The Vermont Gold Rush

The following information was taken from the Camp Plymouth State Park brochure, published by the State of Vermont. Panning for gold is a favorite activity for us and many of our guests, especially children, at Mile Square Farm. We'll let you know when we "strike-it-rich"....until that time, it's a nice way to get our feet wet and cool-off during the summer months!!

"GOLD! The cold stuff of reckless hopes and broken dreams, the "pay dirt" of the distant West -- not what you would expect to find in the quiet of the Plymouth hills. But by 1855, Buffalo Brook was known as Gold Brook and Amos Pollard's farm was staked out all along its banks. At Plymouth Five-Corners, a mill and crusher were erected and hopeful prospectors flooded in."

"The gold industry kept the town in agitation for over 30 years. At one point, seven companies were at work on Buffalo Brook. One of the more successful was Rooks Mining Company, which claimed to have earned $13,000 in a six-month period in 1884. Such claims of profit, however, seldom accounted for the enormous investment of time and money put into mining. In the words of George H. Perkins, State Geologist from 1898-1933, "it is entirely useless to throw away money, time and labor seeking gold in Vermont."

"The Rooks company soon went bankrupt and Henry Fox, the former mine superintendent, bought the mine. Fox lived as a hermit at the mine for thirty years. He searched for gold almost until the day he died in 1919, at the age of seventy."

"Although small amounts of gold-bearing quartz have been found, most of Vermont's gold is "placer" gold, deposited by glaciers and usually found only in the gravel of stream beds."

"Amateur prospectors continue to pan for gold along Buffalo Brook; occasionally small flakes are found. A few remains and foundations can still be seen in Plymouth, testifying to the dreams of wealth over a century ago."

Source:  State of Vermont, Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation