Gold Mine Road - Montgomery County Maryland

  The history of gold mining in Maryland is very long and diverse.  There have been many locations where placer gold and even minor lode gold has been found and mined.  One of the oldest finds in Maryland is Brookeville.  This quaint little town sits in the north county on Georgia Avenue (Route 97) just north of Olney.  Brookeville was once the capital of the US for a day as president James Madison fled British troops burning Washington during the War of 1812.

  Reddy Branch is a stream that flows thru the town into the Patuxent River to the east.  This stream was used for many things over the years, powering local mills and supporting a local gold mine.  Three street names in the area caught my attention and led to some research.  The first was Gold Mine Road.  The name itself is out of place for the region and has always been of interest.  Given that the street is also rather old and has had that name for years was interesting.  Directly off of the street is Prospect Point Ct. and Pyrite Lane.  Seeing these names and looking at the topography of the area led me to investigate.

  There is not much information readily available about the mine, but it is referenced by the MGS as having been a farm location with no recorded production.  My personal experience in Maryland gold may shed some light on the area.  Pyrite Lane is named for a rather large deposit of the named mineral being found in Quartz at that location.  Prospect Point is on the other side of Gold Mine Road on the highest elevation outside the town itself.  I believe that the locals found either some very small Gold placers or Pyrite inclusions on Quartz and began prospecting the area.  With the find at Pyrite Lane, Gold prospecting basically stopped in the area as no significant deposits were found.

  Looking at known locations of Gold in Maryland shows Brookeville sitting in an unfortunate location.  Tracing a line thru all the locations, you will get a "Fan" like shape extending in all directions around Brookeville.  It sits dead center of a "Dead" zone in placer deposits.  To the southwest area the Rock Run formations of Potomac (Great Falls and Rock Run mines).  To the northwest are several mines in Frederick County that were not Gold mines, but found the mineral while extracting other minerals as traces.  To the north and northeast, the copper mines of Carrol County and Baltimore County had trace deposits of Gold as by-product.

  Having said all of that, I had to check out the area.



Gold Mine Road and Reddy Branch

Taking Georgia Avenue north toward Brookeville, Gold Mine Road is easily accessed.  Keep driving down Gold Mine past Prospect Point (left) and Pyrite Lane (right) to the bridge.  There are some local homes and businesses nearby, but I found a parking pull off right by the bridge.  The stream itself is part of Hawlings River Stream Valley Park and is protected.  Please use respect when in the area like you would any other natural resource.

Reddy Branch Stream bed


  The stream itself has little topography and is slow moving.  No established paths exist along the stream, so hiking is at your own risk.  Travelling downstream from the bridge, I encountered quite a few White Tail Deer, so bear this in mind as well.  Avoid aggressive males during the rut season!  I travelled the west bank between the stream and Chandlee Mill Road.  Unfortunately, there is years worth of trash and debris along the road bank.

Quartz Cobbles at base of hill

  Walking along the hillside of Chandlee Mill Road, there are numerous Quartz samples littering the ground.  Some are cobbles, but I also noticed several large boulders protruding from the ground.  Below are assorted samples.

Quartz Sample 1

Quartz Sample 2

Quartz Sample 3

Quartz Sample 4

  None of these samples was particularly spectacular, but they showed a few hints as to the mineralogy of the zone.  They all showed fractures thru the entire piece, and pieces 2 and 4 showed signs of Iron Oxide (pink tint) in the cracks.  The rusting is a result of the break down of the Pyrite materials inside the rocks leaching out of the cracks.

  After a nice little walk thru the area, I decided to check upstream of the bridge to see the different formations closer to Prospect Point.  Given that Prospect Point sits atop a hill on private land, I had to stay close to the stream.  I did not yet have permission to search from the landowners, so I didn't want to trespass.

  Upstream the rocks changed quickly as they were more exposed from erosion.  Within 50 feet of the bridge, I came across a huge Gabbro boulder protruding from the ground.  This boulder was large enough and resistant enough to cause the stream to divert around it and form a nice arc in the stream.  Even though this boulder was covered with overgrowth and mainly below soil, it was very impressive.

Huge Boulder in Ground

  Just beyond this first boulder, there were more protruding from the soil and leading to the higher elevations of the two hills that flank the stream at this location.  Some of the other boulders showed intrusions of quartz and were worth a look see.

Gabbro with Quartz Intrusions

  As I was leaving the area, I had to scramble thru some brush to get back to the road.  In doing so, I actually stumbled onto a large Quartz boulder.  Only the very top of it was protruding from the soil, but that was enough to get my attention.  The formation was rather large and showed multiple points sticking out of the surface nearby.  Given that it had grabbed my foot as I passed by, I decided to whack a small section off to see what was in the cracks.  As is the norm for the area, there was a lot of rust in the cracks showing the break down of local Iron minerals.

Tip of the boulder that tried to trip me

  On a final note for this area, it is lovely.  The stream is fairly deep for the area, slow moving, and showed some great signs of fish.  I didn't get into the bed as the bank is steep and not many gravel bars were apparent.  I would like to further explore the hillside that is Prospect Point, but I will need to contact a few property owners to do so.  There is also a nice farm on the east bank below the bridge that I would like to get permission to explore.  I can see by the topography that the stream course once passed thru the farm and not in it's current location.  A bit of digging on dry land should get me down to the old gravel beds and maybe some placer deposits!