9. Mineral

The town of Mineral, located along Route 76 north of Richmond, received its name to demonstrate the importance of mining to the community. The region surrounding Mineral City was a center of gold mining in Virginia for decades. Elsewhere in the state, mining operations extracted iron ore, etc and especially coal to drive industrial production in Virginia, nationally, and even globally. Yet an economy based on resource extraction is always vulnerable to multiple factors, including the depletion of precious materials, changes in market conditions, and especially long-term damage to workers and community members. By the 1930s, Mineral had experienced a trajectory of boom and bust characteristic of many communities dependent on resource extraction. An exploration of these trajectories in communities across Virginia identifies both the local effects and broader implications of this pattern of industrial and post-industrial economic development. This episode is connected to the town of Mineral, located about 140 miles from Yorktown, the starting point for the westbound route, and about 300 miles from the Kentucky border, where eastbound riders enter Virginia.