The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-04-03
Tar Heel Minerals.
(RiChmond News-Leader.)

Many people are not aware that North
Carolina is richer in minerals than any
other State in the Union and that Moore
county has one of the most valuable gold
mines this side of the Rocky Mountains.
This mine is located at Ollie, on Cane
Patch run, a tributary of Deep River,
twenty miles from Southern Pines, and
has been incorporated under the name of
the P. II. Laufman Gold Mining Com
pany, with a capital of $1O0O,O00. It's
president is p. II. Laufman, a veteran
iron and steel manufacturer, an inventor
of note. and Father of the Tin-plate In
Fdustrv."
Coming from Pittsburg to Southern
Pines for his health three years ago, with
pick and hammer he began to search
out thc secrets of the sand hills on which
the town is built, and presently an old
gold mine, closed seventeen years ago for
lack Of funds, came under his notice.
An examination of the mine convinced
Mr.. Laufman that it was immensely rich
and after purchasing the property, oper-
ations were begun last spring. Three
shafts were opened, the old Chillian mill
OF seventeen years ago being used. But
it did not crush the ore sufficiently fine.
Mr.. Iaufman soon found that his gold
was floating down stream, and the mine
was accordingly closed until up-to-date
machinery can be put in.
The Hale mines, in South Carolina, are
being operated with profit, yet they yield
but $3.50 to the ton. The Laufman mines
will yield $3.50 of pure bullion to the ton,
according to Mr.. Thess, one of the most
expert mining chemists of the country.
Dirt and rocks at the surface yield $40 a
ton, and other assays from $50 to 1884 a
ton. According to Mr.. Hutchinson, Mr..
Laufmans s mining engineer, one vein
alone, worked to depth of sixty feet,
will yield a million and a half dollars,
and there are longer and richer veins on
the property. Taking into account that
the richness of the deposit increases with
the depth, the capacity of the mine seems
practically limitless.
Mr.. Laufman has had notable career.
Though not the oldest manufacturer in
point of years, his connection with iron
and seteel maing has been longer than
that of any other man in America.
In 1876 he bought the Apollo Rolling
mills, at Apollo, Pa, and was the first
manufacturer to produce cold rolled and
picked iron and steel sheets.
at that time to Great Britain, he met
with inc0nceivable difficulties. But his
patience and energy triumphed and the
In 1878 he began the experimental pro-
duction OF tin plate and as all actual
knowledge of the industry was confined
Laufman tin plate was pronounced the
equal of and in some respects superior to
the British article.
From 1887 to 1891 Mr. Laufman was la
boring TO compete with foreign manufac-
turers, and so well did he succeed that
they were practically driven from the mar
ket
His latest invention is the high-class
electromagnetic steel sheets, used in
dynamos by the Edison and Westing-
house companies, which cannot be made
fast enough to meet the demand from all
parts of the civilized world
at the age of rs Mr. Laufman, in COM
pany with a party of New York capital
lists, Inspected the gold mines of Utah,
Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho, crossing
the Bitter Root mountains and other
spurs of the Rockies on horseback.
Three years ago he sold his interests
TO the American Steel Sheet Company
and retired from the iron and steel busi |
ness. The gold mine, to whose develop |
lnent he will devote the closing years of
his life. will compare favorably with the |
gold mines of the Rockies, while only |
one or two others this side of that range |
are anything like so rich.
He has an attractive home at South
IN Pines. Berlin Place, so called in |
honor Of his wife, whose father, Phillip |
Berlin, invented the first sleeping car.
Mr.. Laufman, though SO years old. is |
we'll preserved and attends
10 all the details of his business with the |
energy and vigor of far younger man.
JULIA w. BULLARD.