The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1877-11-08
Experimental.
I G. MINING IN N. g.

ties Immediately interested have any
adequate notion of the importance OF
the new industry which has grown up
in the region of the State beyond the
Blue Ridge within half a dozen years.
When the Geological Report OF 1868
was published, the presence OF large
CRYSTALS of mica in many places in the
mountains was merely noted, and at
tentiOn called to the existence OF an
cient mica mines near Bakersvllle. 1t
was o until two years afterwards
that the clue was obtained to the age
of these old workings and the race of
the workers and their object. The
mystery was explained by comparing
notes with a friend who had excavated
many of the remarkable mounds
northwest of the Ohio, and found
very often sheets of mica cut to pecu-
liar patterns, and evidently used as
mirrors, personal ornaments, and pro-
badly for windows. A general account
of these mines was given to DIR. Baird
of the Smithsonian Institution for pub
LEGATION in his tnnual Record of
Science and Industry. 1t needs only
to say here that it Is now apparent that
the mountain region of this State
was occupied for ages by an industri-
u and ingenious and skillful race of
miners, who knew more about mica
mining than any one of our own gen
Grafton has yet learned. The shrewd-
est of the latter, in prospecting for
new mines, seek for signs of ''old dig
gings,' and when they find an extern
sive ancient pit" or dump" (pile of
excavated earth), they have a ssure
thing" The great mica mines of
Mitchell and Yancey, for example, to-
day, which have been fortunes to their
owners, as 1.-The Ray" 1.-The Gibbs"
"the Silvers," 1.-the Buchanan were
the great mines also of the Mound
Builders, some two thousand or more
years ago. And it would not be inn
possible to identify the sheets of mica
that are exhumed from the graves of
their former owners and to say. with
tolerable certainty, this came from
"the Ray" 1.-the Gibbs" &c. That is,
each mine yields a mica with peculiar
characteristics, SO that the present dea-
lers and some of the more observing
miners can tell, on sight, the mine, or
at least the n~eighborhood from which
a given lot was obtained.
1t is often asked if n tools used by
the ancients nave been found. l think
not. But they probably used only the
hardest wood, as they did not know
iron, and if they had used copper or
stone, some of their implements, or
fragments of them at least, would al
most inevitably have been left behind.
1t is true that small iron hatchets of la
peculiar make have been found in two
or three of the old works, but always
under circumstances which make it
saIiTcsEt tcertaaff ~ ~belans-~tG
much more modern times.
One of the most interesting features
of these deposits is that they are veins, |
-Ueins of granite; and they are devel-
oped on a scale of magnitude which is
unparalleled. And the granite is of a
coarseness of structure, the crystals
and masses of felspar and mica and
quartz are built on a scale of magni-
Jude which, is truly wonderful. A per- |
feet crystal of felspar now in h mus
cum was obtained from a mine on a |
spur of the Black Mountain last fall, |
which weighed Over eight hundred
pounds. 1T has no fellow" in any
cabinet in the world, probably. And
masses of this mineral, of several tons |
weight, are often thrown from the |
mines; and blocks of mica three feet
and upward are frequently obtained, |
weighing sometimes a Thousand pounds |
and more.
Another interesting fact is that these |
mines are the SOurce of many very |
rare and curious minerals, found in
but few places on the globe, SO that
this is the most attractive field on the |
continent for the mineralogist, and is |
visited every year by increasing num-
bers of them. Seventeen Of the Swans |
from Nashville took this region in their |
way home, and two other scientific |
parties, Agassiz's Penikese Geological
School being one of them, had already
this region. Some three
years ago, for example, a small bit of
q very heavy black. unfamiliar miner
al, was brought to the museum by a
member of the legislature from Mitch
ell county. 1t turned out to be sumar-
skite, of which only one other bit, of
1.-THE size of ahazlenut,' vas known
to science, and that was in Russia. The
NINE has since yielded about IL, 900
pounds, and has supplied the leading
cabinets of the world with specimens.
This mineral is an ore of the rare metal
uranium, which furnishes to the arts
of the finest pigments known.
Several other related minerals have
been found in these mines, and one at
least which vas ascertained by DIR.
Lawrence Smith of Louisville, to be
new to science. Numerous beryls are
AOuIAu dIoO III WIN VI OLSSC IIillICS, pdI-
ticularly the Ray" and "Balsam
Cap" And a mine in Mitchell has also
yielded somer remarkably large crystals
of this fine mineral, a specimen of
which was the other day presented to
to the museum by Col. F K Irby of Flat
Rock. And l have, within a few days,
a~scertoined that two, and probably
three, curious specimens obtained from
another mine belonging to the same
gentleman, are species not before
found in this country, (Or perhas one