USA > North Carolina > Western North Carolina; a history, 1730-1913 > Part 51
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These Archean rocks, with the volcanic formations, were then subjected to a long period of erosion, and the sea at the same time encroached upon large areas of the dry land. The sediments deposited formed the rocks which are known as the Cambrian. Portions of the Archean rocks were sub- merged and at times uplifted, and there was not a continu- ous series of these sedimentary deposits.
These sedimentary rocks, formed from the erosion of the Archean and Algonkian rocks and from salicious and calca- reous material deposited from animal life found in the sea, consist of conglomerates, sandstones, shale, limestone, and their metamorphic equivalents, quartzite, slate, and marble. These are observed very extensively over considerable areas
W. N. C .- 35 .
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of western North Carolina, but principally, as stated above, near the western and eastern sections of the mountain region. Grandfather mountain is composed of one of these conglom- erates of the Cambrian age, as is also Grandmother mountain, a large part of the area around Linville, and just to the east of Pinola. A narrow strip of these rocks is to be found extend- ing across the extreme western part of Buncombe county, across Henderson and Transylvania counties. Brevard is situated in an area of these rocks, as is also Boylston, Mills River, and Fletcher, Henderson county. Practically all of Cherokee and Graham counties is composed of Cambrian rocks and the western parts of Clay, Macon, and Haywood counties. Swain county is composed largely of these Cam- brian rocks, with the exception of an area of Archean rocks that is exposed around Bryson and for some distance to the northeast. West of Asheville these Cambrian rocks are observed in the vicinity of Stackhouse, Hot Springs, and Paint Rock. They include all the limestones, such as are being mined at Fletchers, Mills River, and other places in Henderson and Transylvania counties; the limestones of Madison county; and the marbles of Cherokee, Graham, and Swain counties.
From the above it will be seen that the larger part of the area of western North Carolina is composed of the Archean rocks, representing the oldest geologic formations.
Associated with the rocks described above are various minerals of economic importance, the history of which may be of interest in connection with the geologic history of western North Carolina. The precious metals occur very sparingly in nearly all the counties of this section of the state, but in only a very few places has any attempt been made to system- atically produce them, and this has been largely by placer mining. Both the rocks of the Archean and Cambrian ages apparently contain minute quantities of gold, but in none of these have deposits been found of sufficient richness to be profitably mined. In the early history of western North Carolina it was customary for many of the inhabitants to pan the various streams for gold and to pay their taxes in native gold. Just how much gold has been taken from western North Carolina in this way is not known; but it evidently was several hundred thousand dollars.
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Iron was discovered in western North Carolina almost as soon as the country began to be settled, and the manufacture of iron dates back before the Revolutionary War. These early iron works consisted of the primitive Catalan forge blown by the water trompe. Such forges were in operation in Ashe, Mitchell, and Cherokee counties, and as late as 1893 one of these, the Pasley forge on Helton creek in Ashe county, was in operation. These early forges supplied iron for all local uses and the forges in Cherokee county shipped a good deal into Tennessee. The most celebrated iron mine of west- ern North Carolina is the Cranberry, and this iron was worked in Catalan forges as early as 1820. The following forges made iron from the Cranberry ore: 1
"Cranberry Bloomery Forge, on Cranberry creek; built in 1820; rebuilt in 1856; two fires and one hammer; made 17 tons of bars in 1857.
"Toe river Bloomery Forge, situated five miles south of Cranberry forge; built in 1843; two fires and one hammer; made about four tons of bars in 1856.
"Johnson's Bloomery Forge, six miles east of south from Cranberry; built in 1841; had two fires and one hammer; made one and one-half tons of bars in 1856."
This ore made an excellent quality of iron and soon became known and attracted a great deal of attention throughout the United States. Since 1882 the mine has been worked almost continuously, and the ore was treated in a modern blast furnace
Similar grades of iron ore are found in Ashe county, and the following is a summary of the history of the Catalan forges that were operated on these Ashe county magnetic ores:
"The Pasley forge was built by John Ballou at the mouth of Helton creek in 1859; in 1871 it was rebuilt by the present owner, W. J. Pasley, and is now sadly in need of repairs.
"Helton Bloomery Forge, on Helton creek, 12 miles N. N. W. of Jefferson; built in 1829; two fires and one hammer; made in 1856 about 15 tons of bars. Washed away in 1858. Another forge was built one and one-fourth miles lower down the creek in 1902, but did not stand long.
"Harbard's Bloomery Forge was situated near the mouth of Helton creek; built in 1807 and washed away in 1817.
"Ballou's Bloomery Forge was situated 12 miles N. E. of Jefferson, at the falls of North Fork of New river; built in 1817; washed away in 1832 by an ice freshet.
"North Fork Bloomery Forge was situated on North Fork of New river, 8 miles N. W. of Jefferson; built in 1825; abandoned in 1829; washed away in 1840.
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"Laurel Bloomery Forge, on Laurel creek, 15 miles west of Jefferson; built in 1847; abandoned in 1853. 1
"New River Forge, on South Fork of New river, one-half mile above its junction with North Fork; built in 1871; washed away in 1878."
The brown hematite ores of Cherokee county which occur in the Cambrian rocks were worked in forges as early as 1840, supplying the surrounding country with bar iron. We have record of the following forges:
"Lovinggood Bloomery Forge, situated on Hanging Dog creek, two miles above Fain forge; built from 1845 to 1853; two fires and one ham- mer; made in 1856 about 13 tons of bars.
"Lower Hanging Dog Bloomery Forge, on Hanging Dog Creek, five miles northwest from Murphy; built in 1840; two fires and one hammer; made in 1856 about four tons of bars. 1
"Killian Bloomery Forge, situated one-half mile below the Lower Hanging Dog Forge; built in 1843; abandoned in 1849.
"Fain Bloomery Forge, on Owl creek, two miles below the Loving- good forge; built in 1854; two fires and one hammer; made in 1856 about 24 tons of bars.
"Persimmon Creek Bloomery Forge, situated on Persimmon creek, 12 miles southwest from Murphy; built in 1848; two fires and one ham- mer; made in 1855 about 45 tons of bars.
"Shoal Creek Bloomery Forge, situated on Shoal creek, five miles west of the Persimmon Creek Forge; built about 1854; one fire and one hammer; made in 1854 about one-half ton of bars."
With the exception of the blast furnace at Cranberry which uses the magnetic iron ore from the Cranberry mine, no other furnace has been erected in western North Carolina for the treatment of iron ores; and when the Pasley forge on Helton creek went out of commission, there was no other point in western North Carolina, except Cranberry, where iron was being made. A small amount of ore has been shipped from time to time from various localities.
Copper mining at one time was a prominent industry of western North Carolina; and while I have no definite data as to when copper mines were first operated in western North Carolina, we do know that copper properties were worked before the Civil War, principally in Ashe and Alleghany counties. The most noted mine was the Ore Knob, which is in the southeast corner of Ashe county near the top of the Blue Ridge and about two miles from New river. This mine was first opened sometime before the War, but it was not until some years after the war that it was developed to any great extent. The ore deposit was worked to a depth of 400
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feet by means of numerous shafts and drifts. The mine was equipped with a smelter for producing a high grade of copper. The amount of copper produced and shipped from January 1879 to April 1880, which was the time the mine was fully operated, was something over 1,640 tons. The cost to pro- duce and market this copper was ten and thirty-nine one- hundredth cents a pound. The mine has not been worked since about 1882. Other copper properties that were worked were the Copper Knob or Gap Creek mine in the southeast part of Ashe county; the Peach Bottom mine on Elk creek, Alleghany county; the Cullowhee mine on Cullowhee moun- tain, and Savannah mine on Savannah creek, Jackson county.
Another mineral for which western North Carolina is noted is corundum. In 1870, Mr. Hiram Crisp found the first co- rundum that attracted attention to the present mining region of North Carolina, at what is now the Corundum Hill mine. A specimen was sent to Prof. Kerr, then state geologist, for identification, and considerable interest was aroused when it was discovered that it was corundum. In the same year Mr. J. H. Adams found corundum in a similar occurrence at Pel- ham, Massachusetts.
In 1870-71 much activity was displayed in the search for co- rundum in the periodite regions of the southwestern coun- ties of North Carolina, and new localities were soon brought to light in Macon, Jackson, Buncombe, and Yancey coun- ties. About this time Mr. Crisp and Dr. C. D. Smith began active work on the Corundum Hill property, and obtained about a thousand pounds of corundum, part of which was sold to collectors for cabinet specimens. Some of the masses that were found weighed as much as 40 pounds.
Systematic mining for corundum did not begin until the fall of 1871, when the Corundum Hill property was pur- chased by Col. Chas. W. Jenks, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Mr. E. B. Ward, of Detroit, Michigan, and work was soon begun under the superintendence of Col. Jenks. This was the first systematic mining of common corundum, as distinguished from emery and the gem varieties, ever undertaken, while the first mining of the emery variety of corundum in America was at Chester, Massachusetts. The Corundum Hill mine pro- duced corundum almost continuously from 1872 to 1901. Other mines that have produced corundum are the Buck
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Creek mine in Clay county; the Ellijay mine in Macon county; the Carter mine in Madison county; and the Higden mine and Behr mine in Clay county.
Mica mining in North Carolina began about 1870, and for the first five years practically all the mica mined was handled by Heap and Clapp, and was obtained from the mines of Mitchell and Yancey counties. Mica has continued to be mined almost constantly since that time not only in Yancy and Mitchell counties, but in Ashe, Buncombe, Haywood, Jackson, and Macon counties. There are a great many old workings on these mica deposits, and before they had been investigated and the mica discovered they were supposed to be old workings of the Spaniards who were hunting for silver. It is now supposed that these old workings were made by the Indians for these sheets of mica; and it is known that mica has been found in Indian mounds and was used by the In- dians who inhabited what is now Ohio in the manufacture of their beads. North Carolina mica is still known as standard mica, as it was reckoned from the beginning.
Several other minerals should be mentioned in connection with the descriptions given above, as they were first identified in North Carolina. The mineral that stands out most strik- ingly is the rhodolite, a gem mineral which was discovered in Macon county about 1894 and was given its name from the resemblance of its color to that of certain rhododendrons.
MITCHELLITE, a variety of chromite, was discovered near Webster, Jackson county, in 1892, and was named in honor of the late Prof. Elisha Mitchell of North Carolina.
WELLSITE, one of the minerals of the zeolite group, was dis- covered in 1892 at the Buck Creek mine, Clay county, and was named in honor of Prof. H. L. Wells of Yale University.
The following, belonging to the vermiculite group of miner- als, have been found associated with corundum, and were de- scribed by Doctor Genth; they were all discovered about the same time in 1872 or 1873 : Culsageeite, a variety of Jef- ferisite, found at the Corundum Hill mine and named for a postoffice near that place; Kerrite, found at Corundum Hill mine, and named in honor of Mr. W. C. Kerr, former State Geologist of North Carolina; Maconite, found at the Corun- dum Hill mine and named after Macon county; Lucasite, found at the Corundum Hill mine and named after Dr. H. S.
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Lucas, who owned the Corundum Hill mine; Willcoxite, found at the Buck creek (Cullakeene) mine, Clay county, and named after Joseph Willcox of Philadelphia; Aurelite, found at the Freeman mine, Green river, Henderson county, about 1888- it is a thorium mineral, and was named for Dr. Carl Auer von Welsbach; Hatchettolite, a tantalium-uranium, was found at the Wiseman Mica mine, Mitchell county, about 1877, and was named after the English chemist, Charles Hatchett; phos- phuranylite, a uranium mineral, found at the Flat Rock mine, Mitchell county, about 1879, and named from the chemical composition of the mineral; and Rogersite, a niobium min- eral, found at the Wiseman Mica mine, Mitchell county, about 1877, named after Prof. W. B. Rogers."
NOTES.
"From "The Iron Manufacturer's Guide," 1859, by J. P. Lesley. .
NOTE : The United States Geological Survey has ready for distribution, upon the receipt of 25 cents each, the following geologic folios each of which contains descriptive text, topographic map, areal geology map, economic geology map, structure section sheet and columnar section sheet. All information as to the geology and mineralogy of the quadrangles treated can be found in these folios:
Cranberry Folio, No. 90, issued 1903.
Asheville Folio, No. 116, issued 1904.
Mount Mitchell Folio, No. 124, issued 1905.
Nantahala Folio, No. 143, issued 1907.
Pisgah Folio, No. 147, issued 1907.
Roan Mountain Folio, No. 151, issued 1907.
CHAPTER XXV MINES AND MINING
PREHISTORIC WORKINGS. Evidences of the early working of mines in this mountain region are so frequent and unmis- takable as to leave no doubt that in several places mining was carried on at least three hundred years ago. But by whom is the problem.
The Andrews Sun of January 4, 1912, having stated that Tristan de Velazquez carried on mining in Cherokee county, the matter was submitted to the Librarian of Congress with the following result:
NOT TRISTAN DE VELASQUEZ. "We have been unable to find any mention of Tristan de Velazquez in the histories of early Spanish explorations in the southeastern states. It seems probable that the article quoted has confused the names of Don Luis de Velasco and Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano. Velasco, as viceroy of New Spain, sent out an expedition in 1559 under command of Luna y Arellano to establish a colony in Florida. One of the latter's lieutenants appears to have led an expedition into northeastern Alabama in 1560. Ac- cording to Charles C. Jones, in his 'Hernando de Soto,' 1880, Luna's expedition penetrated into the Valley river valley in Georgia and there mined for gold, but this statement is ques- tioned by Woodbury Lowery in his 'Spanish settlements within the present limits of the United States,' New York, 1901, p. 367. There appears to be no authority for the state- ment that this expedition entered the present limits of North Carolina. A Spanish account of this expedition will be found in Garcilasco de la Vega's 'La Florida del Inca,' Lisbon, 1605." 1
A brief history of early gold mining in the Southern states may be found in George F. Becker's "Gold fields of the South- ern Appalachians, " in 16th annual report of the United States Geological Survey, 1894-95. Some historical notes of interest are given in Nitze and Wilkins' "Gold Mining in North Caro- lina," Raleigh, 1897. (North Carolina Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 10.) ?
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MINES AND MINING
"THE SPECIMEN" STATE. There are a great many kinds of minerals in North Carolina, especially in the mountain region. But, with few exceptions, the veins or deposits are in small quantities-so small in fact as to have given the State the title of the "Specimen State." Iron, copper, mica, talc, kaolin, barytes, corundum, garnet, and lime, however, have been found in paying quantities.
ANCIENT DIGGINGS. In his "Speeches and Writings" (p. 130) Gen. Clingman gives an account of his work at the Sink Hole mines in Mitchell county in 1867. He thought there was silver ore there and exhibited some of it to several western miners in New York City, who declared it would assay three hundred dollars to a ton; but it produced only about three dollars. Gen. Clingman, however, had caused a shaft to be sunk and two tunnels to be carried entirely below the old excavations, but found nothing but mica. In the same chapter he speaks of a tradition among the Indians that long ago white men came on mules from the South during the summer and carried off a white metal with them, and thinks the remains of old works in Cherokee give countenance to the report.
SINK HOLE MINES. These are about seven miles south- west from Bakersville and two miles from Galax. From present appearances it would seem that a large number of men had been at work there for years. The mines are on a ridge in front of D. Pinkney Chandler's home, and are from sixty to eighty feet in diameter at the top. They extend along a ridge for one-third of a mile. They seem to have been a series of concentric holes, all of which have long since filled up from the debris which had been removed from them. But, standing with their roots on some of this waste originally taken from these holes are several large trees nearly three feet in diameter. "Timber," says Gen. Clingman, "which I examined, that had grown on the earth thrown out, had been growing as long as three hundred years." He speaks also of "a slab of stone near one of these workings that had evi- dently been marked by blows of a metalic tool." But Mr. Chandler, who has lived there and worked in the mines, thinks the miners carried the waste from these holes on their heads or shoulders, and dug downward only so long as the inclined, cone-like sides would bear a narrow, spiral track used to remove
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the earth. The walls are not perpendicular, but sloping, making a hole in the shape of an inverted cone. The marks of tools are still visible on these sloping sides when the dirt that has fallen back is thrown out; for this earth that once had been removed is still loose, and one can tell the moment he gets outside the original excavation by the increased hard- ness of the ground. Stone tools five or six inches in length, flattened, and two or three inches broad are still there, and some have been found at the bottom of these holes. Mr. Charles D. Stewart of Pinola dug out one of the highest of these sink holes in 1872 to a depth of 42 feet, removing therefrom a tree that had grown in the hole, with three hundred rings in its trunk. He also got stone tools out of this hole. While Gen. Clingman was at work there a tinner named Heap hap- pened in, and taking a block of the mica, which had been thrown out as worthless, to Knoxville found that there was a market for it, and returned with a partner named Clapp, and these worked the mine profitably several years. William Silver, about this time, ran a tunnel under this ridge seventeen hundred feet to drain the mine on his land, which was about halfway the length of the ridge. J. K. Irby and D. K. Young also worked there. Others are working there now, but get- ting only small returns. At the bottom of these mines the ground is too hard for stone tools. Gen. Clingman also mined for silver on Clingman's branch of Beech creek in 1871. (Watauga County Deed Book No. 3, page 595.)
THE GARRETT RAY MINES. These are near Bakersville, and when a boy Mr. Ray observed a line of stone posts about fifteen feet apart on a mountain slope of his father's farm, and years afterward found that they marked a valuable mica mine, whose limits did not extend beyond them. They had never been worked, though there were a series of round basin- like holes in the soil of the slope.
ANCIENT MINING IN CLAY COUNTY. On a ridge on the left bank of Toonah creek, in Clay county, are many evidences of early mining, the surface of the earth having been left in many small but distinct ridges. Gold in small quantities is found in the creek bed, and the character of the white quartz rock and pebbles still tempts searchers after gold to pan and wash the sand and gravel from the nearby hills. It has never paid, however.
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MICA MINES IN ASHE. Of the mica mines in Ashe county the Director of the United States Geological Survey says (1909) :
"Hamilton Mine is on the west slope of a mountain two miles northwest of Beaver creek. It was reopened by the Johnson-Hardin Company in 1907. Two tunnels were run into the hillside along the vein." The character and quality of the mica are stated.
The North Hardin mine is on a ridge about one and a half miles west of Beaver creek and has been worked on a large scale. It was operated by two open cuts and other pits, etc., which have proved the continuity of the pigmatite for over 100 yards and shown the thickness to vary from three to eight feet. "The mica has a beautiful rum color and is of the best grade."
The South Hardin mine is near the top of a small moun- tain or hill about one and one-half miles southwest of Beaver creek. "The color of the mica obtained was a clear rum color and the quality the best." The quartz streaks along the foot wall of the pigmatite contained beryl crystals from less than an inch to six to eight inches in diameter.
OTHER NOTED MICA MINES. There are other noted mica mines in what was formerly Mitchell county, among them being Clarissa, the Seeb Miller mine near Flat Rock, where Ray and Anderson killed two men in a fight over the prop- erty in 1884, and the Deake mine, near Spruce Pine. There are several mica mines in Yancey and Macon, from one of the latter, the Iotla Bridge kaolin and mica mine, a block of mica was taken "in 1907, which measured about 29 by 36 inches across and was about four feet thick."3 There are numerous other mica mines, in Jackson, Madison and Transyl- vania. In 1910 there were over 150 producers.
USES FOR MICA. Mica is used in sheet and ground form- sheet mica for stoves and lamps and for glazing, and it is also punched into disks and washers or cut by shears for use in stoves and electrical apparatus. Ground mica is used as an insulating material in electrical machinery, wall paper, etc. The value of the production of mica in North Carolina in 1910 was $230,460, ' as compared with $148,424 in 1909. The average price of sheet mica in the United States in 1910 was 11.5 cents per pound, as compared with 12.9 in 1909; but
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the average price of sheet mica in North Carolina was 42.5 per pound, by far the highest price paid.
"Among the many varieties of mica only two are considered of eco- nomic importance because of their physical properties; i. e., muscovite and phlogopite. Of these two varieties muscovite alone is found in quantities of commercial importance in North Carolina. Small quanti- ties of biotite mica (black mica) have been used for commercial purposes within the last few years, however, and another variety, the lepidolite, has been used as a source of lithium salts. Chemically, muscovite is a silicate of aluminum and potash with a small amount of water; phlogo- phite is a silicate of magnesium, aluminum and potassium; and piotite is a silicate of magnesium, iron, aluminum, and potassium. The three micas are very similar in physical properties except color."
CORUNDUM AND EMERY. These minerals are found in Clay, Macon, Swain, Jackson, Transylvania, Buncombe, Madison, Yancey and Mitchell counties. The following facts are from Vol. I of the N. C. Geological Survey, 1905, on Corundum and the Periodites. It contains 464 pages and is devoted entirely to this subject. It can be had by paying the postage. It covers the ground fully.
Corundum was first discovered in Madison county in 1847, about three miles below Marshall, at the mouth of Little Pine creek. The late Dr. C. D. Smith of Franklin, discov- ered corundum on both sides of Buck creek in Clay county prior to 1875, and Major Bryson did some prospecting there in that year, followed two years later by Frank Meminger, who worked six months and removed about 30 tons. In 1887 a Mr. Ernst did some work at Buck creek, but from then till about 1891 the mine lay idle. About this time, however, Mr. Greg- ory Hart of Detroit, Mich., worked it on a larger scale for about eighteen months. About 1893 the Hamden Emery and Corundum Company purchased the mine and worked it to some extent, sending the mined product to the Corundum Hill works to be cleaned. It is now owned by the International Emery and Corundum Company of New York. There is every indication of an almost inexhaustible amount of corundum at this mine. It is said to be too far from the nearest railroad point to justify its operation. The completion of a short logging road from Andrews to Chogah gap will considerably lessen this distance. Just across the mountain, on the head of Shooting creek is the Isbel mine and factory, where considerable work was done about 1897-1898. It is now idle.
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