Gem Mining in North Carolina Page 18



	HISTORICAL SKETCH OF GEM MINING.	3

	associated with precious stones in other countries, impressed me with the idea that by ... . systematic search, valuable gems would be found here, but want of time and opportunity delayed the search until 1874. I selected this section as the most convenient for my work. But the same indications cross the State from northeast to southeast. In fact, to draw a line .... from Paris, Maine, to Gainesville, Ga., it is surprising to me how near it passes all the gem localities east of the Mississippi River. My plan .... was to go among the people of the country, and endeavor to interest them in collecting the different crystals found in their respective sections; this I found an easy matter, especially with the children, as they took hold of the idea readily and many of them soon became familiar with the work, and not only did good service in developing the mineral resources of the State, but many of them have acquired a good knowledge of mineralogy and general natural history. Mr. Stephenson's discoveries form almost the only exception to the general statement made at the outset, that the discoveries of gems and gem-minerals in North Carolina arose incidentally in the search or mining for gold, corundum, mica, or the rare earths. Mr. Stephenson had described how he set about the search for gems directly, in the assurance that they must exist and could be traced by sufficient endeavor. In almost all other cases, the discoveries have been made accidentally in the course of other mining operations. A recent letter to the writer from Mr. D. A. Bowman, of Bakersville, for example, states the usual facts as follows: As to the discovery of beryl, and other gems, this was invariably by mica mining, for outside of a mica vein, I have never known a beryl to be found. In working for black mica, the beautiful beryl at Buchanan Mine was found. It was the same at Grassy Creek, where Wiseman and McKinney found the deep green aquamarines, and then sold to the " American Gem Company." I identified the beryl found by Wiseman and McKinney and shipped it to Tiffany & Company. It was Mr. Rorison and myself that first discovered the emerald matrix at Brush Creek Mountain, in 1894 or 1895.....For 35 years I have worked hard to bring to light the various minerals and gems, and through your kind assistance I feel I have not worked in vain, and have been of some little service to my country. In the same letter, Mr. Bowman gives an interesting account of the first opening of a mica mine, shortly before the war. In 1858, General Clingman, while traveling in the western part of the State, stopped over night with a Mr. Silver, near Bakersville, and was interested to find a window filled with 8 by 10 inch panes cut from sheets of mica, or as it was generally called, isinglass. The very next day, having been shown the spot where this novel material was found, General Clingman hired workmen and began sinking a shaft. Mica was taken out in magnificent