leads are continuous, usually for considerable distances. At the Lockhart mine, near Dahlonega, for instance, the Blackinore vein, 3 to 6 feet in thickness, has been opened by a drift 400 feet long. At the Franklin mine, in Cherokee county, the ore-body has been explored by underground workings for 1000 feet, and the continuity of the vein has been traced for three-quarters of a mile by isolated shafts. The regularity of the vein structure at the Franklin is exhibited by welldefined walls, and by the presence of a soft " gouge " on both the foot and hanging, even where there is no marked quartz filling.
Small, clean-cut cross-fissures occur in the Georgia belt, as at the Franklin mine, where the filling is chiefly calcite.
The pitch of the ore-bodies in the Georgia belt is as a rule to the northeast. The tilling of the fissures is quartz, carrying pyrite and rarely chalcopyrite. Among the most interesting gangue minerals may be mentioned garnets, which in cases have been found to be auriferous.1 Another occasional, though rare, gangue mineral is tourmaline. Gold in close association with a tellurium mineral has been found in the so-called " Boly Fields " vein on the banks of the Chestatee river.2 The character of the quartz varies greatly, from very saccharoidal to extremely vitreous types, and from clear transparent to milky-white in color, sometimes smoky.
The genesis of the ore deposits is best explained by the ascension theory; there is no evidence of substitution. The formation of the ore deposits was subsequent to the force that sheared the country-rock, from the fact that fragments of the schistose country occur in the quartz.
The character of the gravel placer deposits in the Georgia belt is similar to that in the South Mountain belt.
THE CAROLINA BELT IX GEORGIA.
Mention has already been made (p. 15) of the extension of the Carolina belt into Wilkes, MeDufne and adjacent counties, Georgia.
MINOR BELTS IN GEORGIA.
The crystalline rocks of Georgia are comprised in the large area lying north of a straight line drawn from Augusta to Columbus. AVithin this area there are, besides the principal gold-ore belts mentioned above, a large number of minor belts; in fact, almost every county in the region claims some- discovery of the precious metal. Among the more important are a belt including portions of Gwinnett, Milton, DcKalb, Fulton, Campbell, Fayette, Coweta, Meriwether and Troup counties; and a
1 " Reconnoissance of the Gold Fields of the Southern Appalachians." Sixteenth Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey, 1891-5, part iii, pp. 279, 297. - See paper by Dr. Wm. P. Blake, Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., Vol. xxv, 1896, p. 802.
