Around the year 1855, Mr. Beaugholtz, noticed that that boulders of quartz on a hillside overlooking the St. Francis River contained what appeared to be silver bearing galena.  He convinced a man by the name of Lloyd to help him find the quartz vein.  Together they dug several prospect holes, but due to their lack of mining experience, failed to locate the vein.

An experienced miner by the name of William Einstein heard about the quartz boulders and was successful in finding the quartz vein and began prospecting and mapping it for the next 16 years, then he and Samuel Knox bought the property.

He finally decided on a place to begin a shaft on May 5^th, 1875.  He hired a group of men to begin digging and the deeper they dug there was an improvement in the ore.  He decided to look for a newer location of the vein closer to the river.  He was successful and found the vein located just a few feet above the elevation of the river.  He then directed his focus to this area.  He began looking for investors and was able to persuade Samuel Knox Jr. and Gerald Allen to join him and Samuel Knox and the Home Silver Mining Company was founded in May of 1878.  It was estimated that it took $175,000 to develop the mine.

Construction of a state of the art three story mill began and 20 acres of land was set aside for the development of a town that was named Silver Mountain and consisted of the Company Office, hotel, school, grocery store, dry goods store, drug store, blacksmith shop, two butcher shops.  Two to three hundred miners were employed and along with their family members created a population estimated to be 800 to 900 people.

The Madison County court approved the Home Silver Mining Company, and a stone dam was constructed a short distance upriver from the mine and was used to produce energy to provide power to the mill.  With all the improvements, the mine began producing 100 tons of ore a day that contained approximately 15 to 90 ounces of silver a day.

August 24^th, 1879, the company shipped its first load only to close 4 months later.  In December 1879, Einstein was replaced by Donald Palmer who ordered all equipment removed from the mine.  All unprocessed ore was sold, and the miners were let go.  Within a year and a half, the town was abandoned.  In the time it operated, 70,000 pounds of lead and 3,000 ounces of silver were produced.

There were several people who didn’t want to give up on the mine and several attempts were made to reopen it.  Later, uses for Tungsten were developed and beginning in 1916 several companies attempted to mine Tungsten from it.  All mining operations were halted in 1958.

It was originally named “Einstein Silver Mine” and in 1879 a post office was established and called Einstein Silver Mines and in 1892 the name was changed to Silver Mine.  The town was named after a silver mine located nearby.  In 1955 the post office was closed.

The photograph is of the walking bridge that spans Turkey Creek. It is in Turkey Creek Day Use area.

I have been gone for a while. My wife and I volunteered at Silver Mines as campground hosts. Internet service was minimal to nonexistent. We were there for 8 months. I am going to do some blogs about our adventure and share my photographs. This was an introduction of how Silver Mines came about. More to come.

Silver Mines Recreation Area has an abundance of wildlife and beautiful landscapes. I hope I don’t bore you with the photos.