1. Home
  2. Mines
  3. North America
  4. The United States
  5. Virginia
  6. Shenandoah
  7. Deposit #USGS10080715

Capola Mountain Mine

Maurertown, Virginia

38.9753°N 78.5622°W

Mine Overview

The Capola Mountain Mine is near Maurertown, Virginia. Historically the site has been associated with the Cedar Creek Valley Mining District which is now part of the George Washington National Forest. The site was first discovered before 1860. The Capola Mountain Mine was closed at the time of data entry with no known plans to re-open. Past operations took place before 1860 to 1938. Production size when active was considered to be small. Mine operations consist of surface and underground workings. There is one known shaft. The ore mined is composed of manganite, pyrolusite and limonite. The ore body is described as irregularly shaped 244 meters (800 feet) long, 12 meters (39 feet) wide, and 5 meters (18 feet) thick. The host rock in this area is sandstone from the Upper Devonian epoch 382.70 to 358.90 million years ago. The Middle Section of the Appalachian Highlands characterize the geomorphology of the surrounding area.

Site identification and general characteristics. Learn about USGS mines.

  • Manganese Primary Commodity
  • Iron Secondary Commodity
  • Site Record Type?
  • Mine Development Status?
  • Before 1860 Year Discovered?
  • Before 1860 to 1938 Last Year of Production
  • Before 1860 First Year Of Production?
  • 1938 Last Year Of Production?
  • Small Production Size?
  • Metallic Site Commodity Type?
  • Small Mine Size?

Mine Names

  1. Name? Status?
  2. Capola Mountain Mine Current
  3. Capola Mine Previous
  4. Cupula Mine Previous

Owner Name and Address

Allied Manganese Corporation

Type
Operator

U.S. Forest Service

Type
Owner

Commodities

Additional textual information about a site or mine.

  1. Commodity Type Importance
  2. Manganese Metallic Primary
  3. Iron Metallic Secondary

Deposit

ORE BODY OCCURS IN A BED OF PEBBLY SANDSTONE 3. 7 M (12 FEET) TO 7. 6 M (25 FEET) THICK, NEAR THE TOP OF THE RIDGELEY SANDSTONE. THE MANGANESE ORE IS IRREGULARLY DISTRIBUTED IN VEINLETS, IN FRACTURE FILLINGS AND IN IRREGULAR MASSES WHERE IT HAS REPLACED THE SANDSTONE. THE DEVELOPED AND MINED ORE BODY APPARENTLY EXTENED EASTWARD FROM THE MOUTH OF THE OPEN CUT FOR A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 244 M (800 FEET) AND WAS FROM 1 TO 5. 5 M (3 TO 18 FEET) WIDE, BECOMING NARROWER WITH DEPTH. THE OPEN CUT WAS THE PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF ORE.

Location Info

  1. Continent Country State County
  2. North America The United States Virginia Shenandoah

Notes

ABOUT 1. 4 KM (0. 9 MI) WEST ON STATE ROAD 713 FROM ITS INTERSECTION WITH STATE ROAD 603 TO VAN BURNE FURNACE, MINE IS 0. 6 KM (0. 4 MI) SOUTH OF THE FURNACE AT THE CREST ON THE SOUTHWEST END OF CAPOLA MOUNTAIN.

Land Status

Land status information.

  1. Land Status? Admin Area?
  2. National Forest -

Mining Districts

Formal or informal mining district names.

  1. District
  2. Cedar Creek Valley Mining District

Development

LARGE AMOUNTS OF MANGANESE ORE WERE SHIPPED OUT BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR. MINE WAS OPERATED ABOUT 1880 BY THE VAN BUREN FURNACE CO ., WHICH IS SAID TO HAVE SHIPPED SOME MANGANESE ORE. IN 1937 M. C. SMITHSON AND ASSOCIATES, OPERATING AS SOUTHERN ORES, INC ., EXCAVATED THE LARGE OPEN CUT AND TUNNELS. THE COMPANY BUILT A MILL AT THE WESTERN END OF THE CUT, WHICH OPERATED UNTIL 1938 WHEN THE MILL BURNED DOWN. 805 TONS OF ORE WAS SHIPPED IN 1937 AND 1938. THE ORE WAS HAULED BY TRUCKS TO WOODSTOCK AND SHIPPED ON THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY. IN 1940 JOHN E CULLY AND ASSOCIATES, KNOWN AS THE ALLIED MANGANESE CORPORATION, OPENED A CUT INTO AN OLD DRIFT FORMERLY REACHED ONLY BY A SHAFT. THE COMPANY HAD DONE CONSIDERABLE PROSPECTING BY THE SPRING OF 1941, BUT NO ORE HAD BEEN SHIPPED.

Workings

Workings at the site.

Workings #1

  • Type: Surface and Underground
  • Surface Length: 278.89 Meters
  • Surface Width: 91.5 Meters

Workings

WORKINGS CONSIST OF PITS, SHAFTS, TUNNELS AND AN OPEN CUT. THE OPEN CUT IS 91. 5M (300 FEET) LONG, FROM 3. 7 TO 12 M (12 TO 40 FEET) WIDE, AND FROM 6. 1 TO 12 M (20 TO 40 FEET) DEEP. THERE WERE AT LEAST 11 SHAFTS ON CAPOLA MOUNTAIN. TUNNELS INCLUDED DRIFTS, STOPES, AND CROSSCUTS. FOR A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKINGS SEE MONROE (1942 ), PP. 136-137. ONE SHAFT IS REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN 20 M (67 FEET) DEEP AND 3 M (10 FEET) SQUARE.

Concentration Process

Processes that concentrated or enriched the mineralization of the mine.

  1. Concentration Process
  2. Minerals Were Probably Leached From The Once Overlying Black Devonian Shales.

Geology

FOR GEOLOGY SEE YOUNG AND RADAR (1974).

Materials

Minerals or other materials present in the mine.

  1. Role? Material?
  2. Ore Limonite
  3. Ore Manganite
  4. Ore Psilomelane
  5. Ore Pyrolusite
  6. Ore Wad

Orebody

Characteristics of the ore body.

  • Length:
  • Width: 12.00 meters (39.37 feet)
  • Bottom Depth: 12.00 meters (39.37 feet)
  • Thickness: 5.50 meters (18.04 feet)
  • Strike: north 70 degrees east
  • Dip: 65 degrees to 70 degrees north

Rocks

Geological materials at the site.

  1. Class? 1st Order Name? 2nd Order Name? 3rd Order Name? 4th Order Name? Most Specific Name? Begin Time End Time Description?
  2. Host Rock Ridgeley Sandstone Sedimentary Rock Clastic Sedimentary Rock Sandstone Sandstone Upper Devonian Upper Devonian -

Structure

Geologic structural features affecting or characterizing the site or mine.

  1. Scale Description
  2. Local Mt- Pleasant Syncline
  3. Regional Northeast-Southwest Trend

Tectonic

Tectonic setting in which the site or deposit is situated.

  1. Setting?
  2. Miogeosyncline

Physiography

Physiographic area where the resource is found.

  1. Division Province? Section
  2. Appalachian Highlands Valley And Ridge Province Middle Section

Analytical Data

Results of chemical or mineralogical analysis on materials at or near the site

  1. Line? Analysis Data?
  2. 1 ORE WHEN DRIED AVERAGED 41% MANGANESE AND 5% H2O.

Ore Control

Controls on emplacement of ore such as faults or other structural features.

  1. Text?
  2. Fractures, Joints, And Small Faults In The Sandstone Produced By Tight Folding

Production

Production information

  1. Production Year? Amount Mined? Material? Comment
  2. 1937 39 wt-pct Manganese natural 39% mn: dried 41% mn: value $6,061
  3. 1937-1938 39 wt-pct Manganese natural 39% manganese,dried 41% manganese,value $13,761
  4. 1938 39 wt-pct Manganese natural 39% mn: dried 41% mn: value $7,700

Notes

LARGE AMOUNTS OF MANGANESE ORE WERE SHIPPED OUT BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR. SEVERAL CARLOADS OF IRON ORE AND SOME MANGANESE ORE WAS SHIPPED OUT BY THE VAN BUREN FURNACE CO.

Nearby Deposits

Other deposits in the same region.

  1. Capola Mountain Prospect

    • Manganese commodity Site type Mine status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • Surface And Underground
    • 0.42 miles
    Read More

  2. West Bank Mine

    • Iron commodity Site type Mine status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • 0.50 miles
    Read More

  3. Peer-Cleve Prospect

    • Manganese commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • 0.68 miles
    Read More

  4. Sugar Hill Prospect

    • Iron commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • 1.35 miles
    Read More

  5. Frank Peer Prospect

    • Manganese commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • 1.36 miles
    Read More

  6. James Orndorff Prospect

    • Manganese commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • 1.37 miles
    Read More

  7. James Orndorff Prospect

    • Manganese commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • Underground
    • 1.47 miles
    Read More

  8. Ralph Orndorff Prospect

    • Manganese commodity Site type Occurrence status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • 1.58 miles
    Read More

  9. Ralph Orndorff Prospect

    • Manganese commodity Site type Prospect status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • Underground
    • 1.63 miles
    Read More

  10. Upper Cedar Creek Mine

    • Iron commodity Site type Mine status
    • Shenandoah, Virginia
    • 1.66 miles
    Read More

Nearby Places

Nearby Mining Districts

Nearby Lands

Footnotes

* Mine bounds on map indicate the general area that a mine occupies. For an detailed map, refer to the overseeing BLM field office.

** The mine central point is based on an average of the mine's bounding box(es) and does not necessarily fall on the claim itself.

1 World-class significance is determined by total endowment of the contained commodity. This includes all past production and remaining reserves. Each commodity is considered separately and commodities cannot be combined to arrive at a significant size. The tonnage thresholds are from the mine model grade-tonnage studies. As of June 2008, many entries were classified as significant under less strict rules.

Mining Claim News From The Diggings™

Learn more about the Bureau of Land Management, Public Land Survey System, and mining claims.

  1. Understanding Mine Ownership

    Understanding Claim Ownership

    We receive lots of emails from people who find their name or a relative’s name on our site and want to know if this means they have some right to the land listed under that name.

  2. open range landscape

    Understanding BLM Administrative Areas

    Whether it is filing a mine or researching one, the administering BLM office is going to be the definitive source.

  3. Public Land Survey System map of the United States of America

    Understanding Location Data

    Mine handled by the Bureau of Land Management are not mapped by latitude and longitude, instead, these mines harken back to the Public Land Survey System.

  4. Historic map of the Ohio Western Reserve

    Understanding Townships

    A “township” can refer to two different things. Both are part of the PLSS measurement system but have different uses.

Browse All Mines
Browse Mines by BLM Administrative Area
Browse By Commodity
Browse Mines by State

Search for owners by first name, last name, company, location, etc.

Browse All Owners
Browse All Help