Wilton Silver Mine, Wilton, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USAi

Regional Level Types
Wilton Silver Mine	Mine
Wilton	- not defined -
Fairfield County	County
Connecticut	State
USA	Country

An old mine (prospect really) working supposedly argentiferous galena in a hydrothermal fault vein in the Rowe Schist on Honey Hill in northeast Wilton, first worked in 1752-4. It was reopened with no more success in 1765, 1875, 1890s, and 1942. Note that Wilton was a part of Norwalk until 1802, but this locality is distal from the "Silvermine" area of NW Norwalk, so it is not the same locality as the Norwalk Silver Mine. Stearns (1852) mentions that a silver mine in Norwalk was worked by Sampson Simpson, but corrects that to the mine in Middletown in Stearns (1853).

Shepard (1837) gives a short description:

"Here is an excavation said to be seventy-five feet in depth, and reported to have been made during the period of the revolution. The rock penetrated was a quartzy, granitic bed, situated in mica-slate. Among the materials thrown out were observed minute portions of galena, associated with yellow copper-pyrites [chalcopyrite], iron-pyrites [pyrite], and mispickel [arsenopyrite]."

Harte (1945) states, "This would seem to be one of the 'lead mines in New Canaan' which the Connecticut Assembly in 1775 instructed Joseph Hopkins and Captain Samuel Forbes...to 'examine the quality of the ore, the state of the mines, &c., and report to the next Legislature.'"

Location uncertain, coordinates approximate based on a sketch map and short description by Hiller (1967). Hiller said "The mine tunnel is dug down and into the east wall of the gully which runs north from the first road [Mather] off of Honeyhill Road. The mine is about 100 yards [northeastward] into the woods." It is between Mather Road on the west, the power lines on the east and Honey Hill Road on the south. Lidar topo mapping shows an anomalous mound (dump?) at about the right place.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References