Grasty Mine

Grasty (Grasty Tract) sits on Mine Run in western Orange County, apart from the dense Wilderness / Vaucluse cluster to the east.

Virginia Energy lists several gold quarry and prospect pins on the Mine Run quadrangle. USGS MRDS W000410 names the site Grasty Tract Mine, with production from 1831 to 1910 across multiple company phases.

How to study Grasty on VaGoldMaps

Open on map centers MRVID 184D-702, the inventory pin closest to published MRDS coordinates on State Road 692 southwest of Mine Run.

• Historic mines: Compare 184D-701 through 184D-703 quarry pins on the same tract, then pan east to Vaucluse / Wilderness country and west along Mine Run toward Walnut Creek.
• Mine Run drainage: Trace Mine Run and its branches. Sweet's road log describes placer attempts on adjacent Dickey tract creek branches. Water leaving mineralized ground is the placer research link.
• LiDAR: Look for large dump benches, pit rims, and the rough texture of old cuts that Sweet described as up to 35 feet across. Hillshade reads better than topo under canopy.
• Field remains: Sweet (1975) notes an assay-office ruin, water-filled pits, caved shafts, and an 1832 brick roasting stack still standing at Stop 1 on the Mine Run road log. Treat any standing stack as fragile historic structure on private land.

For inventory popup fields, see historic mine details.

Short history

The Virginia Mining Company of New York, the first incorporated gold mining company in Virginia, worked Grasty from 1831 to 1843 and built a roasting stack in 1832 to treat pyritic quartz. Later operators included the Chancellorsville-Freehold, Chicago-Virginia, American Gold, and Gold Run companies, then the Piedmont Mining and Metallurgical Corporation (1907-1910).

After World War I, local exploration continued. Around 1957 the Lucky Hundred Mineral and Mining Corporation tried small-scale placer work on adjacent creek ground. MRDS reports several thousand tons of ore worked with highly variable reported grades.

Access and honesty

Sweet's road log explicitly requires landowner permission for Stop 1. The tract is private. VaGoldMaps coordinates are for research and education. Confirm ownership and get permission before any visit.