Lead Mines

Col. John Chiswell is credited with discovering a lead deposit along the New River, about seven miles south of here, late in the 1750s. With partners he established mines and a smelting operation. Enslaved laborers were a vital part of the workforce. The mines, leased by Virginia during the Revolutionary War, supplied lead to the Continental army. Moses Austin, father of Stephen F. Austin, ran the mines during the 1790s, and the town of Austinville grew up nearby. The mines supplied the Confederacy and were destroyed by Union forces on 17 Dec. 1864. Rebuilt, they were again destroyed in April 1865. After the Civil War, zinc replaced lead as the primary resource extracted here.