Wilmington journal., 1873-07-11
NORTH CAROLINA AND HER
ORES.


Mr.. T. Sterry Hunt, of the Institute
of Technology, Boston. Massachusetts,.
writing to the Baltimore american,
speaks of the Ore Knob Copper
Mine, in Ashe county, as being 'unpre-
cedented in the annals of copper min
ing in this country" Mr.. Hunt thinks
/" this great mine will in time make
Baltimore the leading copper mart OF
the United States"
The mine was opened in 1855 and
1856, by company of residents OF a
neighboring county, a:l yielded large
quantities of rich ores, but difficulties
grew out of the conflicting interests of
the large number of small proprietcrs,
and the mine was closed, not to be re-
opened, as the event proved, until last
March Some notion of the value of
the ores may be gained from the fact
that the material now raised from the
lode, at cost of not greater than that
OF raising coal, is to-day worth at the
Baltimore smelling works, from $125
to 5000 per ton. The amount OF ore
raised from the mine since the com
mencement of operations this spring,
and now lying on the ground, as est1-
mated by measurement last week, was
about 400 tons, equal to about 400
tons of metallic copper.
Professor Kerr, the State Geologist,
speaks in equally glowing terms of the
| coal beds extending from Leaksville to
| within three miles of Germantown. in
| Stokes county, a distance of forty
miles, one bed being eleven feet thick,
and of good coal at only few feet
from the surface. In the same region,
to wit in Rockingham and Stokes
counties, and in Yadkin and Surry
counties, there is a very large amount
of iron ore, much of it Icing of very
high quality. In addition to this,
along the route of the proposed Dan
River Railroad, there is, as Professor
Kerr says, a succession of limestone
beds for more than thirty miles of the
route, from the southeast corner of
Yadkin through Forsvthe and Stokes
to where the line will strike the Dan
river. So that it would be difficult to
Law out a route OF the same length
anywhere in the State which would
open so great and varied sources of
business and veal h to the country,
and of profitable employment for the
road. All this is besides and indie
pendent of it's value as connecting
link in a great trunk line for through
freight and travel.
Still another point is attracting
attention on account of its valuable
ores, to-wit: Orange county. Recent
Investigations on the land lately owned
by MI John H. Weaver, lying on Boil
,ing's Creek, about mile and a hall
Northwest from the village of Chapel
Hill, have uncovered an immense bed
of very valuable iron ore The quality
is said to be unexceptionable and the
quantity inexhaustible. It is especial
ly adapted to the manufacture of st Ae
by the Bessemer process.
Neither of the three points we have
named are directly accessible by rail
road. When they shall possess trans
| poi tation facilities commensurate Will
the rich freights that now lie imbed
ded in the earth, better and bright
er day viii have davned upon Nortl
Carolina. Indeed it seems scarcely
possible to look too hopefully upol
the future of our State if we permit
ourselves but for moment to con
, slider how vast and how varied are hel
wonderful resources. We confess IC
an utter inability to restrain ourselves
within any reasonable bounds when
ever we contemplate the possible fu
: ture Of North Carolina Transports
ton, cheap transportation, more
transportation is what We need.