Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-04-22
VIRGINIA MANGANESE
SUPPLIES COUNTRY
Rich Deposits In This State Make
Steel Men and Others Independ-
cnt OF Foreign Mines.
HISTORY or CRlMoRA WORKS
Developments Show Rich Deposits in
Piedmont Section and Other Parts
of Virginia - Source OF Wealth
Brought Into Prominence by War.


ing letter on manganese production In
Virginia and the possibilities in tho
matter of Increased production In the
near future. lie tells us that in the
early eighties this State produced ALI
tho manganese then mined and ncccS-
sary for the maintenance of tho steel
industry Of the United States. Not
only did Virginia mines produce suf-
h"ient for steel requirements but
enough Tor all other purposes for
which manganese Is used. and pretty
much all Of this orc came from one
mine. that OF trimora. i'm Augusta
county. However. after this mine was
IN operation some four five years
under tho supervision OF tho Carnegie
steel Company litigation cnsucd which
Tor moro than twenty years made cri-
mora practically a nonproduccr Con
seuucntly. what manganese was mined
during this period came from tho
smaller operations In tile valley foot
hills of the Blue Ridge. between tho
Potomac and tho James River For :,
great many years nearly all tho man
Gancse required for chemical purposes
was recovered from tho several small
mines throughout tho valley Some of
these operations made tho owners "a
great deal Of money
II is only within tho past four Years
mat interest has ccntcrcd around the
manganese deposits OF tho old DO
minion. bringing them again into prom
'ncncC. due to the conditions prevail
ing III the manganese market. which
with its subsequent consequences
raised the price of manganese orc TO
q point whore most mines can he opc-
rntca al very satisfactory profit
VIE MtNGtNESE OF
PIEDMONT SECTION Is \%LI,>ntE.
TN" opinion prevails that tho man
snnesc deposits of Virginia arc con
hncd TO the prca indicated above This
rs not correct. There arc a series Of
manganese leads parallelinc tho Blue
Ridge Mountains in what MAY hc
termed Piedmont Virginia. and cN-
tending from The North Carolina line
on tho south to Ahcmaric County On
III" north. tho principal development
""ntcriuS around Tho present npcra-
ton OF tho Consolidated Mancnncsc
company. situated in Campbell County.
Ih"re AFRO other deposits banking Tho
foothills OF tho Allegheny Mountains in
N"rth Shenandoah VALLEY aa we'll as
leases ard pocitcts OF manganese orc
~ nearly every county OF Southwest
Nirc nia
The quality OF tho Virginia orc COM
pares very favorablr with that rc-
covered from tho mines "f Russia
india and Brazil. provided care is taken
IN the grading or tho product The
quantity Of the orc available WITHIN
III" areas indicated is very large II
- impossible TO even guess at tho
tonnage. for tho reason that nearly
Az "f tho deposits. particularly in the
Hiue Ridge district. are embedded in
clay the enrichment area Of which is
very irregular
THE CRIMOuA MINES
Ar THE PRESENT TIME
As indicativ" Of what may be done
IN the way OF development OF other
manganese properties in Virginia. il
rs OF interest 10 know what has taken
a bn al Il s,..,.
Purchased and reorEanized by New
ork ana Boston capitalists. II is now
operating under charter granted TO
the Crimora Manganese Corporation.
The acreage owned by this company
is about Loo. but il should no, he
understood that all OF II is manga
ncse bearing. On the contrary. the
Manganese area is confined To a basin
lying between the foothills and the
main Blue Ridge Mountain
During the time that this proncrtv
was under lease to the Carnegie Steel
Corpora washers were erected and
me ore was recovered by open cut and
tunnelling over An area of seven or eight
/ acres ana I" depth ranging from ten
! TO scvcnty-tiNe feet. No effort was
made 10 recover the fines or the lean
/ ore. the entire effort being made TO
/ recover as much OF the large powders
ana Strained ore as possibly could be
taken out. As result. after the OK
piration OF some four or five years Of
/ 'his character of mining, several hun
/ dred thousand tons of CLAY. imnrer
/ mated with small percentage Of man
/ Sancse. surrounded the WORKINGS and
the min" was left in exceedingly bad
condition. This method Of operation
| continued throughout the litigation and
up to tn" year 1914. when the new
| corporation took charge.
/ Inc hrst thing undertaken by the new
inhhag cihchi was to arrive at some
definite conclusion relative 10 the ton
! mage that still was in place within
the basin. Finding the deposits and
leavings practically inexhaustible. AT
| least Tor long time to come. the new
company installed costly machinery
and great dea! OF it, and went at
the business right
EQUIPMENT THAT COST
BIC: PILE or MONEY
The main milling plant consists OF
buildings and bins. in three sections
66X16o feet. in which the bearing
material is received at Il foot Gle
walton The entire equipment is 81
the most modern and substantial char
acter, all automatic and with individual
electrical drives. In the power house
there has been installed 500-horse
power boiler capacity. Corliss engine
generator, dynamos and auxiliary ma
chincrE This is housed in building
35x 100 feet. In addition. there has
been equipped a modern machine shop
30N60 feet and other buildings
y reservoir has been erected i'm tho
mountains having storage capacity OF
2G.000,60b gallons Of water The waite,
from this reservoir is conducted [,
the mill through n 6.000-foot fuInc lin,
under 1to-foot head. In addition
another reservoir is now under con.
struction with capacity for impound
ing about 100000 gallons Of water
The mill AS designed and when opc
rating full capacity requires about | .
100000 gallons OF water per day. which
L. no recovery OF water were made
would insure maximum operations 70;
nearly two months: this would cNtcn,
through the most prolonged period q
drouth ever experienced i'm that sec
zion.
1lIc refuse from the mill is cor
W. A. CRENSHAW