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CHAPTER IV.
DISTRIBUTION OF GOLD MINES IN THE SOUTH APPALACHIAN REGION OTHER THAN IN NORTH CAROLINA, WITH MINING NOTES.1
GOLD MINES IN MARYLAND.
The gold mines are situated within the belt of crystalline rocks extending from "Washington to Great Falls, on the Potomac river, in Montgomery county, and also in the central and northern part of this county. Geologically, they are included in the Virginia belt (see p. 13).
The greatest development has been in the vicinity of Great Falls, about 15 miles west of Washington. Among the principal mines in this region are the Maryland, Montgomery, Harrison (or Sawyer), Irma, Huddleston, and Allerton-Ream, situated in a belt from 7 to 8 miles in width.2 The greatest development was during the years 1888-93, in which time the various properties were worked. Since that time operations have been carried on in a limited way at the Allerton-Ream, Harrison, Miller and Bethesda.
During the winter and early spring of 1895 a considerable amount of exploratory work was carried on at the Bethesda mine, 7 miles northwest of Washington, by the Bethesda Mining Company. Some $20,000 to $30,000 had formerly been taken from a rich chimney in a 6-foot quartz-vein at this mine. The old shaft was continued to a depth of 102 feet, and the ore-shoot found to pinch out. Assays from the lower end of the chimney ran about $4 per ton. There are no sulphurets to speak of in the ore at this depth. The country-rock (micaceous schist) is slightly auriferous in places. It is stated that large areas of the saprolites will yield IS cents per cubic yard. Sufficient water-supply for hydraulicking or sluicing is difficult to obtain.
GOLD MINES IN VIRGINIA.
The principal gold region of this State is comprised in the Virginia belt (see p. 13). A small, isolated area of placer deposits is situated on the west side of the Blue Ridge in Montgomery and Floyd counties.
1 Unless otherwise stated, the mines are not at present working. The values of the ores are not given on our authority ; the same is true of the dimensions of the ore bodies in abandoned mines, and in such as could not be examined.
2 The best description of these mines has been given by Mr. S. F. Emmons, in a paper entitled "Notes on the Gold-Deposits of Montgomery County, Maryland," Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Engs., xviii, 1890, pp. 391 to 412.