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GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAEOLINA.
The Carter and Reynolds mines are some 6 miles northeast of Troy. They have been worked to a depth of 100 and 80 feet, respectively. Telluride of gold is stated to occur here.
Qn the nortwest side of the U.harie mountains is a series of gravel mines situated in a line between the mountains and the Uharie river. Among others may be mentioned the Bright, Ophir' (Davis), Spanish Oak Gap, Dry Hollow, Island Creek, Deep Flat, Pear Tree Hill, Toms Creek, Bunnell Mountain, Dutchmans Creek, and the "Worth. The available portions of these placers have been exhausted so far as the present supply of water will answer. The Beaver Dam placer is located about 5 miles west of Eldorado.
The Sam Christian mine is situated on the west side of the Uharie mountains about 9 miles southwest of Troy.
The property contains 1350 acres. It was at one time extensively worked as a gravel mine by the Sam Christian Company, of London, England (the last operations were in 1893), the water being obtained by pumping from the Yadkin river, about 2^ miles distant. The plant consisted of two Worthington pumps and five 100 horse-power boilers, with a capacity of delivering to the mine 5,500,000 gallons in 24 hours, through a 20-inch steel flanged pipe. The elevation of the point of discharge above the point of supply was 416 feet.
The two principal channels were the Dry Hollow and the Sam Christian cut. The thickness of the gravel varied between 1 and 3 feet. The gold was coarse, mostly in nuggets from 5 to 1000 dwts. The country-rock is the Monroe slate, accompanied by large masses of volcanic breccias and cherty felsites (devitrified quartz-porphyry) which contain many small quartz-veins from -J- to 3 inches in thickness, striking S". 70° W. and dipping 60° jST.E. Several shafts have been sunk on some of these narrow veins; but the attempts at deep mining were failures.
Most of the deep mines are situated in the extreme northwestern corner of the county, with Eldorado in their center.
The Russell mine (Glenbrook Mining Company), is about 3 miles northeast from Eldorado and but a short distance from the Randolph county line. The country-rocks are argillaceous slates, both of soft and silicified types. Calcite occurs as a coating and in veinlets. In part at least, if not altogether, these slates are sedimentary; the bedding and cleavage planes usually coincide, though not always. The strike and dip is very variable. Diabase dikes occur in the country, but not in close proximity to the mine. The ore-bodies consist of parallel belts in the slates, impregnated with iron sulphurets (2 to 4 per cent.) and free gold, together with quartz-stringers. Thez'e are at least six of
■ To? siprolites have been explored here, and a belt 30 feet wide was found to mill $3 per ton.
