The Goldsboro star. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1881-18??, 1881-11-12

yields $500. AZ Of gold and 1852 Of silver
ore per ton. The well known Gold Hill
gold mine is now worked $50 feet below
the surface and yields ore that commands
from $40 to $3.50 per ton. There are II
gold mines in Rowan county, ore from
some ofwhich is worth $4OO per ton. d
ABFsTos, soAPsToNE AND MICA. Il
Twenty-Five per cent. Of the mica used
in America comes from North Carolina,
and yet the business of mining it is in its
infancy. In these western counties large
quantities Of abestos ofvery good fibre are
found. Soapstone is quarried In large
quantities in Gullford. Davidson and
Swain countion. 1t has been hauled 100
miles 10 wagons to be shipped to Massa-
ohusetts. There is q vein Of kaolin 10
Macon county 900 feet long and twenty.
i've feet thick. 1t Is found in jackson
and Yancey counties. These metals point
20 an enormous new industry 1.-The manu-
tfacture OF porcelain, perhaps within reach
OF the materials. The discovery Of vast
quantities OF corundum in Macon county
has resulted In at least one large fortune.
The owner ola tract of land on which
corundum sand is found hauls it sixty
miles in wagons to the railroad and finds
itso profitable that he persistently refuses
to send specimens to biologists or to hint
to the world what his income is, A spe-
cimen of paint is exhibited from Chero-
kee county, which is supposed to have q
good commercial value.
Marble, of course, there is without lin.
it IN Swain, Macon and Cherokee coun-
ties. The mountains Of marble that have
been pierced from Tennessee, Georgia and
North Carolina must contain enough
stone to supply the world henceforth.
Yet quarries can now be bought in many
places as cheap as other land. Lead,
reldspar, plumbago, pyrites and other
minerals can only be mentioned.
PRECIOUS STONES.
Mr.. Stephenson, q kind, childless old
gentleman in Western Carolina, has
amused himself collecting precious stones,
a cabinet Of which he has lent to be ex.
hibited here. This and Mr.. Smith s cab
met Of stones are sufficient to cause mi.
ming rage that may surpass the California
madness Of thirty years ago. There are
rubies, sapphires, perfectly colored anne
thysts, yellow and rose garnets, beryls
and the already famous hiddenites. These
stones are found in jackson and Yancey
counties, except hlddenite, which has |
been found only in Alexander county. 1t |
is said that Mr.. Stephenson years ago
discovered this stone, but did not know
its value. Mr.. Hidden played the old
game Of Americas Vespucius. The hid
denite is an emerald, and has become fa-
nous mainly as a curiosity. A few have |
been sold for as much as 800 carat.
The yield Of precious stones in North
Carolina has thus far been mainly sem
sation, but lapidists have placed high
values on some that have been found.
What may come of it, of course, remains
to be seen. Mr.. Smith has here a box of
dust that he claims contains miniature
diamonds, and he is confident that dia-
monds will yet be found, most likely in
Alexander county. This entirely unex-
plored region is only one of dozen or
more sections of the South that await de.
velopments and the mineral resources is
only only one line Of development. There
are fortunes 10 the forests and in the soil
as we'll as under the earth.