of
the Blue Ridge Mountains, and sixteen miles northeast of Statesville,
N. C. The surface of the country is rolling, the altitude being about
1,000 feet above sea level. The soil, which is not very productive, is
generally a red, gravelly clay, resulting from the decomposition of the
gneissoid rock, and under these circumstances it is easy to find the
sources of minerals discovered on the surface. Prof. Washington C.
Kerr's theory of the "frost-drift" is strongly confirmed by the
conditions that prevail throughout this region. The unaltered rock was
found at Stony Point at a depth of 26 feet and is unusually hard,
especially the walls of the gem-bearing pockets. A corporation called
the Emerald and Hiddenite Mining Company was organized to work the
property at Stony Point, and has prosecuted the search for gems
irregularly, for periods varying from one week to eight months of each
year. The entire output, including specimens and gems, has amounted to
about $15,000. The history of the discovery of the deposit and its
subsequent development is best told in the words of William E. Hidden,
the Superintendent. Recounting the discovery of the mine, he says:1
"Sixteen years ago the site of the mine now being worked was covered
with a dense primitive forest. Less than ten years ago (1871), this
county was mineralogically a blank; nothing was known to exist here
having any special value or interest. Whatever we know of it to-day is
due directly or indirectly to the earnest field work done here in the
past seven years by J. A. D. Stephenson, a native of the county, now a
well-to-do and respected merchant of Statesville, N. C. Under a promise
of reward for success, he engaged the farmers for miles around to
search carefully over the soil for minerals, Indian relics, etc., and
for several years he enjoyed surprising success in thus gathering
specimens. . . . The amount and variety of the material gathered in
this way was simply astonishing, and his sanguine expectations were
more than realized. To be brief and to the point I will state that from
a few localities in the County Mr. Stephenson would occasionally
procure crystals of beryl of the ordinary kind, but now and then a
semi-transparent prism of beryl, having a decided grass-green tint,
would be brought
1
The Discovery of Emeralds in North Carolina, by W. E. Hidden. Privately
printed, 8vo, 4 p., 1881, and also Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 1882, p.
101-105.
