Iron was mined at Stuart's Knob from the late 1700s until the early 1900s. Originally given to General George Hairston in a 300,000 acre land grant after the War of 1812, the hill was worked with pick and shovel for more than 100 years, with little change in mining methods and with iron difficult to transport to outside markets. In 1905, the arrival of the steam engine and the formation of the Virginia Ore and Lumber Corporation transformed the area. The settlement at the foot of the hill became known as Fayerdale, and its population grew from about 100 to 2,000 almost overnight. Steam power drove iron mining, clear-cut forests, and powered locomotives carrying people and products from town to town. The boom was brief: by 1911, German companies sold processed iron at the same price Fayerdale charged for raw iron ore, and mining ceased. By 1920, all trees within reach of the rails had been cut, and the equipment was sold for scrap. With prohibition, illegal moonshine whiskey production and trafficking became the only profitable industry. In 1933, Junius Fishburn donated a 4,500 acre parcel including Stuart's Knob to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the new state park system. With approval from President Franklin Roosevelt, Civilian Conservation Corps workers were stationed nearby and continued developing park facilities until the corps dissolved at the beginning of the Second World War.