The Walton Gold Mine

The Walton Gold Mine located on Contrary Creek near Mineral, Virginia was one of the richest gold deposits in Central Virginia.   It was first worked by Native Americans and was described by Forrest Shepherd of New Haven, Connecticut in 1836, "Near the southern boundary of the gold mine tract, directly upon and at the sides of the main vein, we discovered what evidently appears to have been ancient excavations and embankments...they are therefore referred to the operations of a people long sunk in oblivion."

The mine was described by Benjamin Silliman in 1836 as consisting of two mine shafts, one was seventy feet deep, the second was forty feet deep.  They were one hundred and five feet apart.   Some of the gold ore was valued at $2,673.80 per ton.  This is an astonishing amount and equaled that of some of the better mines in the American West.

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Gold ore from the Walton Mine won a prize at the 1876 Centennial which was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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A wagon load of gold ore on the way to the stamp mill is depicted below.

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