The Sulfur Mine

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The Sulfur or Crenshaw Mine was located approximately 4 miles Northeast of the Town of Mineral.  Mining activity began in 1840 with the production of iron ore.  Iron mining continued until 1877.  All of the iron mined was furnaced at the Victoria Blast Furnace located on the property. 

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In 1881 the first shaft was sunk for the mining of pyrite. The mine's surface plant encompassed a very large area and by 1884 there were several other shafts in operation.   In 1906 the property was developed by 8 shafts, the deepest had reach 750 feet.  In 1917 The Sulfur Mine was owned and operated by the Virginia Carolina Chemical  Company which processed all of its ore for sulfuric acid.  The deepest shaft was still at the 750 foot level and they were pumping 100 gallons of water per minute out of the shaft to prevent it from flooding.  The mine at that time was producing around 7,000 tons of ore per month and they were planning to expand the mill to bring production to 20,000 tons per month. Pyrite was selling for an average of $ 3.77 per long ton, at 7,000 tons per month the mine was producing around $ 26,000.00 per month. The expansion may not have happened because in 1919 the Sulfur Mine changed hands and was only producing 100 tons of pyrite per day.

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Little or to no development was done in 1919.   All of the ore was coming from the pillars left to support the roof of the mine because the deposit was exhausted. The Sulfur Mine was worked out before the closure of the other pyrite mines in 1921. The total production was 1,000,000 tons.