1871,
the first systematic attempt to mine gems within the State was begun.
From a scientific point of view the operations were most interestÂing,
but the number of gems found did not warrant permanent operations, for
gems only, and after a few years mining for this mineral was for
abrasive purposes.
This
mine, which includes several openings, is situated on the Culsagee or
Sugartown Pork of the Little Tennessee River, 8 or 9 miles above
(southeast of) the town of Franklin, the county seat, at an elevation
of about 2500 feet above the sea. The Corundum Hill is essentially an
outcrop of peridotite (dunite), some 10 acres in area, and rising to a
height of between 300 and 400 feet. Most of the openings are along the
contact of the dunite with the gneiss or schist through which it rises,
and follow " contact veins " of corundum. It has often been called the
Jenks mine, also the Culsagee and the Corundum Hill, names derived from
the locality and from the name of its first operator, Charles W. Jenks,
of Boston, Mass. It was subsequently worked by the Hampden Emery
Company, of Chester, Mass., under the direction of Dr. S. F. Lucas, and
became known as the Lucas mine. It is now owned by the International
Corundum & Emery Co., of New York, which also controls several
other less important mines in the same neighborhood.
The
other prominent locality was the Buck Creek or Cullakenee (also spelled
Cullakeenee and Cullakenish) mine, in Clay County, 20 miles southwest
of Franklin. It was opened soon afterwards, and has had a similar
history. The outcrop is much more extensive, but less work has been
done there.
These
mines, especially the first, have been described in various scientific
papers and reports. One of the earliest published accounts was given by
Prof. C. LT. Shepard 13 in
1872; another was by Mr. Jenks himself, 2 years later, in a paper read
before the Geological Society of London. In 1876, Prof. Rossiter W.
Raymond read an excellent paper before the American Institute of Mining
Engineers"; in 1883, Dr. Thomas M. Chatard, of the U. S. Geological
Survey described it again.15
Besides
these valuable articles, there are the no less excellent references in
various reports of the State Survey, by Prof. W. C. Kerr, and in
articles by Dr. F. A. Genth, who was associated with him in portions of
the survey work, and by Dr. J. Lawrence Smith.
Professor
Shepard described the dunite rock very well, and recognized it
distinctly as an altered form of chrysolite, referring it to the species
