had directed the attention of many enterprising Englishmen to Virginia as a place where that material could be manufactured at a profitable rate. In the same year, probably in reply to an inquiry from the English Government, the Governor and Council state that they had recently sent ore to England, presumably from Falling Creek, declaring at the same time, that the cost of restoring the works and importing operatives was too great to be assumed by the Colony.[1]
In 1630, Governor Harvey made a journey to the site of the old iron works on Falling Creek, with a view to discovering whether they could be restored. He found the spot surrounded by a heavy growth of timber sufficient to supply an abundance of fuel. There was a bold stream near by, from which water could be procured; and also a large bed of freestone and numerous outcroppings of iron ore. As a result of the impressions received on this visit, he wrote to the authorities in England that all the conditions of the locality were favorable to the reëstablishment of the works; he sent over at the same time two specimens of ore, one of which he had obtained from the valley of the Upper James, probably near the Falls of the river, the other from the valley of the Lower. A few years later, Sir John Zouch and his son seem to have taken steps to establish iron works in Virginia,[2] but the project collapsed on account of the failure of their partners to come to their assistance.[3] The cost of reviving
- ↑ British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 45; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1628, p. 178, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Governor Harvey to Dorchester, Two Letters, British State Papers, Colonial, No. V, April 15, 1630; May 29, 1630; McDonald Papers, vol. II, pp. 32, 45, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Randolph MSS., vol. III, p. 232. Sir John stated in his will that his son “had lost two hundred and fifty pounds in the iron works and as much more of my own.” William and Mary College Quarterly for April, 1893, p. 196.
