Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-08-17
TENNESSEE COPPER MINES.
Old Mines Now Idle How the Railroad
Will Revive Them.

Old Mines Now Idle How the Railroad
Will Revive Them.
A correspondent of the Boston Herald
writes from Hiwassee, Tenn, as follows
'The Ducktown mining district occupies
some dozen miles of territory in the sharp
corner of this State which lies next the
Georgia and North Carolina borders. Thir-
ty-three years ago that part of the district
where the Hiwassee mine was opened, the
first from which copper ore was taken,
was sold by its owner for a rifle, but the
purchaser soon tired of his bargain, and
traded off his 16O acres for an Indian
pony. Nine years later a prospector
named John Caldwell, while washing for
sd, found in the gravel lump
of native copper. John thought he had a
large nugget of the precious metal, and was
m1ch disguised when he ascertained its
true character. That discovery was the
beginning of an industry which developed
rapidly, The Hiwassee Mining Company
was organized and went to work Eleven
other companies operated in the same terri
tory, more than 3, 600 men were employed.
smelling furnaces, ore sheds, pumping
works, and all the machinery for reducing
the ores were built, and the farmers in
dozen counties of the three States found
here a ready market for their surplus pro-
ducts. Then came misfortunes, partly from
bad management, but largely from
the heavy cost of freightage,
and one after another the companies
failed, until, several years since, the
last one suspended. Now the mines and
the country around them are scenes of com
plete desolation, and the plants, represent
ing an enormous cost, are falling to pieces.
The copper ores here were of almost every
variety known to the geologist, carbonates,
oxides and combinations of many kinds.
Some of them carried but 5 per cent. ofmetal,
while the best essayed 80 per cent Sur
veying the landscape from the summit of
high ridge, near the village, one can see
that the timber was destroyed for many
miles in all directions to furnish frewood
and charcoal for the smelling furnaces.
The neal est railroad station is at Cleveland,
on the East Tennessee, Virginia and Geor-
gia Railroad, more than forty miles distant,
and through an exceedingly rough country
1t was this that made freightage costly
enough to eat up the mining companies
profits. Five miles east of this region, begin
ming at the Georgia line, is another rich
copper belt of considerable extent. The
ore is black oxide that has in some in
stances assayed rs per cent. OF metal Al
though there are many trial holes in the
belt, and one or two shafts have been sunk,
no extensive mining has been done there.
The ores all lie near the surface, however,
and can easily be examined. The Western
Extension Railroad from Asheville, when
connected with line to CLEVELAND, will
bring the Ducktown mines into prominence
once more, and the Marietta and North
Georgia will enable the owners of the oxide
veins to develop their properties next year.
An expert who accompanied your CORES
pondent on his trip through both districts
was especially pleased with the Georgia
properties. and predicted for them rapid
appreciation in value as soon as railroad
transportation was within reach"