The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-12
THE EENTREss COPPER NINE.
1t has Been Sold to Company of New
York Capitalists.

1t has Been Sold to Company of New
York Capitalists.
The Fentress copper mine, situated
in Guilford county, ten miles south OF
Greensboro, and three miles east OF
Pleasant Garden, Il STATION on the Cape
Fear and 1adkin Valley Railroad, has
been transferred by the heirs of Cyrus
l.. Mendenhall and Isaac Ill. Stanley u
Herbert Carl and others, of New York
city, who will commence at once to de-
velop the property ON Il scale conhnen-
surate with its Importance. The deal
was made through w. Il. Land, real
estate agent at Greensboro.
The histcry Of this mine is given by a
Greensboro correspondent as follows:
1T was first known as the Fentress
mine, afterwards as the North Carolina
Copper Mine, and lastly as the Consoi-
dated Mining Company. The tract con,
tains 93 acres. Frederick Fentress, the
owner, in 1857 discovered a vein of gold
bearing ore on his property, and began
to operate in primitive way, going down
in the vein to a depth of 40 or 90 feet,
when water was encountered and the ore
changed into a copper sulphuret, which
woulu not yield to the simple method
for separating gold, then in vogue.
'Fentress then sold the property to the
North Carolina Copper Mine Company
for $4,000, reserving for himself one
tenth interest i'll the product of the mine.
This company opened and worked the
mine from 1853 TO 1859, being limited in
their operations by lack of Transports
ton. At that period the copper was
HI 4 4 IL IA
miles to Fayetteville, at the head of nav
igation on the Cape Fear river, thence
by hat-boat to Wilmington. where it was
shipped by sailing craft TO Boston. Trans
portation in this manner cost $13 a ton,
but as copper ore was worth $50 per ton,
the mine proved profitable.
I'm 1859 after some litigation, the
company paid Fentress $4,000 for his
one tenth interest, and reorganized UNI
der the name of the Carolina Mining
Company. The North Carolina Rail
road was then finished, affording COM
munication with the North, and Greens
boro became a central shipping point.
Shelters and other machinery were in
PRODUCED in the mine, and the output Of
copper was largely augmented From
1859 to 1861 the owners OF this mine
IIdut dn 1liIlttHlSt SUM III UHDHtA, HI1u
the fame of the Consolidated Mining
Company reached New York City, its
stock becoming the subject of extern
sive speculation.
1.-The Civil War came, and the com,
pany, composed principally of men from
| New York and Baltimore, with Offices
in Baltimore, was unable to further
prosecute it's operations. 1t then closed
after it had reached capitalization of
$3.50, GOO, and had caused great boom
inNall Southern mining property.
| subsequently the property was sold
| under execution and passed into other
hands, and thence to the present own
ers OF course the mine has been
| greatly damaged by the abandonment
| of am attempt to keep the water out
prior to 1856, Prof. Ebenezer EN-
mons, the Geoogist for North Caro-
lima, and previously Geologist for New
| York, said in his report on this prop
| erty: This mine is situated on the
| eastern edge of the Scientific granite belt
| of the country, ON which openings have
| been made in the southwest direction
| in Davidson Rowan and Cabarrus
| counties. All of these mines seem to
have been formed in the thin edge of
| the granite The vein is from three to
| 4 feet thick at depth of 40 feet the
| assure between the walls is from Z to
| 8 feet thick, sometimes expanding to
| Is feet The vein shows no tendency
| to close in at either of the levels, but
| widens i'm descent The ore, being near
| the surface, is so acted upon by at
mosphere that the pyrites have oXodis-
| ed. setting the gold free. The deepest
| of these shows the Tnaltered vein three
! feet thick
| 'tContinuing his report, Prof. Enmons
| says that at the bottom of the 310-foot
| shaft is a shoot of ore 80 feet long.
mostly solid copper, "a inches thick,