The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-08-29

THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE STATE
Very few men give themselves the trouble to
think, understandingly, of the immense min
eral wealth ofour State. At least ten thous-
and men could be proftably employed with
in her borders, delving for the rich treasures
which underlie her surface, if the. attention
ofcapitalists couldonly be turned in this
directiYn We arelcrediblE informed that at
the COD Der mines of Jackson anu adjoining
counties alone, it requires from forty to fifty
wagons and teams daily to haul the rich oar
to the railroads for shipment, when the
mines are properly worked and the mines
already discovered on this side of the noun
tains, are said to be equally rich. They can
not be worked, however, because there is no
coal in their vicinity for smelling purposes,
and to haul the oar to railroad would
ruin the profits. Once the road is completed
through the mountains these rich oars as
well as thousands of Others, which the keen
eve of the mineralogist would soon discover,
will be shipped down to the neighborhood
of the coalfields in Chatham county ,probab-
ly to Greensboro. to be smelted and prepar-
ed for market In addition to copper and
other finer metals, the mountains of this
State abound in mines of iron ore than
which perhaps none are richer on the conti-
nent. These massive beds of mineral wealth
are so far removed from water OF railroad
transportation that the working of them
cannot pay until transportation is supplied.
When that is done, they will at once become
great sources of wealth to the State,as well
as to those who may be so unfortunate as to
own and work them. Even the immense
1uarreys of marble, than which none on the
continent are finer, which this mountain road
will penetrate, would, in the course of time,
almost pay for building the road. Strange
as it may seem,. portions of our mountain
country, equally rich in mineral wealth, and
surrounded by civilization for the last fifty
years or more, have been less explored and
are less known to mineralogists and miners
generally, than the Rocky Mountains of the
far off West where the buffalo, bear, panther
and Indian still roam together in their ma
tive wiIdness and ferocity. Why is this
We know no reason but the tardiness of our
people in penetrating those mountain regi-
ons with the fiery steed, and thus opening
up the way for enterprise and commerce.
North-Carolina, it seems, has been partic.
ularly unfortunate She has been, ever
since our earliest recollection until within
few years past, trying to get communication
from the coal fields to the outer world, and
yet she has never succeeded. She has spent
money enough, first and last, on the deep
river navigation, to build railroad half way
round the State, all to no purpose, and now,
for the last. we do not know how many
years, our people have been pecking away at
a railroad from Raleigh to the coal fields,
and it has not been completed yet.
Well do we deserve the appellation OF Old
Rip Nan Winkle 1t is high time we should
wake up from our lethargy, invite labor and
capital into our midst, and make us State
of which we shall be truly proud.-Neao6er7,
Times