Mt. Moosilauke (1935) - Ore Hill Smelter
". . . Historic Ore Mountain where the famous Indian Chief Waternomee wandered at will, is again the center of interest here, not only to Warren residents but to others all over the country who know about the section. This interest has not been aroused because of its legends and early history. At intervals for about 50 years Ore mountain has been the dream of those searching for precious minerals and in each instance the dream vanished into thin air. "Thar's gold in that thar hill!" was doubtless the phrase of True Merrill and other early settlers of Warren when, years ago, they discovered precious minerals on Ore mountain. And a similar phrase was in the hearts of the men who this past week laid low a one-time costly smelter, which some years ago figured in the biggest mining boom the mountain ever had. The pieces of the 120-ton smelter are being taken to Reading, Pa. The taking away of remnants of the deserted mine has been going on for several weeks.
About 30 years ago John Dwight of Rochester, N.Y., a noted member of the famous "Arm and Hammer" soda firm, became interested in the mine and through his efforts one of the finest mining setups of its kind in the country was made possible. As in the days of the "forty-niners" Ore mountain became a settlement in itself almost over night. The best of equipment was brought to the mountain and put into operation, with about two dozen buildings being used in connection with the mining work itself. The 80-foot smelter, originally intended for the smelting of zinc ore, was the finest that could be had in the world, and was imported from Belgium. The cost of securing and erecting the smelter alone was about $146,000.
The huge boilers were hauled up over the two-mile steep grade of mountain road from the base of Ore mountain to its summit where the mine was located. More than 100 men were employed at the mine. Houses sprang up - and they were well built houses - not temporary shacks. Two boarding houses and the fine Dwight home made up the little mining village on Ore Mt.
All that was left Sunday when the old smelter toppled over was an old house with its roof and walls fallen in, parts of the mining sheds, scraps of iron, the mine shaft with its 1,000-foot depth well filled with water, a huge fallen smoke-stack, the old hoist above the shaft, portions of trackage which was once used to bring the ore cars to the surface, narrow gauge railroad tracks which [missing section] ...the hands of one Mr. Brooks who decided to remain in the East and hunt for minerals.
After an unsuccessful period a Mr. Baldwin of Boston secured possession of the mine and again operations went forward. Capt. James Edgar was the next one to test Ore hill. He drove an adit from the new highway 100 feet deep into the hill. This and the mine was abandoned after sending about 100 tons of ore to England to have it analyzed. About 1900 Mr. Dwight took up operations at the mine, and for a few short years Ore mountain experienced a thriving and adventurous mining boom. During the history of the rise and fall of the mine, two disastrous fires helped to discourage activities. At one time an epidemic of small-pox stalked the little village but no one died from the disease.
From True Merrill's discovery came the mining fever which resulted in the finding of copper, black bende, zinc ore, copper pyrites and gelena, beryls, epidote in large masses, iron pyrites, nickel, antimony, arsenic, garnets, gold, talc, tourmaline, cinnamon stone, quartz crystals in great quantities, and other stones. Some minerologists have maintained that platinum, mercury, tin and rough diamonds abound in this vicinity, but as yet no known samples of these have been produced. Otto Murch [Mertsch], the present owner of the mine, plans to work it on a small scale, and he believes the ore still shows very good.
The ore, which he calls sulphite ore, contains zinc, lead, silver and gold, and has a value of $50 a ton. He also claims there is much mica and mica schist. The ore differs at various levels, with silver increasing as lead increases. He claims that it sometimes runs as high as 30 ounces of silver to the ton. . . ."
From Marjorie S. Davis.
