Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 29

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I > Part 29

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INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

contained in it varies from a trace to 17 per cent., and the potash goes as high as 4 per cent. When free from clayey matter, the ore contains from 45 to 60 per cent. of the metal.

Braunite is a mineral, whose hardness varies from 6 to 6.5, and its specific gravity from 4.75 to 4.82. It crystallizes in the tetragonal system, and occurs both massive and crystalline. Its color is black and brownish-black, and its luster is sub- metallic. In composition, it is a siliceous oxide of manganese, containing silica, 10.0; manganese protoxide, II.7; manganese sesquioxide, 78.3.

Manganite has a hardness of 4, and its specific gravity ranges from 4.2 to 4.9. It crystallizes in orthorhombic prisms. It also occurs crystalline massive. Its color is black, and its luster is metallic. When pure it contains oxygen, 27.3; manganese, 62.4; water, 10.3.

Wad or bog manganese is a light, earthy brown or black mineral, containing considerable impurities. In manganese, it varies from 15 to 45 per cent. While the two first named minerals, named here, occur most abundantly, yet mixtures of all these, with braunite and manganite, are often found in Georgia. The principal ore is psilomelane. These manganese ores occur in masses, from the smallest particles to a ton in weight, besides the larger pockets in beds. With all the manganese ores, more or less silica is included, even in the concretionary and stalactitic, and in the prepared ore more or less clay adheres to the grains and lumps. Besides this ore, there are in Georgia many mixtures of manganese and iron ores, which are of value. A valuable deposit of manganese ores occurs south of Cave Spring, where it was mined, until recently, by Maj. James M. Couper, of Atlanta. Some of the better quality of the ore yielded the following analysis, made by Mr. J. Blodgett Britton :

Metallic manganese

53-440

Ferric oxide

2.830

Baryta 8.620

Water 1.560 Silica

7.790

Alumina

1.520

Lime

0.080

Phosphoric acid (Phosphorus .064) . 0.147

Oxygen with manganese, undetermined, etc.

24.013

100.000

In this case potash was not determined. Other samples contained a larger amount of water. For commercial purposes, the analysis of carload lots is of more value than those of picked samples. On Dec. 1, 1889, a carload of 30,200 pounds, from Maj. Couper's mine, yielded the following results:

Manganese

·46.749

Iron

1.746

Silica

13.050

Phosphorus

0.059

On Mr. Asbury's property, northeast of Cave Spring, surface ore sent to Car- negie & Co. gave the following results:

Manganese

45.189

Iron

7.840

Silica

7.620

Phosphorus

0.053

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MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

Ore from the Barnsley estate gave the following partial analysis to the Pitts- burg Testing company :

Manganese 43-7:30

Iron I.OIO

Silica 3.530

Phosphorus

0.129

The presence of phosphorus has an important bearing on the value of ore, as its greatest use is in steel manufacture. Good ore should not contain over 0.2 per cent. of phosphorus. However, the manganese ores of Georgia are usually as low in this objectionable element as those of Virginia, which yields the largest supply. A large number of shipments of ore from Georgia show only 0.05 to 0.167 per cent. of phosphorus, and the ores are consequently low in this element.

Manganese ores occur in the Crystalline Belt, near Mount Airy, in the semi- crystalline rocks east of Cartersville, and in the Knox dolomite series of the Paleozoic group. The Cartersville ores have been extensively worked for many years, their product in 1887 being 9,024 tons, and in 1888 5,568 tons. There are three principal districts of manganese in the Knox dolomites of northwest Georgia. These are on ridges extending from south of Cave Spring northward to near the Etowah river; a belt near the border of Bartow and Floyd counties; north of the Etowah river in the region of Woodlands, and the Tunnel hill district, on the border of Whitfield and Catoosa counties. These districts are of broad extent, and include the distribution of the belts occupied by parallel ridges.

Cave Spring District .- In this district manganese ores occur with the iron in many localities, but the most important deposits are on a belt commencing in Polk county and extending eight or ten miles northeastward, with occasional scattered deposits, to a point near the Etowah river. The largest deposits which have been worked are those of the Georgia Manganese and Mining company, commencing in Polk county, about two miles south of Cave Spring, and extending two and a half miles northeastward. The principal works are on a hill 195 feet above the valley of Cedar creek. The summit is covered with red or brown clay, varying from two to four feet in thickness, and containing manganese gravel. The ore of the surface clay is mostly in small grains and nodules, although masses of a ton in weight have been met with. Through the clay there is also much coarse manganese powder, which is not of value at the present time. Beneath the clay covering is brecciated cherty clay, the remains of the decomposed manganiferous cherty limestones. Through this clay some layers appear to be entirely free from manganese. But other seams contain lenticular masses or pockets of manganese ores, and the general position is probably that of the original beds of dolomite, dipping at about 20 degrees southeastward. A shaft has been sunk to a depth of fifty feet, penetrating large masses of ore. Stringers of manganese ores extend irregularly through the ore-bearing lands. As far as the shaft has been sunk there is no appearance of the original solid rock. Near by, on the side of the hills, the partially solid strata appear with the beds, dipping in some cases as low as 10 degrees nearly eastward. Layers of manganese ore are seen especially in the clays of the decomposed limestone, above and below some of these beds. Much of the ore is concentrated by the removal of calcareous matter, although part of the manganese has also been lost. Some of the manganese concretions in the clay may have been segregated from the mineral dissolved out of the original rock, and thus a portion of the "shot-ore" pellets and gravel nodules may be accounted for, especially in the surface clays.

203

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

Northeast of the Georgia Manganese and Mining company's (Maj. J. M. Couper, president) property the surface ore is shown on the lands of Mr. Asbury, on lot 922, on the lands of Mr. Simmons and others. On Mr. Asbury's the lower part of the hill is cherty, and the manganese accumulations are scattered over the red or chocolate-colored clay. Again, to the northeastward, manganese occurs on ridges of red land belonging to Mr. W. I. Taylor, on lot 840, third district, and on other adjacent banks. On a ridge to the eastward of the last deposit are the Rice or Hatchett manganese beds (lot 822, third district), near Prospect church. The localities given are only a few of the known deposits in the district. There are many places where explorations have been made, by sinking pits, and more or less ore has been taken out. The ores in this belt are not confined to one series of ridges, but they occur on several parallel hills, and extend on the county line between Polk and Floyd, from Maj. Couper's mine to near the Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus railway, the belt of country having a breadth of several miles. The geological conditions for the occurrence of the manganese ores continue from the northern part of Polk county to the Etowah river, although they narrow somewhat in breadth as they pass northward. Laterally the belt extends from Van's valley to near Spring creek. Manganese and manganiferous iron ores also occur in the narrow Knox basin, west of Cave Spring, on the property of Mr. Simmons and others. These deposits are about two miles west of Hematite station, on the Southern railway.

Woodlands, or Barnsley District .- Manganese is also found in deep red or chocolate-colored loam on the low ridges adjacent to the valley of Tom's creek. The occurrence is similar to that near Cave Spring. One pit, twenty feet deep, was opened, and fifty tons of ore were taken out of it. In part, the deposit resembles breccia, with manganese oxides for the cement. In this locality there is a large number of unworked deposits exposed to the surface.

Tunnelhill District .- From a point west of Tunnelhill, a narrow beit, mostly a chain of ridges, extends northeastward into Tennessee. The ore in the surface pits in these ridges is mostly in a residual clay, which is of variable depth. Upon this belt, about three miles from Tunnelhill, some extensive openings have been made by the Catoosa Mining company. One shaft is said to go down into the re- sidual cherty clays to a depth of 210 feet. Manganese often closely resembling that in the deposits east of Cartersville, is seen on the surface about this mine. Man- ganese ore has been seen, to a limited extent, upon the Knox dolomite ridges, southwest of Tunnelhill, and at other points, but the quantities are not large.

The first serious attempt at working these manganese deposits was inaugu- rated by Maj. James M. Couper, at the mines near Cave Spring. An improved plant was constructed at this place, with two Cornish rolls, double lug washer, screen, five giggers, etc. The water for washing was brought from Cedar creek, a mile away. It is only by means of the improved methods of washing that the separating of the siliceous matter from the ore can be satisfactorily accomplished.

At Tunnelhill a still more extensive plant has been constructed. The deposit in Bartow county is probably the finest in the United States, outside of those of Arkansas.

MAGNESIA.

Large quantities of dolomite, in the form of crystalline marbles, and hard magnesian limestones occur in northwest Georgia. Dolomite, which is a double carbonate of magnesia and lime, is used for the manufacture of magnesia and its salts. These are very extensively used in pharmaceutical preparations, and these

204

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

deposits may, in course of time, become a source of revenue. The mineral, magnesite, a carbonate of magnesia, has not yet been found in Georgia.

PHOSPHATES.

Besides the mineral, apatite, a calcium phosphate, large deposits of the calciun phosphate are found, which are of fossil origin. They are largely used in the manufacture of fertilizers, and the large deposits of apatite in Canada and in Norway are used for the same purpose. The phosphates, which are of organic origin, are found in nodules and fossil bones in southern and southeastern Georgia. Some of these deposits have become very compact, and form a crypto- crystalline rock. Considerable work was done at Boston, near Thomasville, in southwest Georgia, a few years ago, but on account of the scarcity of material, and the inferior quality of the phosphate, which contained considerable sand and clay, work was discontinued at this place. Some of the marls contain a small amount of calcium phosphate, and when these are used a good fertilizer should result. The mineral, apatite, has been found associated with corundum and plilog- opite, at the Laurel creek corundumn mine, in Rabun county, Ga. Six months' work was done during the first part of the years 1894 and 1895, by the geological survey of the state, in the southern part of Georgia, in making a survey of the phosphate and marl deposits. Material has been obtained for the first of a series of bulletins on this subject, and it is probable that it will be issued during the fall of 1895.

GYPSUM.

This mineral, when ground, is used under the name of land plaster. It is also calcined and becomes the plaster-of-paris of commerce. The finer varieties, such as alabaster, are used for statuary and for other ornamental purposes. The majority of the statues and other ornaments made of white and mottled stone, brought to this country from southern Europe, and sold as marble, are made of this material. In composition it is a hydrous calcium sulphate. It is found in the tertiary deposits of Georgia to a limited extent, also in Wilson's cave, in Walker county, as incrustations on some of the limestone, and in efflorescent crystals on the floor of the cave. It is not known to occur in the state in workable quantities.

GRAPHITE.

This mineral is carbon. The finer varieties of it are manufactured into pencils. The inferior grades are used for imparting luster to iron; and with this in view, much of it is made into stove polish. The grades of graphite which are free from grit are used as a lubricant for machinery, and thé more common grades are used for the manufacture of crucibles used in the liberal arts. In Elbert county there is a mine of very fair quality which has been worked to some extent. This is the largest deposit of this mineral yet opened in the state. Graphite is said to be found in the same belt in Madison and Clarke counties. It occurs also in small pockets at the base of the itacolumite along the county line between Pickens and Gilmer. An impure variety is found in Hall, Douglas, Cobb, Paulding and Troup counties, as well as in many other localities in north Georgia. This variety will serve for stove polish, or when thoroughly washed it will make a fair lubricant.

MICA.

Large masses of crystals of muscovite occur in the gneissoid rocks in the northern part of the state, along with quartz and feldspar. This mineral is the mica which is used in stoves and for a variety of other economic purposes, even

205

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

the scraps and refuse having a market value. It is found in Rabun, Union, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Cherokee, Paulding, Carroll, Jasper and Morgan coun- ties, and lately it is said that a large deposit has been found in Hall county, which will produce very large sheets. The mineral has been mined to some extent in many of the counties mentioned, but no work of production is at present being done.

CORUNDUM.

This mineral, which plays so important a part in the manufacturing enterprises of present civilization, has been found in a greater number of localities and in greater abundance in Georgia than in any state in the Union, except North Caro- lina. So far as is at present known no gems of this species have been found here except two or three quite small in size and of inferior quality. The massive variety occurs in large masses in the widely-known Laurel creek corundum mine in Rabun county. Other mines and unworked deposits occur in this county and in Towns, Union, Lumpkin, Habersham, Hall, Forsyth, Cherokee, Cobb, Paulding, Doug- las, Carroll, Heard, Troup, Walton and Upson counties, many of which could be mined at a fair profit. The industry in this state is yet in its infancy.

TALC.

This mineral is a magnesium silicate, having three varieties. The first is foliated talc, which is little used in commerce; the second is steatite or soapstone, and is of massive compact form; the third is pseudomorphous. Steatite or soap- stone plays an important part in the arts as a material for lining furnaces and for making hearths, fire-places, stationary wash-tubs, etc. As a lubricator it is used for reducing friction in machinery and by shop-keepers in the form of a powder for fitting gloves and shoes. It is cut into little square thin blocks and is known as "French chalk," used by tailors. When finely ground and perfumed it consti- tutes many of the cosnietic powders now on the market. A very coarse variety called pot-stone was many years ago used by the Indians for making pots and other rude vessels for their domestic uses. A beautiful light green talc has been mined in Murray county, near Spring Place. White talc is said to occur in the marble belt running from Fannin to Cherokee county.

SANDSTONE AND SAND.

Sandstone is sand which has been compacted; geologically they are the same. Loose sand is used for making up mortar and for other building purposes; also for making molds for foundries. Quartz sand is used for the making of glass, etc. Large quantities of excellent quartz sand are found in various parts of the state. Sandstones are found in great varieties in northwestern Georgia, but very little, so far as is known at present, is of commercial value.

Within a few miles of Graysville, in Catoosa county, is found a deposit of brown sandstone, owned by the Southern Brownstone company. The Chattoo- gata mountains contain sandstones of various shades and colors, many of which are white, gray and even brown and red. Some of these exist in massive compact bodies, while others have a jointed structure, which makes them easily quarried. The thickness of the entire series of sandstone is about 800 feet. Building stone of this character may be had also on Lookout and Sand mountains and in the

206

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

Cohutta range. Large deposits of itacolumite, a thin bedded sandstone, often flexible, occur in the Chattahoochee ridge and in Pine mountain.

FLAGSTONES.

Many of the stratified beds in middle and north Georgia contain thin layers, well suited for sidewalks and street crossings. The banded gneiss, found so. abundantly along the southern slope of the Chattahoochee ridge and south of it, has been much used on the streets of Atlanta and is well-suited as a flagstone. In Dade, Walker and Chattooga counties excellent flagstones occur about the base of the coal measures. The rock is a compact sandstone of great strength, with a smooth cleavage corresponding to the bedding. The only uses yet made of this stone is as hearths for fire-places. Slabs can be obtained from the quarries in any desired size or thickness. The bed is found covered by debris from overlying rocks, but it is well exposed in the Lookout gulf, near Trenton, in Dade and at Eagle cliff and Pigeon mountain in Walker county. Hard sandstones that cleave readily into thin slabs are found in the Cohutta range, in the eastern parts of Murray, Gordon and Bartow counties.

SLATES.

The important requisites for a good roofing slate are durability and the capacity for splitting readily and evenly into thin plates. The fine-grained varie- ties are used for writing slates and softer kind for pencils. Cleavable slates are found in great quantities along or near the line of contact between the Silurian and Metamorphic groups, near the Cohutta, Silicoa, Pine Log and Dug Down mountains. The most noted locality in which roofing slates are found in the state is on the eastern side of Polk county. The slates outcrop in steep hills, apparently in beds of great thickness and have been extensively worked at Rockmart. These slates are of a dark color, approaching closely to black, and are very fine-grained, cleaving readily into thin plates. Dark colored slates are also found in Bartow, Murray, Gordon and Fannin counties. Slates of buff and light green shades are found in large quantities near the northern portion of Bartow county.

MARBLE.

The marble belt enters Georgia from North Carolina, in Fannin county, and runs in a southwesterly direction through Gilmer, Pickens and Cherokee counties. The quarrying and working of marble constitutes one of the most important in- dustries in economic geology in the state of Georgia. The first quarrying was done on a small scale in Longswamp valley, near Tate, Pickens Co., in 1840, by Fitz. T. Simmons. Previous to this time, however, the marble was worked in a small way for bowls and other utensils by the Cherokee Indians, the original inhabitants of this section of the country. About two years after Simmons began work he erected a mill with one gang of saws on the east branch of Longswamp creek, near Marble hill. This mill is said to have been rather primitive, but the same methods of cutting the marble are now employed in our best mills. In 1850 Tate, Adkinson & Company opened a quarry in the vicinity of what is now the Georgia marble works, and erected two mills on the creek, one above and the other below the quarry.

In 1854, Summy & Hurlick, who ten years before had opened a quarry two miles east of Jasper, again renewed work at that place. Immediately after the

207

INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.

war this quarry was worked by Robinson, Richardson & Besinger for nearly two years, but it was afterward abandoned until 1885, when the property was opened up by the Perseverance Marble company, with James P. Harrison as president. This company erected a steam mill and opened up new quarries, using steam drills and all the machinery necessary to carry on a first-class quarry. These works, which employed a number of hands, continued operations for only about three years, turning out a great deal of marble, which was used for various purposes. At the end of this period the greater part of the machinery was moved to what is now the Piedmont marble works, where railroad facilities were immediately at hand.

The Georgia Marble company, which works the Creole, the Etowah and the Cherokee quarries near Tate and the Kennesaw quarry at the foot of Marble hill, was organized in the spring of 1884, with a capital of $1,500,000. Previous to this time Georgia, which is now recognized as the second state in the Union in the production of marble, was practically unknown to the trade, but the energy and businesslike methods of this and other companies soon organized, with the good quality of the marbles produced, soon brought the state into the front ranks as a marble producer. The first work of the Georgia company, after sccuring the con- trol of nearly 7,000 acres of marble property, was to construct and equip a branch railroad from the quarries to the main line of the Marietta & North Georgia rail- road. This road was extended up to the Kennesaw marble quarry, and is the outlet for the produce of the Piedmont and Southern Marble companies.

The Southern marble quarries were opened in 1885 by Miles & Horne, contrac- tors for the state capitol of Georgia, in which they used some of the best of the stone for the stair steps and the principal part of the tiling. Since the first quarry was opened three new quarries have been opened, and a good mill has been erected. Only one of these quarries is at present being worked.

The Piedmont Marble company opened up its quarry a short distance from the Kennesaw quarry; but in the latter part of 1893 they opened up a new quarry, close by the first. Both these quarries produce an excellent grade of white marble, with much of it almost free from blemish. The value of the output in 1893 is estimated to have been $261,666. During the first six months of that year the marble industry in Georgia was said by leading producers to be in the most flourishing condition it has ever enjoyed. In the latter part of the year, however, the demand was light and business dull, owing to the terrible financial depression existing all over the country. About the first of 1894 the Piedmont Marble company secured a large contract for marble for the building of the new St. Luke's hospital in New York city, the contract amounting to about $240,000. In addition to the true marbles occurring in the counties above named, there are semi-crystalline limestones in Murray, Whitfield and Floyd counties, which take a high polish and afford a very good ornamental stone. Large enough pieces for practical use have not yet been found; and these deposits have not produced any marble of economic consequence. The marble belt, running from Fannin to Cherokee, is about sixty miles wide, and lies on the border line between the well known Paleozoic group and the broad belt of crystalline rocks. Constant streams are everywhere abundant; the larger ones are rapid, and furnish fine water-power. The Marietta & North Georgia railroad runs parallel with the marble belt, throughout its entire length; and at no point is the outcropping at a greater distance than three miles from this road.

The marbles enter Fannin county from North Carolina in two almost parallel lines of outcroppings, about two miles apart. The eastern line makes its first appearance on the head-waters of Hamestring creek, a small stream flowing to

208

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

the northeast and emptying into the Notteley river. The marble here is com- posed of small crystalline grains of dark or light gray color. One mile southwest of this exposure, on the same creek, marble is found on the Polk-Patterson property. It underlies for nearly a quarter of a mile the western base of High Top mountain, and is one of the most extensive surface exposures in Fannin county. The indications are that this deposit must be at least eighty feet thick. It is evidently a continuation of the outcropping mentioned above. A limited amount of work has been carried on here to ascertain the extent and character of the stone and to secure specimens for exhibition. A large slab of this stone was sent to the Piedmont exposition at Atlanta in 1887 and attracted a good deal of attention. In color it is light or dark gray, more or less banded with black; but marble of a flesh color tinged with green, and quite similar to the Etowah marble, also occurs. The crystalline grains are small, of a uniform size, firmly cemented, and afford a high polish. Small crystals of chalcopyrite, and here and there a few scales of mica are found; but neither is in sufficient quantity to seriously injure the marble for architectural purposes. As far as examined, the deposit is comparatively free from seams and cutters; but its general sound- ness can only be determined by further prospecting.

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Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 29

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1294

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294