Jenkins Mine

Location: Rock Springs, Fulton township

Titaniferous magnetic iron ore: it is iron black, massive, with uneven fracture and very lustrous;  it has been found near Moro Phillip's Chrome Mine, in Marple township, Delaware county, also at several places near Texas, Lancaster County, especially at Jenkins' Mine near Red Pit Mine, near Pleasant Grove and Soapstone Hill. (Genth, Mineralogy of Pennsylvania, 1875)

The 3 main shafts are still open, and the northern one appears to have been recribbed, probably during WWI by the Chrome Mining Co.. The mine is reportedly 240 feet deep. The mine was worked by the Tyson Mining Co. during the company’s early period of activity, and was reopened for a short time between 1865 and 1870. Disseminated chromite, concentrated in broad veinlets as much as 6 inches wide, is abundant on the dumps from all 3 shafts.

The size of the dumps and the quantity of fairly good disseminated ore left on them give credence to the report that the mine was never very successful although a great deal of work and money went into it. No millimg of the ore was ever attempted, and, as mined, much of it must have been too low in grade to be marketable (Pearre & Heyl).

Images

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North Main Shaft

Shaft 1

Shaft 2

South Main Shaft

Photographs by Mike Bertram, 2004.