History & local legend
The lost silver mine associated with Birch Island Run comes from a story recorded in D. S. Maynard’s 1875 history of Clinton County. Its setting is the West Branch of the Susquehanna, where a man named Grove encountered a party of Native travelers at Thomas Burns’s house. They had returned from a journey upriver carrying unusually heavy packs.
While the travelers ate supper, Grove opened one of their bags and found what he believed to be valuable silver ore. He later followed their tracks, hoping to locate its source. The trail reached the river at Birch Island Run and disappeared into the water.
Grove eventually moved west, but he did not forget the discovery. Maynard’s account says he returned with his son and spent more than two weeks searching between Birch Island Run and Spruce Run. Neither found the mine.
Sources
- D. S. Maynard, Historical View of Clinton County (1875), p. 112, the Burns house, earlier encounter and Grove’s later visit with his son
- The Pennsylvania Rambler, modern retellings, a searcher’s map and local variants
- Pennsylvania DEP, Fish and Boat Commission stream table recording Birch Island Run and its mouth in Clinton County
- Susquehanna River Basin Commission, West Branch survey, mouth of Birch Island Run and tributary stations
