DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS--SMITH, DIRECTOR

455

COPPER DEPOSITS

OF THE

APPALACHIAN STATES

BT

WALTER HARVEY WEED

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1911

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction._________________________-_________________ 9

Classification of deposits.!_____________________________ 10

Types discriminated______________________________ 10

Ducktown type. ________________________________ . 11

Copper quartz-vein type__________________________ 12

Caroliuian type ___ ___________________________ 13

New Jersey type _______________________ 13

Palia quarry type__ .. - - - 13

Blue Ridge or Catoctm type___________________________ 14

Occurrence and character of the ores______________ - 15

Origin of ores of the Blue Ridge type____.__________ 15

Maine___________________.__________________ 16

New Hampshire _________________-_____ 16

Gardners Mountain mines__________________________ 16

Warren mine ____ 16

Milan mine ____________.._____________________ ._ 18

Lyman mine _______ _ _________ _ ___ 18

Vermont__________________________ _-- 18

Features of deposits___________________________ 18

Geologic relations_____________________________ 18

Ore deposits __________________ _____ _ 20

General character_______________________.___ 20

The ores ____________________________._______ 21

Origin of the deposits__________________________ 22

Comparison with other deposits_____________________ 23

Mines______________________________________'.__ 24

Copperfield or Ely mine ("Vershire mine).______i______ 24

History__________________________________ 24

Production_'____________________________ 24

Development____________________________ , 25

Reduction works________'___________________ 25

The ores_________________________________ 25

Petrography of the rocks and ores________________ 26

Minerals of the rocks______________________ 26

Minerals of the gangue__________ _________ 28

Minerals of the ores_______________________ 20

Formation of the ores____________________ 30

Elizabeth mine________________________________ 30

Equipment and workings______________________ 30

The ores_________________________..______ 31

Corinth mines ________________________________ 32

Union mine______________________________^_ 32

\ Eureka mine______________________________ 33

3
4 CONTENTS.

Page.

Massachusetts _ : , _____ ________________ 33

Davis mine__ _____________________________ 33

Other deposits________________________________ 34

Connecticut_____ _ _______________________ 35

Occurrence and character of ores____________________ 35

Hartford County deposits__________________________ 35

Simsbury (Newgate) mines_________i_____'. ___________ 35

Higley mine_ ________________.__L __________. . 36

Bristol mine_________________________________ 36

New Haven County deposits________________________ 37

New York _______________-_______________________ 38

New. Jersey _ _ _ _____ -38

Historical notes__________________________________ . 38

Geologic relations of the deposits______________________ 39

Ore deposits ____ ___________ _ _____ 40

The ores_______ _ _ _______._____________ 41

Mines_________________________..___________ 42

Condition________________________.._________ 42

Schuyler mine___ _-_ ____ __________ 42

Griggstown mine____________________________ 42

Location _______________________________ 42

Geologic relations___________________________ 43

The ores__ _ _ _____ _ 44

American mine ________'________L ______________ 45

Workings and equipment _ _ ___ !___ 45

Ore deposits________________ _ ^_____ 45

Character and relations___ _________ ______ 45

The ores _______________________________ 48

Genesis of the ores_______________________ 50

Pahaquarry mine___ ____________ _ ______ 54

Exploitation ______________________._____ 54

Geologic relations____________._____________ 55

Ore deposit______ ________:______ _______ 55

Development _ ___________.__________ 57

Pennsylvania__________________ _ 57

South Mountain region : 57

Northern coal region _________________________^__ 59

East-central region________ _ _ ^ 61

Copper mined with other metals_____________________: 61

Maryland______________ ______ _ _ ___ 62

Western belt ________________________________ 62

Middle belt__________________________________ 64

Eastern belt___________ __ _. 64

Virginia___________________________________________ 65

Distribution of the ores________________ ____________ 65

Piedmont region.___ _ _ _ _. 67

Virgilina district__________________ _ _____ 67

Location___ _ _ 67

History_______________________________ 68

Rocks_________________ . . 69

General features____ ____ 69

Microscopic character_______..__ __ 71

Chemical composition_ __ 72
CONTENTS. ' 5

Virginia Continued.

Piedmont region Continued. . 

Virgilina district Continued.

Bocks Continued. . Page.

Age relations.._____________________ _ 74

Conclusions____________________________ 75

The ores _____________________ _ __ 76

Veins________________________________ 76.

Mines ______,____________________________ 79

Holloway mine__________________________ 79

Person Consolidated mines ______ 81

Wall mine_____________________________ 82

Chappel mine________________ 1 _ S3

Copper World mine_____________ - 83

Frazier mine ______________ 83

Thomas mine________________.______ _ 83

Anaconda mine __.______._____ __ _ S3

Blue Wing mine___________ __ 84

High Hill mine____________________________ .87

Dorothy mine ______________^_-_____ 89

Albemarle County (Southwest Mountain)_____________ 89

Triassic area (Londoun, Culpeper, Orange, and Ainherst counties) 92

Blue Ridge region_______________________________ 93

History ____________________________________ 93

Geology ________ _ _ 95

Warren County_____________________________ 96

Structural relations________________________ 96

Front Royal district______________ ___ 97

Deposits near Linden____________________' 97

Sealoch mine_____-_________ ______ 98

Dickeys Ridge district_______________________ 99

Mills property (Cove farm)________________ 99

Rudacill property________________.. ___________ 100

Bentonville-Overall district________________ 101

Rappahannock County _.________________________ 101

Ambler property______________,_ _______ 101

Manassas Gap mine____________:____________ 102

Page County _____^___________________________ 104

Geology_________________________________ 104

Mine near Ida_______ __'. _________ ________ 106

Madison County _____________________'________ 107

 Dark Hollow______________________________ 107

. Hawksbill Mountain________________."._______ 109

Stonyman Mountain________________________ 109

Greeue County ____________________________ 111

Hightop Mountain property_____________________ 111

Piedmont Copper Company's property -____________ 113

Summary of Blue Ridge ores______________________ 114

Southwest Virginia region_____________i_____________ 115

Introduction -______________________________ 115

Geology _________________ 115

Gossan lead_________________________________ 115

General character_________________________ 115

Character of the ore_________________,_____ 119
6 CONTENTS.

Virginia^Continued.

Southwest Virginia region Continued.

Gossan lead Continued. . PageThe mines_____________:______________' 121 

Features of the vein_____________________ 121 

Betty Baker mine_______________________ 122 

Cranberry mine________________________ 123

. Wildcat mine__________________________ 124

Kirkbride mine______'._____________________ 124

Vaughan mine_________________________ 124

Vein southwest of Vaughan mine_______.______ 124

Future of the Gossan lead_____:______________ 124

Toncray deposit____________________________ 125

Amphibolite dike_______________________________ 126

North Carolina____________________________________ 127

Character and exploitation of the deposits_________________ 127

Ashe and Allegheny counties________________________ 128

Ore Knob mine______________________________ 128

Copper Knob or Gap Creek mine____________________ 132

.Peach Bottom mines __________________________ 133

Elk Knob ___________________________________ 134

Jackson and Macon counties________________________ 136

Important properties ___________________________ 136

Cullowhee mine ______________________________ 138

Little Tennessee mine_________________;_______ 140

Nantahala mine ______________________________ 140

Davidson and Rowan counties________________________ 140

Gold-copper deposits __________________________ 140

- Gold Hill mines_________________________ _____ 141

Miscellaneous copper-gold mines____________________ 144

Georgia ______________________________________ 145

Magruder or Seminole mine_______ __________ ___ 145

Chestatee property _____________________________ 149

Barton pyrite property,_______ ______ __ _ ___:__ 151

Emerson pyrite property_________________________ 151

Tennessee_____________________:______ _ _________ 152

The Ducktowu district______-___________'. ________________ 152

Veins_________1___________________________ 152

Mhies _______________ ____ _ _ 154

West vein _____ ________________________ 154

Burra Burra mine________ _ _ _ 154

London mine ____________-__ _ . 154

East Tennessee mine___________ _____ _ 154

East vein ________________________ 155

Polk County and Mary mines___._______________ 155

Callaway mine ________________-- _____ _ 156

Isabella vein ____________________ __ 156

Ores___'.__________ 1 ________________________ 157

Alabama ^________._____ _ _ 157

Geology_________________ ____i _ - 157

Mines____________________-_ _ _ 158

Stone Hill mine_________________ - ___ 158

Smith mine _______ - : 159

Alabama Pyrites Company's property 160

Index___________ - 161
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page. 

PLATE I. Schist from ore bed of Ely mine, Ely, Vt_____________ 20

II. Polished specimen of Ely ore__________ : 22

III. Pyrrhotite ore from Ely, Vt.; natural light_____________ 26

IV. Pyrrhotite ore from Ely, Vt.; same specimen as Plate III; reflected light __'__________________ 20

V. Diabase from copper deposit at Somerville, N. J 50 

FIGUBE 1. Section showing vein structure in Warren mine, New Hampshire_____________ 17

2. Section showing occurrence of Elizabeth ore body, South

Stratford, Vt___________________________ 31

3. Section across Watchuug Mountain, near Somerville, N. J.,

showing copper-bearing bed__________ _ _ 40

4. Figure showing occurrence of native copper in contact rode,

American mine, Somerville, N. J_________________ 49

5. Fissures cut by shaft of American copper mine, Somerville,

N. J ___________________________________ 52

6. Map of Pahaquarry mine, Delaware Water Gap, N. J_____ 56

7. Index map showing occurrence of copper ores in Virginia and

other Southern Appalachian States______________ 66

8. Brecciated epidotized basalt with ore and quart/; from, copper mine on summit of Stonyman Mountain___________ 67 

'9. Quartz lenticle of vein exposed in railway cut, Virgilina district, showing concentric slate shells,____________:_ 77

10. Diagram illustrating the formation of lenticular openings by

movement of fissure walls_____'________________ 78

11. Diagram illustrating the structure of" veins formed by the 

tearing apart of schist included between fault' fissures or 

lying adjacent to fissures____________:_________ 78

12. Face of the 300-foot level south in the Holloway mine, January, 1900________________________________ 79

13. Ideal horizontal cross section of the Holloway vein, showing

quartz spurs following the foliation of the country schist_ 79

14. Section of Durgy mine, Virgilina district, Virginia______ 82

15. Section of Anaconda mine, Virgilina district, Virginia_____ 84

16. Section of Blue Wing mine, Virgilina district, Virginia___ 84

17.-Specimen of ore from Blue Wing mine, Virginia, showing

banded structure _________________________ 85

18. Blue Wing vein in face of 100-foot level north.*_________ 86

19. Blue Wing vein in roof over stope above the 100-foot level,

350 feet south of shaft______________________ 86

20. Blue Wing vein at the south face of the 100-foot level_____ 87

21. High Hill vein at shaft No. 4, north face of 60-foot level___ 88

22. High Hill vein, north face, at bottom of shaft No. 4_____.__ 89

7
8 CONTENTS.

c

Page. 

FIGTJRE 23. High Hill vein, Virginia; exposure in south wall of shaft

No. 9__________________________________ 89

24. Asbestiform serpentine with native copper, from mine 7 miles

southeast of Luray, Page County, Va_____:_______ 111

25. Map showing location and course of gossan lead of Virginia_ 117

26. Ore from Chestnut Yard mine, Carroll County, Va_____r __ 119

27. Pyrrhotlte with included quartz fragments, Betty Baker mine,

Can-oil County, Va_________l___^__________ 120

28. Pyrrhotite interleaved with talc, Chestnut Yard, Carroll

County, Va _____________________________ 121

29. Longitudinal section along gossan lead, showing capping of

iron ore ________________,________________ 122

30. Workings of Union Copper Company mine at Gold Hill, N. C_ 142

31. Section of Burra Burra vein, Ducktown, Tenn_________ 154

32. Section through ore bodies of Mary mine, Ducktown, Tenn_ 155
COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

By WALTER HARVEY WEED.

INTRODUCTION.

Copper ores occur and copper mining has at some time been carried on at many localities in the mountainous region of eastern 

North America, from. Canada to Alabama. The deposits are interesting scientifically and historically, and their availability as a 

source of copper is frequently discussed. At present there are few 

producing mines, but mining development is going on at several 

places and the openings afford sufficient data for an estimate of the 

productive capacity of particular properties.

Throughout the region certain broad features of rock structure 

and scenery persist,, modified by differences in climate and vegetation. The rocks are predominantly metamorphic schists and gneisses, 

varying in texture, color, and amount of folding, but in general composed of similar minerals. They were classed by the earlier. geologists of the country as talcose sia-tes and schists, chlorite schists, 

etc., but detailed mapping of many parts of the region by the United 

States Geological Survey and a study of thin sections of specimens 

of rocks obtained from all parts of the region by many students have 

shown that the schists are not as simple in character as had been 

supposed, but are really altered and disguised .representatives of 

many forms of volcanic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks. The 

present " bedding" of the schists is now generally regarded as the 

result of regional mietamorphism and is supposed to bear no fixed 

relation to the structure and composition of the original rocks. A 

homogeneous mass of granite may alter to a dozen types of rock 

wholly unlike in appearance.

The earlier theories concerning the origin of the ore bodies were 

based largely on the supposed similarity of the rocks and were consequently erroneous; and it is only since the searching methods of 

modern petrography and chemical analysis have been applied to the 

study of the rocks that one can discuss them with confidence. The 

question of genesis is of peculiar importance in this region, for it 

involves'the value and extent of the deposits. Much money and

.9
10 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

time have been fruitlessly expended because the operator was not 

familiar with the origin and geologic relations of the rocks on the 

property he was exploiting.

This report is the result of an attempt to summarize existing information concerning all the known copper properties of the Appalachian region, including the Piedmont area east of the mountains. 

As it was not possible to visit every locality, and as many of the 

old workings are inaccessible, previous publications have been used 

to supplement personal observations. The field examinations were 

not exhaustive, and time for detailed mapping and prolonged study 

of thin sections of the rocks was lacking; hence the work is in the 

nature of a reconnaissance rather than of a detailed study.

The deposits are not great producers, but as they are used as the 

basis of mining ventures it is a matter of considerable interest to 

know whether there is any reasonable hope for the ultimate return 

of monejr invested from year to year in more or less unsatisfactory 

attempts to develop them. Moreover, the deposits are of various 

types, and their investigation is a matter of considerable scientific 

interest. An attempt has therefore been made to present a brief 

account of all the known deposits, even of those that are small and 

but little known, supplementing personal observations by citations 

from the publications of other observers.

A geographical grouping of the facts is given because it facilitates 

reference, especially by engineers interested in looking up the deposits 

in any particular State.

CLASSIFICATION OF DEPOSITS.

TYPES DISCRIMINATED.

Throughout the Appalachian province the copper ores are confined to (1) crystalline schists; (2). altered basalts; (3) Triassic rocks 

close to trap intrusions; and (4) Devonian rocks, in which they 

generally occur in insignificant amount. The deposits present very 

diversified characters, no two. being precisely alike, yet if their 

general characteristics be considered it will be noted that they all 

fall into six groups, or may be considered as variations of six general 

types," the word " type " being used to designate a characteristic 

example of a certain class, the members of which bear a broad family 

likeness to each other and possess certain essential characters, though 

perhaps unlike in many other ways.

The term is useful in bringing together deposits showing some 

similar features, and it facilitates an orderly discussion of phenomena.

In the detailed descriptions, however, no attempt has been made to 

group the deposits under types or in classes except in a broad way.

"Types of copper deposits in the southern United States'; Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 

30, 1901, pp. 451-452.
CLASSIFICATION OF DEPOSITS. 11

It was deemed better to adopt a geographic rather than a systematic 

grouping, but tiresome detail is avoided by stating that the deposit 

described is of a certain type. 

The six types are as follows:

1. Dncktown type. Pyrite.lenses and veins in crystalline schists. Occurs at 

Ely, Vt.; Ore Knob, N. C.; southwest Virginia; Ducktown, Tenn.; Milan, N. H.; 

Davis, Mass.; and Stonehill, Ala.

2. Copper quartz-vein type. 'Quartz veins containing metallic sulphides:

(a) Virgiliua variety; quartz veins with glauce and bornite. Occurs at 

Copper Knob (Gap Creek), N. C.

(b) Gold Hill variety; silicified schists, contaioing chalcopyrite and pyrite, 

with ore shoots of quartz and chalcopyrite. Occurs in veins of North Carolina 

and Virginia gold belt.

(c) Seuiinole variety; zone of pyritized schists, carrying local shoots of 

high-grade ores.

3. Carolinian type. Bauds of amphibolite traversing mica, schists and carrying chalcopyrite and pyrite disseminated through the rock or gathered in

bunches or, more commonly, deposited in the gray gneiss alongside. Occurs at 

Elk Knob, Way-ye-hutta, and Peach Bottom, N. C., and at New Haven, Conn.

4. New Jersey type. Impregnated shale and sandstone adjacent to trap 

masses; in part in the trap. Occurs at Somerville, Arlington, and Griggstown, 

N. J., and at Leesburg and Orange, Va.

5. Pahaquarry type. Devonian sandstones impregnated with copper ores; and 

shales, etc., of Coal Measure regions with occasional ore; not rare, but insignificant in amount.

6. Blue Ridge (Catoctin) type. Bunches and joint fillings jn the surflcial 

portions of the basaltic rocks (Catoctin schist) of the Blue Ridge region.

DUCKTOWN TYPE.

The Ducktown type corresponds to a number of the " Kieslager " 

of German writers and is well known the world over. A definition 

of this type is as follows:

Ore beds lenticular in shape, repeated and connected by zones like fahlbands. 

The essential ore minerals are pyrite, chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite. Sometimes one, sometimes the other of these ores prevail, but the first two appealnever to be absent; the last-named often fails. Galena, zinc blende, and other 

ores are on the whole subordinate.

Ore bodies of this class are more or less lenticular in shape and 

occur interbanded with the inclosing schists. The lenses may be 

thick or thin, long or short, alone or in many small thin lenses forming a bed. Jn general they apparently conform with the foliation 

or " bedding " of the inclosing schists, but detailed study of various 

deposits shows this to be less general than supposed.

The mineral composition of the Ducktown type is much the same 

over all the world. The ore may be pyrite or pyrrhotite or a mixture 

of both, with more or less chalcopyrite as an accessory, and, generally, zinc blende and galena in small amounts. Silver is common 

in the upper levels. The earthy or gangue minerals present greater 

variety. The ore in many deposits is impregnated country rock,
12 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

slivers or fragments of which may occur even . n the purer material. 

Garnet and actinolite or other forms of amphibole are common; 

biotite is found in many ores; quartz is universally present, but generally in small amount; epidote, pyroxene, and zoisite are common. 

Detailed studies of numerous deposits of this type disclose marked 

variations in character, indicating diverse origin and a varied history. The Norwegian, Spanish, Tasmanian, and Californian deposits, though superficially alike, possess very marked and different 

structural and mineralogic 'features. For this reason the more general designation of " pyritic beds " has not been used, and the name 

Ducktown type has been adopted as being noncommittal. It is certain, however, that the group includes deposits of diverse origin 

and nature: The Quebec deposits occur in altered volcanic rocks; 

the Vermont examples are genetically connected with granitic batholiths; the Virginia deposits are on fault planes; the Tennessee ore 

bodies are in altered sediments; and the Alabama ores are 'associated with basic rocks. It therefore appears certain that the ore 

bodies vary as widely in nature as do the inclosing " talcose and 

micaceous schists," which the microscope shows to be of diverse 

character and origin. Nevertheless, the term is convenient and will 

be used, as it conveys a definite and readily understood meaning as 

to the shape, mineral character, and structural relations of the 

deposits so designated.

COPPER QUARTZ VEIN TYPE.

The copper quartz veins present considerable differences in character and occurrence. On one hand they merge into the Ducktown 

type, on the* other into pegmatites. In the region under discussion

they occur only in schistose rocks. Their course is generally about

parallel to the strike of the inclosing rocks, but as a rule, they cross 

the layers in dip. At some localities the veins run at right angles, 

or nearly so, to the schists.

The quartz veins vary in nature: A,t Virgilina they consist of 

coarse and massive white quartz, with bornite and glance. As shown 

later, they occupy fault planes, are in part filled by friction breccia, 

and contain ores in well-defined bodies or shoots of quartz. 

A second variety, occuring throughout the Appalachian gold belt, is 

a schist vein carrying auriferous pyrite and bunches of chalcopyrite. 

This type (here designated the Gold Hill variety) is commonly found 

in areas that border the great granite masses of the region. The 

veins contain lenticular shoots of quartz carrying more or less copper 

and iron pyrite, and constitute the workable ore bodies, but grade into 

silicified and mineralized schist. A third variety (the Seminole) 

comprises veins composed of pegmatite material, allied to the Caro-
CLASSIFICATION- OF DEPOSITS. 13

linian tin veins, but containing copper. The rocks are sheared and 

metamorphosed and grade probably into veins of pure quartz.

CAROLINIAN TYPE.

The deposits designated the Carolinian type are a variation of the 

Ducktown type. They are pyritic and commonly occur in small 

lenses along a general line of fracturing. Their characteristic feature 

is their occurrence in or alongside of bands of hornblende gneiss or 

amphibolite. Many of them show gossan outcrops traceable for longdistances, but the ore bodies are of slight extent. The essential minerals are pj^rite, chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite, with their decomposition products. These minerals occur intergrown with various silicates, but lie between and cement together fragments of the original 

hornblende, etc. Quartz is everywhere present, and at Cullowee 

corundum is found interlocked with chalcopyrite, indicating ore

deposition later than the metamorphism of the country rock and 

probably connected with acidic granitic dikes. The type is common 

in the mountain region of North Carolina, and variants of it occur in 

Connecticut and Georgia.

^

NEW JERSEY TYPE.

The group of deposits which for convenience of reference has 

been called the New Jersey type has similar general characters but 

marked individual differences. Its members are abundant in the 

Watchung Mountain, New Jersey, and at various points in Connecticut and Virginia. The copper ores occur at or near the contact with 

intrusive or extrusive masses of trap rock. The ore minerals include 

native copper and its oxides and carbonates, rarely bornite and glance 

in the oxidized zone, and glance and native copper in the deposit 

below the water level. The ores are found either in sandstones or in 

shales. Their genesis is discussed in detail in the description of the 

New Jersey deposits.

PAHAQTTARRY TYPE.

The Pahaquarry (N. J.) type is an unusual form of impregnated 

sedimentary rock. At a number of places in the sedimentary areas 

of the Appalachian region certain beds locally contain nodules and 

irregular grains' of copper ores, either glance or carbonates and 

oxides associated with coaly or animal matter. The ore is usuallyvery small in amount and uncertain in occurrence. Many deposits 

carry silver. The source of the ore is supposed to be the decomposing sulphides of older rocks or deposits. The" deposits occur either 

in gray rocks or in grayish to greenish spots in red rocks, but are 

found only in formations composed essentially of red rocks.
14 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

At Pahaquarry Mountain, east of the Delaware Water Gap, a 

group of beds about 200 feet thick consists of alternating layers of 

gray glance, impregnated sandstone, and red shale. With this possible exception none of the deposits are workable.

BLUE RIDGE OB CATOCTIN TYPE. 

OCCURRENCE AND CHARACTER OF THE ORES.

The Blue Kidge type, or, as it has elsewhere been called, the 

Catoctin type, comprises deposits of native copper and cuprite in 

green epidotic rocks that have been found at many places throughout the Blue Ridge region in the Appalachians and in the Piedmont 

Plateau. These deposits commonly occur in basalt and in the 

Catoctin schist. The barren rocks are dark gray or slate colored, 

but when ore bearing are yellowish-green, epidotic, and, in part, 

chloritic massive igneous rocks, altered by hydrometamorphism. The 

ore consists chiefly of cuprite and native copper, the latter often as 

nucleal masses surrounded by cuprite, together with .small amounts 

of azurite and malachite and, very rarely, of copper sulphide. At 

the High Top mines east of Elkton, in Greene County, Va., and the 

Cove farm on Dickeys Ridge, south of Front Royal, bornite with 

scant chalcopyrite forms the most abundant ore. The ore occurs 

along crevices and joint planes, in small or curving crescent or 

S-shaped lenses of quartz, and to some extent as grains disseminated 

through the epidotized parts of the rock. Where the ore occurs the 

rocks are fractured and epidotized, or are irregularly checked by 

dose and intersecting fissures, or, more commonly, are sheeted by 

parallel fissures. The quartz veinlets are rarely over 1 or 2 feet 

long and 4 inches wide, and their, depth is usually proportional to 

their lateral extent. These individual quartz veinlets, many of which 

occur in one zone of sheeted rock, may be regarded as Avhat were 

once commonly designated segregation veins. Much of the quartz 

is clear and limpid, and includes bright metallic copper. The ore 

is usually seen in the outcrop and masses of native copper are not 

uncommon. Generally the surface quartz is crackled, dull, and 

opaque, and the copper is dull.

At many of the' localities visited the ores extend not more than 

BO to 50 feet below the surface, usually less. Their occurrence in 

shear zones in the rock, which is generally massive or but slightly 

schistose; their confinement mainly to the secondary epidote and 

quartz veinlets; and their character indicate that deposits of this 

type were formed by the local concentration of material leached out 

of copper-rich portions of the altered igneous rock, in which the 

copper is believed to have been present as minute particles of pyrite 

or chalcopyrite. The deposit is therefore a product of superficial 

alteration, the shear zone affording a place for the gathering of the
ORIGIN OF THE OBES. 15

solutions and the deposition of material. These ores seldom occur 

in continuous masses, but can be traced for miles by the copper-bearing debris.

In general, no veins are seen, and the tendency of various observers 

to connect isolated outcrops by hypothetical veins has led to much 

misconception. As a rule, the ore is found in quantity only in the 

upper 10 to 30 feet of rock, occurring either in joints or impregnating 

the rock on either side. The flat joints, dipping only 5° to 20°, are 

most commonly the joints that bear ore. Small and irregular patches 

of quartz and cuprite and native copper that have no recognizable 

connection with intersecting fissures also occur in the rock. The 

little gash veins of the quartz and the horizontal strain cracks of the 

serpentine and the ore both indicate the recent origin of the ores 

and their concentration from surface waters. In fact, the ores are 

confined to the epidotized rock and do not occur below the general 

zone of epidote alteration except where crushing and fissuring have 

carried this action exceptionally far down.

ORIGIN OF ORES OF THE BLUE RIDGE TYPE.

It is well known .that many diabasic rocks contain copper. The 

rock of Orange (Watchung) Mountain, New Jersey, contains about 

one-fortieth of 1 per cent. Concentration of the basic constituents 

by the author showed that they contained a large amount of copper. 

The Blue Ridge rock (basalt) is itself undoubtedly the source of the 

copper. The Triassic traps do not show copper ores everywhere, 

though there ai'e but few areas in which copper ores do not occur in 

or about some part of the mass. The localization of the ores is due 

in part, it is believed, to original differences in composition and in 

part to local conditions of fracturing and of water circulation.

The areas of basalt in the Blue Ridge are notable for the large 

amount of epidote which occurs in bands in the rock and is strewn 

in abundance over, the surface of the ground. In the massive form in 

Avhich the rock occurs on the Avestern slopes of the Blue Ridge in the 

vicinity of Front Royal, mining has shown that the epidotization is 

primarily a surface phenomenon, though it may extend do\vmvard 

along shear zones to a considerable depth. This epidotized rock, 

Avhich by its color is readily distinguishable from the underlying 

blue, less altered rock, in many places contains nests and veinlets of 

calcite and of fibrous serpentine. There seems good reason to believe 

that some of the irregular, isolated bunches of ore and all of the 

little veinlets filled by serpentine Avere produced by tension resulting 

from the expansion of the rock, due to serpentinization, \vhich has 

increased its volume, roughly speaking, about one-third.* The epidotization appears to be a later phenomenon and to be due mainly

a Lindgren, Waldemar.
16 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

to surface waters. It is closely connected with the appearance of 

native copper and copper oxide, more rarely of bornite and chalcopyrite, as films and minute nodules scattered through the rock. According to Eosenbusch ° epidote is a constant side product wherever 

calcareous iron and iron-magnesian silicates are chloritized, the 

lime being separated out and either deposited or removed as a carbonate. Thus, epidote accompanies the atmospheric decomposition 

of pyroxene, amphibole, mica, and garnet. It is most common in the 

altered igneous rocks, but is also a constant and characteristic constituent of certain stratified garnet rocks and certain- amphibolites 

which are the equivalent of granular limestones. At the localities, 

where copper ores are found the deep workings show bunches and 

stringers of calcite and serpentine but no copper, though various 

transitions may be observed to the surface ores, with gradual replacement of calcite by copper as a result of the action of infiltrating 

waters.

MAINE.

Early in the nineteenth century attempts were made to work the 

deposits on the northern borders of Maine and about 1880 the Blue 

Hill mine was opened, but as the deposit consists of lean slate ore, the 

ore bodies wedging out in depth, the work was unprofitable. According to the Tenth Census there were in Grafton County, Me., in 1880, 

three producing mines, whose aggregate product was 102,500 pounds 

of copper from 1,225 tons of ore. So far as known, none of the 

remaining deposits in Maine are either rich enough or large enough 

to warrant the expenditure of capital.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The copper ores found in New Hampshire occur in pyrite deposits 

inclosed in metamorphic schists or with other ores in quarts veins.

Copper-bearing pyrite is worked at Milan, Coos County, and some 

copper ore is obtained in the magnetic separation of the zinc minerals of the Warren vein. Pyrite deposits occur in Grafton County 

at the Gardners Mountain or Lyman mines, at Haverhill, Lyme, and 

Oxford, and in southeast Hanover, northwest Enfield, and southwest 

Lebanon Townships; in Coos County, at Milan; and in Sullivan 

County, at Croydon, Unity .(4 miles from North Charleston), and in

south Claremont Township.6

GARDNERS MOUNTAIN MINES;

The Gardners Mountain mines have been the basis of several 

mining ventures, and one property, the Paddock mine, produced 

34,050 pounds of copper in 1880.

a Iddings-Rosenbnsch, Microscopical physiography of the rock-making minerals, 1893, 

pp. 294-295.

6 Hitchcock, C. H., The geology of New Hampshire, vol. 3, pi 5, pp. 50-52.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 17

According to Hitchcock,0 who gives a detailed description and map 

of the properties, the copper occurs as chalcopyrite and its oxidation 

products, together with zinc blende, some glance, and considerable 

pyrrhotite. The ore occurs in " veins " in four well-marked cupriferous belts, traceable-for 12 miles. The rocks are greenstone schists 

(chlorite schists) with altered diabase and diorite, and argillaceous 

and calcareous schists. The veins are usually situated in broad belts 

of intermingled pyritiferous and siliceous layers separated by * * * 

diorites. They are a foot or more thick and lie close together, forming a lode 6 to 10 feet broad. The ore is massive and is richest 

where it lies next to quartz. The vein matter consists of slate and 

quartz impregnated with chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and ankerite. The dip is TO0 to 75° 

SE. Hitchcock discriminated three belts 

the westernmost, 178 feet wide; the middle 

87 feet wide; and the easternmost, a zone 

of impregnated schist, 150 feet wide. From 

this it is evident that the ore occurs in thin 

layers, 2 to 6 inches thick, lying in a zone or 

fahlband of pyritized schist.

The Gardners Mountain properties were 

reopened in 1902 and glowing accounts of 

their richness were spread broadcast.

WARREN MINE.

The Warren mine is worthy of notice, as 

it has been worked for many years, at first as 

a copper property and later for its zinc ores. 

The vein occurs in a 50-foot layer or bed of 

tremolite inclosed in mica schist. The rock 

dips N. 50° E. at an angle of 45°. Stringers 

of chalcopyrite and quartz occur along the hanging and foot Avails 

of the bed, and bunches and disseminations of copper pyrite and 

zinc blende occur throughout the tremolite. The deposit is cut and 

faulted by trap dikes. Figure 1 shows the quartz vein (10 feet Avide), 

the ore vein, and the trap dikes. The pay ore seems to form a pipe 

15 feet Avide and 20 feet broad.

The mine has been worked since 1840, the ores being concentrated 

and shipped for acid burning and the residue smelted at Bethlehem, 

Pa., for zinc.

FIGURE 1. Section showing vein structure in 

AVarren mine, New Hampshire. After Hitchcock.

: 0p. cit., p. 38.

81777° Bull. 4'55 11-
18 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

MILAN MINE.

The well-known pyrite mine at Milan, Coos CountyVN. H., which 

has been operated since 1881, though not now worked as a copper 

mine, has yielded considerable amounts of chalcopyrite. In early 

years 75 per cent of the ore was iron pyrite carrying 1.6 per cent of 

copper, and 10 per cent was copper ore carrying a little blende and 

rarely some galena."

The deposit consists of overlapping lenses 9 to 21 feet wide and 

averaging 8 feet thick and 600 feet long, with a dip of 21°. The ore 

is incased in schist with chloritic slate hanging wall. The mine has 

long been an important producer of pyrite.

LYMAN MINE,

A property at Lyman was developed in 1902-3. The ore occurs in 

several bands of schist having an average width of 5 feet and containing iron pyrite Avith chalcopyrite and rich oxidized ores. No 

details are available of development work, as the property has not 

been visited.

VERMONT.

FEATURES OF DEPOSITS.

Copper mining was for many years an important industry in 

Vermont, and the Ely mine was at one time the largest copper producer of the country, but the mines are now either idle or have an 

insignificant output. The metal occurs in pyritic deposits in metainorphic schists, a type familiar the world over. The ore bodies 

consist of low-grade copper ore, showing considerable differences in 

the amount of insoluble matter present but being of fairly constant 

mineralogic character and of uniform copper content.

The deposits closely resemble those of Ducktown, Tenn., in mineral 

character and occurrence; they consist of a mass of pyrrhotite (magnetic pyrite), sparsely disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite, and 

scattered and irregular grains and growths of quartz.

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The deposits occur in the hilly region forming the eastern part 

of the Green Mountains, in Orange County, Vt. The three principal 

localities Corinth, Copperfield, and South Strafford are 7 to 10 

miles west of Connecticut E-iver, and lie on a north and south line, 

practically coincident with the schistosity of the neighboring rocks.

The ore bodies occur on the eastern flanks of a broad anticlinal 

uplift having a northerly pitch. This uplift is composed of schistose

a Wendt, A. F., School of Mines Quart, vol. 7, p. 311. Martin, W., Pyrites : Mineral 

Resources U. S. for' 1883-84, U. S. Geol. Survey, 18S5, p. 877. Davis, H. J., Pyrites: 

Mineral Resources U. S. for 1885, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1886, p. 001. ,
VERMONT. 19

rocks of undetermined but probable Silurian age, the nucleal core of 

the arch being formed of schists carrying much calcite, and hence 

called calcareous mica schists by the geologists of the Vermont and 

New Hampshire geological surveys. This " calcareous mica schist" 

grades upward into sericite schist with interfoliated impure limestones, and this series is overlain in turn, along the north and west 

sides of the arch, by an incomplete ring of impure semicrystalline 

limestone. To the east these limestones are wanting, but the overlying slates, partly roofing slates, occur on both the east and Avest 

sides of the uplift. Granite and pegmatite dikes, the latter carrying chalcopyrite, pyrite, and tourmaline as primary constituents, 

occur; and a few miles north of. the copper range are the Barre 

granite quarries. Amphibolites also occur. The structural conditions indicate an underlying, deep-seated, but extensive batholitic 

mass of granitic material. According to the State geological reports, 

the rocks of the region may be divided into two formations, viz, Waits 

River (" Washington") limestone and Vershire (" Bradford") 

schist. The copper deposits occur only in the micaceous schists 

grouped under the latter name and corresponding roughly to the 

Savoy and Hawley schists of the Massachusetts area to the south. 

The rocks are in places mantled by glacial drift, and large areas 

are completely concealed by glacial moraines. Camptonite dikes 

occur at many places in Orange County, but none are known near the 

ore bodies. In the extension of the belt into Quebec similar dikes 

are later than the ore.

The ore deposition is, according to Smyth and Smith,0 -dependent 

on structural features. The conclusions reached by these authors 

accord closely with those previously expressed by the writer,** viz, 

that the rocks are metamorphosed sediments whose original bedding 

planes strike northwest and have a steep northeast dip. The present 

schistose structure is secondary and oblique to*the bedding, the foliation 

being west of north, with a dip of 15° to 35° E. These relations, which 

are features of the broad anticlinal arch already mentioned, are 

further complicated by a crumpling or buckling of the main anticline into minor cross folds, which step down to the southeast, and 

which are of later date than the main period of folding.0 The Ely 

ore body is deposited in the crushed or open spaces along the crest 

of one of these cross folds.

The schistose rocks are prevailingly gray or slate-colored, and vary 

from coarse to fine in texture and foliation, the differences in color 

being due to variations in the proportions of biotite and quartz. At

" Smyth, H. L., and Smith, P. S., The copper deposits of Orange County, Vt.: Eng. 

and Min. Jour., vol. 77, 1904, p. 677.

* Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 225, 1904, pp. 190-191.
20 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

the Elizabeth mine the foliation is regular and persistent in direction. 

At Copperfield the general foliation is north and south and the dip 

20° to 30° E., but the local foliations show close folding and puckering of the softer, more schistose beds, so that no single layer can be 

followed for any considerable distance.

The rocks, when crinkled, contain many intercalated masses of 

quartz, occupying the crests of the little anticlines and filling lenticular spaces along the flanks of the folds. These quartz masses represent in miniature the structure of the pyritic ore body of the Ely 

mine. (See PL I.)

The quartz may represent the residual silica freed in a sericitic 

alteration of the rocks or may be a pegmatitic exudation from a 

deeper-seated granitic magma. The study of .thin sections of the ores 

and rocks suggests the origin last named and connects the mineralization of the region with that of the granite intrusions.

The granite masses of the county all resemble the Barre granite 

and are believed to be parts of a general mass. The Barre rock is a 

normal quartz-biotite granite, with accessory muscovite and apatite. 

It has a fairly uniform composition as a whole, but shows varied 

border facies, a feature noted in the Orange County bosses as well. 

The Barre intrusion has associated with it numerous dikes of pegmatitic granite, which, according to Finlay, grade into quartz veins and 

were accompanied by intrusions of camptonite in dikes.*

ORE DEPOSITS. 

GENERAL, CHARACTER.

The deposits of the Vermont copper belt occur as lenticular masses 

in foliated micaceous schists. They therefore simulate the. type 

known as bedded deposits, being apparently entirely conformable to 

the schistosity of the inclosing rocks. The outcrops are generally 

concealed, however, except where the bed is exposed by mining operations. The ore forms lenses that differ considerably in horizontal 

extent and thickness, and these lenses overlap, the lower end of one 

lens overlying the upper end of another. This feature was observed 

at the Copperfield mine and at the Union mine in Corinth.

Some ore bodies show a clearly defined foot wall, but more commonly they grade into the adjacent rock. As a rule, the foot wall 

is more regular than the hanging wall, the latter showing frequent 

undulations.

The horizontal extent of the ore lenses differs considerably at the 

different mines and indeed in the different lenses of the same mine.

«Finlay, G. I., The granite area of Barre, Vt. : Kept. State Geologist Vermont for 

1901-2, 1902, p. 50.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

SCHIST FROM ORE BED OF ELY MINE, ELY, V
VEBMONT. 21

In the Elizabeth mine the ore body has been extracted for 700 feet 

horizontally, and in the Ely mine a lens over J.OO feet across has been 

mined. Along its strike the ore mass may either end in a blunt 

wedge, in some places showing a mere film continuing along the 

horizon, or the ore may fork into rapidly thinning wedges, or simply 

grade into country rock by an increasing amount of " slaty " material. 

The horizon of this Elizabeth ore body is traceable for nearly a mile, 

and another ore body (Keynolds) is found on its continuation 1| 

miles northward.

The thickness differs according to locality. In the open-cut workings at the Elizabeth mine the ore is as much as 100 feet wide, and 

on the 225-foot level it measures 35 feet between walls; it has a 

maximum width of 12 feet at the Union and adjacent properties in 

Corinth ToAvnshlp, and of 20 feet at the Copperh'eld property.

The depth to which these deposits extend is not known. At the 

Ely mine the inclined shaft is 3,400 feet long. As already noted, the 

ore body consists of several lenses, one of which may pinch out; but 

in the Union and Ely mines the ore continues in overlapping lenses 

to the greatest depth attained.

The ore bodies are remarkably free from water. At a depth of 

3,400 feet on the dip or 1,500 feet vertically the Ely ore body is very 

dry, the water of the mine being confined to a few hundred feet of 

upper workings. The ore and incasing rock are very solid in all the 

mines and practically no timbering is used.

THE ORES.

The ore consists of pyrrhotite (magnetic pyrite of iron, locally 

mundic) with scattered grains and irregular masses of chalcopyrite 

and small amounts of pyrite and zinc blende. The gangue contains 

quartz, actinolite, garnet, and other metamorphic minerals; in the 

main part of the ore body it consists of very massive pyrrhotite, with 

small amounts of quartz, etc.

The copper appears to be confined to the chalcopyrite, and though 

it is asserted by some observers that the pyrrhotite of the Elizabeth 

mine contains some copper, an examination of thin sections indicates 

that the copper is held in minute grains of chalcopyrite. This is 

shown in Plate II, in which the lightest areas are chalcopyrite, the 

polished specimen being photographed in reflected light.

The chemical composition of the ores is shown by the following 

average of chemical analyses of 11 samples of ore, about 8,500 

pounds, taken at intervals along the drift in the Elizabeth mine. It 

should, however, be understood that this ore contains less silica than 

the ores of other localities. The analyses were furnished by John N. 

Judson.
22 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

Average composition of copper ore from the Elizabeth mine, South Strafford, Vt.

Copper ______»________________________ ft 2. 54

Iron . ______ ___________ 32.15

Silica _______________________________ 29.10 

Lime __ ___________ 1.70

Sulphur _____-_______________________________________ 19. 98

Magnesia. _'._____________________________ 2.72 

Alumina ________________________________ 7.43 

Zinc _____________________ 1.07

96.23 

Gold _ _________________trace to 0.2 ounce per ton.

Silver _ ___.__________trace to 0.2 ounce per ton.

The ore when cobbed to 5 per cent gave: Iron, 30 per cent; silica, 

21.4 per cent. The Ely ore carries about 15 per cent more silica and 

the Corinth ores are of intermediate character. The relative amounts 

of silver and copper in the ore are about 0.1 ounce of silver to 1 per 

cent of copper. . Gold is commonly present in mere traces, and 

though the values in some lots run up to $1.20 per ton of ore they are 

spotty and seem to bear no relation to the percentage of copper. The 

blister copper produced at the Ely smelter in 1899 gave 13 ounces 

silver and $2 in gold per ton.

Unlike the Elizabeth ores the product of the Copperfield mine 

shows a very uneven distribution of the silver values, as shown by 

the following assays of selected ores:

Assay of copper ores from the Copperfield or Ely mines, West Fairlee, Vt.

[In ounces per ton.]

No. of sample.

1....................................................................................

2.........;...........-.-.-.-.-......................................................

g

4 (Eureka) ..........................................................................

Silver.

1 9Q

«o

.76

Copper.

OO 1 C

19 75

19.65

ORIGIN OF THE DEPOSITS.

The Ely ore body at Copperfield occurs along the line of one of 

the minor buckles or folds of the schists, where the beds have slipped 

and parted in folding, leaving a series of connected open spaces like 

the saddles along certain anticlinal folds. These spaces were found 

and followed by the mineralizing solutions. The ore was deposited 

partly in open spaces and partly by replacement, and it is later than 

the quartz lenses found in the rocks. In the Elizabeth ore body at 

South Strafford the ore occurs along the contact of a narrow dike 

of medium-grained biotite granite, cutting the normal schist. This 

granite is more or less replaced by ore, as is also the wall rock.

0 Highest, 8.32 per cent; lowest, 1.7 per cent.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

POLISHED SPECIMEN OP ORE FROM ELY, V

Reflected light, Light areas are chalcopyrite in schist 
VERMONT. ' 23

The conclusions reached by Smyth and Smith* as to the origin of 

the ores are as follows:

1. The two ore bodies have been formed mainly by replacement, at the Elizabeth along a fault fracture, and at the Ely along openings formed by folding. 

2. The formation of these ore bodies was not connected with the principal 

folding and general metamorphism of the region, but was subsequent to it.

3. The regional metamorphism, to which period we refer the formation of 

the fractured quartz lenses and veins, does not seem to have been attended in 

this district.with the formation of metallic sulphides in the open spaces along 

with the quartz. v

4. The formation of the sulphide deposits probably followed closely on the 

intrusion and consolidation, at the levels now visible, of the biotite granite. 

There is reason to believe that the broad arch, on the eastern flank of which 

these sulphide deposits occur, is underlain by a great batholith of biotite 

granite. The local buckling at Copperfleld and the faulting movement at Elizabeth may be explained by the shrinking and settling of such a batholith in 

cooling, which would necessarily bring down the overlying 1'OCkS unequally.

5. On account of the association in both localities of the ore with the tourmaline, and on account of the vigor with which the country rock has been attacked 

and the completeness with which it has been replaced, we think it probable 

that the mineralizing agents with the ores were derived from the deeper and 

unconsolidated portions of the-granite magma referred to, and that the mineralizing action was largely pneumatolytic 6 in character.

The significance of the graphite as a precipitating agent was noted 

by Cazin.0

COMPARISON WITH OTHER DEPOSITS.

The similarity of these deposits to those of Ducktown, Tenn., has 

already been remarked. They are also very similar in form and 

mineral contents to the deposits in the Province of Quebec, Canada, 

which lie almost due north of the Vermont belt. Almost all previous 

writers have remarked on this fact and have attempted to correlate 

the deposits as a geologic unit, basing their conclusions on the 

similarity of the rocks and their occurrence along the strike of the 

schists. The danger of such hasty correlation is shown by the study 

of the Quebec deposits by Dresser/2 His work proves that the talcose, 

micaceous, or chloritic schists at Quebec are disguised volcanics of 

early geological age and variable composition, but are largely diabasic 

in character. The so-called sandstones of the Ascot belt, in which 

the Capelton, Suffield, and Sherbrooke mines occur, are really a 

quartz porphyry; and the rocks of the westerly belt, embracing the 

copper mines of Acton, Upton, Roxton, Wickham, and St. Flavien,

« Op. cit, p. 678.

"Wheeler, H. A., School of Mines Quart., vol. 4, 1883, pp. 219-224. Posepny, F., 

Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 23, p. 207, 1894. Wendt, A. P., School of Mines Quart, 

vol. 7, 18S6, pp. 154-188. I-Iowe, H. M., Eng. and Min. .Tour, vol. 12, 1886, p. 327.

< Cazin, F. M. F., Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 23, 1894, pp. 605-606.

" Dresser, J. A., Rept. Canadian Geol. Survey for 1903, 1904, pp. 146-147.
24 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN" STATES.

a.re limestones with associated black graphitic shales intruded by 

igneous rocks, the copper ores being near and in places included in 

igneous masses.

MINES.

THE COPPERFIELD OR ELY MINE (vERSHIRE MINE). 

HISTORY.

The Copperfield or Ely mine, near the village of West Fairlee, is 

the best known, as it is the deepest mine in the State. It was for 

many years known as the Vermont copper mine, and though other 

copper deposits have been worked the Ely has been the one great 

mine of the State.

The Ely mine was discovered in 1821, the burnt appearance of the 

outcrop leading to digging by the neighboring farmers. The discoverers organized the Farmers Company and opened up a body of 

good ore which they smelted in a rude furnace. This was continued 

with more or less success and interruption until in 1853 the Vermont 

Copper Mining Company acquired the property, completed an adit 

(tunnel) and opened up an ore body 8 to 16 feet in thickness that 

averaged over 9 per cent copper, as shipped, some shipments yielding 

as much as IT per cent. The property was worked successfully, yielding large profits, from 1870 to 1880, but later, in consequence of bad 

management and litigation, it changed hands. It was then successfully and profitably worked for seven years, clearing over $4,000 a 

month in 1888. The following year further litigation led to a 

change of ownership, and, with other causes, led to the closing down 

in 1892-93. It was ac'quired by Mr. George Westinghouse in 1899.

a

PRODUCTION.

No records are at hand .to show the production prior to 1854. The 

production since that year is, so far as known, given in the following 

table:

Production of Copperfield mine.

Tors.

Copper ore shipped, 1S54-1860 _______________ . 3, 270

1861 ________ -. _________ 1, 812

1863___________________ 1,430

. 1865___________________ 1,430

Pounds.

Metallic copper produced, 1870_______________ 943,461-. . 

Average amount pig copper produced annually, 1872-

1882 (sold to Ansonia Brass and Copper Co.)-_____ 2, 500, 000 

Copper produced, 1876_______________________ 1, 646, 850

1880___________________~-- 3,186,175 

1890____________-_____ 7, 500,000
VEEMONT. 25 

DEVELOPMENT.

The deposit was first developed by long crosscut adits (tunnels) 

 which, however, opened up comparatively small amounts of ore. An 

incline shaft was then begun and gradually extended downward, the 

ore being stoped .out on each side as the worked progressed. When 

the ore pinched out downward, which has happened four or five 

times in the history of the mines, winzes were sunk in the foot wall 

and the upper end of the new lens was opened. This incline was 315 

feet long in 1861: its depth was 1,800 feet in 1886 and 3,386 feet 

in 1903.

REDUCTION WORKS.

The property was equipped with smelting Avorks early in its history, and was.for many years regarded as a model in this respect. 

In 1885 there were 24 brick furnaces of a type originating here and 

called the Vershire type. Rapid advances in metallurgical treatment soon made the plant antiquated, and it was remodeled by Cazin 

in 1888-89 and a 100-ton concentrator built at an expense of $53,000. 

The plant erected at that time is estimated to have cost $700,000.

After the purchase of the property by the present owners various 

changes were made and a year's work done. The result was not satisfactory, for although equipped with modern water-jacket blast furnaces, reverberatories, and a B.essemer plant, the treatment of raw 

sulphides resulted in low-grade mattes (14 per cent) and the retreatment of material so increased the cost as to render the work 

unprofitable. . The ore was found to be lower grade than had been 

expected and very siliceous.

THE ORES.

The ore deposit is composed of two lenticular masses, averaging 

100 feet in horizontal extent, 10 feet in thickness, and 100 to 300 feet 

along the dip. The ore bodies appear to be conformable to the 

foliation of the inclosing schists and therefore simulate bedded deposits. The strike is north and south and the dip is 24° E.

The ore consists of magnetic pyrite and chalcopyrite, with some 

pyrite and sphalerite and intergrowths of quartz and actinolite; in 

the leaner ores biotite, calcite, garnet, and other characteristic metamorphic minerals occur. The chalcopyrite is partly of the same age 

as the pyrrhotite, but the larger masses of this mineral fill fractures 

in the pyrrhotite and represent the filling of later fractures.

A study of the thin sections of the ore made for me by T. L. Watson 

shows conclusively that the sulphides are of later formation than 

the silicates. The lean ore consists of quartz, with a mesh of hornblende needles, all more or less altered: Actinolite is present in small 

amount. Zoisite, so common in the analogous ores of Tennessee, is
26 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

entirely absent. Brown biotite mica is very common in the ore, 

forming tufts and groups of elongated shreds. In some samples 

much of the biotite is altered to brownish red rutile. An examination of the ore on the dump shows that although in some specimens 

hornblende and biotite occur together, yet there is a general tendency 

toward segregation of one or the other.

The ores, as mined, carry an average of 3 per cent copper. They 

contain small amounts of gold and silver and a little zinc, and are 

free from arsenic and antimony. The Bessemer copper contains 

about 13 ounces of silver and $2 in gold per ton.

The average composition of the ore (from information furnished 

by the owners) is:

Average composition of ore of Copperfield mine,

Copper ____ _ ____________ 3. 31 

Iron________'____________________________ 30. 39 

Sulphur __________________________^_____ 14. 71 

Insoluble______________________________ 36. 67

An interesting feature of the ore and one that has an important 

bearing on its treatment, is the brittleness of the quartz. So marked, 

is this that when the ore is subjected to coarse crushing it }7 ields 

about 40 per cent of fines which carry more silica than the lump ore. 

The following analyses, kindly furnished by the owner, show the 

results of actual tests on large samples of No. 1 ore: ;. 

Analyses of coarse and fine ore.

Copper....................... ............... ..... ..............................

Coarse.

4.45

33.5

20.5

31.1

Fine.

1.70

25.3

13.6

45.4

PETROGRAPHY OF THE ORES AND ROCKS.

MINERALS OF THE ROCKS.

Thin sections of the rocks and ores of the Ely mine at Copperfield 

have been carefully studied under the microscope by Prof. T. L. 

Watson, and as the ores anli rocks are fairly typical for the entire 

district the results of his study are given here in detail.

The thin sections show the rocks to be crystalline schists, usually of 

a pronounced and thinly foliated type. Several exceptions, however, may be rioted, in which the thinly foliated structure is not apparent in the thin sections and the rock would probably be more 

properly classed as a mica gneiss. Except for the coarse foliation 

the rocks are the same as the schists in all essentials.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

PYRRHOTITE ORE FROM ELY, VT

Natural light.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

PYRRHOTITE ORE FROM ELY, VT., SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF CHALCOPY

Same specimen as Plate III; light reflected from mirror-like sur
VERMONT. 27

The thin sections show that the dominant type is a biotite gneiss 

containing some muscovite and feldspar; the thinly foliated rocks 

from the mine are alterations of this gneiss, impregnated with pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite.

In studying the thin sections of the rocks two types are distinguished. In one type the principal ferromagnesian mineral is biotite ; in the other it is hornblende.

The type most abundant is a biotite rock, noted as gneiss or as 

schist gneiss if thick banded and schist if thin banded. The principal minerals of this rock are quartz and biotite, some muscovite, and 

a little feldspar. Much calcite appears in several of the thin.sections, 

and garnet is present in all, but is more abundant in some than in 

others. All the rocks are mineralized to some degree with the sulphides pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite.

The second type of rock, represented by only one section (No. 106), 

is a hornblende schist. The principal minerals are large, stout 

blades of bluish-green hornblende, quartz, some feldspar, and a little 

calcite. Hornblende is very abundant,, with prismatic cleavage developed in one direction parallel to the longer axis of the shreds; it 

is more or less altered and frayed out around the edges, and is filled 

with grains of other minerals, which impart to it a mottled appearance. Much calcite is associated with the hornblende as a secondary 

mineral, replacing in part the hornblende substance. A noticeable 

feature is the absence of biotite. The section shows impregnations 

of the sulphide ores pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite.

Only one other section of the rocks showed the presence of hornblende (No. 102). In this section both biotite and hornblende appear, but not in very intimate association. The biotite alternates 

as thin bands with the light-colored minerals distributed over one 

part of the section and hornblende similarly distributed over the 

other part. Very few scattered shreds of the biotite occur with the 

hornblende. The hornblende substance is much leached, and iir 

many cases it is nearly or quite colorless, except along the lines of 

cleavage and fracture, where' yellowish-brown staining from the 

liberated iron oxide appears. Both garnet and calcite appear, and 

the section is strongly mineralized with the sulphides pyrrhotite and 

chalcopyrite.

A very marked feature of the sections as a whole is the very conspicuous effects from squeezing and mashing shown in the mineral 

constituents. These are: Conspicuous foliation resulting in the 

parallel arrangement of the individual minerals along a definite 

direction; abundant irregular fractures crossing the quartz and feldspar individuals and frequent similar rupturing of the biotite and 

hornblende; peripheral granulation of many of the larger quartz 

anhedra; frequent bent and curved shapes of the biotite shreds; and
28 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

prevailing undulous extinction of the individual minerals, especially 

quartz and feldspar. In several sections micrographic intergrowths 

of quartz and feldspar are observed, and the usual sprinkling of the 

common accessories in such rocks is noted in all the sections.

There appears no real evidence for regarding any of the rocks 

other than the equivalents of profoundly altered and metamorphosed 

sediments.

THE MINERALS OF THE GANGUE.

The thin sections show the common minerals in association with 

the ores to be quartz, biotite, tourmaline, hornblende, feldspar, and 

a little calcite. The relation of the ores to each other suggests 

that their formation does not belong entirely to a single period, but 

that at least two periods, separated by an indefinite time interval, 

were involved.

Quartz. Quartz is one of the most abundant if not the most 

abundant minerals in both the veins and the country rock. It occurs 

in large and small anhedra, always exhibiting fracture lines and 

wavy extinction and generally containing inclusions whose exact 

identity is not determinable in every specimen. It further occurs 

as irregular small grains of roughly rounded outlines through the 

ore substance. In every case the quartz seems older than the ores, 

as shown, by the latter penetrating and filling the cracks in the 

quartz, and by the distinct replacement of more or less of the quartz 

substance.

Biotite. Like quartz, biotite forms one of the most abundant 

silicate minerals in the veins and the country rock. It is deep brown 

in color, possesses strong absorption, and occurs as single shreds and 

aggregates, though most abundant as aggregates. The shreds are 

frequently bent and curved, and in some specimens they are broken 

ucross. The sulphide ores have penetrated along the cleavage and 

fracture lines, and in many places completely surround and inclose 

the shreds, indicating that the biotite is the older.

Tourmaline. Tourmaline, which is fairly abundant in nearly all 

of the thin sections, is the most interesting of the gangue minerals. 

Its presence indicates the action of fumarolic vapors. So far as 

the writer is aware, its occurrence with copper ores is very unusual 

in America, though it has been occasionally noted in foreign localities.

Its microscopic characters are definite in the sections studied, and 

there can be no question as to its identity. It is light brown in color, 

possesses strong absorption, and is usually very much fractured. 

Both basal and prismatic sections occur, the latter probably being the 

most common. It is, in every case, older than the ores. The ore 

fills the irregular fractures°of the tourmalin©, and in many instances 

the tourmaline is inclosed by the ore.
VEBMONT. 29

Am-phibole. Amphibole has been observed in most of the thin sections of the vein material. It can without doubt be referred to the 

variety hornblende. It forms single grains and shreds, part of 

which exhibits the two prismatic cleavages strongly and equally developed ; the other part develops only one cleavage parallel to the 

longer axis of the individual. In many specimens the hornblende has 

suffered much leaching, and it is accordingly rendered nearly or 

quite colorless. The yellow-brown staining of the liberated iron 

oxide is very noticeable along the cleavage directions in much of the 

leached mineral. The sulphides have been deposited along the cleavage directions and in the broken parts of the hornblende, replacing 

the latter mineral in part.

Feldspar. Feldspar is not uncommon in some of the sections, though 

it is less abundant than either of the minerals described above. Both 

potash and plagioclase species are recognized. It shows more or less

alteration, and in common with the other minerals it has suffered 

from pressure effects. It is older than the ores, the. latter bearing 

the same relation to the feldspar as to the minerals already described.

Garnet. Garnet has been observed in nearly all the sections of the 

country rock, but does not appear in any of the sections cut from 

the more completely mineralized rocks. It occurs in large coarsely 

crystalline grains without crystal boundaries and is much fractured 

from dynamometamorphism. It has a slightly reddish cast and its 

substance is remarkably fresh. The sulphide ores have usually 

filled in along the fracture lines.

Calcite. Calcite is by no means an abundant mineral in the sections, but it is fairly well scattered through a number of them. Like 

garnet, it has its greatest abundance in the slides from the leaner 

rocks. Where it is possible to make out the relation of the ore to 

this mineral, the evidence seems pretty conclusive that the ore entered 

after the formation of the calcite. It is, of course, not impossible 

that the calcite has had several periods of formation, though evidence 

is lacking to confirm this view.

MINERALS OF THE OKES.

The ore is made up almost entirely of. pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, 

very intimately intermingled. The ore, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, 

is massive granular, with no evidence of banding. In those sections 

showing the best development of the ores, irregular fracture lines are 

common alike to the pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, evidencing movement in the rocks since the formation of'the ores. In the larger 

masses of ore irregular, more or less rounded grains of quartz, biotite, 

and in some places tourmaline, may be detected through the ore 

substance.
30 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

Pyrrhotite. Pyrrhotite is variable in quantity, though present in 

all the thin sections and predominating in some. There seems good 

evidence for regarding it in general as the older of the two sulphides, 

since the chalcopyrite has been observed in several of the sections to 

penetrate and fill some of the fractures in the pyrrhotite.

Chalcopyrite. Chalcopyrite predominates in some sections and is 

in smaller amount than pyrrhotite in others. Both the chalcopyrite 

and pyrrhotite occur in granular and massive-granular form, and in 

no case has either been noted with crystal outline. The chalcopyrite 

may occur alone as disseminated grains through the silicate minerals, 

but it is very generally closely and intimately associated with the 

pyrrhotite. So intimate is the association between the two ores that 

it is in many specimens very difficult, if not impossible, to make out 

the exact relations between them, particularly as to which is the 

older. Indeed, the explanation most reasonable to the writer is to 

regard the relations as due to several periods of filling.

FORMATION OF THE ORES.

1 Sufficient detail has been cited above to show that after the formation of the silicate minerals (biotite, tourmaline, hornblende, garnet, 

and feldspar) the rocks were subjected to considerable movement and 

crushing, perhaps also to folding and faulting. Later, the solutions of the metallic sulphides entered and were precipitated along 

arid in the fractures, replacing more or less the substance of the 

silicate minerals. This was succeeded by another period of deformation, which resulted in further crushing and fracturing of the silicates 

and the precipitated metallic sulphides, followed probably by further 

mineralization by the metallic sulphides. Much replacement of the 

silicate minerals by the sulphide's has been involved in the formation

of the ores of the district.

ELIZABETH MINE. 

EQUIPMENT AND WOKKINGS.

The Elizabeth mine, at Copperas Hill, near the town of South 

Strafford, and about 6 miles due south of Copperfield (Ely mine), 

is the oldest copper mine in the State. It was opened in 1793, the 

magnetic pyrite being used for the manufacture of copperas (sulphate of iron). The manufacture of copperas was continued for 

many years, until the discovery of increasing amounts of copper led 

to the working of the property for that metal and the building of a 

smelting plant. The production was 2,804 tons in 1883, and 3,299 

tons from 1881 to 1884.

The mine is equipped with a power plant, a 4-drill air compressor, 

ore bins, crusher, picking belt, and a small smelter plant.
VERMONT. 31

The early development consisted of open-cut work with a 60-foot 

drift. In 1886 a vertical shaft 160 feet deep was sunk in the hanging 

wall, cutting the ore at a depth of 100 feet and continuing in it to 

the bottom. From this shaft, at a point 50 feet below the surface, 

two drifts were driven, one 200 feet southward, connecting with" the 

open-cut work, and another 300 feet northward. At the 110-foot 

level two other drifts were driven, one 100 feet southward and the 

other 225 feet northward, -and a drift at the 160-foot level 

afforded the main stoping ground. A winze 60 feet deep connects 

this drift with the 225-foot adit workings. In 1898 a crosscut 

.tunnel 1,340 feet long was finished, opening up the ore body 225 feet 

below the outcrop. There is 578 feet of drifting on this level.

THE ORES.

The ore body (fig. 2) is interlaminated with micaceous schists, 

forming a lens whose axis pitches gently to the north, making a long

Section on A-B

Section on C-D 

FIGURE 2. Section showing occurrence of the Elizabeth ore body, South Strafford, Vt.

outcrop and indicating a large lens. The foot-wall rock is harder 

and more quartzose than the hanging-wall material. The foot wall 

is smooth and regular and in the open-cut workings is seen to form 

a well-defined plane with a dip of 70° E. The ore body has a 

northeast-southwest course. The ore lens is 60 feet in maximum 

thickness and not more than 150 feet long and is said to pinch out 

along the outcrop at a point about 700 feet south of the shaft. Its 

width varies from 25 to 100 feet along this open cut. On the 225-foot 

level the ore measures 35 feet between walls, but only 24 feet of this 

has been extracted. As seen in the open cut, the ore body is a compound one, with a slab of schist 2 to 5 feet thick separating the main 

mass from the hanging-wall layer.

The ore is similar in mineralogic character to that of the other 

deposits of the belt. The ore varies from 1.7 per cent to 3.32 per 

cent; its average composition has already been given (p. 22). The 

best ore occurs in the central 6 to 8 feet, and becomes lower grade as
32 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

the walls are approached, the ore passing gradually into the country 

rock. This feature is particularly well shown in the foot Avail at the 

north end of the 225-foot level. Samples from each section of the 

vein were assayed and yielded the percentages of copper shown in 

the following table. The figures were furnished by Mr. John N.

Judson:

Copper in ore from Elizabeth mine.

No. of sample.

1.......................................................................

2. ......................................................................

3.......................................................................

4..............-.....--..............................................:..

5.......................................................................

6....................................................................... 7..................:............................-.......................

8.......................................................................

9.......................................................................

10. .....................................................................

11............................................................... ;......

Copper.

3.32

1.70

2.81

2.03

2.42

2.C5

2.27

2.50

2.42

3.17

Iron.

24.1

30.0

1G.O

27.4

43.5

20.0

35.2

29.7

- 27.2

35.5

31 n

Insoluble!

43.1

' 40.0

59.8

2.0

19.6

53.3

31.5

33.8

40.8

29. C

39.0

Each sample represents a width of 10 feet. As already noted 

(p. 21) this ore is low in silica compared with other properties in 

the State. The total amount developed is estimated by private parties at 275,000 tons of 3 per cent material. In working this mine 

in 1899 and 1900 the ore was broken and sorted into two grades, the 

richer portion (No. 1) carrying about 4 per cent copper and amounting to 30 to 35 per cent of the total tonnage, was hauled to the railroad and shipped. The second-class ore (No. 2), averaging but 2 per 

cent copper, was placed on roast heaps for local treatment. Only 

5 per cent of waste was produced in sorting the ore.

. CORINTH MINES.

The mines of Corinth Township are about 11 miles north of 

Copperfield and 7 miles west of the Boston & Maine Eailroad. The 

ore bodies lie in gneissoid rocks that are somewhat harder than the 

micaceous schists to the south. There are two adjoining mines, the 

Union and the Eureka.

UNION MINE. 

The Union mine was first opened in 1866. The production from 

that year up to 1881, inclusive, amounted to 31,504 tons of ore, carrying 8.5 per cent to 10 per cent copper. In 1879 and 1880 a total of 

5,712,604 pounds of fines, carrying 2.7 per cent to 4.5 per cent copper, 

was sent to the Copperfield smelter.

The property is developed by an inclined shaft about 900 feet 

long, reaching to 766 feet below the adit level. To a depth of 300 

feet four overlapping lenses of ore were worked. The shaft leaves 

the ore at a depth of 500 feet on the incline below the adit level
MASSACHUSETTS. 33

and continues downward in the hanging-wall schists. The lower ore 

bodies are developed by winzes sunk in the foot wall. Assay of a 

sample of selected ore from the dump showed 8.15 per cent copper. 

25 per cent silica, traces of gold, and 0.3 ounce silver per ton. The 

vein has a north-south course, dips 30° E., and has an average thickness of 8 feet.

EUREKA MINE.

The Eureka mine lie's south of the Union. It has been opened by 

an inclined shaft said to be 500 feet deep and two adit levels, the' 

uppermost cutting the vein at a depth of 200 feet below the outcrop. 

The vein is said to average 8 feet in thickness and about 100 feet in 

horizontal extent. Selected samples of the rich ore contained 19.65 

per cent copper, 19.52 per cent silica, and 0.76 ounce silver per ton 

of ore.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Copper minerals occur at a number of localities in Massachusetts, 

but the deposits of true copper ore are all small and attempts to work 

them have so far been unsuccessful. The Triassic sandstones carry 

native copper at many localities, but not in sufficient abundance to 

make the deposits Avorkable.

DAVIS MINE.

The well-known Da vis pyrite mine at Da vis, in Franklin County, 

4 miles from Charlemont, is a lens of pyrite interbedded with schist. 

It has been worked for many years, yielding a firm crystalline 

pyrite, with a little chalcopyrite which was separated by hand picking mixed with the roasted cinder from the acid works', and smelted, 

as early as 1885.°

The mine is now 1,000 feet deep and produces about 400 tons of 

mineral a day. Contrary to the usual experience in pyritic lenses in 

metarnorphic schists, the copper contact is as great at this depth as 

at the surface. The ore, after roasting for the extraction of sulphur, 

is sent to Garmar, N. J., and its copper content extracted by leaching 

and precipitation on scrap iron.

The mine is in Rowe Township, only a few miles south of the Vermont line, in the southern continuation of the Green Mountain region. 

The district has been studied and mapped by Prof. B. K. Emerson,'' 

from Avhose work on Old Hampshire County, Mass., the following 

notes are taken.

The Davis pyrite deposit occurs in the Hawley schist, a formation 

of Ordovician age, composed mainly of sericite schist with intrusive 

bands of amphibolite. The prevalent rock is a dark-green soft, chlo-

« Mineral Resources U. S. for 1883-84, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1885, p. 8Y6; Idem for 1885, 

1886, p. 503.

o Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. 29, 1898, pp. 270, 271.

81777° Bull. 45'5 11 3
34 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

ritic schist, crowded with porphyritic grains of brown ankerite a 

fraction of an inch across. When the rock carries tufts of hornblende it is called f asciculite.

The belt of Hawley schist carries lenticular beds and impregnations 

of pyrite in Hawley Township and northward. Many beds have 

been unsuccessfully opened, the Davis mine, near the east line of 

Kowe Township, being thus far the only continuous producer.

The Davis pyrite deposit is a great lens, 6 feet to 24 feet thick, that 

lies intercalated between sericite schist on the west and chlorite schist 

on the east. The deposit has a strike of N. 30° E. and a dip of 70° E., 

both conforming closely to that of the inclosing rocks. The deposit 

consists of coarsely granular pyrite, with some admixed chalcopyrite, 

blende, garnet, and gahnite, the two last named being rare. In 1892 

the bed had been opened for 700 feet along the strike and to 425 feet 

in depth. The total output to January 1, 1892, was 334,552 tons.

OTHER MASSACHUSETTS DEPOSITS.

At most of the other properties the pyrite is not pure, but requires 

concentration. All the pyrite beds of the region contain small 

amounts of chalcopyrite, and near Plainfield small amounts of ore 

have been mined. Bornite occurs in a sericite schist much impregnated with granitic material.*

About 2 miles west of the Davis mine a property opened in 1900 

and intermittently worked since that date shows, according to information furnished to Stevens Handbook by Prof. W. 0. Crosby, an 

approximately vertical vein, conforming in strike and dip to the 

inclosing Savoy schist.

It is apparently a fahlband, lacking well-defined walls, the ore being scattered 

through 15 to 20 feet of schist. There is a seam of well-mineralized quartz,

6 to 12 inches wide, lying along the south wall, and on the north wall there is 

a streak of chalcopyrite 1 to 2 feet wide. The Arein is exposed by stripping 

and crosscutting for a distance of 700 feet.6

At Windsor Bush, 11 miles from Charlemont and 6 miles west of 

Plainfield, in Hampshire County, a property was opened in 1903, 

supposedly on the same belt as the Davis mine. In that year, according to information* received from Mr. Charles Hallock, the mine 

was equipped with two steam hoists and had a shaft 100 feet deep, 

on which the first 60 feet was vertical and the remainder inclined. 

The vein was said to be 17 feet wide. The mine was supposed to be 

located on the same belt of hornblende gneiss as the Orange County, 

Vt., mines and as the copper mine at Simsbury, Conn., but this is not 

confirmed by Emerson's map. 0

0 Emerson, B. K., op. cit., p. 171.

6 Stevens, H. J., Copper handbook, vol. 6, 1906, p.

o Op. cit, PI. XXXV.
COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES. 35

CONNECTICUT. 

OCCURRENCE AND CHARACTER OF ORES.

Copper occurs at a number of localities in Connecticut, accompanying the trap ranges which extend south from Granby through 

Avon, Southington, Cheshire, and Hamden. The ores are observed 

only \vhere the trap cuts the Triassic rocks, the copper being found 

either in the trap or in the adjoining indurated sandstone, most 

abundantly in the latter.

Pyrite deposits of sufficient purity to work have not been found in 

Connecticut. Pyrrhotite occurs at Prospect Hill, in western Litchfield, near Bradleyville, but the ore is not clean.

The association of the copper ores with the trap rocks was noted 

by Percival in 1842. He says: a

All the metallic veins * * * are found either in the trap or in the shale 

or sandstone immediately adjoining. When they occur in the trap they are 

found in its lateral portions, particularly in the amygdaloid. The metallic 

veins in the trap have usually a matrix of sulphate of barytes, quartz, and 

calcareous spar, and occasionally contain seams or nodules of indurated bitumen. * * * It [the copper] is also more particularly connected with the 

range of West Rock and Mount Carmel, the posterior trap range north of the 

latter, and the fourth eastern main trap range from the Hanging Hills 

northward.

Percival adds: 6

"Copper ores also occur in the chloritic schists and the hornblendic schists 

extending along the eastern border of the Norwich range, in the belt in which 

the Bristol mine occurs, and in the micaceous schist range of South Coventry, 

Mansfield, and Chaplin, north of New London.

The ores comprise native copper, the green and blue carbonates, 

and chalcopyrite and bornite. .The native metal occurs in the usual 

platy masses, jagged nuggets, and seams and knots in the trap rocks 

or the adjacent sandstones. According to Shepard 0 it occurs at 

Hamden and Farmington. Bornite occurs in the quartz veinlets 

cutting the trap rock of the Rocky Hill quarries at Hartford and at 

Winsted. It is the chief ore of the Bristol copper mine.

HARTFORD COUNTY DEPOSITS.

SIMSBURY (NEWGATE) MINES.

Copper glance (chalcocite) is the chief ore mineral at the Simsbury copper mines in the eastern part of Granby Township, New 

Haven County. The Simsbury properties are probably the oldest

0 Percival, .T. G., Geology of Connecticut, 1842, pp. 317-318.

6 Op. cit., p. 47?>.

0 Shepard, C. U., Rept. on Geol. Survey of Connecticut, 1837, p. 41.
36 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

copper mines of America, being first worked under a charter granted 

in 1709, having been operated for about half a century. The property was purchased by the State about 1773 and used as a prison for 

60 years, from which fact the main working became known as the 

Newgate mine. It was eventually sold and was acquired in 1830 by 

the Phoenix Mining Co. The ore is found in "a fine-grained yellowish sandstone of peculiar character, which here appears to prevail through an extent of 2 or 3 square miles. The ore has been 

observed in several places in this formation, occurring in beds of 

greater or less extent, as well as in nodules and strings." Trap rock 

forms the trap conglomerate ridge south of the Newgate mine.0

HIGLEY MINE.

The Higley mine lies 1J miles south of the Newgate mine. The 

ore, like that at the Newgate mine, occurs impregnating a bed 2 feet 

thick, dipping eastward at an angle of 25°. Besides chalcocite the 

green and blue carbonates and red oxides occur. Bornite also occurs 

at the opening.

BRISTOL, MINE.

The Bristol copper mine is the only one in the State that has been 

successfully worked. The ore occurs in a well-marked contact deposit 

at the boundary line between Triassic sandstone and schistose rocks.

The contact runs northeast and southwest, has suffered great decomposition 

from mineral solutions, and has been largely kaolinized. A broad band of this 

decomposed material, 30 to 120 feet wide, lies next the sandstone and contains 

disseminated ore. Then follows micaceous and hornblende slates, with horses 

of gneiss here and there. The slates are much broken by movements that have 

formed cavities for the ores. It is reasonable to connect the stimulation of the 

ore currents with the neighboring trap outbreaks. Unusually fine crystals of 

chalcocite and barite have made the mine famous the world over. While at 

one time a source of copper, for many years it has been unproductive.6

The following notes condensed from Eichardson 0 on the history 

of the mine show the conditions existing in 1854:

The copper mine in Bristol was opened in 1839 and worked from 

1847 to 1854, reaching a depth of 240 feet and yielding over $200,000 

worth of copper in that period. The ores occur in a well-defined vein 

in a hill composed of gneiss and mica slate, the hill rising 500 feet 

above the red sandstone plain or valley. The vein has a course of 

N. 35° E., is 80 feet thick, has a hanging-wall band of gneiss and a

a Shepard, C. U., Kept, on Geol. Survey of Connecticut, 1837, pp. 41-42. 

»Kemp, J. P., Ore deposits of the United States, 1st ed., 1893, pp. 153-154. Silliman, B., 

and Whitney, J. D., Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., voh 20, 1855, p. 361. 

o Richardson, C. S., Min. Mag., vol. 3, 1854, pp. 251-254.
CONNECTICUT. 37

footwall composed of black and gray mica slate and black gneiss. 

The dip of the foot wall is 50°. The vein contains horses of 

"granite," the largest a rhombohedron 50 feet long, 40 feet thick, 

and 80 feet deep. The purest ore occurred in solid masses against 

this rock, with films of vitreous copper running in for 2 feet. The 

ore consists of bomite, which in its pure state contains 65 per cent 

copper and occurs in vugs and veinlets 1 inch to 5 inches across and 

as an impregnation associated with chalcopyrite and glance, this 

low-grade rock yielding a 5 per cent concentrate carrying 50 per 

cent copper.

In 1854 the mine was yielding every month 18 to 24 tons of ore 

worth $175 a ton, the ore being treated in jigs, the concentrates 

carrying 41 per cent copper and the slimes 18 per cent copper. It 

was observed that ore occurs where black gneiss approaches the 

granite horses. The gneiss is banded and shows a vertical slip OF 

slide and the more common mica slate of the neighborhood.

NEW HAVEN COUNTY DEPOSITS.

Near Mount Carmel, a few miles north of New Haven, an old 

working, once known as Tallman's mine, exists in Hamden Township, the ore occurring along the contact between trap and sandstone. In 1835 the incline was 50 feet deep. A crosscut 100 feet 

long driven through red marly sandstone was inaccessible.0

In southeast Cheshire a 3-foot dike of trap rock cuts sandstone, 

and both rocks contain impregnations of chalcocite with barite and 

copper carbonates. This property was mined in 1812 and again in 

1836. Similar ores occur a mile to the west, and also at a locality 

2 miles from Walcottville.

The pyritic quartz veins found at a number of places 6 and the 

Trumbull topaz-fluorite vein all carry chalcopyrite with galena.

At Carmel Center, 10 miles north of New Haven, a property 

opened by Mr. R. T. Townsend has furnished very fine specimens 

of native copper, copper oxides, and chalcopyrite in a hornblende 

gangue.

The following notes on the Stevenson mine at Bowers Hill, in 

Oxford, have been supplied by E. C. Eckel:

Copper pyrite impregnates the upper 6 inches to 1 foot of a 6-foot bed of 

highly crystaline limestone. The limestone is overlaid by hornblende schist, 

thinly foliated, and the entire series dips 25° to 30° NW., striking about 

N. 65° E. An inclined shaft 5 feet wide by 5 feet high follows down on the 

ore to a depth of 125 feet'on the dip. The ore bed is said to yield 20 per cent 

to 30 per cent chalcopyrite. Andrew B. Hendryx, of New Haven, Conn., is 

principal .owner.

0 Shepard, C. U., op. cit., p. 45. " Idem, pp. 48-49.
38 COPPEE DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

NEW YORK.

The High Falls and other pyrite mines at Pyrites, in St. Lawrence 

County, produced small amounts of copper in their early development, the pyrite shipped in 1885 carrying 3 per cent of copper. The 

mines have been steady producers of low-grade (26 per cent) pyrite 

for the Cleveland market for many years,® but no return of the 

copper ore produced is available.

Near Ellenville, Ulster County, a deposit of pyrites was worked in 

1.885. The vein is 2 to 3 feet wide and carries traces of copper. It 

consists of pyrite lenses conformably intercalated in metamorphic 

schist the " Oswegatchie series," of supposed pre-Cambrian age. 

The rocks strike northeast and southwest, and pyritic deposits occur 

for 4 miles, extending from the Cole mine, which lies 4 miles north 

of Gouverneur, north to the High Falls mines. The ore consists of 

pyrite with a quartz-feldspar gangue, with pyrrhotite at High Falls. 

There are three producing mines, the Cole, Stella, and High Falls.6

NEW JERSEY. 

HISTOBICAL NOTES.

The copper deposits of New Jersey were worked to a small extent 

in colonial days, chiefly by short tunnels or by quarrying out bunches 

of rich surface ores. Deposits in Warren County were mined in a 

small way in the seventeenth century by Dutch settlers and during 

Washington's New Jersey campaign the Revolutionary Army, which 

made its winter camp on Watchung Mountain, near Bound Brook, 

obtained from the bed of copper ore outcropping at that place enough 

metal to make a brass cannon, which Avas afterwards used in the siege 

of Yorktown. Early in the nineteenth century the Griggstown, 

Someryille, Plainfield, and Arlington localities were known and 

worked. In 1824 an expert smelterman from Germany installed and 

worked a smelter near Bound Brook, and a few years later operated 

a small furnace near Belleville, N. J., the ore coming from the Schuyler mine, which was worked at intervals for the remainder of the 

century. Small furnaces were built in at least a dozen different 

places, and were, for those days, successful. Along Wachung Mountain, from Plainfield west and north to Raritan River, the ore bed 

was opened by tunnels and open cuts, Avhose dump heaps and pits, 

now more or less overgrown by vegetation, are clearly recognizable. 

The writer has counted 21 of these old workings in a distance of 

4^ miles along the mountain from Chimney Rock (Bound Brook) 

westward, and has also seen the ruins of three smelting furnaces.

« Mineral Resources U. S. for 1885, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1886, p. 504.

"See Eckel, E. C., Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 260, 1905, pp. 587-588. Also Brinsmade, R. B., Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 80, 1905, pp. 770-771.
 NEW JERSEY. 39

The period of greatest activity in the Watchung Mountain region 

was from 1825 to 1850. For the 30 years succeeding, the Arlington (Belleville) was the only mine worked in a commercial way. 

About 1880 the American Copper Co. was organized and acquired 

numerous small holdings, embracing the woodlots of farmers, 

scattered along the front of the mountain back of Somerville 

and Bound Brook, and the old workings mentioned above. These 

properties were worked as a whole until 1882, when operations were 

suspended, as the optimistic expectations of the promoters had not 

been realized. In 1889 exploratory work was resumed and continued 

for several years, but it was not until 10 years later that the high 

price of copper, leading to a general renewal of interest in copper 

properties, caused this property and others at several different localities to be reopened and exploration and development to be resumed.

In 1904, in sinking on the ore bed of the Somerville, N. J., mine,

it was discovered that with depth the carbonate and oxide ores gradually passed into native copper, occurring not merely as sheets but 

disseminated through the rock. This discovery is new in the history 

of New Jersey and if this change is general and permanent it indicates a possible IICAV era for the New Jersey deposits.

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS OF THE DEPOSITS.

The red-sandstone series of New Jersey consist essentially of red 

shale and sandstone, with associated white and gray sandstone and 

gray shale. The series, which is known as the Newark group, extends from Connecticut southward to Virginia. It contains fossil 

remains, which determine its age as Triassic, and is furthermore 

characterized by gigantic footprints of great reptiles. That the 

rocks were deposited in shallow estuaries, like the bays of our coast, 

is indicated by mud cracks, raindrop impressions, and the reptilian 

tracks already mentioned,, as well as by the character and color of 

the rocks themselves. The country in which these rocks alone occur 

is of but slight elevation.

The trap rocks, are basic igneous rocks of very uniform chemical 

composition but of different physical textures, ranging from the 

basalts and dolerites of the Watchung Mountains to diabases. The 

trap rocks of the Watchung Mountains are lava flows contemporaneous with the sandstones. The other trap rocks of the State, 

whose most familiar example is seen in the Palisades of the Hudson, 

are intrusive sheets. The smaller intrusions commonly follow shaly 

bands and often persistently adhere to a single horizon. The rocks 

adjacent to such sheets show the effects of heat and steam in the 

baking and alteration of the sediments, but such contact metamorphism is usually confined to a narrow band. Both sandstones and 

trap sheets are generally tilted at gentle angles and are folded in
40 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

r ^ onHriines The trap rocks form the ridges and mounS" TfS to pa oT Jslte'their superior hardness enabling 

^ to rSstfte erosion that has carried away so large a part of

^a^ls "l^ish gray when freshly fractured but 

^ItapTe^nd the ore bodies are very regular. The Somer-

_ _ JJetuLRu't 

Oppper bed

$ Miles 

Isooo Feet

 , ,. - ~ --. - " '- """

ORE DEPOSITS.

Copper minerals occur at many localities in New Jersey in the

"*
NEW JERSEY. 41

further limited to trap intrusions and extrusions in that series. 

Deposits of past or prospective commercial importance occur only 

in connection with such rocks.

As shown by Dr. Cook a many years ago, the New Jersey copper 

deposits are not veins, but impregnated beds, either of sandstone 

above the trap rocks or of altered shale beneath them. Where the 

trap is intrusive, as at Arlington, New Brunswick, Griggstown, etc., 

the adjacent rocks are more or less altered by the heat of the igneous 

magma to contact metamorphic rocks, hornstones, etc. At Rocky 

Hill, glance and hematite occur under conditions that suggest a 

hydrothermal origin, and at Arlington the conditions also, indicate 

 reimpregnation of the overlying rocks, with subsequent slight alterations and migrations 'of the copper.

THE ORES.

The copper ores of New Jersey are commonly the" oxides, carbonates, and silicate of copper; cuprite, malachite, and chrysocolla 

are the most common, the black oxide, tenorite, and the blue carbonate, azurite, being rare. Associated with these ores, sheets and masses 

of native copper occur in joints and crevices of both trap rock and 

ore bed. Glance (ehalcocite), commonly associated with calcite, is 

also found. The other sulphides are rare, bornite occurring as a 

secondary product in the bowlders of decomposed rock of the subsoil at Chimney Rock, and chalcopyrite being found at Arlington 

and other localities as a secondary mineral filling fractures. Native 

silver occurs at several localities; it is associated with chrysocolla 

at Arlington, Somerville, and Raritan River.

In studying the occurrence.and distribution of the ore minerals it 

is necessary to distinguish the normal ore content of the vein (either 

unaltered or in its decomposition products) from the ore of secondary 

fractures extending down to considerable depths. Fractures carry surface waters and produce carbonate ores far below their normal level, 

but such ores are not a normal constituent of the deposit. The ores 

of the upper parts of the Somerville deposit are mainly red oxide of 

copper in nodules and bunches in the ore bed, with films of native 

copper in joint cracks. The cuprite varies considerably in luster and 

color; bunches of several pounds weight occur near the surface, where 

they are commonly surrounded by a crust of malachite and chrysocolla, often grading into a red or green jasperoid. In passing downward along the dip the carbonates disappear and red oxide is more 

abundant. This, in turn, changes to an earthy orange-colored powder or an aggregate of minute needles of copper oxide, associated 

with native copper, the latter becoming more and more abundant in 

depth until no oxide is seen.

" Cook, G. II., Geology of New Jersey, 1868, p. 675.
42 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

MINES. 

CONDITION.

The workings early in the century, some of them several hundred 

feet long, were abandoned because they could not be kept free from 

water by hand pumps, and at most of the deposits the old workings 

are inaccessible, tunnels being caved and filled with water and shafts 

blocked. The extent of the early workings, however, is known from 

'available records and can be inferred from the great dump heaps of 

waste and low-grade ore. In. 1905 the only underground workings 

accessible were those of the Arlington, Griggstown, Somerville, and 

Pahaquarry properties.

So far as known, the Somerville property, which is called the 

American mine, is the only one that has penetrated below the water 

level and below the zone of surface oxidation and alteration. For 

this reason the discussion of the genesis and permanency of 4he New 

Jersey ores, and of the mineralogical changes they undergo, is in 

large part based on the facts observed and the specimens collected 

at this mine. The matter is of great significance, as the commercial 

value of these low-grade deposits depends entirely upon it.

SCHUYLER MINE, AT ARLINGTON.

At Arlington the old Schuyler mine is now the property of the 

Arlington Copper Mining Co. Nearly $250,000 was expended 

here between 1900 and 1905, mostly in the erection of an expensive 

reduction plant of unique design, with good machinery, but of no 

, metallurgical value. It was .designed to treat 125 tons a day, but 

when run on the ore it was found that the tanks would not hold the 

solution and the copper would not precipitate.

The property comprises 150 acres, in part honeycombed by old 

workings, with 42 shafts, all but one now filled, and three drain 

tunnels, one of which drains the mine to the 100-foot level. Two 

inclines have been run in from the face of the sandstone bluff overlooking the Newark meadows. One incline is 220 feet long and 

connects through old workings with an old shaft. The second drift 

in only 80 feet long.®

GRIGGSTOWN MINE. 

LOCATION.

The Griggstown mine is in a hilly tract about 8 miles north of 

Princeton and about 3 miles north of Eocky Hill, the terminus of a 

branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad running north from

°Geol. Survey New Jersey: Ann. Kept. State geologist for 1900, 1901, pp. 209-212.
NEW JERSEY. 43

Monmouth Junction. The high trap ridges, locally known as Tenmile Mountain and Eocky Hill, are cut through by Millstone River, 

the principal tributary of the Raritan, and are excellently exposed 

near Rocky Hill. The copper property lies in the open, smooth, 

cultivated fields on the east side of the river, about 150 feet above' 

its bed and 200 feet above sea level. A wooded area Avith an outcrop 

of trap forms the summit of the hill, the mine being located on 

the smooth rounded slopes that extend downward to the Raritan 

Canal.

The property was worked early in the nineteenth century, and 

was cleaned out and reopened some years ago, but has produced no 

copper lately. The workings consist of several vertical shafts, now 

caved, a drain tunnel 1,200 feet long, and a> new incline shaft, together 

with stoped-out chambers. The main vertical shaft is said to be 

150 feet deep, but when visited was1 filled with water to the level of 

the old drain tunnel, and the accessible workings were all above this 

point.

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

But two rock types are found in this vicinity trap (or diabase) 

and red shales of the Newark group. The trap is a coarse-grained 

bluish-gray rock of very uniform character. It forms a thick, gently 

inclined sheet lying conformably with the red-shale beds into which 

it was intruded. These shales are more or less highly altered near 

the igneous rock, in some places for a distance of 100 feet vertically 

above the sheet. This alteration is particularly marked at the copper 

mine.

The deposit consists of an ore seam from an inch to a foot or more 

thick, occurring in and conformably to shales altered by contact 

metamorphism resulting from the intrusive sheet of trap. These 

shales are hard and dense and have lost their fissile character and 

may more properly be called hornstones. A noticeable feature of 

these rocks is a peculiar spotting, due to the presence of dark-colored 

spherical segregations, which are scattered singly or in groups 

through the dark purple rock. These segregations are of many 

sizes, ranging from minute pellets to globes an inch across, but 

most of them are about one-fourth.inch in diameter. They consist 

of green hornblende, in part altered to chlorite, and are commonly 

surrounded by a rim of bleached rock 1 millimeter wide. This 

is the rock which carries the ore, but when mineralized the groundmass is rotted and altered to a pale, flesh-colored or white, kaolinlike mass, in which the dark-green spherules resemble plums in a 

pudding.
44 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

THE ORES.

The ores consist of native.copper, red oxide of copper (cuprite), 

black glassy-looking tenorite (black oxide of copper), malachite, 

chrysocolla, copper glance, and rarely bornite. The ore seam also 

carries considerable micaceous hematite. These ore minerals occur 

in the leached and white altered hornstone.

The ore seam appears to be a bedding plane of the old shales, along 

which slipping has occurred during the tilting of the beds. It is, so 

far as observed, entirely conformable to the shales, and dips west at 

an angle of 10°. The trap sheet exposed on the summit of the ridge 

passes underneath the copper bed, and the exact thickness of rock 

between the ore and trap was not determined. The ore seam does not 

outcrop and the mine dumps are in a cultivated field, no rock appearing in place. However, the inclined shaft exposes an excellent section 

of the altered shales overlying the ore, and the ravine scoring the 

slope, from which the long drain tunnel was driven nearly a century 

ago, also shows good exposures of the shales.

The ore seam consists largely of altered, leached, and whitened 

rock with patches of ore, and of a soft blackish material which 

proves to be chlorite. Cracks run down and connect Avith chlorite 

bunches in the rock below* the ore seam proper, but no copper 

ore was found except in the thin seam mentioned. Samples of the 

soft chlorite, which in places forms a layer several inches thick, 

showed no visible copper minerals and on assay yielded only 0.69 per 

cent of copper. The ore follows fractures crossing the ore seam 

proper and is not uniformly distributed. The ore body worked consists of bunches of glance and oxidized ores, which cover irregularly 

elliptical areas of possibly a couple of hundred feet across. In mining so thin a seam the underlying waste had also been broken down. 

There is said to be a vertical vein of copper ore exposed in this shaft, 

and also a lower layer, a sheet of ore on the 150-foot level, but no 

evidence of this could be obtained on account of the water. Several 

nearly vertical fractures intersect the ore seam near the incline. 

These fissures are filled by crushed and altered rock and carbonates, 

and are said to carry gold, but assays made in the Survey laboratory 

failed to show even a trace of this.

The scientific interest of this deposit is very great, on account of 

the evident reducing action of the hornblende and chlorite on copperbearing solutions, but the discussion of the origin of the ore involves 

a consideration of the several cycles of uplift and erosion to which 

the region has been subjected since Triassic time and of the accompanying movements of percolating waters, which are supposed to 

have derived the copper through the alteration of the trap from a 

fresh basaltic lava or diabase sheet to its present condition.
NEW JERSEY. 45

AMERICAN MINE. 

WORKINGS AND EQUIPMENT.

A copper-bearing bed, which outcrops for several miles along the 

escarpment of Watchung Mountain, has been worked by the American 

Copper Mine Company. The main workings are 3 miles from Somerville, at the site of the old Bridgewater mine, where an incline shaft 

1.300 feet deep (on the dip) has been sunk on the ore bed, with 1,800 

feet or so of drifting. The drifts are 30 feet apart, alternating on 

each side, thus blocking out the ground in the same manner as in 

coal mining. No timber is used save for a few yards near the surface, 

and no shattering of rock has as yet occurred, the great trap sheet, 

600 feet thick, forming a perfect roof when supported by ore pillars 

and a cribbing of waste. The development is done with power drills, 

the softer fissile shale beds beneath the ore being first undercut and

extracted, as in coal mining, leaving a breast of ore easily shot down 

and free from waste. Thus far a large amount of ore has been 

blocked out, but it is low-grade; only below 600 to TOO feet, the depth 

where the change to native copper occurs, can an ore averaging 1£ 

per cent be profitably extracted. It should be stated, however, that 

systematic sampling by the mine superintendent is said to show over 

2 per cent of copper.

The surface plant consists of a 5-drill Rand compressor with 80- 

horsepower boiler, running two drills and the pumps, and a hoist 

with 12-horsepower Lidgerwood engine. The 50-ton mill is equipped 

with 60-horsepower boiler and engine, a crusher, two sets roughing 

rolls, drying screens, a sizer, and two Wilfley tables. Experiments 

in leaching the oxidized ores were made, but as the ore has changed 

to native copper in depth and this change appears to be permanent, 

the problem of treatment is greatly simplified.

The concentrate from the Wilfley tables carries-60 per cent copper 

as shotlike particles.

ORE DEPOSITS.

CHARACTER AND RELATIONS.

 The Watchung Mountain copper deposits are by far the most extensive in the State. Their character and occurrence throughout are 

apparently uniform, so that the deposit at the American mine, near 

Somerville., is typical, and its description will apply to all the Watchung Mountain deposits. The ore bed is a dense, firm, nearly uniform, 

purple rock, having a texture like that of a brick on cross fracture, 

and differing markedly from the underlying shales in its massiveness 

and uniformity. The bed ranges from 8 inches to 2^ feet in thickness. The rock also differs markedly from the shale in color, being
46 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

purplish instead of red. This purple tint is characteristic, and even 

after a half century of weathering on dump heaps is readily recognized. The earlier geologists recognized the changed appearance of 

the shale and assumed it to be due to contact metamorphism. It is 

quite possible that there has been a slight baking, for, although the 

evidence is conclusive that the Watchung basalt sheets originated as 

lava flows, spreading out over the tidal flats or shallow reaches of a 

great estuary, yet the same alteration which has been observed under 

lava flows in the Yellowstone Park and elsewhere is sufficient to 

produce the changes seen here. That this alteration is not wholly 

due to mere baking is shown by experiments with the underlying shale, and it is believed that later alteration has taken place. 

Especially interesting is the porous condition of the rock, which 

contains a great number of lenticular cavities such as might be 

made by sticking the point of a penknife into' a soft substance. 

Besides these open gash spaces there are many small irregular cavities. This porous texture is characteristic of both the purple rock 

and of the ore-bearing white spots in it down to 1,300 feet from the 

outcrop.

The copper minerals are not uniformly disseminated through the 

ore bed, but occur only in white spots or blotches irregularly scattered through the purple rock. In the deeper workings these spots, 

whose white or gray tint is in marked contrast to the surrounding 

purple rock, invariably carry ore, higher up as oxide dust lining 

minute cavities, and lower down as small nuggets and pellets of 

native copper disseminated through the light-colored rock.

As a rule the copper partly or wholly fills these pores in the white 

blotches of the beds. In large part the rock of the ore bed at 1,300 

feet and below is solid, the pores being filled by calcite, the significance of which and of the association of calcite and native copper 

will be discussed later (p. 54). Throughout most of the workings, 

however, not only of the American mine but of the adjacent properties as well, the rock of the ore bed is distinguished by the abovementioned pores.

The shale beneath the ore bed, where exposed by weathering, is 

soft and friable. In the mine workings it is compact and hard and 

is composed of different layers, which thin out abruptly, are often 

separated by micaceous partings and streaks, and vary in grain. 

Immediately beneath the ore the shale is very fine grained and 

dense, but shows calcite specks, and when treated with dilute acid 

shows an abundance of pores, often irregularly round and branching, of the same shape as many of the smaller particles .of native 

copper in the ore.
NEW JEESEY. 47

The base of the trap rock is frequently amygdaloidal at the contact, the smaller cavities being filled by calcite, the larger sometimes with quartz, calcite, laumonite, and manganocalcite.

The trap rock at and for several inches from the contact shows 

considerable alteration. The rock contains many small amygdules 

of calcite the size and shape of fine bird shot. Six inches from the 

contact it is a nearly normal dark-gray color, greenish from chloritic 

staining when moist, but to the eye quite fresh and unaltered. At 

3 inches from the contact the rock is slightly lighter, increasing 

gradually to a well-marked brownish line a millimeter thick at 1^ 

inches from the contact. A second chocolate-colored line is oneeighth inch from the first, and a thir'd is one-sixteenth of an inch, 

inside of which the lines become indistinct and merged in a general 

brown staining of the rock for half an inch, with more abundant 

calcite amygdules. The trap for an inch from the contact is much

lighter colored and shows a great abundance of calcite amygdules, 

mostly of irregular shape and bordered or incrusted with shells of 

native copper.

An examination of thin sections of the ore under the microscope shows that the purple rock is in reality an altered tuff. Prof. 

Joseph Barrell, who has kindly examined it, concludes that the 

rock is a vitrophyric andesite, showing small broken feldspar 

crystals, and shreds of muscovite in a glass base stained deep red 

by ferric oxide. The sharp feldspar crystals, in marked distinction to the isotropic groundmass, seem to indicate that this rock is a 

chilled margin of the diabase. The ore bed shows micaceous partings and streaks of compact very fine-grained shale and in places 

fossil mud cracks. A comparison of the chemical analyses of the 

ore rock with those of the underlying normal shales is shown in the 

table below.

The analyses were made by Mr. A. Borg, formerly the chemist of 

the American Copper Company and now professor of chemistry in 

the Cooper Institute, New York, and were furnished to me by the 

courtesy of Mr. Josiah Bond, former manager. The first column 

represents the trap rock, the fourth the ore. It will be noted that the 

large percentage of alumina and the very slight amount of alkalies 

present in No. 4 shows the rock to resemble a normal sediment. The 

ore proper that is, the white copper-bearing spots in the purple 

gangue evidently results from a reducing action that produced the 

native copper and changed the red ferric oxide to the protoxide. 

Tests made in the Survey laboratory by Dr. H. N. Stokes on samples 

of these rocks showed the presence of ferric oxide in the red and the 

presence of ferrous iron in the white rock, a conclusion confirmed by 

an examination of thin sections under the microscope.
48 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

Chemical analyses of rocks and ores, American Copper mine, Somerville, N. J.

SiOj...... .........

FeO

Fe203 .............

A1 203 . .............

MgO ..............

K20. ..............

Na80. .............

CaO. ..............

Ti02 l 

MnoL.... ........

NiO J

Totals.............

1.

44.34

4.3

6.81

17.68

3.90

1.36

1.80

10.70

8.20

8.17

2.

67.45

1.54

9.61

21.19

.83

.63

. .26

4.00

4.12

Trace

99.53

3.

57.02

. 1.93

8.72

19.60

.76

.75

.19

6.78

4.01

Trnpp

4.

57.24

6.21

24.31

3.20

6.80

3.08

Tr&cc

99.84

5.

50.15

3.57

19.07

1.74

^FrticG

14 64

7.44

«3.01

6.

59.68

6.29

26.35

1.71

4.18

1.75

7.

51.36

8.24

2.14

16.25

7.97

1.06

1 54

10.27

1.33

100. 28

8.

51.78

8.25

3.59

19 7Q

7.63

.39

2.14

10.70

.63

f 1.41 

I .09

I .03

99.89

« Silver, 1.9 ounces, per ton.

1. Trap rock from above ore bed.

2. First shale layer below ore bed.

3. Second shale layer below ore bed.

4. Purple rock of ore bed.

5. White spots in ore bed.

6. Ore.

7. Basalt; normal rock of Watchung Mountain, Orange, N. J. (Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey 

No. 148, 1897, p. 80.)

8. Diabase, West Rock, New Haven, Conn.

Analysis 1 shows, in the high percentage of water and ignition, the 

low silica, and the relatively large proportion of ferric iron, that 

the rock is much altered from No. 7, which is the normal rock at 

Orange. It also shows normal alumina, alkalies, and lime, a loss of 

50 per cent of magnesia, and a decided loss of silica. These changes 

indicate a leaching of the rock by alkaline waters, and the unchanged 

alkalies show that there was no available chlorine or sulphur to combine with and remove them.

The anatyses of the shale are unusual in showing no alkalies, which 

is normal for a slightly calcareous clay shale.

Analysis 4 represents the normal rock of the ore bed. Its silica 

content is exactly the same as that of the underlying shale and unlike 

the trap rock. It also resembles the shale in having no alkalies, but 

differs from it in having much less iron, more alumina, with considerably more magnesia.

The mill tailings from the ore having been tested by several firms 

and declared to carry values in silver and gold, a sample was collected by the writer and a crucible assay made on a large charge 

by Dr. E. T. Alien in the laboratory of the survey. .The1 result 

sliowed no gold, but 6.94 ounces silver per ton.

The alternation of the trap is evidently the result of normal hydrometamorphism, due to percolating surface waters.

THE ORES.

Copper glance (chalcocite) occurs in small quantities at numerous 

places in the mine, mainly as a secondary product in fractures. 

Below the zone of oxidized ores it occurs in and with calcite in
NEW JERSEY. 49

joint fractures, in many places associated with sheets of nativecopper.

The masses of white ore-bearing rock of the lower drifts (1,300 

feet and. 1,330 feet) also carry glance. In the purple rock surrounding the white ore the glance occurs as tiny bunches of glistening 

crystals, attached to the walls of the gashlike cavities. In the white 

ore the glance occurs in solid nucleal masses, dull on existing fracture 

surfaces, and surrounded by sooty glance (an alteration product), a 

substance which has also in many instances migrated and impregnated the porous rock about the cavity. The most significant feature., 

is, however, the presence of native copper about this altered glance, 

usually bordering it, whose very finely divided state and manner of

tt+t+A+;^v/V^*:;& £&&tJ:±t*^

2 Inches

FIGURE 4. Diagrammatic sketch showing occurrence of copper in contact rock at the 

American mine, Somerville, N. ,T.

occurrence show that it was reduced from the glance in place. Several of these spots of native copper, or of glance and copper, are 

surrounded by a halo of bleached rock, whose width is one-half the 

diameter of the copper particle, clearly indicating an alteration due 

to the product of the reactions involved in reducing glance to native 

copper. The glance just described is not associated with calcite, but 

occurs in cavities.

Glance also occurs in drusy masses and along joint -fractures in 

a crystalline mass of calcite inclosing a mesh of very minute mossy 

hairs of glance. This association indicates the synchronous deposition of both materials. At present it appears as if this glance resulted from a reversed reaction that is, from native copper and 

81777° Bull. 455 11 4
50 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

calcite being attacked, with removal of calcite and the deposition of 

glance. Later solutions attack the glance and reduce it in the white 

rock but not in the red rock. No native copper occurs in the red 

rock; that is, in the presence of ferric oxide. It is confined to the 

white rock, which contains ferrous iron but no ferric oxide. If the 

reduction depends on the ferric oxide, the occurrence of native copper 

is purely local.

Native copper occurs incrusting and sheathing calcite amygdules in 

the trap and the similar calcite masses in the white ore. The mineral 

collection at the mine includes specimens of native copper pseudomorphic after calcite.

This occurrence of native copper in white, bleached spots in the ore 

bed is characteristic of the great copper deposits of the red sandstones 

of Corocoro, Bolivia,0 and a similar occurrence was noted in this 

country in 1902 by Emmons.6 Native copper pseudomorphic after 

calcite also occurs at Corocoro and at Lake Superior.

GENESIS OF THE ORES.

Source and deposition of the copper. The genesis of the ore 

appears to have been simple. The diabase commonly carries a small 

amount of copper, partly, it is believed, as primary pyrite and chalcopyrite, these minerals being recognized in similar rocks from other 

localities; and probably partly in the f erromagnesian silicates. Careful chemical tests made on large quantities of the diabase from 

Somerville showed that it carried one-fortieth of 1 per cent (0.025 

per cent) copper.6 Specific gravity separations (made by the writer) 

of the basic ferromagnesian particles in the diabase, crushed to go 

through a 100-mesh screen, followed by qualitative calorimetric tests, 

showed that this basic portion contained considerably more copper

than the rock as a whole.

The rock exposed in the Watchung Mountain quarries is a typical 

diabase, having blind joints, whose presence is betrayed on exposed 

faces by bright-red bands composed of material which in places is 

sufficiently abundant to form a red clay in the joints. It is reported 

that tests made of this clay .by Mr. Borg and other chemists showed 

red oxide of copper, but the coloring matter in specimens collected by 

the writer proved to be ferric iron. Plate V shows two of these 

specimens, in which the joints have served as channels for circulating 

water, with concurrent alteration of the rock adjacent to the joints 

and the leaching out of material and its concentration close to the

0 Forbes, David, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 17, 1861, p. 41.

6 Oral communication.

c The writer is indebted to Mr. Josiah Bond, former manager, for this information. The 

determination was made by A. Borg, former chemist at the American mine, Somerville, 

N. J., and later professor at Cooper Union Institute, New York City.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

DIABASE FROM COPPER DEPOSIT NEAR SOMERVILLE, N. J. 

Showing occurrence of copperand iron in cracks. See page 50.
NEW JEBSEY. 51

joint. Many of these joints are, however, microscopic or potential 

joints and of course are not discolored. It is believed that the circulation of the water in the diabase is mainly along the joints, and that 

the material leached out comes from the rock on each side of the 

fractures.

A further proof that the source of the copper is in the diabase is 

shown in the association of all the copper deposits of the Mesozoic 

region of New Jersey with intrusions of diabase. Where such association exists there is evidently no need to compare these ore beds 

with the Permian red beds of Europe. The hypothesis that the copper was precipitated by solutions in the shale mixing with solutions 

from the diabase is not in accord with the observed facts. The 

presence of organic matter, animal and vegetable, both in the New 

Jersey deposits and in those of red beds everywhere, is sufficient to 

account for the preciptation of the copper. In Bolivia, Germany, 

and New Jersey the native copper of the deep-seated workings is 

found only in association with the white or green spots or patches in 

the red sandstone that is, places where the ferric oxide has been 

reduced to a ferrous condition. In the New Jersey deposits the diabase near the copper ore is always altered. It has suffered from what 

Lindgren has designated hydrometamorphism. Infiltrating waters 

have attacked the ferromagnesian minerals and, presumably, have 

dissolved the copper and taken it into solution. During past periods, 

when base-leveling has taken place, the drainage differed from that 

of to-day and the slowly circulating waters at one period moved upward and at another period downward. Whatever their course, the 

waters coming from the diabase carried a minute content of copper 

derived from that rock, either as sulphate or, perhaps, more commonly, in alkaline carbonate solutions. The waters encountering 

the incasing sandstones and shales lost their copper by a reaction of 

the organic matter present. The recent discoveries of Sullivan have, 

however, shown that both true clays and crushed rock act chemically 

and extract the copper, forming a silicate which may in turn be 

altered to another ore. This chemical action is so prompt and so 

vigorous that it is certainly an important factor in ore deposition.

The presence of glance and native copper in the deep levels of the 

American mine in New Jersey indicate, however, a reduction from 

solutions carrying copper sulphate, the waters being possibly a mixture of alkaline carbonates and alkaline sulphates.

Alteration. Secondary alteration of the ore is seen in every stage 

in the workings of the American mine. The ore bed at a depth of 

800 feet below the surface, measured on the dip, carries native copper 

and minute specks of glance in the nodular masses of white rock 

mentioned above. At a little higher level this ore is seen to be altered 

to orange-colored copper oxide in little tufts of needle-like crystals
52 COPPER DEPOSITS OP THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

o 

0

u)\ U

°« IE

in little cavities; at higher levels the oxide 

is found as a coloration disseminated through 

the rock; and at still higher levels-as little 

concretions, which increase in size toward 

the surface until at shallow depth small 

balls and kidneys of red oxide ore are 

found. Still nearer the surface the outer 

parts of these concretions are converted 

into malachite. Quite rarely the rocks immediately beneath the surface soils carry 

bornite.

It is realized that this distribution of 

the ore involves a second solution, with 

migration and concentration of the material, but each step and gradation of the 

process is observable in the Somerville mine, 

and the nodules and kidneys of oxide ore, 

for which the ore bed was formerly worked 

for a distance of 2 miles or more along the 

mountain front, go down for only 100 or 200 

feet.

The copper ores occur both above and 

,below the diabase sheets. In several deposits the overlying rock is a sandstone 

and the deposit is impregnated with brightcolored copper minerals. The solutions have 

penetrated the sand rock, but only that 

portion of it which lies close to the fractures. The diagram given by Darton, which 

at first glance indicates impregnation by 

magmatic vapors given off by the diabase 

at the time of its eruption, may be explained by the circulation of waters along 

the diabase contact under a low head and 

the. checking of the water in the open 

spaces of the crushed sandstone, accompanied by a deposition of copper either by 

chemical reaction or by reduction due to 

organic matter.

Kemp a notes that the comparison drawn by 

early investigators between the Lake Superior and New Jersey deposits is significant, 

although there is a very great difference of age. 

The Lake Superior deposits, however, do not

0 Ore deposits of the United States, 2d ed., 1895, p. 168.
NEW JERSEY.' . 53

pass into sulphides in depth except locally for instance, at the 

Huron mine copper arsenide occurred and in the Mamaisne mine 

near Sault Ste. Marie native copper changes to glance at a depth of 

90 feet. At Corocoro, Bolivia, similar ores occur.

The relative ages of the native copper and of the glance in lower 

levels of the American mine is of much practical importance, for if 

the copper occurs as sulphide at a great depth" the ore could not be 

treated so cheaply as if the copper were native. In other words, it 

is important to know whether the glance now found in the lower 

levels is secondary after native copper, or whether the two are contemporaneous. There .is no doubt that at other localities the glance 

is due to reduction by carbon, and the native metal may be taken as 

the extreme form of this reduction. . The doubt led to the making 

of a series of tests on the samples from the deeper levels, taken at 

200-foot intervals from the 1,200 to the 3,600 foot levels, but the 

results are hardly conclusive. The lowest 200 feet contained only a 

trace of sulphur; from 3,200 to 3,400 feet the sample showed none; 

from 3,000 to 3,200 it contained 0.11 per cent. This increased to 0.18 

per cent in the next 200 feet, but fell to 0.075 in next 1,000 (from 2,800 

to 800 feet). From 1,800 to 1,400 feet the ore carried only a trace 

of sulphur, but at 1,200 feet it carried 0.06 per cent sulphur.

The lack of gradation in these analyses seems to be due 'to the 

proximity of the great fissure which cuts through the trap-rock between 2,600 and 3,200 feet. This fissure brings down percolating 

waters, and may have altered the native copper into sulphide.

Table showing sulphur content of ore from American mine.

Depth in feet.

3,600 to 3,400 (lowest work, 1,300 feet) _____________ Trace. 

3,400 to 3,200 ___________________________ None. 

3,200 to 3,000_____________________________ 0.11 

3,000 to 2,800_____________________________ .18 

2,800 to 2,600_____________________________ .09 

2,600 to 2,400___________________________1__ .08 

2,400 to 2,200_____________________________ . 08 

2,200 to 2,000___L_"________1_____________ . 06 

2,000 to 1,800_____________________________ .08 

1,800 to 1,600 _____ _____________________ Trace. 

1,600 to 1,400 _____________________________ Trace. 

1,400 to 1,200____________________________ .06

Recapitulation. The observed facts that bear on the discussion of 

origin of the Somerville deposits indicate that the basalt is chloritized 

as a result of ordinary hydrometamorphism. It is vesicular in places, 

the cavities now being filled with calcite amygdules. Native copper 

sheathing these amygdules occurs in the leached and green rock an 

inch or two thick which lies next above the contact, but only where
54 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

the underlying rock of the ore bed is dense; where it is porous the 

copper is absent in the basalt but occurs in the altered shale.

The ore bed is an altered tuff beneath the basalt. It has a purple 

color, contains a large amount of ferric iron, and is distinguished by 

cavities whose shape, size, abundance, and inner surface closely 

resemble the pores of an ordinary red brick, suggesting a slight 

baking of a wet silt or mud. These pores are either open or partly 

or wholly filled by native copper below the zone of surface alteration; 

by a loose powder of orange-colored oxide at the transition line 

between oxidizing and deep waters; and by normal oxides encrusted 

by carbonates above this line. The native copper and most of the 

oxide ore is confined to patches of white bleached parts of the ore 

bed, irregularly distributed. In depth, the cavities of the white ore 

are filled by calcite sheathed by native copper, but other parts of the 

bad show fresh .glance crystals in cavities in the purple ore and 

altered glance and native copper reduced from it in cavities in the 

white ore. The latter are surrounded by a halo of whitened gangue. 

The sheet copper of these bottom workings occurs in° joints parallel 

to the bedding and near the trap contact; the native copper lies 

alongside of layers of black calcite, shot through with minute spicules 

and mossy fibers of glance.

These facts are believed to show that the copper comes from the 

basalt and that the solutions carrying it contained alkaline carbonates and precipitated copper and glance with calcite. If the copper came from the decomposing chalcopyrite of either the shale or 

basalt the solution would be acidic and the calcite would be attacked. 

Where organic matter, such as plant remains, occurred.the copper 

sulphide would be reduced to native copper.

PAHAQUARRY MINE, ON KITTATINNY MOUNTAIN.

EXPLOITATION.

Near Delaware Water Gap, where Delaware River cuts through a 

long mountain ridge composed of uniformly and steeply tilted sandstones, there is a copper deposit? which was worked 200 or more years 

ago by the earliest Dutch settlers of the country. This property, 

long known as the Pahaquarry copper mine, is about 8 miles from 

the town of Water Gap and 10 miles from Stroudsburg, Pa., at a1 

point known as Dimmicks Ferry.

The early workings were extensive, comprising a tunnel driven for 

a distance of 200 or more feet, with a crosscut at the end, and two 

inclined shafts, 60 and 40 feet deep, respectively, sunk on the bed, 

presumably following pockets of rich ore. The property was reopened and cleaned out in 1860, but the ore proving low grade all 

mining work was soon stopped. About 1900 another attempt was 

made to work the property, but without success.
NEW JEESEY. 55 

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The ore-bearing beds occur in the red and gray sandstones of the 

High Falls formation, of upper Silurian age, which forms the second or northern ridge on the slopes of Kittatinny Mountain. The 

formation was formerly classified by the New Jersey geologists as 

Medina sandstone, but has recently been determined to be of Salina 

age. It has an estimated thickness of 800 feet and consists of massive 

sandstones and interbedded shales. The strike is N. 20° W.; the dip 

is 40° to 45° W., as observed in the ravine at the Pahaquarry copper 

mines. The shaly members show cleavage that dips at steep angles 

to the southeast, and are slaty, as may be seen at the copper mine. 

The harder, coarse-grained rocks show no cleavage, but exhibit numerous joint planes, which correspond to the cleavage planes seen in the 

more shaly. beds and were formed at the same time. The prevailing 

colors of the High Falls (" Medina ") formation are red and brownish 

red, but grayish green rocks appear in it in places. .At the Pahaquarry mine the rocks are locally gray. The texture varies, being 

fine at the bottom. The top of the formation is nearly all of red 

shale, split by cleavage, and carrying intercalated red and gray 

sandstones. The shale occurs in thin beds and the sandstone in thick 

beds. No fossils have ever been found in these rocks in New Jersey." 

Copper and iron pyrite have been found in this formation at a number 

of places.

The demarcation between the Shawangunk (" Oneida ") conglomerate and the High Falls ("Medina") formation is seen at the 

Warren Slate Works. The strike at this place is N. 20° W. and the 

dip 40° N. The red rock continues subordinate and is fissured and 

occurs mainly on the lower western slope.

THE QBE DEPOSIT.

The region of Kittatinny Mountain has been known to be ore 

bearing for many years. The basal bed of the great Shawangunk 

(" Oneida ") conglomerate which forms the bold bluffs of the mountain is very pyritous. According to Dr. Cook,a late State geologist 

of New Jersey, the lower few inches of this conglomerate carries 

gold over many square miles, in places to a value as high as $11 a ton. 

Anywhere along the outcrop of the contact between the base of the 

conglomerate and the Ordovician (" Hudson ") slate one can obtain 

pyrite ore that is rich in gold.

At the copper mine the ore beds outcrop in a ravine known as 

Mine Run, the lowest exposure being at an elevation of about 150 

feet above the river. From this point to the height of 750 feet above 

sea level the rocks appear to be more or less continuously cupriferous.

«Cook, G. I-L, op. cit, p. 147.
56 COPPER DEPOSITS, OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

The portion of the formation that carries the copper consists of gray 

sandstones in beds from 2 feet to 6 feet thick, separated 'by reddish 

shales, usually massive and arenaceous, in beds from 6 inches to 

2 feet thick. These rocks show a slight local disturbance with flexure 

near Mine Run, but in general the outcrops show an unusual uniformity of strike and dip. One of these outcrops, forming what is 

known as the " watershed," is conspicuously exposed, showing in the 

center a surface between 30 and 40 feet wide, and having been 

stripped for a distance of 2,000 feet: The strike of the red shale 

forming this " watershed " is N. 60° E. and the,dip is 43^-° N. Several crosscuts expose good sections across the various ore-bearing 

strata, and old workings enable one to note the change in character 

,of the ore in passing from the surface inward.

, workings

Tunnel Tunnel

°<,s ?

1

//y

a* 1 _ . . . . .

\7~vr>/je//fo7~\'l *s

r^^

o 100 zoo soo 400 soo 600 Feet

Q Office

I ~\ Boarding house

FIGDBE 6. Map of Pahaquarry copper mine, Delaware Water Gap, Warren County, N. J.

The copper was undoubtedly discovered by reason of the green 

malachite stains in the outcrop. These stains occur on joint planes 

and do not extend more than a few feet beneath the surface in the 

workings visited. In places dark-colored nodules and balls of somewhat irregular form are seen in the sandstone and are found to consist chiefly of copper glance. Such nodules tend to occur in local 

patches. The engineer in charge, Dr. Keith, states that over 100 

samples, taken at different points over the property, show that the 

ordinary gray sandstone carries 3 per cent copper in the form of 

copper glance. In the richer ore this mineral can be seen in minute 

specks impregnating the sandstone. In the leaner ore it can not 

be recognized with the naked eye, but samples of the rock when 

pulverized can be panned and the copper, glance concentrated. The
 . PENNSYLVANIA. 57

ore-bearing sandstone is dense and not readily permeable, and is 

traversed by vertical joint planes having a direction of N. 20° E., 

or 40° to the strike. The intervening red shaly members have a 

splintery fracture, due to rudely developed cleavage, corresponding 

in direction to that of the joints in the sandstone.

The copper-bearing sandstones have been traced for 3 miles along 

the mountain flanks, and have been proved by workings to be 

cupriferous for a thickness of about 230 feet, about 10 per cent of 

which, or 23 feet, is red shale. The value of the deposit depends 

entirely on cheapness of working. The amount of low-grade material available is enormous:

The structural geology of this interesting occurrence is extremely 

simple, but the presence of disseminated glance in the sandstones is 

somewhat difficult to explain. No fossil remains have ever been 

found in the sandstones of this age in New Jersey, nor has any 

organic matter as yet been found in them.

DEVELOPMENT.

It is purposed (1905) to treat the ore by the Keith process. A 

large mill capable of handling 200 tons of ore daily is in process of 

erection, the building itself being nearly completed. In the Keith 

process the sandstone would be ground to a 60-mesh powder. This 

material, mixed with 2 or 3 per cent of coal dust, will be charged in 

the top of a 40-foot shaft furnace having numerous jets of burning 

gas near its top. As the powder falls through the gas it is heated 

,and drops to the bottom of the shaft, where it is caught in a shalloAV 

V-shaped trough. It is assumed by Dr. Keith, as a result of experimental work, that the carbon and the reducing character of the gases 

Avill reduce the sulphide to the metallic form, making minute 

globules of native copper, which can be concentrated on Wilfley 

tables and smelted in appropriate furnaces. The dust from this furnace will be, it is said, gathered in a second tower of equal height, 

packed with stone or other loosely broken material, and kept wet by 

falling water. A strong exhaust draft will cause the gases from the 

furnace to pass up this stack, and the water is expected to eliminate 

all flue dust and to wash down the material from the furnace into 

the launders that lead to the concentrating tables.

PENNSYLVANIA. 

SOUTH MOUNTAIN REGION.

Pennsylvania has many small copper deposits, but no producing 

copper mines. The South Mountain region has long been known to 

contain copper, and the finding of native copper and carbonate ores 

at numerous points along the slopes has led to several attempts to
58 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

develop paying properties. Small amounts of ore have been shipped, 

but no regular production is recorded. As the properties are occasionally brought to the attention of investors, a few notes on the 

locality are worthy of record.

The South Mountain copper belt has been investigated very thoroughly by Williams and Bascom 0 and mapped in detail. The belt 

extends for 13 miles along the mountain, 9 miles in Pennsylvania and 

4 miles in Maryland. The mast northerly deposit is on the old 

Baker farm. To the south the Bigham property, on the north side 

of Pine Mountain, shows out'croppings and debris of cupriferous 

rock. Musselman Hill, south of the property last named, shows a 

well-defined mass of cupriferous greenstone, and a 50-foot shaft, 

sunk on the summit of the hill obtained native copper from an 

epidote-quartz rock. Copper is also found at short intervals across 1 

different farms, the most southerly being south of the Maryland line. 

The Bechtel shaft of the old South Mountain Copper Co. is the best 

known, the shaft having been driven to a depth of 120 feet.

The geology of this South Mountain region was not unraveled 

until Walcott 6 found Cambrian fossils in the quartzites and other 

rocks. This and the discovery of-the igneous nature of the slates 

and greenstones by Williams furnished the key for the detailed work 

of Bascom and others. It is now known that the mountain consists 

of both acidic and basic rocks (aporhyolites, basalts, and fragmental 

forms of these rocks) overlaid by Cambrian sediments. Both sedimentary and igneous rocks are slaty, and the foliation planes of the 

different rocks are conformable. The foliation and bedding planes 

in the quartzite are easily confused and the original lamination of the 

rhyelites closely resembles bedding and led to their classification as 

sedimentary rocks. The slates are almost entirely sheared igneous 

rocks, and in some shear zones only 20 feet across carry gradation 

from porphyry to fissile slate is clearly observable. Williams c has 

shown that the basic rock in which the copper occurs at the Bechtel 

shaft is a normal basalt. As this rock is characteristic of the Blue 

Eidge copper belt of Ma'ryland and Virginia, where it forms the 

Catoctin schist of Keith, Williams's description is given herewith: A

These rocks [basic lavas or greenstones] have been more generally sheared 

into slates than the acid lavas. The chemical alteration which has gone on in 

them is also in general greater. Still, large masses of the basic rocks have been 

but little altered and remain quite massive. These, which are locally known 

as " copper rock," * * * are for the most part very fine grained vesicular

0 Bascom, F., and Williams, G. H., Volcanic rocks of the South Mountain in Pennsylvania and Maryland : Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 44, 1892, pp. 482-496. Bascom, P., 

Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 136, 1896.

"Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No.-134, 1896, pp. 17-18.

» Williams, G. H., Volcanic rocks of South Mountain, Pennsylvania: Am. Jour. Scl., 3d 

ser., vol. 44, p. 491.

"Idem, pp. 490-491.
PENNSYLVANIA. 59

flows, whose original structure is still so well preserved that they may with 

propriety be called basalts. * * * The South Mountain basalts are usually 

homogeneous, dark to pale green masses, which rarely show any microscopical 

phenocrysts and whose most constant feature is an amygdaloidal structure. 

These cavities vary greatly in size, shape, and abundance. They are often 

elongated by flow motion in the lava and are now filled with a number of 

secondary minerals, the most abundant of which are epidote, chlorite, quartz, 

and zeolites.

Williams notes that the alteration of these ancient vesicular basalts 

is in places surprisingly small. The ferromagnesian constituents are 

universally altereol to epidote, chlorite, or serpentine, but the structure is perfectly preserved in its minutest detail. The ophitic structure, the form of the basaltic magnetite, olivine phenocrysts, and 

interstitial pyroxene are plainly visible.

According to Bascom,a epidotization is the prevailing feature of 

the copper belt, and epidote is the constant accompaniment of the

metal. This mineral has resulted from the interaction of plagioclase 

and pyroxene, as well as from the alteration of olivine to epidote, 

serpentine, and iron oxide. Ilmenite has also altered to leucoxene and 

magnetite to hematite. Bascom's observations 6 show that the ore 

occurs in many places at the contact between greenstone and the 

acidic volcanic slate. The copper occurs in quartz-calcite veinlets, 

in fractures in epidosite, greenstone, and acidic amygdaloids, and in 

fissures in the massive greenstone itself.

The copper is secondary throughout the belt, occurring in seams and amygdules, where it has been deposited from solution. * * * The replacement of 

feldspar by chlorite and epidote, and their replacement in turn by copper, 

characterizes the amygdaloids of South Mountain also.

Further information on the genesis of copper of this type is given 

in the description of the deposits of the Blue Ridge region of Virginia (pp. 93-115).

NORTHERN COAL REGION.

The occurrence of copper ores in the Catskill group of northern 

Pennsylvania beneath the upper coal seam of that region was known 

as early as 1850, and in 1854 the Towanda Copper Co. was organized 

to work the Carpenter mine, near New Albany, Bradford County, 

Pa., 12 miles from Towanda and one-half mile north of the Pennsylvania Kailroad and canal. According to August Partz,0 the copper ores occur in a gray shale that forms part of the Devonian rocks 

underlying the Carboniferous mesas east of the Susquehanna coal 

region. The copper-bearing rock is a gray clay shale forming a bed 

2-| to 4 feet thick and lying horizontally or dipping at a low angle

"Bascom, F., Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No: 136,.1896, p. 85.

6 Idem, pp. 26, 27.

c Mln. Mag., vol. 3, 1854, p. 433.
60 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

to the west. The beds are exposed at the base of a hill 100 feet high 

in a small ravine or branch of Towanda Creek. The exploration 

work of 1854 consisted of two tunnels, 20 and 30 feet in length. The 

seam was found to contain disseminated copper throughout its entire 

thickness, but the best ore was struck at the bottom of a bed ranging 

in thickness from 4 inches to 16 inches and averaging about a foot. 

The ore consisted of black oxide, both tenorite and melaconite, of 

green carbonate, and of copper glance. It was associated with 

stringers of soft red clay and abundant lignite, found as branches 

of trees and other forms of plant remains. The- floor of the seam 

was a limestone conglomerate 6 inches thick, containing copper associated with fossil plant remains. The ore bed was overlain by red 

shale. Samples of the better grade of ore carried from 20 to 30 

per cent copper; the lower-grade ore carried 3.15 per cent copper.

This and other properties near the town were visited by the 

writer in September, 1905. The locality is a part of the Allegheny 

Plateau, whose limit extend to Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport, The 

plateau is underlain by a series of red shales and sandstones, the 

Catskill formation, which is underlain by the marine grayish-green 

to buff-colored sandstones of the Chemung formation and is characterized by calcereous sandstones. The copper ores near. New 

Albany are found in the hills immediately surrounding the town 

in a bed of shale intercalated in a dark reddish to purplish sandstone belonging to the Chemung formation. The Carpenter mine is 

about 1-| miles from the town; the " new " workings are nearer, 

being only three-fourths mile to the northwest.

The Carpenter workings were driven into the nearly horizontal 

beds forming the walls of a ravine that lay close to the main road. 

Inasmuch as the workings were full of water it was impossible to 

estimate their extent, but inspection showed that a chamber at least 

20 feet wide had been cut out along the ore seam and the roof supported with wooden props. The seam runs about 8 inches thick, 

reaching in places a thickness of 18 inches. It consists of a clay 

shale, showing films of malachite on bedding planes and small cross 

fractures, along which the ore makes down in places, forming little 

pockets in the red shale of the floor. The roof consists of a red 

shale bed 2 feet thick, capped by an impure red standstone. Near 

the point where the stream makes a little waterfall over the cliffs the 

ore seam rests on a leafy gray shale, which in turn is underlain by a 

sandstone forming the creek'bed. No glance was seen, but the ore 

is associated with lignite, and its occurrence evidently depends on 

the presence of carbonaceous matter. The rocks dip 2° to 3° downstream.

At the " new " workings, as they are commonly called, a drift has 

been run from the level of the creek into the wooded hillside, open-
PENNSYLVANIA. 61

ing up a seam, about 18 inches thick, of indurated dark-gray shale, 

showing malachite films and containing nodules of soft black material, which appear to be glance mixed with carbonaceous matter. A 

small amount of ore is reported to have been shipped to New York 

in 1903 and to have yielded 2-| per cent copper and a little silver. 

The ore seam is capped by red sandy shale, forming the overlying hill. 

The dip is about 2° or 3° into the hill, and the adit, which is 30 feet 

long, is filled with water and is not workable. The workings are about 

one-eighth mile below the dam which supplies the town with water. 

The hill immediately east of New Albany, overlooking the railroad 

station, rises to a height of about 250 feet above the railroad. This 

hill is composed of gray shale capped by red sandstones, and nearits summit is a belt of red sandstone Avhich weathers in a persistent 

cliff running around the slope. In this cliff there is an irregular 

bed of shale ranging in thickness from a few inches to a foot or two.

Parts of this bed are impregnated with malachite. 

EAST-CENTRAL REGION.

Similar ores occur in Monroe. and Pike Counties, Pa., the copperbearing strata stretching for several miles across the country. The 

ore is scattered in little patches through a bed 1 to 2 feet thick, which 

is underlain by red shale and overlain by blue flagstone. According 

to Mr. Josiah Bond,a there is a vast quantity of the material, and his 

samples, taken with some pains from the surface and disregarding 

the ore bunches, ran 0.6 per cent copper, 1 ounce silver, and a trace 

of gold. The ore is most abundant in cavities and segregations, 

some of which carry small amounts of 8 to 10 per cent ore. These 

localities have not been visited by the writer.

Above the seam sampled there are several seams at different horizons, in w'hich little ore occurs. According to Mr. Bond, the copper 

occurs in the Catskill formation.

The Perkiomen mine, in Montgomery County, was formerly worked, 

for copper, the ore occurring in sandstone near a gneiss contact.

COPPER MINED WITH OTHER METALS.

The Gap mine, Lancaster County, was originally opened for copper, but was not profitably operated until the nickeliferous contents 

of the ore were recognized and it was worked for that metal. The 

property has been closed down in recent years.

Copper is found in the iron-ore deposits along the edges of the 

Triassic belt and its trap intrusions, usually in the limestone and 

green shale, as at Cornwall, Dillsburg (York County), Boyertown 

(Berks County), and at Fritz Island and Wheatfield, near Reading.

a Personal letter.
62 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

The Cornwall iron mine, near Reading, has produced about 

300,000 pounds of copper from ores consisting of chalcopyrite and 

magnetite and the decomposition products. The iron ore bodies are 

large and occur above a great diabase dike in a fault separating 

Cambro-Ordovician shale and limestones from Triassic sandstones. 

The chalcopyrite occurs in irregular nodules and veinlets in the calcareous shale (Cambrian).

In all these deposits the copper is supposed to come from the alteration of the trap. It is suggested by Spencer that the ores are really 

contact deposits, due to emanations from the dike.

MARYLAND.

There are three copper belts in Maryland which were of considerable importance before the Lake Superior mines were exploited. 

The first belt extends from New London, in Frederick County, northeastward to Union Bridge. The second extends from Sykesville 

through Carroll County to and beyond Finksburg. The third is in 

the Bare Hills, north of Baltimore.

WESTERN BELT.

Description. The western or New London-Libertytown copper 

belt is still the scene of intermittent mining operations. The copper 

occurs in or alongside of masses of dolomitic limestone and marble 

included in micaceous schist. According to the geological map published by the State survey and a detailed survey of the Frederick 

quadrangle by Keith this belt consists of several narrow but long 

bands of greenstone, Catoctin schist) amygdaloidal, extrusive, basaltic rocks which have been folded in the gray and black phyllitic

schists. In most of the area from New London northeastward belts

of marble in long, narrow, closely compressed folds with very steep 

dips, in places saddle-shaped and in others canoe-shaped, lie east of 

the greenstone. The copper ores appear to be confined to these 

marbles and to the schists alongside of them, occurring either along 

the contact or in the fractured rock itself, as, for example, in the 

recent workings of the Liberty mine. This association was recognized by Persifor Frazer in his examination of the New Windsor 

deposit. Before that the slaty or schistose greenstone had been overlooked and its significance not recognized.

 The meager facts cited would not warrant any generalizations were 

it not for the frequent presence of copper in the greenstone belt from 

Pennsylvania to the Carolinas. It is believed that this rock furnished the copper for the solutions and -that the limestone and its 

graphitic matter supplied the precipitant for the copper.
MARYLAND. 63

Mines. The New London, Liberty, Dolly Hyde, and Union mines 

Avere formerly extensively worked.

The New London mine is at New London,, Frederick County, 10 

miles east of Frederick and 4 miles from Monrovia station -on the 

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The mine workings are in the southwest 

corner of the first crossroads west of New London. The surface 

exposures show greenstone schist on the east, and normal dark-gray 

or black phyllite schist on the west. The marble is intricately and 

minutely plicated, with consequent slipping along the sides of the 

plications and the infiltration of ore-carrying solutions along the 

crushed masses and cross fractures.

' The deposit has been stoped where richest, the ore shoots worked 

lying on each side of the incline and being about 80 feet in length. 

The ore is supposed to average 3 per cent copper.

The Dolly Hyde mine has been idle so many years and the 

ground about it has been so thoroughly tilled that no observations of 

value can be made. The ores consist of bornite in marble and occur 

in volcanic rocks altered to gneisses and schists.

The Liberty .mine was visited in company with Prof. E. B. 

Ma-thews. It is the largest and has been the most productive copper 

mine' of Maryland, and the great dump heaps attest the extent of 

the underground workings. . In 1905 these were filled with water, 

and the ore mined came from a new opening to the east.

The property lies on the flat summit of the Linganore Hills, 

about one-half mile west of the main turnpike between Libertytown 

and Union Bridge. The deposit occurs in a narrow limestone band, 

possibly one of those seen in the limits of the town of Liberty, west 

of but near a greenstone belt. The ore body seen in the new workings is composed of white and pink marble, which in places is broken, 

with the cracks and spaces filled by bornite, glance, and less commonly by chalcopyrite. The ore is easily mined and cheaply crushed 

and concentrated, as the gangue is either marble or coarsely crystalline calcite. The upper surface of the marble is deeply pitted and 

irregularly corroded with deposits of black oxide of manganese 

upon it.

About 7 miles northeast of Liberty a similar deposit has been 

described by Persifor Frazer.a The ore occurs along the contact 

between the " hydromica " schists and narrow troughs of marbleized 

dolomitic limestone. It consists of 6 to 18 inches of rich copper 

sulphides and iron oxide and of an impregnation of the limestone 

for 12 to 15 feet from this contact. The dip is steep, 60° to 72°, 

and the strike is about N. 20° to 30° E. Some of the openings 

showed zinc blende and galena. An analysis of the impregnated

a Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 9, 1881, pp. 33-34.
64 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

limestone ore gave 4.55 alumina, 0.51 Fe2O3 , 23.34 lime, 8.94 magnesia, 

0.87 silica, and 12.90 copper, with 44.44 carbon dioxide.

MIDDLE BELT.

A copper-bearing fissure vein that has been worked at various 

localities is distinctly traceable across Carroll County from a point 

south of Patapsco River at Sykesville to .Finksburg, in Carroll 

County, and less clearly to Bluemont, south of Whitehall, on the 

Northern Central Railroad, and to Cooptown, in Harford County. 

The Springfield mine at Sykesville, the Mineral Hill mine, and the 

Patapsco mine near Finksburg are all on this vein, and have been 

valuable producers in their day.

The Sykesville mine was opened by James W. Tyson as a magnetite mine in 1849, and the product smelted at his Elba furnace 

nearby. With increasing depth the magnetite gave way to chalcopyrite. It yielded between 500 and 1,700 tons a year until abandoned in 1868.

The Mineral Hill mine, half-way between Sykesville and Finksburg, opened in revolutionary time, was reopened by Tyson in 1849 

and worked intermittently until 1890. The dip is 50° and the vein 

is developed for 370 feet on the dip and by adits (tunnels). The 

ore is chalcopyrite, with bornite, glance, and some magnetite.

The Patapsco mine at Finksburg, like the others, has long been 

abandoned. The vein is a line of dislocation and faulting, as shown 

by the greatly contorted and crushed material seen on the dumps. 

The gangue is steatite, in many places containing siderite (ironspar) 

rhombs, with accessory actinolite, quartz, and epidote, and quartzose 

slate in places. The vein has yielded various rare minerals, particularly those of cobalt carrolite, remingtonite, siegenite, and locally 

native gold in magnetite.®

EASTERN BELT.

The Bare Hills vein carries chalcopyrite, bornite, magnetite, and 

pyrite, mixed with amphibole-anthophyllite in broad brown blades, 

together with hornblende and chlorite. The vein cuts hornblende 

gneiss, and is exposed about a mile south of Mount Washington, 

where it has been developed by an incline shaft, following down the 

dip' of 45°" to a depth of 800 feet.

The Bare Hills copper mine is situated on the summit of a ridge 

immediately west of Jones Falls, at Mount Washington, Md. The 

property was opened in 1866 and Worked intermittently for many 

years, yielding a large output of ore, which was shipped to the Baltimore Copper Works. It was not in operation for 15 years between

« Williams, G- EL, Geology of Baltimore and vicinity, in Guide to Baltimore, 1892, pp. 

122-123.
VIRGINIA. v 65

1886 and 1900. At the last-named date a stock- company was formed 

to reopen the property, new machinery was installed, and the mine 

was unwatered. No new development, however, was begun and the 

property was sold under a deed of trust. In 1905 the mine was in 

the possession of Mr. Herbert Brown, who was preparing to unwater and work the property.

The mine is equipped with all necessary surface buildings, boilers, 

air compressor, an old-fashioned hoisting engine, and a Cornish 

pump.

The main shaft is 832 feet deep, and drifts have been run at frequent intervals and the intervening ore practically stoped out. Two 

other shafts afford ventilation but are not accessible. When the 

property was visited the water stood within 100 feet of the collar of 

the shaft, and the 90-foot level was the only one accessible.

According to Doctor Lehmann, of Baltimore, this mine was operated almost continuously from 1866 to 1887, the entire output going 

to the Baltimore Copper Works, the sampling and assaying being 

under Doctor Lehmann's supervision. The records of both his office 

and of the copper company were destroyed by the great Baltimore 

.fire, but the old samples, labels, and memoranda at hand enable him 

to give the following rough estimate of the total output.

Prior to 1866 the yearly shipments varied between 2,000 and 2,500 

tons of 15 to 20 per cent ore. From 1866 to 1876 the annual output 

was from 800 to 1,200 tons of " cobbed " ore, averaging 18 per cent 

copper, with 1,000 to 1,500 tons of "hutched" ore or concentrates. 

From 1866 to 1887 the shipments gradually lessened, being about 50 

tons a month of 18 per cent cobbed ore from 1883 to 1886. Taking 

the average of these figures the total output from 1864 to 1887 is 

about 32,500 tons of 18 per cent material. At 15 cents a pound Iror 

copper this represents a gross valuation of $54 per ton, or a total 

value of $1,755,000. According to the Tenth Census,* the mine in 

1880 yielded 17 tons of concentrates, from which 1,275 pounds copper 

were produced.

VIRGINIA. &

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORES.

Copper ores are widely distributed throughout the State of Virginia, though there are but few producing mines. The ores are confined to the crystalline rocks of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge areas 

and to the red Triassic beds which form separate, disconnected, 

smaller areas over the Piedmont province.

0 Vol. 15, p. 798.

6 These notes on the Virginia deposits, combined with others made by Prof. T. L. 

Watson, are in large part incorporated in a report' written for the Virginia Geological 

Survey, in which the petrographic notes are furnished by Professor Watson.

81777° Bull. 455 11 5
66 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

The known copper districts of the State are grouped geographically below:

1. The Piedmont region:

(a) Virgilina district (includes Halifax County, Va., and Person and Granville counties, N. C.).

(b) Albemarle County (Southwest Mountain).

(c) Keysville, Charlotte County, and Dillwyn, Buckingham County ("Eastern 

belt").

(d) Triassic area (Loudoun, Culpeper, Orange, and Amherst counties).

2. Blue Ridge region:

Districts from near Front Royal southward, embracing parts of Warren, 

Rappahannock, Madison, Page, and Green Counties.

3. Southwest Virginia region :

Floyd-Carroll-Grayson County plateau. (Gossan leads.)

FIGURE 7. Index map showing copper deposits of Virginia and other Southern Appalachian St'ates.

The copper ores are confined to the crystalline tfocks, either the 

slates and schists or the massive igneous rocks of the Piedmont and 

Blue Ridge provinces, and to. the re$ shale sandstone series of the 

Triassic areas. In the Virgilina district the ores occur in 'quartz 

fissure veins which intersect masses of altered andesite (metaandesite) 

of pre-Cambrian age.a In the Blue Ridge region the ores are disa Weed, W. H.; Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng. 1901, vol. 30, p. 454 ;' Watson, T. L., Bull. 

Geol. Soc. America, vol. 13, 1902, pp. 353-376.
VIRGINIA. 67

seminated through and segregated in basaltic flows (fig. 8) of preCambrian age, designated by Keith 0 the Catoctin schist. In the 

Floyd-Carroll-Grayson County plateau the so-called " gossan leads " 

are apparently mineralized faulted zones in schists of doubtful age,

FIGURE 8. Brecciated epidotized basalt, showing ore and quartz. 

a, Native copper; b, quartz ; c, epidote rock.

Stonyman Mountain.

probably pre-Cambrian in part and in part altered igneous masses 

of the basic type. In the London-Culpeper County region the deposits are sparsely desseminated copper compounds in Triassic red 

sandstones and shales.

PIEDMONT REGION.

VIRGILINA DISTRICT.

LOCATION.

The Virgilina district, in Halifax County, Va., and Granville and 

Person counties, N. C., takes its name from the town of Virgilina, 

situated on the line between the two States. The Danville division 

of the Southern Railway passes through the town, which is 47 miles 

east of Danville. The Norfolk &' Western and the Richmond & 

Danville roads lie not far to the north and west.

The topography is hilly or undulating, like much of the Piedmont 

plateau. The mines thus far developed all lie upon a low ridge, a 

flat-topped elevation 100 to 250 feet above the neighboring stream valleys, and from one-half mile to 2 miles or more in width. This ridge 

is cut by numerous cross drainages and stream hollows, and it is only 

at. the northern end near the Hyco River, where it is called High Hill, 

that its elevation above the surrounding country is apparent.

a Keith, Arthur, Fourteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 1895, pp. 285-295.
68 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

The ridge is traced northward to the Dan River valley, in Virginia, 

approximately 10 miles north of the State line. In North Carolina it 

is estimated by Hanna a to extend south for about 30 miles, reaching 

nearly to Durham. Prospecting is confined, however, to an approximate north-south distance of 18 miles along the ridge and to an 

average cross distance of from 2 to 3 miles. Although of no conspicuous height, the ridge forms a somewhat prominent feature in 

the landscape.

Water is abundant in winter but scarce in summer, when most 

of the small creeks run 'dry. Hyco River is the nearest available 

source.

Much of the district is timbered with hardwood and locally with 

pine, but the timber has been largely culled and it is "only in small 

tracts that it is found of sufficient size to serve for mining purposes. 

The land is owned in large tracts, usually of several hundred acres, 

the title to which generally carries the mineral ownership.

HISTORY.

The district has been more or less prospected for the last forty or 

fifty years, as shown by the pits and shafts found for 8 miles north 

and an equal distance south of the State line.6 The Gillis mine was 

opened in 1856 c and a fine body of glance ore exposed. The district remained practically unexplored, however, until 1897, though 

considerable money was spent there in 1886-87, when the Blue Wing 

mine was opened and 500 tons of ore were extracted. Some prospecting was also done on the Yancey mine, but unfavorable reports were 

made by experts and the property remained idle until 1897. In 

that year the district was again the scene of active operations, and 

225 carloads of ore were taken out and shipped to the Orford Copper 

Company.

From 1898 to 1904 active prospecting was carried on, and several 

hundred thousand dollars were spent in opening up the various 

veins. The most extensive work was done on the property of the Virginia Copper Company, Ltd., at the north end of the belt immediately south of Hyco River. The workings on this vein aggregate 

2,306 feet of levels, and one shaft is 339 feet deep. At the south end 

of the belt the Person Consolidated Copper Company has extensive 

workings and a shaft 300 feet deep. Both companies possess concentrating mills and have shipped both high-grade ores and concentrates. While these two properties were being developed and 

equipped with modern machinery, the other mines of the belt were

0 Ores of North Carolina, Raleigh, 1888, p. 215.

6 Phillips, W. B., -Eng. and Min. Jour., Apr. 1, 1899 ; also, Am. Manufacturer, Mar. 

17, 1S99.

« Emmons, E., Geology of midland counties of North Carolina : Geol. Survey- North 

Carolina, 1856, p. 344.
VlE.GJiNiA. 69

also deepened and the workings carried forward. The two mines 

mentioned, however, are the only ones having large plants. In 1905 

the Person Consolidated was the only producing company. The 

Holloway mine, formerly the largest mine in the district, .was reopened in the summer of 1905. The idleness of most of the properties is attributed to several causes, but it is reasonably laid to the 

low-grade (2 per cent) highly siliceous character of the ore and the 

impossibility of smelting it at a profit on the spot, owing to the lack 

of fluxes and of cheap fuel. Overcapitalization may also be responsible for the present depression, and the expenditures so far made 

have been directed rather toward making an attractive showing 

than toward conservative development.

ROCKS OF THE DISTRICT.

CENEUAT, FEATURES.

The country rock is schist, in few places massive enough to be 

called gneiss. Natural outcrops are rare, few are more than 2 or 3 

feet high, and those few are sharp and narrow reefs, persistent for 

short distances onty. The covering of loose, decayed surface rock, and 

soil is, however, very thin, and moderately firm rock lies at slight 

depths beneath the surface.

The numerous shafts sunk over the greater'part of the belt to 

depths of.40 to 300 feet afford excellent opportunity for exceptional 

collections of the rocks and ores.

At the mine openings some oxidation of the vein constituents is 

indicated to the entire depth of the workings, 100 to 300 feet. This 

is shown in the case of the sulphide ores, which in several places 

are slightly changed by the percolating carbonated waters to the 

green copper carbonate (malachite) found slightly staining the vein 

material and the unaltered ores. The rocks at these depths are of 

the characteristic green color, and the thin sections indicate the same 

amounts of chlorite and epidote as those from the shallow depths. 

Specimens of the rocks collected at different depths are macroscopically and microscopically indistinguishable.

The rocks are shown by the microscope (p. 71) to be of igneous 

origin, though, with few exceptions, their nature is not apparent in 

the field. They are prevailing^ finely laminated and schistose in 

structure, having the general characteristic features of a soft green 

to purple schist, in this report called a greenstone schist. Observations at a number of good exposures show the prevailing strike of 

the schistosity to. be N. 10° to 20° E. and the dip 70° to 80° E.

The condition of these rocks results primarily from metamorphism 

while the rocks were deeply buried. Subsequently, when the rocks 

were brought near the surface, they were further changed by weather-
70 COPPER DEPOSITS OF TI|E APPALACHIAN STATES.

ing. The mineral products resulting - from the alteration are very 

apparent. Epidotization and chloritization are manifested on a 

considerable scale.

The schists are cut in several places by diabase dikes of later geologic age. One of these dikes, 12 feet wide, is exposed in the Blue 

Wing mine at the 100-foot level, where -it is observed to cut across 

the schistosity of the rocks. These dikes are described in the reports 

of the North Qarolina geological survey as being numerous'in parts 

of Granville and Person counties.

According to Watson a the rocks show a pronounced schistose structure; in only a few places are massive eruptives found in the field. 

In degree the schistosity ranges from the banding, of a gneiss to the 

typical foliation of micaceous schists. The very finely banded structure is more characteristic of the purple-colored rocks. The color 

of the rocks ranges from some shade of medium to dark green (the 

prevailing color) to a slate purple.

Professor Watson continues:

The rocks are aphanitic in texture, displaying at times a distinct porphyritic 

structure in the massive phases, which becomes more apparent under the microscope. The massive phases of the rock are indicated at several places within 

a few miles to the north and south of the town of Virgilina. With one exception this type is prevailingly dark in color, showing on close examination a 

mingling of green and purplish shades, with the greenish tint so predominant 

that the rock appears dark green on first glance. Both the characteristic 

chlorite and epidote shades of green are contrasted at times in the same specimen. On a freshly broken surface the fracture is conchoidal to subconchoidal,' 

with a more or less waxy luster.

Approximately half a mile south of Virgilina a shallow opening (Cornfield) 

is made, showing the massive rock in its least-altered condition [analysis 1, 

p. 73]. The rock is porphyritic in texture, and the color is a medium darkpurplish shade which contrasts with the surrounding more-altered green schistose rock.

Epidote of the usual pistachio-green color enters largely in places into the 

composition of the rocks, and it is mixed locally in considerable proportion with 

white quartz as a vein mineral. The schistose greenstone is easily scratched 

with the knife, and suggests approximately the same degree of hardness as 

that of ordinary clay slate.

At the Copper World mine, 6$ miles south of Virgilina, in the' Carolina portion of the belt, a partially loose-textured, fine-grained, purple rock is mixed 

with the surrounding green schists. The material bears every resemblance to 

a tuff, and is streaked in places by the characteristic actinolite shade of green 

clue to alteration, and contains inclosures of a dark-colored massive material, 

usually of small but varying dimensions and partially rounded in outline. The 

fragmental or clastic nature of the mass is plainly visible. The microscope 

confirms the clastic- nature of this rock and shows that it is composed of fragments of igneous rocks of the same character and composition as the igneous 

rocks of the district. Microscopic study also indicates the presence of similar 

clastic material at a number of other points in the district.

a Watson, T. L., Copper-bearing rocks of the Virgilina copper district: Bull. Geol. Soc. 

America, vol. 13, 1902, pp. 353-376.
VIRGINIA. 71

MICROSCOPIC CHARACTER.

Professor Watson has carefully examined the rocks under the 

microscope. He says:

The rocks vary in texture from dense aphanitic to medium fine-grained with 

the porphyritic structure shown usually in the massive types. The original 

minerals are entirely altered to secondary minerals in many of the sections, but 

with few exceptions some trace of the original outline of the feldspar constituent is shown and more or less of the original rock texture preserved. 

While this is true for the feldspar constituent, the original bisilicate constituent 

is completely altered in every slide studied, without any indication as to what 

the original mineral was. Considering the age and composition of the rocks 

it seems remarkable that any of the original minerals or structures should 

be preserved at present. When shown, the texture varies from a partial microophitic to micro!itic in the nonporphyritic types, with the same variation and 

Composition of the grouudmass in the porphyritic rocks denoted.

The constituents present are plagioclase, bluish to light-green amphibole, 

chlorite, epidote, zoisite, calcite, iron oxide (partly magnetite), quartz, and 

apatite. Of these only the feldspar, a part of the iron oxide (magnetite), and 

apatite are original. Both chlorite and epidote, intimately associated with 

more or less hornblende, are abundantly developed in most of the sections, 

sometimes one, sometimes the other predominating; but the two are at all 

times intimately connected.

In the porphyritic and nonporphyritic types the feldspar is present as lathshaped crystals, showing the broad twinning lamellae of the albite type. Twinning after the Carlsbad law was observed in several instances. In the groundmass of the porphyritic rocks and in the fine-textured nonporphyritic types 

the feldspars are microlitic, with the boundaries less sharp and well defined 

than for the lath-shaped feldspars, and the twinning is not at all or only 

slightly indicated. Sometimes the feldspar grouping is suggestive of the sheaflike arrangement described by Clements ° in similar volcanic rocks of the Hemlock formation of Lake Superior. Poikilitic texture is well developed in many 

of the larger feldspar laths.

Feldspar is the only porphyritically developed mineral, and it consists of 

fairly large stout laths of broadly striated plagioclase, with maximum extinction angles measured on the twinning planes of 14° to 20°, which would apparently indicate an acid plagioclase, probable near oligoclase.

The feldspars of both the groundmass and phenocrysts are frequently fractured and mashed, showing the effects of pressure, which is seen to best advantage in the schistose rocks.

Not a trace of original hornblende was positively identified in any of the 

sections. Amphibole is fairly abundant in most of the slides as a secondary 

product, and as such it is usually light-green to slight bluish-green in color 

and as fibrous and frayed-out masses. A more common occurrence, perhaps, 

is as a felt of actinolite needles admixed with the other constituents, particularly chlorite, epidote, and iron oxide. The needles are very long and slender 

and are frequently much curved and bent. The pleochroism of the actinolite 

is usually quite strong.

No trace of either augite or olivine was indicated in any of the slides. On 

account of the greatly altered condition of the rocks, it would not be safe to 

state that they were not present as original constituents.

« Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. 36, 1899, p. 99.
72 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

Chlorite is a constant and abundant constituent of the rocks, but is variable 

in amount, and presents the usual occurrence. for such rocks. A striking 

feature is the intimately associated grains and plates of epidote distributed 

through the chloritic mass in a manner to indicate the simultaneous development of the two minerals, a characteristic occurrence in some of the Lake 

Superior greenstones described by Williams.0 Clements 6 has shown that in 

some of the basic volcanics of the Hemlock formation the great abundance of 

chlorite in some sections is more than could result, from the alteration of that 

amount of the original bisilicate present, and he points out that it is derived 

in part from the altered glassy base. This explanation is likely applicable to 

some of the sections of the Virgilina rocks, since the amount of chlorite is in 

excess of the original bisilicate, and is probably a derived product in part from 

an altered glassy base.

Epidote in the form of small and large irregular grains and plates is abundantly present, closely associated with chlorite and amphibole. It varies in 

color from deep yellow to nearly colorless grains, with high single and double 

refraction, and showing strong pleochroism in the colored individuals. The 

sonmyhat idiomorphic plates show the M(001) and T(100) cleavages in their 

usual development.

Zoisite, when identified, was closely intergrown with the epidote, forming an 

epidote-zoisite aggregate, the individuals of which are differentiated by their 

contrasted double refraction.

Iron oxide is extremely abundant in portions of some of the sections and to 

some degree in all. It is not all magnetite, as indicated by the red color of 

much of it. It is separated from the other constituents of the powdered rock 

by means of the magnet. It occurs as minute grains and crystals, and is ill 

part primary and in part secondary. It is so abundant in some sections as to 

entirely mask some of the more important constituents. Its secondary nature 

is frequently shown in its peripheral position surrounding the iron-bearing 

constituent from which it was derived. .

The remaining minerals occurring in the locks present no noteworthy 

features.

In the thin sections of the purple-colored slaty rocks of the Copper World 

[mine], the [Person Consolidated] Durgy and 1'ancey mines, and tlie "slate 

vein " in the Carolina portion of the belt, and probably the fissile' greenstone 

from the Halifax copper mine in Virginia, there is strong evidence for regarding 

the rocks-as clastic volcanics. The evidence is less plain in some sections than 

in others, on account of extreme alteration having destroyed nearly all trace of 

the rock structure. When the texture is not entirely destroyed the microscope 

shows a clastic composed of igneous fragments similar in all respects to the 

true igneous rocks of the district. * * *

The microscopic study entirely fails to indicate what the original characterizing bisilicate component was in these rocks whether augite or hornblende 

or both, with possible biotite and olivine. We are in doubt, therefore, as to 

whether the rocks were originally augite or hornblende andesites.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.

Professor Watson has also made a chemical study of the rocks. 

Speaking of this, he says:

Six analyses of the Virgilina greenstones, four complete (analyses 1-5 inclusive) and two partial (6 and 7), were made by the writer in the chemical

« Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 62, 1890, pp. 56 et seq. 

»Mon. U. S. Geol Survey, vol. 36, 1899, p. 101.
VIRGINIA. 73

laboratory of Denison University.. These are compared with analyses of socalled greenstones (Catoctiu schist) of the Catoctin belt of northern Virginia 

(analysis S). * * *

Analyses of rocks from Virgilina district, Virginia.

SiOa. ................

TiOa- ................

AhOs.. ..............

FeO. ................

MnO.................

CaO......... .........

MgO... ..............

NaaO ................

K2 0 .................

HaO. .........:.......

PaOB .. ...............

COs..................

1

64.12 

Trace. 

16.32 

6.72 

1.38 

.64 

3.49 

.33 

6.22 

.53 

.34 

Unclet. 

None.

100.09

2.

62.32 

.06 

15.79 

3.57 

4.61 

.35 

3.65 

2.53 

4.51 .76- 

1.89 

Unclet. 

None.

100.04

3.

63.22 

.03 

16.05 

5.15 

2.49 

.49 

3.57 

1.43 

5.37 

.64 

1.11 

Undet. 

None.

99.55

4.

51.34 

.38 

20.07 

7.03 

4.03 

.38 

2.83 

4.18 

1.83 

5.53 

2.90 

Undet. 

None.

100.50

5.

48.20 

.24 

22. 10 

 7.61 

. 3.95 

:35 

8.86 

.86 

4.90 

1.16 

2.31 

Undet. 

None.

100.54

6.

46.45 

Trace. 

13.79 

7.60 

0.41 

Trace. 

10.13 

9.81

| Undet.

2.66 

Unclet. 

2.27

7.

49.51 

.57 

22.42 

10.03 

2.42 

.42 

7.68 

2.81

Undet.

3.41 

Undet. 

.90

8.

51.08 

2.67 

11.37 

11.17 

5. 04 

.22 

5.20 

3.96 

/' 5. 54 

\ 1.50 

1.50

.39

100.24

1. Andesite, dark-purplish gray, massive, and slightly porphyritic in texture, 0.5 mile south of Virgilina, 

Granville County, N. C.; Cornfield opening. Analysis by Thomas L. Watson.

2. Dark, massive greenstone; Overby opening. Analysis by Thomas L. Watson.

3. Average of 1 and 2.

4. Light greenstone schist, Blue Wing mine, 3 miles south of Virgilina, Granville County, N.C. Analysis 

by Thomas L. Watson.

5. Light greenstone schist, Fourth of July mine, 2,5 miles south of Virgilina, Granville County, N. C. 

Analysis by Thomas L. Watson.

0. Light greenstone schist, Anaconda mine, 1,5 miles south of Virgilina, Halifax County, Va. Analysis 

by Thomas L. Watson.

7. Partially decayed greenstone schist front same locality as 6. Analysis by Thomas L. Watson.

8. Andesite, orendase, subrang 4 (dosodic), 3.5 miles east of Front Royal, Va. Analysis by George 

Steiger, Bulletin U. S. Geol. Survey No. 186,1900, p. 51; described by Keith, Fourteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1894, p. 305.

A cursory examination of the analyses is sufficient to indicate the andesitic 

character of the rocks, with an advanced stage of alteration shown in 4, 5, 6, 

and 7. Furthermore, the ratio of the Si02 to the base-forming elements in 1 and 

2, the least-altered material, suggests an intermediate rather than an acid or basic 

audesite. The prevailingly low SiO2 in the remaining analyses (4, 5, 6, and 7) 

is explained on the basis of advanced alteration, since the rocks yielding these 

results were the most altered and were highly schistose in structure. Other 

apparent irregularities in the analyses are likewise-explained on the same basis, 

since the greatest irregularities are indicated in the analysis of the mostaltered specimens. To what extent the ore-bearing solutions have aided in the 

alteration it is not possible to say, but that the change has resulted in part 

from such action is doubtless shown in the metalliferous veins of the district.

When 1, 2, and 3. analyses of the least-altered rock, are compared with 

analyses of recognized andesites .occurring elsewhere, no marked differences 

in the essential constituents are shown.

Higher SiO2 and A12O3 and lower Fe2 03 , CaO, and MgO in the Virgilina rocks 

than for the similar rocks in the Catoctin belt are noted. Na 2O is approximately the same for the two rocks, with increased K-O shown in the Catoctin 

andesite. The Catoctin andesite is characterized by very high iron oxide and 

correspondingly low SiO2 , and clearly represents the basic type of audesite, 

which readily accounts for the apparent variations shown in the comparison 

with the Virgilina rock. * * *
74 COPPER DEPOSITS OP THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

So far, then, as chemical analyses are trustworthy, the percentage ratios of 

the various constituents in the Virginia-North Carolina rocks, as indicated in 

1 and 2, and their average 3, are those of audesite. Passing, then, from the 

least to the most altered phases of the rocks, the change is observed to consist largely in the'increase in the amount of chlorite, as clearly manifested by 

the assumption of water (hydration), and in the increased A12O3 , FeO,- and 

MgO. A similar change in the rocks of the greenstone area of Michigan has 

been emphasized by Williams.0

A second and no less important change in the Virginia-North Carolina rocks 

is the increased amount of epidote in the much-altered phases of the rocks, a 

fact indicated microscopically as well as in the field, and further confirmed 

chemically in the greatly increased amounts of CaO in the analyses of the 

altered over those of the fresher rocks.

Attention is finally directed to the alkalies' ratio in these rocks, in which it 

is observed that K2O is reduced to practically a minimum, while the Na2O is 

proportionately increased. The constant presence of TiOz and MnO in the

analyses is a noteworthy feature.

* * * * * * *

The evidence here adduced from the descriptions of the rocks of the several 

areas indicates the striking fact that the present altered rock, greenstone, is 

remarkably similar for the several districts, but when, through chemical and 

microscopic means it is traced to the original rock, distinct differentiation, such 

as distinguishes the various basic igneous types from each other, is shown. 

Moreover, not only is this striking similarity indicated in the altered rock in 

each instance, but the processes involved in producing the alteration have been 

uniformly alike. The alteration has been one of structural and chemical rnetamorphism, resulting in the formation of abundant chlorate and epidote and 

smaller amounts of other secondary minerals and the accompanying secondary 

schistose structure.

AGE RELATIONS.

Concerning the age relations of the rocks, Professor Watson speaks 

as follows:

Excepting the northernmost extension of the Juratrias to the south and 

southeast in the vicinity of Oxford, Granville County, N. C., no known elastics 

of definite age are found close to the area. Dikes of Mesozoic diabase are 

reported to be rather numerous in parts of Granville County, and in several 

instances are observed cutting the rocks of this area. * * *

The occurrence of similar ancient volcanic rocks in the adjoining counties 

to the southeast of the Virgilina area, described by Williams 6 and others c as 

closely resembling those of .the South Mountain area, are grouped as preCambrian in age, and can be most likely correlated with the rocks* of the 

Virgilina district.

The rocks of this district are shown to be quite similar in many respects to 

the volcanics farther north in Virginia and Maryland of the Catoctin belt and 

of South Mountain, a continuation of the Catoctin belt in Pennsylvania. Keith d

« Williams, G. H., Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 62, 1890, pp. 192-217.

" Williams, G. H., Jour. Geology, 1894, vol. 2, pp. 1-31.

c Nitze, H. B. C., and Hanna, G. B., Gold deposits of North Carolina : Bull. Geol. Survey North Carolina No. 3, 1896, pp. 37-43. Nitze, H. B. C:, and Wilkens, H. A. J., Gold 

mining in North Carolina and adjacent southern Appalachian regions: Bull. Geol. Survey 

North Carolina No. 10, 1897, pp. 15, 16.

<* Keith, Arthur, Geology of the Catoctin belt: Fourteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1894, p. 319, and map, PI. XXII, opposite p. 308.
VIRGINIA. 75

has shown the rocks of the Catoctin belt to be pre-Cambrian Algonkian in 

age. Likewise Williams ° and Bascom 6 have shown the series of both acid 

and basic volcanics of South Mountain in Pennsylvania to be of the same 

age Algonkian.

The rocks of the Virgilina district are, with few exceptions, shown to be 

highly schistose in structure, which is a secondary structure and indicates that 

the area has been subjected to long-continued dyuamo-metaniorphism. In view 

of these facts and in the absence of contradictory field evidence, the rocks are 

placed as pre-Cambrian in age. This is in accord with the work of Kerr and 

Holmes, who agree in assigning the rocks of this area to the Huronian 

(Algonkian),0 and with that of Keith,* Williams,0 and Bascorn 6 for somewhat similar volcanics occurring to the north in Virginia, Maryland, and 

Pennsylvania.

It further harmonizes with the work of Williams a and Nitze ° in the 

adjoining counties to the southwest of the Virgilina district, where similar rocks 

are described and classified as pre-Cambrian in age. Subsequent, work will 

probably establish the contemporaneous origin of the rocks for the several 

scattered areas.

CONCLUSIONS.

The principal points developed in this study are summarized by 

Watson as follows:

1. The rocks of the area here described have been greatly altered through 

pressure and chemical metamorphisrn, as indicated in the prevailing secondary 

schistose structure and the abundant development of the secondary minerals 

chlorite, epldqte, and hornblende and small amounts of others. The alteration 

has advanced' sufficiently far in the schistose phases to destroy in most cases 

the original structure and minerals of the rock.

2. From structural, petrographic, and chemical evidences the rocks are 

shown to have' been derived from an original andesite, but in their present 

much-altered state they are, according to present usage, more properly designated meta-andesites; that these are intimately associated with the corre-i 

spending volcanic elastics. Furthermore, the popular name " greenstone,", applied to many areas of greatly altered massive and schistose rocks along the 

Atlantic coast and Lake Superior regions, shown to have been derived from an 

original basic eruptive rock type, has equal application to the existing rocks of 

the Virgilina district.

3. The rocks are pre-Cambrian in age and represent an area of ancient 

volcanics similar to others described as occurring along the Atlantic coast 

region from eastern Canada to Georgia and Alabama and in the Lake Superior 

region.

4. The rocks are cut by numerous approximately parallel quartz veins which 

contain workable copper deposits. The veins are described as true fissure 

veins, and the ore is glance and bornite, without chalcopyrite and pyrite.

" Williams, G. H., The volcanic rocks of South Mountain, in Pennsylvania and Maryland : Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 44, 1892, pp. 493-494 ; Jour. Geology, vol. 2, 1894, 

pp. 1-31.

6 Bascom, F., Volcanic rocks of South Mountain, Pennsylvania: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey 

No. 136, 1896, p. 30; Jour. Geology, vol. 1, 1893, pp. 813-832.

c Van Hise, C. R., Correlation papers Archean and Algonkian: Bull. U. S.~Geol. Survey No. 86, 1892.

A Keith, Arthur, op. clt.

 Nitze, H. B. C., op. cit.
76 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

THE ORES.

The workable ores comprise glance and bornite mixed with quartz 

and country rock. At shallow depths cuprite and malachite occur 

as alteration products of the original sulphides. A little native 

copper occurs in places. Chalcopyrite, chalcocite, malachite, chrysocolla, cuprite, and native copper comprise all the known copper minerals. Chalcopyrite and pj^rite are very rare, but were observed at 

several shafts on the High Hill property in 1901. The ores are free 

from arsenic and antimony, but show traces of gold and silver, particularly the latter. The following assays of rich ore from the 

Yancy mine in Person County, N. C., given by Hanna,a show the 

relative values of gold, silver, and copper.

Assay of gray ores from Yancy mine, North Carolina.

Copper, per cent. .........................................................

1.

0.1

0.7

48.17

2.

0.1

5.1

26. 10

3.

0.1

.5

31.14

The ores contain from one-half ounce to 2-J ounces per ton in silver, 

which is carried by the massively crystalline glance. Gold occurs in 

traces only, though gold-bearing quartz occurs on the borders of the 

copper area and is being worked at two mines.

The ore occurs characteristically in quartz veins. It also occurs 

in some places in finely divided particles disseminated through the 

more massive greenstone found in the schist. The workable ore is 

confined entirely to the veins. The vein stone or gangue consists

principally of quartz with considerable calcite and epidote mixed

locally. The altered country rock is intimately mixed with the 

quartz and calcite as thin lenses and stringers, which impart, in 

places, a banded structure to the vein. The included portions of the 

altered rock vary from mere films and dark streaks in the quartz to 

a preponderance of the schist with quartz infiltrated between the 

layers. The quartz is further frequently incased by layers of schis£ 

wrapped around it.

THE VEINS.

Though the district has many veins, some of them do not outcrop 

and few can be traced very far. Those of the High Hill and Yancy 

mines are exceptions, having Avell-defined outcrops, which can be 

followed for a mile or more in each case. In driving over the region 

one notices an abundance of white quartz, distributed in well-defined 

belts which correspond in a general way to the outcrops of the quartz

0 Hanna, G. B., Ores of North Carolina: Geology of North Carolina, vol. 2, 1888, p. 220.
VIRGINIA. 77

veins. In general, there are a number of more or less parallel veins 

which strike N. 5° to 10° E. and whose ends overlap. The veins 

cross the country rock in part, and are parallel in part to the 

schistosity. There is no gossan as commonly understood, and the 

surface outcrops of quartz are not much altered, but are solid and 

massive.

The mining development of the past five years shows that copper 

occurs in almost all of these veins in greater or less quantity. The 

' most northerly mine is the High Hill, 9 miles north of Virgilina. 

The Person Consolidated mine is an equal distance south of this 

town, and other properties similar in character are said to have been 

found 5 or 6 miles still farther south. The ores occur in a belt at 

least 18 miles in length and about a mile wide.

The veins are lenticular deposits of quartz, connected, and forming, 

in the High Hill and Yancy mines, very uniform continuous quartz 

outcroppings at the surface. They are not persistent in width, however, and it is somewhat doubtful if they are all persistent at all for 

long distances as continuous bodies 

of quartz. Their lenticular structure 

is well illustrated (see fig. 9) by an 

example in the railroad cut near the 

town of Virgilina, where a quartz 

seam follows the plane of schistosity 

and is cut across by the railroad, so 

that it shows on both sides of the 

track. The decomposition of adjacent schist emphasizes the lenticular 

form of the quartz by disclosing the 

concentric shelling of a slaty material that incases it. This structure 

is seen on a large scale at many of the mines. Where the schists are 

crossed by the main street of the town of Virgilina, small stringers 

of quartz are noted. The schists adjacent to this show green and 

blue copper stains when broken open.

The veins, like the gold veins of the Appalachian region, appear 

to be a succession of lenses connected by strings of quartz. The 

explanation given by Becker,0 which seems to be adequate, is graphically shown in figure 10, in which a represents an irregular fracture traversing the metamorphic schists along which no movement 

has taken place, and b 'a vertical section in which one wall has moved 

relatively upward and the other wall downward, producing lenticular 

spaces by a simple faulting amounting to a very few feet. In the 

case of the Blue Wing vein and others in the same district, the fracture has not been a simple one and the lenticular spaces are in part

9. Quartz lenticle of vein 

exposed in railway cut, Virgilina 

district, showing concentric slate 

shells.

0 Becker, G. F., Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 24, 1895, pp. 130-138.
78 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

filled by the sheeted country rock. This structure is illustrated in the

ideal diagram, figure 11.

The largest veins show outcrops nearly continuous for half a mile 

to a mile or more, and the underground workings show a continuous body of quartz; but 

even the largest veins have a bulbous or lenticular form, the vein pinching and widening both 

horizontally and vertically. The smaller veins 

show this very markedly, their lenses being 

in many places connected by a mere film or 

plate of quartz, which may be lacking in certain horizontal cross sections, so that the vein 

appears to have given out. In the largest 

veins, such as the High Hill, the outcrop is 

lacking in certain places, probably by reason 

of this thinning out. 

Many parts

of the veins 

show a very 

ij- marked banded structure.FIGURE 10. Diagram 

lustrating the formation 

of lenticular openings by 

the movement of fissure This is COmwalls. , monly seen

near the walls,, though in many 

places it prevails for the entire 

width of the vein. This banding 

is due to included plates of altered 

schist, in many places so thin as 

to be mere films, or to dark streakings in the white gangue. Many 

of these films are marked by ore, 

and in some of them the schist 

appears to have been replaced by 

dark quartz, unlike the white 

quartz of the vein. In very 

many places this banded structure is most marked where the 

gangue consists largely of calcite. In some places it appears as 

if a slight movement had torn the 

walls raggedly apart and quartz 

had filled in cavities. (See fig. 11.)

The quartz is commonly cased in a shelly micaceous material, locally 

called slate. In some places these films are undoubtedly of schist,

FIGURE 11. Diagram illustrating structure 

of veins formed by the tearing apart of 

schist included between fault fissures or 

lying adjacent to fissures.
VIRGINIA. 79

FIGURE 12. Face of 300-foot level in Holloway 

mine, January, 1900. On the left, black quartzose ore; in the center, white quartz stringers, 

cutting gangue.

but more generally they appear to be either an altered fault mud or 

an attrition material, possibly laminated by the pressure of the 

crystallizing quartz mass.

The footwall is generally well defined. In the Blue Wing mine 

it .is regular in dip and strike and shows only slight undulations. 

The hanging wall is much less regular and swells out around the 

lenses. The cross dike of the Blue Wing mine interrupts the footwall arid deflects the hanging wall, which becomes 

irregular as the vein passes 

through the tough rock. 

In the Holloway, which is 

a cross vein, the footwall 

is not regular but is deflected in and out as harder 

or softer bands of schist 

are crossed by .the vein.

Slickensides were observed where the Blue Wing 

vein crosses the dike on the 

150-foot level. The hanging wall of the Holloway vein above the second level north shows 

flutings whose dip is about 70° S. The ore shoots have a similar dip.

No clay selvage was observed at any of the mines, but water commonly penetrates the vein along the foot wall.

The veins have a generally uniform strike of N. 3° to 5° E. The 

vein of the Holloway is an exception, running N. 20° E.; and there

is also a cross vein on 

the Yancey property.

MINES;

.HOLLOWAY MINE.

The Holloway mine, 

3^ or 4 miles south of 

Virgilina, with which 

it is connected by a 

branch of the Southern Railway, was for several years a steady producer. In the three 

years from 1898 to 1901, it was developed from a prospect pit 47 

feet deep to a mine 300 feet deep, and yielded about 6,000 tons of ore, 

averaging 12 per cent for the second-class ore and running up to 30 

per cent or more for first-class ore.

The mine is equipped with steam hoist, pumps, and air compressor, 

together with necessary buildings. It is developed by four levels at

FIGURE 13. Ideal horizontal cross section of Holloway 

vein, showing quartz spurs following the foliation of 

the country schist.
80 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

75,150, 200, and 300 feet, respectively, the fourth being at the bottom 

of the shaft.

The vein varies in width from 3 feet to 75 feet or more, showing 

the lenticular structure noticed on a small scale in the veins in the 

railroad cut (see p. 77), and, in fact, repeated in the ore body itself. 

In general, the foot-wall is fairly defined, showing a dip of 75°. 

The hanging wall is less defined, and both foot and hanging walls 

show irregularities, due doubtless to the crossing of the schists by 

the vein at a slight angle and the presence of projections where the 

rocks are slightly harder than the usual schists. The Holloway is 

a cross vein and its course, N. 15° to 20° E., is not that of most of 

the veins of the district. In the lower or third level of the mine 

the vein at the south face is 12 feet wide, and shows white and gray 

quartz, including 2| feet of epidote and gray chalcocite. Figure 12 

shows the rolling hanging wall and the ill-defined foot-wall on the 

fifth level. The vein sends out little feeders into the schists in 

stringers parallel to the schistosity (fig. 13).

On the third level, south of the shaft, the vein was lost in following the footwall, necessitating a short crosscut into the country rock. 

Figure 12 shows the cross section of the ore body on the.fifth level 

south of the shaft. In general, the vein south of the shaft is well 

defined and has good walls up to the first level. The quartz is 

incased in a soft micaceous slate, not a gouge or selvage in the ordinary sense, which may be a schist-forming part of the country rock. 

Probably, however, it is an alteration of the sheared country rock, 

since it seems to be continuous across differing bands of schist and 

to be a constant accompaniment of the quartz. On the third level the 

vein pinches toward the shaft to about 3 feet, and continues with 

this width to the shaft and northward for a short distance, beyond 

which it widens to 6 or 8 feet. North of the shaft the vein is broken 

by a fault fissure dipping about 30° E. and filled by a mud containing 

sharp angular fragments of ore and quartz. It does not throw the 

vein, though it shatters the walls.

The ore body on the third level is altered along cracks, showing 

films of green carbonates in both the ore and the white quartz. In 

the bottom of the shaft, however, no decomposition was observed. A 

prospect drift, started about 25 feet above the face of the third level, 

showed a black jaspery rock, with crossings of white quartz. No ore 

is exposed except on the north wall, where there is a slight green 

stain.

On the second level the vein is not accessible.' North of the shaft 

a crosscut 8 feet into the hanging wall shows hard finely laminated 

micaceous schists, the schistosity of which makes an angle of about 

30° with the vein. At the north end of this level the vein has a 

slaty hanging wall into which quartz feeders project. These feeders
VIRGINIA. 81

usually carry ore, but wedge out in a few feet. The quartz ore body 

does not show any true breccia, but in this, as in all mines of the 

district, there are the usual thin plated masses of decomposed schist. 

In general, the richer ore is found near the foot wall. !N"o .definite 

association was observed between the occurrence of ore and the'character of the schists cut by the vein.

On the first level, 75 feet below the surface, south of the shaft, the 

vein is 133 feet wide but converges rapidly in both directions. The 

output in 1901 was 30 to 40 tons of ore per day. As then mined, the 

ore was picked and cobbed, and 18 to 20 tons per day were shipped, 

the remainder being thrown on the dump, awaiting' some means of 

concentration. An air compressor running seven drills was at work, 

and a bucket hoist was used in the inclined shaft. The mine is situated on a rather gentle slope, so that facilities for dumps are not 

especially good.

A prospect shaft 30 or 40 feet deep, known as No. 5, shows vein 

matter but no quartz or ore. If situated on the vein it indicates a 

sharp twist at this point.

The Thomas mine (p. 83) is apparently on the direct extension of 

the Holl.oway vein, though that vein has not been traced continuously 

to it.

PERSON CONSOLIDATED MINES.

The Person Consolidated Copper and Gold Company's mines lie 

8 miles south of Virgilina, and are on the same vein.

Yancey mine. The mine formerly known as the Yancey is one of 

the oldest mines of the district, and was vigorously worked in 1892, 

when concentrating works were erected, two shafts, one 150 feet and 

the other 88 feet deep, were sunk, and some ore was extracted. The 

old Yancey shaft is large and well timbered, and appears to be in 

good preservation.

The mine dump shows the usual gray and purple schist, with white 

quartz and epidote. The ore carries a gray copper glance. The 

schist on the dump is much decomposed and altered by long exposure, the fragments having slacked down to a rather small size 

with much soft micaceous debris. Some carbonate is still present 

and so is a little gray copper ore, spotted with bits of bornite.

The quartz vein was followed southward from the old Yancey 

shaft along a very strong outcrop, on a rising slope, to another old 

shaft, Avhere, however, no ore was found. The course is N. 3° to 5° 

E., and the vein has, it is said, been traced for more than 1.5 miles 

south of the Yancey shaft. It has been exposed also in a cut a few 

feet south of the new opening made by Mr. Durgy.

A new shaft has been sunk a hundred yards south of the Yancey 

shaft. The rock extracted is purple and gray schist with some quartz.

81777° Bull. 45'5 11 6
82 COPPER DEPOSITS'OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

The rocks in the field ne,ar by are not schistose, but occur in angular 

blocks 6 to 20 inches across, showing a massive structure, and look 

rather like epidote bowlders, but probably are really a volcanic 

breccia. The openings are lower than the office and buildings constituting the mining settlement.

Durgy mine. The Durgy mine shows a well-defined and persistent 

vein opened to a depth of 340 feet. The average width is about 8 

feet, with extremes of 2 and 15 feet. The vein is not always copper 

bearing, and the quartz streak narrows down in places to a few inches 

with crush country rock as vein filling, but there is'no reason why 

such a vein should not widen out beyond or below. The mine shows 

two ore shoots, the main or north one being 450 feet long. The map 

shows the extent of development work.

The mine is equipped with a good shaft, hoist, compressor, engines, 

boilers, etc., with all necessary houses, and with a concentrating mill.

FIGURE 14. Section of Durgy mine, Virgilina district, Virginia.

Shaft No. 1-64 is a new one alongside of an old pit one-fourth mile 

northeast of the Yancey. The foot- wall is a rather massive epidote 

rock; the hanging wall a fissile gray mica schist, resembling that 

common to all the veins. The ore shoot where crossed by the shaft 

is about 15 inches wide, the gray glance occuring in white quartz, 

with some impregnated schist. The vein is composed of white " filling quartz " but is in part a breccia. Ore and epidote seem to replace 

square and angular fragments embedded in white quartz. In other 

masses the glance appears in branches of mossy aggregates, penetrating white quartz, or is found in threads in the altered schist.

WALL MINE.

The Halifax Mining Company owns the Wall mine. The vein has 

an average width of 3.75 feet and is developed by a shaft 135 feet 

deep, with drifts north and south for 50 and 40 feet, respectively. 

The vein ranges in width from 2£ to 5£ feet and carries from 0.2 per 

cent to 3 per cent of copper.
VIRGINIA. 83

CHAPPEL MINE.

The Chappel mine lies northeast of the High Hill mine. The 

workings consist of two shafts, one 87 the other 55 feet deep, and 

about 150 feet of drifting.

COPPER WORLD MINE.

The Copper World mine was first opened in. 1882. A shaft 60 

feet deep, Avith drifts at 30 and 60 feet, was sunk by the owner, 

Colonel Stiff, in 1901. The vein shows the usual white quartz, Avith 

some epidote, incased in gray and purple schist. But one ore shoot 

was crossed, from which 8 'to 10 tons of high-grade glance ore Avere 

stoped and shipped.

FBAZIER MINE.

The Frazier mine deposit is like that in the " native " shaft of the 

Eustis property. It shows no defined vein, but contains quartz 

stringers and ore streamings in cracks and fissure seams in a very 

massive epidote rock. The ore is bornite.

THOMAS MINE.

The Thomas mine is about one-half mile from the Holloway, and 

is supposed to be on the direct continuation of the same vein. The 

mine Avas not working Avhen visited in 1901, and the ore dump had 

been thoroughly cleaned up. The gangue is white quartz with included fragments of slate, which generally shoAv a parallel banding, 

so that it is difficult to account for them as replacement nuclei. Such 

fragments could not exist in open space and hence the filling quartz, 

which is clearly not replacement, must have been largely inserted between the schist plates. . The rock distinctly shows its former igneous 

origin and is markedly porphyritic. It is an altered andesite.

ANACONDA MINE.

The Anaconda mine is located close by the road, in a field 1.5 miles 

north of Virgilina. The Anaconda vein lies in the green schists and 

is opened by a shaft 5 by 7 feet wide and 140 feet deep. Drifts 85 

and 115 feet long, respectively, run north and south on the 100-foot 

level.

The ore shoot is from 4 to 18 inches Avide and carries a 2 to 4 inch, 

streak of 15 per cent copper ore, the balance averaging about 4 per 

cent. The vein outside of the ore shoot is well defined and is from 

12 to 24 inches Avide, but it is barren or nearly so. The ore is a 

mixture of glance and gray copper in quartz. The dump shows 

bright green schist, largely impregnated with epidote. About seven
84 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

carloads of ore, carrying from 3 per cent of copper in the first carload to 12 per cent in the last five, have been shipped from this mine.

FIGURE 15. Section of Anaconda mine, Virgilina district, Virginia. 

 BLUE WING MINE.

The Blue Wing mine is situated about 1| miles south of Virgilina, 

in Granville County, N. C. The gangue is quartz and calcite.

The Blue Wing vein is an excellent example of a complex fissure 

vein, in which the space between two fault planes is closely sheeted

200 Feet

FIGURE 16. Section of Blue Wing mine, Virgilina district, Virginia.

by thin parallel plates, more or less torn apart. The ore occurred 

in part as filling along narrow clefts between these broken sheets. 

and in part as minute impregnation of quartz lenses in the altered
VIRGINIA. 85

rock itself. Definite evidence of metasomatic replacement is apparent, but the bulk of the ore body is quartz, filling open spaces. This 

structure is shown in figure 17. Where the vein crosses the diabase 

dike, the fracture walls are displaced and the fissure becomes a shattered zone between fault planes.

The vein is opened by a shaft 266 feet deep and a horizontal drift 

of 600 feet. The width averages 4 feet but varies considerably. The 

ore will average - 

about 2 per cent 

copper and fourfifths ounce silver 

per ton. It carries considerable, 

calcite, the excess 

of silica being 

about 60 per cent.

There is also a 

shaft on the Glasscock tract, 203 feet 

deep, and one on 

the Julia Tuck 

tract, 125 feet 

deep.

The Blue Wing 

shaft is over 180 

feet deep and 

has 100-foot and 

150 - foot levels. 

The 100-foot level, 

which runs 348 

feet north and 

115 feet south of 

the shaft, shows a 

vein of very constant width. In 

fact it maintains 

a width of about 

3 feet from the 

surface down to the 100-foot level and shows well-defined foot and' 

hanging walls. The ground has been stoped out, so that no ore is 

now known above the 100-foot level.

Figure 18 shows the face at the north end of the 100-foot level; 

figure 19, the roof above the stope, a short distance south of the face; 

figure 20, a sketch of the south face of the same level, showing quartz 

lenses holding ore and the slate casing to the ore lenses. This south

FIGURE 1.7. Specimen of ore from Blue Wing mine, Virginia, 

showing banded structure. The white ground is calcite, 

containing a little quartz in small lenses; the solid black is 

bornite; the parallel lines represent schist; the crosshatching quartz. One^half natural size.
86 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

face shows barren white quartz and calcite on the hanging wall, and 

on the foot wall dark-gray sulphide slate with quartz streaks, holding 

parallel threads or films of \v~hat looks like slate dotted with ore. 

Ore (harder and darker in color) also occurs in the casing. In many

places the ore body presents a 

streaked or ribboned appearance,, 

due, not to crustification or to recent movement of the vein, but to 

partly replaced sheets of schist. 

A dike 12 feet wide cuts across 

the schists and apparently cuts 

off the vein. This dike is followed continuously down to the 

150-foot level and is there 

crossed by the vein, which is not 

well defined and consists of a 

mass of breccia cemented by calcite and quartz. At this level 

also the dike shows unmistakable evidence of slickensides and 

shearing by the vein. So far as 

could be made out, the dike 

shows no very great decomposition; it simply pinches the vein 

because it is very hard and resistant. No definite striations were 

recognized in this vein, such as were seen in the Holloway. Much 

of the vein matter shows included fragments of schist, in places 

angular, but more commonly in thin platy masses. From the 100

FIGURE 18. Blue Wing vein in face of 100- 

foot level north. Oil the right, gray 

slate, with droppers and plates of white 

quartz. In the center, white calcite with 

some quartz and a streak of bornite 

(solid black). On the left, calcite and 

quartz resting against wall of schist.

FIGURE 19. Blue Wing vein, in roof over stope above the 100-foot level, 350 feet south 

of shaft. On the left, calcite and a little white quartz, with dark streaks of slaty 

matter and spots of ore. On the right, ore in dark quartz.

to the 150 foot level a continuous vein section is seen; but as the 

stopes have been exhausted of workable ore, only the barren gangue 

now shows. The face supplies a remarkably good example of the 

streaked or banded structure of these veins, the contrast between the
VIRGINIA. 87

white calcite and the dark schist being especially, well marked. The 

dark schist impregnated with ore shows evidence of the metasomatism 

that formed the ore at this place.

HIGH HILL MINE.

In 1904 the most important development in the Virginia part of 

the field was at the Virginia Copper Company's High Hill mine, 

where there are several well-defined persistent veins.

In 1904 the main or principal vein was prospected for 9,702 feet 

and the second parallel vein for 6,204 feet.a Both veins were found 

to be mineralized for the entire length explored. In March, 1904, the 

No. 4 shaft was 339 feet deep and the 

No. 3 shaft 267 feet deep, both vertical. 

The aggregate amount 'of shaft sinking 

is 1,189 feet, with 2,306 feet of levels 

opened up but°not stoped.

The equipment includes two doubledrum 50-horsepower Lidgerwood steam 

hoists, each capable of hoisting 4,000 

pounds at a speed of 400 feet per minute, or 400 tons ore per day; two 150- 

. horsepower horizontal return tubular 

boilers; a McKiernan 24 by 24 by 30 

inch air compressor, with a capacity 

of 1,400 cubic feet of free air per 

minute; a 54 by 12 inch air receiver, 

etc., to run twenty 3^-inch drills. 

Seven McKiernan and' five Sullivan 

rock drills are used. The mill contains Blake and Sturtevant crushers, 

pumps to handle 600,000 gallons per 

day, a picking belt, trammels, jigs, hydraulic classifiers, and a Wilfley table.

Up to March, 1904, this company had produced 212,455 pounds of 

refined copper and 2,485 ounces of refined silver. The concentrates 

carry $4 per ton in gold.

The ore is not in well-defined shoots, but is disseminated and will 

sample 2 per cent of copper and an ounce of silver per ton.

The following results of various samples of ore from the mine have 

been furnished by the owners of the High Hill property:

FIGURE 20. Blue Wirig vein at the 

south face of the 100-foot level. 

On the right, slate carrying 

streaks of quartz. In the middle, barren quartz and calcite 

carrying ore streak in center. 

On the left, schist carrying 

quartz lenses and ore the latter 

botli in independent streaks and 

as a casing about the lenses for 

one-fourth inch to two inches 

from the quartz.

"These statements are based on a letter from Mr. C. P. Voorbees, president of the 

company.
88 COPPEE DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES. 

Metallic contents of ore taken from High Hill property.

Number.

1. ..............................................................

2...............................................................

3...............................................................

4.................. ............. . ..

5....... .... . . .......... .... ............

6...............................................................

7...............................................................

8...............................................................

Copper.

Per cent. 

26.88 

9.29

1.19 

8.00 

2.01 

7.92 

1.27

Silver.

Ounces 

per ton. 

7.05 

2.80 

.80 

.10 

1.20 

.50 

1.50 

Trace.

Gold.

Ounce.? 

per ton. 

0.04 

.02 

.01 

Trace. 

Trace. 

Trace. 

.03 

Trace.

Value 

per ton. 

30.84 

.42 

.21

1. Selected ore from No. 2 shaft.

2. Ordinary ore fro:n ore shoot cut in No. 2 shaft.

3. Sample from face of north drift, 65-foot level, No. 4 shaft.

4. Sample across the hanging-wall layer of vein, 2 feet wide; stope, 65-foot level No. 4 shaft.

5. Middle streak, 20 inches thick, composed of ore and slate, same face as 4. -

6. Foot-wall layer of vein, 6 feet 8 inches thick; same face as 4 and 5.

7. Face of north drift, 150-foot level No. 4 shaft.

8. Face of south drift, 65-foot level No. 4 shaft.

The property comprises 612 acres crossed by two persistent veins, 

the western, or High Hill, vein being the best developed. This is a 

very persistent vein of white quartz traceable for 3 miles, or from 

Hyco River to a point a mile south of the company's holdings. It

has been opened by an adit (tunnel) 

and by twelve shafts. The adit was 

inaccessible and the shafts filled with 

water in July, 1905, but the author 

had made a careful though brief examination of these and other workings two years before.

The workings show that the vein, 

though persistent, varies in width 

from 6 inches to 15 feet, the average / o

width being 4 feet. It is almost continuously copper bearing, though in 

varying amount. The ore shoot developed by shafts No. 3 and No. 4 is 

1,000 feet long and that by No. 2 shaft 

is 200 feet long.

Figure 21 represents the structure 

of the north face of the 60-foot level in shaft No. 4. Figure-22 shows 

the north end of the shaft at the bottom. The1 ore shoot is said to 

occur along the footwall and is commonly believed to have a southerly 

pitch. Its character is the same in all the shafts, except, of course, 

that in the shallow pits only the oxidized ores are found. The bornite 

decomposes along cracks and films to malachite, and in the ore stacked 

about shafts Nos. 1 and 2 masses of bornite are seen altered to covelFIGURE 21. High Hill vein at shaft 

No. 4, north face of 60-foot level. 

Vein 8 to 9 feet wide. Soft fissile mica schist on the right.
VIRGINIA. 89

lite and nests of specular iron ore. Malachite is also abundant, and 

drusy quartz of secondary formation appears. The lenticular form 

of the ore body is shown in the sketch already given and also in figure 23, representing the wall of No. 9 shaft 

The shafts nearest Hyco River are 107 

feet deep, and are connected by a 180-foot 

level, which is continued 130 feet farther 

south nearly to daylight from the shaft. 

No. 8 shaft is 72 feet deep and has a 9-foot 

drift at bottom. The gold and silver values are variable. Occasionally fair assays 

have been made; for instance, a sample 

from the stock piles of first-class ore 

yielded 8.46 ounces gold per ton; but the 

returns of the carload shipments show but 

a few ounces of silver and an average of 

but 0.01 ounce gold.

DOROTHY MINE.

PIGUUE 22. High Hill vein, 

north face, at bottom of 

shaft No. 4. January 29, 

1900. Vein 8 to 9 feet 

wide. Ore shown in solid

' black.

The Dorothy mine is located on the west 

ridge, has two shafts 100 and 60 feet deep, 

respectively, with levels at 25 and 100 feet. The ore is bornite 

and glance in a quartz gangue. One carload has been shipped and 

several are on the dump.

ALBEMARLE COUNTY (SOUTHWEST MOUNTAIN).

6"-6"

A vein that was worked at one time 

as an iron deposit cuts through micaceous schist northeast of Charlottesville, in Albemarle County. The 

upper part of this vein, the gossan, 

is composed of llmonite, which was 

shipped to the Pittsburg furnaces.

The mines are in the rolling foothill 

country at the west base of Southwest 

Mountain, on a small fork of North 

Fork of Rivanna River, about 2 miles 

east of Stony Point and one-fourth 

mile from the main Charlottes ville 

turnpike. The branch road from the 

turnpike to the railroad station passes through the property. This 

'foothill region is characterized by flat-topped ridges and perennial, 

streams coursing through deeply cut valleys. The elevation is about

a. 6 c <L

FIGUHB 23. High Hill vein, Virginia. Exposure in south wall 

of shaft No. 9 : ((/) Decomposed 

schist; (fo) quartz; (c) gray 

schist, altered 'and showing green 

copper stains; (d) reddish decomposed schist.
90 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

400 feet above sea level, and the country is in large part cleared and 

under cultivation. The mines lie on both sides of the branch road, 

diverging from the pike at the church and following down Busher 

Creek. They are 2| miles from the railroad and 12 miles from Charlottesville.

The history of the Stony Point mine, so far as it can be ascertained, 

is short. It was discovered about 1878 and purchased by Major 

Mason, who worked the property in 1885. A spur of the Virginia 

Midland Railroad (Southern Railway) was run up to the property, 

partly for the purpose of loading ties cut on the-neighboring mountain but mainly in order to ship the iron ore. Years afterward Major 

Mason's foreman stated that mining was discontinued on the property about 1890, because the owner had opened up a newly purchased 

deposit of magnetite in Pittsylvania County which proved more 

remunerative; also that the iron ore (gossan) of this vein carried a 

troublesome amount of silica and the increasing amount of copper 

ore was detrimental to its use in iron smelting. About 2,500 carloads 

of the iron ore were shipped. According to this same authority the 

portion of the vein north of the road was developed by an inclined 

shaft 130 feet deep and a drainage tunnel run in a little above the 

creek level. Some water was encountered in the shaft and an 

8-horsepower Cameron pump was installed to drain the working, but 

so large a pump was not needed. The consumption of fuel was from 

1 to 1% cords of wood a day. The ore was roughly culled and was 

shipped to the Pittsburg furnaces. Some of it was said to run 75 

per cent iron in carload lots. The railroad spur is about 2 miles 

long, and in 1905 was still in a fair state of preservation except for 

one trestle near the main line.

The property consists of about 100 acres of land, covering about 

three-quarters of a mile of vein outcrop, of which one-quarter mile 

lies north of the wagon road, and is held by mining rights only. On 

the south side of the road the vein extends through a tract of woodland which is owned in fee simple. This woodland is covered by 

about twenty years' growth of new timber and with soil from 2 to 3 

feet deep. The vein is traceable up the slopes above the little creek 

to the flat summit of the ridge, the outcrop being practically continuous. Along the summit, pits and crosscuts every few yards .expose what is practically a continuous outcrop. Much white quartz 

is strewn over the ground, but it does not appear to come from the 

vein.

The course of the vein is- N. 35° E. (magnetic) in the northern 

portion of the property, and the dip is 55° S. as determined in the 

shaft. To the southward through the timber the course of the vein 

is S. 80° W,
VIRGINIA. 91

The vein, is from 5 to 6 feet wide and maintains a nearly uniform 

width throughout the entire extent exposed. It consists of a solid 

mass of gossan, which when broken appears more or less cellular, with 

siliceous portions and occasionally with quartz streaks.

In 1906 the property north of the road showed several large dump 

heaps of ore and waste, the largest coming from the inclined shaft 

previously mentioned. The ore dump is composed of a rather siliceous iron ore and of scattered lumps of milky to horn-like white 

quartz, 15 or more inches thick, well banded with thin layers of 

chalcopyrite, in some of which the quartz is spotted with small specks 

of chalcopyrite. No pyrite was seen either in the quartz or in the 

altered schists about the vein. Some of the cellular masses of limonite contain undecomposed nucleal masses of chalcopyrite. The 

country rock consists of bleached and altered, thinly foliated, sericitic 

schists. The hanging-wall rack is bleached and rusty, and the footwall rock is buff and olive colored and is less altered. No sign of 

eruptive dikes was seen in the immediate vicinity of the vein, but 

on the main turnpike, one-quarter mile to the east, dark-green exposures of what is probably an altered basic dike were noticed.

The only underground work accessible in 1905 was a portion of a 

tunnel about 20 feet below the surface of the ground. This was 

reached by going down an old caved shaft and turning southwest 

along the vein. An examination was also made of exposures in the 

old shafts sunk every few yards to the northeast along the vein until 

it passes into the cultivated field that slopes northward to the level 

of the small creek, along which exposures are said to exist. From 

the road southward the outcrops were carefully examined to see 

whether there were any signs of lenticular masses or whether the 

vein appeared to be a continuous exposure. So far as the openings 

afford any evidence, the vein is one continuous mass of gossan. In 

ground plan the vein appears to conform very closely to the foliation 

of the schist, but in the exposures seen in the shaft north of the road 

it appears to dip a little more steeply than the schists.

From the foregoing facts the following deductions are drawn:

First, the vein has been altered to a depth of at least 130 feet, or 

about 25 to 30 feet below the present water level, into a somewhat 

siliceous limonite. As no pyrite was seen in any of the quartzose 

portions of this gossan nor in the adjacent wall rocks, the iron must 

have been derived from chalcopyrite.

Second, as the 'base of the gossan has not yet been 'reached there 

is a fair presumption that several feet of secondary copper glance, 

the so-called black oxide ores, will be found between the gossan and 

the unaltered primary ore. This is borne out by experience at Ducktown, at Ore Knob, and at various other localities throughout the
92 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

Appalachian belt, As the samples of chalcopyrite which have been 

assayed yielded $5 per ton in gold and 16 per cent in copper, it is 

fair to assume that the gossan also carried a gold content and that 

the gold in the primary unaltered sulphide ore will be a valuable 

constituent. As the vein appears to be quite regular in strike and 

to be unfaulted, development work will be relatively cheap. Timbering will be needed, as the hanging wall scales off and needs stulls. 

The footwall is well defined and fairly uniform. Development 

work, if attempted, should consist of a shaft of sufficient depth to 

reach the unaltered sulphides, followed by drifting along the vein 

in order to find out the average assay value of the unaltered ore.

TKIASSIC AREA (LOTJDOUN, CULPEPER, ORANGE, AND AMHERST COUNTIES ).

Sparsely disseminated copper compounds are contained in the 

Triassic red sandstones and shales in places, but are generally too 

diffused to be profitably worked. Attempts were made in the early 

part, of the last century to mine the ores over parts of Loudoun, 

Culpeper, and Orange counties. In places the area of, mineralization is extensive and considerable work has been done. No veins 

have been found and no well-defined horizon exists. The ores occur 

for the most part as films or thin coatings of malachite on the joint 

surfaces and as disseminated grains of the sulphide and phosphate 

of copper through the rock. Some rich specimens of copper glance 

and copper phosphate are obtained, but they are rare.

Five miles east of Leesburg, near Sugar Run, in Loudoun County, 

the Triassic rocks include greenish or'bluish calcareous sandstones 

and shales, intercalated in the red rocks. These light-colored beds 

contain films or thin coatings of malachite (green carbonate of copper) on joint surfaces and locally carry specks of the phosphate of 

copper and of copper glance, commonly associated with carbonized 

vegetable stems and imperfect leaf impressions. " The area of mineralization is extensive and considerable work has been done, but the 

ore is too generally diffused to be profitably worked." °

Near Steyensburg, 10 miles east of Culpeper, copper-bearing shales 

were formerly worked for these ores. No veins have been found and 

no well-defined ore horizon is seen in the workings, the thin stainings 

being sparsely disseminated. Though rich specimens do occur, they 

are rare, and the metal is too sparse to pay for working. Unfortunately the brilliant color of the carbonate gives false impressions of 

richness, and much time and money has been wasted in attempts to 

work the rocks. In no instance is the ore in sufficient quantity to 

warrant mining.

"Keith, Arthur, Harpers Ferry folio (No. 10), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. Geol. Survey, 

1894.
VIRGINIA. 93

Professor Rogers's observations (see p. 94) on. the ores of this area 

remain true to-day. He noted the presence of green copper carbonate and copper glance in these beds. Besides the green carbonate 

found as films and specks of ore associated with carbonized vegetable 

stems and impressions, and contained in calcareous shales, phosphate 

of copper and glance occur in good specimens. Splendid specimens 

of glance are often found. Professor Rogers* adds that this indication " has unhappily kept alive the hope of discovering in these 

shales veins of a workable copper ore and has led to repeated enterprises in mining, from which no really profitable result appears ever 

to have been derived. Most of the openings, either ancient or modern, 

have disclosed nothing more than a calcareous shale slightly filmed 

with the green carbonate, and making in some cases a superficial show 

of richness where analysis discovers only an insignificant amount of 

the enticing mineral."

Orange County contains areas of copper-stained rock in the Triassic 

sandstones. Taylor's copper mine is mentioned by Professor Rogers, 

who says: '^Though opened with high expectations of profit [it] 

has long been abandoned." 6

Amherst County contains green-stained rocks at the Folly, and 

numerous old openings attest the endeavor of early explorers to 

find workable deposits. " No distinct vein or bed of copper ore is 

indicated, but rather an impregnation^ of the talcose rock of the 

neighborhood, more or less strongly, with the above-mentioned compounds of the metal. * * * In some of these places the manufacture of copper has been attempted, but without the success that 

would justify a prosecution of the enterprise." 0

BLUE RIDGE REGION. 

HISTORY.

The Blue Ridge copper region lies in the northern part of Virginia, extending from near Front Royal southward and including 

parts of Warren, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Madison, Page, and 

Greene. counties.

The copper ores of the Blue Ridge have been known for a long 

time. Since the earliest settlement of the country nuggets of native copper of all sizes from small particles up to masses many 

pounds in weight have from time to time been found in rocky exposures and inclosed in shattered bowlders over many parts of the 

Blue Ridge. This native copper undoubtedly furnished the Indian

" A reprint of annual reports and other papers on the geology of the Virginias, 1884, 

p. 133.

» Idem, pp. 87, 88, 

o Idem, p. 87,
94 COPPEK DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

tribes with the metal from which their ornaments and axes were 

made. In colonial days the ores were known to various settlers and 

a few attempts were made to extract the metal.

Prof. W. B. Rogers, who was State geologist of Virginia from 1835 

to 1841, inclusive, and whose conclusions are as true now as when 

they were written, writes of the deposits as follows: tt

In many parts of the Blue Ridge, in the neighborhood of the transverse belt 

whose general characters I am describing, virgin copper and the green carbonate have been discovered in thin veins and small masses in the body of 

quartzose and epidotic rock. In the neighborhood of Stony Man, one of the 

loftiest and wildest of the peaks of this range, near Swift Run gap, and at 

several other points, small specimens have been picked up, and their richness 

both in the metal and its carbonate have inspired the sanguine with a confident 

belief of the existence in the bosom of the mountain of treasures of this nature 

of exhaustless extent. But in regard to all such anticipations it should be borne 

in mind that the quantity is not less important than the quality of the ore to 

stamp it with real value, and that until far more minute and extensive researches in regard to these ores have been made in the localities where they 

are found than have ever hitherto been attempted, it will be impossible to 

have any grounds for judging of their extent, and it will be as unwise as hazardous to engage in expensive schemes of mining on their account. Yet I 

would not have it understood, that such researches are to be considered as 

hopeless or inexpedient. I would rather rejoice to see investigation active; at 

the same time, in duty to the public interest, I would caution against that 

precipitate and oversanguine spirit a spirit which in no instance is more 

likely to terminate in loss and disappointment than when excited by objects of 

this nature, involved as they may be, even to the diligent scientific explorer, in 

unavoidable obscurity and doubt.

During the " copper fever," which prevailed throughout the Southern States during the years 1854-1856 as a result of the discovery of 

the rich black copper ores of the " gossan lead " of southwest Virginia and of Ducktown, Term., large sums of money were expended 

in the Blue Ridge region over $300,000, it is reported, on the Stony 

Man property alone. At the beginning of the war all mining operations were suspended and were not resumed for twenty years or more.

Keith noted the existence of copper ores in 1894, saying: 6

Deposits of copper in the schists have long excited interest and led to mining 

operations. The amount of ore, however, appears not to have justified any considerable work. Such deposits have been worked on the Blue Ridge east of 

Front Royal and along the northern end of South Mountain.

More recently numerous attempts were made to work ores in the 

vicinity of Front Royal, Bentonville, and Luray. At the latter 

locality a property near Ida was developed by a shaft 300 feet deep; 

hut with this exception the workings up to 1905 were relatively shallow. So far as information is available none of the shafts exceeded 90 feet in depth. This shows that although much money and

0 Geology of the Virginias, 1884, reprint, p. 134. 

' " Geology of Catoctin belt: Fourteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2,1894, p. 309.
VIRGINIA. 95

effort have been expended the work has been comparatively superficial and the extent of the ore bodies in depth had not been satisfactorily answered. In 1905, six companies were prosecuting work 

and some prospecting was in progress by private individuals, but up 

to 1906 not a single producing mine had been developed. Numerous 

stock companies have been formed to acquire and work such properties, and both local and outside investors have furnished considerable 

sums of money for development purposes. It is therefore important 

to determine whether or not such work is justified by the deposits 

themselves. To determine this all known copper prospects were 

visited by the writer. The following notes are based on his personal 

observations:

GEOLOGY.

The Blue Ridge region of Virginia is a mountainous tract extending from "Harpers Ferry southwestward to the State line. It is 

made up of a fairly continuous and well-defined ridge, which in 

places is narrow, as in the vicinity of Harpers Ferry, and in other 

places spreads out into a number of connected mountains, as in the 

vicinity of Front Royal. In general the ridge marks the boundary 

between the older crystalline rocks of the Piedmont Plain on the 

east and the younger Paleozoic sediments of the Appalachian Valley 

on the west. It also for the most part forms the divide between 

the Atlantic and the Gulf drainage, though several streams rise 

west of it and flow eastward through it in deep and narrow gorges.

Throughout its entire length the Blue Ridge.shows a central core 

of igneous rocks, mostly of a dense basaltic rock flanked by granite 

and other igneous rocks, often altered to schistose shalelike rock. 

Resting against these rocks, usually at the base of the mountains, 

is a folded sedimentary series, whose basal bed is a quartzite that 

forms a nearly continuous ledge along the western flank.

The basaltic rock, which is dense, heavy, dark colored, and varies 

in character from a basalt to a diabase, is at some places altered and 

schistose. This character prevails in the Harpers Ferry region, 

where the rock is known as the Catoctin schist. The basic rocks 

are, according to Keith,ffi of two varieties, a lower diabase sheet and 

an upper basaltic sheet, both altered, and the upper one largely 

epidotized. It is known that the rocks are eruptive and probably 

represent an accumulation of lava flows, for they are known to 

rest on a surface flow of andesite near Front Royal, and must therefore themselves be flows. The basaltic area is continuous from the 

Pennsylvania line halfway through Virginia with an average width 

of 20 miles, although, of course, many of the existing exposures are

0 Keith, A., Geology of the Catoctin belt: Fourteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

pt.2.
96 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

not so wide. The rocks have been generally much altered by dynamic 

metamorphism and secular decay and now in part form a greenish 

chloritic and epidotic schist, which Keith a designated the Catoctin 

schist.

The Catoctin schist is penetrated by a younger and clearly intrusive 

granite, the two being in places intricately intermingled, so that outside of the main belts of each there are areas where the interrelations 

can be shown only on a very large scale map. Near the contacts, the 

granite is altered to a fine schist or finely laminated shale or may 

even resemble a leafy black slate in which no trace of the original 

character can be recognized by the eye. This is the material seen 

along the road to the copper mine south of Linden, near the schoolhouse.

At Linden the rock is massive and commonly shows well-defined 

basaltic characters. It is undoubtedly a part of the younger or 

upper epiclote schist of the Catoctin formation as described by Keith. 

This upper part, familiarly known as greenstone, is an altered basalt, 

in which, by the processes of ordinary hydrometamorphism, epidote 

has been so abundantly developed as to give the rock its characteristic 

color of bluish green when fresh and yellowish green when weathered. 

It contains so much epidote that it is very enduring. Knobs and 

bunches of epidote frequently protrude above the corroded surface. 

In this region the rock is not schistose except in shear zones, in which 

the fractures are marked by silky chlorite, often in bunches. Copper occurs in both the schist and the greenstone.

WARREN COUNTY." 

STRUCTURAL RELATIONS.

The copper ores in the region east and south of Front Royal have 

attracted attention for many years. Several mining companies have 

done more or less exploration work, and their shafts and tunnels have 

afforded favorable exposures for careful observation of geologic conditions. The district embraces the main Blue Ridge summit, extending from Linden southward to Elkton.

The topography is the direct result of differential erosion of hard 

and soft rocks, and is therefore a key to a real geologic distribution. 

The age of the.sedimentary rocks near Front Royal is shown by determinable fossils to be Cambro-Ordovician. These sedimentary 

rocks form part of a broad anticlinal that once arched over the Blue 

Ridge. The arch is crumpled into several synclines and is broken by 

faults, mainly of the thrust type. Two of these faults coalesce east 

of Front Royal, so that the sandstone disappears to the south and 

the igneous rocks are faulted against limestones.

a Keith, A., op. cit.
VIRGINIA. 97

The volcanic rocks near Front Royal are of four types, namely, 

andesite, basalt, Catoctin schist, and granite. East and northeast 

of the town a small area of andesite forms a narrow strip between the 

diabase of the Blue Ridge summit and the Cambrian sandstone. 

Part of this andesite is tuffaceous, and east of. Front Royal it is 

dragged out along the fault line into lustrous micaceous slates. 

Granite occurs in large masses throughout the region to.the east. A 

considerable area formerly mapped as granite occurs along the 

western slope of Dickeys Hill, but the material, as seen in the vicinity 

of Brownsville, appears to be syenite.

The granite on the east side of the Blue Ridge is peculiar, as 

tongues run from it out into the diabase (Catoctin schist) and contain included fragments of that rock. Such tongues occur east of 

Linden and in Loudoun County. The boundaries between the two 

rocks are complex, for the tongues vary greatly in thickness from a 

few inches up to 2 or 3 miles, and the boundary line can not be 

delineated with accuracy.

FRONT ROYAL DISTRICT.

South of Linden, which lies east of Front Royal and 76 miles from 

Washington, on the Manassas branch of the Southern Railway, a 

large tract of land shows outcrops and loose masses or copper " float."

In the early part of the century the occurrence of copper at this 

place was well known, and shallow pits were sunk at several places, 

but no shipments were made until 1861, when 35 tons were collected 

from the surface and from a 50-foot shaft which was sunk at that 

.time. This ore was, it is said, shipped abroad.

DEPOSITS NEAR" LINDEN.

Near the grist mill south of Linden a mass of altered granite, forming so-called " Silurian shale," adjoins the basic rock and apparently 

intrudes into it. This is the supposed northeastern extension of the 

copper " vein." It shows a highly altered basic eruptive carrying 

seams and stringers of quartz. About one-half mile south from 

Linden the granite " shale" ends and the ground to the south is 

strewn with a very dark gray basic rock, which extends to the Sealoch 

mines and for some miles on either side. It does not form prominent 

outcrops, but shows as abundant angular bowlder masses scattered 

over the fields. Most of the fragments are from 1 to 2 feet in' 

diameter, a few being slightly larger? The'outcrops show no pronounced jointing, and the rock is massive and without appreciable 

schistosity. These characters prevail over the entire area except in 

the immediate vicinity of the Sealoch copper mines, where the 

basaltic rock is jointed and to the west of which the rock shows wellmarked schistosity. ,° 

81777° Bull. 45'5 11 7
98 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES. .

Copper float can be traced up the hillside along a line running 

approximately southeast and northwest, and it was supposed that this 

marked a lode extending for 6 or 7 miles. Furthermore, the float on 

the summit of the ridge indicated three parallel veins. However, 

examination has convinced me that no such definite and persistent 

veins exist; that the copper occurs along lines of jointing or of 

schistose movements; and that the rich copper ore found is a product 

of concentration by surface waters from disseminated particles of 

chalcopyrite present in the original rock. The ore is more abundant 

in the upper zone, because there the movement which produced the 

joints and the schistosity formed open spaces, which have been filled 

with quartz and ore.

In one shaft the rock is closely sheeted, the* planes being from 6 

inches to 1.5 feet apart and the fractures running southeast. Another 

system of fractures, younger and more widely spaced, crosses the 

first set at an angle of about 60°, running southwest. One of these 

later fractures forms the east wall of the Phillips shaft, and it was 

along this that the greater part of the ore taken out was found. 

Another less-defined system of fractures dips about 20° S., instead 

of 80° or 90° W., as do the others. At a depth of 30 feet the shaft 

encounters a clay seam lying on one of the flat fractures and clearly 

connected with a vertical fracture, down which waters had percolated. This clay seam thins on the north to a few inches and 

widens on the south to 2 or 3 feet. It is underlain by very solid blue 

rock and may possibly mark a fault along which, the ore body has 

slipped to the south. No ore whatever has been found beneath this 

clay and none immediately above it.

SKALOCH MINK.

The old Sealoch shaft, i-| miles farther west, showed much of the 

blue " trap " rock on the dump. The shaft was driven at an inclination of about 70° S. and is said to have yielded some good ore. The 

outcrops in the immediate vicinity form very rugged ledges farther 

down the mountain side and clearly do not belong to the hypothetical 

lode on which the shaft is located. At Cottam Kock, one of these 

outcrops, the ore is irregularly bunched and seems to occur more 

especially where the vertical fractures are bent over to the north, 

showing a minute puckering or overfolding of the schist. A few 

blasts have been made on these outcrops but no well-defined vein 

was seen.

The ore so far taken out of the mine workings consists chiefly of 

native copper and cuprite, with small amounts of malachite and, 

very rarely, of azurite. It is always associated with quartz, and the 

gangue is a bright-green rock which is clearly an alteration of the
VIRGINIA. 99

general country rock. In some specimens taken from the shaft this 

green rock showed scattered minute metallic specks, some of which 

appear to be chal copy rite and .others cuprite. In the specimens the 

copper was not connected with any quartz, and it is believed that they 

represent the original copper-bearing rock that has been leached in 

the upper part of the workings, permitting the concentration of the 

copper;

A brief inspection of the new work on the Sealoch property, lying 

east of High Knob Peak, was made in July, 1904. A tunnel 200 feet 

long has been driven into the hillside to cut the vein on which the 

Solomon shaft was driven. No ore was seen in this crosscut tunnel, 

but some quartz in very hard epidotized basalt was found at the 

faces. There is as yet no evidence to show that the copper ores 

extend down more than 50 feet or so below the surface. Professor 

Phillips's shaft was, it is said, sunk to a depth of 80 feet, but although 

the fractures continued downward, they were local, nonpersistent 

joints in blocky diabase and carried no ore.

DICKEYS RIDGE DISTRICT.

Dickeys Ridge is a high outlier of the Blue Ridge proper, lying 

west of the. main divide. It is composed of the same dark-colored 

basaltic rock as the main ridge, and is intruded at the south end by a 

coarse-grained granitoid rock, whose weathered forms are light colored, but whose unaltered material is dark gray. When examined in 

thin section under the microscope it is seen to be a syenite similar to 

that found at various points along the western slope of the Blue 

Ridge as far as the vicinity of Elkton.

Copper ore is not uniformly distributed over the mountain, but 

occurs in only a.few localities, at which more or less work has been 

done to determine the size and character of the deposits.

MILLS I'KOl'EKTV ( COVE i'AKM ) .

The Mills property (Cove farm) lies about 8 miles from Front 

Royal, on the west side of the mountain. The rock is a dense basalt, 

showing wide sheeting and occasional vesicles. Copper staining occurs only where the sheeting is close. A copper-bearing outcrop of 

epidotic rock, forming a ledge 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, located 

about 200 feet below the summit of the mountain, led to the mining 

work. The rocks constitute no well-defined vein, but show prominent 

jointing, or, rather, sheeting, that runs N. 50° E. The deposit has 

been opened by a cut about 7 feet wide and 35 feet long, extending 

back into the hillside and encountering the copper-bearing rock. The 

copper ore near the surface was confined to the epidotized material 

and showed some native copper, with carbonates, chrysocolla, and 

lower down, a little bornite. The only semblance of a vein is the
100 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

epidote band, a layer of dense pistachio-green rock 2 feet thick. On 

the hanging-wall side minute specks of bornite are shown in the dense 

blue basaltic rock. There can be no doubt about the cupriferous nature, of the descending waters, for they have stained both the flat 

joints and the sheeting planes with carbonates and oxide of copper 

and have produced scattered spots up to an inch in diameter in the 

epidotized rock and to some extent along veinlets in the bluish trap, 

in which bornite is found associated with quartz and massively crystalline epidote. That the bornite was deposited by the descending 

waters is shown by its occurrence near the bottom of the cut, whose 

face is about 15 feet below the hillside at its rear. Epidote occurs in 

veinlets cutting the fresh rock, but in the main vein of the mine it 

grades into normal basalt; where there are joints its boundaries vary 

from one to another without apparent reason and without any cross 

joints.

The smaller joints of the.rock are not persistent. The larger joint, 

which forms the east wall of the cut and is exposed for about 26 feet, 

shows an iron-stained coating of honeycomb and cellular quartz, 

which evidently represents the partial filling of a more or less open 

fissure.

RUDACILL PROPERTY.

At the time of my examination in August, 1905, the Rudacill property was being worked by the Virginia and Pittsburg Copper Company. The company has made openings at two points on the south 

end of Dickeys Kidge; the first is on the west side of the ridge, near 

the summit, where some shallow openings have been put down, anda couple of cabins erected. More recent workings are in the cove 

southeast of the end of the ridge, at a point about halfway up the 

slope. The first opening is a cut about 75 feet long, in which the 

usual basaltic rock is exposed, with more or less epidotization running north and south. Well-marked fractures occur at right angles 

to this, but do not cross the epidote band. The rocks do not show 

the strong persistent jointing observed in the other property, and 

there is no sign of a true vein. The ore examined is mainly a staining by carbonates and possibly by bornite upon the joint surfaces. It 

is said that considerable carbonate and native ore were taken out from 

the uppermost portion of the working.

The latest working is being carried on at a point about 100 yards 

from the open cut just mentioned. At this point jointed rock showing carbonate stains is exposed in the walls of a cut, about 18 feet 

across, in which a shaft about 20 feet deep has been sunk. The material on the dump showed some red oxide of copper and considerable 

carbonate coating on the joint surfaces. If the ore dump is any indication'of the rock exposed in .the bottom of the shaft, the opening
VIRGINIA. 101

shows no vein nor any pay ore in depth. The shaft is being worked 

with a hand winze and tub, and is closely timbered. The bottom of 

the shaft was not inspected, but the material last brought out, still 

wet from mine water, was on the dump, and was carefully examined. 

The rocks are of the Catoctin type, and present no unusual features.

BENTONVILLE-OVERALL DISTRICT.

The Bentonville-Overall district is located 12 to 15 miles south of 

Front Royal, south of Bentonville, a station on the Norfolk and 

Western Railway, where some of the earliest prospecting for copper 

in the Blue Ridge region was carried on. After 1890 considerable 

.work was done on a number of properties in this district, but in 1905 

all operations had ceased, except some prospecting work on a small 

scale by Front Royal parties on the so-called Empire vein, on the 

summit of the ridge known as Matthews Arm, near the Page-Warren 

county line.

At the time of visit the shaft on this property was nearly filled with 

water. It is reportecl to have reached a depth of 90 feet before work 

was stopped in 1904. An inspection of the material on the clump 

showed it to consist essentially of malachite, azurite with some 

bornite, and quartz, calcite, serpentine, asbestos, and pink feldspar, 

in an epidotic phase of the basalt. . Within a radius of a few hundred yards a few holes in the rock have been blasted out, in every case 

the local richness in malachite along the joint planes serving as a 

motive. None of this material, however, would average more than 

1 or 2 per cent.

A second and older shaft is situated lower down on the ridge 

toward the southwest, on the land of F. C. Hartley. This is an old 

opening, worked about thirty years ago. The country rock is the 

common basalt altered and epidotized, the copper-bearing minerals 

being azurite and malachite in small amount.

' Many surface indications of copper are seen in this general region, 

as on the Overall estate and the J. M. Matthew's heirs estate. Universally the country rock is the altered and epidotic basalt and the 

associated minerals are quartz, serpentine, asbestos, and some calcite.

RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY. 

AMTtLER PROPERTY.

Across the mountain, on the west slope of the Blue Ridge, but 

only a couple of miles from the High Knob and the Sealoch copper 

properties, two small openings have been made on a fine exposure of 

copper ore in a rocky ledge known as Cottam Rock, on the propertyof0 R. C. Ambler. A shaft, reported to be, 40 feet deep, has been
102 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

sunk on the north end of the property at a considerable distance below 

the ridge crest. An examination of the dumps showed epidotic 

basalt, with some bornite and native copper and considerable malachite staining in places. An open cut and tunnel on the north end 

of this tract showed similar rock.

MANASSAS GAP COPPER MINE.

On the slope not far below the Ambler shaft and again, farther 

down, near the deeply cut course of the little stream forming the 

head of Rappahannock Eiver, are the openings that were made by the 

Carter Company, subsequently reorganized as the Manassas .Gap 

Copper Company.

The property was visited in July, 1904, and again in August, 1905.' 

It is most readily accessible from Front Royal, from which place a 

good and well-graded wagon road to Flint Creek and Washington 

passes within a half mile of the property. A branch road leads from 

the main country road down to the little stream which forms the 

head of Rappahannock River. A private bridge across this stream 

and a rough-wagon road from the creek one-quarter mile up the 

gorge leads to the lower tunnel of the companj^'s workings.

The rocks from Front Royal to the mine all appear to be of similar 

character and to be part of the basaltic mass forming the mountains. 

The rocks vary, however, very considerably in texture, in color, and 

in general physical character. In part they are typical basaltic 

rocks, very dense and of dark-blue color when fresh; in part they are 

vesicular and resemble recent basalts in texture though not in color. 

In some places they are columnar and form high ledges along the 

sides of Happy Creek, which has cut a deep gorge through the rocks. 

In addition to these varieties there are, in a number of places, areas 

of what appear to be shales or slates, but which when the surface 

material is penetrated show exposures of sheared and slaty types. 

The only other rock seen is a coarse, well-cemented Cambrian sand-. 

stone or quartzite, whose grains vary from a millimeter up to a 

centimeter in diameter. This rock is exposed on the slopes south of 

the company's property and is said to mantle the south slope of the 

high mountain lying next south of High Point.

The property is opened at four different localities. That known 

as No. 3 is nearest to the shop and shows a tunnel, 45 feet long, with 

a course of S. 70° E., driven into the blocky, hard, unsheared basalt 

underlying the soft and crushed surface material. Only about 10 

feet of the work nearest the face is in the solid rock. The tunnel 

represents about three weeks' Avork, and copper is said to have come 

from the bottom at the face, but no trace of it could be seen. It was 

started with the intention of draining the hillside and connecting
VIRGINIA. . 103

with the No. 3 shaft, but it does not do so, for the shaft is only 8 feet 

deep, its collar being about .20 feet above the tunnel. An 8-foot drift 

runs off from the corner of the shaft. No ore could be found in the 

bottom, but there is a flat seam of quartz and asbestiform serpentine 

2 inches thick, with a dip of 10° and a course about N. 70° W.

No. 1 shaft and drift is about 100 or more feet aboVe No. 3. It is 

estimated to go 14 feet below the floor of the open cut which gives 

access to it, and 30 feet below the old surface of the ground. From 

its bottom a drift runs in a general southerly direction for 15 feet and 

then turns eastward. The total length of work on this level is about 

56 feet. Good ore is said to have been found, and the dump heap substantiates the statement, but it occurs in small bunches and seams, 

scattered along the joint planes, and no pay ore could be mined from 

the present faces.

No. 2 tunnel and shaft are northeast of No. 3 and about 100 feet

above it. The shaft is 60 feet deep but is filled Avith Avater. The 

ore dump at the mouth of the shaft shows the basalt to be altered 

and apidotized, with flat lenticular strain cracks filled Avith serpentine 

and with quartz, and the intermediate rock to be dotted Avith tiny 

specks and globules of cuprite. In the lower part of the shaft this 

cuprite, is replaced by chalcopyrite and bornite, forming films along 

joint planes and scattered in dots through the rock. This sulphide 

ore is the first noted and it is unquestionably of secondary origin. 

' The tunnel .is 190 feet long and trends S. 65° E. The face shows 

loose, shelly, decomposed basalt, Avith a floor of hard, dense basalt. 

Throughout, the rod?: shoAvs close fracturing, the fractures dipping 

30° toAvard the face, and running 90°, or nearly so. to the course 

of the. tunnel. Careful inspection of both the surface and .of the 

tunnel failed to reveal any vein structure or any AA^ell-marked plane 

of sheeting or shearing.

No ore Avas seen in the tunnel. The rock from the shaft, hoAvever. 

included a good deal of Avhat might be classed as low-grade copper 

ore. In general', the rock Avhich carries the copper is fractured by 

minute veinlets of faulted quartz faulting other veinlets of serpentine. 

All the veinlets, hoAvever, appear to be nonpersistent and of local 

origin. The caretaker at the mine, Avho once Avorked in the shaft, 

assured the writer that throughout the 60 feet of depth there Avas no 

place in the shaft at, AA'hich one could not find specks of copper not 

pay ore, but enough to show that the copper \vent down.

About 650 feet higher, at the base of the steep and wooded portion 

of the mountain and not far from the craggy exposure known as 

Cottam Rock, an open cut (No. 5), about 25 feet long and about 8 

feet deep, has been made in the hillside at right angles to the course 

of the mountain. The face of this cut discloses the upper portion 

of a pyramidal exposure of basalt capped on both sides by the red-
104 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

dish clays formed by its decomposition. Some good specimens of 

ore have been taken out, but the only ore now in sight lies along flat 

fractures, and is a bunch unconnected with any system of sheeting 

or vein structure apparently a mere segregation formed by the alteration of the basalt. Bunches of tourmaline, quartz, and calcite also 

occur, and are equally localized. In the rear of this open cut a layer 

about 10 inches wide was pointed out to the writer as a vein. It 

appears to be a somewhat schistose portion, the course of whose fracture is N. 5° E. and whose joints dip at 58° E. The joint fractures 

show malachite, and the rock itself contains disseminated particles of 

cuprite. The rock near by contains quartz, calcite, and a little native 

copper oxide.

The sandstone or quartzite outcrop was also visited. This lies 

about one-fourth mile south of the No. 5 open cut, beneath a line of 

springs which outcrop in the hillside. It is unquestionably a part of 

a continuous mass of sandstone lying quite near the contact with the 

basalt. It is a true quartzite, but the constituent grains are readily 

recognizable. At the outcrop this rock is somewhat sheeted by 

irregularly spaced fractures; the lesser fractures are epidotized 

for a few inches below the surface and the adjacent rock carries 

specks of copper oxide. No special significance can be attached to 

the presence of copper in this rock, save that it is due to circulating 

solutions which leached the material out of the basalt and carried 

it along the surface to seep down into the quartzite.

PAGE COUNTY. 

GEOLOGY.

The copper properties in Page County lie on the flanks of the Blue 

Kidge Southeast of Stanley, both east and west of the summit of the 

ridge, which here forms the dividing line between Page and Madison 

counties. The district has long been known as showing some of the 

most promising outcrops of copper ores in the Blue Ridge region, 

and the developments near Ida, on the headwaters of Hawksbill 

Creek, and in Dark Hollow, on the headwaters of Robertson River, 

are more extensive than those in any other part of the Blue Ridge.

The rocks at these localities comprise the same basaltic type which 

predominates generally throughout the Blue Ridge in Virginia, but 

include also intrusive masses of syenite and of granite, with interesting alteration products. According to Phalen the basaltic rock is 

properly classed as an olivine basalt, varying to a metadiabase. Its 

relations to syenite (hypersthene-akerite) seem to show that it is 

of earlier age, as it shows a zone of baking and alteration with 

a variety of structure near the contact. On the other hand, the
VIRGINIA. 105

granite to the west appears to be of earlier age, as the basalt has 

produced metamorphism of the rock along the border and the massive 

granite is gneissoid. In its habit the basalt presents the usual characteristics observed in these rocks. Owing to its resistance to erosion 

it usually forms the highest summits and indeed preserves the height 

of the ridges on which it lies. North of Milam Gap columnar jointing is well developed in the cliffs, which, unlike the basaltic rock near 

Front Eoyal, appear to be of intrusive and not of volcanic origin.

Mineralogically the rock shows olivine in visible crystals up to 3 

or 4 mm. in diameter, but the olivine is corroded and only the nucleus 

is fresh. More commonly the olivine has disappeared, leaving a 

brownish-red mass to mark its former presence. The rock consists 

of feldspar and pyroxene, with accessory magnetite, chlorite, epidote, 

and iron ore. Although classed as a basalt, its almost complete alteration would make it a metabasalt, as the groundmass is altered and 

no longer returnable. Epidote and chlorite are abundant and, in 

fact, the entire rock has been more or less epidotized, and transitions 

occur to an epidosite.

East of the summit the syenite, which is technically a hypersthene 

akerite, forms the lower slopes of the drainage basin of Hawksbill 

Creek. This rock is very coarse grained and of a dark grayish green. 

It consists of feldspar, black pyroxene, and an occasional particle 

of clear quartz. The feldspar is largely orthoclase, but albite occurs 

both in recognizable anhedra and in a denser portion. Thin sections 

show orthoclase, plagioclase, hypersthene, diallage, quartz, microcline, 

iron ore, apatite, and zircon, with the decomposition products epidote, 

chlorite, sericite, and secondary iron oxide. Hornblende is present 

in some places, but is not abundant. The minerals form a mosaic 

whose most abundant constituent is feldspar, which shows evidences 

of strain in wavy extinction and bent albite cleavage.

Near the copper mines an interesting alteration of the syenitic rock 

occurs, resulting in the production of an extremely beautiful rock 

composed of old rose-colored feldspar and green epidote. The peculiar pistachio-green of the epidote together with the old rose hues 

of the feldspar make a product which is sufficiently handsome to 

justify its use in interior decoration. The alteration evidently consists 

of an epidotization of the syenite (hypersthene-akerite), by which the 

invading solutions, presumably surface waters, have decomposed the 

pyroxenes and have attacked and replaced the feldspar by epidote. 

When ,,the process is carried to an extreme point the feldspar disappears, and only epidote and quartz remain, making a rock known 

as epidosite.

The copper ores occur near the contact between the acidic and the 

.basic rocks and are clearly connected, with a marked epidotization 

of the rocks.
106 COPPEE DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

MINE NEAR IDA.

The deepest and most extensive copper workings of the Blue Ridge 

region are those of the Virginia Consolidated Copper Company, near 

Ida, in the foothill region east of Blue Ridge Mountain, about 5 

miles southeast of Luray. Mining was carried on at this locality for 

about three years, but operations ceased at the end of 1904, after 

about .$40,000 had been expended in underground work and surface 

improvements.

The mine workings comprise an inclined shaft 308 feet deep, with 

drifts at 80, 120, and 280 feet below the surface. The upper level 

extends for 60 feet to the east; the second has been driven for 170 

feet west; and the third is 150 feet long.

These workings show that the basaltic rock is traversed by zones 

of sheeting in which the fissured and more or less crushed rock is 

decomposed and soft, and in which surface waters have worked downward to the lowest level of the mine. In these zones films and specks 

of oxidized ores occur in decreasing amount downward.

These zones of'close jointing, like the most prominent joint system 

of the surface rocks, run N. 4° to 25° E., parallel with the axis of 

the hill on which the mine is situated. In the mine workings several 

such zones are cut; they are readily recognizable, as the rock is softer 

and is distinguished by the presence of quartz. On the 120-foot level 

three such zones were examined, varying from 3 to 6 feet in width. 

The dip is vertical or steeply southeast. The course of the three 

zones, as determined on the 120-foot level, is N. 25° E., N. 15° E., 

N. 10° E. On the 280-foot level the sheeting in similar zones runs 

N. 4°-5° E. 

At the surface the jointing runs N. 6° E., dip 24°; N. 10° E., dip 

34°; N. 24° E., dip 10°; N. 40° E., dip 12°; N. 21° W., dip 43°; 

N. 30° W., dip 6°; N. 55° W., dip 28°; N. 88° W., dip 22°. The 

dominant direction is N. 5° to 25° E., corresponding very nearly to 

the direction of banding and foliation of the schist at the contact 

between the dark basalt and light syenite seen on the main road from 

Stanley to Ida and along the hill. The jointing is inferred to be due 

to the syenite intrusion, showing the same genetic relation observed 

at the workings of the Blue Ridge Copper Company.

The ore is confined to the zones of sheeted, softened rock. The 

alteration consists of epidotization and the production of veinlets of 

quartz. The copper occurs as malachite films and specks and as 

native copper. At 30-foot, depths a. bunch of ore consisting of 

malachite and azureite, with quartz, serpentine (asbestos) epidote, 

and jasper, was found, and a few tons shipped. At 120 feet the rock 

is epidotized along joint planes and quartz veinlets occur, with small 

amounts of malachite and rare specks of native copper; oxidation is 

still quite marked, with an abundance of irony clay along the joints.
VIRGINIA. 107

At the 280-foot level altered zones similar to that at the 120-foot 

level and having the same general direction were observed. Along 

the edge of one of these zones a small amount of native copper was 

seen on a joint face. Malachite was also observed on some joint 

faces. The peculiar brown flinty or felsitic rock seen above was also 

observed, together with quartz and calcite in limited amount. Though 

the evidences of surface-water action are plain, naturally they are 

not so strongly developed as at the 120-foot level. The drift, however, was wet and water percolated from the roof. No sulphides 

were seen, and the specimens of native copper were discovered only 

by careful search. No pay ore exists -in the mine.

MADISON COUNTY. 

DARK HOIXOW.

The best developed copper property in Madison County is owned 

by the Blue Eidge Copper Company, of Chicago. It comprises about 

100 acres of land in what is known as Dark Hollow7 , situated near 

the head of Eobinson River, about a mile southeast of Milams Gap 

(also known as Fishers Gap), very near the crest of the Blue Ridge, 

whose summit forms the dividing line between Page and Madison 

counties. According to statements made by local residents, the 

copper ores were worked before the Avar, but had been abandoned 

for many years before the Blue Ridge Copper Company began 

operations, about 1902.

The old or No. 1 shaft, which is located about 250 feet above the 

confluence of the two main headwater branches of Robinson River, 

and a small prospect a short distance to the. northwest, were made 

many years ago. In 1905, when the property was visited, this shaft 

was filled with water to within 20 feet of its top. Two drifts run 

at water-level; the one N. 12° W. for 20 feet and the other for 9 feet 

in the opposite direction, comprised the only workings.

The new shaft (No. 2) is an incline 42 feet in length, located about 

100 feet vertically below the mouth of the old shaft. From its 

bottom a drift has been run northeast for 40 feet, with the intention 

of intersecting the copper-bearing zone on which the old shaft was 

started. Work on this shaft was temporarily suspended at the time 

of visit, and a third shaft had just been begun northwest of and 

higher up the hill than shaft No. 1.

From the old shaft (No. 1) a few tons of ore have been removed 

and shipped. The country rock along the walls of the shaft appear 

to be sheeted, in places very closely, and along the joint planes the 

rock has been altered to epidosite, a material composed of epidote 

and quartz. In some places the rock is completely rotted and crum-
108 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

bles between the fingers. Epidosite is seen along joint planes and 

also at the workings higher up the hill, at shaft No. 3. The workings of the old shaft disclose no definite vein, the so-called lead being 

merely a thinly sheeted epidotized basalt. The zone is, moreover, 

very irregular. In places the altered rock occurs in masses 6 to 8 

inches thick. The joints observed in these old workings have the 

following directions: N. 20° W., dip 80°, and N. 8° W., dip 68°. 

That this is the prevailing direction of the sheeting is easily determined, as the jointing is rather close.

The workings of shaft No. 2 show a belt of irregularly shaly, soft, 

almost plastic, moist rock running about midway through the drift. 

Small stringers of quartz are associated with it, and a little malachite 

was noted in it. Sulphides of copper are reported to have been found in 

the seam, but none were noted until a portion of the block was blasted 

down, the material thus secured showing quartz and chalcopyrite in 

small amount. So far as determinable this zone has a course of 

N. 44° W., or at right angles to the drift, whose course is 56° E. At 

the face of the drift a mass of vein material composed of quartz and 

pink feldspar is seen. The workings of shaft No. 2 show practically 

no ore, and the dump was equally barren of ore-bearing material. 

The drift was very wet, and hand pumps were employed to keep it 

clear of water. Evidences of percolating water are everywhere abundant, both in these and other workings, the water following the joint 

plane.

At shaft No. 3, at which Avork had just started at time of visit, 

similar jointing of the rock is disclosed. The steeply dipping joints 

exposed have the directions S. 50° W., N. 20° W., N. 80° W., N. 84° E., 

the last two probably representing a coordinate fracture. A persistent joint with a dip of 40° has a course of N. 40° W. As will be

observed later, the persistent north-south joint courses are significant 

in their relation to the eruptive contact.

The copper outcrops lie near the contact of an intrusive mass of 

syenite with the normal basaltic rock of the Blue Ridge. The Blue 

Ridge Copper Company workings are quite close to the basaltsyenite contact, shaft No. 2 being not more than a stone's throw away. 

This syenite body is, however, distinct from the main mass of syenite 

seen on the western slope of the ridge. No copper ore was found 

in the syenite, though it has locally undergone epidotization, forming 

unakite, a granite rock made up of quartz, pink feldspar, and yellowgreen epidote. The ores found at this locality consist of native 

copper, blue and green carbonates, a little cuprite, and the sulphide 

noted in depth. The epidotized rocks show quartz, calcite, and 

asbestiform serpentine; in fact, the association of the latter epidotic 

material with the ores is quite intimate. It is difficult, however, to 

establish any definite trend to the epidotized phase of the basalt.
VIRGINIA. 109

The syenite mass near Dark Hollow is seen on the path which 

leads from Milams Gap down to the mine workings. Basalt forms 

the entire eastern portion of .the spur between the headwaters of 

Robinson River, the basalt-syenite contact running northwest and 

corresponding in a general way to the trend of the jointing. The 

occurrence of the copper ore is clearly dependent on the joint planes 

and appears to be the result of superficial agencies and the dowmvard 

percolation of surface waters.

HAWKSBILL MOUNTAIN.

Northeast of Milams Gap, between Hawksbill and Stonyman 

peaks, some prospecting was done many years ago. A shaft filled 

with water, but said to'be 60 feet deep, was visited. The dump heap 

shoAved the same epidotized basalt, with green-stained joint planes, 

that is found at other localities. To this excavation Professor 

Eogers's report (see p. 94) seems quite appropriate.

STONYMAN MOUNTAIN.

In the early fifties the copper excitement which led to the prospecting of the Blue Ridge region and to many attempts to work the 

numerous copper outcrops from Front Royal southward resulted 

in the opening of a deposit on the summit of Stonyman Peak, which 

lies east of Luray on the main divide of the Blue Ridge and is the 

second highest summit of the Blue Ridge Mountains, rising 4,031 

feet above sea level.

Stonyman Mountain is composed of a dark trap rock of basaltic 

character and of varying degrees of crystallization from diabase to 

dolerite. This rock varies in texture from amygdaloidal and ashy 

to very dense. It shows striking outcrops in broad cliffs that appear 

to mark lava flows. The rock abuts against a hypersthene akerite, 

varying to a syenite, which forms the plateau and cliffs that lie 

southwest of the peak. This syenite rock extends to the base of the 

mountain and appears to be similar in character and composition to 

the rock found a few miles south, at Milams Gap.

The copper occurs in the basic rock a few hundred yards from its 

contact with the syenite and is associated with a zone of not especially prominent fracturing. The ores consist of native copper and 

copper oxide, with films of carbonate, all of which occur in disseminated particles and irregular segregations in zones where the rock 

has been epidotized and where joints and fractures have been filled 

by white, glassy quartz. Ore is confined to. belts in which the rock 

has been thoroughly epidotized but is not an invariable accompaniment of epidotization.
110 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

An open cut trending northwest and southeast is 50 to 60 feet long, 

30 feet deep at its highest point, and from 10 to 15 feet wide. It 

has yielded considerable ore, which was carted about a mile to a 

spring, where furnaces were erected and smelting was attempted. 

The size of the slag dump at the spring indicates that the attempt 

was not successful.

Examination of the open cut, which was cleaned out about twenty 

years ago and shows good exposures, indicates that the copper belt 

runs at right angles to the more prominent system of jointing in the 

rock. It has a fairly well-defined. but irregular foot wall and dips 

about 70° NE. The rock in which the copper occurs is a pale, pistachio-green, dense metabasalt, Avhich shows fracture lines and areas 

of apparently crushed material in which the fragments have been 

epidotized. Epidotization has followed along the fracture planes, 

the latter being in places partly filled by quartz. The quartz joints 

in the hanging wall are very prominent and sheet the rock, the welldefined fracture planes dipping at 70° N. These joints come up to 

the ore zone and can be traced in the foot wall, but are not prominent. 

The lack of well-defined sheeting, the bunchy character of the ore, 

and the indefinite character of the mineralization do not compare 

favorably with the conditions in other deposits of the same general 

character found farther north.

Copper-bearing rocks undoubtedly occur at a number of places on 

Stonyman Mountain. A second and parallel zone, marked by epidotization and the occurrence of native copper, lies southwest of the 

one just described; and the cliffs on the west face of the mountain, a 

few hundred feet below the summit, known as Asbestos Cliffs, show 

disseminated native copper and copper oxide. These cliffs, which arc 

about 50 feet high, are cut in the center by a rift corresponding to a 

line of rather close sheeting, with plates some 3 to 6 inches wide; the 

adjacent rock is platy and columnar, the sheets being from 1 to 3 

feet thick. No vein is exposed at this place, but the zone of close 

sheeting corresponds to the epidotization with which the copper is 

associated. . No development work has been done at this place, though 

a road has been graded around the side of the mountain to afford 

access to the cliff.

The permanent water level must be near the valley bottom, for 

there are no good wells on the hill, hence the water in the mine must 

be surface water, and the relatively great depth to which it has 

penetrated is in part due to the elevation of the hill above the surrounding base-level of the country. This penetration has been 

greatly facilitated by the highly jointed character of the basalt.

Figure 24 is a drawing from a small hand specimen of asbestiform amphibole admixed with some quartz containing particles of
VIRGINIA. Ill

native copper. The specimen was taken from the dumps examined 

in August, 1905.

GREENE COUNTY.

The Blue Ridge region of Greene County containe several copper 

prospects, two of which have been opened up by mining operations.

HIGHTOP MOUNTAIN PROPERTY.

The most extensive work is that of the Hightop Copper Company, 

whose mines are situated 7 miles east of Elkton, on the summit and 

southern side of the southeast spur of Hightop Mountain, at an 

elevation of 3,000 feet above 

sea level. The property is accessible by country road to 

Powell Gap, and thence by 

private road along the summit, 

the distance from Elktcn by 

this route being 12 miles. The 

distance by the short-cut road 

down the mountain is but 7 

miles, but the grade is steep 

and the road bad.

Hightop Peak is the highest 

point in the county and dominates the Blue Ridge for many 

miles about. Its summit is 

rounded, timber covered, and 

reaches an elevation of 3,650 

feet above the sea. The streams 

on both sides cut well back 

toward the summit, but those 

on the east have notably deepcut and steep-sided narrow 

ravines and are eroding much 

faster than those of the Shenandoah drainage. The Blue Ridge 

summit in this vicinity has many clearings and small farms.

The rocks in the vicinity of Hightop are similar to those farther 

north, near Hawksbill Head. The isolated mountains at the west 

base of the Blue Ridge consist of lustrous gray sericitic schists. The 

foot slopes of the main ridge are composed chiefly of altered basaltic 

rocks. The slopes to Powell Gap consist of a coarsely granular, 

syenitic rock, whose appearance corresponds in every way to that of 

the hypersthene akerite of the Stonyman and Hawksbill region. 

This rock extends a few rods north of PoAvell Gap,, where it is replaced by basaltj the massive form of the Catoctin schist. The latter

ca'iiE 24. Asbestiform serpentine with native copper. Solid black represents native 

copper. From mine 7 miles southeast of 

Luray, Page County, Va.
112 COPPEE DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

rock prevails northward from near Powell Gap nearly to the summit 

of Hightop. In the vicinity of the mines it forms steep and extensive cliffs, from 50 to 75 feet in height, which mark the upper limits 

of old lava flows. Good exposures were not found along the contact 

between the syenite and the basalt, so that the relations of the two 

rocks could not be determined at this locality. The rocks of the 

mountain top are massive and not schistose, but those in the vicinity 

of the mines are markedly schistose.

All the rocks of the vicinity show hydrometamorphism, and in the 

vicinity of the ore bodies the rock is considerably epidotized. The 

exposures indicate that one lava flow succeeded another and that the 

shaly felsitic material found along the contacts represents the old 

surface or soil weathered from lower flows before the succeeding 

ones were laid down. An^gdaloid is common, and some of the upper 

parts of the flows show scoriaceous and slaggy portions now in part 

filled by foreign material

The mine workings consist of extensive stripping of the ledges 

exposed on the mountain side and of a crosscut tunnel 150 feet in 

length under a shaft said to be sunk 80 feet from the bottom of an 

open cut driven on the hillside. The westernmost workings show a 

well-marked joint system trending N. 20° E. The ore seemed to be 

associated with a band of schistose rock 18 inches thick lying amid 

a more massive form of the same material. Streaks and patches of 

purple felsitic material appear to be kneaded in with the lava as if 

taken up when the latter flowed over the old surface. Quartz veinlets occur with a peculiar branching and dropping arrangement and 

are associated with local epidotization and patches of copper-bearing 

rock. No definite vein could be found, nor was it possible to associate 

the occurrence of the copper with any particular system of joints.

The ore consisted of native copper in little grains and pellets scattered through a rock of cuprite; some malachite, mainly as a staining 

along fracture planes; and in some places of a little bornite and less 

chalcopyrite. In the large open cut which runs into the hillside for 

a distance of 75 feet, and to a. depth at its face of about 40 feet, slight 

exposures of the rock were seen. A,t the breast of the open cut a 

shaft has been sunk for 90 feet, but it was filled with water and 

inaccessible. In this open cut the master joints run east and west, 

but are cut across by north and south joints, showing crushed matter, 

from 1 inch to 2 inches wide. The rocks show an alternation of 

massive and of schistose forms, the copper occurring in rudely lenticular masses lying between the two more schistose layers. It is. 

associated with quartz, carrying actinolite bunches, and occurs only 

in connection with epidote. Chalcopyrite and bornite both occur, 

appearing to form about lenses of quartz and epidote.
VIRGINIA. 113

The material from the shaft showed that in depth the epidotization 

was decreasing and fading out, the material from the bottom showing 

only actinolite and sericitic schists. The workings at this place 

showed every gradation from massive, slightly altered basalt to thinly 

foliated and shaly lustrous schist. The tunnel was examined, but no 

ore seen, as the walls are closely timbered and lagged. The tunnel 

enters the hillside at a distance of 400 feet below the summit of the 

ridge and has been driven for a distance of 111 feet from the entrance. 

At che time it was examined the face Avas in solid and massive basaltic 

rock, showing splintery fracture but no well-defined joint planes. 

The course of the tunnel is S. 50° E. The open cut and shaft are 

200 feet (by aneroid) beloAv the tunnel and the same distance below 

the top of the ridge.

The No. 2 opening shows the most instructive exposures seen at the 

camp. The ledges have been stripped for a distance of 50 feet in 

width and 125 feet in length at a point about 250 feet below the 

summit. The ledges above are massive, Avhile beloAv the rock is quite 

slaty. The ore occurs associated with irregular lenticles varying in 

size up to 3 to 5 feet. These lenticles are composed of epidote penetrated by quartz A^einlets and are incased in a layer of schistose rock 

from an inch to 2 inches in thickness, the rock beneath being massive 

and that above beingschistose. The character and occurrence of 

the quartz veinlets indicate that they are gash veins, produced by the 

filling of strain cracks, and the casing of schistose material about 

the lenticles indicates pressure from it on the surrounding rock. The 

ore occurs here as sparsely disseminated bornite about the quartz 

veinlets.

PIEDMONT COPPER COMPANY'S PROPERTY.

The Piedmont Copper Company owns property on the southeast 

flank of the Blue Eidge, about 8 miles from Elkton, in Greene 

County. The mine workings and buildings are about 3,000 feet above 

sea level and 2,000 feet above the valley. The mineral belt descends 

the mountain toward the southwest and ascends it to the northeast, 

traversing the mountain top obliquely 500 feet above the mine, and 

thence gradually descends, reaching the foothills at Conway Kiver, 

20 miles from its starting point.0

Concerning this property, Prof. Dwight says:

The Sims property, on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, 5 miles north 

of Stanardsville, the county seat of Greene County, shows the same geological conditions observed near Front Royal. Native copper and cuprite 

occur in bunches along shear zones in diabase (Catoctin schist). The rock is 

often schistose and is penetrated by tongues of granite, shaly near the contact. 

Local segregations and many small lenticular masses of quartz occur along

"Information furnished by G. L. Clarke, from report of Prof. W. B. Dwight, dated 

Oct. 9, 1901.

81777° Bull. 45'5 11 8
114 COPPER. DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

the shear zone, usually trending across the direction of shearing. The shear 

zone has a course of S. 80° W. magnetic, and dips 70° to 80° E.' A number of 

shallow openings have been made along these zones, and on the Sims property 

a shaft 30 feet deep has been sunk. No well-defined ore body 'has as yet been 

seen, though good ore has been found at the surface diggings both at this 

place and at a locality 2 miles farther west. The amount of development work 

done does not warrant a positive opinion as to the future of these deposits; 

but inasmuch as the ore is the result of alteration, and the original source is 

as yet unknown, there is some doubt as to their future. At the western pit 

the shear rock shows pyrite and chalcopyrite in small amounts disseminated 

through the altered rock. These minerals occur only where quartz and epidote 

are found, and the small quartz lenticules are often found surrounded by a 

zone of epidote carrying pyrite. The material from the western opening 

shows movement and is in part brecciated. A short crosscut, driven 25 feet 

 north at a depth of 30 feet cuts through the curly schists of the shear zone, 

but shows no ore.

SUMMARY OF BLUE RIDGE ORES.

Native copper and cuprite ore is found very commonly with epidote schist, not only in the mountain region, but over the Piedmont 

Plateau. It is evident that the association of epidote (and. to a 

lesser degree, of chlorite) with native copper is a constant one, for 

which reason it is believed that the processes incident to the formation of the one led to the formation of the other. Such ores occur 

near Virgilina, Va., near Charlotte, N. C., and in many scattered 

localities through the South.

From the detailed descriptions given it may be concluded that the 

basalt, which is the copper-bearing rock of the Blue Eidge region, 

has undergone regional alteration, with local epidotization and a 

further alteration, resulting in the production of quartz and to a less 

extent of calcite, feldspar, and asbestiform serpentine, with associated native copper, malachite, azurite, cuprite, some bornite, and 

scant chalcopyrite, and possibly chalcocite, nowhere, however, in 

commercial quantity.

These alterations, which are local and irregular in occurrence, have 

given rise to expensive and fruitless prospecting, the amount of copper present being everywhere too small to pay. To apply the term 

" vein " to such deposits is misleading. It is better to call them local 

segregations, occurring in altered zones or patches and in some places 

developed perhaps on a greater scale along a prominent system of 

close vertical joints in zones of the softer and more altered rock near 

a syenite contact. ~ Where the joints are locally concentrated a natural 

path is afforded for downward-moving superficial waters, which have 

produced the ore deposits, and it is along such paths that the greatest 

alteration should be expected. Recalling the uniform nature of the 

copper deposits and their association with the altered portions of the 

rock, it is evident'that one must look to the zones of sheeting and
VIRGINIA. -115

alteration as the normal site of the ores. But when it is borne in 

mind that there are other joint systems; that the basalt has undergone local alteration, perhaps throughout its mass, besides the regional alteration already mentioned; and when, moreover, it is remembered that the copper has not been introduced by the syenite but 

exists disseminated throughout the basalt, then the reason why the 

ore does not appear to be restricted in its distribution to the soft zones 

near the syenite contact will be understood.

The copper comes from the mass of the basalt, where it probably 

exists as thinly disseminated chalcopyrite and perhaps as cupriferous 

pyrite. These minerals have been acted on by percolating waters and 

have been dissolved, carried, and redeposited with vein materials 

along the joint planes of the rock, forming small veins and patches or 

local segregations. Accordingly it should be expected that the richest 

ore Avould be found near the surface, for it is in the most Superficial 

belts that the solvent power of atmospheric waters is strongest and 

that the ore would be found steadily to diminish in depth. Such a 

condition seems to exist at the mines of the Virginia Consolidated 

Copper Company, where the alteration has extended to a depth 

of 280 feet, but where the richest ore is found 30 feet below the 

surface.

In the higher and steeper ridges, which rise to considerable elevations above the local stream levels, such a depth of altered zone is 

not surprising, for in them the level of ground water is relatively 

deep below the surface. In those areas where the workings are lower 

down the slopes and therefore nearer local water level the depth of 

alteration must be necessarily less.

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA REGION. 

INTRODUCTION.

The most noted copper region of Virginia lies in the southwestern 

part of the State in a belt of crystalline rocks passing through Floyd, 

Carroll, and Grayson counties. It forms part of the eroded Blue 

Ridge upland, with well-rounded summits and deeply trenched 

streams, which is known as the Floyd-Carroll-Grayson plateau. It 

is traversed by two branches of the Norfolk & Western Railway 

the Cripple Creek branch running to Galax and the Betty Baker 

line running to the mine of. that name both of which reach what is 

commonly known" as the Carroll vein or the Great Gossan lead of 

Virginia.

The region was actively prospected in the early 50's, and the rich 

secondary copper ores found beneath the gossan were boxed and 

shipped to Baltimore. From 1852 to 1856 the South had what the 

journals of that day called a " copper mania," and every outcrop of 

limonite, large or small, was currently believed to overlie a copper
116 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES..

mine. During 1854-55 eight mines were producing on the Gossan 

lead, and the ore shipped for the six'months from January 1, 1855, 

to July 1, 1855, amounted to 2,721 boxes, carrying 1,454,363 pounds 

of ore. As this ore averaged about 25 per cent copper and the metal 

was at that time worth 26 cents per pound, the ores yielded a profit 

despite the fact that they had to be hauled a long distance to the 

railroad.

Other mines have been opened on a dike of amphibolite traceable 

for many miles northwest and southeast through Carroll County, 

and still others near Floyd, in Floyd County, to the northeast.

GEOLOGY.

The immediate wall rock of the lead consists of-highly lustrous 

sericite schist. Southeast, on the hanging-wall side of the vein, the 

rocks are throughout most of the course of the vein ordinary mica 

schists, more or. less replaced by altered fine and coarse grained 

diorites. The foot-wall rocks appear to belong to a different series, 

and are, in part at least, similar in lithological character and position to the Ocoee group of the southern Appalachians. No detailed 

section was made, but it is certain that a belt of greenstones, with 

intrusive granitoid rocks, lies betwen the quartzites of presumable 

Cambrian age which flank the mountain region and define it from 

the Shenandoah Valley, and that these greenstones are relatively 

massive and represent various types of basic rocks. In some places 

this greenstone belt extends upward and across strata that resemble 

the Ocoee group and are found near the gossan lead, but nowhere, so 

far as observed, do they appear on the hanging-wall side of the vein. 

These facts and the structure of the vein itself prove faulting, and 

as the dip of the vein is from 45° to 60° there is little reason to doubt 

that the faulting is of the overthrust type, which predominates in this 

portion of the Appalachian region. These features are observable 

practically throughout the entire belt. In the mica schists lying 

southwest of the venr several narrow basic dikes were observed. 

They appear to be of later age and of dioritic character.

Along the road from Sylvatus to the Cranberry copper mine 

shales, presumably Ocoee, form the slopes to the crossing of Little 

Reed Island Creek, and along this stream and up Bobbitt Creek to 

the summit. They weather to a yellow soil. Beyond the summit 

gray shales extend to the turnpike. No igneous rocks were observed.

THE GOSSAN LEAD. 

GENERAL CHARACTER.

The gossan lead has been reported by various writers, notably Boyd, 

to be from 20 to 27 miles long. It is distinctly traceable by an almost 

continuous gossan outcrop for 18 miles, from New River, near Old-
VIRGINIA. 117

^ northeastward to beyond Betty Baker (Sylvatus post office). 

A large part of its course is covered with a thick forest growth with 

more or less brush, and since the gossan outcrop rarely projects 

above the surface and is in some places so covered by soil and vegetation as to be indistinguishable, the absolute continuity of the lead 

can not be vouched for. But from one end to the other there are old

FIGURE 25. Map showing location and course of gossan lead of Virginia.

pits whose dump heaps show typical gossan ore, and as the old mine 

workings, 20 to 60 feet below the surface, could once be continuously 

followed underground for miles, there- is little doubt that the deposit 

is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, known in the Appalachians. 

The map (fig. 25), which is reproduced by permission of Capt. 

J. F. McKee, shows the location and course of the gossan lead and 

the mines scattered along it.
118 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

The surveys made by the Norfolk & Western Railway engineers 

for a railroad to reach the limonite gossan of the Carroll vein give 

a careful location of the vein from the Kirkbride property on the 

southwest to the Betty Baker property on the northeast. Throughout this distance the vein is large and very well defined and is continuously traceable from the Kirkbride to the Ann Phipps mine, 

across Wolf Pit Branch .and the old pits of the mine of that name, 

across Wild Cat Branch and its mines, to the Cranberry Meadows, 

where the remains of an old 'smelter can still be found. The course 

is N. 65° E. to the Cranberry mine; then it changes to N. 40° E., 

continuing thus, with slight variations, across Little Reed Island 

Creek to Ogles Branch, where it changes to N. 20° E., running 

thus to the Baker mine, where it is N. 35° E. Between Ogle Branch 

and the Baker mine the vein has small surface showing and but

, O

scanty indications are noted along the wooded ridge until the workings of the Baker mine are encountered on the west fork of Rock 

Creek.

In width the vein varies, as would naturally be expected from a 

fissure of this character. In places it is said to pinch to 5 feet and in 

others to widen to perhaps 100 feet. On the Chestnut property it 

ranges from 45 to 60 feet, and on the Betty Baker property from 20 

to 35 feet. The narrowest place found was at No. 7 shaft, about a 

mile west of the office of the Betty Baker mine, Avhere the vein is 

squeezed to 5 feet. At the east end of the Betty Baker propert}^ the 

surface shows a width of about 300 feet of limonite. The average 

thickness of the vein at the Cranberry mine is about 20 feet. Between 

the Cranberry mine and the Ann Phipps mine the thickness ranges 

from 12 to 14 feet.

The gossan is much wider than the underlying vein, a familiar 

phenomenon in the study of veins, as the gossan forming water not 

only works downward along the walls and spreads out on the country 

rock on either side, but also forms masses of concretionary ironstone 

on the surface. At the Cranberry mine the gossan is 135 feet wide 

along the road, but in part this represents a thin overflow or cap of 

limonite formed by the surface waters running down the slope.

The strike of the vein varies in accordance with that of the country 

rock; at the Betty Baker it is N. 35° E, but it shows many deviations 

from this when traced southwestward, the strike reaching as much 

as N. 60° E. in some places. The vein has not only suffered from 

strike faulting, but shows sharp folding or change of strike southwest of the Cranberry mine; at the Betty Baker mine a horizontal 

displacement of 62 feet was measured close to the point where the 

wagon road crosses the ledge. The dip varies somewhat, but averages about 45°. Former observers who have examined the Chestnut 

property speak of the vein as being nearly vertical. A marked dis-
VIRGINIA. 119

cordance in the dip of the slates and of the vein was observed in 

the first ravine southwest of the old mine buildings at the Betty 

Baker mine. At this point the schists or slates, which are presumably Ocoee, have a dip of about 30°, and the vein cuts across them 

at'an angle of about 45°. The ore shows occasional slickensided. 

surfaces and flat seams crossing the vein. It is evident, therefore, 

that there has been some postmineral faulting, but the character of 

the ore and its mineralization indicates clearly that the vein filling 

occurred subsequent to the metamorphism of the region.

At Little. Keed Island Creek, about one-half mile above Ogles 

Branch, the gossan lead shows pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, with 

balls of schist and of impregnated leafy or nacreous slate. It has 

a steeper dip than the slate, which dips about 30°. The hanging 

wall of the slate for about 6 to 8 feet from the vein is native, 

and then the gneiss shows. 

The gneiss is a solid and 

firm rock, and resembles the 

specimens taken half a mile 

farther up the creek, which 

appear to be massive diorite. On the hanging-wall 

side the leafy schists extend 

for several hundred feet, 

and then are replaced by 

the dark, basic greenstone. 

The vein is opened by a 

10-foot drift about 50 feet 

above the creek. 

CHARACTER OF THE ORE.

FIGURE 26. Ore from Chestnut Yard mine, Carroll County, Va. Shows pyrrhotite with columnar hornblende and chalcopyrite. White is 

pyrrhotite; black is chalcopyrite; lined areas 

are hornblende. '

The vein consists essentially of pyrrhotite, with, 

disseminated particles and 

stringers of chalcopyrite. Horses and protecting masses or intercalations of mica schist, or rather of sericite schist, occur in the 

vein, and in places where the fresh material is observable a considerable proportion of the vein consists of coarse biotite schist impregnated with chalcopyrite and interleaved masses of pyrrhotite. 

Quartz lenses occur on the wall of the vein, particularly the hanging 

wall. Where the walls have been exposed by the-caving of the oldworkings it is seen that they are undulatory, and that the lenticular 

swelling and thinning of the vein is due to' their unevenness. The ; 

slickensides observed are believed to be due to later movement. The 

vein filling is locally composed of a conglomerate of rock fragments' 

of varying character, cemented together by pyrrhotite. In some
120 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

places these fragments are well rounded; in others they are subangular and include rock types not seen on the surface, either at the 

vein or near by. The evidence indicates an origin as friction breccia. 

The occurrence of rounded quartz balls indicates that the vein was 

formed after the segregation of the quartz veinlets. Inasmuch as 

the vein filling is solid and massive, showing neither schistosity nor 

sheeting, though the inclosing rocks are thoroughly altered by regional metamorphism, it is believed that the vein is of much later 

formation than the inclosing rocks, and was formed after the period 

of metamorphism, which masked and disguised the original character of the rocks. This evidence confirms the conclusions reached

from the study of the rocks and of 

the included fragments.

The structure of the vein is shown 

in figure 27, which illustrates a 

block of rock seen in the ores from 

the Betty Baker mine. This same 

brecciated structure was observed in 

the ores of each locality visited, 

though nowhere is it so prominent 

as it is in the Betty Baker ores.

The primary vein filling consists 

mainly of pyrrhotite, with scant 

chalcopyrite, but it is not a solid 

mass of pyrrhotite from wall to 

wall, but rather a series of layers., 

partly of pure pyrrhotite, but 

largely of pyrrhotite mixed with

more or less micaceous material, 

which is an altered form of the 

country rock (fig. 28). This primary ore is seen exposed at one 

opening, that of the Pulaski Mining 

Company on Chestnut Creek, at the southwest end of the lead. 

Ore dumps, however, can be seen on the Cranberry property and 

at the Betty Baker mine at the northeast end of the lead, and the 

structure of the ore can be studied in the material thus exposed.

The phenomena of secondary enrichment, which proved so marked 

a feature of these mines and led to their working in the early fifties, 

may be observed .in several recent workings. Beneath the gossan 

there is usually found from a foot to 6 feet of the secondary copper 

ores, containing near the top more or less carbonate and oxide and 

very rarely a little native copper; farther down, on top of the unaltered sulphides, there is more or less soft black ore, the so-called

FIGURE 27. Pyrrhotite with included 

quartz fragments. Prom Betty Baker 

mine, Carroll County, Va.
VIRGINIA. 121

" smut ore " of the miners, with secondary chalcopyrite. The character of these secondary ores is shown in the following table, which 

gives the position of the ores shipped from three of the principal 

mines in 1856:

Copper content of secondary ot'es from mMes on the gossan lead (Carroll vein),

Car-roll Comity, ^7a. a 

[Analyses by Doctor Dlckenson, of Philadelphia.]

Cranberry 

mine.

61.05

52.10

26.00

9.50

5.00

3.00

Kirkbrido 

mine.

64.00

62.50

25.60

1.00

3.50

Ann 

Phippa 

mine.

66.08

54.20

24.08

7.28

5.00

4.00

a Mining Magazine, vol. G, 185C, p. 403.

The .primary ore contains about 32 per cent of sulphur. The other 

ingredients are shown in an analysis which was furnished to the

FIGURE 28. Pyrrhotite Interleaved with talc. From Chestnut Yard mine, Carroll County, 

Va. Lined areas are talc; solid blade Is pyrrhotite. Two-thirds natural size.

writer by the Pulaski Mining Company but does not represent the 

composition of a pure pyrrhotite ore, as the material sent to the acid 

works carries considerable biotite ore, which, of course, raises the 

magnesia content.

The Cranberry property is said to have been worked for its cupriferous pyrrhotite ores, and copper smelters at both the Betty Baker 

property and at the Cranberry property ran on ores cobbed out from 

the pyrrhotite mass. The amount of the copper pyrite becoming 

scanty as depth was reached, the smelting operations proved unprofitable and were abandoned.

THE MINES. 

FEATURES OF THE VEIN.

As the numerous properties along the lead were worked for copper 

from .185^ to 1856 and were abandoned before the Civil ,War, very
122 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

little information can be obtained about a large part of the vein. 

The gossan cap, however, has been the basis of extensive operations, 

its purity and ease of-extraction making it a very desirable ore for 

the local blast furnaces. Figure 29 shows a longitudinal section 

along the vein and is made from surveys and data compiled by Capt. 

J. F. McKee. It SHOAVS the profile along the course of the vein, the 

height to which the unaltered sulphides rise, and the depth of the 

gossan overlying the primary .pre.

In general the outcrop is relatively inconspicuous as to height, but 

is noticeable on account of the dark-reddish .or ochrous color of the 

concretionary ironstone, which is in marked contrast to the surrounding gray soils of the crystalline belt. This gossan extends downward 

20 to 60 feet, averaging a greater depth on the hilltops than in the 

ravines. It has been removed from.the Betty Baker property and 

from the Chestnut Creek property (commonly known as the " Great

ZZOO

FIGURE 29. Longitudinal section along gossan lead, showing capping of iron ore.

Outburst"), but the intervening portion of the vein being remote 

from the railroad had not been worked for iron ore at the time of 

visit.

BETTY BAKER MINE.

Before closing down the Betty Baker mine 1,800 tons of mundic 

were shipped by Capt. J. F. McKee to the Southern Chemical Company at Winston Salem, N. C.: where it was used in acid making. 

This was in 1900. The pyrrhotite ore contained 33 per cent sulphur; 

after roasting, this material carried 58 per cent iron and was said to 

be particularly valuable for making crucible steel. The shipments 

to the Winston-Salem Works were stopped when the plant was absorbed in the consolidation of the Southern fertilizer manufactories.

The ore, if free from mica^ carries approximately 55 per cent iron 

when roasted; but most of it carries biotite and when roasted has
VIRGINIA.

about only 45 per cent of iron. The raw ore carries about 0.6 per 

cent manganese, 0.35 per cent copper, and 3 per cent magnesia. Iron 

furnaces require that the sulphur content shall be below 0.7 per cent, 

and it is difficult to roast the ore sweet enough for use in such.

CRANBERRY MINE.

The Cranberry mine is situated on the divide between Cranberry 

Creek and Big Island Creek. The main road from Jackson Ferry 

to Hillsville passes across its western end.

The mine was opened in the fifties and was worked for nearly 

ten years, black copper ores being extracted and treated in a smelter 

erected for the purpose. It was closed down in 1859. The latest 

work is said to have been done in 1893, when W. C. Moxharii obtained 

an option on the property, cleaned out the old shafts, cut the growth 

of young trees from the outcrop of the vein, and shipped some 

sample lots of ore.

The old workings are at present inaccessible, and observations Avere 

necessarily confined to surface exposures, to an examination of the 

ore clumps, and to data supplied by diamond-drill cores, the results 

of drilling by the Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Company in 1902.. 

Neither machinery nor buildings remain on the property. Figure 

29 shows a profile across the property and indicates the thickness 

and amount of the heavy gossan capping which has never been 

removed from the vein and is available as an iron ore.

Samples seen on the dumps show the ore to be a somewhat less 

pure " mundic " or pyrrhotite than that of the Betty Baker mines. 

Though some ore carrying 10 per cent or more of copper was encountered, the vein as a whole is evidently*low grade. The debris on the 

dump shown included fragments of country rock, slickensided surfaces, and a mineral association nowise different from that found 

elseAvhere along the vein. The property was formerly worked by the 

usual method of crosscut tunnels, with long drifts following the 

> upper limit of sulphide ore and opening through air shafts to the 

surface at frequent intervals. The wall is plainly seen at one or two 

points, and has a dip of 45° E. In the creek bed the Meunir shaft 

is 104 feet deep, and was worked for yellow copper ore. At the time 

when the copper smelter was in operation an extensive settlement occurred at this point.

In 1902 a diamond-drill hole was put down by "the Virginia, Iron, 

Coal and Coke Company, under the superintendence of Captain 

McKee. to a depth of 524 feet vertical in the hanging wall several hundred feet from the outcrop of the vein. This hanging wall 

is a fibrous quartz schist not at all like the nacreous shales of the 

footwall. A core from a depth of about 100 feet shows it is a 

schist.
124 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

WILDCAT MINE.

Across Cranberry Creek to the southwest, at the Wildcat mine, a 

series of old shafts still open down to the water level, show the 

direction of the vein to be N. 65° E. and the dip to be about 45°. 

In the woods the gossan is hardly noticeable and does not project 

above the surface. The strike at the crossing of Wildcat Branch is 

N. 65° E. 

KTRKBRIDE MINE.

Several open cuts expose the vein on the Kirkbride property, 

southwest of the Wildcat, but the long crosscut tunnels driven from 

the sidehill to the vein and the drifts driven on the vein are all caved 

and inaccessible.

VAUGHAN MINE.

The Vaughan mine, which lies southwest of the Kirkbride, has 

not been worked for many years, but the old shafts are still open, 

and, although the gossan is hardly noticeable and does not project 

above the surface, the shafts occur at such frequent intervals that 

there can be but little doubt of the continuity of the vein. These 

shafts are said to be 30 to 50 feet deep and to go down 4o solid 

sulphide ore. At the Vaughan mine a crosscut tunnel 15 feet long is 

driven into the hillside to tap the vein. The gneiss here shows considerable crinkling and also a black and dense amphibolite. It is 

said that the Vaughan workings and those on adjacent properties 

made a continuous drift 4 miles long. The direction of the vein, as 

determined by the old shafts, was nearly 65° E. and the dip 45°, 

but inasmuch as many of the shafts were sunk in the hanging wall 

it is impossible to make certain that this direction is correct. The 

ore from this mine was hauled to Max Meadows and shipped to 

Baltimore. Most of it was pounded up and put in boxes. According 

to Mr. H. E. Vaughan, who lives near by, the vein was 75 feet wide 

in places, f

\ VEIN SOUTHWEST OF THE VAUGHAN MINE.

From the Vaughan mine to Crooked Creek no outcrops occur for 

5 or 6 miles, or at any rate the vein has never been worked, and its 

presence not therefore definitely determined. The region is densely 

wooded as far as Crooked Creek, beyond which, to Iron Ridge, the 

vein is well exposed" and has been extensively worked.

FUTURE OF THE GOSSAN LEAD.

So far as known from mining operations, the amount of chalcopyrite becomes scanty in depth. In recent attempts to mine the ore 

the percentage of copper in the output was reckoned at 0.6 to 1 per
VIRGINIA. 125

cent, a percentage that will not permit the working of the vein for 

copper alone. The future value of the " gossan lead " apparently 

lies mainly in its unworked iron ores and in the utilization of the 

magnetic pyrite for acid making. There is reasonable probability, 

however, that ore shoots carrying 3 to 6 per cent copper may be 

found when the vein is further developed. The fact that all parts 

of the " gossan lead " are cupriferous, as shown by the early blackcopper workings and by the primary sulphide ores that have been 

opened up, makes it not at all improbable that in its known extent 

of 18 miles there are places where it is locally above the average in 

copper content. Moreover, the development of the primary sulphide 

ore has been confined to only three places the Betty Baker, the 

Cranberry, and the Chestnut Ridge mines.

In mining the ore much vein filling of black biotite mica rock is

extracted, and this is apparently richer in copper than the solid

pyrrhotite. It is possible that such ores can be culled and shipped 

for copper treatment, and, of course, it is also possible that the 

roasted cinder may. be economically leached for copper and its 

metallic contents precipitated for scrap iron.

The utilization of the ores for acid making has been attempted by 

the Pulaski Mining Company, which has built an experimental plant 

at Pulaski and in 1905 was turning out high-grade 95 per cent acid. 

The officers of this company would not divulge the secrets of their 

plant and process, but it was generally believed that the process was 

still in the experimental stage and that, ultimate success depended 

on the practical elimination of the sulphur from the ore and the 

utilization of the cinder for iron manufacture. At present (1906) 

no especial encouragement can be given to others to attempt to solve 

this problem, as it is one demanding the highest chemical and technical skill and abundant capital.

TONCRAY DEPOSIT.

The Toncray deposit, located at the northern end of the copper 

belt, about 7 miles from Floyd, is similar in character to the deposits 

of the gossan lead. The ore consists of chalcopyrite with pyrrhotite 

and pyrite impregnating amphibolite or forming a mass of solid sulphides. The vein is said to be about 30 feet wide, runs N. 25-54° E., 

and dips southeast at an angle of 30-45°, crossing the steeper dipping bands of schist. The property is developed by two old tunnels 

(vertical), TO feet apart, which were recently cleared out and extended a few feet, and by a new shaft. The old drift showed solid 

pyrrhotite ore 10 feet below the surface. The ore is low grade, and 

owing to the. abundance of hornblende magnetic concentration or
126 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

direct smelting are the most hopeful methods of treatment. The old 

adit a train tunnel shows a flow of water that deposits terraces of 

iron ocher. These openings are west of the " branch " or stream and 

west of the road.

The shaft is 100 feet deep, cutting the footwall of the vein with a 

39-foot crosscut through the ore. A drift 15 feet long is driven west 

on the footwall and a 50-foot incline follows down on the footwall. 

The workings show 10 feet of coarse biotitic gneiss on the footwall, 

arid some of the same rock, together with granular quartz, lies scattered through the vein. The "mica ore" shades into a "giant 

gneiss," carrying ore.

The property was formerly worked on a,small scale for the limonite 

of the gossan. It is said that the course of the vein can be traced for 

several miles by this limonite outcrop, exposed every half mile or so 

where it is cut across by ravines.

AMPHIBOLITE DIKE.

"Besides the gossan leads mentioned, there is a dike of amph.iboli.te, 

traceable for many miles across the country, whose weathered outcrop shows occasional masses of native copper and which, for this 

reason, has been often called the " native vein." The trend is northwest and southeast, and the dike crosses the foliation planes of the 

schists.a The only attempt to work it is oh the Gardner and the 

Goad properties, both of which have been opened up by shafts and 

tunnels.

Schist is well exposed in the creek bed near the Goad mine; it 

strikes N. 50° E. and dips 61° S.; the dike crosses this at an acute 

angle. It is also well exposed 50 feet south of the engine house, the

strike there being N. 65° E. and the dip 60° S. These dips were 

taken on extremely good exposure of the fissile rock in the open-cut 

work south of the shaft house.

The ore occurs in a dark and coarse-grained amphibolite dike about 

15 feet wide, which is well exposed, in the walls back of the excavation 

made for the engine house. The exact trend of the dike could not 

be determined, but it apparently cuts the schists at an angle of about 

20°. The ore occurs as round nodules about the size of a hickory 

nut, composed of chalcopyrite.. Postmineral movement has squeezed 

these out into pyrite mirrors and streaks, giving the impression of 

very much richer ore than the facts warrant. The Goad shaft is 3 

feet 4 inches by 4 feet 2 inches in the clear and is timbered and 

planked and in good condition. It is, however, filled with water to

0 Boyd, C. R., Mineral resources of southwestern Virginia: Trails. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., 

vol. 8, 1880, p. 342.
NORTH CAROLINA. 127

the tunnel level, which is about 15 feet below the collar. The 

country rock through which the dike cuts consists of black mica 

schists, breaking into slabs one-half inch to an inch thick, and alternating with leafy sericite schists carrying interlaminated films of 

quartz. The ore at both the Goad openings shows the same curly or 

crinkly contorted amphibolite, carrying pyrite balls and characterized by slickensides and sheared surfaces. It is, however, somewhat 

more varied than that at the Gardner mine, showing acidic material 

and sometimes bands of dense and evenly foliated black amphibolite, 

with an abundant dissemination of pyrite.

The Gardner and the Goad properties are held under option by 

the Virginia Copper Company, and were once extensively advertised. Observations show that the richness and amount of ore 

already extracted is not in accord with the published statements 

and that the nature of the deposit has been misunderstood, The

dump heap consists mainly of knotty and curly sericitic schist. 

The Goad Tunnel, said to be 201 feet long, was flooded at the time 

of visit, and of course the shaft, which lies 40 feet from the mouth 

of .the tunnel, was also full of water, so that inspection of underground workings was impossible. The rocks near the ore-bearing 

layers appear to be somewhat more amphibolic than elsewhere.

The deposit can not be classed with those of the gossan lead nor 

with those of the Ducktown type. It is clearly a dike in the normal 

schist series, in which copper pyrite balls have-been formed and by 

subsequent movement have been drawn out into small irregular 

masses. No definite ore body was seen, unless one calls the dike 

carrying these chalcopyrite balls an ore body. The property is well 

situated Avith regard to water, roads, and timber, but the results of 

the development work so far done have been unsatisfactory and it 

is generally understood that the property has been abandoned.

NORTH CAROLINA.

CHABACTEB AND EXPLOITATION OF THE DEPOSITS.

The amount of copper produced at present in North Carolina is 

small and comes mainly from the Gold Hill and Virgilina districts, 

yet the State contains a large number of copper deposits of wide 

diversity of character apparently .offering conditions permitting 

profitable working. Many of the veins of the gold belt contain copper 

ores, but the successful operation of such properties depends on the 

presence of large amounts of ore, and none of them have as yet 

become important producers.

The deposit in Ashe County, in the northwestern part of the 

State, differs materially from the deposits of the gold belt, consist-
ing of low-grade pyritic ores of the same general character as the 

well-known Ducktown, Tenn., deposits. These ores constitute the. 

so-called copper range, a misleading name, since the known copper 

deposits of this section of the State show the same variety as those 

in the region east of the mountains.

The copper-bearing quartz veins of the Virgilina district, which 

lies partly in Virginia and partly in North Carolina, have been extensively developed in recent years and several properties have become 

intermittent producers. In the western, mountainous part of the 

State there are three districts; the first, that of Ashe and Alleghany 

counties in the extreme northwestern part of -the State; the second, 

that of Jackson and Macon counties in the southwestern part; and the 

third, that of Rowan and Davidson counties in the western Piedmont 

region. The first of these contains the Ore Knob mine, so profitably 

worked for many years. The deposits of the Virgilina district have 

already been described (see. pp. 67-89) ; a description of those of 

the other districts follows.

ASHE AND ALLEGHANY COUNTIES. 

ORE KNOB MINE.

Location. The Ore Knob copper property is situated in Alleghany 

County, in the extreme western part of North Carolina, on the flat 

top of one of the higher spurs of the Blue Ridge, at an elevation 

of 3,200 feet above sea level. The nearest railroad point is Galax, 

Va., the terminus of a branch line of the Norfolk & Western from 

Pulaski, Va.

Geology. The geology of this part of the Blue Ridge has not 

yet been studied in detail, but the region immediately Avest has been 

mapped by Keith,0 and the mine appears to be in a direct extension 

of a series of schists and gneisses called by him the Carolina gneiss. 

In general, the rocks of the region are thinly foliated gray gneisses, 

often schistose when weathered. The foliation has a prevailing 

northeast-southwest direction and eastward dip. In 1905 the outcrop of the ore body could be seen in only a few old shafts, the gossan, 

formerly so prominent, being covered by great dump heaps and by 

the small angular fragments of a hard gneiss which everywhere 

covers the slopes. The vein has been traced by means of shafts and 

outcrops for a distance of about-1^ miles, showing on the summit 

slopes of the Blue Ridge to the south of the mine and being lost in a 

ravine between the Ore Knob property and Trainor. The vein 

appears to have a course of N. 65° E. magnetic and a dip if 85° NW.,

"Cranberry folio (No. 90), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1903.
NORTH CAROLINA. 129

which accords with the observations of previous writers. The inclosing rocks are hard micaceous gneiss and mica schists, the schistosity 

having a direction of N. 57° E. and a dip of 40° to 45° SE. Thus 

the vein has a course nearly parallel to the direction of schistosity, 

but being nearly vertical, cuts across the banding of the schists in 

depth.

According to E. Emmons, the ore body lies in a well-defined fissure 

in a band of hornblende schist one-fourth mile wide that is apparently intrusive in talco-micaceous schists. This could not be verified 

by examination of the surface exposures. The material on the waste 

heaps in mostly a closely puckered, foliated gray gneiss, with quart/ 

nodules and streaks, the foliation showing by the alternation of dark 

and light layers. Some segregations and lenses of biotite occur.

The ore body consists of pyrrhotite, with a little pyrite and chalcopyrite. It is mainly massive, and in places contains much quartz. 

According to Eggieston, one wall is sharply defined, and shows 

slickensided surfaces, whereas the other shows a gradual transition 

from ore into impregnated country rock, and this into the normal 

gneiss. The material shows evidence of movement, and good slickensides and gliding planes can be seen on the larger blocks. Secondary 

deposits of quartz and chalcopyrite are recognized in the material 

exposed, and it is said that a quartz streak occurred along the west 

Avail.

Development. According to Wendt 0 the development of this 

property was begun in 1860, languished during the war, and was 

taken up in 1873 by a strong corporation and vigorously worked. 

Extensive development of the ore body was made and eleven shafts 

put down, proving the deposit to have a length of 2,800 feet, and 

an average thickness of workable ore of, about 10 feet, the variation 

being from 8 to 16 feet. The deepest shaft was said to be 400 feet, 

and the ore in the bottom to carry as good values as that above. A 

visit was made to the mine in 1904 and notes on the general-geology 

were obtained; the trip, however, was disappointing, as most of the 

old workings were found to be inaccessible, and the following notes 

are taken from the reports of previous observers.

Early descriptions. The following extracts from the report of 

Dr. Eggieston,6 under date of September 18, 1880, and from that of 

Wendt 0 in January, 1886, give information from a reliable source 

as to the characteristics of the property at that time: The vein is a 

vertical fissure vein in gneissoid rocks cutting across the strata and

" Wendt, A. P., School of Mines Quart., vol. 7, 1886. pp. 224-225.

* Eggieston, Thomas, Investigations of the Ore Knob process; Trans. Am. Inst. Am. 

JSug., vol. 10, 1882, p. 25. - 

' Wendt, A. F., op. cit., pp. 324-330.

81777° Bull, 45'§ 11 9
130 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

having a strike of N. 60° E. The hanging wall is sharply defined. 

The footwall shows a transition from ore into rock, there being no 

seam or sharp separation between the two. The vein varies from 10 

to 20 feet in thickness. The outcrop is covered with gossan 40 or 

50 feet thick, but outcrops for only a few hundred yards near the 

main workings. Elsewhere it is covered by a few feet of earth, and 

is exposed only by trenching, by which it has been traced for nearly 

a mile. The unaltered sulphides consist of pyrrhotite, with chalcopyrite, calcite, biotite, and occasionally a little quartz also occurs. 

Both the vein walls are vertical, or nearly so, and sufficiently strong 

to stand without timbering. In 1880 two shafts had been sunk 300 

feet and two others 250 feet each. Five other shafts to the north 

had been sunk to different depths, 60 feet being the shallowest.

Shaft No. 4 south lies 550 feet and the Miller shaft about 1,000 

feet south of No. 2. The " Engine " shaft was the one from which 

most of the ore was hoisted. Stoping was carried on 280 feet distant from the shaft in 1880. At this point the stope is 30 feet deep 

and the vein 18 feet wide. The next stope is 127 feet long and the 

vein 20 feet wide. The next is 47 feet long, 30 feet high, and the 

vein 18 feet wide. A quartz roll appears on the south wall, south of 

shaft No. 2 south, but the vein makes an increased width to the 

north side that nearly compensates for this roll. This quartz band 

continues through the mine for several hundred feet, appearing on 

the north side, near the engine shaft, but crossing the vein and making a clean and complete separation from the ore an advantage in 

mining. The north end of the mine contains -only low-grade ore.

The ore was hoisted in iron buckets carrying from 1,600 to 2,000 

pounds, but the shaft being single but one bucket could be used at 

a time. 

The COSt of mining in 1882 was 65 to 66 cents per ton, and the total 

net cost of the copper, inclusive o*f every item, was 12| cents per 

pound, or, making allowances for profits from the company store, 

was 10.39 cents per pound.

The Ore Knob copper was exceedingly pure, no other copper in the 

market approaching it except that from the Lake region. Elaborate 

tests were made by Professor Eggleston to prove this fact.

The average ore carried from 20 to 30 per cent silica, and was 

treated without the addition of fluxes.

The ingot copper produced by the Ore Knob works was entirely 

free from antimony and arsenic, and carried 14.,6 ounces of silver 

per ton. . .
NORTH CAROLINA. 131

As many inquiries have been made for information concerning this 

deposit and the character of the ore, the following analyses are 

quoted from Eggleston's paper:

Analyses of ore from, Ore Knob mine, 'North Carolina.*1

Nickel. ......:............ .......................................................

1.

29.10 

11.33 

37.45 

8.14 

1.84 

.16 

5.32 

 .35 

4.76 

.67 

.09 

.71

99.93 

3.92

2.

13.57 

13.50 

35:74 

16.34 

1.49 

. .50 

7.84 

.94 

7.19 

.66 

.09 

.92

98.58 

4.60

3.

12.80 

4.76 

48.78 

18.36

.76 

7.21 

.30 

6.00 

.65 

.095 

1.08

100. 79 

1.65

a Eggleston, Thomas, op. cit., p. 28.

1. Sample from thirteen buckets of ore, each of 1,800 pounds, taken from the high stopes of shaft No. 2.

2. Sample fronrsixteen buckets of ore of 1,600 pounds each, taken from the Engine shaft.

3. Sample made by taking a wheelbarrow load from each pile of the pure ore on the surface, the 

material being quartered down for assay.

The ore of the deposit differs from that of Ducktown chiefly in 

being more siliceous, this being particularly marked in'the ore heaps 

and extensive piles of siliceous ore rejected while the property was 

being worked.

The siliceous nature of the ore led to an attempt to treat it by 

leaching, and a complete Hunt & Douglas leaching plant wag erected. 

Owing, however, to the appreciable amount of lime present in the 

ore, this process was unsuccessful and was abandoned for smelting. 

The Rio Tinto treatment used some years ago, in which the copper 

fines were slowly oxidized in the air with the addition of salt, and 

cement copper produced from the solutions thus obtained, was-introduced at Ore Knob about 1884. About 10,000 tons of second-class 

ore, averaging about 2^ per cent copper, were treated in this way. 

It is said, however, that a loss occurred by reason of seepage through 

the bottom of the leaching yard, and this has been verified by an 

examination of the property.

Under earlier conditions about 50 per cent of ore mined was sent 

to the .smeltery. The latter consisted of six roast sheds, each 34 by 

240 to 400 feet, ten shaft furnaces, one reverberatory furnace, and 

six charcoal storage houses. Analyses of smelted ores follow.
132 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

Analyses of smelted ores from, Ore Knoli mine, North, Carolina.

1.

15.20

4.08

39.08

C.7C

1.79

.40

8.10

.88

2.

17.52

3.94

38.38

7.64

2.68

.86

8.01

.65

'A.

0.57

23.41

47.00

22.08

.40

.24

.85

.38

4.

25.96

1.35

40.83

2.87

4.84

1.17

9.87

1.12

:>.

27.56

.57

40.83

1.82

4.29

1.11

9.59

1.11

(i.

54.93

20.66

23.44

.00

.06

1.01

.18

.5

7.

94.24

3.38

.74

.02

1. Roasted ore.

2. Roasted ore.

3. Matte.

4. Rich slag.

5. Poor slag.

6. Rich matte (six roasts).

7. Black copper.

COPPER KNOB OR GAP CREEK MINE.

The Gap Creek or Copper Knob copper mines are situated in the 

valley of Gap Creek a few miles west of the crest of the Blue Ridge. 

The ore occurs in well-defined quartz veins intercalated in and cutting across a dark basic schist that is believed to be a metamorphosed 

basic eruptive. The ore consists of chalcopyrite and of bornite, the 

chalcopyrite being in large part altered and near the surface showing 

malachite and other decomposition products of the sulphide ores. 

The width of the vein varies from 6 inches to 2 feet, and the ore 

occurs in the quartz in irregular bunches and masses, apparently 

lying between the terminations of the interlocked crystals which 

make up the massive quartz. The quartz itself is milky white and 

very massive. The old workings consist of an adit driven in from 

the level of the creek for several hundred feet, of a shaft said to be 

180 feet deep, and of a second upper tunnel between the shaft and 

the lower level. All these workings are now caved and inaccessible, 

but the caving of the shaft has exposed the vein and the schists, so 

that a good outcrop is seen. The property is equipped with a 10- 

stamp mill, with plates and concentrating tables, engine house and 

engine, boilers, etc. The- property has not been worked for many 

years.

One of the workmen formerly employed in the mine informs me 

that free gold is found in the quartz, and it is commonly understood that the concentrates- carried between $50 and $60 in gold. 

The deposit belongs to the Virgilina type. No examination has been 

made of thin sections of the basic eruptive, which apparently is a 

mass of the same general character as that mapped by Keith throughout this Appalachian region under the name of Roan gneiss, At 

any rate its association with basic eruptives is very intimate,
NORTH CAROLINA. 133

The copper occurs in a well-defined quartz vein cutting dark hornblende schists running N. 60° E. and dipping 40° SE. There are 

three quartz veins, only one of which is mineralized. Its strike is 

N. 35° W. and dip 45° NE. As the workings are inaccessible the 

following notes are taken from a report by Hanna.0 The upper part 

of the vein had a selvage of iron oxide carrying very high values in 

gold. The vein on the 60-foot level varies from 14 inches to 3 feet 

in width and has a mineral streak 4 to 6 inches wide in the center. 

On the northwest drift of this level the vein changes at 53 feet from 

the shaft and is oxidized, carrying iron oxide and native gold for 36 

feet, the course changing to 43° W.

The ore occurs in films and a netting of streaks and bunches scattered through the massively coarsely crystalline quartz. It consists entirely of bornite, except where weathering has altered this 

mineral to malachite and other oxidized minerals.

The only record of production is that for 1880, when it was 40,000 

pounds.

PEACH-BOTTOM MINES.

The Peach-Bottom copper mines lie on the west slope of the Allegheny Mountains, in Ashe County, about 7 miles from New River. 

The rocks are part of the great series of crystalline schists classed 

by Keith as Carolina gneiss. The vein is a well-defined layer of 

schist 4 to 4£ feet wide, lying apparently conformably with the surrounding rocks, whose foliation is N. 75° E., dip 60° S., and containing thin lenticules of dark-red quartz impregnated with chalcopyrite and bornite. The general character of this quartz is very 

much like that of the Union copper mine at Gold Hill, N. C.; in 

other words, it is a schist vein. The property has not been worked 

for many years, and the tunnel is now caved near its entrance, so 

that access to the old workings is impossible. The general relations 

of the vein to the surrounding rocks is, however, revealed in a road 

cutting above the old mine and in the exposures at the mouth of the. 

adit. The property was evidently, worked many years ago, but the 

old buildings are still standing. There was a 10-stamp mill of very 

light stamps, which was used for a short time to crush the ore. but 

the small amount of tailings present indicates that the attempt was 

soon abandoned. A small furnace built of soapstone arid about 2£ 

feet in diameter was evidently blown in, but was not run long, as 

the slag dumps is extremely small. An old horse whim with vertical 

drum still stands above the mouth of the old shaft, which is on the hill 

about 75 or 100 feet above the mouth of the tunnel. It is said to be 

140 feet deep. The ore dumps seen near the old mill are scarcely

0 Kerr, W. C., and Hanna, G. B., Ores of North Carolina, 1887, p. 225.
134 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

rich enough to pay for working, even under present conditions. The 

ore is extremely siliceous and the particles of pyrite are small, irregular, and closely interlocked with the quartz, so that extremely 

fine crushing would be necessary to liberate the values. The ore 

carries zinc blende and a few specks of galena. Considerable impregnation, though mostly with secondary minerals, appears in the 

schists adjacent to the walls, and is believed to be .the result of the 

decomposition of the chalcopyrite of the original vein and the seepages of the resulting copper-bearing solutions into the wall rock. 

The vein itself presents evidence, in its brecciated condition and its 

inclusion of fragments of country rock, of being a plane of movement 

whose formation was subsequent to the metamorphism of the schists, 

and the crushed condition of some of the quartz indicates a postmineral movement.

The deposit is not associated with any extensive area of amphibolite 

or -other basic schists. The immediate wall rock is in part a dark 

biotite gneiss, and the vein consists in part at least of a sheared 

quartz gneiss, with much sericite, the chalcopyrite occurring as thin, 

leaf-like masses interfoliated with the schist. The vein runs N". 54° 

E., and dips 80° S. Its northeastern extension passes beneath the 

valley bottom and is covered by wash and debris. Southward the 

vein is lost beneath the soil covering the flat summit of the ridge but 

is said to be traceable in the drainageways on the other side.

The property can not be considered a valuable one under existing 

conditions, as the difficulty experienced at the Union Company's copper mine will be met with here, the minute particles of ore being so 

closely locked in the siliceous gangue as to preclude their separation 

and concentration and the siliceous nature of the ore preventing its 

being smelted in the crude state.

A lead vein 6 to 9 inches thick lies alongside of the copper vein 

and- separated from it by a slight thickness of schist.

ELK KNOB.

The Elk Knob copper property is located in Ashe County, in the 

extreme western part of North Carolina, about 2 miles from the township line. The deposits occur on the flanks of Elk Knob (5,555 feet), 

one of the highest summits of a roughly mountainous tract that forms 

the divide between the north and south forks of New Biver. The 

nearest railroad station is at Mountain City, which lies about 1.7 miles 

to the northeast and is accessible over roads cut up by the heavy 

traffic in lumber from the numerous sawmills that are rapidly using 

up the primitive forests of the region.

The copper deposits occur in the center of an extensive area of 

gneissoid rocks, mainly hornblende gneiss and diorite, which have
NOBTH CAROLINA. 135

been grouped as the Roan gneiss by Keith, who has described the 

general geology of the region." According to him, the Roan gneiss 

cuts an older complex of granitic rocks called the Carolina gneiss, 

but the contacts between the two are so much metamorphosed that 

definite proof of their relations can not be obtained. Mr. Keith 

says: . .

The Roan gneiss consists of a great series of beds of hornblende gneiss, hornblende schist, and diorite, with some interbedded mica schist and gneiss. The 

hornblendic beds are dark greenish or black in color, and the micaceous beds 

are dark gray. The mica schist and gneiss beds range in thickness from a few 

inches to 100 feet and are frequent only near the Carolina gneiss, into which 

they form a transition. * * * The hornblende schists make up most of the 

formation and are interbedded with hornblende gneisses throughout. The 

schist beds consist almost entirely of hornblende in crystals from one-tenth to 

one-half inch long, with a very small amount of biotite, feldspar, and quartz. 

The gneisses contain layers and seams consisting of quartz and feldspar, interbedded with layers of hornblende schist. In places these are regularly disposed 

and give a marked banding to the rock. * * * Many of the beds of this 

formation consist almost entirely of hornblende and are so basic they appear 

to have been derived from gabbro. So thorough is the alteration, however, that 

such an origin is .not certain. * * * Thus the Roan, gneiss has passed 

through two deformations, one producing the foliation and a second folding 

the foliation planes. During or before the second deformation the bauds of 

quartz and feldspar appear to have been formed.

At Elk Knob the rocks generally appear to be somewhat less hornblendic than is indicated by the above description, but the ore deposit 

occurs ir^ a mass of basic rock corresponding very closely to an 

altered peridotite and presumably consisting of an altered basic 

eruptive.

The main opening lies in the bed of a torrent on the north side of 

the mountain, about 1,500 feet below the summit, and has extensive 

dump heaps. The opening consists of a short drift run in on the 

vein, exposing on the west a smooth slickenside wall, that dips 80° W. 

near the mouth of the tunnel and 80° E. farther in. The vein is 6 

feet wide, and consists of hard, dense, fine-grained amphibolite, in 

alternating layers of impregnated rock and purer streaks of pyrite, 

chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite. Along the Avail it has a narroAv band, 

from one-half to three-quarters of an inch wide, of nearly pure 

pyrite. The inclosing gneiss is gray and black and is decidedly curly 

in structure, showing white quartz in cross fractures. The vein is 

traceable up the mountain side with difficulty owing to the thick 

growth of underbrush which everywhere covers the surface, but so 

far as could be made out the direction of strike is to the northwest, 

nearly at right angles to the prevailing schistosity of the region.

"Keith, Arthur, Cranberry folio (No. 90), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1903, 

pp. 2-3.
136 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

No work has been done on the property for many years, although 

numerous examinations have been made at different times. Owing 

to its inaccessibility, small size of-ore body, and intimate mixture of 

ore and rock, it is not likely to prove an important source of copper 

in the near future.

Another opening on the south side of the mountain at an elevation 

of 4,000 feet is also in the bed of a stream, a tributary of Meat Camp 

Creek. The ore is similar in character to that of the deposit just 

described. The development work is limited to blasting out the 

vein in the bed of the stream, exposing about 5 feet of concentrating 

ore. Near the bottom of the valley, at the south base of the mountain, 

another opening has been made in similar pyrilizecl rock. The shaft 

here is caved, but the dump heap shows ore entirely similar to that 

just noted.

Qn the south side' of the road, in a direct line running through 

the three openings above mentioned, there is another property on 

which a tunnel said to be 100 or more feet long has been driven, but 

no good ore was seen on the dump heap, and work has been abandoned. The fact that these four openings line up and that they 

are in similar rock has been taken as evidence that there is a north 

and south lead running through the country, but owing to the very 

heavy rainstorm prevailing during the three days' visit to this locality and the dense underbrush on the upper part of the mountain, it 

was impossible to verify this inference. From what has been said 

it will be seen that the property does not offer any temptation to 

immediate development.

JACKSON AND MACON COUNTIES. 

IMPORTANT PROPERTIES.

The Tuckaseegee copper region of the Cowee Mountains in Jackson County, N. C., is a district about 10 miles across, lying east and 

south of the town of Webster, the county seat. It is drained b_y the 

headwaters of Tuckaseegee River, and is a mountainous tract whose 

summits rise to heights of 4,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea. Two 

or three years before the Civil War this region was energetically 

prospected as a result of the furor in copper mining caused by the 

discovery of the rich secondary copper ores of Ducktown, Tenn. 

Numerous copper properties were at that time discovered and more 

or less work was carried on, some of the richer properties shipping 

ore to the seacoast. With the outbreak of the Civil War all work 

was abandoned and only in recent years was an attempt made to 

reopen any of the property. The following list comprises the more 

important properties:

New Savannah, or Betts Gap mine, belonging to Mr. W. S. Adams. 

Breudle Knob mine, belonging to the Carolina Copper Company.
CAROLINA. 137

Way-Ye-Hutta mine, belonging to the Carolina Copper Company.

Cullowhee mine, belonging to the Cullowhee Copper Company.

Tuckaseegee mine, belonging to Alfred M. Low.

OKI Savannah Mining Company (The Ehlor Mining Company), now owned 

by W. S. Adams.

Savannah Copper mine, belonging to Cox, Davies «fc Co.

Buck Knob mine, belonging to Mr. Davies.

Highland Forestry Company property, otherwise known as the National 

Abrasive Company, owning a tract on Sugar Top Mountain and Deviltop 

Mountain.

Poor Ridge mine, belonging to Davies & Co.

Davies mine, belonging to Judge Davies.

Wolf Creek Copper mine, belonging to the Rnchanan Company.

The rocks of the region are gneisses and schists of pre-Cambrian 

age, containing " soft hornblendic slates " or amphibolites with associated copper deposits. The rock is soft and friable. The foliation 

runs N. 34°, 50° E., and commonly dips steeply to the northwest, The 

veins are conformable, or nearly so, to the schistosity, and are everywhere associated with or formed by an impregnation of the soft 

hornblendic slates which constitute the copper bearer. These " veins " 

are from 10 to 15 feet thick and are capped by gossan, by which the 

veins may be traced for many miles.

The ores consist of chalcopyrite, glance, and gray copper with the 

common decomposition products near the surface, especially at the 

Way-Ye-Hutta mine and Savannah. With a few exceptions, the 

mines have not been worked for many years, and the nature of the 

ores can only be judged from the material on the old dumps and the 

structural relations of the outcrops. They occur in or alongside of 

hornblende gneisses that in places consist of pure hornblendes, but 

generally .of quartz and hornblende, and represent altered gabbro 

and diorite. Pyrite lenses are common along these belts of basic 

gneisses. In general the ores occur in the hornblende rocks, but are 

found also in the gray gneiss alongside. Where faulting is distinguishable, it is noted that the fault plane, usually an overthrust, 

has itself been folded and presents all the peculiarities of a folded bed.

There are two principal parallel veins, the Cullowhee to the east, 

and the Way-Ye-Hutta to the west, the latter being also known in 

parts of its course as the Shell Ridge and the Savannah lodes, though 

some observers .maintain that the tAvo last named are independent but 

parallel.veins. The Way-Ye-Hutta has outcrops of gossan and tremolite and at various openings shows carbonate and copper pyrite. 

The Cullowhee vein has on it the Cambuco, Wolf County, Cherry 

Gap, and Loudermilk mines. The workings of the first named showed 

in 1863 a width of 6 feet, Avith Avell-defined Avails, one of gneiss and 

the other of talcose slates.
138 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

COLLOWHEE MINE.

Ore bodies. The ore bodies occur along the contact between the 

amphibolite and the gray Carolina gneiss. The former, the footwall rock, is of undetermined thickness. The shaft and the crosscut tunnel afford good exposures for 100 feet or more from the vein. 

These Avorkings show a fine-grained, dark, micaceous, hornblende 

gneiss, showing intricate plications, passing into a coarsely granular 

hornblendite or amphibolite near the ore body. This rock is cut 

by a dike of gray acidic gneissoid granite, 2 to 6 feet wide, with 

somewhat irregular boundary, cutting across at 60° to 90° to the 

foliation of the gneiss, but apparently not faulting it. This rock is 

cut in the 50-foot crosscut in the shaft, and is seen one-half mile 

from the mine, where the wagon road crosses the mountain slope.

To the west of the shaft the main ore body terminates abruptly 

at a point about 50 feet from the shaft. At this point there is a 

fault slip, and beyond it the gneissoid rock carried pegmatite, but 

the exact relations of the latter were not determined owing to the 

difficulty of recognizing the rocks in the wet and soot-covered walls. 

The drift is said to follow a thin layer of ore which is supposed to 

be the apex of an ore body, the ore being found in the floor of the 

drift and extending upward for 2 or 3 feet above it, but the roof of 

the drift shows no ore whatever. At 170 feet west of the shaft the 

crosscut carried some small bunches of ore in crushed rock and at 

174 feet a breast of ore 2-| feet wide was encountered.

To the east of the shaft the main ore shoot extended almost to the 

face of the drift, 150 feet from the shaft, where a cross slip throws 

the ore into the hanging wall.

The dump heap and also the west drift of 100-foot level shows a 

very coarse-grained pegmatite, carrying much biotite in places with 

tourmaline and hornblende; but no transition to amphibolite was 

observed. That the rock carries chalcopyrite shows age of the latter to be the same as that of the pegmatite formation. The occurrence of corundum as a normal (but rare) constituent of this acidic 

rock is noteworthy. Two ore bodies are known.

The deposit is relatively low grade, the material in the ore bins 

appearing to average about 5 to 7 per cent copper. The deposit has 

an average width of 3 feet and a maximum width of 6 feet, and the 

length of the developed shoot is about 200 feet horizontally. Little 

evidence of movement appears along the course of the ore body. 

The old adit level, later known as the 50-foot level, was driven in" 

1860. It reached the ore body at the water level and disclosed a little 

sulphide ore, but the oxidized ore was the most abundant and was 

selected and shipped. Although, fresh faces are now exposed by the 

cleaning out of the old workings, no deposits of importance are found
NOK.T.H CAftOLltfA. 139

showing earthy or sooty glance. Most of the rather extensive Avork 

driven on this level for prospecting purposes was without system, arid 

was unproductive of results.

The ore. The ore consists of chalcopyrite in bunches and films and 

as disseminations through massive pyrrhotite. It varies considerably in the relative abundance of these sulphides and locally lacks 

pyrrhotite. In places it contains irregularly founded, blebby masses 

of quartz up to one-half inch diameter. The footwall is usually 

well defined and has a dip of 48° ( ?), but in places the mineralization 

fades into the wall rock. The hanging Avail is irregular. The vein 

is not well-defined; the contact is curving and ore bodies are lacking 

in places. It has steep cross slips, fault matter, and soft crushed rock 

carrying new endogenous ore. Its. course is N. 48° E.

The contact vein has a dip of 48°, and the shaft sunk in the 

hanging wall cuts through the ore body 87 feet below the surface. 

At this point the ore consisted of a very open textured mass of 

coarsely crystalline pyrite, imperfectly cemented by black and earthy 

glance. The only other copper mineral seen Avas in an upraise carried from the 100-foot level for 47 feet on the dip of the vein. In 

this upraise considerable amounts of covellite were found. The 

pyrrhotite and pyrite always predominate, but the amount of each 

mineral varies widely from place to place.

The ore is compact, vugs being rare. There is no real gangue, 

but the mixture of minerals forming the ore includes rounded, 

apparently etched grains of quartz (with secondary enlargement?) 

and grains of feldspar, spinel, pyroxene, and other constituents of 

the Avail gneiss. Locally these minerals show enlargement; the core 

being like that of the same mineral in the gneiss and the shell consisting of accretions containing inclusions of pyrrhotite. Secondary 

calcite, etc., occurs as crusts, Armlets, and sessile crystals. The ore 

body holds occasional fragments of country, surrounded by crusts; 

and patches of Avail rock are impregnated with ore and shoAV a 

microbreccia structure, with sulphides of iron and copper in the 

microscopic fractures. All this evidence shows that the ores are not 

of sedimentary but of secondary origin, and are formed by solutions 

that penetrate into a zone of crackled and crushed rock. The mineralizing Avaters caused partial metasomatic replacement of rock by 

ore minerals, with enlargement and regeneration of a part of the 

corroded original constituents. The waters are supposed to be the. 

result of a granitic intrusion.

The ore occurs as lenses in an amphibolic rock that itself contains 

disseminated particles of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite. In 

this rock the sulphides appear in thin section to have been the last 

minerals to crystallize out, as many corroded fragments of pyroxene 

and hornblende are surrounded by pyrite, which also occurs between
140 COPPER DEPOSITS of THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

the plates of biotite. Portions of the ore are rich in corundum. 

These relations and the fact that the pyrite is in the altered silicates 

indicate that the ore was formed at the time the hornblende was 

uralitized, as a deposit from hot waters, and is therefore to be regarded as an after effect of the intrusion itself. The corundum has 

made diamond drilling too expensive a mode of prospecting for use 

at this property.

Development. The development work of the mine consists of a 

vertical shaft 160 feet deep, well timbered and lined for buckets, and 

a ladder-way. Levels are driven at 50 feet and 100 feet and a crosscut at 160 feet. The latter extends for 140 feet from the shaft, but 

does not cut the vein, although an upraise driven 10 feet above the 

roof of the crosscut failed to disclose ore. The flow of water is 

rather heavy, requiring six hours' pumping per day to lift it to the 

50-foot level, whence it drains out. The property is equipped with 

steam boilers, engines, air compressors, and a 2-drum steam hoist.

LITTLE TENNESSEE MINE.

The Little Tennessee property first attracted attention in 1857. 

It is located 4 miles from the Georgia line and about 10 miles south 

of Franklin, Macon County. The vein has a gossan cap and carries 

black copper ore 30 feet below the surface. The width is unknown.

NANTAHALA MINE.

The Nantahala mine*is on one of the spurs of Nantahala Mountain, on a branch of Cartoogechaye Creek about 4 miles southwest of 

Franklin. The vein is in the Catoctin schist near a bank of hornblendic gneiss, and consists of chalcopyrite and graj' copper with 

granular quartz gangue. The strike is N. 40p E., agreeing closely with 

the foliation of the rock, the vein occasionally cutting at 10° to 15° 

across the schist. The vein, according to old reports, is 35 feet wide 

and is marked by an outcrop of hornblendic rock with sphalerite, 

quartz, and limonite. According to Kett, the vein at Way-ye-Hutta 

mine is 5 to 6 feet wide, and at Savannah is in several beds, the widest 

of Avhich measures from 9 to 10 feet.

DAVIDSON AND ROWAN COUNTIES.

COPPER-GOLD DEPOSITS."

Gold Hill district. A large number of copper-bearing ore deposits 

of the South are gold veins, which have been and still are worked for 

their gold contents. In ma-ny of the gold veins, of North Carolina

0 Weed, W. H., Types of copper deposits in the southern United States: Trans. Am. 

Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 30, 1901, pp. 470-471.
NORTH CAROLINA. 141

especially, the mines were opened, the oxide ores extracted, and 

sulphides encountered at the water line. At some places these sulphides have been successfully worked as gold ores. More often the 

mine was abandoned when the sulphides were encountered,- especially 

if'the ore contained an admixture of copper pyrites which prevented 

successful amalgamation. In many of the mines the sulphide ores 

were found to contain from 2 to 5 per cent of copper, present as chalcopyrite. A few properties of this kind are now successfully worked 

for copper,'their auriferous contents being in most cases sufficient to 

give them an additional value. The Gold Hill mines are of this 

nature, and as they are now being extensively opened and exploited, 

they have been taken as a type of the auriferous chalcopyrite veins of 

the South.

GOLD HILL MINES."

Location. Gold Hill is 14 miles southeast of Salisbury, on the 

Piedmont Plateau. The country shows a relief of 200 to 300 feet, 

broad stream levels separating flat-topped ridges, steeply trenched 

by lateral drainages. The Gold Hill district was formerly densly 

wooded, but has now been largely denuded about the mines and in 

the vicinity of the few farms which dot the region. The veins occur 

on a narrow plateau ridge running northeast and southwest and which 

is about 1£ miles long and two-thirds of a mile wide, the region beingbounded by Buffalo Creek on the west. The veins are in an areA of 

metamorphic schist, mostly argillaceous, bounded by an intrusive 

mass of granite on the west and by metamorphosed dioritic rocks on 

the east. The schists show a foliation of N. 30° E., and dip 75° to 80° 

W. The veins have been proved to a depth of 800 feet and have been 

traced on the surface for more than three-fourths of a mile. But 

their outcrops are obscure and the continuity of the veins has not as 

yet been established beyond doubt. The ore occurs primarily in 

quartz; but small amounts are found disseminated through the 

altered schists.

History. In the reports of the North Carolina geological survey 

upon the gold mines of the State those of Gold Hill are fully described. It is said that these mines were discovered in 1842, which 

was a comparatively late date in the history of gold mining in the 

State. They were worked until 1856, yielding in 14 years over 

$2,000,000 in gold. The sulphides were then encountered, and from 

that time until 1874 about a million dollars were extracted, but as 

the process of simple amalgamation extracted only 20 to 30 per cent 

of the Aralue the ores were regarded as unfavorable. Gold mining 

was practically stopped in 1893, and from that time until 1899 no

o Weed, W, H-, op. cit; pp, 471-478,
142 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

mining was done. The treatment up to 1881 was with Chilian mills 

and rockers. At that time a 20-stamp mill was put in. An attempt 

at cyanide extraction was made in 1893, but without success. At the 

Isenhour mine, near by, the ore is pulverized in a Howland crusher 

and concentrated on blankets and the concentrates are washed in log 

rockers with quicksilver.

The gold product of this district came from several veins, but the 

main producers were the Randolph and Barnard mines. The shaft

at the Randolph mine is 

800 feet deep, and has 

been practically worked 

out down to the 500-foot 

level. As developed in 

mining operations, the 

values occurred in 

shoots, and one of these 

proved too rich in copper to pay for working 

by amalgamation as a 

gold ore; so that this 

body has never been 

stoped. The mine is 

now being unwatered, 

and if the reports of 

the value of this copper 

shoot be true it may 

become a producer of 

auriferous copper ores. 

During the active exploration of the district 

a number of shafts 100 

to 200 feet deep, and a 

great many shallower 

pits were made Jor the 

extraction of the oxidized free gold ores. 

The Union Copper Company's tract was explored in this way, and a deep open cut was made 

on a zone of mineralized and oxidized schist (locally slate) which 

carried gold. At 25 to 30 feet copper was encountered; and the vein 

received the name of the Big Cut copper vein, by which name it has 

been mentioned in numerous official reports.

The rocks. The rocks of the region are greatly decomposed, and 

except where exposed in the banks of ravines have weathered to 

reddish white or rusty slaty debris, The fresh material from the

?t/A/rrz NO one

FIGURE 30.- -Workings of Union Copper Company mine, 

Gold Hill, N. C.
NORTH CAROLINA. 143

mine workings is, however, gray or blue in color, and varies from a 

very dense and hard, siliceous gneiss to soft talcose material. Under 

' the microscope the rock shows a mixture of quartz and biotite with 

some hornblende. The quartz is very finely granular, but holds veinlets and spots of coarser grain. There is much pyrite usually associated with the green hornblende.

Vein phenomena. A mineralized belt extends along the edge of 

the hill, from the mines seen in the village of Gold Hill, beyond the 

Union Copper Company's workings, in a direction generally parallel 

to the schistosity of the rock. There are lesser veins, recognizable in 

part by outcrops' and in part by old prospect pits, which run across 

the banding of the schist and end in the belt mentioned. As a, rule, 

the so-called gold veins are recognizable only by the greater amount 

of iron staining the weathered rocks; and the few visible outcrops of 

quarts are.barren of value and do not form well-marked veins. That

the veins of the district are true fissure veins and continue in length 

and dip, is clearly proved, however, by the workings of the Barnard 

and Randolph mines nearby.

The exact nature.of the copper deposits and their relation to the 

schists have not been conclusively determined. So far as the writer 

was able to observe, the ore shoots conform in dip and strike to the 

secondary schists, and pitch to the north. They show no banding. 

Composed largely of a distinctly and finely graular dark-gray quartz, 

with patches, spots, and -streaks of ore, they present little or no 

crystalline or massive white or transparent quartz such as is commonly seen in quartz veins, and is usual in the auriferous " stringer 

lodes " of the South. A large part of the ore shoot consists of a 

breccia of fragments of hard, white, silicified schist, inclosed in 

quartz ore, showing conclusively that the slates Avere shattered and 

breccia zones were formed before the ore-bearing solutions became 

active.

The ore bodies show no well-defined walls, clay slips, or seams, 

They have, however, been fractured by later movements, as is shown 

by vertical fractures, which serve as conduits for descending waters, 

and by subordinate flat fractures connected with the first and believed 

to be a result of the strains resulting from the formation of the first 

fissures. These flat fissures dip south at 20° from the horizontal.

The only ore shoot exposed at the time the property was visited 

(December, 1899) showed a length of about 150 feet and a width of 

20 feet and extended from the upper level to the deepest [800-foot] 

workings.

Character of the ore. The ore below water level consists of pyrite, 

chalcopyrite, and quartZj with occasional bunches of galena a.ncl
144 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

blende. The pyrite is in broken, shattered masses, in part cemented 

by chalcopyrite, which is distinctly later in origin, and surrounded 

by quartz of coarser grain than the main mass of the ore. The extreme upper part of the vein is leached and barren of copper, but has 

been worked for its gold. BeloAv this rusty weathered zone the vein 

shows marked alteration; the quartz and schist are dull, shattered, 

and rust-stained, and carry blue and green carbonates, cuprite, and 

native copper the-oxide often in beautiful crystals. Below this the 

ore body shows opaque white quartz of a sugary or flour-like texture, 

carrying sooty black sulphide of copper, and passing into the oxidized 

ore where pipes and Avater channels extend doAvn into it. This partially altered ore contains crystallized and massively crystalline and 

dull chalcocite, and nucleal masses of copper pyrites may be seen, 

surrounded by all the alteration products mentioned. The alteration 

takes place especially along the vertical fractures, and those dipping 

at 20° which connect with the A^erticals. In general the vertical fissures are marked by oxidized material, leached of copper, even down 

to the 150-foot level, which fact leads to their designation as gold 

veins. The flat-dipping fractures usually show red oxide and sheets 

of native copper. While there is no sharply defined limit to the zone 

of enrichment, the ore shoot is markedly enriched for from 15 to 20 

feet above the sulphide ore.

Origin of the ore. The ores show no banding or crustification, but 

do exhibit a brecciated structure. The quartz is not massive, and the 

ore-bearing quartz has not the characters of quartz filling an open 

cavity. On the contrary, a study of the occurrence of the ore in the 

mine and of specimens indicates a replacement of schist by quartz, 

or a replacement of the ferromagnesian mineral by ore. The study 

of thin sections shows that a mass of silicified schist, holding pyrite,

has been shattered by fault movement, and chalcopyrite, together 

with a little galena and blende, and a new groAvth of quartz has been 

deposited. The chalcopyrite has been altered in part to bornite, and 

to glance near the Avater level, or to cuprite and malachite and azurite 

Avhen oxidation has been more pronounced.

The Gold Hill mines Avere not Avorked in the summer of 1904, 

though the shaft of the Union Copper Company was being pumped 

out. The company shipped ore from the dump heap to the Ducktown 

smelter.

MISCELLANEOUS COPPER-GOLD MINES.

The Conrad Hill mine is situated about 6 miles Avest of Lexington. 

The property has not been visited, but according to reports of reputable engineers it shoAvs two systems of veins, in which the ore consists 

of chalcopyrite and pyrite, with free gold in a gangue of quartz and 

siderite. The ore shoot shows a maximum width of 18 feet, and the
GEORGIA. 145

vein has been developed to a depth of 400 feet. Other mines in thisvicinity are said to carry similar ore.

The Lalor mine, 2 miles from Thomasville, shows chalcopyrite and 

pyrite in a vein developed by three shafts, the deepest being 140 

feet vertically.

The Emmons mine is another property carrying chalcopyrite with 

some gold. It is situated about 15 miles from Lexington. It shows 

a vein 3 feet to 8 feet thick, which is developed by an inclined shaft 

4.00 feet deep.

The Cid mine is a similar property, lying 1 mile from the Emmons 

mine.

GEORGIA.

MAGRUDER OR SEMINOL.E MINE."

The chief copper mine of Georgia is situated on the border between 

Wilkes and Lincoln counties, in the northeastern part of the State, 12 

miles from Washington, which place is accessible by the Georgia Kailroad from Atlanta and Augusta. The mine was visited by the 

writer in 1904 and was being worked in January, 1906.

The country is part of the broad expanse of the Piedmont plain, 

averaging about 500 feet above tide and having very flat or gently 

inclined surfaces. In the vicinity of the mine the stream bottom is 

95 feet below the plateau top. Though intersected by a great number of branching streams, this part of the State is relatively dry and 

the streams are very low in summer, the water supply being derived 

from springs. Little Eiver is about 12 miles away.

The rocks of the region consist of soft micaceous schists, with 

numerous dikes of basic igneous rock, all deeply decomposed by atmospheric agencies, so that red-clay and pale-brown soils predominate and relatively few exposures are seen. Indeed, the road cuttings on the route from Washington to the mines show merely a 

spotted clay, without banding or recognizable bedding, and are assumed to be a residual product of rock decay. The basic dikes are 

micaceous and are clearly intrusive, since they cut across the foliation 

irregularly. They can be accurately determined only when fresh material is available, as at the mines. Commonly it is impossible to 

secure determinable material. They are mainly diabasic in character.

This part of Georgia contains several groups of producing gold 

veins, those of Columbia, on Little Eiver, 8 miles southeast of Washington, being best known. The gold occurs in a milky-white quartz 

forming lenses of the type designated segregation veins by most 

authors in the mica schists.

0 Other notes on this mine arc given by T. L. Watson in Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 

225, 1904, pp. 182-180.

81777° Bull. 45'5 11 10
146 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

At the Seminole mine copper ores are found in veins formerly 

worked for gold, and later when sulphides were encountered the 

copper and lead ores carrying gold and silver were shipped.

A large body of high-grade pyrite was opened in 1905 in the vicinity of Dahlonega. The occurrence of this mineral in at least one 

body of workable size has been known for some time, but until 1902 

the deposit had not been opened sufficiently to justify any statement 

as to its value. During 1905, however, exploitation was carried far 

enough to permit some idea being formed as to the size, uniformity, 

and grade of the deposit.

Two other pyrite properties are being worked in the northern part 

of the State.

The Seminole Mining Company acquired the Magruder property in 

1900, and at present writing (1906) has opened up the property, 

sinking a shaft to a depth of 200 feet on the Wardlow vein, with 

levels at 125, 145, and 185 feet. The 145-foot level connects, by a 

crosscut 800 feet long, with a level driven on the Magruder vein. 

These workings are all below the oxidized zone and expose unaltered 

sulphide ores. The older workings extended to a depth of about 125 

feet on the two largest veins. They are in part accessible and show 

pillars of relatively high-grade ore.

The veins are well defined in the weathered zone and their schistose 

structure is most quickly recognized in this condition. There is little 

ironstone gossan, and the veins are not continuously traceable by outcrop, although in part the tract is virgin ground covered with great 

oaks that have never been cut, so that cultivation has not obscured the 

outcrops. Open-cut work and numerous shafts have, however, disclosed the course of the Magruder vein, which was the only one known 

until a long crosscut tunnel, oblique to the vein, was driven from the 

foot of the hillside and encountered other nearly parallel veins.

The veins have a general course of N. 43° E. magnetic, and dip west. 

Three distinct and well-defined veins are known the Magruder, 

Finlay, and Wardlow but the entire space between the Magruder 

and Wardlow veins is an altered silicified and pyritized shear zone 

of schist, in which there are several veins, so far as known, of nonpersistent value.

These veins are cut across and faulted by dikes of diabase and other 

basic rocks, which are massive and not schistose, and are clearly later 

than the veins, since they contain angular detached blocks of ore in 

the dike rock. The general course of these dikes is north and south. 

Their intrusion was accompanied by movement and shattering of the 

country rock.

The veins have a generally schistose structure and include a more 

or less continuous streak of quartz containing sulphides. This quartz
GEORGIA. 147

is not the white, milky quartz of the gold veins nor is it coarsely 

crystalline; It is usually a dense dark-gray rock, whose metallic 

particles are scattered through it in a general banding. Slivers of 

included schist occur.

The ore bodies range from a few inches to 8 or even 10 feet across. 

In the Wardlow vein the main ore shoot is 35 feet long on the 125- 

foot level and 60 feet long on the 145-foot, averages 3 feet wide, and 

is continuous in richness and character to the 185-foot level. It is 

cut off west by the diabase, and, though some blocks of ore show the 

break was across the ore shoot, the offset faulted portion has not 

yet been recovered.

In examining the mine workings several interesting details of 

structure are observed. The Wardlow vein in vertical section in the 

ore shoot has a steep, nearly vertical dip, with two flat offsets to the 

east on the 90-foot level. (This and the general dip show that the 

vein does not conform to the foliation of the schists.) The 145-foot 

level, which is the most extensively developed, shows several trap 

dikes, which terminate the main ore shoot of the Wardlow vein on 

the south. The first dike, 20 feet from the crosscut to the shaft, is a 

foot thick, has a course N. 20° E., and dips 55° W.; though it cuts 

through, it does not cut out the ore; it cuts across the ore body where 

it has narrowed to 2 inches. At this point it looks as if the fracture 

continued across the dike. The second dike encountered is 3 feet 

thick and is nearly parallel (N. 10° E., 75° W.) to the first. No ore 

is found on its south side for 100 feet or so, when a crosscut north 

cuts an ore body. The level follows an altered soft layer in the 

schist, rendered tender by slipping.

The ore body shows in north end of 185-foot level a thin clay selvage, and exhibits rounded, slickensided, and grooved faces, showing 

downward movement.

On the 145-foot level the south ore body of the Wardlow vein 

shows two to three streaks, aggregating perhaps 3 feet of ore, 

in well-defined bands, separated by white pyritized schist with walls 

of the same, there being all told about 15 feet of milling rock, concentrating 6 to 1. . Cross joints, locally called " heads," cut the ore body and in places 

limit it, though usually merely effecting a local change in values. 

These "heads" are shear planes, tending S. 50° E., vertical, or S. 

15° W., with dips of 30° S. and 60° N. These fractures also appear 

in the large mass of diabase encountered at the south end of the 

185-foot level as closely but irregularly spaced shear joints tending 

N. 35° W. and dipping 80° SW. A fine slickensided cross joint runs 

from the north wall of the crosscut to the shaft on the 185-foot level.
148 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

The diabase, which is recognized even when decomposed by its 

splintery blocky fracture, has no ore, no quartz, and no pyrite. In 

the Magruder vein workings on the 145-foot level it shows a flat 

20° pegmatite seam 2 inches wide.

The Magruder vein is the largest and most persistent vein, as 

shown by the old workings, but the new level is too badly caved to 

show the new ore body. A shaft 80 feet deep does not reach the 

present level, the end of which is about 300 feet south of the shaft 

and 100 feet below the collar. The vein has been crushed by later 

movement and is very wet. It carries about 3 per cent copper and 

$2 gold, being relatively low grade, but it is easily mined, the cost 

being estimated by Henrich at about one-third that required to mine 

the Wardlow ore. and it is large and will be the mainstay of the 

mine's future. The north end of the drift is in a black, sheared, 

shistose basic rock, characterized by abundant cubes of pyrite, the 

largest having sides one-half inch square.

Between the Wardlow and Magruder veins the rocks are sheared 

and altered. In part they consist of almost pure-white quartz 

sericite schist, more or less silicified; in part of schist with quartz 

bunches and streaks, and in part of pyritized schist.

There are several veins of which one, the Findlay, was worked 

by the former owners. The present development consists of a south 

drift from the crosscut 55 feet long, and a 27-foot drift north to an 

upraise to the 125-foot level. The ore narrows up westward and 

the workings are in white schist showing abundant pyrite.

A second vein to the west varies from 2 inches to 3 feet, shows 

zinc blende and pyrite, and has walls of pyritized white schist, but 

the ore is bunchy and not persistent, as shown in a raise to an old 

shaft.

The diabasic intrusions of this property are postmineral, and hence 

can have had no influence on the primary vein filling. They cut off 

the ore bodies and fault them, and in one exposure (125-foot level) 

contain an included torn-off fragment of the vein. On the 185-foot 

level the trap rock does not sharply truncate the ore where the dike 

cuts across the schist, but contains a mass of ore projecting in the 

diabase. There is, however, evidence of postmineral movement 

both slipping and crushing of the ore bodies, which is most reasonably correlated with the period of diabase intrusions and which has 

been followed with vein water, with migrations of copper and other 

metals and consequent enrichment. This is particularly marked in 

the Magruder vein.

The ore bodies proper occur in a zone of sheared, highly altered, 

sericitized schist, altered from gray quartz-mica schists to lustrous 

pearly Avhite rock, with abundant auriferous pyrite, especially along 

the veins.
GEORGIA. 149

The ores differ from the gold quartz ores in their schistose character, in the tough dense nature of their quartz, and in the abundance 

of zinc blende, galena, chalcopyrite, and pyrite they contain.

An average sample of the pyritic first-class concentrates from the 

bins, analyzed in the Survey laboratory, showed 9.3 per cent silica, 

0.59 per cent baryta, and traces of lime, magnesia, and zinc. A calculation of the mineral composition of the second-class concentrates 

made by the owner, Mr. Carl Henrich, is as follows:

Mineral composition of ore from Mag ruder mine.

Copper pyrite___________________________ a 10.5

Zinc blende.__________ _______!__ _ 4.8

Galena ________________________________ 3.5

Pyrite_________1____ - 1_ 45.0

Barite__________________________________ 2. 2

Quartz _________________________________ 17. 0

Ferromagnesian silicates _____ : 16.0

99.0

This is not, however, an average sample of the ore body, but is the 

result of milling a large tonnage of the pyrite-bearing white schist 

found between the veins. A sample of this schist pulverized and 

panned for the writer yielded a concentrate of nearly clear pyrite, 

which was assayed, yielding $10.80 gold and 4 ounces silver per ton, 

"and 0.1 per cent copper. The first-class mill concentrates taken from 

the ore bins carried $7.60 in gold per ton, and 7.1 ounces silver per ton. 

The second-class concentrates have the following approximate composition: Quartz, 2.5 per cent; alumina, 4.5 per cent; iron, 26.2 per 

cent; lime, 0.8 per cent; magnesia, 0.3 per cent; barium oxide, 1.6 

per cent; copper, 3.6 per cent; lead, 3 per cent; zinc, 3.2 per cent.

CI-IESTATEE PROPERTY.

The property of the Chestatee Pj^rites Company is located about 

6 miles from Dahlonega, in a direction a little north of east. The 

openings are located on the south side of Chestatee River, about 

2 miles west of its junction with the Tessantee.

The outcrop of the pyrite body has a direction of N. 45° E., and 

dips at an angle of about 45° NW. On examining the stratigraphy 

it was found that in position, form, and association this pyrite 

deposit closely resembles the typical gold deposits of Dahlonega. 

The pyrite forms a "bedded" vein, which is conformable to the 

quartoze mica schists that overlie it on the west. The rock adjoining the pyrite on the east, however, is of the same type of hornblende 

schist as that described above in connection with the Dahlonega gold

0 Equivalent to 3.6 per cent copper.
150 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

veins: As with those deposits, the pyfite body occurs on the contact 

between a normal (and possibly sedimentary) mica schist and a hornblende schist, which is a much-metamorphosed igneous rock of early 

date.

The deposit has been thoroughly opened at two points in addition 

to the pits and trenches which have been dug in order to test the 

continuity of the deposit. The northeastern opening is a tunnel, 

driven completely through the vein. Two drifts diverge from the 

tunnel at right angles, both being run parallel to the trend of the 

vein. One of the drifts is run on the western or hanging wall of 

the vein, the other on the foot wall. About 100 feet southwest of 

the tunnel opening an incline has been sunk on the dip of the vein, 

a depth of 60 feet below the mouth level having been attained at the 

time of visit.

These workings, taken in connection with somewhat extensive 

diamond-drill explorations and the examination of natural outcrops, 

would seem to give a fair basis for calculating the size of the deposits. 

The outcrop extends at least 2,000 feet along the surface of the 

ground. Where it has been effectively crosscut by tunnels and incline 

the pyrite body is about 30 feet in thickness, and trenches and drill 

borings appear to prove that its thickness at no point along the 

2,000 feet of exposure falls below 20 feet. It has been followed down 

on the dip for a distance of almost 150 feet.

The body of ore seems therefore amply large for profitable ex-' 

ploitation. The operating company has adopted a wise policy in 

this respect, the intentions being to push underground working and 

accumulate a large supply of stock ore before commencing to build 

a treatment plant.

Eight carloads of ore were taken from the tunnel, thus securing

a sample entirely across the vein. The average of the analyses is 

as follows:

Analysis (average) of Chestatee pyrite.

Sulphur ________________.__:______________ 43. 52

Iron____________________________________ 39. 70

 Copper ____________. ___..______________ 3.09

Zinc_________________________________.__ . 72 

Alumina____.________________^__________ 2. 53

Magnesia_______'________________________ .43 ' 

Arsenic.________________________________ None. 

Silica, etc________________________________ 9. 26 

Moisture_____________.________________L__ .36

Analyses from the middle 20 feet would show a higher sulphur 

and lower copper content than the average analysis quoted, while 

analyses of the portions of the pyrite body near the walls would
GEORGIA. 151

give lower sulphur and higher copper. It is probable that this 

difference in composition, which can be noticed even in a hand specimen, will be taken advantage of in planning the treatment of the 

ores.

BARTOW PYRITE PROPERTY.

The Bartow pyrite property is situated on-the line running from 

Atlanta to Chattanooga. The pyrite occurs in a vein 7 feet wide, 

consisting of pyrite, quartz, and pink garnet. The ore runs about 32 

per cent sulphur, but can be concentrated like the ore of Villarica 

to 45 per cent sulphur. In 1905 the property was owned by Mr. 

Smith, of the Cherokee Pyrite Company, Atlanta, Ga. According 

to him the Villarica property shows a loss of about 30 per cent in 

concentrating the material in Hartz jigs. The property contains 

three veins, one of which is gold-bearing.

EMERSON PYRITE PROPERTY.

The Emerson pyrite property is situated near the city of Emerson, 

on the Western & Atlantic Railway, north of Atlanta. The pyrite occurs in bands in a carbonaceous slate, which is mined as a filler for 

fertilizer phosphates. The width of the material is about 500 feet, and 

as the pyrite occurs in bands, which could be separated, the pyrite 

itself forms a valuable asset. There seems little doubt that a washer 

would effect a fairly clean separation between the pyrite and the 

slate. At present writing (1905) the property is worked by an open 

cut, exposing a face about 90 feet high. The material is put through 

a gyratory crusher, which reduces it to 16-mesh dimensions. The 

output is about 100 tons a day, and the price realized is $1.25 per ton. 

The expense account is as follows: Mining and crushing, 45 cents; 

salaries and expenses, 20 cents; freight, 60 cents.

The material has the following composition, as determined by 

N. A. Pratt, chemist, of Atlanta, Ga.:

Composition of rock-at JSmerson property.

Graphite, pure and flaky______________________ 12. 90 

Talc, soft and unctuous_________________.____ 83.04 

Silica, very fine_______'._____________________ 2.04 

Pyrite, in micaceous scales____________________ 1.27

Moisture______'. __________-____________. . 55

An analysis by Prof. H. C. White, of the University of Georgia, 

yielded 2.85 moisture, 5.12 carbon, with small amounts of hydrogen 

and nitrogen.
152 COPPER. DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

TENNESSEE. 

THE DUCKTOWN DISTRICT.

The Ducktown district is situated in the extreme southeastern corner 

of Tennessee, in an open basin inclosed by bounding mountains on 

the east and west, Ocoee River on the south, and a broad plateau 

level on the north. The ore deposits occur in a belt about 2 miles 

wide and 4 miles long, their general distribution being indicated upon 

the accompanying map. The rocks are gneisses and schists, usually 

weathering readily, so that good outcrops are not frequent, and disintegration commonly extends to a depth of 50 to 90 feet. In the 

best exposures the prevailing rocks are micaceous and very finely 

puckered. They are biotite-quartz schists and hence are of sedimentary origin, and are regarded by Keith as the lower part of the 

Ocoee series of early Cambrian age. The schists have throughout 

the district an average strike of N. 20° to 25° E., and. dip 50° to 

55° E. The original bedding planes cut across the schistosity.

 The Ducktown, Tenn., deposits were actively worked from 1852 to 

1855 for their secondary enrichment ores. The Cherokee and Tennessee mines were opened early in 1855, and the Hiwassee in the latter 

part of that year, the other mines being opened in 1854. Up to 

July, 1854, the different mines had produced a total of 18,569 tons, 

of which 17,735 tons were produced in the preceding year. This ore 

being soft was extracted with picks and shovels, the hard lumps 

broken, the ore sacked and shipped to Baltimore. As shipped the 

ore averaged 32 per cent copper, and had a gross value of $192 

per ton.

The Tennessee Copper Company's great plant has made this one 

of the great copper-producing districts of the world. The ore bodies 

have been systematically and extensively opened up by both the Tennessee and its neighbor, the Ducktown Sulphur, Copper and Iron 

Company.0 Both companies have succeeded in treating at a profit 

ore of lower grade than is mined anywhere else in the United States.

VEI-NS.

I visited the district in 1899 and published 6 the following notes 

a few months later:

The ore bodies occur in veins nearly parallel to the foliation of the 

rocks. There is a difference in dip, and the writer has observed the 

vein outcrop crossing the schists at the Blue Ridge property. There 

has been secondary fracturing and faulting of the veins since their

0 Henrich, Carl, Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 25, p. 173. Kemp,. J. F., Ore deposits of the United States, 1900, p. 193.

6 Copper deposits of the southern United States: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., A^ol. 30, 

1901, pp. 482-483.
TENNESSEE. 153

formation, 'and the lenticular form of the deposits is ascribed by 

Henrich a to these faults. The veins vary from a few feet to 150 

feet in width, showing a solid mass of ore for the entire distance. 

They can commonly be traced for distances of a mile by surface 

outcrops, and the most northeasterly vein, the Burra Burra, has been 

followed by black copper workings for 2 miles. The observations of 

Henrich upon the structure and the records of the diamond-drill 

borings agree with the observations of Kemp and of the writer that 

the deposits fill fissure veins.

The ore bodies differ considerably in character. That of the Isabella mine is pyritoils; the Burra Burra and London veins have less 

pyrite than the Isabella and a larger amount of chalcopyrite and 

pyrrhotite, while the Mary-Polk County ore is pyrrhotite Avith little 

pyrite. The copper content will average 2.2 to 3 per cent. The 

copper value lies in the chalcopyrite, which is scattered through the 

pyrrhotite in small grains and films, and more rarely occurring in 

bunches.

The vein consists essentially of iron sulphide for its entire width, 

which is 20 to 100 feet. Although the ore- body is pyrrhotite it 

varies in purity and value and is not always workable. This is in 

part due to the larger proportion of the accessory minerals in the 

ore or simply to a lower percentage of copper. More or less quartz 

in clear rounded grains, tremolite, etc., occurs in what appears to 

be solid pyrrhotite; and in the leaner ore these increase in amount. 

Bunches of white quartz are encountered in the main mass of ore 

and layers of slaty ore are found parallel to the walls. Hornblende 

ore a mass of interlaced hornblende crystals with the open spaces 

between filled by sulphides often appears along the walls.

The structural characters of these ore beds show that they fill 

fault fissures, which follow the foliation and correspond to slip 

planes between the "beds." This movement probably furnished a 

channel for the ore-depositing waters.

The ore body has been modified by faults since the formation of 

the vein, to which the present lenticular forms of the ore bodies are 

perhaps partly due. The ore body is thrown by these faults, and 

the somewhat schistose structure may be due to this and not to origi- 

"nal replacement. The flat fractures which traverse the ore and are 

in some places marked by films of calcite or quartz (later than the 

ore) are believed to be strain cracks such as would form between two 

parallel shears.

The notes just given were made during a reconnaissance visit to 

the Ducktown district in December, 1899.

"Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 30, p. 1.73.
154 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

MINES. 

WEST VEIN. 

The westernmost of the three large veins of the Ducktown district 

includes the Burra Burra, London, and East Tennessee mines. The 

vein is supposedly continuous between these workings, but has not 

been explored except on the surface, the old black-copper workings 

which follow the water level being nearly continuous.

BURRA BURR A MINE.

In the Burra Burra mine the vein is very regular in course and 

has a well-defined and persistent hanging wall; the footwall, however, is somewhat rolling and 

shows bulges, in . which the 

basic ore makes out in rounded 

bunches. This regularity of 

the hanging wall prevails in 

all three mines. Beyond the 

hanging wall the schist is impregnated for 100 feet or more, 

showing silicification and an 

impregnation with pyrrhotite 

and a little chalcopyrite. The 

development in the Burra 

Burra is 646 feet vertically 

beneath the outcrop on the 

third level; the vein has been 

drifted on for about 1,600 feet. 

To the lowest level open the 

dip is quite regular.

The Burra Burra and London shafts are about 4,800 feet 

apart, and the Burra Burra 

and McPherson are 2,000 feet 

apart on the strike, giving a 

total distance of 7,000 feet 

along the vein. FIGURE 31. Section of Burra Burra vein, 

Ducktown, Tenn.

LONDON MINE.

In the London mine the lowest workings are on the fifth level, 

and the dip, which is quite constant down to the fourth level, shows a 

marked flattening at that point.

EAST TENNESSEE MINE.

The East Tennessee mine has been developed to 510 feet. The 

vein here shows a hanging-wall split, and ranges from 6 to 30 feet
TENNESSEE. 155

in width. The mineral character of the ore .varies somewhat in different workings. In the Burra Burra mine the deposit consists essentially of pyrrhotite and pyrite in nearly equal proportions. The ore 

consists of about 30 per cent pyrrhotite and about 30 per cent pyrite, 

the balance consisting o'f copper and insoluble material. The London 

and East Tennessee ores are nearly free from pyrite, but the Burra 

Burra and McPherson ores carry the pyrite in isolated crystals, giving the ore a spotted or porphyritic appearance. The ore is, moreover, lower grade in this property, averaging about 2^ per cent. In 

the London mine the ore is higher grade and shows at times a casing

is!

'//XVN

FIGURE 32. Section through ore bodies of Mary mine, Ducktown, Tenn.

of siliceous ore. In general the basic ores have a somewhat blunt termination, and the fracture is apparently continued by crinkled schist. 

In some cases the ore pinches out and the footwall schist shows 

marked impregnation with chalcopyrite.

EAST VEIN. 

POLK COUNTY AND MARY MINES.

The east vein contains the Polk County and Mary mines on a continuous ore body with the Callaway to the north. The crosscuts of
156 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

the ore body are similar in both Polk County and the Mary mines 

(fig. 32). The deposit is irregular, and has in it horses of waste, 

which generally consist of a lustrous mica schist, commonly somewhat curly! One such horse showed a width of 3 to 6 feet and was 

50 to 60 feet long, being entirely surrounded by solid basic ore. In 

general the casing of the ore body is either siliceous ore for a few 

inches or more or consists of purely mica schists. The hanging wall 

of the west ore body of the Mary vein is good. In some of the 

properties solid ore shows a rounded surface, slickensided and polished, and abuts directly against a sugary-white quartz-biotite schist, 

so that faulting is evident. The Mary vein at .one place in the Polk 

County mine shows schists faulted against each other at an angle 

of 30°. Both the Mary and Burra Burra veins show included 

angular fragments of black biotite rock, which look like amphibolite 

in the walls but prove to be mainly biotite when seen in the daylight. 

In a few places balls and. stringers of ore are seen in the rock breccia 

adjoining the vein, and in places the ore body consists of a rock 

breccia in which the ore forms a cement. It is believed that the 

fractures are continuous for a long distance, but that in places the 

faulting is taken up by a crinkling of the schists. The maximum 

width of the Mary-Polk County vein is about 300 feet.

CALLAWAY MINE.

The Callaway mine is on the east vein, about one-half mile distant 

from the northeast workings of the Mary mine. The shaft is 340 

feet deep, going down with an incline of 80° SE. The ore body has 

a thickness of 10 to 50 feet and a developed length on the lower 

levels of 150 feet. The ore differs from that of the other mines in 

its siliceous character, showing a well-banded structure in which 

quartz-schist is interleaved with sulphide ore, the separate layers 

being from one-fourth inch to 2 inches thick. This, is particularly 

true of the north ore body. The south ore body has a more massive 

texture and is basic. The walls of the ore body are of solid schist, 

and, as usual, show a highly and coarsely micaceous wall. Tremolite 

occurs in abundance, usually segregated in patches, and though a 

refractory silicate, is not unwelcome at the smelter save that it is 

usually characteristic of lean ore.

ISABELLA VEIN.

The Isabella vein lies between the Burra Burra and the Mary and 

continues southward in the Colchote. This is the largest ore body 

of the district, but is too low grade to work, carrying less than 1 per 

cent copper. The ore body is 250 feet wide on the level, and it is 

developed by underground workings and diamond-drill holes to a
ALABAMA. 157

depth of 300 feet. The gossan has been worked for many years as 

an iron ore. The ledge to the south has old copper workings, but 

has not been developed.

ORES.

The enormous masses of gossan forming the outcrops of parts of 

the deposits, the soft rich secondary ores beneath them, and the general features of the deposits have been repeatedly described. Professor Kemp's 0 paper presents the results of his carefully detailed 

mineralogical study of the ore.

The approximate composition of the ore from these deposits, as 

given by Channing, is as follows:

Mineral composition of Duchtomi ore*.

Silica. ..............................................................................

Burra 

Burra.

2.2

30.0

37.5

2.0

6.2

1.9

3.9

10.3

London.

3.0

21.0

31.0

0.8

C.I

2.5

4.4

26.3

The 1905 production of the Ducktown 'Copper, Sulphur and Iron 

Company was 36.4 pounds of copper per ton of ore, costing 9^ cents, 

638,000 tons from the Mary mine, and 30,000 tons from the Callaway 

mine.

The characteristic mineral of the Ducktown district is zoisite, 

which is generally present in small crystals hardly recognizable by 

the ej-e. At times, however, it forms a gangue of considerable portions and is always welcome, as it carries a high copper content.

ALABAMA.

GEOLOGY.

The mountainous region of Alabama forms the central-eastern 

portion of the State. Hills of schists and other metamorphic rocks 

lie between the Cretaceous coastal plain on the south and the long 

ridges of coal-bearing Paleozoic rocks on the northwest, forming the 

southern continuation of the gold-bearing crystalline belt of the 

Carolinas and Georgia.

In this mountainous area deposits analogous to those of Ducktown 

are known. The so-called " copper lead " of Alabama is a strip or 

area of altered igneous rock, locally designated "Hillabee" schist,

0 Kornp, ,T. F., op. cit.
158 ' COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES.

which is presumably an altered diabasic rock. This supposed lead 

is in no sense a lode or vein, though copper has been found in considerable amounts at different localities over its area and though the 

line of outcrop shows many old openings, none of which have proved 

profitable.

According to Smith and McCalley a the rocks of the crystalline 

belt of Alabama consist of feebly crystalline or semicrystalline 

schists, often called talcoid schists, which are really semicrystalline 

slates and have been demonstrated to be metamorphosed sediments. 

To these the name of Talladega has been given, and they correspond 

in appearance and geographical position to the Ocoee of Tennessee. 

Carboniferous fossils (Lepidostrobus) have been found in one of 

the belts of this formation 8 or 10 miles from its western border. 

This discovery makes it certain that" this belt contains infolds of 

Paleozoic rocks. Two-thirds of the gold workings of the State are 

in these Talladega slates. Along the eastern base of the range of 

hills known as the Talladega Mountains there is a belt of greenish 

rock resulting from the alteration of an igneous rock. This greenstone is called the Hillabee schist by the State survey. The outcrops of this rock have been followed from Chilton County west 

of Coosa River, northeastward through Coosa, Clay, and Cleburne 

counties to the Georgia State line. Pyrite occurs in disseminated 

crystals in these rocks at various intervals throughout this entire 

district. Crystalline pyrite in compact ore bodies also occurs at 

several localities.

MINES.

STONE HILL MINE.

In 1870 copper was discovered in Cleburne and Eandolph counties, 

on the Woods Hill property, at the Stone Hill copper mine, 20 miles 

from Heflin station, on the Southern Railway. The property was 

vigorously worked during 1874, 1875, and 1876, 200 to 500 men being 

employed in extracting and hauling the black-copper ores and nativecopper ores of the oxidized zone of the deposit, the total output being 

reported to have been 1,300,000 pounds up to the time the work was 

stopped in 1879. For the first two years the black-copper ore alone 

was extracted; but this becoming exhausted in 1876, an attempt was 

made to mine and smelt the pyrrhotite ores. From 1879 to 1896 the 

property was idle, but in the latter year the Copperhill Mining Company was organized, the old mines pumped out, a new shaft house 

erected, machinery purchased, and mining resumed. Considerable 

ore was mined and stored on the surface, but no smelters were erected

« Smith, E. A., and McCalley, H., Index to the mineral resources of Alabama : Geol. Survey Alabama, 1904, p. 55.
ALABAMA. . 159

and, lacking railroad facilities, it was found that the ore could not 

be profitably worked.

According to Brewer the ore body is 24 feet thick, carrying the 

richest ore next to the walls with 10 feet of lean ore in the center. 

The entire body averages 3 per cent copper, with slight values in 

gold and silver. Ten feet of the ore will average 7 per cent copper. 

The unaltered rock of the walls appears to be a schistose igneous rock, 

presumably the " Hillabee" schist, though the mine is not in the 

main body of that formation; that is, it is not on the so-called 

"copper lead." 0

A report on the same property made by R. P. Rothwell 6 says that 

the Alabama deposit is a bed of sulphide ore intercalated in a micaceous schist of Taconic age. The vein has a limonite cap, beneath 

which is a black-copper zone which carries 30 per cent copper and is 

rarely more than 6 to 8 feet-thick, the black copper following in a 

somewhat irregular manner the contour of the surface. The mine 

resembles the Ducktown and Ore Knob deposits. The openings 

showed 400 feet of levels, with an incline shaft running 50 feet beloSv 

the levels. The bed is traceable for 1,200 feet on the surface. The 

schists strike N. 16° E. and dip 45° E. The ore occurs in welldefined beds 25 to 30 feet thick, but the wall rocks hold disseminated 

copper. A cross section is given, showing a central mass o'f slate ore 

with 4 to 5 feet of mundic-pyrrhotite ore on either side, lean schist 

ore on the hanging wall, and good schist on the footwall. The 

description given does not accord with that of Brewer, who says that 

the ore will carry 30 per cent copper, whereas the mundic contains but 

3 to 4 per cent copper. The yield of the samples assayed by Adolph 

Thies is 5 to 40 per cent.

SMITH MINE.

The Smith copper mine lies a mile northeast of the Stone Hill 

mine. The ore occurs in an eruptive rock that resembles the " Hillabee " schist, but is 5 miles southeast of the main belt of that formation 

and is separated from it by Turkey Mountain, a hill 500 feet high, 

formed of graphitic slate. At the north end of the property there 

is an anticlinal arch, with a core of ore surrounded by alternating 

bands of ore and rock. The ore is thin on top of the arch and thick 

on the flanks, according to Brewer, from whose notes this description is abstracted. The property is now worked by the Copper Hill 

Mining Company. From 18TO to 1876 about $1,300,000 worth of ore 

was shipped. From 1876 to 1879 the ore was smelted at a local 

furnace, but without profit. Since .that time the property has been 

idle.

" Brewer, W. M., Proc. Alabama Indus, and Sci. Soc., 1897, p. 13 ; Eng. and Min. .Tour., 

March 13, 1807, p. 256.

"Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 24, 1877, pp. 86-88.
160 COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE APPALACHIAN STATES. 

ALABAMA PYRITES COMPANY'S PROPERTY.

Smith and McCalley a in 1904 described a copper property near 

Dean post office in Claj' County, extending northeastward for several 

miles. The ore carries a little copper, and was first worked for this 

metal in the old Montgomery Copper Works, especially during the 

Civil War, when bluestone and other copper salts were manufactured. 

Recently the Alabama Pyrites Company has reopened the property. 

In 1904 the workings extended to a depth of 450 feet, and a daily 

output of 150 tons was extracted. The vein averages about 6 feet in 

thickness and is exposed in outcrop for 1^ miles. The ore as shipped 

contains an average of 42 per cent sulphur. A railroad has lately 

been completed from Talladega to Pyriton. Another bed of pyrite 

occurs at Hatchet Creek post office in the southwestern part of the 

county.

The property was visited by me in July, 1905, and found to be idle. 

The shafts were filled with water and the buildings boarded up. 

Three old shafts, unlined, and partly caved, were examined and the 

extensive dump heaps looked over for evidence of geologic conditions. 

The Avaste is mainly gray schist or gneiss of the hanging wall. No 

basic rock was seen on the dump, though bowlders of it occur on the 

surface, near the gossan. The ore slacks and crumbles on weathering. 

Various transitions from solid sulphides to country rock were 

observed.

" Eng. and Min. .Tour., vol. 24, 1877, p. 57.
INDEX,

A. Page. 

Acknowledgments to those aiding in work

in New Jersey.................. 47

Alabama, geology and ore deposits of.... 157-100

mines of; development of............ 158-160

See also particular mines. 

Alabama Pyrites Co. property, development of......................... 160

Albemarle County, Va., copper deposits of .

and mining development in ... 89-92

Allegheny County, N. C., copper deposits of,

distribution and character of. 128-136 

Alien, E. T., work of ....................... 48

Ambler property, Virginia, development

of............................. 101-102

American mine, New Jersey, copper deposits of, occurrence and character of ........................ 45-54

equipment and workings of............ 45

ores of, alteration of.................... 51-53

analyses of......................... 47-48

character and geologic relationsof. 45-48 

figure showing.................. 40

occurrence of....................... 48-50

diagramatic sketch showing ... 49 

origin of......................'...... 50-54

summary of conclusions regard- . 

ing........................... 53-54

suhphur content of, table showing.. 53 

shafl; of, fissures cut by, figure showing. 52 

Amher'st County, Va., copper deposits of and

mining development in........ 93

Amphibolite dike, Virginia, course of and

development work on....... 126-127

Anaconda mine, Virginia, development at. 83-84 

development at, figure showing........ 84

Appalachian States, distribution of copper

ores in, map showing........... 66

Asbestiform serpentine with native cop- ' 

per, from Stonyman Mountain, 

Va., figure showing............ Ill

Ashe County, N. G., copper deposits of, distribution and character, of.... 128-136

Avon, Conn., occurrence of copper at...... 35

B.

Bare HiHsmine, Maryland, location, equipment, and production of........ 64-65

Barrell, Joseph, work of.................... 47

Bartow pyrite property, Georgia, ore of,

occurrence and preparation of. 151

Bentonville-Overall district, Virginia, mining development in ....:....... 101

81777° Bull. 455 11 11

Page.

Berks County, Pa., occurrence of copper in. 01 

Betty Baker mine, Virginia, ore from, character and production of...... 122-123

Blue Ridge region, Virginia, copper ores of,

distribution and character of.. 93-115 

geology of.............................. 95-96

mines of, detailed descriptions of..... 96-114

mining development in, history of..... 93-95

ores of, summary of data regarding.. 114-115

See also particular -mines. 

Blue Kiclge type of copper deposits, characteristics and occurrence of.. 11,14-15 

Blue Wing mine, copper deposits of, occurrence and character of......... 84-87

development at........................ 84-85

figure showing ..................... 84

ore of, occurrence of ................... 84-87

occurrence of, figures showing..... 86,87

specimen of, figure showing........... 85

Bond,'Joseph, assistance of ........... .... 47

Bowers Hill, Conn..occurrence of copper in. 37 

Borg, A., analyses by....................... 47-48

Bradford County, Pa., occurrence of copper

near............................ 59

Brecciated epidotized basalt from Stonyman Mountain, Va., figure 

showing........................ 67

Bristol mine, Connecticut, copper deposits

of, character of................. 36-37

Burra Burra mine, Tennessee, development

at.....................'.......... 154

section of vein at, figure showing...... 154

C.

Callawaymine, Tennessee, character of ore

body at......................... 15G

Carmel Center, Conn., occurrence of copper t 

in............................... 37

Carolinian type of copper deposit, characteristics and occurrence of..... 11,13

Carroll County, Va., occurrence of copper

in............................... 115

pyrrhotite ore from, figures showing.. 120-121

Carpenter mine, Pennsylvania, copper deposit of, occurrence »nd character of...........:............... 59-61

Catoctin type of copper deposit, characteristics and occurrence of.. -11,14-15

Chappel mine, Virginia, development at... 83

Charlemont, Mass., occurrence of copper

near.............:.............. 33-34

Charlottesville, Va., occurrence of copper

near............................ 90

161 ' .
162 INDEX.

Page.

Cheshire, Conn., occurrence of copper in.. 35 

Chestatee property, Georgia, ore of, character and analysis of......... 349-151

development and production of........ 150

Chestnut Yard, Virginia, ore from, composition of, figure showing........ 119

pyrrhotite interleaved with talc from,

figure showing ................. 121

gld mine, North Carolina, location of...... 145

Claremont, N. H., occurrence of copper at. 16 

Clay County, Ala., occurrence of copper in. 100 

Connecticut, copper ores of, distribution,

character, and occurrence of... 35-37 

See also particular counties and mines. 

Conrad Hill mine, North Carolina, character of ore of.....:............. 144-145

epos County, N. H., occurrence of copper

in............................... 16

Copper deposits, distribution of, in Appalachian States, map showing.. 66 

types of................................. 10-11

Copperfield, Vt., occurrence of copper at.. 18 

 opperfield mine, Vermont, copper deposits of, occurrence and character of........................... 24-30

See also Ely mines.

Copper Knob mine, North Carolina, character of ore of ................ 132-133

Copper quartz vein type of copper deposit, 

characteristics and occurrence 

of............................... 12-13

subdivisions of....................:.... 11

 opper World mine, Virginia, development

at.......:.....................-. 83

Sorinth, Vt., occurrence of copper at...... 18

Corinth mines, Vermont, development, 

production, and character of 

ore of........................... 32-33

Cornwall, Pa., occurrence of copper near. 61 

Cornwall iron mine, Pennsylvania, production of copper at............ 62

Eove farm, Virginia, copper ores of, character of........................ 99-100

Cranberry mine, Virginia, development at. 132 

Crosoy, W. 0., on occurrence of copper ores

near Davis mine.............'... 34

Oroydon, N. H., occurrence of copper at.... 16

Gullowhee mine, North Carolina, copper 

deposits of, character and occurrence of................... 138-140

development of........................ 140

ffiulpeper County, Va., copper deposits of

and mining development in... 92-93

D.

Sahlonega, Ga., occurrence of copper near. 149 

Dark Hollow, .Va., development at and

character of ore at........... 107-109

Bavidson County, N.C., copper deposits of,

character of.................. 140-145

mining development in...... 1....... 140-145

Davis mine, Massachusetts, copper deposits

of, occurrence and character of.33-34 

production of........................... 3H

a, Ala., occurrence of coppei iear..... 160

Page. 

Delaware Water Gap, N. J., occurrence of

copper near..................... 54

Deposits of copper, classification of........ 10-15

Diabase from Somerville, N. J., copper deposits in, plate showing........ 50

Dickeys Ridge district, Virginia, copper deposits of, distribution and character of........................ 99-101

Dillsburg, Pa., occurrence of copper near.. 61 

Dimmicks Ferry, N. J., occurrence of copper at .................... t ..... 53

Dolly Hyde mine, Maryland, copper ores

of, occurrence and character of. 64 

Dorothy mine, Virginia, development at... 89 

Ducktown, Tenn., section through Mary

mine at, figure showing........ 156

Ducktown district, Tennessee, copper deposits of...................... 152-157

mines of, development of............ 154-157

ores of, composition .................... 157

production of copper in ................ 157

veins of, data regarding.............. 152-153

See also particular mines. 

Ducktown type of copper deposit, characteristics and occurrence of..... 11-12

Durgy mine, Virginia, character of ore at.. 82 

equipment and workings at, description of.......................... 82

workings at, figure showing............ 82

Dwight, W. B., on ores of Greene County,

Va............................ 113-114

E.

East-central region, Pennsylvania, copper 

deposits of, distribution, and 

character of.................... 61

East Tennessee mine, Tennessee, development at and character of ore 

of...........'...........-....... 154-155

East vein, of Ducktown district, Tennessee,

mining .development on..... 155-156

Eckel, E. C., on copper at Bowers Hill,

Conn'........................... . 37

Eggleston, Thomas, on Ore Knob mine,

North Carolina.............. 129-132

Elizabeth mine, Vermont, course of ore

body at, figure showing........ 31

equipment and workings of............ 30-31

ores of, assays, composition, and occurrence of .................. 21-22,31-32

Elk Knob mine, North Carolina, copper 

deposits of, occurrence and 

character of.................. 134-136

development of ...................... 135-136

Elkton, Va., occurrence of copper near.. 111,113 

Ellenville, N. Y., occurrence of copper

. near. ......................... 38

Ely mine, Vermont, copper deposits of, occurrence and character of..... 24-30

development of......................... 25

history of................................ 24.

ores of, analyses, composition, and ocrence of.....'.................... 25-36

assays of............................ 22

formation of........................ 30
INDEX. 163

Page. 

Ely mine, Vermont, ores of, minerals of.... 29-30

petrography of ores and rocks of...... 26-30

polished specimen of ore from, plate

showing ........................ 22

production of copper at, table showing. 24 

py rrhotite ore from, plate showing..... 26

reduction works at, equipment of...... 25

rocks and gangue of, minerals of....... 26-29

. schist from, plate showing ............. 20

Emerson, Ga., character of rock near....... 151

Emerson pyrite property, Georgia, composition of rock at................ 151

ore at, treatment of..................... 151

Emmons, E., on Ore Knob mine, North

Carolina........................ 129

Emmons mine, North Carolina, development of;........................ 145

Enfield, N. H., occurrence of copper at..... ]6

Eureka mine, Vermont, development, production, and oharacteroforeof. 33

P.

Fitiksburg, Md., occurrence of copper at... 64 

Floyd, Va.,*occurrence of copper near...... 125

Floyd County, Va.,occurrence of copperiu. 115 

Franklin County, Mass., occurrence of copper in........................... 33

Eraser, Persifor, on copper ore near Liberty mine, Maryland............ 03-64

Frazier mine, Virginia, development at.... S3

Frederick County, Md., occurrence of copper in........................... 62

Fritz Island, Pa., occurrence of copper at.. 61 

Front Royal, Va., occurrence of copper

near........................... 93-104

Front Eoyal district, Virginia, copper deposits near...................... 97-99

G. .

Gap mine, Pennsylvania, production of copper at........................... 61

Gap Creek mine, North Carolina, character

of ore of.-..,.................. 132-133

Gardners Mountain mines, New Hampshire, 

copper deposits of, position, oc- 

' currence, and character of..... 10-17

Georgia, copper deposits of, distribution and 

character of .................. 145-152

See also particular mines. 

Gold Hill district, North Carolina, coppergold deposits of............... 1,40-141

development of....................... 141-142

Gold Hill mines, North Carolina, character

and origin of ore of........... 143-144

figure showing...................... 142

history of........................ '..... 141-142

location of.............................. 141

rock and vein phenomena of......... 142-143

Gold Hill variety of copper deposit, characteristics of.................... 11

Gossan lead, Virginia, character of...... 116^-125

course of.............................. 116-118

dip, strike, and width of.............. 118-119

iron ore capping of, figure showing.... 122

Page.

Gossan lead, Virginia, mines -along, detailed descriptions of.......:. 122-124

ore of, character of................... 119-121

composition of, figures showing.... 1.19^

120,121,122 

possible future development of....... 124-125

See also particular mines.

Grafton County, Me., copper production of. 16 

Grafton County, N. H., copper mines of, development of................... 1.6-13

Granby, Conn., occurrence of copper in.... 35-35

Granville County, N. C., occurrence of

copper in....................... 6?

Grcene County, Va., mining development in

and character .of ores of...... Ill-Ill

Grayson County, Va., occurrence of copper

in ................. ............ 115

Griggstown mine, New Jers /, copper deposits of, char^ jter and occurrence of ..... ................... 42-44

copper deposits of, ' c'Ologic relations of. 48

location and dev-jopment of. ......... 42-43

ores of, occurre7 .ce and chp acter of... 41

H.

Halifax County, Va., oc .arrence of copper

in......... ...................... C7

Hanover, N. H., occ" rrence of copper at... 15 

Hartford County, Conn., copper deposits of, 

distribution and character of... 35-37 

Haverhill, N. H., occurrence of copper at.. 16 

Hawksbill Mountain, Va., mining development at.......................'.. 109

Heflin, Ala., occurrence of copper near.... 158

Henrich, Carl, determination by, of composition of ore of Seminole mine, 

North Carolina................. 14$

High Hill mine, Virginia, development of

and character of ore of......... 87-89

metallic content of ore of, table showing 88 

shaft No. 4 at, occurrence of ore in, figures showing................... 88-89

shaft No. 9 at, occurrence of ore in, fig-

 ure showing.................... 89

Hightop Mountain property, Virginia, mining development at and charac- 

' teroforeof................... 111-113

Higley mine, Connecticut, copper ores of,

character of.................... 36

Holloway mine, Virginia, development, 

equipment, production, and 

character of ore of.............. 79-81

face of 300-foot level in, figure showing. 79 

ideal cross section in, figure showing... 79

1.

Ida, Va., mines near, development at and

character of ore of............ 106-107

Isabella vein, of Ducktown district, Tennessee, mining development 

on ............................ 15G-15T

J.

Jackson County, N. C., occurrence of copper

in .............................136-140

properties in, listof.................. 136-13?
164 INDEX.

K. Page.

Kieslager, characteristics and occurrence

of............................... 11-12

Kirkbridge mine, Virginia, development

at.............'.................. 124

Kittatinny Mountain mine, New Jersey, 

copper deposits of, occurrence 

and character of................ 54-57

See also Pahaquarry mine.

EaTor mine, North Carolina developmentof 145

Lancaster County, Pa,, occurrence of copper

in............................... 61

Lebanon, N. I-I., occurrence of copper at... 16

Leesburg, Va., occurrence of'copper near.. 92

Lenticular openings, formation of, figure

showing........................ 78

Lexington, N. C., occurrence of copper

near.......................... 144,145

Liberty mine, Maryland, copper deposits of,

occurrence and character of.... 63

development at......................... 63

limestone near, analysis of.............' 63,64

Lincoln County, Ga., occurrence of copper

near ............................ 145

Linden, Va., copper deposits near, occur-

'sence and character of......... 97,98

LittleTennesseemine, North Carolina, location of.......................... 140

London mine, Tennessee, workings at...... 154

Loudoun County, Va., copper deposits of

and mining development in.... 92

Lyman, N. H,, copper mines near, development of...................... 16-17,18

Lyman mine, New Hampshire, copper deposits of, occurrence and characterof......................... 18

McKee, Capt. J. F., assistance of........... 117

Macon County, N. C., occurrence of copper

in............................. 136-140

Madison County, copper deposits of and

mining development in...... 107-111

Magruder mine, Georgia, ore of, character, 

composition, and occurrence 

of...........7.....:........... 145-149

development at.......................... 146,

Maine, copper production of............... 16

Manassas Gap mine, Virginia, development

of and character of ore of-... 102-104

Mary mine, Tennessee, character of ore of 155-156 

section through ore bodies at, figure

showing........................ 156

Maryland, copper deposits of, distribution

and character of............... 62-65

Massachusetts, copper deposits of, distribution and character of........... 33-34

MilamsGap, Va., occurrence of copper near. 107

Milan mine, New Hampshire, copper deposits of, occurrence and character of......................... 18

Mills property, Virginia, copper ores of,

character of................... 99-100

Mineral Hill mine, Maryland, ore of, character and dip of................. 64

Monroe County, Pa., occurrence of copper

in............................... 61

Montgomery County, Pa., occurrence of

copper in ................;...... 61

Mount Carrnel, Conn., occurrence of copper

near............................ 37

Mount Washington, Md., Bare Hills mine

at, developmentof............. 64

Nantahala mine,-North Carolina, character

of orctit......................... 140

New Albany, Pa., occurrence of copper

near............................ 59

Newgate mines, Connecticut, copper ores 

of, occurrence and character 

of............................... 35-36

New Hampshire, copper deposits of, character and distribution of ....... 16-18

See also particular mines. 

New Haven, Conn., occurrence of copper

near............................ 37

New Haven County, Conn., copper deposits 

of, distribution and character 

of............................... 37

New Jersey, copper deposits of, distribution

and character of................ 38-57

copper deposits of, geologic relations of. 39-40 

geologic relations of, figures showing ............................. 40

historical sketch of developmentof. 38-39 

occurrence of....................... 40^1

copper ores of, occurrence and character of ........................... 41

mines of, development and distribution

Of............................... 42-57

See also particular mines. 

New Jersey type of copper deposit, characteristics and occurrence of..... 11,13

New London, Md., occurrence of copper

near............................ 62

New London mine, Maryland, copper deposits of, occurrence and character of......................... 63

New York, copper deposits of, distribution

and character of................ 38

North Carolina, copper deposits of, distribution and character of...... 127-144

copper deposits of, exploitation of.... 127-128

mines in, development of............ 128-144

Sec also particular mines. 

Northern coal region, Pennsylvania, copper deposits of, distribution and: 

character of.................... E9-61

0.

Orange County, Va., copper deposits of and

mining development in ........ 93

OrangeCounty.Vt., occurrence of copper in. 18 

Ore bodies, importance of deteimining

origin of........................ 9-10

origin of................................ 15-16

Ore Knob mine, North .Carolina, copper 

ores of, analyses, occurrence* 

and character of.............. 128-132

development at......................... 129

early history of....................... 129-132

geology of............................ 128-129

location of.............................. 128
INDEX. 165

P. Page. 

Paddock mine, New Hampshire, copper production of ...................... -61

Page County, Vu., geology of and mining

development in .............. 104-107

Pahaqiiarry mine, New Jersey,, copper deposits of, occurrence and character of ......................... 54-57

copper deposits of, geologic relations of. 55 

development of. ........................ 54,57

workings at, figure showing............ 56

Pnhaquarry type of copper deposit, characteristics and occurrence of . . 11, 13-14 

Part/, August, on copper ores near New

Albany, Pa .................. 1 .. 59

Patapsco mine, Maryland, ore of, character

Of............................... 64

Peach Bottom mine, North Carolina, development of aiid character of ore

of. .................... ........'133-134

Pennsylvania, copper deposits of, distribution and character of........... 57-62

east-central region of, copper deposits

Of..........'..................... 61

northern coal region, copper deposits

of............................... 59-61

South Mountain region, copper deposits

of..:.....................,...... 57-59

occurrence of copper with other metals

in .............................. 61-62

Percival, J.G., on Connecticut copper deposits. ........................... 35

Person Consolidated mines, Virginia, copper

ores of, occurrence and character of ........................... 81-82

Person County, N.C., occurrence of copper

in............................... 67

Piedmont Copper Co. property, Elkton, Va.,

ore of, character of ........... 113-114

Piedmont region, Virginia, copper deposits

of, distribution and character of. 67-?93 

copper districts of, classification of. .... 66 

See also particular mines, Virgil ina district, Albemarle County, and

Triassic area.

Pike County, Pa., occurrence of copper in. 61 

Polk County mine, Tennessee, character of

ore of ......................... 155-156

Purpose of the investigation. . .............. 9-10

Pyrrhotite ore, from Ely mine, Vermont,

plate showing..............'.... 26

Q.

Quartz lenticle of vein in Virgilina district,

Virginia, figure showing ....... 77

Rappahannock County, Va., copper ores of,

distribution and character of. 10H04 

See a.lso particular mines.

Reading, Pa., occurrence of copper near. . . 61 

Rogers, W. B., on copper deposits of Virginia. ........................... 93, 94

Rowiin County, N. C., copper deposits of,

character of .................. 140-145

mining development in .............. 140-145

Rowe, Mass., occurrence of copper in......

Rudacill property, Virginia, copper ores of,

character of.................. 100-10]

St. Lawrence County, N. Y., occurrence of

copper in ........................ 38

Salisbury, N. C., copper deposits near, oc-

. currence of..................... Ml

copper deposits near, rocks and vein

phenomena of................ 142-143

Schist, from El y min e, Vermon t, plate showing.. ........................... 20

Schuyler mine; New Jersey, development

of............................... 42

Sealochmine, Virginia, development at and

character of ore of.............. 98-99

Seminole mine, Georgia, ore of, character, 

composition, and occurrence 

of............................. 145-149

' development at......................... 116

Seminole variety of copper deposit, characteristics of...................... 11

Simsbury mines, Connecticut, copper ores

of, occurrence and character of. 35-36 

Smith mine, Alabama, development of..... 159

Somerville, N. J. .copper deposits att diabase

from, plate showing............ 50

fissures cut by American mine shaft

near, figure showing............ 62

occurrence of copper in contact rock

near, figure showing............ 49

section across Watchung Mountains

near, figure showing ........... 40

Southington, Conn., occurrence- of copper

in .............................. 35

South Mountain region, Pennsylvania, copper deposits of, distribution and 

character of.................... 57-59

South Stratford, Vt., occurrence of copper

at............................... 18

Southwest Mountain district, Virginia, copper deposits of and mining development in................... 89-92

Southwest Virginia region, copper deposits 

of, distribution and character 

of............................. 115-127

dike of amphibolite in, course of and

development on.............. 126-127

geology of............................... 116

gossan lead of, character of ore of ... 119-120 

character of ore of, figures showing ................... 119,120,121,122

course of ......................... 116-119

 map showing................... 117

mines along, detailed descriptions

of............................. 121-124

Toncray deposit of, character of. 1... 125-126 

See also particular mines. 

Springfield mine, Maryland, production of

copper at....................... 64

Stevensburg, Va., occurrence of copper

near............................ 92

SteVenson mine, Connecticut, occurrence

of copper at.................... 37

Stokes, H. N., work of...................... 47
166 INDEX.

Page.

Stone Hill mine, Alabama, development of

and character of ore body of.. 158-159

Stonyruan Mountain, Va., asbestiform serpentine from, figure showing.. Ill 

brecciated epidotized basalt from, figure showing.................... 67

mining development and character of

ore of ........................ 109-110

Stony Point mine, Virginia, mining development in...................... 89-91

Structure o£ veins, figure showing ......... 78

Sugar Run, Va., occurrence of copper at... 92

Sullivan County, N. H.,.occurrence of copper in........................... . 16

Sykesville mine, Maryland, production of

copper at....................... 64

T.

Taylors mine, Virginia, development of... 93 

Tennessee, copper deposits of, distribution

and character of ............. 152-157

See also particular mines.

Thomas mine, Virginia, character of ore at. 83 

Thomasville, N. C., occurrence of copper

near............................ 145

Toncray deposit, Virginia, development

work along................... 125-126

Trinssic area, Virginia, copper deposits of

and mining development in... 92-93 

Tuckaseegee copper region, North Carolina,

geology, location,and important

properties of.................. 136-137

mines of, development of ............ 136-140

U.

Ulster County, N. Y., occurrence of copper

in............................... 38

Union mine, Vermont, development, production, and character of ore of. 32-33

Unity, N. H., occurrence of copper at...... 16

Vaughn mine, Virginia, development at... 124 

Vermont, copper deposits of, occurrence

and character of................ 18-33

copper deposits of, geologic relations of. 18-20 

origin of............................ 22-23

similarity of, to other deposits..... 23-24

copper ores of, composition and analy-

 ses of........................... 21-22

See also particular mines. 

Vershire mine, Vermont, copper deposits of,

occurrence and character of.... 24-30

See also Ely mine. 

Virgilina, Va., copper mines near, clevelopmentof, and character of ore of. 67-89

Page.

Virgilina district, Virginia, copper deposits of, distribution and character of........................... 67-89

location of.............................. 67-68

mines of, detailed descriptions of...... 79-89

mining development in, history of..... 68-96

ores of, occurrence and character of... 76 

figures showing......... 82,84,86,87,88,89

ore veins of, occurrence and character

Of............................... 76-79

rocks of, age relations of................ 74-75

analysesof.......................... 73

character and distribution of....... 69-75

chemical composition of........... 72-74

microscopic character of........... 71-72

See also particular mines. 

Virgilina variety of copper deposit, characteristics of.................... 11

Virginia, copper deposits of, distribution

and character of............... 65-127

copper deposits of, map showing....... 66

copper districts of, classification of..... 66-C7

See also Piedmont region, Blue Ridge 

region, Southwest Virginia region, 

and particular counties, districts, and 

mines.

W.

Wall mine, Virginia, development at...... 82

Warren County, Va., geology of............ 96-97

mines of, detailed descriptions of.... 97-101

See also particular districts and mines.

Warren mine, New Hampshire, copper deposits of, position and occurrence of......................... 17

workings at, section showing .......... 17

Washington, Ga., occurrence of copper near. 145

Watchung Mountain, N. J., occurrence of

copper in....................... 38-40

section across, figure showing.......... 40

Watson, T. L., on rocksof Virgilina district. 70-75

Webster, N. C., occurrence of copper near..' 136

West Fairlee, Vt., Ely mine near, development of......................... 24-30

West vein, of Ducktown district, Tennessee,

mining development on...... 154-155

Wheatfield, Pa., occurrence of copper in.... 61.

Wildcat mine, Virginia, development at... 124

Wilkes County, Ga., occurrence of copper

near ............................ 145

Windsor Bush, Mass., copper mine at, development of................... 34

Yancey mine, Virginia, development and

character of ore of ............. 81-82

Yanc'y mine, North Carolina, assays of ore

of............................... 76

York County, Pa., occurrence of copper

near............................ 61

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