The record., 1911-03-30

Mark Duvall claimed he had found
silver ore in the bills of his neigh
borhood. Mark Duvall was a son
of Benz. Duvall, an old settler who
lived about six miles west of Green
vile. Benj. Duvall was the father
of three sons: Howard, Mark and
Ben Jr. or, vDarky," as he was com
monty called.
Mark Duvall when a young man
learned the tanners trade under
John Campbell of Greenville who
conducted a tannery near where the
Greenville Milling Co. 5 planning mill
is now located. Mark had also de
voted some time to the study of
chemistry and minerology and be-
came a good tanner. After remain
ing with Campbell for a few years
he married AMI located near his
fathers farm on which was a good
running spring. There Mark estab-
Iished a lanyard Of his own which
was well patronized. Mark was
quiet, sober and well liked man and
had the full confidence of all who
knew him. In fact the Duvall fam
Ily stood high in the community.
There were about 400 acres of
hilly land lying east of Jarrell's creek 4,
all of which was owned by Benz.
Duvall and his neighbors.
In the spring of IS5 Mark Duvall
reported that he had discovered the
existence of silver ore in this hilly
section. He would not point out
any particular spot where silver
could be found, but declared that
rich veins of it occurred throughout
these hills.
The proclamation of this news
was very encouraging to those who
owned the hills. Steps were at once
taken and prospecting commenced.
The digging of holes and pits was
carried on in earnest. AS the news
of the great silver discovery spread,
prospecting extended until the west
ern part of the county was on the
lookout for ore, and IN a short time
| the whole county was more or less
This was only a few years afte
the excitement of the Buckner an,
Churchill Iron Works had subsided
Some people seemed to take a grea
interest in the matter while other
secuted the idea. Secret investiga
tions were conducted in differen
parts of the county, but the investi
cations made among the hills wer
boldly carried on with great assur
ance.
Several of the monied men o
Greenville became interested in III,
silver project, and made arrange
inents to become partners with thos
owning the hills and furnish mean
for a thorough investigation of tn
matter.
When Mark Duvall had declared
that there was silver in the hills, h
backed up his statement by melting
the metal out of the rock that hat
been mined by the land owners
Different kinds of rock had beef
dug up; some lime stone, some iroI
ore and blue sand stone which
sparkled with particles of mica anC
was considered the richest and mos
plentiful of the silver ore.
Duvall had a novel way of ex
tracing silver from this blue sane
stone. He used a deep iron bow
with a long handle attached. 1t wa
simply a large ladle. Nearly ever,
family owned a small ladle whicI
they used in those days for melting
lead to make bullets for huntin,
purposes.
During The FIRST year of the silve
excitement Duvall would have III,
different parties, who were digging
beat up some of their ore and h,
would take his big lsdie, 20 to tbei
houses and make "run" for them
These "runs" were usually made a
night. After hot wood fire wa
started Duvall would fill his biI
ladle with the powdered ore ant
place 1t on the fire. He would ther
put a auN Of soap and borax in tn,
ladle ITO increase the heatr ant
"heip extract the metal" As a gen
eral thing lhsre wogid be a gather
lng of the neighbofs to witness tht
orun.n After the ore had bocum,
red hoi, Duvall would add som,
nitric and salphufic acid whicl
would soon disappear, and, shortly