As mentioned above, ore deposits were known to the residents of Godfrey for some time before the K&P railway opened up the area to larger scale mining. K&P ran a branch line to a mine known as the Glendower mine, four miles from the Bedford station.
Iron ore Starting 1873, the Glendower Company was formed and mined the Glendower Mine for iron ore for approximately seven years. In that timeframe, 12,000 tons of iron ore were extracted, hauled to Bedford Station either by wagon or sleigh and shipped to
Elmira, New York. After the seven years, the Glendower Company surrendered their lease on the land. In 1882, a company of American capitalists was formed under the name of the "Zanesville Company" which eventually merged with the Kingston and Pembroke company in approximately 1887. During the operation by the Zanesville Company, they constructed the K&P spur line from Bedford to the mine and the mine operated productively for another four to five years. The Zanesville mine operators found sulphur mixed with the ore at a depth of 180 feet and ceased mine operations until they were able to use drills that enabled them to mine to a depth of 300–400 feet and low sulphur content (one to three percent) ore was again discovered. However, by 1895, the mine was no longer in operation. Other mines in the area were the Howse Mine, and Black Lake Mine.
Feldspar In 1901,
Feldspar was also found in abundance near Godfrey. It was mined and shipped to the United States via the Bedford K&P Station. The feldspar was mined at the Richardson Feldspar Mine which ultimately became the largest producer of feldspar in Canada: producing 228,690 tons of feldspar between 1901 and 1951. The mine, located in concession II, lot 1, is found between Thirteen Island Lake and Desert Lake. In the 1880s, mining rights were acquired by the Kingston Feldspar Mining Company, part of what is now
James Richardson & Sons, Limited. Mining did not start in earnest until the early 1900s. The mine was also known as the Desert Lake or Hoppins Property, as Richardson leased the land from owner, A. Hoppins. and 130 tons per day in 1906, and represented, at the time, the largest feldspar producing mine in the province. This was evidently made possible by the accessibility of ore in the mine, as reported in 1903, "feldspar covers the floor of this whole mine-area, practically all of it clean and pure". The feldspar mined at this site was analyzed By the Ontario Bureau of Mines in 1905 to have the following composition: silica 66.23%, alumina 18.77%, potash 12.09% and soda 3.11%. Descriptively, it was reported to be "rich, light-red [in] colour, remarkably well formed, with well developed cleavage, lustrous, translucent and pronounced to be microline". The ore was then moved to Kingston and across
Lake Ontario to the United States. Of the mica mined in Ontario, 90-95% of it was used in the electric industry. This was true until the
depression of 1907 stalled the electric trades which caused a drop in the mica mining trades in the province. Those supporting the mica industry were directly affected; for example, mica producers dropped in Ottawa from 1,500 persons to less than 100. Mica was not mined again in Godfrey until about 1940 in some small quantity. The Godfrey mine is now classified as "past producing without reserves". ==Hill's School and public education history in the area==