The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-04-11
The Mining of Mica.

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country is a new business and but
few really understand its manage
ment' and also are of the opinion
that it requires expensive machinery
and other appliances to handle it.
At Bakersville, in Western Caro-
lima, forty miles from any railroad, is
the center of an important mining
interest. The mica business is so
commonplace and affords such small
show of machinery that ii is not UNI
usual for m to be skeptical when
told of its actual, magnitude. 1t
looks insignificant, aud yet it is one
Of the greatest industries in the state,
and has yielded fortunes to those en-
gagged in running it. 1T requires no
capital to set going; all that is needed
is to w or get control of IA deposit.
1t can be mined cheaply, as the
labor of that region is low in price.
The dealers who handle mica occupy
little shacks, which are amply furn-
ished with a crude work bench and a
pair of shears. This is all that is
needed; Il million dollars would not
secure a better outfit for the work.
The wild and apparently worthless
mountain region, of which Bakers
vile is the metropolis, is the main
ource of supply for the United
States. The town looks as if it
might have been built of mica. or
else stands on the site of a ruined
city that was erected of it. 1t can
be seer scattered in more or less
quantities all about the city and
suburbs. The river is full of the
shining particles, and the streets and
alleys are strewn with heaps of the
refuse. Its formation is like that Of
stone, and ear be seen cropping out
in cliffs.
In the granite, however, it seems
to have taken great pride in making
its fancied eternal home, but it has
been disturbed by the volcanic erup-
ton Of the earth in ages past, and
now it is being surprised by the ag-
encies Of men. 1t can be found in all
sorts of blocks Of various thickness
and shapes, and a be split and re-
split almost ad inhnitum, or until it
becomes the thin, transparent, lcx-
IDLE wafer Of commerce. 1t is i'm
bedded in or scattered through the
feldspar in blocks large Or small,
close together and far apart, and is
blasted from the rock with dynamite.
The pure veins are found between
walls of slate. 1t is taken from the
mines to a little shop by means Of
various conveyences, from the Shout
der of a native to the cart drawn by
a bridled and harnessed steer. Here
it is split into thin sheets, trimmed
into regular shapes and is prepared
for the market. The price varies
with size and color of the sheets
The Bakersville product is known
to trade as rum mica. A two-by
four sheet, good, clear quality, is
worth about so cents a pound, while
t ten-by twelve will bring 81 to $6
Sheets of these Dimensions are extr;
, size, as the average is only abou.
four-by-six. Rare sheets twenty
four by eighteen inches have beer
2 found. Occasionly a mine is founo
| where the mica is too much scattered
in the bedrock to make it's operation
profitable, hence there is a possiblit'
+ of a man sinking a little money with
out the expected tenfold; but gener
g ally the expert mountaineer can tel
+ in a few shots whether there is an,
use of fooling with Il bed OF not. |
is not an uncommon thing for a cou
= pie of natives to leave in the morn
ing with a box of dynamite and re
returd at night with $50 worth o
! mica. Blocks worth $500 have beel
found after a shot.
State Politics.