"Legendary"
Solebury Copper Mine

In 1753, property in the vicinity of Bowman's Hill was bought for a farm. Tales of the mine were already old at that time but the landowner didn't put much faith in them.

It wasn't until 100 years later, in 1854, that the grandson of the original owner began to investigate a curiosity on the land. He had noticed that on chasing rabbits, they escaped down an 'unusual' hole. This hole was much bigger and deeper than one would expect from a rabbit-hole.

Investigating the rabbit-hole, the landowner found an unusual pile of rocks and earth and suddenly knew it for what it was - the sealed up entrance to the legendary copper mine.

He opened the entrance and found it full of water, large snakes, and bats. Eventually he drained the mine and studied it further.

A study of the mine revealed that the kind of tools used to excavate it had NOT been in use for over 200 years. Which puts the date of the excavation back to the 1650s.

The mine was found to be 'mined-out'; there was no copper or other minerals left to be excavated. The Civil War was at hand and interests were elsewhere, so the mine was again sealed up and left abandoned.

As late as 1908, old openings and 'dumps' from the mine were still obvious.

From the entrance the tunnel was said to be 60 feet in length where in opened into a 15 foot by 15 foot room, 7-10 feet high. The tunnel continued on for another 12 feet where it stopped abruptly.

The room had a column in the center, probably to support the roof. On the right side of the room was a shaft, 6 feet in diameter, going up to an opening in the ground. This was probably the 'rabbit-hole'. And in the center of the room, next to the column, was another shaft going down to another 15 foot long tunnel.

Indian tradition asserts most clearly "WHITE men" worked the mine.
Who were they?
Where did they come from?
What happened to the copper and other minerals?