Powhatan Mining Corporation, Pylesville, Maryland

A 1948 article in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, said that "the Pylesville deposit replaced the Italian asbestos" that chemical laboratories could not get during World War I, and that "since 1923 the Powhatan Company have been mining and processing anthophyllite fibres."¹ The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook reported that in 1935 the Powhatan Mining Corporation "continued production and preparation of filter asbestos mined near Pylesville," and that in 1937 the company, of Woodlawn, Baltimore, "produced anthophyllite near Pylesville, Harford County," chiefly for filtering chemicals; these pages name no mine.^2,3 Reporting on 1938, the yearbook called the product amphibole asbestos and wrote that "the principal product has been identified definitely as tremolite."⁴ In 1939, it said, the company "continued operation near Pylesville," preparing the tremolite "chiefly as a filtering medium for chemicals."⁵ The 1948 article said that "this Maryland deposit, however, has been about worked out," and that the company got most of its anthophyllite from other places in the South and West.¹

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.³

Location

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1917

• Buyers: “The Pylesville deposit replaced the Italian asbestos ... used principally for carbon determinations in steel”, p. 28¹

1923

• Worked: “Since 1923 the Powhatan Company have been mining and processing anthophyllite fibres” (Powhatan Company), p. 28¹

1935

• Worked: “The Powhatan Mining Corporation continued production and preparation of filter asbestos mined near Pylesville” (Powhatan Mining Corporation), p. 3²

1937

• Worked: “The Powhatan Mining Corporation, Woodlawn, Baltimore, Md., produced anthophyllite near Pylesville, Harford County” (Powhatan Mining Corporation), p. 4³

1938

• Fiber: “For many years this material has been designated anthophyllite. Although some anthophyllite may be present in the deposit, the principal product has been identified definitely as tremolite” (Powhatan Mining Corporation), p. 5⁴
• Worked: “The Powhatan Mining Corporation ... produced amphibole asbestos near Pylesville, Harford County” (Powhatan Mining Corporation), p. 5⁴

1939

• Worked: “The Powhatan Mining Co., Woodlawn, Baltimore, Md., continued operation near Pylesville, Harford County” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 6⁵
• Fiber: “The tremolite obtained is prepared for use chiefly as a filtering medium for chemicals” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 6⁵

1948

• Closed: “This Maryland deposit, however, has been about worked out” (Powhatan Company), p. 28¹

Other names

Documents call this mine “Powhatan Mining Corporation”, “Powhatan Mining Co.”.

See also

• Asbestos exposure sites in Maryland
• All asbestos mines

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1948, October 1948 (October 1, 1948), p. 28.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1936 (January 1, 1937), p. 3.
3. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1938 (January 1, 1939), p. 4.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1939 (January 1, 1940), p. 5.
5. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1940 (January 1, 1941), p. 6.