> SA66 7RE.
>> Tel. +44 (0)1437 532578; Fax. +44 (0)1437 532921; Mobile +44
>> (0)7831 427599
>> Research Fellow - School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth
>> Resources
>> Hon. University Fellow - School of Humanities and Social Sciences
>> Office address - Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter,
>> Laver Building, North Park Road, EXETER, EX4 4QE Tel. +44 (0)
>> 1392 263709
>> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>> Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
>> See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
>> Mining History Pages - http://www.people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/mhinf/
>> _____________________________________________
|