THE CHOATE MINE: A REPRESENTATIVE HISTORY OF CHROMITE MINING FROM AN OPHIOLITE IN MARYLAND

The Choate Chromite Mine is located within the Soldiers Delight Ultramafite, a fragment of a large central Appalachian ophiolite in the Maryland Piedmont. Of the historic underground metal mines in the state, it is probably the best preserved and most accessible. The history of the Choate Mine is representative of chromite mining in Maryland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Worked intermittently for almost a century, the mine was an important source of chromite for the renowned Tyson mining family of Baltimore and later experienced a brief resurgence during World War I. Using narrative and slides, we will take a glimpse of the story of this mine as it has been revealed and interpreted through the study of an assortment of primary and secondary sources.