Amercian Manganese Company at Crimora

[NW Mailing List]

On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 6:40 AM,
​Frank
wrote:


> I recently purchased several Shenandoah Valley Railroad freight payment

> receipts paid by "Am Mang Co."  I am assuming that the abbreviation is for

> the American Manganese Company at Crimora.  Does anyone have information

> about this company, such as when it discontinued operations?  I assume that

> it must have done mining and smelting during the 1890s. An Internet search

> isn't turning up any corporate history from that era.  The agent at Crimora

> during 1889 was C. M. Myers.



​It's all in how you ask Google. Drop in "American Manganese Crimora" and
results will show up. First result is about a geocaching site, but it gives
a good synopsis of manganese mining and the operations at Crimora. See
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2MWVH_crimora-mine-earthcache?guid=7934d59e-514f-48ca-90a7-85bb9977f2a7or
​
http://tinyurl.com/kgpkasd  That site has references to other locations,
such as a publication about manganese mining in Virginia at
http://books.google.com/books?id=w1kMAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22manganese%20mining%22%20crimora&pg=PA36-IA1#v=onepage&q=%22manganese%20mining%22%20crimora&f=falseor
http://tinyurl.com/mf5ua8a

Another Google book in the search results at
http://books.google.com/books?id=9WLOAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA195&ots=9UBW-MJ1zn&dq=American%20Manganese%20Crimora&pg=PA195#v=onepage&q=American%20Manganese%20Crimora&f=falseor
http://tinyurl.com/nltv84g says:

*The Crimora mine*
The Crimora mine operated by the American Manganese Company limited at
Mushet on a short branch of the Shenandoah Valley railroad is still not
only the largest manganese producing mine in Virginia but the largest in
the United States In 1886 19,382 tons or 94 per cent of the 20,567 tons
produced in Virginia were from the Crimora mine This mine also produced 64
per cent of all mined in the United States


There are a number of other references to the mines in that area just based
on the "American Manganese Crimora" search, which I'm sure could keep a
researcher busy for a day or two.

If you go to the USGS Digital Map store at
http://usgs01.srv.mst.edu/store3/digital_download/mapping_ap.jsp you can
download (for free) historical maps of various vintages. Search for
"Crimora, Va" and it will drop a marker right on the town. Click on the
marker and select the maps you want. The 1892 Harrisonburg 30x30 map shows
a rail line from the station to the mine. It may take a little more
digging, but a Google map view shows a couple of potential routes the line
might have taken from main line to mine.

Bruce in Blacksburg
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