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 Collection ot il^ottf) Catoliniana 
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t 
 
•; GEOLOGICAL REPORT 
 
 r OF THE 
 
 MIDLAND COUNTIES 
 
 OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 BY 
 
 EBENEZER EMMONS'. 
 
 Illustrated with Engravings. , ^ 
 
 NEW YOEK: 
 GEORGE P. PUTNAM & CO 
 
 RALEmH: 
 HENRY D. TURNER. 
 
 1856. 
 
•#♦# 
 
 
 Printed by Holdex & Wilson,, 
 
 Ealeigh, N. G. 
 
To His Excellency Thomas Bkagg, 
 
 Governor of JSforth Carolina. 
 Sir: 
 
 It would be an omission of duty on my part to neglect to 
 speak of the interest you have taken in the geological survey 
 during the period you have held the high office of Chief 
 Magistrate of Korth Carolina. Upon myself its influence has 
 been cheering, and I hope its effects will be seen in the re- 
 sults of the survey. 
 
 The publication of this report has been delayed much 
 longer than I expected, but it has arisen from causes beyond 
 my control. It embodies what is now known of the mineral 
 resources of the midland counties. I have intended in all of 
 my statements to keep within the bounds of truth, and not to 
 give them a coloring which future experience will not justify. 
 
 I submit it to your Excellency, regretting that it is not 
 more worthy of your approbation. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your Obedient Servant, 
 
 EBENEZEE EMMONS. 
 Ealeigh, October 1, 1856. 
 
 *0 
 
•I- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This Report is selected from the matter contained in my field 
 notes, wMcli has been accumulating during the period the 
 survey has been in progress. My attention from the first 
 was directed to the mineral interests of the midland coun- 
 ties, but at the commencement of the work, I was obliged to 
 be satisfied with an examination of abandoned mines, and 
 the indications which the country afforded of those which 
 had not been observed. Since the second year of the sur- 
 vey, the opportunities for investigating its mines and mineral 
 interests have been much greater, and I have improved 
 them, when possible, for acquiring a more exact knowledge 
 of their characteristics. The Deep river coalfield has been 
 carefully re-examined along the outcrop of coal and its bitu- 
 minous slate, and the results of these examinations tend to 
 confirm the views I expressed in a former report. It will be 
 perceived, that the products of this coalfield are more valua- 
 ble than the friends of the Deep river improvements had 
 anticipated. But I believe, if those improvements had been 
 completed at an early day, the prospects at this time would 
 be much better than at the present. The mining interests of 
 this State are worthy of the consideration of the public. 
 The auriferous ores are remarkable for their richness. The 
 silver lead of the Lead Hill or Washington mine, is probably 
 not exceeded in value by any mine in this country, and per- 
 haps I may say, in any country. It yields zinc, lead, copper, 
 silver and gold. The processes for the separation have been 
 80 simplified that all these metals may be preserved. 
 
VI ' PEEFACE. 
 
 The fliietnations in mining property, however, have in- 
 jured its reputation in several notable instances. This has 
 arisen from speculations. Many mines have been purchased 
 with that view alone. They have been in the hands of stock 
 companies; and it was more consonant to the feelings of 
 parties to make money by the forced rise or fall of stocks, 
 than by legitimate mining business. But this is now assum- 
 ing a more permanent character, and the time is not distant 
 when it will become one of the main sources of the wealth 
 of the State. 
 
 The recorded observations embodied in this Report have 
 been made by those who have been engaged in this survey. 
 "We have, it is true, received information from others ; but at 
 'the same time it has been made a principle to see for our- 
 selves, and to base every important inference, or doctrine, 
 upon independent observations. 
 
 It would be unjust, however, to two distinguished indi- 
 viduals, to intimate that the geology of the State, and its re- 
 sources, are now, for the first time, placed upon record. The 
 Pioneer in these investigations was Prof Olmsted, of Yale 
 College. He was followed immediately by Prof. Mitchell, of 
 Chapel Hill. Their examinations were practical, and highly 
 valuable. Tlieir reports are extremely scarce. I have not 
 referred so frequently to their labors as I should, if I could 
 have had access to them at the proper time. But geology 
 has undergone important changes since their investigations 
 were made, and these gentlemen would now put an entirely 
 new phase upon their reports, were they in the field. 
 
 It will be seen that I have attempted to determine, more 
 than had been done prior to the commencement of the sur- 
 vey, the age of the formations of this State. The use of the 
 word AGE is comparative, and is always so understood by 
 
PKEFACE, Vll 
 
 geological writers. Even in this sense of the word, there are 
 great difficulties to be met and overcome, inasmuch as there 
 are no immediate terms of comparison which can be em- 
 ployed ; for instance, the lower part of the Deep river coal 
 series which I have called the Permian, rests upon the Pri- 
 mary and Taconic rocks. But the Permian is not connected 
 with the series which immediately preceded it, indeed the 
 three older systems, the Silurian, Devonian and Carbonife- 
 ferous, are absent. The long interval during which these 
 systems were being deposited, is a blank, upon the Atlantic 
 slope. The regular succession is interrupted^ and during 
 these vastly extended periods, this slope was dry land.. 
 
 While engaged collecting the matter of this Peport, I have 
 not neglected the agricultural interest; but it was thought 
 proper to coniine the communication to the subject already 
 indicated. Should another be called for, I propose to pursue 
 the plan which I have adopted in this. The western section 
 of the State follows in the order I originally proposed. 
 
 The eastern counties embrace a field of great interest and 
 importance, but it is quite different in its characters from 
 the former, as most of the citizens of the State already know. 
 I hope to complete the examinations of it this autumn and 
 winter ; and during the coming spring and summer, to com- 
 plete also the survey of the western and south-western coun- 
 ties. 
 
 The additional labors which those who are now engaged in 
 the survey have voluntarily undertaken, has impeded the 
 common fieldwork which had been laid out, and has pre- 
 vented its extension to the western and south-western coun- 
 ties. But this should not be regretted, inasmuch as its ad- 
 vantages will be increased. The additional work referred to, 
 consists in the collection and arrangement of specimens of 
 
Vlii . PREFACE. 
 
 the, rocks and simple minerals and fossils illustrative of its 
 geology and mineral productions. They have been arranged 
 in a room provided for the collection in the Capitol. Citi- 
 zens and strangers visiting Ealeigh will be able to form an 
 opinion of the resources of the State by an examination of 
 this collection. 
 
 It contains, as yet, only the products of the midland coun- 
 ties; and though it does not make a brilliant show, still it 
 will be found a valuable depository for many ptii'poses. 
 
 I deem it necessary only to add to the foregoing state- 
 ments, the expression of my desire to complete the survey at 
 an early day as possible, consistent with that degree of com- 
 pleteness which shall give satisfaction to its friends, and 
 especially those who projected it. 
 
 It is important also to say, that in the printing of this Re- 
 port, that several of the forms passed through the press with- 
 out my supervision, and it will be seen that in them are ma- 
 ny errors ; these will be found in the proper place, corrected, 
 
 EBENEZER EMMONS, 
 
 Geologist to North-Carolina. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Natural Divisions of the State ; the Three Parallel Belts or Zones ; the Eastern 
 Western and Midland Lines of Demarkation between them — Characteristics of these 
 Zones, etc. 5 — 8. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Catawba — Its Manufacturing Sites — The Great Horse Shoe Bend and Palls in its 
 vicinity. 8 — 18. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Elementary facts and principles respecting the Igneous or Pyrocrystalline Rocks. 
 18—22. 
 . _ ' CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Origin of the Sediments. — How distiguished from the Eruptive Rocks — thickness of 
 the Sediments — their Classification, etc. 23 — 27. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Of the Eruptive or Pyrpcrystalline Rocks of the Midland Counties of North.Caro- 
 lina — t heir Distribution, etc. 27 — 36. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. , 
 
 Of the Laminated Pyrocrystalline Rocks— as Gneiss, Mica and Talcose Slates and 
 Hornblende. — Limestone. 36—38. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Of the oldest Sediments — their Primary Character or Aspect— difficulty of distin- 
 guishing them from the true Primary or Pyrocrystalline Rocks by their Lithologi- 
 cal Characters, etc. 38 — 4:1. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Rocks referred to, as belonging to the oldest known Sediments, belong in part 
 to the Midland Counties.— They are Slate and Quartzites mainly, and their Sedi- 
 mentary Origin is based mainly upon conformably Pebbly Beds. — They are found to 
 be related to Rocks which are known in the North, and which there constitute the 
 Taconic system. 41 — 45. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Explanation of the term System. — The Determination of Systems did not take 
 place in the order of their Age. — The Results which have been obtained by the 
 Determination of their Order. — Species few in the oldest Rocks.— Lithological 
 Character of the Sediments in North-Carolina. 45 — 48. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Members of the Taconic system — Division into upper and lower — Minerals give char- 
 acter to the Rock they form in certain cases — Mica and Talcose slates — Agalmato- 
 lite — Quartz and its associates — Fossils, etc. 46^59 i 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Fossils of the lower Taconic Series. 59 — 64. 
 
X TABLE OF CONTENTS^ 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Upper division of the Taconic system and its series of rocks, Clay Slates, Chloritic 
 Sandstones, Cherty beds, Flag stones, and Brecciated conglomerates. 65 — 69. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 On the Quartzite of North-Carolina — Varieties, Geological Relations, etc. 69 — 73. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Origin of Vein Fissures, Dykes, etc. — General considerations relating to them — Kinds 
 of Vein Stone or Gangue — Their relations to heat, etc, — Metallic Veins — Sulphu- 
 rets— Oxides. 73—81. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Characters of a Vein Fissure — Distribution of Metal in a Fissure — Influence of "Walls 
 on the arrangement of the inclosed Ore and Rock, its parallel arrangement — Con- 
 siderations respecting Iron. 82 — 92. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. f 
 
 Geological ranges ot the Ores or Metals, — Are certain Metals confined to any certain 
 Rocks ? 92—97. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Circumstances which favor the accumulation of Ore in Masses — State of the adjacent 
 Rock, (sometimes called the country,) which appears to favor the accumulation 
 of Ore in a Vein — Vicinity of Elvans — Passage of a Vein from one Rock to another 
 —Condition of the Walls of aVein. 97—107. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Directions of the axis of disturbance or the lines of faults and of Dyke Fissures — 
 Direction of Vein Fissures — General conclusions, etc. 108 — 111. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Repositories of the metals in the midland counties of North-Carolina — They belong 
 to both divisions of the rocks, the primary or pyrocrysialline, and the sediments. — 
 In the former, they are always in veins, or else in beds of the same epoch with the 
 rock ; in the latter, in veins, and in the condition of sediments. — Of the ores of 
 iron. 112—128. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued. — Gold and its position, relations, etc. 128— 136. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued — Gold associated with Quartzite and Slate and 
 frequently in irregular veins — Seams and natural Joints. 137 — 141. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued. — Veins belonging to the Slates. — True Veins. — 
 Arrangements of the materials filling the Fissures. — Right running Veins, or cross 
 courses. — Conrad Hill Gold Mine. — Description of its Veins — their characteristics. 
 141—154. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued. — Auriferous Veins. — Gold Hill Gold Mine 
 154—179. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued — Gold Veins in the Syenitic Granite of the Salis- 
 
TAELE OF CONTENTS, XI 
 
 bury and Greensborough belt — McCullock Gold Mine — Pioneer Mine— Fisher Hill 
 Gold Mine, etc. 170—183. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Repositories of Metals continued — Silver ; Washington Silver mine ; its prolonga- 
 tion, etc, — Character of the Veins at diJSferent depths, etc. 183 — 196. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued — Veins belonging to Granite — Copper considered 
 as one of the Metals accompanying Gold — ^Copper Veins ot the Granitic formation 
 — North-Carolina and other Copper Mines of the Granitic districts. 196 — 208. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Repositories of the Metals continued — Lead and its combinations; its Geological 
 Relations and Associations. 208 — 210. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued — Zinc, its ores, geological relations and asso- 
 cia,tions. 210—212. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 Repositories of the Metals continued — Manganese, its ores, their geological position 
 and relations. 213 -£14. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Earthy Minerals and Rocks which possess a value in the Arts. — Steatite — Agalmato- 
 lite — Pseudo Burrhstone — Roofing Slate — Fire-stone — Fire-clay — Porcelain-clay — 
 Building-stone — Porphyry — Antifriction Rocks, or Rocks which may be employed 
 for the bearings of heavy wheels. 214 — 221. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 Graphite — Its relations, extent, quality and uses. 221 — 227. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 Deep River Coal Field — Masses which compose the formation — considerations re- 
 specting its age. 227 — 239. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 Geographical extent of the Coal Measures, together with the imder and overlying 
 Sandstones. 239—246. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 Quantity and quality of the Deep River Coal — Composition, etc. 246 — 254. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The Dan River Coalfield — Division of the beds composing it. — Conglomerates and 
 Breccia.— Lower Sandstones. — Coal Shales. — Upper Sandstones. — Conglomerates — 
 and Brecciated Conglomerates. 254—261. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 Economical Products of the Coal Fields, and of the Red Sandstones. 261 — 268 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 The Advantages of Deep River for the Transportation of Iron, etc. 248 — 260; 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
 History of the Opinions respecting the Age of the Deep and Dan River Formations. 
 Division of the Series with Remarks sustaining it, 271 — 283. 
 
XU TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 Jjeseription of Organic Eemains of the lower series of Deposits of Deep rirer, which 
 have been denominated the Permian system. 283 — 293. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 Of the Animal Remains of the Coal Measures of Deep, and Dan rivers,— Notice of 
 the Vertebral Remains of the Bristol Conglomerate, etc, 293. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Fossils of the argillaceous blue slates^ equivalent to the coal shale groups of the 
 
 Thuringerwald, with remarks. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 The Coalfields of Deep river and of Richmond compared — 1st as to their lithologicai 
 
 characters ; 2d as to their palseontological contents, and, 3d, the indications of their 
 
 comparative age. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The subjects treated of in tiiis Report are mainly those which 
 relate to the natural resources of the midland counties of the 
 State, It therefore contains a statement of the water power, 
 an account of the depositories of the metals, the materials 
 used in construction, and those which are important to the 
 arts and manufactures. 
 
 It is not, however, intended to intimate by the foregoing 
 statement, that the princi]3les of geology have been entirely 
 omitted. If the subjects alluded to, were treated of without 
 reference to principles, they would lose much of their inter- 
 est and utility ; for geological investigations cannot be suc- 
 cessfully pursued, or their results understood, unless our 
 researches are prosecuted under their guidance. It seemed 
 necessary, therefore, to incorporate so much of the elements 
 and principles of the science, as appear to be intimately re- 
 lated to the subjects treated of in this Report.. 
 
 In its perusal, it may appear to some, that I have occupied 
 too much space to the consideration of subjects which are 
 interesting to a few only, or which may have reference to the 
 author. To such, I will say, that it became necessary to make 
 reference to what I have said and done at former times ; but 
 I believe I could not say less and leave the subjects so as to 
 be understood. Others may not perceive that it is at all ne- 
 cessary that the elements and principles of geology should be 
 at all important in communicating facts respecting the re- 
 sources of the country. On this question, a medium course 
 should probably be pursued. It is not necessary that every 
 fact should be explained. It is only the most important ; 
 those which have a bearing upon practical questions. 
 
 I have avoided as much as possible, a discussion of points, 
 which are purely theoretical, or, which appear to be discon- 
 nected with questions of utility. But there are connexions 
 
XIV mTEODUCTION, . 
 
 of the practical with the theoretical, whjch it is important we 
 should understand, and which should be stated. 
 
 Abroad, where the opinions of men, in a great measure, 
 must be formed from oral or written reports, it is necessary 
 that they should be consistent with facts and the commonly 
 received theories. Consistency of theory with facts, gives a 
 passport to descriptions, especially when they are true to 
 nature. 
 
 If a mineral vein is described in language which is equally 
 applicable to a trap dyke, a belief in its value would be with- 
 held, for the former differs essentially from the latter ; or, if 
 the products of a mineral vein are represented as uniform in 
 all its parts, the statement would be disbelieved, for it would 
 be contrary to experience. The circumstances attending the 
 Ulling of vein fissures differ from those which attend the fill- 
 ing of a fissure, containing only trappean matter. 
 
 Every newly explored geological field may furnish new 
 matter, and may also bring to light new facts, some of which 
 may be extraordinary, or which appear, so to us, because they 
 are new ; but which in reality do not conflict with the known, 
 Avhen fully investigated. Thus, the facts elicited respecting 
 the coalfield of Deep river, present many new facts. It had 
 become a prevalent belief, that the workable coal seams be- 
 long mostly to the epoch termed the carboniferous ', an epoch 
 already passed when the rocks of Deep river were deposited. 
 
 It was also maintained that coal is the product of a peculiar 
 vegetation, which belonged to this period, and ceased to exist 
 with it ; and hence, it was not to be expected that valuable 
 seams would be found in after periods. This opinion is not 
 sustained by the facts elicited in the Deep river formation. 
 
 It appears that though coal is a vegetable product, it is not 
 necessarily the product of a particular kind, and cannot be 
 formed from others ; neither is it necessary that they should 
 grow in the carboniferous epoch ; for the plants which have 
 become coal in the Deep river rocks, differ entirely from 
 those of the carboniferous rocks, they form another group ; 
 but yet they perform the same oifice. There is really 
 no conflict of old with new facts ; the conflict is with the 
 
INTEODTJCTrON. XV 
 
 new facts and old opinions, or rather, hasty generaliza- 
 tion. Geologists erred in limiting nature. They introduc- 
 ed into science a dogma, which she repudiates. Deep river 
 has a coalfield, with all its appurtenances. They are as large- 
 ly developed as similar ones in the carboniferous epoch. Its 
 iron ores in all their varieties, its bituminous slates and fine 
 clays, its plant beds, etc., fully attest, that the epoch is enti- 
 tled to the appellation, carboniferous. 
 
 The statement of the plain facts as to its coal, its qualities, 
 etc., required, in this case, a full elucidation of its geology. 
 1S.0 other course would be acceptable to a large class of read- 
 ers. I have, therefore, not only described, with much mi- 
 nuteness, the beds which succeed each other, but have de- 
 scribed and figured the organic remains which are found in 
 them. 
 
 There may be details which appear unimportant to another 
 class of readers ; but they are requested to tolerate them for 
 the sake of another party, who feel some interest in them, 
 because they are wishing to compare this series or formation 
 with another. These details are designed to advance not 
 only economical or practical geology, but theoretical also. 
 
 Among the purely geological questions introduced in this 
 Report, there is one which relates to the oldest sediments. 
 In North-Carolina, the rocks of this epoch furnish a greater 
 development of chert and porphyry, than the equivalent se- 
 ries in the Northern States ; and the general result of this 
 peculiarity, is such, as to obscure their relations, or rather to 
 take from them the distinct lithological evidence of the epoch, 
 to which they undoubtedly belong. Indeed, to prove that 
 they are sediments at all, required a series of observations, 
 before the fact could be established. Accident may frequent- 
 ly disclose facts almost immediately after the question for sO' 
 lution is taken in hand ; but geologists in another instance, 
 may seek for light for years, upon a given question, before they 
 can be satisfied respecting the ground they ought to take. 
 The discovery of fossils in Montgomery county, sets the ques- 
 tion of the origin of the rocks referred to, at rest ; and this 
 discovery is important geologically. It carries down the ev- 
 
 ^f. 
 
XVI INTRODUCTIOIS". 
 
 idence of life upon the globe to a mucli more distant epocli, 
 than geologists had ])Qen led to believe. Bj this discovery, 
 it appears that life received its introduction upon the globe 
 in the earliest or oldest of the sediments. It is sometimes 
 amusing to see the claim set up with an obvious feeling of 
 pride, that Korth-Carolina has the highest peak east of the 
 Eocky mountain range. It will no doubt be amusing to 
 others, should I claim for l^orth-Carolina, the honor of being"- 
 the birth place of the oldest inhabitants of this globe. The 
 fossils of Montgomery county, to which I refer, and to which 
 I have given the family name, Paljsoteochis, or old messen- 
 ger, are quite likely to prove in reality, the oldest represen- 
 tatives of the mysterious principles, life, the harbinger of 
 that immortal part which connects man with the celestials, 
 and who does not feel that the birth place of life, and the 
 birth place of the projenitor of our race, are interesting spots, • 
 and quite as much so, as the highest peak of the Black 
 mountain, about which there is now so much contention by 
 the aspirants for fame. 
 
 The repositories of the metals form a most important sub- 
 ject of inquiry in this State. It is ' here, that I have found 
 unmistakable evidence that gold is one of the oldest metals of " 
 the globe, and that it is, also a sediment ; facts which I be- 
 lieve, are now for the first time, established. Mr. Murchison, 
 one of the most distinguished European geologists, has ex- 
 pressed the opinion, that it is of recent origin, and that it first 
 appeared at the surface, during the tertiary epoch. The 
 facts disclosed in JSTorth-Carolina show, that it is first found in 
 the oldest primaries, granites, hornblende, gneiss, mica, and 
 talcose slate. From the debris of these rocks, it is first trans- 
 ferred to the sediments of the Taconic system, where it is as- 
 sociated with fossils. Subsequently it again appears in veins 
 blended with sulphides of copper, iron, and with quartz. It 
 is therefore, a product of the earliest pyrocrystalline rocks, 
 and the oldest sediments instead of the newer. 
 
 In connection with the subject of mineral veins or reposi- 
 tories of the ores, the question, how they have been tilled, I 
 considered worthy of a discussion. It bears directly upon 
 
 M 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xvil 
 
 their permanence, and although it appears, that there are 
 many phenomena which remain unexplained, still, we may 
 be assured, that the forces by which the process is accom- 
 plished, operated within the earth's crust, and that true veins 
 were not filled from above. The most indicative of all the 
 phenomena attending them, point to sublimations and to a 
 source of material existing beneath ; but like many phenom- 
 ena, it would be unwise to construct a theory which looks 
 only to a single class of causes which are concerned in this 
 process. The source of the metals, is no doubt well deter- 
 mined ; the great reservoir is the interior of the earth. When 
 they are found in beds upon the surface, or bear it in caves 
 and other places of this nature, it may be maintained, that 
 they are derived from broken down rocks and veins. 
 
 I have described some of the most important and produc- 
 tive veins, with as much minuteness as the nature of this 
 Keport will admit. I have, hov/ever, passed unnoticed, ma- 
 ny localities, where both copper and gold are known to occur ; 
 but they are not at present of sufficient importance to require 
 attention, though I am sure many of them are destined to 
 become important, when better plans for working them have 
 been devised, and better roads to market have been opened. 
 
 A subject which requires a few words of explanation in 
 this place, is the reference of certain rocks to the Taconic 
 system. Of this system, I would not disguise the fact, that 
 there exist among geologists differences of opinion. Some 
 refer the series to the Silurian system. I doubt very much' 
 however, whether any geologist would be willing, after an 
 examination of this series in Yirginia and North-Carolina, to 
 refer them to the latter, especially, as they are developed 
 east of the Blue ridge ; and I believe, that in these States, 
 they will be unanimous in their opinions, that the Silurian 
 does not exist in territories designated. But, there seems to 
 be a disposition on the part of some, to regard the Silurian 
 as extending to the base of the sediments. They would ar-^ 
 bitrarily assign all the lower deposits to this system ; but this 
 course is certainly as unwise, as it is unscientific. K nature 
 
 ■■!*;" 
 
XVlll INTEODUCTIOJSr. 
 
 lias made a distinct boundary between tlie lower Silurian and 
 the Taconic systems, it should be recognized. 
 
 At the present time, however, certain distinguished geol- 
 ogists are satisfied that the name Silurian does not cover all 
 the older sediments, but they place the older series in the 
 Cambrean system of Prof. Sedgewick. The adoption of the 
 latter course, evidently indicates progress : it is an admission 
 of a great fact, that we have both sediments and fossils below 
 the Silurian ; yet, the Cambrian system, as maintained by its 
 author, really contains a part of what American geologists 
 regard as lower Silurian. It has this fault, it contains too 
 much. This fact I pointed out many years ago. A medium 
 course might be pursued. The lower Silurian as developed 
 in this country, might be regarded as a distinct. system, and 
 called Cambrian. The lines of demarkation are strongly de- 
 fined. We have an upper horizon between the Lorrain 
 shales and sandstones and the Shawangunk grits of New 
 York, or the Medina sandstone. Below, the series or system 
 is distinctly defined by the base of the Potsdam sandstone, 
 or when this is absent, by the Calciferous sandstone, which 
 rests unconformably upon the Taconic series, when the latter 
 are present. 
 
 The rocks below the foregoing, consist of slates, limestones 
 and conglomerates, none of which, at first, were supposed to 
 be fossiliferous. Now, this view is known to be erroneous, 
 but all the fossils yet discovered, diifer specifically from those 
 of the upper and lower Silurian series. The distinction be- 
 tween the Taconic system and Silurian, is much more strong- 
 ly marked than it is between the Silurian and Devonian. 
 There can be but little doubt respecting the propriety of 
 making this separation I have proposed. It is but the carry- 
 ing out of those principles which have been acted upon by 
 Smith, Maclure, 'de Orbiny, Sedwick and Murchison. If 
 these distinguished geologists have been wrong, respecting 
 the principles which should govern their views of the char- 
 acteristics of a system, it is time to abandon them. If on the 
 contrary, their views are based on principles which commend 
 
INTRODUCTION. ' XIX 
 
 tliemselves to our understandings, let them be followed. 
 These are four leading facts, which go far towards establish- 
 ing the Taconic system. 8uper2)Osition of the Silurian, tm- 
 co7iformability , sjMcifiG differences in tJieorganio remains, and 
 a want of correllation of the memhers of one system with tht 
 other. Such being the fact with respect to the series in New 
 York and Massachusetts, and such too, being in the main, the 
 fact in North-Carolina, it is proper to apply the same name 
 to them by which they are known or designated in the for- 
 mer States. 
 
 It is, however, time to drop the consideration of a subject, 
 which cannot directly benefit the majority of the readet's of 
 this Report. "We may profitably turn to the consideration of 
 some of the results which must necessarily follow from the 
 progress already made in the development of the resources 
 of the State, and also to those which are likely to follow :: 
 First, there is a source of wealth which must flow directly 
 from local discoveries ; Second, there are indirect sources of 
 wealth in the addition of dwellings and the increase of in- 
 habitants, which, of course, increase the amount of taxable 
 property. The agricultural interest cannot fail of being 
 prosperous, when manufacturing villages spring up, or when 
 a mine is profitably worked ; they create a home market for 
 the surrounding country. But North-Carolina contains those 
 materials which elsewhere, are of sufiicient importance, tc- 
 build up large towns and large markets ; I refer to her coal 
 and iron, and when we take into the account, the fact, that 
 both are of a superior quality, and inexhaustible in quantity, 
 it is evident they must become a source of direct revenue and 
 wealth, both to individuals and to the State ; to the latter es^ 
 pecially, through the increase of taxable property. So also, 
 in proportion to the development, the North will become in- 
 debted to North-Carolina, because the North is her market, 
 and hence the balance of trade will be in her favor, and 
 
 Northern exchange will cease to command a premium at he.t 
 hands. Such are some of the legitimate and certain results 
 of development of the hitherto hidden resources. I cannot 
 trace them out through all the ramifications. 
 
XX INTRODUCTIOff, 
 
 Suffice it to say, it is felt in the rise and the value of taxa- 
 ble property ; in the growth of manufacturing towns, the 
 impulse which will be given everywhere to agriculture, the 
 improvement of roads, the construction of railways, by which 
 the avenues to market will be laid open, and imparting 
 thereby an efficient stimulus to enterprise throughout th^i 
 State. 
 
REPORT 
 
 OP THE 
 
 KORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 PRELIMmARY REMARKS: 
 
 Theke are three physical conditions of a country which pro- 
 mote the accumulation of wealth: 1. The existence of the 
 raw materials out of which the mechanical instruments in 
 civilized life are made ; 2. The existence of the powers which 
 are necessary to aid the mechanic in their construction, and 
 3. Cheap and certain means to convey the manufactured ar- 
 ticles and natural products to a market. 
 
 If the foregoing statements are true, then, in conducting a 
 geological survey of a country, the first enquiries should be, 
 What materials exist within its bounds which may be con- 
 verted into useful instruments in civilized life? Do those 
 materials exist in sufficient abundance to make it an object 
 to explore them ? And are there water-powers which may be 
 employed in their manufacture? and, lastly, can those pro- 
 ducts, either natural or artificial, be taken profitably to a 
 market ? 
 
 In regard to the importance of making enquiries respect- 
 ing the existence as well as to the amount of raw materials 
 within the territory of a State, such as gold, silver, copper, 
 iron, etc., there can be but one opinion ; but enquiries rela- 
 tive to water-power have not hitherto been regarded as of 
 sufiicient importance to occupy the attention of the geologist. 
 But, inasmuch as this power is a source of wealth, and, more- 
 over, as it depends upon the geological features of a country, 
 or, in other words, dependent upon the operation of geologi- 
 
 ♦ 
 
2 NOKTH-CAEOLESrA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 cal causes, it slioiild not be lost sight of in a survey whose ob- 
 ject is to make known the natural resources of a State. 
 
 Taking it for granted, then, that not only are the natural 
 resources of a country .worthy of attention, but also that 
 which is necessary to convert the raw materials into useful 
 forms almost equally so, I have, in accordance with this view, 
 made the existing water-power in many instances a subject 
 of special attention. The propriety of these enquiries may 
 be made still more apparent, when it is considered that even 
 the most valuable natural products may abound, but for the 
 want of means for exploration and manufacture they really 
 may be less valuable than the common stones of a field. 
 There may be neither water-power nor fuel for exploration 
 and manufacture ; and being in the interior of a country, 
 they must necessarily remain valueless to the people of a 
 State. Xatural products, then, are valuable in proportion 
 to the available means of exploring them. We wish, then, to 
 know the associations under which natural products occur, in 
 order to estimate their value and determine the bearing 
 which their existence may exert upon the prosperity of a 
 State. 
 
 Governed by these views with respect to the objects and 
 duties of the survey, I propose to state, in the first place, the 
 facts respecting the water-power of a part of the State which 
 has thus far been more immodiatelv under examination — 
 treating it as an auxilliary power, calculated to promote, di- 
 rectly, the prosperity and wealth of the State. Water-power, 
 it is admitted, iu a country like that of ]S^orth-Carolina, is the 
 cheapest and most convenient which can be employed for 
 manufacturing purposes, and is preferable to steam, as it 
 saves an immense amount of fuel and timber which may be 
 required for other purposes. In order to obtain comprehen- 
 sive views of the water-power of the State, it is necessary, in 
 the first place, to direct the reader's attention to the topo- 
 graphical features of the State, which I propose to give very 
 briefly in the following chapter. It is only upon such a state- 
 ment the general adaptation of the country to certain general 
 purposes can be understood. 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 OIIAPTEE I. 
 
 Natural Divisions of the State / the Three Parallel Belts or 
 Zones ,' the Eastei'n, Western and Midland Lines of De- 
 marlcation 'between them — Cha/raoteristics of these Zones, 
 etc, 
 
 § 1. iN^orth-Carolina is naturally divided into three nearly 
 parallel belts. The eastern lies along the seaboard, and upon 
 that side is irregularly indented by intrusions of the sea upon 
 the bordering land, but is more prominently characterized by 
 extensive shallow sounds which communicate but imperfect- 
 ly with the ocean. The soil of this belt is eminently sandy, 
 and, along the coast, is subject to great changes both by the 
 force of wind and water. On the west, this belt may be re- 
 garded as extending as far inland as the falls of the Roanoke, 
 at Weldon, and the Buckhorn, on the Cape Fear, and the Yad- 
 kin, near the Grassy Isles. A waving line connecting these 
 points, passing near Smithfield, in Johnston county, will 
 mark approximately the western boundary of this belt. But 
 this western boundary -line is nearly as irregular' as the coast- 
 line itself. In the immediate neighborhood of Raleigh, ma- 
 rine products are distinctly visible, and at many points the 
 sands project far beyond the west line which I have just 
 marked as approximately the west boundary-line. This zone 
 is flat or gently rolling. The latter seems to have been pro- 
 duced by the action of waves after the sea had become shal- 
 low. Near the coast, this flat country is sixteen feet above 
 storm tides. Notwithstanding the general flatness of the 
 lower countr}'-, the Neuse, near Smithfield, has sufiicient 
 fall to create a good mill-site, and numerous living streams, 
 rising in the rolling hills composed of sand, furnish many 
 small mill-sites which are of considerable importance to the 
 country. But this section of the State is by no means re- 
 garded as adapted to manufacturing purposes through the 
 the aid of water-power, and hence will not require at this 
 time further notice. 
 
4 NOKTH-CAUOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUK\TCY. 
 
 § 2. The midland zone, comprehending the midland coun- 
 ties, is bounded westwardlj- by a line wbicli skii'ts the outliers 
 of the Blue Kidge. In these outliers I place the Saratown, 
 Pilot and Brushy mountains. The Brushy mountains are 
 situated about twelve miles east of Wilkesborough, and are 
 prolonged south-westwardly through Lincoln, Rutherford and 
 Cleaveland counties. This zone is hilly in all parts of it, but 
 more so upon its western borders. The direction of the hills 
 is about north 20°, 30° east ; hence is somewhat variable in 
 different parts of the belt. The streams, as they run south- 
 east, must necessarily intersect this, line, and in some instan- 
 ces the hills or ridges deflect the streams to the east, by 
 which they seek a pass around the more formidable barriers, 
 as in the case of the Yadkin in traversing Wilkes, Surry and 
 Yadkin counties. 
 
 This belt is usually regarded as table-land, inasmuch as its 
 rise is only in a moderate degree, when its breadth is taken 
 into account. It may be regarded, too, as rising in a series 
 of steps till it reaches the base of the Blue Ridge. Consider- 
 ed as a gently inclined plane, we find it somewhat broken by 
 the transverse ridges already spoken of. "When the rivers 
 pass these, rapids and falls are created, which are generally 
 favorable sites for manufacturing purposes. Those streams, 
 however, which are deflected by the more formidable bar- 
 riers, and which are nearly land-locked thereby, become nav- 
 igable for small craft high up towards their origin in the 
 Blue Ridge, as in the case of the Yadkin, Dan and Catawba, 
 or at least may be made so by trifling expenditures, 
 
 § 3. The third zone or belt comprehends the western and 
 mountainous parts of the State. "^ The principal rivers of 
 North-Carolina rise in its crest or its numerous spurs, and as 
 this region is elevated, and presents an extended drainage 
 surface, the supply of water to sustain the main trunks is 
 abundant and never failing. This drainage slope of the Blue 
 Ridge has certain peculiar features in that part immediately 
 adjacent to the crest. This peculiarity consists in the com- 
 parative steepness of the ridge. Thus the descent is four or 
 five times greater than upon the western side. The descent 
 
north-cakolinj* geological survey. 5 
 
 / 
 
 is exceedingly great. Beginning at the crest, I find that the 
 greater part of the entire fall or descent to the ocean is 
 made in the first six miles. The greater steepness of the 
 Blue Ridge on the east side, though it may not be regarded 
 as an anomaly, yet most of the northern part of the ridge, 
 the west and north-west side, is the steepest. It might be 
 suspected, from this fact, that the dip of the rocks in ITorth- 
 Carolina might be changed from south-east to north-west; 
 but this is not the case. The dip is still to the south-east, and 
 preserves the same characters as where the greatest steep- 
 ness is upon the north-west side. The rise in five or six miles 
 of the east side of the ridg-e is from twelve to fifteen hundred 
 feet ; about one-half of the ascent from the sea level to the 
 lowest passes of the ridge has to be overcome in this dis- 
 tance. These features of the mountain ranges are very un- 
 favorable to the construction of railways. So, also, the great 
 inequality of the steepness of the south-east and north-west 
 sides is a serious bar to the tunneling of it; for, though the 
 east side may be approached in a favorable direction, still a 
 tunnel" must pierce the ridge only a few hundred feet below, 
 because it cannot terminate on the north-west side within 
 any reasonable distance from the summit, on account of the 
 slight descent on that side ; or, in other words, a tunnel can 
 be carried in, but it cannot be brought out, within the re- 
 quired distance from the top, to make the enterprise of much 
 consequence in overcoming the high grade of this part of the 
 ridge. The general slope of the country is indicated by the 
 direction of the rivers. The amount of the slope is usually 
 small for the eastern half of the State. From Kaleigh to 
 . Cape Hatteras it is between one hundred and eighty aud two 
 hundred miles. The slope is about one foot to a mile. The 
 middle zone is also about one hundred aud eighty miles wide. 
 The descent ig about ten feet to the mile, or not far from this 
 number. As the attention of the reader will be directed to 
 the midland counties, I do not propose to detain him by a 
 detail of the features of the west. The farther consideration 
 of the subject will be deferred to another time. Greensbo- 
 rough is eight hundred and forty-six feet above tide. The 
 
6 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOEOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 summit of the central road west of Greensborougli, eight 
 hundred and ninety-four. The summit west of Deep river, 
 nine hundred and fifty-three feet above tide. The water of 
 Buffalo creek is ten hundred and twenty-three, and the sum- 
 mit between the Buffalo and Bull-run, eleven hundred and 
 twenty-five feet above tide at Charleston. 
 
 Taking the foregoing levels as approximations to the ag- 
 gregate amount in feet of the fall of the principal rivers 
 which traverse the State, we may form a tolerably correct 
 estimate of the water-23ower which they are capable of fur- 
 nishing, or, in other words, that the midland counties are 
 richly furnished with this important element of wealth. I 
 am now prepared to enter more into detail respecting the 
 advantages certain localities possess for manufacturing pur- 
 poses, i shall begin with the western rivers of the midland 
 district.. 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 Tlie Catawba — Its Manufacturing Sites — The great Horse- 
 shoe Bend and Falls in its mcinity. 
 
 § 4. The Catawba rises in the south-western flanks of the 
 Blue Ridge. It interlocks with the French Broad and Yad- 
 kin, and as its waters are collected from so wide an expanse 
 of country, it becomes an important river when it has reach- 
 ed the upper table-lands of this district. It is confined to 
 narrow valleys by the spurs of the Blue Ridge ; in this part 
 of its course its current is not so rapid as the streams of New 
 England, but still its rapids are rather numerous. These do 
 not always afford good manufacturing sites. Its system of 
 waters is composed of Broad river, Little Catawba, Linville 
 
 ;h 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 7 
 
 river, and numerous smaller streams, originating in spurs of 
 the Blue Eidge. 
 
 The most important section of the main trunk of this river 
 for its water privileges, are situated between the Tuckasege 
 ford and the great Horse-shoe bend, some six or seven miles 
 above the former. In this limited section, the most impor- 
 tant site is formed bj the Horse-shoe bend itself. 
 
 At this place the river makes a circuit of twelve miles, ac- 
 cording to a statement made by persons living near the 
 place, or seven or eight, according to the statement of oth- 
 ers. The extremities of; this bend are about one mile apart, 
 and the river falls, in making this circuit, thirty-two feet, or, 
 as stated by persons at a distance, only twenty-seven-and-a- 
 half feet. The lower extremity of this bend is just above the 
 new bridge for the plankroad leading from Charlotte to Lin- 
 colnton. This fall may be made available for manufacturing 
 purposes by a low wing dam and the construction of a race 
 about one mile long. The river at this place is six hundred 
 feet wide, and in the lowest stages carries a large amount of 
 water. The water is sufficient to fill a race one hundred feet 
 wide, four feet deep, one mile long ; the advantages being 
 still farther increased, from the circumstance that the water 
 may be used twice in the lower half of the race, before it 
 escapes into the river. This location is entirely unoccupied, 
 and hence, there are no old structures or other incumbrances 
 to interfere with the most convenient and economical use of 
 this power. The advantages of this location are : 1. The 
 amount of power afforded by the river ; 2. Its entire safety 
 and freedom from the danger of freshets ; 3. Its accessibility ; 
 
 4. Its good building sites, whether for mills or dwellings ; 
 
 5. Its healthfulness, and 6. Its nearness to other sites : wdiich, 
 when their advantages are combined with this, hold out to 
 capitalists great inducements to lay out a manufacturing 
 town, upon an extensive and liberal plan. I have said that 
 this location must be exempt from loss by freshets. In high 
 water, the surplus will find its way around the great bend, 
 and pass entirely around the structures which may be erected 
 upon the race, and hence, pass harmlessly away. The condi- 
 
8 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 tion of the surface along the race and its vicinity is favorable 
 also to a most advantageous use of the power for the founda- 
 tions of buildings for machinery. The site is accessible, and 
 the cost for the construction of the race will be moderate, 
 considering the great advantages which will be secured. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into details respecting the ad- 
 vantages which would necessarily follow from the occupatioi*' 
 of this great water-power for manufacturing purposes. Situ- 
 ated as it is in a healthy region, in a country where the agri- 
 cultural products may be increased indefinitely, and where, 
 too, steps are being taken to construct a railway to an impor- 
 tant market near the seaboard, it does not require the gift of 
 prophecy to foresee that the foregoing proposed enterprise 
 must be eminently successful. 
 
 The climate of JSTorth-Carolina is well adapted to the man- 
 ufacturing of cotton in all its branches. The cost of main- 
 taining laborers is much less than in I^ew England. Fuel is 
 plenty, its growth rapid ; and into whatever channel a manu- 
 facturing spirit may be turned, it has the most flattering pros- 
 pects of success. It is not now as in former years, when ways 
 to market were unopened. Then,, the utmost which could be 
 done, was confined to the immediate section of country in 
 which they were located. As it is, this home market will be 
 retained, while the markets upon the seaboard may be com- 
 peted for with every reason to expect success; for the interior 
 of North-Carolina can manufacture goods cheaper by far 
 than Now England or New York. Her natural advantages 
 put her upon vantage ground, and it only requires enterprize 
 and the application of that capital which she now has invest- 
 ed out of her territory, to place her among the foremost of 
 the manufacturing States. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing position already alluded to, at 
 the great bend, the river still falls, and creates one mile, or a 
 mile-and-a-ha]f below the bridge, other important manufac- 
 turing sites. Both sides of the river are susceptible of great 
 improvements. The west side is already profitably occupied 
 in part by Mr. Tate. The opposite side, which, though not 
 so convenient for taking out the water, may still be used by 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLrNA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 9 
 
 erecting suitable wing dams. These positions have more im- 
 portance, from being in the vicinity of the power furnished 
 by the great Horse-shoe bend, inasmuch as advantages are 
 secured by proximity in manufacturing enterprises. There 
 is a mutual advantage accruing, by the multiplication of mills 
 in the neighborhood ol each other. It is something to wit- 
 ness what our neigbors are doing ; to see their improvements, 
 and to obtain advice and assistance. But for repairs and the 
 manufacture of machinery of all kinds, proximity secures the 
 necessary mechanics for the many purposes for which their 
 skill and experience are required. There is, therefore, in man- 
 ufacturing towns, a concentration of skill and experience 
 which may be relied U23on, in cases of necessity. It saves 
 the delays incident to those cases where all dependence is 
 placed upon mechanics who are located at distant places. 
 The falls below the great bend, the site of Mr, Tate's factory, 
 is known as Mountain Island, as the river is divided at this 
 place by a high island. The fall here is twenty-two feet, suffi- 
 cient to secure the most important advantages to such manu- 
 facturing establishments as its favorable position may de- 
 mand. ^^ 
 
 If the Wilmington and Charlotte road should be construct- 
 ed and prolonged to Rutherfordton or Lincolnton, it will 
 probably cross the Catawba at the Tuckasege ford, six miles 
 below the great bend. This is now supposed to be the most 
 favorable point for "crossing. From this ford the river may 
 be made navigable by locks and dams far up the river above 
 the great bend. Such an improvement would connect the 
 rich deposits of iron in Lincoln county with river navigation. 
 This iron belt crosses the river just above Sherrill's ford. I 
 may not, however, possess sufficient information respecting 
 the improvements alluded to, to entitle me to an expression 
 of an opinion, either of the positition, feasibility of the un- 
 dertaking, or of its use, provided it were once completed. I 
 have little doubt, however, of the practicability of improving 
 the river, as it was proposed many years ago. At the same 
 time, other modes than those of locks and dams may be found 
 
10 NOETH-CAEOLIKA. GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 better adapted to connect the important points wMcli have 
 been under consideration, with each other.- 
 
 Perhaps I have dwelt too long on the importance of the 
 great bend as a manufacturing site. The ways and means for 
 communicating with this place have been greatly improved 
 in a few years. It only requires enterprise and the invest- 
 ment of capital at this point and its vicinity to create an en- 
 tirely new state of things in this part of the State ; a new 
 opening to prosperity and wealth, by the simple use of those 
 natural advantages, which are now lying unimproved. It is 
 by no means an extravagant expectation that this place will, 
 at no very distant day, sustain ten thousand inhabitants, who 
 will be engaged mainly in manufactures. Honor to the man 
 who dares lead in an enterprise so important. His name 
 would stand beside the Lawrences of the old Bay State, who 
 not only became, by their enterprise, rich themselves, but 
 opened the way for thousands also to enter upon a path of 
 prosperity and wealth. 
 
 § 5. The south or Little Catawba, though carrying much 
 less water than the Great Catawba, may be regarded as upon 
 the whole, the most important manufacturing river. Its 
 shoals are numerous and accessible, and the aggregate amount 
 of water-power is immense. Of these shoals and rapids, the 
 High Shoal is the most important and valuable. The fall is 
 twenty-three feet over a ledge of gneiss. This site has prob- 
 ably no equal in the State for convenience and safety, unless 
 it is the one upon the South Yadkin, which is owned by the 
 Hon. Charles Fisher. Its capacity is not so great as that 
 formed by the great bend already described. It cannot, of 
 course, be compared with the latter, as to its capacity and 
 power ; but, considering the small capital it requires for using 
 it, the height of the fall, and its accessibility, and the mineral 
 property in immediate proximity to it ; it certainly becomes 
 one of the most valuable in JSTorth- Carolina, as I have already 
 stated. So also it is safe, as no risk is incurred in building, 
 so far as freshets are concerned, or need not, as the water is 
 taken out at a point above, which secures all the buildings 
 from danger. The High Shoal property contains, beside the 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 11 
 
 fall, about ten square miles of land, upon whicli there are sev- * 
 
 eral iron mines, as well as gold and copper mines. For- 
 merly, iron of the best quality was manufactured here. It 
 could not, however, furnish it, except for home consumption. 
 The iron ore is inexhaustable, but is not at present sought 
 for, the company being engaged in working their gold mines, 
 though not at a profit. The ore is the magnetic oxide, and is 
 easily wrought, and makes a remarkably tough iron, being 
 adapted to nail plates ; and nails which were formerly manu- 
 
 **• factured here on a small scale, obtained a high reputation for 
 toughness. This location being occupied and well known, 
 requires no farther notice in this place.. Should the Wil- 
 
 •' mincjton and Charlotte road be constructed, it will necessa- 
 ■ rily pass in its immediate vicinity, and hence increase its im- 
 portance as a manufacturing site. 
 
 Below Lincolnton there are ten or eleven mill-sites which 
 are adapted to manufacturing purposes — some of which pos- 
 sess remarkable advantages and are still unoccujoied. They 
 are situated along the river for twelve or fifteen miles. They 
 vary in the amount of fall* from seven to twenty-three feet, 
 rarely, however, less than nine feet. To form an estimate of 
 ♦.the capacity of this branch of the Catawba, I may compare it 
 with a well-known stream, the Hoosick river, in Berkshire, 
 Massachusetts. This river, in the upper part of its course, 
 including that part of it between Cheshire and E"orth Adams, 
 and embracing a branch which comes from the Hoosick 
 mountain, and which joins the Cheshire branch at North 
 Adams, supplies power for moving thirty large mills, most of 
 which manufacture cotton. The Hoosick, at Adams, is 
 about half the size of the Little Catawba; yet it furnishes 
 a power equivalent for turning 500,000 spindles, in a space 
 of about twelve miles ; and at the same time, there is no sin- 
 gle location which can compare with the High Shoals of the 
 Little Catawba. L-on, calico, satinetts and woollens are 
 manufactured, giving employment to between 3000 and 4000 
 individuals, and making an important market for this part of 
 the country. The Little Catawba can furnish twice the 
 power in the same distance, and employ 10,000 persons, and 
 
12 NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL STJKVEY, 
 
 create thereby a liome market for tlie produce of all of thia 
 part of the country. i 
 
 Should the manufacturing capacity of this section of coun- 
 try be filled, it would become one of the most populous parts 
 of the State. The different branches of industry would sus- 
 tain each other, while there would be at the same time an 
 accumulation of wealth from the use of powers now lying 
 dormant. 
 
 It is by these instrumentalities that public improvements, 
 such as railways and canals, are sustained, and the facilities 
 of travel, transportation and intercourse promoted ; all of 
 which are more or less mutually dependent upon each other. 
 
 I cannot, at the present time, make a full estimate of the 
 capacity of the water-power in Lincoln, G-aston and Catawba 
 counties. Enough has been said to show its importance and 
 call the attention of capitalists to a field which promises so 
 Jnuchto enterprize and investment of capital. Its impor- 
 tance will only be discovered by the progress of the several 
 distinct interests which exist in this section of the State ; for 
 tlie iron and other minino; interests no doubt will become 
 very important, inasmuch as the raw material is abundant. 
 So also, I find numerous materials required in their manu- 
 facture, as glass, clays for fine brick and potteiy, etc. 
 
 § 6. The Yadkin is another stream which rises upon the 
 flanks of the Blue Ridge, and vv^hich runs a course of three 
 hundred and fifty miles in the State, including its windings. 
 It leaves it in Richmond county, a large river, with water 
 sufficient for the lars^est class of steamers. In its course it 
 forms several most important sites for manufacturing towns. 
 Its system of waters embraces Uwharrie, the South Yadkin, 
 Abbot's . creek. Swearing creek, Dutchman's and Muddy 
 creek, and numerous other streams which interlock with the 
 Dan, New and Catawba rivers. The main trunk of the 
 Yadkin furnishes water which may be employed for manu- 
 factures and for navigation. The Narrows present an ob- 
 struction to its complete navigation, which cannot be over- 
 come. From a point five miles above the Narrows, plans for 
 making it navigable to Wilkesborough, have been proposed, 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 13 
 
 and the enterprize is no doubt a feasible one. Above Wilkes- 
 borongh, the Yadkin with its numerous branches furnishes 
 numerous water-powers, some of which are employed in 
 flouring grain and sawing timber. The country drained and 
 watered by the Yadkin, is adapted to wheat and corn, and 
 might also become a fine grazing country, if the attention of 
 people were once directed to this branch of industry. Sheep 
 and cattle would thrive well on the hills of Wilkes, Surry, 
 Ashe, Davie and Yadkin. 
 
 As it regards sites for manufacturing towns, two seem to 
 be quite prominent. The first is at the Ti'ading ford, near 
 the great railway bridge of the Central road. Something has 
 been attempted here, but conflicting claims respecting the 
 use of the power on different sides of the river prevent, at 
 present, the completion of v/orks which have been begun by 
 parties, competent to carry them out, and into successful ope- 
 ration. Thus, unforeseen difiiculties have brought to an end, 
 for the present, the improvements at this place. The shoals 
 and rapids of Yadkin, below this point and above the Nar- 
 rows, are in part occupied, but there is always a great sur- 
 plus of water which is unemployed in the lowest stages of 
 the river. 
 
 Milledgeville, five miles above the Narrows, and one-and-a- 
 half miles below Stokes' ferry, is probably one of the most 
 important of the manufacturing sites upon the river ; or 
 may become so. On the west side of the river there is a 
 flouring establishment. This side, however, is too much 
 hemmed in by the hills ,to admit of its growth into a manu- , 
 ■ facturing village, though there is an abundance of water. 
 On the east or Milledgeville side, there is room for a wide 
 race way and the erection of buildings for machinery. There 
 is a fall of thirteen feet in four thousand, not including a 
 rapid at the head of the fall, which has been used for a card- 
 ing machine, but which is, itself, quite sufiicient for a large 
 factory. The middle, or one hundred feet of the river, is re- 
 served as a public sluice for the benefit of the fishing in- 
 terest. But sufiicient water may be controlled by a wing- 
 dam for a race eighty feet wide, and carrying :^ur feet of 
 
14 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 water. This race may extend three-quarters of a mile, and 
 distribute its waters at intervals convenient for the mills re- 
 quired. Milledgeville is accessible, and the banks of the 
 river being low, they present no obstacles to a good road. 
 Indeed, it is to be hoped that the river may be improved 
 from Stokes' ferry to Wilkesborough, by which the means 
 for sustaining the manufacturing interests will be greatly in- 
 creased. 
 
 One mile below Milledgeville, the plantation of Mr. Davis 
 furnishes another equally valuable site for manufacturing. 
 It is entirely unoccupied. The fall which is available is 
 about thirteen feet, and the water can be disposed of in a 
 race which will be free from danger in freshets. The situa- 
 tion of these two points, within a mile of each other, in- 
 creases the relative value of each, and increases also the in- 
 ducements to use these naturel powers tor manufacturing 
 purposes. 
 
 At Mrs. Locks, at the head of the Narrows upon the west 
 side, there is another unoccupied water-power. There is, 
 however, a want of space for a large establishment. The 
 Yadkin falls rapidly in its passage through the IST arrows, and 
 its channel is narrow and exceedingly rocky. Fish do not 
 attempt to ascend it during the night. 
 
 § 7. The South Yadkin is one of its principal branches. 
 It joins the Yadkin in Davie county. It is analogous to the 
 Little Catawba, and like that, has a very important water- 
 power some five or six miles above its junction. This branch 
 is navigable to the falls and about twelve miles above them. 
 The actual descent or fall is twenty-two feet. This mill site 
 becomes important both from the amount of water which 
 may be employed, and the quantity of iron ore in its imme- 
 diate vicinity, and its easy access by land and water. In cer- 
 tain respects, this fall has advantages over others; those par- 
 ticularly which have been enumerated. Both sides are 
 adapted to use, and hence its full power may be employed. 
 We can scarcely estimate the advantages which would be 
 conferred upon this part of the State by the occupation of 
 this power for manufacturing purposes. It has all the advan- 
 
NORTH- CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 16 
 
 tages of the great bend so far as clieapness of living is con- 
 cerned, being situated in a fine agricultural region. 
 
 § 8. The water system of the Cape Fear embraces the 
 Haw, Deep river, ISTew Hope and Little river, with many- 
 smaller streams which are its tributaries — principally to the 
 two first named. The Haw is the largest of the two, and is 
 the most tumultuous stream, and furnishes the largest amount 
 of water-power. Deep river is tortuous and sluggish up as 
 far as Hancock's mills, where it becomes a more rapid 
 stream, and hence it furnishes several important water-pow- 
 ers through its whole course. The tributaries of the Cape 
 Fear are large below Fayetteville. For manufacturing pur- 
 poses, it will be conceded that the Haw and Deep rivers are 
 the most important. The Haw, for example, has twenty mill 
 sites in about sixty miles. These are important, because the 
 greater part of the country through which it passes is well 
 adapted to the growth of the cereals. The first, two miles 
 above Haywood, has a fall of ten feet. As the volume of 
 water is large, and inasmuch too as it can be controlled to 
 advantage, and as the river will be boatable as far as the site, 
 it acquires very considerable importance. At the present 
 time it is only occupied by a rickety mill, which might very 
 well give place to something of greater importance. A mill 
 site is formed every three miles in the sixty miles alluded to, 
 and none of them are fully occupied. From Haywood to 
 Wentworth, in Rockingham county, this river is truly a man- 
 ufacturing stream. The country through which it flows is 
 not so rich in minerals, but cotton and wheat are the staples 
 of the lower half of its course, and tobacco the upper. The 
 lowest fall is one of large capacity ; and is, at least, equal to 
 that required to turn 25,000 spindles ; while the aggregate 
 capacity of the Haw is equal to that which may be required 
 to turn 500,000 spindles. 
 
 It is impossible to calculate the capacity of Deep river for 
 manufacturing purposes. It is supj)osed that there will be a 
 large surplus of water, which may be thus employed, at each 
 of the dams constructed for the improvement of its naviga- 
 tion. Jones' falls is one of the most important upon the 
 
16 NOETH-CAROLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 river. The fall in three thousand is twenty-four feet. It haa 
 been calculated that the discharge of water below the falls is 
 equal to forty-four hundred and eighty-two cubic feet per 
 minute, an amount which is said to be considerably less than 
 that above the falls, owing to a loss from evaporating. 
 
 Several water-powers have been occupied in part for many 
 years in the vicinitj^ of Franklinsville. In this part of the 
 river there are six mill sites in a distance of about six miles. 
 The whole capacity of these sites is equal to that required to 
 turn 30,000 spindles during the lowest stages of water. 
 
 The Cape Fear has two well known falls ; the Buckhorn 
 and Smiley's. The first falls fourteen feet in two stages. 
 The supply of water is sufficient to meet all the wants of 
 navigation, and furnish a large surplus for mills. The river 
 at Smiley's, falls thirty feet in three miles. 
 
 New Hope, v*?^hich fails into the Haw two miles above the 
 bridge at Haywood, is a sluggish stream in all the lower part, 
 yet it has two mill sites of considerable importance. 
 
 There are several other tributaries of the Haw, which fur- 
 nish good sites for mills : Back, Sellers and Kane creeks are 
 mill streams of some importance. The latter, in Alamance 
 county, is a valuable stream for country mills, and for small 
 manufacturing establishments. 
 
 § 9. I shall not attempt to give, at this time, any statement 
 respecting the water-power of the Neuse, Dan, Roanoke or 
 Tar rivers; inasmuch as I have not obtained that local and 
 specific information respecting them, which the subject de- 
 mands. In general, however, it may be observed that their 
 descent within the bounds of the State does not difi"er from 
 that of the Yadkin and Cape Fear ; and if so, they probably 
 furnish an equal amount of water-power, and an equal num- 
 ber of sites adapted to manufacturing purposes. The falls of 
 the Roanoke, at VVeldon, furnish a large water-power, in part 
 occupied; but capable of moving-a much greater amount of 
 machinery, should not be passed over unnoticed. The place 
 itself is the most accessible one in the State; and hence, with 
 its valuable water-power, it seems that ere long measures will 
 be taken to use its advantages upon a much larget scale than 
 they are at present. 
 
NOKTH'CAROLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 17 
 
 § 10. In the foregoing remarks, my object has been to di- 
 rect the attention of capitalists to the subject; and I have 
 mentioned certain points wliich are especially deserving of 
 attention. When the whole field is brought under view, all 
 must admit that this most important power is distributed 
 over the midland counties in such a way as to give each sec- 
 tion a participation in all those advantages which a power of 
 this kind is capable of conferring. While the rivers and 
 their tributaries water the soil and render it productive, they 
 still furnish a surplus not only for the every day wants of man 
 to prepare his lumber and grind his grain for domestic pur- 
 poses, but enough also for manufacturing the cotton and the 
 ores for a home or a distant market. The immediate wants 
 of a neighborhood may be supplied, and enough left to be 
 used for a more public purpose, which will bring a current of 
 wealth and prosperity from abroad. An inspection of a map 
 shows a very advantageous distribution of the rivers of l^orth- 
 Carolina. East of the Blue liidge it is traversed obliquely 
 by seven large rivers, all of which interlock with each other. 
 Their course secui"es to each section through which they fiow 
 a great supply for vegetation. Even the hilly and moun- 
 tainous 'New England, cannot claim a larger and more ad- 
 vantageous supply for the promotion of agriculture and the 
 arts. New England has not suffered her advantages to go to 
 waste. ISTorth-Carolina has been too quiet and too indifferent 
 to her natural advantages. But the time of her indifference 
 lias past. Already experience has demonstrated that her 
 public works, undertaken mainly by the State, secures those 
 advantages which tell strongly upon the prosperity of the 
 midland counties. 
 
 Experience sets right the public sentiment, and in begin- 
 ning a system of improvement, founded upon natural advan- 
 tages, it only requires time for their development, in order to 
 secure a favorable expression of public opinion. 
 
 Tlie principle end in view must always be a market for the 
 surplus productions. A road to a market not only encour- 
 ages the cultivation of the soil, but the development and use 
 of the water-power of the country. If the cereals can be 
 2 
 
18 NOKTH-CAKOLIKrA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 groTind and prepared for market at home, it is better than to 
 send them abroad. If cotton can be manufactured at home, 
 the profits of labor are retained, and the productive property 
 within the State increased thereby. 
 
 It is to those sections of the State which are supphed with 
 means and instruments, that these observations apply. 
 
 To one who has been familiar with the disadvantages of a 
 New England soil and climate, and who has witnessed the 
 disappearance of formidable obstacles in prosecuting exten- 
 sive public or private works by the force of the will, it will 
 not seem strange that he should look with surprise on the lit- 
 tle progress which a people under a better sun, with a better 
 soil, and numerous natural advantages to encourage, have 
 made in the last quarter of a century. When, however, a 
 single public or private enterprise has been j)rosecuted to a 
 successful termination, confidence is increased and timidity di- 
 minished. Every successful enterprise multiplies the friends 
 of enterprise, and the results are being seen in the growth of 
 villages, the erection of a better class of dwellings, and the 
 jcirculation of money. , 
 
 CHAPTEK in. 
 
 Elementary facts and principles respecting the Igne&us or 
 Pyrocrystalline JRochs. 
 
 § 11. It is no doubt proper that a geological report should 
 be restricted mainly to the communication of such facts and 
 observations as relate to the objects of the survey. It cannot 
 be expected that it will be devoted to the teaching of ele- 
 mentary geology ; but it may be necessary, where peculiari- 
 ties exist in the structure of the rocks, to place immediately 
 
NOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 19 
 
 before tlie reader a brief statement of the elements or prin- 
 ciples of tlie science ; besides, it will be found that certain 
 conclusions wliicli I have arrived at will be better under- 
 stood, by first placing before the reader some of the most im- 
 portant of the elements of geology, than they can bo by 
 their omission. 
 
 § 12. All that is important, or is worth knowing in geoht- 
 gy, has been obtained by observation ; it has been worked 
 out by hard labor in the field. 
 
 In this way, and by the aid also of principles and axioms 
 which are universally received, and among which we may 
 place the following, viz., that like causes produce like efiects, 
 geologists have arrived at certain conclusions respecting tht; 
 origin of rocks, as well as to the interpretation of certain 
 phenomena, and the agents also which have left their impres- 
 sion upon the accessible parts of the earth's crust. Of the 
 agents which have left their marks upon the earth's crust, it 
 is universally admitted that jire and water are the most gen- 
 eral and important. Their marks are seen in the phenomena 
 . of each respective class, and known to be those which are 
 fitting and agreeable to the efii'ects which we see every day 
 to belong to them. In the order of time the former stands 
 first ; but its agency must still be recognized. Assuming a 
 very common opinion as true, that the earth has been an ig- 
 nited mass, we shall not be unwilling to admit the conclusion 
 that its agency has become much less, and that the marks 
 which it now leaves upon the earth's crust are much more 
 limited, than in the ancient periods of its history. 
 
 If the foregoing is true, water stands second in the order 
 of time ; but it also acquired its acme of power in the early 
 periods,, and is thia day as influential in its proper sphere as 
 ever; but in its common every day movements its opera- 
 tions are slow and scarcely perceptible. 
 
 § 13. These agents have given origin to two classes of 
 rocks, which are known under the general apellations the ig- 
 neous and the aqueous, each ot which may be separated into 
 subordinate kinds. In the igneous rocks, structure, or the 
 peculiar arrangement of the parts composing the mass, fonns 
 
20 NOETS-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 the basis upon which the division is made. It appears that, 
 notwithstanding the fact that heat acts npon bodies uni- 
 formly, still the results are not uniform, because the circum- 
 stances which attend the cooling of the heated mass are not 
 uniform. But as I have not time or space to make a full ex- 
 planation of these varied results, I proceed at once to give 
 the subordinate divisions to which I hav§ referred. Igneous 
 rocks, then, are divided into two general sections: 1. Those 
 whose structure is distinctly cr3^stalline throughout, as granite, 
 sienite, gneiss, mica slate, hornblende, etc.; 2. Those whose 
 structure is massive, or earthy and compact, or which con- 
 tain in a compact base a few chrystaline particles, and is also 
 vesicular, and may pass into incoherent particles. This sec- 
 tion embraces the basalts, greenstone, porphyry, lava, volca- 
 nic ashes, etc. 
 
 Each of these sections, however, may be subdivided ; thus, 
 the section comprehending the granites and gneiss, and which 
 have been called pyrocrystalline^ are farther subdivided into 
 the Tuassive pyrocrystalline, and the laminated pyrocrystal- 
 line rocks ; their crystallization being produced by fire, but 
 having operated under different circumstance.s, has imparted 
 to the rock a massive structure, and in another case a lami- 
 nated one, like that of gneiss and mica slate. 
 
 § 14. The section embracing the basalts, porphyry, and 
 which have been termed pyroj^lastic^ are also divided into 
 two subsections, which are founded upon the circumstances 
 under which the masses have cooled, or condition under 
 which the heat has operated. Thus, the first section contains 
 those rocks which have cooled under water or great pressure. 
 It contains basalt, greenstone and porphyry. They are called 
 the subaqueous lyyroplastio rocks. The second contains the 
 lavas and aU other volcanic products which are thrown into 
 the atmosphere and cooled under the air, and are hence cal- 
 led sub-mrial. 
 
 § 15. It should be stated in this place, that, although the 
 foregoing subdivisions are sufficiently exact for all practical 
 purposes, still, rocks are sometimes met with, whose structure 
 is intermediate, and may not be referred readily to either of 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICCL SURVEY. 
 
 21 
 
 the foregoing sections ; and I may add, also, by way of ex- 
 planation, that the rocks which are denominated laminated, 
 are frequently called stratified, which is no doubt incorrect, 
 inasmuch as stratified rocks should be placed in the sedimen- 
 tary class, and belong entirely to another order of phenomena. 
 
 It may be inquired, why I have not followed the classifica- 
 tion of others, and recognized a class which has been called 
 metamorphiG. The reason is this : All rocks may become 
 metamorphic, and hence, by the application of certain agents, 
 great changes in their structure ; any rocks, therefore, may be 
 metamorphic, or be metamorphic inpart only ; and hence, too, 
 while we admit that rocks are changed or altered subsequent 
 to their consolidation, it is evident the fact is not a fitting one 
 to form in part the basis of a classification. The so-called 
 metamorphic class are mere accidents in the world's history ; 
 and hence, it will be right to say, that a certain rock is meta- 
 morphic at a certain locality. 
 
 The term ^mwar^/ has been and is still applied to the pyro- 
 crystalline rocks — meaning, simply, that they were consoli- 
 dated before organic beings were created, 
 
 § 16. But, to make the foregoing classification more clear, 
 and to show more distinctly the character of the respective 
 masses, I proceed to state, that the particles in granite, 
 though crystalline, are not arranged in parallel stripes or 
 bands. In fig. 1, A, this peculiarity is represented. It may 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 be traversed by plains or lines, as in the figure ; but these are 
 the natural joints, and serve only to divide the mass into an- 
 gular blocks : while in fig. 1, B, the mass is divided into 
 strips or lamina, each of which is separated from adjacent 
 
22 ISrOETH-CAEOLIN'A GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 ones, by tlie mica or liornblende, whicli is sometimes present. 
 In gneiss, the lamina are usually thicker than in mica slate, 
 represented in fig. 1, C. In Talcose slate, the lamina are 
 usually curved, and the surface may be corrugated. 
 
 § IT. The structure of the pyroplastic rocks, those which 
 have been moulded by fire, is represented in part by fig. 2, 
 A, B, C. Basalt is columnar, as in fig. 1, B. An example of 
 this rock is furnished in the natural walls of Rowan. • A por- 
 phyry is rock which has a compact base, through which crys- 
 talline particles of felspar are disseminated, as in fig. 2, B. 
 
 Pig. 2. 
 
 mmw' 
 
 The subserial pyroplastic is represented in C. The vesicular 
 structure is often' indistinct in the lower parts of the mass 
 which have been subjected to pressure. So, also, the texture 
 and cohesion are variable. 
 
 There is no determinate order in the arrangement of the 
 foregoing rocks, neither do they belong to ancient or modern 
 periods exclusively, except in the laminated pyrocrystalline 
 rocks, which, as a class, together with certain granites, are the 
 oldest rocks of the globe ; while certain granites, with the 
 1>asalts, greenstones, and lavas, may be said to belong to all 
 periods indiscriminately. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 23 
 
 CHAPTER ly. 
 
 Origin of the Sediments. — How distinguished fwin the Erup- 
 tive Bocks — thickness of the Sediments — their Classifica- 
 cation, etc. 
 
 § 18. Sediments consist of abraded particles from pre-ex- 
 isting rocks. These, in most instances, form consolidated 
 beds, the consolidation having taken place beneath the ocean, 
 or beneath the waters which have received the transported 
 matter from rivers. This matter sometimes remains in a 
 soft condition, like the marls and sands of the low counties. 
 
 § 19. Sediments may be distinguished from the eruptive 
 or pyrocrystalline rocks, 1st, by the presence of water-worn 
 particles ; 2d, by the presence of organic bodies, or fossils. 
 The former is the most common character, inasmuch as fos- 
 sils are extremely rare in the oldest sediments. 
 
 § 20. Geologists estimate the aggregate thickness of the 
 sediments at ten or twelve miles, without including in the es- 
 timate those which are regarded as the oldest. This great 
 accumulation of abraded matter is not known to exist at one 
 place, the land not having been stationary beneath the sea, 
 so as to receive the sediments all the time during which they 
 have been accumulating. But different parts of the earth's 
 surface have been covered with water at different periods. 
 So that sediments have always been accumulating since wa- 
 ter has been collected in the great depressions of the earth's 
 surface. 
 
 §. 21. This fact has been useful in classifying these de- 
 posits, belonging, as has been stat^, to different periods ; 
 for it has been proved, by observation, that the different pe- 
 riods during which sediments have been accumulating, con- 
 tain, entombed in them, different kinds of organic beings. 
 But another kind of evidence, going to prove both the suc- 
 cession of the sediments and their capability of being sepa- 
 rated into groups, is derived from, the superposition of rocks. 
 
24 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 Supei'iDOsition is, however, the highest proof of age ; the old- 
 est occupying the inferior position. 
 
 § 22. The bearing which fossils have to any scheme of 
 classification which has been proposed, can be understood 
 only by a knowledge of the following laws : 1. That species 
 or hinds have had a limited duration; 2. That there has l)een 
 a suGoession of species ; and 3. That the species of one period, 
 and which have hecome extinct^ have never lived in any fu- 
 ture period. The ntility of the knowledge of fossils is based 
 on these three laws. This knowledge is particularly useful 
 in comparing rocks which are widely separated from each 
 other, or in those cases where direct superposition cannot be 
 observed. If, for example, certain rocks in Canada furnish a 
 group of fossils similar to those of a given series in Tennes- 
 see, the inference would be, that they belonged to the same 
 period, and hence occupy the same geological position ; or, 
 if we compare the fossils of the coal formation of England 
 and America, it will be found that they are almost identical; 
 and it is proved also, that the position relatively is the same 
 in both countries, though separated from each other three 
 thousand miles. 
 
 § 23. From the foregoing statement of facts, it will be per- 
 ceived, that one great object in geological research is to iden- 
 tify periods and formations ; for periods and formations have 
 a similarity of character not only in their organic contents 
 but also in the minerals connected with them. 
 
 "We are interested in knowing the life character of the dif- 
 ferent groups of sediments, as it is from that that the his- 
 tory of the earth is to be deciphered. It is more than a life 
 history, it is also a physical history ; for in that, or in the phe- 
 nomena they present us with, we may read the physical 
 changes which tlie earth's surface has undergone. The life 
 history and the physical history are often recorded on the same 
 page of the stone book. 
 
 § 24. In order to see clearly the diiFerence in the different 
 groups of rocks, we should construct what is known as a geo- 
 logical column, on which we may indicate the relative posi- 
 tions of rocks by different colored zones, and adjacent to each 
 
' NOETH-CAKOLTNA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 25 
 
 zone place the fossils of eacli group. Sncli a column wonla 
 not only show the relative position of the physical groups, 
 but it would also indicate the epochs during the geologic 
 time, the epochs being characterized by groups of different 
 kinds of animals and plants. But this is not all ; it would 
 show an advance in rank, or a progress in an ascending scale 
 represented in the passage of one zone to another upon the 
 column. At the bottom, molusca, intermingled with low 
 grades of animals and plants, would occupy the whole of the 
 lower zone. In the next, we may observe a, few Ush which 
 are the lowest representatives of the vertebrated class. In 
 the next, the reptile ; and a little higher, we should find the 
 bird ; and after this still, the lowest form of the mammal. 
 The progress in rank seems to continue, till we reach the 
 highest zone, or the last and present epoch. The progress is 
 from a low to a higher rank ; not from the simple to the com- 
 plex, as some suppose ; or from the impeTfect to the perfect 
 structure ; for perfection of structure has reference to adap- 
 tation only ; and, in this view, the structure of a molusk is as 
 perfect as a mammal. 
 
 § 25. IsTow in the examination of the rocks of ISTorth-Caro- 
 lina, I have sought to identify them with those of other States 
 and countries ; or, in other words, to determine the relative 
 position which they occupy in the geologic column or scale ; 
 as such a determination furnishes a clue to their economical 
 value as depositories of the valuable metals or products ; it 
 is, therefore, practically useful, while it advances or promotes 
 the progress of the science. 
 
 § 26. The following scheme or table contains a -list of the 
 systems of rocks, arranged in the order of superposition. 
 
 The left hand column contains the names of the general 
 systems recognized in different parts of the earth's surface, 
 and the right those systems which are known in North-Caro- 
 lina : 
 
26 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Generijil Systems. Systems of North- Carolina. 
 
 Clinozoic, -I Recent and. Recent and 
 
 ' ( iertiarv. Tertiary. 
 
 {Cretaceous, ^ Cretaceous. 
 Oolite, 
 Lias, 
 New Red Sandstone. New Red Sandstone ? 
 
 f Permian, Permian ? 
 
 I Carboniferous, .... 
 
 Palffiozoic, { Devonian, .... 
 
 I Silurian, .... 
 
 1^ Taconic. Taconic. 
 
 Eruptive or Pyrocrystalline. Eruptive or Pyrocrystalline. 
 
 § 27. The new red sandstone and permian are inserted 
 with a query, as it is not satisfactorily determined whether 
 the coal rocks of Deep and Dan rivers belong to the first or 
 second, or to both. It will be observed, that several systems 
 of rocks which are clearly recognized in other States are 
 wanting in ISTorth-Carolina, as the silurian, devonian, carboni- 
 ferous, and the lias and oolite ; the two last are probably 
 wanting, though it should be stated that the opinion has been 
 expressed, by very competent geologists, that Deep and Dan 
 river rocks belong to one or both of them. 
 
 Of the rocks which belong to the State, the tertiary or cre- 
 taceous occur in the lower counties ; they are the deposito- 
 ries of the marls, and never contain the ores of the metals, 
 excepting the earthy ores of iron and manganese. The rocks 
 of the Deep and Dan rivers are important, as they contain 
 beds of coal, ores of iron, fire clay, millstones, grindstones 
 and freestones. 
 
 The taconic system, which belongs to the oldest sediments, 
 and which will be fully described hereafter, occupies the 
 midland counties in part, and the extreme western border. 
 It contains the...most important repositories of the ores. The 
 eruptive or pyrocrystalline rocks are very generally distrib- 
 uted ; they are also the repositories of the ores^ 
 
 § 28. While I believe it is generally true that certain for- 
 mations are more productive in metals and economic mate- 
 rials than others, still, there are evidently certain exceptions 
 to the rule ; and it may j)rove that certain districts are rich 
 in metals, irrespective of the period to which the rocks of the 
 district belong ; . thus^that part of the taconic series west of 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 2Y 
 
 the Blue Kidge, and which is referred to as occupying the 
 midland counties, is rich in the ores, while the rocks of the 
 same age west of the Blue Ridge are certainly very poor. 
 It would seem, therefore, that the • causes which have been 
 operative in charging the rocks with ores, have been confined 
 to certain districts of country. Yet it does not invalidare the 
 conclusion that the metals or ores of a district belong to a 
 distinct period ; but in their distribution they have been only 
 partial, or have rather been limited to certain parts of the 
 system, which represents the period in question. 
 
 There is a general rule, however, with respect to the dis- 
 tribution of the ores, viz : they belong rather to the eruptive 
 or pyrocrystalline rocks, and the primary division of the 
 sediments, the palaeozoic, or are more common to the oldest 
 rocks of this division. It would appear, therefore, that the 
 dissemination of the metals through the rocks took place in 
 the early periods of its history, and prior to the mesozoic and 
 cainozoic series. 
 
 § 29. Having stated a few of the elementary 23rinciples 
 and facts belonging to the subject under consideration, I shall 
 now proceed to describe the rocks which belong to the mid- 
 dle zone of the State ; after which, I shall be prepared to 
 describe, with considerable minuteness, the veins and reposi- 
 tories of the ores which belong to those rocks. The rocks of 
 Deep and Dan rivers, with their rich and valuable contents, 
 will come up for consideration in the last place, when the 
 facts which throw light upon their relative age will be stated. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Of the Eruptive or Pyrocrystalline Rocks of the Midland 
 Counties of North- Caivlina — their Distribution, etc. 
 
 § 30. The granitic formations, which are the subject mat- 
 
28 NORTII-CA-EOLINA GEOLOGICAL StJRVEY. 
 
 ters of tliis chapter, form two continuous belts wliich cross 
 tlie State in a north-east and south-west direction, or nearly 
 so. The first or easterly belt is the widest, having Raleigh 
 situated nearly centrally upon it. This belt furnished the 
 stone of which the Statehouse is built, and hence some of its 
 charfbteristics will be at once recalled by the reader. It may 
 be called locally the Raleigh belt, or the Raleigh granite. 
 The second belt has Salisbury and Greensborough situated cen- 
 trally upon it in their respective districts. It diifers from the eas- 
 tern in certain particulars, and may, with propriety, receive 
 a local name, the Salisbury, and Greengbordxtgh granite belt. 
 In some parts of the belt it is syenitic, and is frequently called 
 sienite / but in other parts it is similar to the eastern belt in 
 composition. 
 
 § 31. The color of the Raleigh granite is a light gray, pass- 
 ing occasionally into a dark gray. It is composed of quartz, 
 felspar, and a very small quantity of dark colored mica ; fel- 
 spar is the most abundant element, and it is the color of this 
 mineral which gives it its lighter shade. To the presence of 
 this mineral also is due its disposition, in certain beds, to un- 
 dergo a chemical change, by which it becomes soft and 
 worthless as a building stone. The particles of felspar are of 
 a uniform and medium size ; the grain may be rather fine, 
 but I believe never extremely coarse. So far as its texture 
 therefore is concerned, the stable and hard parts of it are fit- 
 ted for works of construction, though its defects are some- 
 times brought out when it is protected from the weather, as 
 may be observed in the floor of the Statehouse. The defect first 
 appears in a separation into rather thin lamina usually concen- 
 tric ; the lamina becoming visible, soon disintegrate and pass 
 into a powdery condition, which are the first steps towards 
 the formation of a porcelain clay. These concentric lamina 
 were no doubt developed during its passage from a fluid to a 
 solid state. The decomposition of felspar is supposed to be due 
 to the presence of an alkali or alkaline earth. In the granite 
 under consideration, it is potash ; indeed, all the granites of 
 North-Carolina have a kind of felspar which is technically 
 called potash felspar. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 29 
 
 § 32. It is only from the decomposing granites .that porce- 
 lian clay is produced, which, however, requires a perfect 
 freedom from the oxides of iron and manganese. The test 
 for good porcelian clay requires a perfect whiteness when 
 subjected to the highest heat of a furnace. It is only the most 
 thoroughly decomposed felspar that gives us a good clay. In 
 the progress of its formation, and in the ultimate results of 
 decomposition, we witness a most beautiful example of the 
 molecular force. First, there is the separation into lamina, 
 which is properly due to a mechanical force, but which ex- 
 poses a larger surface of molecules to atmospheric influences ; 
 then a slight detachment o£ particles from each other, and 
 by which the stability of the compound is disturbed, and 
 which soon results in a complete separation of some of the 
 potash. When the chemical affinity is so far weakened, the 
 process of decomposition goes on rather rapidly, until the 
 mineral felspar is completely disorganized, and is perfectly 
 resolved into its original elements. But we must look at the 
 process in another point of view. When certain elements 
 are being detached in this way, they are by no means inert 
 or inactive ; they are in a state disposed to enter into new 
 combinations, or the particles may simply combine together, 
 kind with kind, and so unite as to produce solid elementary 
 minerals ; or they may combine and form new compound 
 bodies. It is so in this case ; that portion of the silica which 
 was in combination with potash combines, and frequently 
 forms minute crystals of quartz ; but sometimes it is a horn- 
 stone. The iron ore also collects by itself, and forms balls 
 consisting of the hydrous per oxide of iron, which may be, 
 and often are, perfectly well defined and separate from the 
 white- mass of porcelain earth; while the manganese also, 
 which is usually present in some form in the granite, com- 
 bines and forms also concretions of the metallic oxide. Some- 
 times these chemical changes appear to be completed, and 
 each new formed body to have become stable again ; but 
 frequently we may witness the changes in all its stages pro- 
 gressing slowly to the termination to which I have alluded, 
 und in which they become, for a time at least, fixed bodies. 
 
 ■* 
 
30 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SILRVEY. 
 
 Such changes are well worthy of notice, as they prepare us 
 to comprehend other changes more complicated, and taking 
 place, under circumstances which we might not expect. 
 Such is the case in many mineral veins, to which reference 
 will be made in its proper place. Similar changes occur in 
 reducing rocks to a soil, and under certain circumstances re- 
 compositions take place in the soil, which operates injuriously 
 on its productiveness. Soils are no doubt generally derived 
 from solid rocks. In the south there is a peculiarity which 
 makes the study of rocks, in connection with agriculture, 
 more important than it is at the north ; for, as was shown as 
 long ago as 1824-'25, by Prof. Olmsted,, the debris from rocks 
 forming the soil, remains in situ. The elements of the soil 
 and of the rock therefore, are more alike ; and a knowledge 
 of the composition of the rock gives us information respect- 
 ing the composition of the soil. 
 
 § S3. Relation of the Raleigh helt of granite to other mem- 
 hers of the ])rimary rocks. — ^^Vhen granite is spoken of, the 
 expectation is, that it is an under lying rock. I have, how- 
 ever, intimated that cases are on record, in which it is shown 
 that it is an overlying one. In the bek of granite under con- 
 sideration, there is evidence which goes to show that it over- 
 lies gneiss, mica, slate, and hornblende. The most important 
 locality which brings to light, this relation, is about one or 
 one-half miles west of Warrenton, in Warren county. These 
 laminated rocks crop out from beneath the granite in this re- 
 gion. The exposure is not extensive, but sufficiently so to 
 establish the relation at this place. There are still others of 
 the kind, but less conspicuous. But if the observation is cor- 
 rect at or near Warrenton, it seems to me that it establishes 
 the fact for the whole belt. 
 
 It follows, from the foregoing, that it was projected through 
 fissures in the gneiss or mica slate, and that from those it 
 overflowed the country where it is now the upper rock. 
 
 This relation, however, is not new ; for many years since 
 I observed the same fact respecting the granites of Maine, 
 which have become so celebrated in architecture. But in 
 Maine, the area of the beds is limited, frequently only cap- 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 31 
 
 piiig a hill, and from whicli the whole had been removed, 
 leaving the beds of gneiss and hornblende exposed. 
 
 § 34, This belt of granite is peculiar in another respect, it 
 furnishes no metalic veins ; and is rarely traversed by trap- 
 dykes. This negative character is referred to, in consequence 
 of its being in contrast with the Salisbury and Greensborough 
 belt. It is of course unnecessary to attempt to explain the 
 fact. We cannot account for the activity of those forces Avhich 
 are instrumental .in filling tissures with metallic matters in 
 certain districts, neither for their inactivity in others. 
 
 § 35. The geographical position of the Raleigh belt of 
 granite may be defined approximately, by giving the names 
 of the places through which its extreme, outer edges pass, and 
 connecting those places by lines ; thus the western edge runs 
 three miles west of Henderson, and one-and-a-half or two 
 miles west of Raleigh, and from thence south-westwardly 
 through the Buckhorn falls, on the Cape Fear river. From 
 the latter place it is concealed by sands, but appears to sweep 
 around towards Rockingham and Richmond county, as it ap- 
 pears there, and also upon the head waters of Turkey creek. 
 Upon Turkey creek there are fine quarries of millstone. 
 
 The south-east edge passes through Weldon, where it forms 
 a barrier across the Roanoke ; thence to Belford, at the west 
 boundary of l^ash county ; thence five miles west of Smith- 
 field, in Johnston county. In this neighborhood it is con- 
 cealed by sands. 
 
 The granite of Rocky Mount belongs to this belt ; but it is 
 separated from it by a belt of slate whicli extends from Gas- 
 ton through Halifax and Belford, where it lies in contact 
 with the granite. The breadth of this granite is from twenty 
 to twenty-five miles. 
 
 § 36. In an economical point of view, very little need be 
 said of this belt of granite. It makes a fine building mate- 
 rial when it is firm, and resists the action of the weather. It 
 contains a very few minerals, which, on exposure, weathers 
 out, and thus impairs its qualities. In the shade it how- 
 ever often becomes dark and dingy from the growth of 
 lichens and fungi, whose growth seem to be favored by moit- 
 
32 NOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUENEY. 
 
 ture, and perhaps also by the disengagement of potash from 
 the felspar. This rock furnishes one of the most distinct un- 
 mixed granite soils in the State. It will be interesting to 
 know its agricultural capabilities, and to ascertain whether it 
 has, in any respects, advantages over the slate soil, in its vi- 
 cinity. 
 
 § 37. The 'Salisbury and Greensborougli helt of granite. — 
 This is frequently a syenitic granite, that is, hornblende takes 
 the place of mica. The grain and texture of the rock is not 
 unlike that of the Kaleigh granite. It is rarely coarse, and 
 never contains large particles of quartz, mica, or hornblende. 
 Felspar predominates over the other elements, and hence, 
 as this is usually light colored, so the granite is generally a 
 light gray. The disposition to crumble is greater than the' 
 rock already described, and frequently it is easily crushed by 
 the hand, and large beds of it occur where it is soft, to a 
 depth of twenty feet ; indeed, large areas occur, in which we 
 may not observe the rock at all, except in the form and con- 
 dition of a debris. But in some places it furnishes a fine 
 firm building material, capable of withstanding the influence 
 of the weather. The weathering rock frequently exposes 
 masses which are hard, and resist atmospheric influences a 
 long time. These hard rocks are nuclei, which seem to 
 have been formed by concretionary movements. They stand 
 about upon the surface like boulders. The roads from Salis- 
 bury and Concord, and from the former place to Gold Hill, 
 pass through or by fields of these rocks, which have been 
 weathered out in the course of ages. 
 
 § 38. ^Notwithstanding the great similarity existing be- 
 tween this and the Raleigh granite, in texture and composi- 
 tion, still the two belts present a great contrast in other res- 
 pects. This contrast appears in the numerous metallic veins 
 and trap-dykes which traverse the Salisbury and Greensbo- 
 rougli belt. Of the former, it will be sufficient to mention 
 the J^orth-Carolina copper mine, McCulloch gold mine, Phe- 
 nix & Vanderburgh gold and copper mine, the Pioneer gold 
 and copper mine, and the Boger & Hill copper mines. Trap- 
 dykes are numerous at most places where the rock is ex- 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 33 
 
 posed, and appear very conspicuous in many of the railroad 
 cuttings. But, at certain points they are so numerous that 
 the rock is obscured. The dykes are not composed of one 
 material, but consist of the common amphibolic trap, quartz, 
 felspar and thin seams of epidote ; forming, together, a net 
 work of eruptive rocks. When they decompose, the horn- 
 blende trap appears in dark green stripes, and many, when 
 carefully examined, have assumed the structure of a sedi- 
 ment or a laminated rock, and which often appears like the 
 dark green slates of the taconic system. This singular struc- 
 ture of an eruptive rock is interesting and important, as it 
 proves that it may be produced in rocks which have been 
 regarded as sediments, but which, in these cases, are the far- 
 thest removed from rocks of this description, and with which 
 water has had nothing to do. The lamina are sometimes as 
 thin as paper, and, from their appearance, cannot be distin- 
 guished from the slates referred to. They are bounded by 
 walls of granite, and are frequently only from six to ten 
 inches wide. We see the phenomena in the apparent slate or 
 killas which border the gold and copper veins when they tra- 
 verse granite. The slaty structure of the dykes, which has 
 just been noticed, is in strong, contrast with the columnar 
 structure which frequently occurs, of which instances, the 
 well known natural walls of Rowan and Stokes counties are 
 familiar examples. 
 
 § 39. I have already alluded to some of the differences be- 
 tween this and the eastern belt, especially in the existence in 
 the former of numerous metallic veins. It should be stated 
 in this place, that the veins referred to are not distributed in- 
 discriminately through the rock. On this subject, however, 
 it is sufficient to state the fact, that they are confined mostly 
 to the edges of the granite, or to the sides which are border- 
 ed by slate, of another formation. The veins which I have 
 already enumerated lie along- the south-east border, most of 
 them within one or two miles of the slate. 
 
 The central railroad runs along the central part of the belt, 
 and although there are many deep cuttings through the 
 granite, still there is not a single instance in which those cut- 
 3 
 
34 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 tings have intersected metallic veins — though, as I have said, 
 the dykes exposed are very numerous. 
 
 The explanation of the foregoing facts respecting the oc- 
 currence and peculiar distribution of the metallic veins is dif- 
 Hcult. We are not in possession of all the facts required, for 
 a solution of the question. The fact which bears more im- 
 mediately upon this subject, is the greater thickness of the 
 granite mass in its centre, or along the line of railway. Yein 
 fissures in this part of the rock may not reach the surface — - 
 or it may lie at a distance from the axis of disturbance, or of 
 the eruptive force. 
 
 § 40. This belt of granite is from ten to fourteen miles 
 wide. The belt will attract attention wherever it is crossed 
 by the numerous trap-dykes in all parts of the districts ; thus, 
 ingoing from Roxborough to Yancey ville, from Graham to 
 Guilford, or froin Union county through Charlotte to Lincoln 
 county, he will pass over the granite with its trap-dylres. 
 
 § 41. The eastern border of this belt passes four miles east 
 of Hoxborough, and from thence southwardly by the North- 
 Carolina copper mine, and about two miles east of Lexing- 
 ton ; thence one mile west of Gold Hill, and thence a few 
 deo-rees west of south to the State line in South-Carolina. 
 
 The western border is about four miles east of Yancey ville ; 
 thence by the High Rock ford, on Haw river ; thence five 
 miles west of Jamestown, and crossing the Yadkin near 
 Crump's ford ; thence near the fork of the South Yadkin, and 
 crossing the Catawba near the great horse shoe bend, and 
 thence crossing the Little Catawba near Springs' mill, and 
 passing out of the State, it takes the direction of Yorkville, 
 in South-Carolina. The belt crosses the State obliquely ; it 
 takes an easterly sweep after passing north of Salisbury : it 
 crosses the Dan just above Clarksville, near the junction of 
 the Dan and Roanoke. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fissuration to which this rock has been 
 subjected, it is comparatively barren in minerals, except the 
 metallic oxides. Epidote is common, schorl rare, and the 
 tourmalines unknown in connexion with it. In this respect 
 it is similar to the eastern belt. 
 
 «• 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. .35 
 
 § 42. This would be the proper place to discuss, at some 
 length, the age of the trap-dykes and metallic veins of this 
 formation ; but, inasmuch as the subject of the formation of 
 veins will come up in another place, I shall now leave this 
 interesting question to a future time, barely observing that 
 the bearing of the facts upon it go to show that the dykes 
 were formed subsequent to the deposit of the adjacent slates, 
 which are, no doubt, sediments of the Palseozoic age. 
 • § 43. Granites of Lincoln^ Gaston and Catawba Counties. — 
 A person, on arriving at Lincolnton in the evening, would 
 imagine that the streets were covered with snow. This white- 
 ness of the streets, however, is not so glaring now as former - 
 ly. The soil is a decomposed white coarse granite, which ex- 
 plains the peculiar appearance referred to. The felspar is 
 predominant here, but the mica being very light colored, and 
 in rather large lamina, the whole rock appears whiter than 
 usual. The granite of Lincoln and the counties named, oc- 
 curs in veins both in gneiss and talcose, or mica slate. It is 
 therefore a subordinate rock. It forms a network of veins in 
 this region, and some veins are very wide. 
 
 This rock first appears about two miles east of Lincolnton ; 
 large plates of mica will probably be noticed first by the road 
 side. The rock to which it belongs will be seen occasional!}^ 
 in the ditches. It is very abundant in and about Lincolnton, 
 as if it was the principal rock. It extends over a wide area. 
 Towards King's mountain the road passes for twelve miles 
 upon it, or it is very frequently a prominent rock on the 
 way side. To northwards from Lincolnton it may be traced 
 ten or fifteen miles. Its breadth is not over three miles. This 
 l)elt seems to have been extensively fissured, which circum- 
 stance gave origin to this eruption along a narrow belt whicii 
 seems to lie between two systems of rocks ; on the east are 
 the slates of the taconic system, and on the west gneiss, mica 
 slate and hornblende rock. I have not been successful in my 
 searches for the ores in this rock. Schorl and lepidolite are 
 the only minerals which I have discovered. 
 
 This granite resembles that which occurs at Chester, Ches- 
 terfield and Norwich, in Massachusetts — and which tliere 
 
36 NOETH-CAROLIKA GEOLOGICAL 8UEVET. 
 
 contains many kinds of rare minerals, though the metals are 
 absent, excepting some exceeding rare ones in minute quan* 
 tity. 
 
 CHAPTEB YI. 
 
 Of the Lmninated Pyrocrystaline Rocks — as Gneiss, Mica 
 and Talcose Slates and HornHende. — Limestone. 
 
 § 44, The individual rocks which fall under the foregoing 
 denominations occupy only limited areas. Indeed it is rather 
 difficult to determine, in certain instances, the line of de- 
 markation between gneiss and granite, as frequently there 
 are passage beds connecting one with the other. I find pas- 
 sage beds in belts along the Crabtree, near Raleigh ; but they 
 are more remarkable near the line of junction with the 
 slates, the ancient sediments along the western border of the 
 granite. These beds are intersected by the road leading 
 from Raleigh to Louisburg ; but being quite indistinct, and 
 moreover quite limited in the area they occupy, I have in- 
 cluded them within the bounds of the eastern range of granite- 
 It may become necessary, on a farther examination, to 
 separate them from the granite. There is no necessity for it 
 now, inasmuch as in an economical point of view they are of 
 little importance. 
 
 § 45. The most distinct belt of gneiss, and its related rocks 
 the primary slates, bounds the Salisbury and Greensborough 
 sj^ranite in Lincoln, Catawba and Iredell counties. The belt 
 is narrow, and not only extends through the eastern part of 
 the counties just named, but runs on through Davie and For- 
 sythe to Rockingham county. 
 
 The locality where the rock under examination presents its 
 typical form, is at Brevard's furnace, on Dutchman's creek. A 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 37 
 
 deep cut exposes, at this place, a rather remarkable condition 
 of the rock ; it is in a concretionary condition, the concre- 
 tions being upon the largest scale of development. The -rock 
 is gray, fine grained, and obscurely jointed. It presents the 
 usual character of gneiss in its laminations and passages into 
 mica slate and hornblende. In Rockingham county the rock 
 is more schistose and fine grained, or rather approaches in 
 structure and composition talcose slate, and a thin laminated 
 kind of hornblende. 
 
 It seems unnecessary to dwell at greater length upon these 
 rocks at this time. They have furnished very few metallic 
 veins. They however lie between the granite and the oldest 
 sediments ; and as marking a geological as well as a geo- 
 graphical boundary, their place in the series should not pass 
 unnoticed. These rocks, however, as they are largely devel- 
 oped along the Blue ridge, will receive the attention they de- 
 serve in the proper place. 
 
 § 46. Limestone of this series,. — The most important rock 
 which appears in intimate connexion with the foregoing, is a 
 white granular limestone. The mode in which it should be 
 described, or how it should be regarded, is not well settled in 
 my own mind at least. Its position, at several localities, is 
 certainly among the gneiss and mica slate and hornblende 
 rocks, and its lamina or beds are nearly parallel with them ; 
 but still it has many characters which belong " only to the 
 eruptive rocks. 
 
 Bolejack's quarries in Stokes county is the most typical 
 form under which it occurs. These quarries are four miles 
 west of Germanton. Tlie rock is white granular, rather 
 coarse and firm, is free from magnesia, and lies in beds or 
 thick laminated parallel masses, which incline at about 10° 
 to the horizon. At Mr. Martin's beds, the hmestone incloses 
 foreign rocks, as quartz, slate and hornblende ; but the lime 
 it furnishes is good and strong. 
 
38 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 Of the oldest Sediments — their Prionary Characters m" As- 
 pect — difficulty of distinguishing them from, the true Pri- 
 mary or PyrocrysiaUine Pochs hy their Lithological Char- 
 acters, etc. 
 
 § 47. A few years only have elapsed since geologists first 
 attempted to discover tlie bottom rocks, their labors having 
 been confined to the superior masses to which they were al- 
 lured by the innumerable relics of the past, and among which 
 they could revel with more pleasure than the antiquarian 
 among the ruins of cities. It is difficult even now, to satisf}^ 
 .)neself what the real views of ffeoloo-ists now are of the bot- 
 torn rocks ; and it is a question which is still in the mouths of 
 some, can they be distinguished and known, seeing they must 
 have been subjected to many changes from the action of 
 forces which were then powerful and energetic ? 
 
 But notwithstanding the plansibility of such a question, 
 there are still grounds for behoving that the bottom rocks, or 
 the oldest sediments, retain the marks of their origin, if not 
 entirely intact, yet, sufficiently distinct and entire for their 
 recognition. This view is founded on the probability, that 
 wdien these rocks began to be laid down upon the sea bottom, 
 the earth's crust had become stable, the inner forces had be- 
 come' comparatively quiet, and that their activity did not 
 greatly exceed in intensity what is witnessed in our day. 
 The time had come when the earth was to be inhabited ; it 
 had received its two outer envelopes, water and the atmos- 
 phere. These results had come to pass, or had taken place 
 in the natural progress of things — were the result of laws 
 which govern bodies placed in the condition the earth then 
 Avas. The forces had died out, or had become weakened ; 
 and they ceased to be energetic, because the sources of their 
 energy were spent. If the foregoing is true, it follows, that 
 in the course of nature, the partially extinct powers could 
 
NOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 39 
 
 not be revived or awakened into life. Locally, tliey might 
 still be energetic, but their general force was expended, and 
 hence too, it would not be in accordance with the general 
 condition then existing, for forces to act so intensely as to 
 change sediments into those universal rocks, gneiss, mica 
 slate and hornblende. 
 
 But to turn to the results of observation. A consistent in- 
 terpretation of the phenomena connected with sediments cer- 
 tainly old, if not the oldest, prove in this country, and in Eu- 
 rope, that we reach a sedimentary base, or what appears to 
 be such, below which, we have no evidence of still older 
 beds. We find that they rest upon those universal rocks, 
 gneiss, mica and talcose slate and hornblende, to say nothing 
 of granite as a substratum. The proof of rocks of sedimen- 
 tary origin, reaches us from these deep seated beds, below 
 which we can find nothing deeper or lower, bearing the char- 
 acter of sediments. The oldest beds are supposed to be azoic, 
 but discoveries have proceeded downwards, and masses sup- 
 posed to be destitute of organic remains have been giving 
 them up to the tireless observations of geologists, so that it is 
 yet unsafe to declare that the bottom beds are truly azoic. 
 
 The older, deep seated sediments, are sometimes distin- 
 guished with difficulty from the true primary series; their 
 lithological characters very often belong to the same order. 
 We might doubt their being sediments at all, were it not that 
 they are associated with pebbly beds. 
 
 § 47. The masses which are obscure, are derived from 
 those containing 9nica and talc, especially the former. This 
 is due to the properties of these minerals, they are never re- 
 duced to rounded grains, but retain their form, or -are merely 
 splits; besides, when subjected to attrition, the size of their 
 particles are rarely diminished, and hence, when reformed 
 into rock, the characters of the parent rock are reproduced ; 
 hence, we find very good mica and talcose slates among the 
 sediments: even in the coal measures, beds are not unfre- 
 quently occuring, which retain a decided primary aspect. 
 But the abrasions in the first instance, and forming for the 
 first time sedimentary beds, are still more like the original 
 
40 NOETH-CAHOLIilA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 rocks from which they were derived ; and hence, it may re- 
 quire the most careful observations, in order to arrive at the 
 conchision that they are sediments at all. It is not, then, 
 their lithological characters which we seek, for the purpose 
 of determining their origin, but the associated beds with 
 which they are strictly conformable, which gives us the evi- 
 dence in this particular upon which we may rely ; and to repeat 
 what has been already intimated, their sedimentary character 
 rests mainly upon the occurrence of conformable pebble 
 beds ; yet the presence of fossils may yet come to our aid, 
 and confirm their origin assigned to them. 
 
 § 49. Another source of difficulty, which meets us in the 
 determination of the origin of rocks, are changes produced in 
 them by proximity to, or by the contact with, igneous rocks. 
 It is, however, real. In many suspicious cases, we have to 
 consider what change is incident to that order of forces to 
 which rocks were supposed to have been subjected. In the 
 case of heat, we know that a rock must become indurated, 
 according to the degree to which it has been exposed. Sand- 
 stone and sandy slate may become sonorous or ringing, like 
 a well-baked brick — and still more so, when clay slates have 
 been subjected to a strong heat, but short of fusion; the 
 sound will be more like the ringing of cast-iron. 'No slates 
 or sandstones ever emit a clear ringing sound when struck, 
 unless they have been heated. The texture in those cases 
 may be only slightly changed — it is always short of vitrifica- 
 tion. This may seem at variance with certain varieties of 
 quartz, which are aj)parently vitrified from heat — as flint, 
 hornstone, and quartz beds, in the granular quartz rock. 
 The apparent vitrification is due to a chemical combination 
 of the particles, or to a cause independent of, and distinct 
 from, heat. 
 
 § 50. In ISTorth-Carolina, we have to deal with rocks of an 
 obscure origin and character ; and hence, I have dwelt upon 
 principles which appear to flow from the facts we meet with 
 in its geology. The first questions which a geologist would 
 ask respecting these obscure rocks would be, to what period 
 do they belong, and to what series in this country are they 
 
NOETH-GAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 41 
 
 related? These are the questions whicli I put to myself, 
 (and which have been often repeated,) at the beginning of 
 the survey. Do they harmonize with the rocks of a known 
 epoch in our country ? For we want to bring, if possible, 
 every series into correlation with some other series, both as 
 physical groups and in their organic contents. Such a cor- 
 rellation would establish the identy of their epoch. The law 
 or rule is, that agreement in these respects, constitutes agree- 
 ment in the most essential characters. I shall treat of the 
 characteristics of these ancient rocks of ISTorth-Carolina, and 
 show their correlations, in the next chapter. 
 
 CHAPTEE yni. 
 
 The Rocks ref erred to, as telonging to the oldest hiown Sedi- 
 ments, lelong in part to the Midland Counties. They are 
 Slate and Quartzites mainly, and their Sedimentary Origin 
 is hased mainly xipon conformahle Pebbly Beds. They are 
 found to he related to Mocks which are known in the North, 
 and which there constittUe the Taconic System. 
 
 § 51. The formations of the midland counties which occu- 
 py the largest extent of surface, are slates and silicious rocks 
 which have been called quartzites. It is a formation which 
 was described as long ago as 1824:-'7, by Professors Olmsted 
 and Mitchell, both of whom fully understood its importance. 
 
 The slates are variable in color and composition. They 
 are mineralogically clay, chloritic and talcose slates, taking 
 silica into their composition, at times, and even passing into 
 fine grits or honestones, but still variable in coarseness. In 
 the order in which they lie, the talcose slates and quartzites 
 are the inferior rocks, though quartzites occur also in the 
 condition of chert, flint or hornstone, in all the series. 
 
42 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 § 52. But tlie foregoing slates, with their associates, stand- 
 ing by themselves, though they might be regarded as sedi- 
 ments, yet, the proof thereof would be wanting, and geolo- 
 gists might consistently diifer as to their origin. But it for- 
 tunately'' happens, that after dilligent search, numerous beds 
 containing rounded pebbles were discovered ; and hence it 
 follows, that their origin is established. They must have 
 been formed in the sedimentary period ; and hence, we are 
 interested in the farther enquiry respecting the true epoch to 
 which they belong ; and therefore the enquiry, can they be 
 brought into correllation with other known formations, whose 
 period has been determined, is a question too important to 
 be passed over. 
 
 § 53. Taking the principles which have been laid down 
 for our guide, we may first try or compare them with several 
 systems or series of the palaeozoic division, and see how their 
 correllation will then stand. 1. The carboniferous. With 
 this systeiti it is scarcely necessary to compare these rocks at 
 all. The fossils and the formations are so well known and so 
 'well delined, that the analogies, even, are very remote. jSTo 
 one would admit that the resemblances between the slates of 
 the two series can bring them into correllation; and be- 
 sides, the carboniferous slates always contain coal plants, of 
 which there is not the remotest semblance in those of ISTorth- 
 Carolina. 
 
 The series beneath the carboniferous, the devonian, is made 
 up of slates, limestones and olive sandstones, in which there 
 are either bands of fossils, or, as in the cases of limestones, 
 they are highly charged with very conspicuous ones, which 
 could not escape the notice of the most careless geologist. 
 The l!^orth- Carolina slates and quartzites have no nearer rela- 
 tion to the devonian than to the carboniferous. 
 
 The Silurian system is divided into upper and lower ; the 
 upper is rich in limestones, shaly limestones and slates, all of 
 Avliich are rich in peculiar fossils. There are no beds in 
 North Carolina which have even a remote resemblance to 
 this division of the silurian system. The lower division, 
 however, requires a very careful comparison with the rocks 
 
NORTPI-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 43 
 
 of this State ; besides, there are geologists wlio assume that 
 the ISTorth-Carohna series are lower silurian disguised by the 
 action of heat or metamorphism. 
 
 The lower division is composed of sandstone, limestone, 
 slate, shale and gray sandstones. I have mentioned the rocks 
 in the ascending order. Mineralogically, the sandstone is not 
 unlike some beds of sandstone in N5rth-Carolina. The lime- 
 stones, which succeed and repose upon the sandstone in the 
 silurian system, are rich in conspicuous fossils, belonging to 
 the several orders of animals. In North-Carolina, there are 
 no fossils, and the relation of the limestones which occur, are 
 unlike those of the silurian system. The upper beds of low- 
 er silurian are also highly fossiliferous, and of peculiar kinds ; 
 and as they neither occur in them, and as the sandstones and 
 shales appear to have no existence in the slate, it seems too 
 great an assumption to regard the ISTorth-Carolina slates and 
 quartzites as lower silurian. 
 
 . An older system of slates, quartzites and limestones, etc., 
 lie beneath the silurian system, which at one time were rank- 
 ed with the primary rocks, are now well known at the north 
 as sediments ; and though several distinguished geologists re- 
 gard them as lower silurian, still the grounds of that belief are 
 too slender for general acceptation ; and since they are be- 
 neath the silurian, they cannot, consistently, form a part of 
 the system. These infra silurian rofcks, occupy the western 
 slopes of the Green mountain range, they repose directly up- 
 on the primary series, and continue for more than twelve 
 hundred miles in this country in one continued belt. No 
 sediments of an older date intervene in all this distance be- 
 tween them and the primary referred to. 
 
 In these ancient infra silurian sediments, I think we can 
 recognize those of the slate system of North Carolina. 
 
 1. In position they appear to agree ; and though they are 
 not overlaid by the silurian on the east side of the Blue 
 Ridge, yet we may see the same conformity with certain 
 talcose slates beneath, as at the north. The quartz rock of 
 Montgomery, Orange and Randolph counties, gives us the 
 
44 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 C 
 
 base from wliicli may be traced tlie proteiform beds, which 
 make up what we may here call the slate system. 
 
 2. The great paucity of fossils, and probably absence of all 
 traces of organization in the lowest talcose slate, makes the 
 correlation of the rocks in the two sections of our country 
 quite evident. 
 
 3. The chloritic and aluminous slates, with their veins of 
 milky quartz, are also alike in each district. 
 
 4. The passage of slates into quartzite, hornstone and fine 
 grits, are also alike in kind ; but in Korth-Carolina the fine 
 grits and hornstones are more common. 
 
 5. The quartz rock is identically the same both at the nortli 
 and south. 
 
 When, therefore, there are so many points of agreement, 
 and so few of disagreement, it appears to me the rocks of the 
 two sections should be regarded as the same ; or, in other 
 words, as belonging to one and the same system. 
 
 § 54. This system has been named the taconic system, 
 from a range of mountains lying in Berkshire county, Massa- 
 chusetts, just west of the Hoosic mountain range, or Green 
 mountains. It is here, that the rocks of the system, in part, 
 are so well exhibited ; though the western flanks of the Green 
 mountain, in their whole length, belong to the series. 
 
 Were it not that the rocks under consideration in North- 
 Carolina can be referred to a series already known, described 
 and named, I should confer upon them some other title. But 
 as it is, it is in accordance with the present rule of geologists 
 to extend a given name to all the rocks of that epoch, how- 
 ever widely they may be separated. Thus we may recognize 
 and adopt the name sihirian, though the country of the an- 
 cient Silures formed only a part of Wales, England. West 
 of the Blue Ridge we have the evidence of continuity. The 
 taconic system which flanks the Green mountain, extends 
 southwards to the Warm Springs of Buncombe county. On 
 the east side, the system, traced in the direction of its strike, 
 extends into Yirginia and Maryland. We see no more of it 
 till we reach Rhode Island. Whether it is discontinued, or is 
 overlaid and concealed by tertiary, is not satisfactorily de- 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 45 
 
 termined. I deem it unnecessary to dwell upon this subject. 
 It became necessary to state those facts which bear upon the " 
 question respecting the period to which these sediments be- 
 lt)ng, and to make such comparisons of them with formations 
 at a distance, and whose period had been determined as one 
 calculated to establish a correllation with them. Whether 
 an exact identity is established or not may not appear per- 
 fectly satisfactory, yet I think there can be but one opinion 
 respecting them, viz,,. that they are among the oldest sedi- 
 ments of this country, and may be regarded as the bottom 
 rocks. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Explanation of the term System.- — The Determ,inatio7i of 
 Si/stems did not take place in the order of their Age. — The 
 Results which have heen ohtained l)y the Deterinination of 
 their Order. — Species feio in the Oldest Rocks. — Lithologi- 
 cal Character of the Sediments in North- Carolina. 
 
 § 55. The term system denotes a series of rocks which are 
 linked together by their natural history characters. The ani- 
 mals and plants of the series are confined to them ; they_ nei- 
 ther occur above nor below. This is what I mean by natural 
 history characters. The rule stated, like other rules, is not 
 absolute nor stringent. It allows a few species to pass be- 
 yond the limits prescribed, but limits them as a whole ; it re- 
 quires that it should be true, in the same country especially. 
 At wide distances, however, for example the silurian of Eng- 
 land and America, the species may be more variable : and 
 the identity may be replaced by analogous species in part. 
 While some are identical, others may occur which are analo- 
 gous only with those at wide distances from each other. The 
 
46 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 series, however, should occupy the same, or nearly the same 
 geological horizon, or occur in the same relations, No one 
 species which lived in the beginning of a period necessarily 
 lived through it ; they often occupy a given part, or are con- 
 fined to the base — the middle or superior part. In the same 
 series at a distance, a given species which occujjies the bot- 
 tom of a system, may appear later in the same system at a 
 distance. 
 
 § 56. The determination of systems was not made in the 
 order of their age. Geologists did not first determine the 
 bottom rocks ; for example, the carboniferous system was 
 made out long before the devonian or silurian ; and the bot- 
 tom rocks are really the last w^hich have been made out. 
 The plainest and easiest cases were first made out and distin- 
 guished ; but each determination opened the way for subse- 
 quent successful labor in another series. The order in v/hicli 
 the work seems to have progressed was in the descending 
 order. 
 
 § 57. The results which have been brought to light by the 
 determination of systems and the relations they occupy, are 
 interesting and even important in an economical point of 
 view. As it regards the order of creation, it is found that 
 those of the lowest rank only belong to the oldest, while 
 those of the highest rank are found only in the newest. Ta- 
 king the whole series together, progress from the low to the 
 high is clearly established. "We may expect to find, then, in 
 the bottom rocks of North-Carolina, only the lowest forms of 
 organization. 
 
 There is not only the foregoing facts" to be noticed, but it 
 should be mentioned also, that we can expect to find only a 
 few species. The species in the early stages of life were lim- 
 ited ; the individuals may have been numerous. Species are 
 multiplied in the later stages. These are general facts which 
 have been determined by geologists. 
 
 § 58. Lithological Characters. — I have already spoken of 
 the difficulty which I experienced in determining the facts 
 respecting the origin of the slates and certam rocks associat- 
 ed with them. At first, it seemed that they should be group- 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. ■ 47 
 
 ed with the oldest laminated rocks, the talcose and mica slates 
 of the primary series. I found, however, many beds among 
 them which looked like sediments, were porphyrized and 
 somewhat changed, though not strictly porphyries. 
 
 I found, after much search too, beds which were unequivo- 
 cally pebbly ; and finally, to remove all doubt, I was fortu- 
 nate in discovering that the porphyrized beds also frequently 
 contained pebbles ; proving most conclusively that they are 
 sediments which were partially altered. I am disposed, from 
 these facts, to place all the rocks not decidedly igneous, or 
 all which are stratified, with the sediments. It is generally 
 easy to distinguish the porphyritic greenstones from the por- 
 ]3hyrized beds as they occur in the formations of ISTorth-Caro- 
 lina. When, however, I had satisfied myself of the fact, that 
 these rocks were changed, as I have stated, the most serious 
 difiiculties in the way of their determination were removed. 
 I state the foregoing, for the purpose of showing that I have 
 not been hasty in locating these singular formations. It is 
 not, however, the first time that the clay slates of ISTorth- 
 Carolina have been described as sediments. Profs. Olmsted 
 and Mitchell took the same view of them, although they did 
 not deem it necessary to state the grounds on which they 
 based their opinions. But I have carried the doctrine far- 
 ther, and place among the sediments the dark bluish green , 
 slates ; those, for example, of gold and silver hills, and the 
 slates which .contain the iron ore beds near Smithfield, John- 
 ston county — as well as those of Chatham and Kandolph 
 counties. I am now prepared to say that the slates and the 
 associated rocks may be referred to the taconic system ; be- 
 cause their lithological characters and their relations to the 
 older rocks below them require it. Assuming, for the mo- 
 ment, that they are sediments, we are obliged to look about 
 and ascertain their relations to other masses ; and finding that 
 the members of the slate series resemble certain slates at the 
 north, those for example of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, 
 and that they, too, hold similar relations, it follows that the 
 former are the equivalent of the latter. In each district, that 
 of Berkshire, Massachusetts, and the midland counties of 
 North-Carolina, the same talcose aggregates, with interbeded 
 
48 NOETtt-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL StJKVEY. 
 
 granular quartz, limestone, etc., form parallel series. So al- 
 so, the clay slates^, beds of cliert, brecciated conglomerates, 
 belong to eacli respectively. In certain places too, the asso- 
 ciated minerals are alike, as the talcs, tremolite, hol'nstone, 
 ferruginous, quartz, manganese, etc. The granular quartz of 
 ]^orth-Carolina is undistinguishable from that of Berkshire, 
 Massachusetts ; examples occur at Cotton Stone mountain, 
 near Troy, Montgomery county ; Hillsborough, in Orange ; 
 near King's mountain, in Gaston, and in Lincoln and Ca-[ 
 tawba counties ; also in Wake county. In I^orth-Carolina, 
 these rocks having been derived from sienitic granites, and 
 having also been changed more than those at the north, ap- 
 pear sometimes quite differently ; and in certain cases it is 
 even difficult to recognize them. 
 
 § 59. The basis upon which their recognition rests, is main- 
 ly their lithological characters, and the relations in which 
 they are placed to the older rocks, and those which they sus- 
 tain to each other. We cannot avail ourselves of the evi- 
 dence which superimposed rocks might give us. It is true, 
 that rocks belonging to other systems repose upon them, but 
 they do not belong to a system which immediately succeeds 
 in the order of time, as the silurian ; they belong to the per- 
 mian or new red systems, which are newer than the carbo- 
 niferous. I have no doubt all well informed geoloorists will 
 unite with me in placing these rocks at the base of the sedi- 
 ments, and yet it is not safe to infer that the question of age 
 is entirely settled ; for it is not known what may turn up in 
 the future, or what change may be required by subsequent 
 discoveries. 
 
 Fossils exist in a part of the northern series belonging to 
 the taconic system, and I have, the last year, discovered fos- 
 sils also in the lower series in North-Carolina. But this dis- 
 covery does not require a change of opinion respecting the 
 age of these rocks ; it cannot change their relations ; it is on- 
 ly extending the boundaries of life beyond what had been 
 previously determined. This is to be expected ; and it indi- 
 cated that the field of discovery has not been fully explored, 
 and that we may hope more light may yet be shed upon the 
 earliest inhabitants of the globe. 
 
NORTH-OAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUBVET. 
 
 49 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Members of the Taconic System — Division into ujpjper a/nd 
 lower — Minerals give Character to the Rock they form in 
 certain cases — Mica and Talcose Slates — Agalmatolite — 
 Quartz am^d its associates — Fossils^ etc. 
 
 § 60. Having stated the reasons at length, for placing the 
 slate and its associated rocks in the taconic system, I proceed 
 to describe the individual members of the series. In the 
 first place, however, I propose to divide them into lower and 
 upper series. This division is clearly indicated in the nor- 
 thern equivalents, but this distinction is less obvious in North- 
 Carolina. The loioer series will contain the talcose slates, 
 white and brown sandstone, or quartz, which is frequently 
 vitrified or cherty, and the granular limestone and associated 
 slates. 
 
 The topper will contain the green clay slates novaculite, 
 the argillaceous, and sometimes chloritic sandstones or grits, 
 and the breciated conglomerates. 
 
 1st. Talcose Slates. — The composition of these slates does not differ materi- 
 ally from those which belong to the primary series. They are made up of talc and 
 fine grains of quartz, the talc greatly predominating; this is the rule, but exceptions 
 occur where quartz predominates, when the rock becomes a friable sandstone. The 
 color and lustre are silvery when chlorite is absent, bluish green when present. 
 
 A peculiarity which may be recorded as confined to this rock, is its wrinkled or 
 corrugated lamina. This variety is always bright and silvery, and is, hencCj the far- 
 thest removed from the common earthy texture which sediments exhibit. 
 
 The talcose slates may be regarded as the bottom rocks, 
 the oldest sediments which we can recognize, and in which, 
 probably, no organic remains will be found. They preserve 
 the aspect of the parent rock. This may be easily accounted 
 for ; talc is a foliated mineral, and when it is abraded does 
 not become firm and granular like a particle of quartz, lime- 
 stone, or even argillite, and as it does not decompose readily, 
 it is simply divided or split, and retains its properties. When, 
 therefore, a rock is reformed from talcose slate, a mass is re- 
 4 
 
50 NOETH-CAEOLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 produced similar to the parent rock whicli furnished the ma- 
 terial. So a mica slate reproduces a mica slate, as it merely 
 splits, and hence preserves all its characters as a mineral, and 
 transmits them to the rock which it forms. 
 
 In each case the only difference which can be detected is 
 the finer grain of the regenerated rock. It is next to impos- 
 sible to pulverize or granulate in a mortar mica or talc ; es- 
 pecially the former. We see, then, why these sediments, de- 
 rived from the primary talcose slates, must necessarily re- 
 semble them, though they have been, as it were, pulverized, 
 and the particles re-united. Illustrations of the fact may be 
 observed in the schists of the coal series. So perfect are 
 these imitations in the undisputed sediments, that were the 
 specimens seen only in a cabinet, they would be referred to 
 the primary series ; and if they recur in the coal series, it is 
 by no means strange that they are common to the oldest 
 known sediments. 
 
 In order to distinguish the sedimentary schists from the 
 primary, we may avail ourselves of tlie presence of the asso- 
 ciated rocks in each case. Thus in the sediments the associ- 
 ated rocks are fine talcose slates, quartz, and conglomerates 
 somewhere in the series. In the primary, rather coarse tal- 
 cose slate, with mica slate, hornblende and gneiss ; without 
 conglomerates or pebble beds; it is true,- hornblendish trap 
 may occur among the former, especially where limestone is a 
 member. Its presence makes the question more diflScult to 
 solve, where pebbly beds are absent. 
 
 Many geologists take a different view of these rocks, and 
 of the pheiTomina under consideration. They apply the term 
 mtaonorjjhic, which means altered rocks. But I believe I 
 have presented the simplest and plainest view of the subject. 
 It is unnecessary to encumber the explanation by assump- 
 tions, when we can give a consistent reason for the phnome- 
 na in question. 
 
 § 61. Quartz rocks, white or brown and gray sandstones. — 
 The associated rock of the talcose slates is a quartz rock which 
 occurs under a great variety of colors and conditions. 
 
NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 61 
 
 The following varieties have been observed in North- 
 Carolina : 
 
 1. A fine grained coherent quartz — Montgomery and Orange counties. 
 
 2. A fine grained friable quartz, which may be crushed in the hand ; when tolera- 
 bly firm, it is a good fire stone — Lincoln county. 
 
 3. A fine grained micaceous and talcose quartz; the texture is tolerably firm, and 
 as it splits well, it makes a tine fire stone — Graphite Locality, Wake county ; also 
 Lincoln county. 
 
 4. Vitrified quartz, or chert — Montgomery, Lincoln, Orange. Davidson and Kan- 
 dolph counties. 
 
 a. Green blue varieties. ■ 
 
 5, Agatized. 
 
 5. A cherty and apparently porphyrized quartz, which contains felspar, which de- 
 composes and leaves a rough porous mass similar to a burrhstone — Montgomery 
 county. 
 
 6. Pebbly and semi-breciated quartz — Montgomery county. 
 
 7. Common brown quartz of various colors — Orange county. 
 
 This rock is readily recognized, first, by noting its position, 
 and second, by its mineralogical characters. It is associated 
 with the primary looking talcose slates. It is repeated two 
 or three times, the masses being separated from each other 
 by the talcose slates. 
 
 It frequently contains beds of pebbles. But its most in- 
 teresting feature appears in its passage into hornstone, chert, 
 of the English, or flint of the American .miners. The term 
 flint, however, is applied to many varieties of quartz ; thus, 
 smoky and milky quartz, as well as the compact cherty vari- 
 eties, are called flint. The vitrified quartz or chert, cannot 
 be regarded as always an igneous product, but rather as a 
 deposit of silica from chemical solution. It is true the solu- 
 tion may have had an elevated temperature at the time the 
 supposed solution was made ; but, facts do not seem to sus- 
 tain the opinion that after the silica or sand, it may be one or 
 the other, was deposited, it was subjected to a heat sufiicient 
 to vitrify it. The granular unvitrified quartz, the sandstones 
 proper, is usually found at the bottom ; while the superior 
 are more or less vitrified, sometimes losing merely their gran- 
 ular structure ; in others, the mass has become perfectly vit- 
 rified. 
 
 An intermediate variety, an argillaceous hornstone, has a 
 
02 KOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUETET. 
 
 Made range in North-Carolina. It is known in some parts of 
 tlie State as a mountain slate, though its slaty characters are 
 poorly preserved. It does not necessarily occur upon the 
 mountains, as its name seems to impl3^ Its name was sug- 
 gested by the curious shape of the outcropping mass, which 
 rises up like a military hat, forming a sharp arched summit, 
 and a long narrow base. These are sometimes eight feet 
 high, and they are frequently so numerous that the fields can- 
 not be cultivated. It is next to impossible to break them 
 down ; they are the toughest of all rocks. The Three Hat 
 mountain, in Davidson county, is nearly covered with thera< 
 But these cherty rocks do not belong to the lower division of 
 this series exclusively. It is found in all parts of the series. 
 It is more abundant south, than in the parallel series at the 
 north. The cherty beds belong both to the lower and upper 
 taconic rocks, and it is interesting to find that they are by no 
 means local. In Washington county, New York, there is a 
 continuous bed of black chert more than a hundred feet 
 thick. It is still more abundant near Troy, Montgomery 
 county. It is also common on the north shore of Lake Huron. 
 
 BuTrhstone. — The cherty variety is frequently porphyritic. 
 The felspar imbedded in the mass decomposes, leaving the 
 rock in a rough vesicular state. If fine, it resembles the 
 burrhstone of Paris ; and as it is exceedingly toiigh and hard, 
 it seems as if it was well adapted for grinding grains, or 
 might be used for mill-stones. It is very extensive in beds 
 as well as in detached masses, and may be raised cheaply. 
 Its toughness and hardness combined, indicates that it will 
 require well tempered tools for working it. Montgomery 
 county can furnish enough to supply the entire country. 
 
 § 62. Agalmatolite — The White Slates, or as usually re- 
 garded as a Soapstone — Steatite, etc. — A rock, which occurs 
 in extensive beds, and known in the localities where it is 
 found as a soapstone, can by no means be placed properly with 
 the magnesian minerals. It is truly the figure stone of the 
 Chinese, and is known to mineralogists under the name of 
 agalmatolite. This mineral had never been observed in this 
 country, or had not been recognized until I made the deter- 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUBVEY. 
 
 53 
 
 mination last year. The first beds which I examined are at 
 Hancock's mills, on Deep river. I have subsequently found 
 it in fine white beds near Troy, Montgomery county. It is 
 white, slaty, or compact translucent, and has the common 
 soapy feel of the soapstones, and resembles it so closely to 
 the eye and feel, that it would pass in any market for this 
 rock. It has, however, a finer texture, and is somewhat 
 harder ; but it may be scratched by the nail, so that it ranks 
 with softest of minerals : it scratches talc, and is not itself 
 scratched by it ; it is infusible before the blowpipe, and with 
 nitrate of cobalt gives an intensely blue colored enamel, 
 proving thereby the presence of alumina in place of magnesia. 
 § 63. Agalmatolite and steatite or soapstone, have the 
 following compositions : 
 
 
 AgahnatoUte. 
 
 Steatite. 
 
 Silica, 
 
 49.81 
 
 42.32 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 
 25.68 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 29.59 
 
 
 Lime, 
 
 6.00 
 
 16.96 
 
 Prot. oxide of iron. 
 
 1.50 
 
 9.38 
 
 Potash, 
 
 6.80 
 
 
 Water, 
 
 6.50 Thompson, 
 
 1.08 Thompson, 
 
 99.10 
 
 100.10 
 
 The beds of Agalmatolite are frequently snow white, as at 
 Hancock's mills they are also greenish or yellowish white, 
 usually with a very close grain and uneven fracture, and dif- 
 ficult to break, or tough. They are white and greenish white 
 near Troy. At Hancock's, certain beds are filled with im- 
 perfect crystals of magnetic iron. 
 
 The rock does not split readily with gunpowder ; when 
 quarried in this mode, as at Hancock's, it breaks out in ill- 
 shapen shattered masses. Hence it should be cut out with a 
 sharp pick, or an edged instrument of a suitable form. This 
 mineral no doubt takes the place of steatite in the taconic 
 system. Although not a soapstone, yet it is adapted and 
 may be applied to the same uses, and it seems to fulfil all the 
 purposes of this rock — as a lining for stoves, chimney backs, 
 mantel pieces, etc. It is not adapted to the business of adul- 
 
54 NOETH-CAEOLmA GEOLOGICAL STLRVEY. 
 
 terating paints, as it becomes, when mixed witli oil, translu- 
 cent and greenish. It is a good substitute for chalk as a cos- 
 metic, its powder being perfectly white and soft. 
 
 The agalmatolite, near Hancock's mills, and sometimes 
 called Womack's soapsone, is associated with the following 
 layers, enumerating them from beneath and upwards : 
 
 1. Massive green slates. 2. Thin bedded green slates. 3. Sandy slates or quartz 
 4. Thin bedded green slate. 5. Quartzite. 6. Ferruginous porphyry, or iron 
 breccia. 7. Agalmatolite beds. 8. The same, Tvith dissemated magnetic iron. 
 9. Agalmatolite in white massive beds, between tive and six hundred feet thick. 
 
 The section embraces a series extending about half a mile. 
 It appears that the agalmatolite belongs to the series very 
 near the base of the system, coming in very near the quartz. 
 It occurs in this position in Montgomery county. 
 
 This rock, on being heated to redness preserves its hard- 
 ness, whitens, and scarcely exfoliates when its cleavage planes 
 are exposed directly to the fire. So far as my experiments 
 go, it is as refractory in the fire as soapstone. When its 
 edges are placed to the fire, it is a perfect fire-stone. Its 
 proportions indicate that it may be a valuable material for 
 porcelain, composed as it is of silex and alumina, and pro- 
 vided it is free from iron and manganese. 
 
 § 64. Limestone. — ^The discovery of limestone in IS'orth- 
 Oarolina has been one of the great desideratums of the sur- 
 vey. Its apparent absence from this series could not be ac- 
 counted for very satisfactorily, because it is elsewhere present 
 with very few exceptions. It will, however, turn out, I now 
 .believe, to be present in its true position, though far less 
 prominent than it usually is. For example, I have discov- 
 ered traces of it on a line extending from near the west bor- 
 der of Montgomery county, towards Ashborough, in Ran- 
 dolph county. The belt which I suppose may exist has come 
 •to light very recently.* As this rock occupies the lowest 
 
 * The limestone which was said to occur near Asheborough, is a soapstone ; but 
 this belt is upon the range in which it should occur. 
 
I 
 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 55 
 
 valleys, and as tlie debris of the rocks remain in place, the 
 difficulty of finding it will be understood. 
 
 The limestone of King's mountain is dark and slaty at the 
 place which came under my own observation. In Lincoln 
 county and Catawba it is white, fine and even grained, and 
 fit, provided large blocks can be obtained, for statuary. The 
 King's mountain and Lincoln belt belong to the same series ; 
 but whether the Germanton limestone at Bolejack's belongs 
 to it, I have not yet been able to determine. It is on or very 
 nearly upon the same range, but I believe, from the informa- 
 tion I have, that it is a laminated limestone, associated with 
 gneiss and mica slate, and hence belongs to another series. 
 
 The position of the limestone is variable. It sometimes 
 rests upon one of the beds of quartz, though a bed of slate 
 frequentl-^hes between them. Slate resembling that associ- 
 ated with quartz is nevdr absent. Talc and tremolite are 
 usually present ; the former always. 
 
 The foregoing rocks make up the lower series of the tacon- 
 ic system, embracing, 1. Beds of talcose slates ; 2. Quartz 
 rocks with their alternating series of talcose slates ; 3. Beds 
 of agalmatolite ; 4. Limestone with its interlaminated slates. 
 
 It will be seen that slates are associated with all these rocks ; 
 they predominate, and ' hence the other masses might be re- 
 garded as subordinate beds. 
 
 In the slates associated with the limestone we find the talc 
 replaced by argillite, and they begin to be purplish and some- 
 times firm, and sufficiently fissile to form good roofing slate. 
 
 § 65. Distribution of the lower masses. — As the rocks are 
 now arranged in the State, it is necessary to regard them as 
 distributed in four belts. Beginning on the east, in Johnston 
 county, I find a belt of quartz and slates traversing a zone 
 from N. 25°-30° E. to S. 25°-30° W. The quartz which is 
 the most prominent member of the series here, crosses the 
 road four miles west of Smithfield. This zone extends to 
 "Weldon and Gaston. 
 
 The dip is south east. The belt is very much concealed 
 by the sands of this region, and very limited portions only 
 
56 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEr. 
 
 appear. It seems to take tlie south east dip, in consequence 
 of its relation to the granite which borders it on the west.\ 
 
 The second, is a belt which traverses Wake county. The 
 quartz is a beautiful white or brown friable sandstone. It dips 
 north west. It lies immediately above the beds of graphite. 
 The third, traverses Montgomery, Randolph, Orange and 
 Granville counties. Pilot and Brogden mountains, Randolph 
 county, the range of hills west and north west of Hillsbo- 
 rough, lie in this range. The fourth belt passes from near 
 King's mountain, in Gaston county, running on the hne of 
 Cleaveland county, pas^s on to Lincoln county, crosses the 
 road about five or six miles east of Lincolnton, in the direc- 
 tion of Sherrill's ford. It appears, that beyond the Catawba, 
 in the direction indicated, the series is concealed. 
 
 These four belts are founded upon the presence of the 
 quartz rock, which will be found upon the ranges indicated. 
 It is not always a prominent rock, and it is easy to overlook 
 it even at many places where it comes to the surface. These 
 belts resemble each other in the arrangement of all the indi- 
 vidual rocks ; they are placed relatively alike. In the first 
 and fourth belt, there is much less hornstone or flint than in 
 the second and third. A question may arise respecting the 
 cause which has disconnected and separated the four parallel 
 belts belonging to one series and one epoch. It is evident 
 that there was in operation a uniformity with respect to the 
 agents connected with their formation, and probably also, as 
 it regards the source from whence the materials were derived. 
 
 We obtain some light upon these questions, by finding how 
 the ranges of the system he. It appears that the basis rock 
 of the whole country is granite, which has been described ; 
 and an inspection of the topography o± the country favors 
 the view, that all these belts lie in troughs. There is, how- 
 ever, nothing which is inconsistent with the idea, that these 
 belts were once connected and continuous ; and that their 
 separation has taken place in consequence of changes of level 
 efi'ected through a subterranean agency. The eastern belt is 
 thrown off so as to dip to the south east ; while the othei-s 
 dip to the north west. Between the first and second there is 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Oi 
 
 a belt of granite ; on tlie east side of it tlie dip is in one di- 
 rection, and on the west it is in a directly opposite one. A 
 belt of granite separates also the third and fourth belts of 
 the taconic system ; both belts, however, dip steadily to the 
 north west. 
 
 § Q6. Origin of the materials composing this ielt. — An at- 
 tentive examination of the mineral characters of the indi- 
 vidual rocks, proves that the materials were mostly derived 
 from the granite already described. 
 
 Particles of felspar are distinguished readily, where the 
 rocks are coarse. In certain beds of close grained hornstone, 
 it is evident the rock is not simple, as decomposition shows 
 the presence of felspar, although, in a fresh fracture, the rock 
 is homogeneous. 
 
 Both the quartz and felspar of the granite' are distinguisha- 
 ble in the breciated conglomerates. Another fact sustains 
 this view, viz.. That the materials were derived from the 
 granite and adjacent rocks ; it is the presence of gold in beds, 
 which of course must have been commingled with the sedi- 
 ments at the time these rocks were deposited. The gold ex- 
 ists mostly in the western belt of granite in the veins belong- 
 ing to the hornblende and gneiss of the Blue Ridge. The 
 distribution of the gold is, however, unequal. We do not 
 discover it in the eastern belt, and it appears that this metal 
 has not yet been discovered in the Wake county belt of 
 granite, or its associated rocks, gneiss and hornblende. In 
 the Lincoln and Davidson counties, the belt of the taconic 
 system, gold is common in the beds of its slates ; showing 
 that the materials were derived, most probably, from the pri- 
 mary rocks of the neighborhood. 
 
 § 67. In the foregoing pages, I have scarcely referred to the 
 taconic system beyond the Blue Ridge ; and now I speak of 
 it, for the purpose of saying, in general terms, that the series 
 traverse the western borders of the slate ; and is in part rep- 
 resented at the Warm Springs, in Buncombe county, where 
 the massive quartz rock presents a most imposing appear- 
 ance. The series is composed of the same rocks as upon the 
 
 L.C.. 
 
58 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 eastern side of the Bine Eidge, but on the west, it is developed 
 upon a much larger scale. 
 
 These rocks will furnish matter for a future communica- 
 tion. It will appear, therefore, that the taconic system in 
 North-Carolina really forms five distinct bands or belts ; the 
 most important, geologically, is the western one ; though, in 
 an economical point of view, those of the midland counties 
 are the most important. 
 
 § 68. It is important to describe, with greater exactitude, 
 the boundaries of the belts of this system of sediments. 
 Their concealment by soil and sands and border rocks, ren- 
 ders this a difficult if not an impossible task. Thus the east- 
 ern belt, an outcrop of which appears four miles west of 
 Smithfi eld. is never elevated into high ridges or hills; it is 
 generally concealed. Its slates crop out in small and distant 
 patches. Thus, low ridges of the slates appear near the 
 Roanoke at Gaston ; also at Halifax. In crossing the coun- 
 try from Weldon through Enfield to Belford, they frequently 
 appear. This rout crosses the belt oblique^3^ We know that 
 Belford is the western limit. On the east the series is ex- 
 posed in part at Boon Hill, and occasionally appears on the 
 route to Waynesborough from Smithfield. Enough is exhib- 
 ited to prove the existence of this series in this part of the 
 State. The Wake county belt is exposed over larger areas 
 than the first. It skirts the sandstone of the coal series from 
 Kichmond to Granville county. It lies between the granite 
 on the east, and the sandstone on the west ; the latter is evi- 
 dently in a trough of the slates, and both sandstones and 
 slates in a trough of the granite. On the west it dips be- 
 neath the sandstone referred to, and emerges from beneath 
 it on an irregular line, running north east and south west. 
 The quartz and lower slates of this belt pass three miles west 
 of Raleigh. The eastern edge will be found within three 
 hundred feet of the graphite deposits. A wide belt of this 
 series is concealed beneath the sandstone. The upper mem- 
 bers emerge from beneath, towards Pittsborough. 
 
 The lower members of the third belt may be traced across 
 the State. Beginning in Montgomery county, near Ti'oy, 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEYEY. 69 
 
 the quartz and accompanying slates pass in the neighborhood 
 of Frankhnsville, Hillsborough, Red mountain, and across the 
 north west corner of Granville county ; near and on the east 
 of Grillis' copper mine, where the slate conglomerates, it is 
 one hundred and fifty feet thick. South westward from Troy 
 the formation is again concealed by sandstone and sands. 
 The dip is north west, and the upper members of the system 
 make a strong show at the Narrows of the Yadkin and five 
 miles above at Milledgeville. The upper members are re- 
 peated near Gold Plill. Granite becomes the prevailing rock 
 in this direction. The Gold' Hill breccias which crop out east 
 of the Troutman mine or vein, well known in the vicinity, 
 passes onward to Brinckel's Ferry. These singular breccias 
 pursue the route to the Three Hat mountain in Davidson 
 county, where the high range of these coarse rocks disappear. 
 The third belt is wider than the second ; its area is, however, 
 made up of both the second and third belts. 
 
 The fourth belt passing fi-om the vicinity of King's mountain 
 through parts of Gaston and Lincoln counties, has been al- 
 ready traced out. It passes along the iron ore bands, which 
 accompany the belt just to the east of it. This belt occupies 
 less breadth than either of the preceding. It seems to be a 
 spur of rocks which come from a much wider belt in South- 
 Carolina, and the inferences derived from the most important 
 facts indicate its discontinuance near the Catawba, in the vi- 
 cinity of Sherrill's ford. 
 
 The geographical distribution, as given in the foregoing 
 pages, applies only to the great body of these rocks. We 
 often meet stripes of the slates perfectly separated from the 
 main body of the belts desoi'ibed in the granite. Thus two 
 miles east of Salisbury there is a belt of slate,- about a mile- 
 and-a-half wide, crossing the road leading to Gold Hill; so, 
 near Roxborough, in Person county, thei'e are two narrow 
 belts lying in the granite, one on the east, and another on 
 the west side of the town. 
 
60 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 Fossils of the lower Taconio Series. 
 
 § 69. A few years only have passed since geologists have 
 turned their attention to the bottom rocks, with the view of 
 determining the beds of rocks or the horizon where organic 
 remains first appeared ; or, if we follow the rocks from the 
 upper to the lower beds, where they disappear. It has been 
 supposed that these fossils would possess more interest than 
 those of subsequent periods, on the ground alone that they 
 were the first creations ; and hence, bear more directly on 
 the solution of questions relative to progress, which may be 
 observed running through the entire series of fossils of the 
 sediments from the oldest to the newest. Having before 
 them the extremes as well as the middle term, the compari- 
 son would be more exact and satisfactory. All this is no 
 doubt true, and it is believed that the first created beings 
 will possess not only an interest for the geologist, but for all 
 who feel any interest in subjects of this kind. 
 
 § 70. It is now a settled point, that the palaeozoic base, or 
 the horizon where fossils first appear, is not in the silurian 
 system. But, as I have already remarked, the progress of 
 determination of systems has been in the descending order ; 
 so, it would seem the discoveries of fossils have been in the 
 same direction ; that is, new discoveries are being made in 
 the oldest rocks where fossils were not previously suspected. 
 Discoveries of this kind must of course terminate with the 
 sediments ; and as there can remain scarcely a doubt of our 
 having reached the sedimentary base, so we must find in 
 these lower masses the palseozoic base also. 
 
 The discoveries which I have made during the last year are 
 in accordance with the foregoing observations. I had sup- 
 posed that the palseozoic base was in the upper taconic rocks : 
 but I found in the sandstone and clierty beds at Troy, Mont- 
 gomery county, two or three species of fossils, which were 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 61 
 
 • 
 
 not only unknown as organic remains, but were in rocks not 
 before suspected of containing fossils at all. These fossils be- 
 long to the class of zoophites, the lowest organization in the 
 animal kingdom. 
 
 In Massachusetts, the lower taconic rocks have been exam^ 
 ined with considerable care, but no discoveries of this kind 
 have as yet been made. Such a result may appear to con- 
 flict with what has been laid down respecting the character- 
 istics of systems ; or that there has been an error committed 
 in the determination of the rock in which these fossils occur. 
 That I may throw all the light possible upon this question, I 
 shall give the following descriptive section of the rocks and 
 beds in which I found them. The enumeration is in the as- 
 cending order : 
 
 1. Talcose slates, passing into silicious slates, and which are often obscurely brec- 
 ciated. Thickness undetermined. 
 
 2 Brecciated conglomerates, three hundred to four hundred feet thick, and some- 
 times porphyrized. 
 
 3. Slaty breccia, associated with hornstone. 
 
 4. Granular quartz, sometimes vitreous, and filled with fossils and silicious concre- 
 tions of the size of almonds ; two to three hundred feet thick. 
 
 5. Slaty quartzite, with a very few fossils, about fifty feet thick. 
 
 6. Slate without fossils; forty feet thick. 
 
 7. White quartz, more or less vitrified, filled with fossils and concretions; seven 
 to eight hundred feet thick. 
 
 8. Jointed granular quartz, with only a few fossils. 
 
 9. Vitrified quartz, without fossils; thirty feet thick, 
 
 10. Granular quartz, no fossils, and thickness very great,, but not determined. 
 
 It will be observed that the fossils extend through about one 
 thousand feet of rock, some beds of which consist almost en- 
 tirely of them, and intermixed with silicious concretions which 
 are almond shaped, and which frequently contain the fossil. 
 I suspect that the silicious concretion may have been formed 
 in consequence of some organic body, as it- is obscurely struc- 
 tural, but I have attributed it to crystallization, or to a mo- 
 lecular force. 
 
 The fossils are corals of a lenticular form, varying in size 
 from a small pea to two inches in diameter. 
 
62 
 
 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKNEY. 
 
 Figs. 3, 4 and 5. 
 
 Figures 3 and 4 and 5 have the form of the smallest. Its 
 generic character is contained in the following : 
 
 Form lenticular and circular, and similar to a iiattish dou- 
 ble cone applied base to base ; surfaces grooved and grooves 
 somewhat irregular, but extending from near apex to the cir- 
 cumference or edge ; apex of the inferior side, excavated or 
 provided with a small roundish cavity, with a smooth inside, 
 or sometimes marked by light ridges, which may be acci- 
 dental ; opposite side supplied with a small rounded knob, 
 from the base of which the radiating grooves begin. 
 
 The name which I propose for this new genus is Palceotro- 
 chis • old messenger. The specific name, minor, will be appro- 
 priate, as this is one of the constant lesser forms of the fossil. 
 The name in full, therefore, stands Palceotrochis minor. Fi- 
 gures 3, 4, 5, exhibit it in a different position and condition. 
 
 Figures 5 and 6. This large variety, or as I beheve spe- 
 cies, differs from the foregoing in the absence of the roundish 
 apical depression of the lower side, and the knob of the op- 
 posite side ; both species aj)pear to terminate in obtuse points. 
 At first, I su]3posed these forms may have been the results of 
 age, but as they are constant, or apppear to be, I am now in- 
 inclined to believe it specific, I propose the name Palcmtro- 
 chis major. 
 
NOETH-CAKOLESTA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 63 
 
 
 . 't . 
 
 :^«nn ' '' 
 
 i 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 Continued searcli for 
 other kinds of fossils have 
 resulted thus far only in 
 obtaining one or two spe- 
 cimens of an obscure Bry- 
 ozoon, and a fragment of 
 something obscurely or- 
 ganized ; but so much so 
 that its determination is 
 out of the question. The 
 latter may have been a 
 fucoid, as it appears more 
 like a vegetable than an 
 animal structure. 
 
 For the reasons which 
 have been already assign- 
 ed, these fossils possess an 
 unusual interest; an in- 
 terest which arises from 
 their age. If my deter- 
 mination can be relied 
 upon, they are the oldest 
 representatives of the ani- 
 mal kingdom upon the globe, the first of those low grades of 
 life which were created. 
 
 This fossil is a silicious coralline, and not silicious from pet- 
 rifaction. It seems never to have had a calcareous skeleton 
 like most corallines ; but, during its existence, to have been 
 entirely composed of the former substance. The animal was 
 gemmiferous — the germs being sometimes cast off, in which 
 case new and independent individuals were produced ; on 
 others, the germs adhered to the parent. These start from 
 the circular edge at the base of the cones ; their growtk pro- 
 duced a change of form which is illustrated in figures 3 and 5. 
 These fossils also occur in the variety of quartz or quartzite 
 which I have described as a hurrhstone, and which is often 
 porphyrized. 
 
64: NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 One of the most interesting facts connected with one of the 
 localities of this fossil is, the rock itself is auriferous. Gold 
 has been obtained in large amounts from the fossiliferous 
 beds themselves. Over one hundred thousand dollars having 
 been obtained by washing the debris of this rock. This sub- 
 ject will come up again. 
 
 The paleeotrochis is found at Troy, Montgomery county ; 
 at Zion, about twelve miles south west from Troy, where the 
 fossils occur in the greatest profusion. It has also been no* 
 ticed on the road from Troy to Birney's bridge. 
 
 It.is evident from the foregoing, that the beds which con- 
 tain the fossils are repeated, that uplifts or fractures of the 
 strata occur, by which the fossilferbus strata are thus widely 
 separated. 
 
 The geological position of this most ancient fossil is deter- 
 mined from the relative position of the quartzite to the infe- 1 
 rior talcose slates. Some of the interlaminated slates are 
 known under the name of soapstone ; it is the agalmatolite 
 already described. The beds of fossils are also beneath the 
 common clay slate of the country, which is equivalent to the 
 clay slate beneath the limestone of Rensselaer county, New 
 York. It is therefore brought into close relationship with the 
 quartz rock of Saddle mountain, Berkshire county, Massaclm 
 setts. 
 
 If the foregoing determination is sustained by future ob- 
 servations, the paleeotrochis is nearer the base of the sedi- 
 ments than any one which has as yet been discovered in this 
 country. The equivalent quartz rock of Berkshire county, 
 Massachusetts, alternates with three beds of talcose slates. 
 The same rocks exist in Buncombe county, at the Warm 
 Springs. Along the whole range of these deposits from north 
 to south the primary rocks are just beneath. Hence the 
 quartz is the oldest sediment except the slates with which it 
 alteri|p,tes, and which continue below, and form the lowest of 
 the bottom rocks. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 65 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 Upper' division of the Taconic systenn and its series of rocks^ 
 Clay Slates. ChloritiG Sandstones, Cherty heds, Flag stones 
 and Brecciated conglomerates. 
 
 § 1\. The division of- the system is not very clearly mark- 
 ed even when the entire series is well developed. In ITorth 
 Carolina the line of demarkation is sometimes difScnlt to de- 
 fine. But the rocks which I regard at the present time, are : 
 
 1. Argillaceous, or clay Slates, with many subordinate beds, roofing slates, moun- 
 tain slate. 
 
 2. Chlorite and a'J^illaceous sandstones, flagging stones, etc. 
 
 3. Brecciated conglomerates. 
 
 The foregoing rocks are enumerated in the ascending order : 
 
 Argillaceous or clay slate and its sid)ordinate heds. — ^The 
 ordinary soft, greenish slates, may be regarded as the prevail- 
 ing mass of this division. The predominant color is greenish 
 gray. There are varieties in which shades of yellow, blue 
 and black occur; but the dark or carbonaceous varieties are 
 uncommon. From this circumstance, it appears that these 
 slates do not contain organic matter, and therefore fossils will 
 rarely be found in them. 
 
 The red varieties are common near Pittsborough, but their 
 color being rather of a peach blossom shade, seems to have 
 been developed by decomposition, and is undoubtedly due to 
 the presence of manganese and iron ; the brick red kind 
 which is common in ITew York and Vermont, and which 
 owes its color to titanium, I believe is unknown in North- 
 Carolina. The common clay slate has a wide distiibution in 
 the State. Most of Stanley, Union, east part of Mecklenburg, 
 parts of Chatham, Randolph, Orange and Person counties 
 are covered with clay slate. 
 
 The subordinate beds are fine silicious ones passing into 
 chert or hornstone. The fine silicious beds make very fre- 
 
6Q NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 quently good hone stones, wliicli are known under the name 
 of novaculite. These hone stones or grits are frequently su- 
 perior for carpenter's tools to the Turkey oil-stone. The best 
 are very fine grained, oil green and translucent on their 
 edges. 
 
 £eds of chert, or Jiornstone, are the frequent associates of 
 the novaculite or hornstones. The colors are blue, purple 
 and green, with many shades of each. 
 
 The origin of the hornstone in the midst of slate is not sat- 
 isfactorily accounted for. Sometimes an isolated rounded 
 hill is chert or hornstone, but connected with the slate on all 
 sides, as at Mrs. Kirk's ferry on the Yadkin ; but continuous 
 beds lie also in the same connection as if they had been de- 
 posited from water. 
 
 The theory that these beds are metamorphic, does not seem 
 to be at all well sustained ; that is, if it is sup]3osed these 
 beds were deposited in a condition similar to that of the com- 
 mon clay slates, and have been changed by heat, and have 
 undergone vitrification or a baking process, the supposition 
 ma}'' well be doubted. There are no phenomena which indi- 
 cate the action of this agent on the adjacent beds. 
 
 Silicious beds, consisting of fine grains of sand are not 
 common; in fine, the varieties of slate are too numerous to 
 require a notice in this plac«. 
 
 § 72. The slate in the ascending order is more and more 
 interlaminated with thick beds which have an intermediate 
 composition between a sandstone and slate. They belong to 
 the middle part of the upper series. They resemble beds 
 which occupy the same position in New York, but never be- 
 come so distinctly sandstones, and are rarely so coarse and 
 gray. They are finer and more chloritic, and among them 
 are- beds of conglomerate. These beds may be mistaken for 
 trap, being greenish and tough, and besides, like trap, the 
 broken strata become concretionary, and exfoliate in concen- 
 tric layers. These beds frequently disintegrate, and form by 
 its debris a deep red tenacious soil, suitable for wheat. 
 
 Where fine sand or silex is present, and the mass becomes 
 a semi-hornstone, it forms those masses which are known in 
 
NOETH-OAHOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 67 
 
 the coiintiy as mountain slate, so common in parts of David- 
 son, Randolph and Montgomery counties. 
 • Brecciated Conglomerate. — ^This is the most remarkable mass 
 of this division of the system. It has an argillaceons or chlo- 
 ritic base. The mass is composed in the main of fragments 
 of other rocks mostly retaining an angular form, but fre- 
 quently rounded and worn rocks are enclosed in the mass. 
 The fragments are sometimes eighteen inches and even two 
 feet long ; I may cite instances of this kind at Milledgeville, 
 on the east side of the Yadkin. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 Fig. 8 shows the character of one variety of this rock, which 
 is composed mostly of angular fragments of quartz. This 
 rock is associated in some places with mountain slate, an in- 
 stance of whicli occurs about two-and-a-half miles northwest- 
 ward from Mrs. Kirk's ferry, 
 
 § YS. The series by which this mass is reached, is through 
 the thin bedded clay slate, which passes into thicker beds with 
 conglomerates, imperfect chloritic sandstones, and which pass 
 upwards into the superior rock. This rock is frequently por- 
 phyrized ; or is traversed by porphyry more frequently, I be- 
 lieve, than the inferior beds. The quartz of this rock is rare- 
 ly granular, and it still more rarely occurs under the form of 
 a friable sandstone, though varieties not unfrequently occur, 
 which possess the grauwacke character of the parallel beds 
 in Renselaer county, New York. 
 
 . The brecciated rock may be examined at flat swamp moun- 
 tain, and at Brinkley's ferry ; it extends to Gold Ilill, or 
 
68 NOETH-CAEOLINA aEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 
 
 passes east of this place from one-and-a-lialf to two miles- 
 At Milledgeville, one mile south of Stokes' ferry, the rock 
 contains the large fragments of chert already referred to; so- 
 also the same rock ij, crossed twice in traveling from Mrs, 
 Kirk's ferry to Gold Hill. The first time it is crossed, is two- 
 and-a-half miles from Mrs* Kirk's. The rock at the ferrv is 
 the common clay slate, which passes by gradation into the' 
 thicker bedded slate or flaggs ; then into chlorite sandstone, 
 and finally, into the brecciated mass, two-and-a half miles 
 northwestward, where the rocks are vertical, having previ- 
 ously dipped to the northwest. The clay slates reappear to 
 the northwest again on the road to Gold Hill, and finally the 
 breccia is repeated, or reappears about two miles east of the 
 latter place ; from this point it continues to Brinckley's ferry, 
 and forms the flat swamp mountain ; from w^henee we pass 
 northeastward to the Three Hat mountain, beyond which the 
 rock disappears or sinks down, and is lost beneath the soil. 
 
 § 74. Quarts Vei7is. — The clay slates and breccia, with 
 their intermediate beds, are traversed by veins of milky 
 quartz. They are sometimes auriferous, and in some districts 
 eminently so. They coincide in dip and direction very nearly 
 with the beds of the rock in which they occur. In certain 
 districts the veins are rarely auriferous ; or if they contain 
 gold at all, it is only in small quantities. '- Thus, the numer- 
 ous veins between Troy and Montgomery county and Gold 
 Hill are very poor in gold, and I believe are barren in the 
 neighborhood of the narrows and falls of the Yadkin. Tlie 
 district of Gold Hill is, however, rich in gold. 
 
 The most barren veins of milky quartz, are those which 
 form the low rounded hills, which are very numerous in 
 parts of Chatham and Randolph counties. They seem to be 
 formed by an immense mass of milky quartz which lies main- 
 ly upon or near the surface, and only ramifies into the slate 
 in narrow strings, which are soon lost or run out. The sur- 
 faces of these rounded eminences is a mass of angular frag- 
 ments of milky quartz, intermixed with a small amount ot 
 soil, sufiicient only to sustain a scanty growth of blackjack. 
 As the ores seem to be gathered into districts in which veins 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 60 
 
 are numerous, so it appears that a district may be barren and 
 unproductive in the ores and metals, though to the eye the 
 proper repositories may be very numerous. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 On the Quartsite of North- Carolina — Varieties^ Oeologieal 
 Relations^ .etc. - 
 
 § 75. The quartzite is so peculiar that it merits a distinct 
 notice in this report. Its name implies that it is closely re- 
 lated to common quartz, which is known to all who trouble 
 themselves about the names of minerals. It is an uncrys- 
 talized kind of quartz, resembling as closely as possible com- 
 mon gun flint. Hence its common name, flint, which it 
 bears in all the districts of the State where it is found. It is 
 also called hornstone, and the English miners call much the 
 same substance cbert; and hence the adjective Gherty, which 
 is frequently used in the description of rocks. 
 
 Quartzite, however, is a name which includes the many 
 varieties of silicious substances which have a close or com- 
 pact structure, and is always amorphous or uncrystallized, 
 and more or less translucent. It is designed to embrace, 
 however, the darker varieties of the substance, which have 
 rather a coarse texture when compared with chalcedony, 
 opal or cacholong. The deep red and very fine and compact 
 silicious minerals are generally called jaspers. It is the stone 
 employed by the Indians for arrow heads. Quartzite may be 
 regarded as a rock, inasmuch as it is very extensive in the 
 south, and is by no means absent from the formations of the 
 same age in the north. Its characteristics may be included 
 in the following description : — Color, blueish black passing in. 
 
70 NOETH-CAEOLIMA GEOLOGICAL StTSVEf. 
 
 to purple, grayish, white and green of several shades, and 
 sometimes banded; texture, fine when compared with the 
 finest sandstones ; translucent on the edges ; fracture, flat- 
 conchoidal and frequently brittle, or it may be tough in the 
 mass, but small pieces easily chip ofi* with a light blow. It 
 passes on the one hand into a fine grit, and on the other, into 
 the compact slate and a condition like flint. The tough va- 
 rieties are usually coarse, and not homogeneous. When 
 struck with a hammer, it is sonorous like cast iron. It is rare- 
 ly if ever a simple substance like limpid quartz, as it usually 
 weathers and loses thereby its homogeniety; besides, it is of- 
 ten porphyritic or porphyrized, and frequently the fresh frac- 
 ture is dotted with small limpid crystals of quartz, which 
 crystallized out from the mass when it was in a semi-fluid 
 state. The development of other crystals or crystalline 
 grains receive a ready solution, on the ground of the chemi- 
 cal solution of the silica. 
 
 An interesting instance of an analogous kind was observed 
 by E. Emmons, Jr., in the development of small crystals of 
 quartz in choysocolla, or the silicate of copper of the Gard- 
 ner mine. 
 
 Crystallizations of this kind is imitated in the porcelain 
 paste, when the fine material is allowed to stand in the vats. 
 If the mass is left at rest for a few days, or perhaps for a few 
 hours ' only, spicula or crystals begin to form in little clus- 
 ters, and the material is spoiled. Talc appears sometimes 
 sprinkled over its surface ; among the most common foreign 
 mmerals disseminated through it, sulphuret of iron is rarely 
 absent. 
 
 In weathering, the surface is usually of a drab color ; and 
 the rock will not be suspected to be a quartzite until it is 
 broken. 
 
 As a rock, it never forms ledges of jointed masses like 
 sandstones or limestones, but its outcrop takes the form of a 
 military hat, the outcropping mass being sharp edged, round- 
 ed, separate and hatchet shaped. Tliese hatchet shaped 
 masses sometimes occur in clusters and groups, and stand 
 thickly over the ground. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Yl 
 
 As a i-ock, tlie strike of tlie singular outcropping masses is 
 N. 10° E.; while tlie rock is IT. from 20° to 40° E. Showing, 
 that in weathering, they stand obliquely to the general clirec- 
 . tion of the rock. Their dip is northwest, with an angle of 
 80° to 85°. This rock, though hard and apparently composed 
 of materials which can resist atmospheric influences, yet, 
 some varieties disintegrate and form a light drab colored 
 compact soil. It is too silicious to be fertile and easily culti- 
 vated. In the counties of Chatham, Randolph and David- 
 son, the quartzite usually alternates with the greenish slates ; 
 the latter decompose, and form a red productive soil. Hence, 
 ' the rock beneath may be usually known by the color of the 
 soil. 
 
 § 76. The ridges of these counties are frequently quart- 
 zite and vallevs slate : a fact which indicates that the val- 
 leys have been deepened, in the course of time, by the more 
 rapid disintegration of the soft clay slates. 
 
 Quartzite passes into a coarse porphyry and a silicious 
 jointed slate, which is often used for hones. 
 
 The most perfect example of quartzite occurs on the plank- 
 iy)ad leading from Asheborough to Fayetteville, where it 
 passes along this rock for about twenty miles. 
 
 § 77. The varieties of qnartzite are numerous, if color and 
 texture are made grounds of distinction : 
 
 1. Light gray and compact, or very finely granular. 
 
 2. Smoke gray, with grains of hyaline quartz disseminated in the mass. 
 
 3. Texture fine granular, with a drab color. 
 
 4. Porphyrized quartzite. 
 
 5. Light green quartzite. 
 
 6. Greenish, and full of cavities, and frequently epidotic. 
 
 7. Banded quartzite, or coarsely agatized . 
 
 § 78. These forms of qnartzite are not confined to rocks of a 
 ' particular age, or to a given series. They seem to be distrib- 
 uted through formations of all ages and epochs. Thus, they 
 are common to both divisions of the Taconic system ; occur in 
 the Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous, and as late too as 
 the Eocene ; that is, if those cherty beds may be brought un- 
 der the denominations I have adopted for this mineral or 
 
72 FOETH-CAEOLIlSrA GEOLOGICAL SUE^S^T, 
 
 J* 
 
 rock of l^orth-Carolma. Indeed, in cabinet specimens, it is 
 impossible to distinguish the quartzites of these formations 
 from each other, unless fossils happen to be present. 
 
 § 79. The quartzites do not appear to occur in any regular 
 order, or to form a succession of beds. The beds, too, are 
 distributed with little regularity in the rock ; for sometimes 
 rounded hillocks of hornstone occur in the slates. In other 
 instances beds occur which are parallel with the beds of clay 
 slate. 
 
 § 80. Origin of Quartsites. —The rock or mineral, when 
 associated with the older sediments, has been, and is regarded 
 as a metamorj)hic mass ; or one which was originally in some 
 other state, as that of a clay slate. If however, we combine 
 all the facts respecting the formations in which this substance 
 is found, we shall probably reject the metamorphic theory of 
 its origin. As it occurs in the different limestones of the Si- 
 lurian system, it seems far more rational to infer, that the sili- 
 ca of which quartzite is formed was held in chemical solution, 
 and the material is a chemical product. We cannot know of 
 course, all the facts which were connected with its formation, 
 and perhaps cannot now conceive how so much silica could 
 have been held in that state of combination. But though we 
 are unable to comprehend eyerj thing relating to it, yet the 
 chemical view seems more rational, after all, than the meta- 
 morphic. There is no evidence that heat was related to it as a 
 cause of change subsequent to its deposition and consolidation. 
 Frequently perfect fossils are made up of the material. Some 
 of the mpst delicate organic structures are preserved in flint or 
 quartzite. JS'o one suspects the flint of the chalk formation 
 to have been the result of vitrification by heat. Animal- 
 matter, however, has an attraction for silica. In conclusion, 
 then, though it is difficult to comprehend the mode in which 
 the quartzites were formed, yet I think that we may adopt 
 the chemical theory in preference to the metamorphic, even 
 in those cases where the rock is porphyritic. There is only 
 one variety which occasions much doubt ; it is the epidotic 
 variety, which seems, by far, more likely to have been subject- 
 ed to heat, than either of the others. 
 
NOBTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 73 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Origin of Vein Fissures, Dyhes, etc. — General considerations 
 relating to them — Kinds of Vein Stone or Gangue — Their 
 relations to heat, etc. — Metallic Veins — Sidphurets — Oxides. 
 
 % 81. Yeins and dj^kes re- 
 quire to be treated of under 
 p two heads, or the subject re- 
 quires to be separated so as 
 to keep in distinct j)arts that 
 Avliich relates to the formation 
 of the fissure, and that which 
 relates to the mode in which 
 thej are filled. The matters 
 are entirely separate; that 
 force which forms the fissure 
 is different in kind from that 
 which subsequently fills it. 
 
 Vein Fissures. — Fissures, 
 though due to the same gen- 
 eral causes, nevertheless dif- 
 fer in various respects. There 
 are fissures which appear to 
 be deep, or penetrating to un- 
 known depths ; others are sim- 
 ply cracks, which we know 
 terminate in the rock, and 
 are distinctly defined. 
 
 Fissures are due to those 
 causes, both of which may be 
 said to be general. The first 
 is due to the cooling of the 
 earth's crust ; and the second, 
 to desiccation, and the third, 
 to the mechanical force of 
 pressure. The first operates 
 
74 isrOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 externally ; the second and third internally ; but all are 
 due to one cause, the high temperature of its .criist and 
 internal parts. This view of the matter, supposes a former 
 incandescent state, and the earth placed in a cooler me- 
 dium ; and hence has lost its heat by radiating into space, 
 The effect of cooling in all bodies is to contract them ; and 
 hence the process subjects the surface to a tension, which, 
 in time, overcomes the cohesion of the strata, and the conti- 
 nuity of parts is severed, and a fissure is produced. The 
 depth of a fissure must be variable, and the character of the 
 strata must influence the result. 
 
 Desiccation must also produce a kind of fissure. The deep 
 seated sediments must be exposed to the action of the re- 
 sidual heat ; the result must be the same as when mud is ex- 
 posed to the drying influence of the sun. Fissures thus pro- 
 duced, are frequently filled with granite. 
 
 The j)roof of a heated state of the interior rests on well de- 
 termined experiments and observations. Tlie temperature 
 increases one degree for every fifty-six or fifty-eight feet des- 
 cent, from -about ninety-five feet below the surface- So in- 
 candescent matter issues from volcanic mountains. But I 
 need not dwell on facts of this kind, as they are incorporated 
 into the common stock of knowledge. 
 
 The origin of fissures are due, therefore, to general causes ; 
 but it should be noted, that the activity of these causes must 
 have been far greater in ancient, than in modern times. The 
 force must diminish, in the direct proportion to cooling of the 
 earth's crust. Tlie present state, or that which is accessible 
 to observation, must be to all visible efi'ects stationary ; or 
 have reached that point of temperature which no longer cre- 
 ates a tension. Fissures, then, are not produced in our day, 
 except in the immediate vicinity of active volcanoes. 
 
 From the foregoing, it follows, that fissures must be more 
 common in the ancient rocks. Observation proves the truth 
 of the inference. Hence, the primary rocks stand first in 
 the order of vein bearing rocks, the oldest sediments stand 
 next — and in fine, when the whole series of sediments are ex- 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. Y5 
 
 amined, it will be found that the palaeozoic are much more 
 frequently traversed by vein fissures than the mesozoic. This 
 statement, however, is not fully borne out when dylce fissures 
 are examined. But it is also true, that for causes not well 
 understood, that fissures are the products of periods or epochs 
 more or less well defined ; one of which I will cite in this 
 place, viz., the new red sandstone period, which seems to 
 have been one, during which they were formed, the world 
 over. But these fissures are filled with stony matter ; metal- 
 lic veins of this epoch are extremely rare, and when they oc- 
 cur, are usually ill defined. 
 
 § 82. I am now prepared to speak of the modes by which 
 fissures may be filled, and by which they become veins or . 
 dykes. The first inquiry which requires attention is, what 
 are the forces which effect this result ; for there are certain 
 forces in existence which must be regarded either as remote 
 or proximate causes in the filling of the fissures, and of the 
 formation of veins. To the former belong, as I believe, the 
 high temperature of the inferior part of the earth's crust. 
 This high temperature sets in motion or brings into activity 
 the properties of matter in such a way as to produce the re- 
 sults indicated. 
 
 Liquefaction and vaporization are two constants which flow 
 from this high temperature. Matter is brought into a state 
 by which it can enter and fill the fissures already made. 
 
 High temperature of the inferior part of the crust, sets in 
 motion also electrical currents. This occurs from the well 
 known influence temperature has when bodies are unequally 
 heated, the equilibrium of the electro-magnetic force being 
 disturbed. Currents thus set in motion, or if set in motion 
 by any other cause, possess the faculty of carrying soluble 
 matter from certain points, and depositing it at others, in 
 obedience to an inherent law. 
 
 § 83. But again, fissures may be formed under circumstances 
 which makes them closed or sealed cavities. These cavities, 
 which are usually in the form of fissures, cannot exist long in 
 a state of vacuity. If at great depths, liquids holding in so- 
 hition soluble matter, must penetrate and fill them. This, 
 
76 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 then, is another force which should not be forgotten, Pres- 
 sure, sirapl}^ does not indicate to us all that belongs to it ; it 
 requires the cooperation of the properties of matter, to se- 
 cure the ultimate result. 
 
 To the foregoing must be added the pressure of elastic va- 
 pours or gasses generated at great depths in and beneath the 
 earth's crust ujjon the molten matter with which it is in con- 
 tact, or upon which it operates. Their existence is proved 
 by their escape from craters and fissures in volcanic districts. 
 
 § 84. I may, with propriety, observe that the foregoing 
 forces are connected with the earliest arrangements in the 
 structure and formation of the earth's crust. They are an- 
 cient arrangements by which the metals are made accessible 
 to us ; and thej are, it would seem, the necessary result of 
 the constitution of the globe. They are by no means to be 
 regarded as accidents arising from conditions which might 
 have been otherwise. Tliey are also general results, and are 
 not confined to diminutive parts of the earth's crust ; and so 
 simple is the machinery by which the grand results are pro- 
 duced, that it would have required special instrumentalities 
 to have prevented them. 
 
 The formation of veins, therefore, are the results of the 
 operation of law, and hence certain constants may be looked 
 for or expected ; and upon which the practical miner may 
 rely, 
 
 "We have no occasion to go farther back in the series of 
 causes, as that, for examj^le, which caused the high tempera- 
 ture of the interior of the earth ; it is sufficient for us to 
 know the' fact, and its adaptation to the production of results; 
 the fact itself being attested in the phenomena of volcanoes, 
 and sustained by observations in all parts of the earth. 
 
 § 85. The veins whicli appear under the simplest aspect, 
 and which jjossess a great degree of homogeneity, are usu- 
 ally called dyl:es. They are fissures filled with homogeneous 
 stony matter; or, if heterogeneous, it is the result of crystali- 
 zation of parts of the mass ; as the development of crystals 
 in a paste of stony matter. The rock itself is complex when 
 
NORTH'CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUHVEY. 
 
 TT 
 
 its elements are considered, but homogeneous when semi- 
 fluid, and when it enters the fissure. 
 
 If the force which filled such fissures is considered, we are 
 ready to admit that elastic gasses or vapors, pressing upon a 
 liquid mass, may have been the instrument most immediate- 
 ly active in the result. First, there is the evidence of high 
 temperature of a mass which has changed the walls of the ad- 
 jacent rock. The results in these cases are consistent with 
 what we witness in analogous cases. We must admit that 
 the filling was in mass, and Mdiile it was in a semi-fluid state. 
 We are not confined to this single cause ; the force of elastic 
 gasses, the force of pressure, may be produced by the strata 
 alone acting upon a moveable fluid. 
 
 . In the consideration of this kind of vein, we may satisfy 
 ourselves that the other causes are not adapted to the pro- 
 duction of such a result. We cannot rationally infer that 
 vaporization meets the case, or thermo-electrical currents. 
 They truly come under what is usually known as igneous in- 
 jections, an expression not very definite or strictly correct- 
 It is, however, important for us to know, that certain fissures 
 are filled with incandescent matter, and in mass; but such a 
 mode being possible, we should not, therefore, infer that all 
 fissures are consequently filled in this way. 
 
 There can be no doubt respecting the mode in which 
 granitic veins are filled, they must belong to the same class 
 as the trap dykes. Besides, when they traverse chalk, or any 
 of the limestones, the phenomena indicate that they must have 
 been in a state of fusion. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 Fig. 10 illustrates th6 common mode in which granite veins 
 traverse the adjacent rock 
 
 The figure is designed to show 
 
78 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 also tliat the granites belong to different epochs, and that 
 these epochs are determined by the order in which the dif- 
 ferent veins enter the rock. 
 
 Other veins may, in their respective phenomena, possess 
 characters which are not explainable in this way. The statics 
 of a vein fissure may entirely discredit the dynamics' of dyke 
 veins, or the contrary. 
 
 Leaving the latter for the present, and considering that we 
 admit the fact that there are injections of melted rock from 
 beneath, by the pressure conveyed to it in some way not sus- 
 ceptible of being determined in a given case, I may proceed 
 to speak of heterogeneous veins or fissures filled with a mix- 
 ture of metals in some state of combination and with the 
 difterent earths. 
 
 § 86. In this kind of vein the dynamics require a special 
 consideration of the statics. If it should be found that the 
 substances are disorderly intermixed, there would be no ob- 
 jection to the adoption of the theory already stated, and 
 which I believe is universally adopted. We must, however, 
 study the statics of the heterogeneous filling. Kow in show- 
 ing in the general the distribution of these matters, I will re- 
 fer to fig. 9. This figure is an accurate drawing of the Rossie 
 lead vein, in gneiss. It will be seen that an irregular thick 
 black line traverses the middle of the fissure. This is the 
 lead, or the metal nearly unmixed with gangue. The parts 
 on each side, and which are white, are belts of crystalline 
 calcareous spar, intermixed with galena. The middle is un- 
 equal in width, sometimes it is eighteen inches wide ; in 
 others only six or ten. ]^ow it is clear that this kind of vein 
 difiTers from dyke veins, and we may doubt the justness of 
 the same theoiy being applicable alike to the two kinds of 
 veins, unless it admits of certain modifications. But why is 
 this vein unlike the dyke vein ? This question can only be 
 answered, it appears to me, by inferring that the materials 
 immediately below, and in proximity with the fissure, con- 
 tained galena, as well as carbonate of lime. This inference 
 may not possess much force, inasmuch as some maintain that 
 the materials of the vein are derived from the rock adjacent 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 79 
 
 to the fissures. This assumption, though it may not be 
 groundless, does not, in my mind, contain as mucji probabih- 
 ty as the first. It is advanced to meet certain difiiculties 
 which stand up against the igneous injection theory, which 
 does not explain the phenomena when applied as it is to dyke 
 veins. Biit we want more facts respecting the statics of 
 veins, the metal is not so regularly distributed in all cases. 
 It is often entirely mixed with the gangue, being less, how- 
 ever, in the gangue at the upper part. The metal may come 
 in only at great depths in the fissure, all the upper part be- 
 ing entirely stony, or mixed with a few scattering particles 
 of the sulphurets. 
 
 § 87. In treating of the mode and mannner by which fis- 
 sures are filled, it is important that the properties of the vein 
 stone or gangue, and the accompanying metal, should be well 
 understood. The vein stones are not numerous ; but their 
 properties are quite diff'erent. 
 
 ■ The known vein stones are as follows : carl>.^ of liine, sul- 
 phate of bar^^ta. and strontian, fluor spar, quartz, talc, silicate 
 of manganese, carbonate of iron, carbonate of lime and mag- 
 nesia, or dolomite and epidote. 
 
 The enquiry respecting these bodies is, can they be carried 
 up into open fissures by vaporization, jt/er se, or through the 
 medium of water, in the form of vapor ; or shall their pre- 
 sence in veins be ascribed to igneous injections? 
 
 Sulphate of baryta and strontian, fluor spar and quartz are 
 soluble in water under certain circumstances. 
 
 The two first occur in cavities in a decomposing granite in 
 St. Lawrence county. They line the inside, and are stalac- 
 tical, as shown in my Geological Report ot New York. So 
 also they occur in Schoharie, in the Silurian rocks, in beds. 
 Fluor spar and quartz often line cavities also, and hence are 
 soluble when the needful conditions are supplied. 
 
 § 88. The salts of lime and magnesia and iron are more 
 soluble than either of the foregoing. Epidote, which is the 
 vein stone of the sulp. of copper and iron, is an igneous pro- 
 duct, and is o*ie of the most common metamorphic minerals, 
 known. 
 
80 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 But most of the foregoing minerals are also found in min- 
 eral and thermal v/aters, and being soluble in the vapor of 
 water, may rise from the interior through fissures to the sur- 
 face. Hence they may be deposited upon the walls which 
 bound those fissures, and ultimately fill them. In North- 
 Carolina, however, quartz and felspar veins, associated with 
 trap dykes, are very common in the granite belt ; and it is 
 not uncommon to observe that a granite vein is composed of 
 quartz, with only a very small proportion of mica and felspar. 
 At least, nine-tenths is quartz, and as such veins must be re- 
 garded as igneous injections, it sustains the view that quartz 
 veins may also belong to the same class of products. 
 
 The quartz and felspar veins, which traverse the sienitic 
 granites of ISTorth-Carolina, seem also to have been formed in 
 the same manner as the trap dykes, which are associated 
 with them. The igneous origin of quartz veins, however, is 
 not fully sustained by the phenomena which accompany them. 
 Of hundreds of veins of this kind, I have never observed 
 that the walls exhibit marks of igneous action. The same 
 fact, however, exists in the felspar, and many of the dyke 
 veins of' the Taconic system. We have to remark, in regard 
 to the want of igneous action, that we must consider the 
 composition of the rock. Limestones, for example, are ex- 
 cellent rocks for the preservation of phenomena which are 
 due to the action of heat ; whereas the mica and talcose 
 slates are far less changed by the same degree of heat. If 
 mica and talcose slates are heated to redness, their appear- 
 ance is very little changed. When used for hearth stones in 
 furnaces, for a few months, they then become columnar and 
 often vitreous. We may therefore infer that a single ex- 
 posure to intense heat may result only in a slight change of 
 texture or structure, which in the end may disappear by the 
 absorption of water. 
 
 From the foregoing facts, it appears that veins, whose vein 
 stone is quartz, or sulphate of barytes or fluor spar, may be 
 filled by these minerals in a state of fusion, or through the 
 instrumentality of mineral waters. In the la^tter case, fis- . 
 sures become galleries of sublimation, penetrated by vapor, 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SHEVET. 81 
 
 holding in suspension and solution the minerals in question, 
 which condenses upon the cooled walls. Whether we adopt 
 the first or second view, it is necessary to maintain also that 
 the fissures extend to those parts whose temperature is highly 
 elevated. It establishes the position that vein fissures pene- 
 trate deeply into the interior of the earth. , 
 
 § 89. In reasoning upon the phenomena of veins, it is not 
 necessary to restrict the solubilities of the vein stuff to the 
 limits which it may possess at the surface. Pressure and 
 temperature, we know, modify the solubility of bodies; and 
 carbonate of lime, which is almost infusible at the surface, 
 but under pressure, retains its carbonic acid and fuses. It is 
 therefore a fact consistent with the phenomena, which have 
 been frequently observed in northern ISTew York, with res- 
 pect to the veins of limestone which resemble so perfectly 
 granitic veins. Ko one who takes a consistent view of these 
 . veins, can doubt their igneous origin. Hence, too, there is 
 nothing inconsistent with the view, that the vein stone, when 
 a limestone, may be of igneous origin also. 
 
 It is, however, better to adopt that view of the mode in 
 which a fissure is filled, which best comports with the phe- 
 nomena revealed in any given case. A fissure may have 
 been a gallery of sublimation, open for the reception of me- 
 tallic vapors ; or, as in the case of granite veins and trap 
 dykes, it may be filled by fused matters, in which are min- 
 gled mineral substances of diverse kinds. 
 
82 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Gha/raoteTs of a Vein Fissure — -Distribution of Metal in a 
 Fissure — Influence of Walls on the arrangement of the in- 
 closed Ore and Hock, its parallel a/rrangement — Consid- 
 erations respecting Iron. 
 
 § 90. The receptacles of ores, thougli they possess certain 
 general characteristics quite similar, still a careful examina- 
 tion will detect certain important diiferences. A vein, for 
 example, which may be relied upon, must be bounded liter- 
 ally by walls. If walls are absent, the receptacle is not a 
 vein. "Walls are the only criteria which distinguish a vein 
 from a seam, a desiccation crack, or seggregation. The walls 
 are produced by a rent oblique or vertical, and indicative of, 
 or giving evidence that they have rubbed against each other, 
 by which their asperities are smoothed off or removed. In 
 consequence of these and oth^r movements, the surfaces of 
 the walls are well defined ; they moreover show that the re- 
 ceptacle is a vein fissure, and not a desiccation crack. It 
 sometimes happens that only, one side is well defined ; if so, 
 it does not destroy the confidence of the miner with respect 
 to the nature of the fissure. It still has a selvage on one side 
 which proves it to be a true vein. 
 
 But if the receptacle of the ore is wanting in boundaries 
 or selvages, or such boundaries as are not indicative of ver- 
 tical movements of one side or the other, it cannot be re- 
 garded as a vein fissure, and cannot be relied upon as a per- 
 manent fund of metallic matter. 
 
 I would confine the characteristics of a vein fissure, there- 
 fore, to the existence of one or both walls ; and a receptacle 
 which cannot furnish the proper walls defined more or less 
 clearly, should not, in n\j opinion, be regarded as a vein at 
 ail. I am disposed to insist upon this distinction, and pay no 
 regard to the terms regular and irregular veins. 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOQICAL SUEVEY. 83 
 
 Metallic Veins. — Metallic veins diifer from dyke veins in 
 being heterogeneous in their composition. A metallic vein is 
 a mixture of metal and rock, or vein stone ; the latter pre- 
 dominates, or, in other words, the vein stone is usually in 
 arreat excess over the metallic substances intermixed with it. 
 
 The most common combinations of the metal as a min- 
 eralizer, is sulphur, forming a class of bodies universally 
 known as sulphurets. In chemical language, they are sul- 
 phurets of lead, copper, iron, zinc and silver. All these 
 substances possess peculiar relations to heat. They may be 
 fused without being decomposed, or they may be volatihzed, 
 and condensed without change. 
 
 Hence, in regard to the mode by which they are intro- 
 duced into vein fissures, it will not be inconsistent with any 
 known fact, or with their properties, to infer that they may 
 be introduced into fissures in vapor, or in a state of fusion ; 
 and it will hold good in either case, as has been stated res- 
 pecting the vein stones, that their origin must be in the deep 
 seated parts of the crust. So far then as the question res- 
 pecting ultimate exhaustion is concerned, these facts indicate, 
 that though the metal may vary in quantity at different 
 depths, that a vein is not, liable to be exhausted, or to be 
 penetrated to its bottom. 
 
 Closed fissures may be filled, and no doubt are always fill- 
 ed by water, carying minerals in solution ; very few sub- , 
 stances can resist the solvent action of water under pressure 
 and high temperature. Closed fissures are usually filled with 
 earths, the carbonate of lime, sulp. of baryta, strontian and 
 silica, or quartz ; the latter is the most common in slate rocks, - 
 where it takes the form of seams or oval masses. Cracks in 
 the argillaceous limestones and nodules, as septaria, are 
 penetrated by solution, and are ultimately filled, when they 
 present stellated seams. As these fissures or cracks are limit- 
 ed and closed, they can be filled only by latteral transfusions. 
 
 Metallic Oxides. — Several metals occur in veins which are 
 in combination with oxygen. Of the oxides, iron is the most 
 important. In northern New York, it occurs in veins and 
 beds. In the latter form, it is equivalent to that of a rock. 
 
84' NOKTH-CAKOLmA GEOLOGICAL SITEVET. 
 
 It is impossible to conceive that its origin can differ from the 
 rock with which it is associated in the western part of Essex 
 county. Here, hypersthene rock and labradorite encloses it 
 in immense beds. The rock itself, like other varieties of 
 granite, is very clearly of an igneous origin, and the iron 
 rock shows from its relations to it, that it was cotemporane- 
 ous with it. In the eastern part of Essex, and also in Clinton 
 county, the oxide of iron is mostly in veins. There are no 
 serious objections to the foregoing views, and I should deem 
 it unnecessary to refer to these instances, were it not that a 
 certain writer has presented another view which is untena- 
 ble, and which is not sustained by a single fact. 
 
 In ISTorth-Carolina, the oxides of iron occur only in veins, 
 excepting where the mass has undergone certain changes. 
 
 The mode in which ferruginous veins have been filled, is 
 clearly that which is assigned to trap or granite. Iron, how- 
 ever, in combination with chlorine is volatile, and is vapo- 
 rized, and finally deposited in the condition of a peroxide or 
 specular oxide. Examples of this mode occurs in volcanic 
 vents.' Lava, projecting into the funnel of a crater, is often 
 incrusted with crystals of specular iron. 
 
 In St. Lawrence county, New York, specular iron occurs 
 in isolated masses in limestone, or it has been impossible to 
 discover a connection with a vein fissure. It is also dissemi- 
 nated in quartz crystals. 
 
 In this region specular iron occurs in true veins. Its char- 
 acters, however, are concealed by the change in texture 
 which it has undergone. In ISTorth. Carolina, a specular iron 
 is also found in veins in many places, some of whicli are 
 highly important. 
 
 § 91. Those writers who attempt to make a distinction be- 
 tween regular and irregular veins, have hitherto failed ; both 
 kinds are productive according to their statements ; the regu- 
 lar vein being supposed to be more so, or more permanent 
 than the irregular. But the regular vein has its irregulari- 
 ties; it widens out, and it is pinched out and nipped; it ia 
 irregular in the amount of metal it carries, the irregular dia- 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SmiVEY. 85 
 
 tribution of it being notorious in the best of veins, or in parts 
 of them. 
 
 Good walls, however, do not prove that a given vein must 
 pay a profit ; or that it warrants exploration ; it may be too 
 narrow, it may be too wide ; that is, the metal is distributed 
 through a large quantity of vein stuff. But an exposure of 
 ore being made in a receptacle, the important question, of its 
 being a vein, is the first thing to be determined ; for, as I be- 
 lieve, the question of permanence of the receptacle, turns 
 on the answer the phenomena gives us ; if no walls, we have 
 no ground to expect a permanent fund of metal ; if walls are 
 present, it is a fissure which extends deeply into the interior ; 
 so much may be regarded as settled, there will be depth at 
 least. But if there are no walls, the boundaries of the recep- 
 tacle will close like a desiccation crack or a seam in slates ; 
 and we should not be warranted in the expectation of a per- 
 manent fund of metal, as before remarked. To these re- 
 marks I am inclined to except the auriferous beds, in certain 
 cases, in the Taconic system. 
 
 The veins termed regular and irregular, are worked with 
 advantage, and sometimes those which are irregular have 
 yielded the largest profits. The terms regular and irregular 
 de,j)osits scarcely admit of distinctions in practice, and hence, 
 should not be employed. Still more objectionable is the 
 term unstratified deposits. A deposit, in its true meaning, 
 must be stratified ; and it is especially erroneous when it is 
 applied to igneous products. It would be just as proper to 
 -9p 111.18^ eqjQ •8po{ oqp:jaui v, si? 'ijisodap 'b uiga oi^iu'BjS b j^j'bo 
 posit is restricted to sediments. 
 
 § 92. The distribution of the metal and vein stone con- 
 tains characteristics of a true vein fissure. There is a regulari- 
 ty in the parts which show that the process of filling was not 
 always confined to one operation. The accumulation is sup- 
 posed to be by successive layers or lamina which are depos- 
 ited against the walls. Such an accumulation gives the 
 comby structure, to use a miner's term, and as the lamina 
 are crystalline, the points or apices are directed towards the 
 
86 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOOICAL 8UEVET. 
 
 middle of the fissure. The arrangement of the metal is also 
 in accordance with the vein stone ; it is distributed in belts 
 parallel with the lamina, sometimes in continuous sheets, in 
 others, in interrupted ones. The regular distribution which 
 has been observed in some of the best characterised veins of 
 metal in Europe, has been ascribed to successive additions of 
 new matter to the vein. To this view there seems to be no 
 objection, inasmuch as the force which produced the fissure 
 may be regarded as operative through long periods. Every 
 time the fissure is widened, it would receive fresh accessions 
 of mineral matter. Another view of this subject may be 
 presented, however, which is worthy of a moment's con- 
 sideration. The arrangement of materials, or their special 
 disposition in a fissure, may be influenced by a molecular 
 force. Wherever there is space for particles to move, and a 
 sufiicient degree of fluidity to allow the particles to arrange 
 themselves, the order in which the distribution is made will 
 be regular, but the precise order will be very much controll- 
 ed by the form or shape of the enclosing space. In fissures,, 
 the parallel walls will exercise a controlhng influence, the 
 subordinate parts of the enclosed metal and vein stone, will 
 he arranged parallel with the master planes, formed by the 
 walls. Seams of calc spar furnish, very frequently, instances 
 of this kind of arrangement, the back of the seam of spar 
 being implanted against the sides bounding the space ; but 
 the inward faces of the plate of spar will be covered with 
 crystals directed to the middle of the seam. "W~e may say, to 
 make the idea plain, that the master planes condense the li- 
 ([uid holding mineral substances in solution, ll^ow the term 
 (:0'nd€7ise may not be the best, but its use here is analogous to 
 that which is employed in other cases. Stones in the soil 
 condense water, plates of metal condense moisture, platina foil 
 is Avet by quicksilver, and platina sponge condenses hydro- 
 gen ; flattened particles of gold condenses the air of the liquid 
 in which it is immersed when it floats. In veins, the walls 
 therefore may be said to condense the enclosed matter ; it 
 may be in vapor or in a liquid state, and the process having 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEy. 
 
 87 
 
 once begun in parallel planes, will afterwards continue to be 
 thus arranged. In dykes the space is too much crowded to 
 give the free movement of particles. In many cases, how- 
 ever, the columnar structure is developed, and as it is always 
 transverse, it shows the influence of the walls upon the ar- 
 rangement ; though that influence may be due simply to the 
 mode or direction in which the heat escapes. 
 
 § 93. The walls of a vein may be conceived to control the 
 order of arrangement of the inclosed matter, giving it the 
 laminated or comby structure. When limestone is associated 
 with laminated rocks, its structure partakes of that of the 
 rock which encloses it. So general is the efi'ect of surfaces 
 or planes of matter to produce parallelism, that we may wit-, 
 ness their influence in numberless cases. 
 
 The effect of the walls in giving direction to the parts of 
 the vein stone and its metal, does not disprove the view of 
 geologists already stated. Yeins may be widened at diff'er- 
 ent times, as maintained, and yet the walls may control the 
 disposition of the subordinate parts, and impart to them that 
 parallel arrangement so frequently noticed in the most per- 
 fect examples of veins. The master planes in a vein there- 
 fore, are its parallel walls — the more perfect the walls, the 
 more perfect the arrangement of its parts. If the foot wall 
 is the most perfect, the parallelism will be the most perfect 
 adjacent to that wall. 
 
 Fig. 11 illustrates the parallel ar- 
 rangement of the masses of ore and 
 vein stone, 1 2 3 4, as described in the 
 foregoing paragraphs. Parrallel ar- 
 rangements occur when the vein de- 
 comjjoses in mass, under circumstances 
 which diff'er from those which attend 
 the filling of the vein originally. Re- 
 markable instances have been noticed in 
 Carrol county, Virginia; in Ashe coun- 
 ty, North-Carolina ; and in Polk county, 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Fig. n. 
 
 ; 2 3 4 
 
88 
 
 NOETH-CAKOLINA aEOLOGICAI. 8UBVET. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 § 94. These veins contain the snlphnrets of copper and iron, 
 with traces of arsenic. Near the surface the sulphurets are 
 decomposed. ]^ow, the separated elements, instead of inter- 
 minghng, seperate ; the oxide of copper, which is one pro- 
 duct of decomposition, forms a stratum by itself, and the ox- 
 ide of iron by itself. Thus, in Fig. 12, 4 represents the po- 
 sition of the oxide of copper, 
 and 2 oxide of iron, and 3 a 
 stratum of undecomposed 
 bell metal ore. These beds 
 lie in parallel position — a 
 position M'hich is secondary ; 
 as, originally, nothing of the 
 kind appeared. Gravity, in 
 this case, may have aided 
 in disposing the materials as 
 they were found in opening 
 the vein ; but similar ar- 
 rangements take jjlace where gravity had little or no influ- 
 ence. Water, no doubt, plays an important part in arrang- 
 ing the materials in the new condition in which they are 
 placed. - 
 
 § 95. A variety known as the j!>?^5 vein, brings to light a 
 very curious modification of a vein fissure. Instead of a sim- 
 ple fissure, whose walls are nearly parallel, they are twitched 
 in, so as to form a kind of tubular repository. This tubular 
 form of the vein plunges deep into the rock; but it forms a 
 series of enlargements or conti-actions, similar to what occurs 
 in ordinary fissures, none of which have walls perfectly regu- 
 lar and parallel. Fig. 13 shows the form of pipe vein in 
 Georgia, near Ducktown, Tennessee. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 89 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 In this vein, notwithstand- 
 ing its irregular form or ra- 
 ther deviation from the or- 
 dinary vein fissure, the mas- 
 ses of vein stuiF have a paral- 
 lel arrangement, as in other 
 cases. For 25 feet of the top, 
 the fissure is nearly closed. 
 A streak of gossan or hy- 
 drous oxide of iron, served as 
 a guide to the wide tubular 
 expansion below, which 
 plunges obliquely into the 
 rock, in the direction of the 
 lamina. 
 
 § 96. It is important, how- 
 ever, to guard against misapprehension respecting the ar- 
 rangement of the contents of a vein. If it is expected that 
 the same phenomena attend the arrangement of vein stuff, it 
 will sometimes lead to disappointment. The aggregation of 
 the materials admits of considerable variety. But these va- 
 rieties throw light upon the mode by which the vein was 
 filled, or at least indicate some of the conditions. A vein is 
 sometimes occupied through its whole breadth by one sub- 
 stance. Thus the Cathey copper vein was filled with a mass 
 of copper pyrites. Passages in the North-Carolina mine are 
 filled with quartz and carbonate of iron, each occupying 
 separate zones, to which succeed fine belts of copper pyrites 
 in its vein stone of quartz. 
 
 The most usual condition in which the vein is found filled, 
 is that where the metal is interspersed through the veinstone ; 
 though the favorable arrangement of the metal will be that 
 of elongated parallel- masses, taking nearly the direction of 
 the vein fissure. 
 
 The position of the metal is sometimes in the middle of the 
 vein, as in Fig. 9. In others it is upon the foot wall, as was 
 the case at the North-Carolina mine. Where this vein car- 
 ries both carb. of iron and copper pyrites, the latter occupied 
 
 ^'r 
 
90 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL 8UKVET. 
 
 the foot-wall, while the former occupied the hanging wall, 
 with copper pyrites interspersed through it. Even in nests 
 of ore, as well as in regular veins, the ore takes a regular 
 position in the mass usually near one of the walls. 
 
 The parallelism of structure is very remarkable in a few in- 
 stances, in the mines .of the old world. Thus, the Drei Prin- 
 zen Spat vein, near Freiberg, a section of which shows twen- 
 ty-one parallel lamina, consisting of four kinds of minerals, 
 blende, quartz, fluor spar, blende, heavy spar, sulphuret of 
 iron, heavy spar fluor spar, sulphuret of iron calcareous spar. 
 These occupy the upper side of the vein ; the lower consists 
 of precisely the same substances in the same order, two par- 
 allel bands of calc spar occupying the middle of the fissure, 
 and each on one side has its corresponding lamina, or comb, 
 on the other. 
 
 § 97. Forms of the metal hearing spaces in lodes. — Those 
 who have formed their ideas of a lode from books, will proba- 
 bly perceive, on actual examination, that they have much to 
 learn. A lode rarely extends continuously downward, with- 
 out certain interruptions or alternations which are rather uni- 
 form and of a peculiar kind. It is true, in some instances, as 
 stated, the continuity is unbroken ; and the threatened break 
 amounts only to a contraction, as the Rossie lead mine, 
 (Fig. 9,) shows. But the most frequent form of the metal 
 bearing spaces in the lodes of North-Carolina, are tolerably 
 distinct from each other, and are arranged in lenticular seg- 
 ments. The segments lie nearly parallel in the slates to the 
 planes of bedding ; each segment also has its own investment 
 of partings around it, which separates it imperfectly from 
 those adjacent to it. Tlie lower edge of the segment over- 
 laps or extends beyond the next succeeding one beneath, and 
 from which it is separated by a thin parting of slate. The 
 succeeding one, therefore, so far as its upper edge is con- 
 cerned, lies behind the former, and against the foot-wall. If 
 the entire series of segments are examined, they are found 
 to lie in echellon ; and sometimes where the lode dips at as 
 high an angle as 80°, for example, the fissure is vertical, and 
 the shaft in descending cuts all the segments from top to bot- 
 
NORTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 91 
 
 torn. Each segment makes an offset against the foot-wall, 
 but lies obliquely across the fissure, so that its upper and 
 lower edges touch or lie against each wall. 
 
 In most veins, an arrangement of this kind is more or less 
 distinct. In the. Gold Hill vein is a perfect example of the 
 kind I have described. 
 
 The length of the segments are variable, sometimes ten or 
 twelve leet; and their thickness is of course dependent up- 
 on that of the vein fissure. In some instances the segments 
 are so distinct that on being removed the lode seems to have 
 run out, but on working back to the foot-wall, another seg- 
 ment is encountered of the same form. The Pioneer mine, 
 in Cabarrus county, which is in syenitic granite, is another 
 fine exhibition of this arrangement. It does not therefore 
 appear to belong, or to be produced, by the character of the 
 rock in which the lode is formed. 
 
 § 98. The lenticular masses, described in the foregoing par- 
 agraphs, are frequently called bunches by miners. These 
 bunches are, however, frequently subordinate to still larger 
 segments of the lode, through which the riches are distrib- 
 uted. The larger segments form bands or belts extending 
 from the top to the great depths below ; and which, taken as 
 a whole, are quite uniform in their productiveness. These 
 rich belts, or as they are usually called, jpockets^ alternate 
 wtth poor ones. So the lode, therefore, taken as a whole, 
 has first its greater divisions of rich and poor belts or pock- 
 ets alternating, which is illustrated in the Gold Hill vein ; 
 and then these belts, whether rich or poor, are formed by len- 
 ticular masses lying obliquely across the vein fissure. To the 
 eye, the poor belts furnish no characteristics by which they 
 can be distinguished, with certainty, from the rich ones. 
 Experiments only bring to light the fact. The foregoing pre- 
 sents features in a lode which should not be lost sight of, 
 either in the first explorations or in subsequent workings of 
 it. The theory which we may adopt respecting the mode in 
 which a vein is filled, must also take in this feature of it, in- 
 asmuch as it may be regarded as a law in the distribution of 
 the vein stuff. It is not simply that the metal lies in bunches. 
 
92 KOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKNBT. 
 
 but the form of tliese subordinate masses must be taken into 
 the account, and it not only afiects the bunches of metal, but 
 the vein stone also. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Geological ranges of the Ores or MetalSy — Are c&rtain Metals 
 confined tc any certain RocTts f 
 
 § 99. Although the formations in North-Carohna are quite 
 limited wlien geological epochs are counted, and though this 
 subject may not be as important as it M^ould if the range of 
 rocks were greater, still its principles find many ilhistrations 
 in the mining districts of the State. . It cannot fail to be use- 
 ful when our knowledge of the range is derived from foreign 
 lands which have long been explored for the metals. 
 
 I have occasion to speak of only a few of the metals in 
 this connexion, those, for example, which are economically 
 or commercially important; and the order in which they re- 
 quire to be noticed is determined mainly by the geological 
 relations they hold to each other. 
 
 § 100. Tin. — ^This metal is spoken of here for the opportu- 
 nity it gives me for saying that there is no probability of its 
 being found in Korth-Carolina. It belongs geologically to 
 the oldest quartz or granites, and the oldest slates or killas, as. 
 they are called by Cornish miners. It is associated with cop- 
 per ; and many of the Cornish lodes contain tin at the surface 
 and copper below. The stanniferous rocks of Cornwall, con- 
 sist of quartzose granites, hornblende slate and clay slate, all 
 of which are traversed by granitic veins which are mostly 
 quartz and greenstone dykes, which are called elvans by the 
 miners. They therefore make no distinction between slates 
 which differ so much in composition as the hornblende and 
 
NOKTH-CAROLmA GEOLOGICAL 8UBVEY. 9S 
 
 clay slates. The granites of Cornwall contain much schorl 
 and mineral, which is rather rare in tlie granites of North- 
 Carolina. The relation, however, of the granite to clay slate, 
 and killas and quartz seams, is much the same as in Corn- 
 wall. But in the latter country the tin ore is and was scat- 
 tered over the surface very much, as our gold ores are here. 
 There was no difficulty in discovering the tin of Cornwall, 
 and there has been no impediment to the discovery of gold 
 here ; and after much search for tin and its indications, it 
 seems there is little prospect of its discovery. 
 
 The ores of copper take a much wider range than tin, al- 
 though they are almost constantly associated in certain rocks. 
 Copper is, however, most frequently found in the oldest rocks. 
 [t is in granite and the adjoining slates in the Carolinas and 
 Virginia. It is in a native or metallic state in the Potsdam 
 sandstone and igneous rocks of lake Superior. 
 
 Mr. Murchison observed veins of copper in the Devonian 
 series in Russia. The Triassic or I^ew Ked sandstone con- 
 tains copper also, which seems to be the most recent forma- 
 tion, which furnishes it in workable quantities. 
 
 § 101. The language used respecting the occurrence of 
 metal in ditferent rocks, seems to be somewhat loose and un- 
 intelligible. Thus, Sir H. De LaBeche remarks, with res- 
 pect to tin and copper, that where granite and elvan are near 
 these metals or their ores, they so abound that they may be 
 worked, and produce good mines. Hence, he again remarks^ 
 we might infer that granite or elvan had considerable intlu- 
 ence in promoting the presence of tin or copper ores, which 
 either occur in them or in other rocks in their vicinity ; while 
 the granite influence was not essential to the accumulation of 
 the ores of lead, antimony, manganese, zinc or iron, as the 
 case may be, in quantities to be profitably worked. There 
 are so many exceptions to the influence which is here spoken 
 of, that it is questionable whether we should continue to re- 
 gard it of much consequence, although it is backed by high 
 authority. There is, however, this ; workable veins of ore are 
 usually in a disturbed district, as I have observed in another 
 place, or in a district in which elvan and granite dikes 
 
94 " NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 fibound. Tlie rock of the country may be granite, or Blate or 
 limestone ; and each may, or may not be metaliferous ; where 
 it is disturbed by igneous rocks, the probabihties are much 
 increased thereby ; if they are absent, the probabihties are 
 much diminished. 
 
 § 102. The ores of iron and manganese have by far the 
 widest distribution, both geologically and geographically. 
 The magnetic and specular ores ^re widely distributed in the 
 granitic series, in gneiss, mica and talcose slates, and primary 
 limestone. Proceeding upwards in the geologic scale, they 
 appear in workable quantities in the Taconic system, as in 
 Xorth-Carolina and in the Lake Superior district. In the 
 upper Silurian, in the carboniferous and new red or Triassic 
 system. Hematites, accompanied with manganese, occur in 
 the drift, and the bog ores are also widely di^ributed. Similar 
 deposits seem to belong to all ages. They are frequently the 
 products of mineral springs which now cease to flow ; but 
 which have left thin deposits among the tertiaries and most 
 recent formations. The silicate of manganese occurs, in the 
 oldest slates in veins. 
 
 Antimony ores, according to De LaBeche, are chiefly 
 obtained in fair abundance in those portions of the granitic 
 districts, which are much associated with trappean rocks. 
 Oxide of manganese occurs also in the same rocks contigu- 
 ous to the traps just spoken of. 
 
 § 103. The sulphuret of zinc is associated with both tin 
 and copper, but more frequently with the latter. In the 
 mining districts of Cornwall, zinc is very widely distributed. 
 The red oxide of Sussex county, New Jersey, is connected 
 with, the primary limestone, its epoch is not determined. 
 The sulphuret of zinc in North-Caroliua, belongs to the Ta- 
 conic rocks, and is only found in considerable quantities at 
 the "Washington mine. Carbonate of zinc or calamine, is 
 confined in England to the carboniferous formation, and is 
 probably in this country referred to the same or nearly the 
 same epoch. Galena or sulphuret of lead has a wide distri- 
 bution. It is found in veins in gneiss and granite in this 
 country, and from these ancient rocks it ranges up to the car- 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 95 
 
 boniferous series. Galena, zinc, silver, gold and copper are 
 associated in the Washington mine, in Davidson county. 
 Antimony and galena occur in the gold region of Georgia, 
 in certain parts of the Gum-log mine. 
 
 § 104. Gold is the associate of the sulphurets of copper 
 and iron. The sulphuret of iron alone and quartz, may be 
 regarded as the true associates of this metal, and it may be 
 with gold as with silver ; the latter though occurring in the 
 same vein with sulphuret of zinc and lead, yet is rather at- 
 tached to the latter than the former ; and so it may be con- 
 jectured that gold, when it occurs in the same vein with sul- 
 phuret of copper and iron, is mixed with the latter rather 
 than with the former. Gold veins traverse gneiss and horn- 
 blende, mica and talcose slates. These are the oldest slate 
 rocks, and belong to the Blue Ridge. Another set or group 
 of auriferous veins belong to the Taconic system. Previous- 
 ly to 1855, I had inferred that the auriferous veins of the two 
 series belonged to the same epoch. But this position appears 
 to be untenable now, in consequence of the discovery that 
 auriferous beds also occur in the Taconic system. The gold 
 of these sedimentary beds must, of , course, have been deriv- 
 ed from the preexisting lodes of the hornblende, mica and 
 talcose slates. So far as this country is concerned, no discov- 
 eries of gold in veins have been made in rocks of a later date 
 than those of the Taconic system. 
 
 § 105. Cobalt is found in a hornblendic gness at Chatham, 
 Connecticut ; it is associated with iron pyrites ; it is called 
 copper nickel, being a compound of cobalt nickel and arse- 
 nic. Silver is associated with lead, but it is in this relation 
 in the older rocks. Small quantities of sulphuret of silver 
 occur in Montgomery county, in the slates. Cobalt, silver 
 and arsenic are found in some of the latest formations in Eu- 
 rope. These substances occur in the veins of Joachimsthal 
 of the epoch of the Tertiary. They are probably the latest 
 veins, whose age is determinable by the age of the forma- 
 tions through which they pass. In this instance, the geo- 
 graphical relation of the veins to igneous or eruptive rocks 
 is quite manifest, and it may be regarded as due to this influ- 
 
i 
 ■96 NOBTH-CAKOLESrA GEOLOGIC AJ. 8UKVEY, 
 
 ence, that the vein fissures became charged with the ores of 
 the metals in question. There are no instances known in 
 England or France of vein fissures occurring in the lias, 
 oolite, or any of the later formations. The Atlantic slope 
 from New Jersey to Alabama, is in part overlaid with Creta- 
 ceous, New Red sandstone and Tertiary ; but there are no re- 
 positories of the ores in that distance, which are connected 
 with these later formations, excepting that of copper in the 
 New Red sandstone. Mercury is said to occur in gneiss and 
 older slate rocks. In Idria, it is associated with coal shales 
 in the condition of a sulphuret. 
 
 § 106. The results to which observation tends are, 1st, 
 That the original repositories of the ores are to be sought for 
 in the primary and Palaeozoic rocks; 2d, That it is in the' re- 
 gion of the primary tliat they may be expected ; 3c}, That it 
 is in the vicinity of eruptive rocks, granite, trap and porphy- 
 ry, that the probabilities of their existence is greatly increas- 
 ed. Still, many districts where irruptive rocks are extensive, 
 furnish only traces of a metaliferous region, as a part of New 
 England proves. In these rmarks, iron may be regarded as 
 an exception, inasmuch as it is common alike to many dis- 
 tricts, while lead, zinc, copper, gold, etc., are more generally 
 restricted to certain tolerably well defined districts. 
 
 § 107. Are veins of any of the metals confined to certain 
 ' rocks? — Whether any of the ores of the metals are confined to 
 certain rocks, is not to be expected in a restricted sense. 
 ,Some are confined, probably, to a limited series, as the pri- 
 mary schists; and some others seem to be associated more 
 frequently with a given rock, as chromate of iron with ser- 
 pentine. 
 
 Several chemical combinations of the metals pass through 
 a wide range of formations. No mineral substance is more 
 common than iron pyrites. It is disseminated in most rocks ; 
 and it occurs, also, in veins. It is found in sandstone, all the 
 limestones and slates, of all ages, and in the tertiary ; it is a 
 mineralizer of wood in volcanic and sedimentary rocks. 
 
 § 108. Copper pyrites, though widely disseminated, ia 
 much less so than iron pyrites ; and its quantity is usually 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL 8UEVET. 97 
 
 less where the two occupy the same lode. Copper is res- 
 tricted rather to tlie older rocks, but is not confined to a 
 limestone, sandstone or slate. 
 
 Manganese is also widely diffused ; but when it is found in 
 the more recent formations, it is derived, as in the case of the 
 oxide of iron, from pre-existing repositories. Gold is restrict- 
 ed in its range, but not confined to one rock. Tin is confined 
 to -the oldest rocks, but not restricted to one. Mercury, 
 which is restricted to a few districts, is not confined to one 
 rock. Platina and its associates are referred to the serpen- 
 tines. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that though certain ores have a res- 
 tricted range, yet they do not appear to be confined absolute- 
 ly to one rock. Gold is rarely found in limestone and ser- 
 pentine, but in North-Carolina it is sometimes found in both 
 of these rocks. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII„ 
 
 iJircumstances tJbhich favor the accumulation of Ore in 
 Masses — State of the adjacent Moch, {sometimes called the 
 country^ which appears to favor the accumulation of Ore 
 in a Vein — Vicinity of E Ivans — Passage of a Vein from 
 ■&ne Rock to another — Condition of the Walls of a Vein. 
 
 § 109. The contents of a vein is often found to have accu- 
 mulated at certain points. Miners as well as geologists have 
 ascribed these enlargements to certain causes. When, for 
 example, two veins cross each other, the ore at the point of 
 intersection is twice as great as in either of the intersecting 
 veins. This fact is so common, that when two veins are in-' 
 clined to each other, and if prolonged will intersect, it is 
 confidently expected that it will yield a much larger amount 
 7 
 
98 NOKTH-CAIlOLmA GEOLOGICAL StTRVET. 
 
 of ore. This is one of tlie most frequent and constant facta 
 in mining whicli can be relied upon, or which, it it occurs, 
 may be rehed upon for increasing the product of the lode. 
 This expectation is carried still farther ; when, for instance, 
 two bunches or pockets of ore in the same vein are approach- 
 ing each other, at the place of meeting it is expected the ore 
 will be increased. 
 
 § 110. The same result takes place when a vein crosses an 
 elvan or dyke, De LaBeche remarks upon this subject, that 
 the connexion between bunches of ore in fissure, where they 
 traverse the elvans, is well understood by the practical min- 
 ers of Cornwall. One of the most remarkable examples giv- 
 en in illustration of the fact is, that of the Wheal Alfred, 
 near Guinear. The elvan crossed by the vein is about three 
 hundred feet thick ; the vein crosses it at an angle of about 
 25°. The elvan dips K. W. at an angle of 45°. The inter- 
 secting lode dips at an angle of Y2°. The lode was in slate, 
 and produced some ore while in it ; but upon entering the 
 elvan it became much richer and increasing in value, when 
 it finally yielded an amount of ore which was sufficient to 
 give a profit of £140,000 sterling to the adventurers. After 
 quitting the elvan, and again entering the slate below, the 
 lode became poor, and eventually was abandoned on this ac- 
 count. 
 
 § 111. Sometimes a lode in crossing an elvan is split in 
 strings, and though the amount of ore may. not be diminish- 
 ed, it will increase the expense of mining considerably, in 
 consequence of the large amount of rock which may be ne- 
 cessary to raise and dress. The cases belonging to the kind 
 under consideration as 'a whole, furnish a large per cent, in 
 favor of the increase of ore in the dykes, or while the vein is 
 crossing them. When the vein passes between the elvan and 
 the rock, prior to its intersection, the bunch of ore is also in- 
 creased. 
 
 § 112. Yeins are supposed also to be more promising in 
 the vicinity of elvans and other eruptive rocks. All these 
 facts seem to point to the influence which igneous matter has 
 upon fissures, probably in opening passages from beneath 
 
yOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 99 
 
 upwards. The foregoing is in accordance with the prevail- 
 ing opinions of the captains of mines in Cornwall, where it 
 is said that the greatest quantities of copper ores are found 
 in the neighborhood of large elvan courses. This view it is 
 important to examine ; for, in the mming districts of North- 
 Carohna, large dykes or elvan courses form one of the inter- 
 esting features of the country, as I shall have an opportunity 
 for showing in the progress of this report. 
 
 § 113. There are many points of interest connected with 
 the intersection of lodes one with another, or with dykes, 
 which are not by any means sufficiently elucidated or estab- 
 lished. Thus, at what angle is the most favorable for an 
 increase of metal, or is the angle of intersection only a 
 secondary point ? Is there any connection between the in- 
 crease of metal in the lode and the texture of the dyke 
 which is intersected ? or is there any connection between the 
 increase of metal and the kind of elvan lithologically con- 
 sidered ? The foregoing, together with many other inquiries 
 important in mining, can only be satisfactorily answered by 
 records duly made by intelligent agents or captains of mines, 
 who feel sufficient interest in the matter to note all the facts 
 pertaining to the subject at the time when they come under 
 observation. 
 
 § 114. The condition of the adjacent rock is also supposed 
 to influence the production of the vein ; or, as the miner 
 would say, the richness of the vein is dependent upon the 
 country. Thus in certain Cornwall tin and copper mines, the 
 lodes were rich where the clay slates were of a blueish white 
 color, and poor where they were black. In another mine it 
 was productive while in moderately hard killas ; but when it 
 entered a stratum of hard killas, the riches were cut out. 
 Other instances are given where the same unfortunate change 
 occurred on passing from softer to harder slates. So in cases 
 of granite, where it was soft, the lode was rich ; but on en- 
 tering into a hard part of it, it became poor. These cases, 
 however, do not seem to be perfectly satisfactory, other causes 
 may have operated to have induced the change observed ; 
 or, inasmuch as veins change even when the rock preserves a 
 
100 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 uniform texture, the change may have been only one of those 
 alternations met with in every day mining experience. So, 
 also, the passage of a lode from one rock to another is usual^ 
 iy attended with a change in its value, increasing in some 
 cases, diminishing in others. Sometimes a lode is rich in the 
 slate, and becomes poor on passing into granite ; in others^ it 
 is poor in granite, but becomes rich in slate. So it would 
 appear that the rock itself does not control its mineral 
 wealth ; or, if the position is too broad, it may be said with 
 truth that it does not exclusively control it. The value of the 
 lode in either case may be increased by an elvan course, 
 which exists in one instance and not in another. The facts 
 are too meagre, the observations too limited, to enable us to 
 predict, with certainty, respecting the nature of the change 
 which is to be expected in any given case, or whether a 
 change will take place at all ; though it is pretty well estab- 
 lished that a change of ground produces a change of metals. 
 In one or two instances in ISTorth-Carolina, a lode, in passing 
 from slate into granite, continued to be equally rich in the 
 latter, as in the former rock. 
 
 § 116. The condition of the walls of a vein are also sup- 
 posed to influence the richness as well as the quantity of ore 
 in it. A firm, hard, well defined wall, is regarded as the 
 most favorable condition ; if the walls on the contrary are 
 soft, they do not hold the metal. So the presence oi fl.uhan 
 is a favorable omen, according to Cornish miners^ Walls, 
 however, may have been originally firm, but in consequence 
 of the decomposition of the sulphurets, may be softened 
 and broken down. Their present state then, does not neces- 
 sarily decide what influence they have exerted upon the lode, 
 as in the cases respecting the influence of the rock on its 
 lodes ; so it may be said that the influence of the walls on 
 the contents between them is not well understood. It is dif- 
 ficult to distinguish between accidental circumstances and 
 necessary results or causes ; the relation between antecedents 
 and consequents. It is not possible to decide what influence 
 a distant centre of force has, or can have, in the production 
 of certain phenomena. There are, for instance, a complica- 
 
NOKTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 101 
 
 tion of forces ; a subterranean force in which heat may play 
 its part, and electrical forces which circulate in the earth's 
 crust, which play their part also. Observations require to be 
 multiplied before some of the common and prevalent notions 
 of miners can be received as decisive judgments. Observa- 
 tions which are conducted properly, and those tabulated, will 
 lead to judgments which will be useful in a new mining re- 
 gion, and probably in all mining countries. 
 
 § 117. I have treated of vein fissures and other reposito- 
 ries of the ores and metals in the preceding chapter at some 
 length, but it remains to classify and arrange them according 
 to the characters which belong respective!}'^ to each kind. 
 Kow the forces which act upon the rocks within the sphere 
 of observation, and which break the continuity of strata, are 
 by no means numerous ; and it so happens, that though the 
 forces may differ, still the results are quite similar in certain 
 respects ; thus the cooling of the earth's crust opens deep fis- 
 sures or rents, and so also the desiccation of rocks must pro- 
 duce cracks by shrinkage. In igneous rocks, and those form- 
 ing a greater part of the earth's surface in the era when vein 
 fissures must have been the most frequent occurrence, the 
 fissures were the effect of cooling. In the era of sediments 
 on the contrary, especially those which are calcareous and 
 argillaceous, desiccation cracks must have been the most fre- 
 quent. Desiccation cracks, however, differ from fissures pro- 
 duced by cooling, in the depth. By simple drying, fissures 
 may be confined to a single rock; and it probably will be 
 also checked with numerous cracks. In fissures from cooling 
 of the crust, we may recognize a general force ; in desicca- 
 tion, a local one. In the former, too, it is probable that fis- 
 sures would be accompanied with the shifting of the position 
 of rocks, which would operate to extend them. There is 
 Btill one more mode by which the earth's crust may be, and 
 is fissured, as well as dislocated, viz., the action by the elastic 
 vapours and gasses, which no doubt become pent up and 
 confined, until, by accumulation, the force breaks the conti- 
 nuity of the strata. Sometimes, in the movements produced. 
 
102 irOKTH-CAEOLTNA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 the strata subside ; at other times they are elevated or shift- 
 ed, as represented in fig. 14* 
 
 Fig. 14. ^]^q jjiost important forces by which 
 
 the earth or its upper rocks are fissur- 
 ed, rent or separated, may be reduced 
 to three : 1. Fissures by secular refrige- 
 ration ; 2. Drying and desiccation of 
 sediments ; and 3. The action of elas- 
 tic gasseous bodies disengaged in the interior of the earth. 
 
 § 118. l^otwithstanding the foregoing statement respect- 
 ing the nature of the forces which produce fractures and fis- 
 sures in the earth's crust, still they do not furnish the neces- 
 sary characteristics for distinguishing the different rej)Osito- 
 ries of the metals from each other. Indeed these reposito- 
 ries scarcely admit of a scientific classification. We may 
 enumerate, however, certain kinds of repositories which seem 
 to be distinct from the others, and which it is useful to notice. 
 
 (a.) those repositories which are cotemporaneous with 
 
 THE ROCK. 
 
 1. The first includes those repositories where the ores are 
 disseminated in the rock in grains, and small and large 
 masses, as chrome ore in serpentine; magnetic iron ore in 
 the hypersthene rock of the Adirondacks in northern I*s^ew 
 York ; the specular ore, in some instances, in pyrocrystalhne 
 limeBtone. 
 
 2. The second, seggregated secrnis, which present a welted 
 appearance upon the surface of the rock. Particles and 
 small masses of metal are arranged in lines along such seams, 
 but they are usually stony, and are cotemporaneous with the 
 rock, so far as the materials are concerned, which form the 
 seggregations. They rarely contain sufficient metal to pay 
 the expense of extraction. 
 
 3. The third, beds or deposits of metal which are formed 
 during the period when the rock was forming or being depos- 
 ited. Some of the gold *»epositories of North-Carolina be- 
 long to this kind, and all the iron ores which are stratified in 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 103 
 
 the sediments. They belong to all the systems which have 
 been recognized ; the oolite ore of the upper Silurian in New 
 York and Yirginia, the iron balls and stratified deposits of 
 the carboniferous system, etc., are among the most important. 
 
 (b.) vein fissures wHien have been produced after the con- 
 solidation OF THE ROCK, AND SUBSEQUENTLY FILLED. 
 
 1. The first contains the granitic and trappean veins or 
 dykes. They are true veins which were filled with stony 
 matter, immediately after the fissure was formed. 
 
 2. The second, fissures which remain open and are slowly 
 filled with stony and metallic matter in aggregations quite 
 variable in their arrangements and relations. To this kind 
 belong the veins of workable ores, sulphurets, etc. 
 
 3. The third, desiccation cracks^ they are sometimes filled 
 in part with the ores, but generally with sparry limestone, 
 sulphate of barytes, etc. Cracks in septaria, in clay slate, in 
 limestone and other rocks, with lenticular shaped fissures be- 
 long to this kind, provided they begin and end in the rock. 
 
 § 119. Repositories of ores occur, of which it is difficult to 
 offer a satisfactory explanation of their production, or of the 
 mode in which they were filled ; among which I am disposed 
 to place the copper ore of the New Red sandstone, and the 
 lead ores of Missouri in Silurian limestone. The former, 
 however. Prof. Rogers is disposed to regard as irregular re- 
 positories, and perhaps filled by cupreous emanations from 
 beneath ; and so it is not improbable that the repositories of 
 galena in the western limestones may be regarded as irregu- 
 lar vein fissures, which were sufliciently extensive and deep 
 to form connexion with the pyrocrystalline or eruptive rocks. 
 
 The assumption may appear unwarrantable ; but when we 
 see so many illustrations of the fact, that fissures are in prox- 
 imity to eruptive rocks, and very uncommon in those at a 
 distance, the assumption appears less hazardous. It is sus- 
 tained also by established principles, and appears more ra- 
 tional than the theory which ascribes their formation to ma- 
 terials in the rock, and subsequent to consolidation, were se- 
 creted into the open fissures. It is true, that in support of 
 
104 NOKTH-CABOLINA GEOLOaiCAL SUEVEY. 
 
 the latter there is no question respecting the filling of seama 
 by spar, and sometimes it is intermingled with the sulphurets. 
 
 The facts show that it is in accordance with known phe- 
 nomena, and deserves consideration before it is rejected, 
 Tliose which are most important in North-Carolina, are the 
 contemporaneous beds, as the gold deposits. The dissemi- 
 nated ores, as the chrome ore and the vein fissure. 
 
 § 120. Numerous examples of the occurrence of the ox- 
 ides in such relations as to indicate the contemporaneous ori- 
 gin of the rock and ore, are furnished in the instance of 
 chrome in serpentine. Franklin county in North-Carolina, 
 and Franklin and Hampshire in Massachusetts, furnish many 
 instances of chrome ore imbeded in the rock. Serpentine is 
 a rock which is now admitted as of igneous origin ; hence it 
 may be inferred from the relation of chrome to the rock, 
 that it is also an igneous product, contemporaneous with the 
 rock. 
 
 Serpentine, in northern New York, contains primary lime- 
 stone ; and large blocks of serpentine frequently occur in 
 limestone. Sometimes they form a rock composed of equal 
 parts of each. These may be supposed to have been acci- 
 dental ; or, that they have been developed in a magnesian 
 paste by metamorphic action. This view is inconsistent with 
 the facts revealed in St. Lawrence county, New York, and 
 westei-n counties of North-Carolina. In New York, the lime- 
 stone is beneath the Potsdam sandstone, and is an unstratified 
 rock, and has, in several instances, changed the Potsdam 
 sandstone by contact. It is with this unstratified limestone 
 that the serpentine is associated, and it is also in this lime- 
 stone that the specular oxide of iron is imbedded ; it is as it 
 were entangled with it, and became so when in a pasty condi- 
 tion. If the views of geologists are true respecting the con- 
 nexion of chrome ore with serpentine, analogy may Avell lead 
 us to apply the same view to the origin of the specular ore 
 in the primary limestone. This view, however, must be re- 
 stricted to certain cases, for it unquestionably occurs in regu- 
 lar veins. These may be obscured at the surface by the dis- 
 integration of the ore which may be spread out widely over 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 105 
 
 the surface in an earthy state, and appear like an ordinary 
 bed of hematite. 
 
 § 121. The fact just stated respecting the occurrence of 
 iron ore in beds requires a farther notice in this place. Only 
 two of the oxides of the metals occur in the soil, or in the 
 modern deposits, viz., iron and manganese. It is scarcely 
 necessary to remark that these oxides are widely distributed, 
 and it happens that wherever a rock is undergoing decompo- 
 sition, we find one or both of these oxides as products of the 
 change. In many accumulations ot debris, we can discover 
 iron and manganese disseminated through the porous mass ; 
 it may give it a deep red stain, or red and purple stain, 
 which indicates the pi-esence of both oxides ; or these oxides 
 may form black concretions in the soil. But what is of the 
 most importance, is the accumulation of both in large and 
 extensive beds. Most of the hematites and black oxide of 
 manganese belong to deposits of this kind. They are pro- 
 ducts of decomposition. The manganese, though widely dif- 
 fused, is far less abundant than iron. Manganese is evident- 
 ly soluble in water by the aid of carbonic acid. Infiltrations 
 of manganese and its deposition on the surfaces of sandstones, 
 porphyries, etc., in dendritic forms, are instances of solution- 
 But its occurrence upon the surfaces of the natural joints of 
 rocks seems to be due to another cause. 
 
 Iron, in a state of hydrous per oxide, is not confined to the 
 soil of the present ; it is a deposit in beds in most of the sys- 
 tems of rocks, the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and 
 Permian. The same causes, therefore, have been operative 
 . in the distribution of iron in the mode I have indicated, 
 throughout the sedimentary period. Its source cannot al- 
 ways be told. One of the most common is the sulphuret of 
 iron, which is confined to no rock or epoch. 
 
 § 122. From the foregoing facts, it appears that most of 
 the vein stone and metalic combinations possess volatility in 
 tlie presence of water and sulphur. Possessing therefore this 
 property, sometimes in an eminent degree, it is clear that it 
 is possible that they may be introduced into the cracks and 
 fissures of the earth's crust in a state of vapor. In this state, 
 
106 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 they are in a condition to penetrate all the narrow and thread 
 like seams, as well as the wider and more important vein fis- 
 sures. In this condition, too, the materials become as it were 
 incorporated, to a certain extent, with the rock through the 
 medium of its pores and open structure. These vapours pos- 
 sess a decomposing activity upon the surfaces of rocks with 
 which they come in contact ; though it may not be possible 
 to determine now, in the decomposed vein stuff, and the in- 
 closed walls, what is due to the contact of vapours, or the 
 active elements which are subsequently disengaged by the 
 decomposition of the sulphurets. 
 
 It is not inconsistent with known facts and phenomena to 
 infer too, that veins may be filled in part by igneous injec- 
 tion, and in part by vaporization. Phenomena seem to indi- 
 cate that fissures have been enlarged or widened after they 
 have been filled ; or that the vein stone has been moved up- 
 on itself, or has been shoved upwards against the walls. The 
 evidence of movements exists in the striated surfaces of the 
 wall and matter filling the vein. These striations are known 
 by the name of slickensides. The same force which pro- 
 duce slickensides may also widen the fissure, and give there- 
 by access to the vapour generated beneath, and at great 
 depths. 
 
 Mineral veins are both complex and compound in their 
 structure Complexity may therefore be expected to have 
 ensued in the details of their filling. That these are not al- 
 ways to be ascribed to one cause is evident, and the recogni- 
 tion of those forces, of which we have the clearest evidence, 
 are developed through the instrumentality of a high tem- 
 perature beneath the earth's crust, will go far to explain ma- 
 ny phenomena which a single force leaves in the dark. 
 
 § 123. Native metals, in the form of deposits in the con- 
 solidated sediment, similar to the oxide of iron, are some- 
 what rare. In JSTorth-Carohna, however, native gold must be 
 regarded as a sediment. The deposits in which it occurs 
 want the essential characteristics of veins; that of walls 
 showing that receptacles of the metal were never fissures. 
 The width of these depositories vary from a few inches to 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 107 
 
 sixty or seventy feet. The line of demarkation between tlie 
 gold bearing stratum and the unproductive rock is rarely dis- 
 tinct, and is usually determined by trial ; but to the eye it is 
 extremely difficult to determine this line. 
 
 § 124. The depositories which belong to this class, are the 
 Jones j& Lauflin mines in Davidson, the Howie mine in 
 Union, and the mine near Zion, in Montgomery county. 
 These deposits I had suspected for a long time to have been 
 cotemporaneous with the rock ; but the evidence that gold 
 was truly a sediment, might not be fully sustained by the 
 facts I had to present. But the occurrence of fossils at the 
 last locality in the midst of the gold, and with the debris of 
 the rock containing gold, and often visible in it, showing that 
 it is not derived from an intruded decomposed dyke or por- 
 phyry, sets the matter at rest. More than $100,000 have 
 been taken from this deposit. These beds containing gold are 
 quite numerous and important in North Carolina. These de- 
 posits are usually in the talcose slates, whieh are impregnated 
 with the oxide of iron, derived from the decomposed sul- 
 phuret of iron. The deposit at Zion is in quartz, which over- 
 lies a brecciated conglomerate. 
 
 I am unable to learn that this fact respecting gold, under 
 the circumstances I have now communicated, had been sus- 
 pected. A moments reflection, however, will satisfy any one 
 that this mode of occurrence presents nothing very remarka- 
 ble. Other metals occur in this mode in the form of oxides, 
 while gold being unoxidable, occurs in its metalic state. 
 
108 NOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL StlBVTBY, 
 
 CHAPTER XVni. 
 
 Direction of the axis of disturbance or the lines of faults amd 
 of Dyhe Fissures — Direction of Vein Fissures — General 
 conclusions, etc. 
 
 § 125. Tlie geological map of North-Carolina, now in pro- 
 gress, will show that there are certain lines or axis which are 
 constantly directed to certain points of the compass, or which 
 do not deviate materially from those points. These indicate 
 the axis of disturbance which may have occurred in any giv- 
 en mineral district. 
 
 Taking the direction of the trap dj^kes, we shall find that 
 their line of bearing approaches nearly north east and south 
 west. There is, however, a variation amounting to many de- 
 grees, so that the limits being given, the result would show 
 that they run from N. 10° E. to N. 35° E. Of twenty dykes 
 which occur in the width of twenty rods, the direction is 
 about 20° E. A group of dykes occurs between Greensbo- 
 rough and Lexington, about fourteen miles east of the latter 
 place, upon a remarkable trappean belt between the slates of 
 the Taconic system and the Greensborough and Salisbury 
 granite, a sienitic granite, which is remarkably metaliferous. 
 This belt, wherever exposed, exhibits a cluster of dykes and 
 veins, which are frequently interlaced with each. The veins 
 of felspar are intersected by the trap in a few instances, 
 showing that the former are the oldest. 
 
 The vein fissures, though the}'" too are intersected by dykes, 
 pursue a course approaching to paralleHsm with each other, 
 and their range of direction N. 10° W. and N. 70° E., by far 
 the greater number are about N. 30° E. 
 
 The ranges of hills are usually parallel with the Blue 
 Ridge. In no instance is the direction of the out crop of a 
 rock or its strike coincident with the ridges, they always cross 
 them obliquely, while, however, if the strike of the series of 
 knobs and ridges are taken together, there is a close corres- 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOIOGICAJ. SURVEY. lOfi" 
 
 pondence between the strike of the rock and that of the 
 ridges ; but when each is taken b j itself, they never coin- 
 cide. 
 
 The axis of disturbance, therefore, and the bearing of veins 
 and dykes which show the direction of fissures, are parallel, 
 or nearly so ; though if the subordinate segments only are 
 taken into the reckoning, as a separate and distinct ridge, 
 there would be a decided deviation from parallelism. 
 
 § 126, The relation of dyJces and veins to ridges, or the 
 the more elevated parts of the country. — The mining district 
 of North-Carolina, and indeed of the southern States, occu- 
 pies the second belt of table land. Throughout this belt, the 
 vein fissures more frequently occupy those positions which 
 are only moderately elevated. The highest hills of Davidson, 
 Randolph, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Rowan, etc., are rarely if 
 ever traversed by vein fissures. The Gold Hill vein runs 
 nearly parallel to a ridge along its crest. Other examples of 
 productive veins are as common in valleys as upon ridges. 
 The highest ridges of Randolph and Davidson are formed of 
 exceedingly hard quartzite, and though veins sometimes occu- 
 py some of the highest points, yet, I do not know of a pro- 
 ductive vein upon those points or ridges. The country may 
 be regarded as low where the vein fissures are the most nu- 
 merous, as near the Pioneer mine in Cabarrus county. There 
 is, however, no necessary relation between the height of the 
 country and the frequency or infrequency of veins or elvans. 
 
 § 127. The prevailing dip of the rock is to the north west, 
 which continues to the line of junction with the gneiss and 
 mica slate of the fianks of the Blue Ridge. The north west 
 dips are an exception to the prevalent dips of the Blue Ridge. 
 I am unable to determine the age of the fissures and elvan 
 courses by their direction. There is no doubt respecting 
 the fact, however, that the vein fissures belong at least to 
 two epochs, as I have elsewhere remarked ; but the lodes or 
 veins are so nearly coincident, that it is impossible to deter- 
 mine the fact from the direction of the fissure, seeing they 
 belong to adjacent districts. 
 
110 NOETH-CABOLINA* GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 1. General conclusions respecting the distribution of veins, 
 etc. — Although the dynamics, of vein fissures are not as yet 
 sufficiently elucidated to enable geologists to explain all the 
 phenomena attending them, still there are certain facts which 
 throw much light upon the forces which have been active in 
 their production. Thus it is true in the general, that vein 
 fissures are near the centres of disturbance, and in the vicini- 
 ty of eruptive rocks ; when they traverse the newer forma- 
 tions, it is proof conclusive that these eruptive rocks are con- 
 nected, in some way, with their production. This view is 
 sustained, by facts of a negative kind, that where eruptive 
 centres are unknown, vein fissures are extremely rare. 
 
 The foregoing conclusion is consented to by the most dis- 
 tinguished writers and observers, and observations in IsTorth- 
 Carolina sustain the position. In the region where eruptive 
 rocks occur, there the most productive mines have been 
 found ; yet there are tracts or districts where the country is 
 riddled with trap dykes, which are not known to be rich in 
 veins of metal. In parts of New England granite veins are 
 very numerous, yet veins of the metals are scarcely known. 
 Still the rich districts abound in trap dykes and elvans. 
 
 2. Minerals are distributed in districts. — It is extremely 
 rare that a single vein is alone, and has no companions. In 
 North-Carolina the districts are elongated, or lie in belts. 
 The slate formation to which Gold Hill belongs stretches 
 nearly across the State. Parallel with the slate, and close to 
 its borders on the west, lies the granite belt, which is rich in 
 metals, and is equally extensive. 
 
 Another mineral belt or district extends from King's moun- 
 tain through Lincoln county to the Catawba, in the direction 
 of Sherril's ford. 
 
 These examples of mineral districts are so distinct, that the 
 facts have been recognized by many competent observers. 
 
 3. As productive veins are related geographically as well 
 as geologically to eruptive rocks, they must be regarded as 
 proximately connected with their filling by the metals. That 
 they may be instrumental in the dry way of producing this 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVJJr. Ill 
 
 effect by opening passages to the Zones of incandescent mat- 
 ter, or of converting fissures into galleries of sublimation, 
 seems highly jDrobable. M. Keekar, I believe, was the first 
 who proposed this theory. 
 
 4. I have made no allusion to the electrical theory of Mr. 
 Fox, a theory which many seem to favor and even adopt. 
 But it has always been objectionable, on the ground that the 
 consequent is put for the antecedent. The fact that electri- 
 cal currents circulate in fissures, is no proof that they were 
 the efficient cause which was instrumental in filling them. 
 Tlie parts of a fissure, considered as a whole, may be regard- 
 ed as an apparatus sufficiently complete to develop currents, 
 or to disturb the electric equihbrium. In this view, it may 
 arrange the materials already in the vein, but not collect 
 them from a distance. The currents are created, or set in 
 motion, after the apparatus is put together, but they had no 
 part in its creation. It is by no means strange that electrical 
 currents are developed under the circumstances, when, in 
 fact, every chemical change is attended with the excitation 
 of electricity. , The water of the mine is often charged with 
 the sulphates and other salts, a condition favorable for elec- 
 trical disturbance, as well as farther chemical decompositions. 
 
112 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 depositories of the metals in the midland counties of North- 
 Carolina — They helong to hoth divisions of the rocTcs, the 
 •primary or pyrocrystalline, and the sediments. — In thefor^ 
 mer, they are always in veins, or else in heds of the same 
 epoch with the roch y in the latter, in veins, and in the con- 
 dition of sediments. — Of the ores of iron. 
 
 % 128. Our knowledge of the repositories of the ores and 
 metals has been progressive. The establishment of the fact 
 that gold occurs as a sediment, was not known prior to the 
 commencement of the geological survey of this State. The 
 occurrence of the magnetic and specular oxides of iron in 
 veins in the oldest sediment of Korth-Carolina, has also been 
 established during its progress. 
 
 The pyrocrystalline rocks are traversed by veins carrying 
 iroUj copper and gold. The sediments of the Taconic system 
 are not only traversed by similar veins of a later epoch than 
 the former, but contain strata also richly charged with metal. 
 In North-Carolina there are no masses of iron ore contempo- 
 raneous with the rock inclosing it, as in the northern part of 
 Kew York, where the hypersthene contains masses live or 
 six hundred feet across, and which are evidently of the same 
 age as the rock. The iron here is mostly in veins, whether 
 in the primary rocks or in the Taconic system. Where the 
 iron occurs as in New York, the rock is an eruptive one, in 
 the molten mass of which, the iron it contains, becomes in- 
 termingled while in a state of fusion. 
 
 § 129. Of the iron ores of the midland counties. — ^As I 
 have already remarked, the iron ores occur mostly in veins. 
 It is true that the haematites or brown ores and bog ores form 
 beds in the soil ; and near the surface, and to a very limited 
 extent also, particles of magnetic iron are disseminated in the 
 consolidated sediment. The black sand, so common by the 
 road side, has been detached very frequently from the strati- 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJEVET. 113 
 
 fied rocks or the sediment. But I know of no strata in any * 
 of the sediments, ricli enough in black sand or magnetic iron 
 to be of any value. But its occurrence very frequently gives 
 us some information respecting the origin of the rocks in 
 which it is found, or from which it has been detached. It is 
 an interesting fact, that where a vein of the oxide of iron is 
 found, it is always in proximity to one or more trap dykes. 
 
 As an illustration of this statement, I have inserted fig. 15, 
 It is merely intended as a general illustration of the fact ; 
 and is taken from one of actual occurrence. 
 
 Fia. 15. a A vein of magnetic iron \d d d d 
 
 four parallel trap dykes; 5, coarse 
 pyrocrystalline limestone ; c, quartz 
 vein. 
 
 In this diagram the masses all be- 
 long' to the eruptive rocks ; but it 
 will be observed, that the trap dykes 
 were formed subsequently to the vein 
 of iron, because one of them inter- 
 sects it. The quartz vein is also cut 
 by the dyke. But I have exhibited this diagram for the pur- 
 pose of illustrating the general fact referred to; that the 
 veins of the metals are accompanied with trap, which is emi- 
 nently an eruptive rock ; but they are never contemporane- 
 ous, and the trap is the intersecting rock, and of course runs 
 in a different direction from the metallic veins. 
 
 Trap dykes, although troublesome neighbors to the miner, 
 yet their indications are favorable ; they are indicative of a 
 mining district — especially when numerous. 
 
 The midland counties are traversed by three parallel belts 
 of magnetic ore, or, in some places, the ore is changed to a 
 variety called specular ore. 
 
 Beginning at the western part of the midland counties, 
 the first belt to be described, passes from six to seven miles 
 east of Lincolnton. It is the prolongation of the King's 
 mountain ore, in Gaston county. The geological position of 
 this belt is given on plate 14, section 1, It immediately ad- 
 joins or belongs to the belt of sediments which has been de- 
 8 
 
114: NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEYET. 
 
 scribed as passing near Lincolnton. At Lincolnton, the rock 
 is mostly a coarse light gray micaceous granite. Beds of 
 slate, limestone and qnartzite, succeed it on the east ; but be- 
 tween this and the gneiss, a little farther east, are the veins 
 of magnetic ore. The position of the narrow belt of talcose 
 slate in which the ore occurs, is below or behind the heavy 
 masses of granular quartz. These masses of quartz, as they 
 are continuous from the South-Carolina line to the Catawba, 
 are land marks for the position of the ore. There is no ore 
 above the quartz, and I do not know that there is any in the 
 gneiss represented as below the veins of iron in the section 
 referred to. The careful consideration therefore of such re- 
 lations, are of great importance ; they furnish the clue to the 
 actual position of the veins. 
 
 The rocks and ore taken in masses stand in this order, be- 
 ginning our reckoning on the west : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I—I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 CQ 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 6 
 -.J 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 E/I 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 fl 
 
 
 . 
 
 ai 
 
 OQ 
 
 3 
 
 , 
 
 to 
 
 •sb 
 
 .22 
 
 o 
 
 % 
 
 m 
 
 O) 
 
 a 
 3 
 
 
 cs 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 <1> 
 
 D 
 <D 
 
 '53 
 a 
 O 
 
 'i< 
 
 The quartz being a rock easUy distinguished, becomes a 
 guide to the position of the ore. 
 
 These ore beds or veins of which I am speaking, are situ- 
 ated six or seven miles eastward of Lincolnton, and upon the 
 north side of the plank road. The limestone is a mile west of 
 the belt of ore. 
 
 The ore is usually near the crest of a ridge, and here it 
 traverses the parallel ridges, which, however, it crosses very 
 obliquely. There is no instance in which the vein runs pre- 
 cisely parallel with a ridge, or follows it ; it makes, in this in- 
 stance, to the east. This fact should not be lost sight of- in 
 tracing the veins ; they may be exactly upon the crest;_,in one 
 instance, but in the prolongation northward they will be 
 found to have made to the eastward of the same prolonged 
 ridge. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL STIRVEY. 
 
 115 
 
 The direction of bearing, as determined by the harder 
 masses of rock, is 1^. 20° E. — and what is said respecting the 
 bearing of the ore beds to the east, is true also of the rock 
 and strata in which they occur. 
 
 § 130. Certain peculiarities respecting the veins of m,ag- 
 netic ore of Lincoln county require a notice in this place : 
 
 1. They are of a flattened oval form, that is, a vein is di- 
 vided into sections, each of which partake of this form ; the 
 thin edge, perhaps, not making an outcrop at all, but is in- 
 closed between strata and slate, which come together at the 
 surface. This thin edge of ore, with its oval mass, hes ob- 
 liquely in the slate, widening as it descends, until it reaches 
 its maximum width, where it narrows below to its inferior 
 edge. The thickness of the upper mass may be less than 
 twelve inches. This laps on to the west side of another flat- 
 tened oval mass, which lies behind the first ; but in its descent 
 widens to a greater width than the first. 
 
 Some of the veins increase in width in this way, where, at 
 the depth of sixty feet, they are six to eight feet wide. In 
 working these veins, it is important to notice this arrange- 
 ment, and especially the setting back of each oval mass ; it 
 invariably begins behind the upper, and against the foot wall. 
 An arrangement of this kind is represented in Plate 10, in a 
 transverae section of the auriferous vein at Gold Hill. It is 
 not, therefore, peculiar or confined to the magnetic ore veins, 
 but seems to be common to many kinds of veins of ores. 
 
 § 131. The ore of the veins under consideration is usually 
 tine grained, or very rarely coarse ; it belongs to the variety 
 which is termed soft ; that is, it breaks readily, and may be 
 crushed in the hand. This softness arises partly from the 
 mixture of talcose slate, by which the grains are separated 
 from each other, and their coherence diminished. This fact 
 exerts a favorable influence in smelting, as by it the ore 
 is readily reduced to a size for the fire, and the fluxes to act 
 readily upon it. It is also very strongly magnetic. The 
 upp^ part of the veins have generally undergone disintegra- 
 tion, and the mass of ore is frequently in the condition of a 
 slightly coherent red mass, which readily passes into the con- 
 
116 JrOETH-CAEOLlNA GEOLOGICAL STJElT-ET. 
 
 dition of a powder. On the outside especially this change 
 has taken place, while the interior of a mass may be still oc- 
 cupied by a black unchanged ore, in the condition of grains^ 
 These changes are confined to the upper part of the vein, and 
 only extend to that point where it is constantly wet. 
 
 These veins of ore in Lincoln county have been worked 
 for a long period, and they have been and still are celebrated 
 for the good quality of the iron which they furnish, especial- 
 ly when reduced with proper care. The iron has been fa- 
 mous for its toughness and great strength, and the facility 
 with which it is made into blooms. 
 
 Messrs. Brevard and Johnson, are the principal owners of 
 the depositories of ore in this belt. Being in the interior of 
 , the State, the only market which this iron finds is a home 
 market ; smiths generally obtaining the necessary supply 
 from them. A much wider range of sale may be antici-. 
 pated, provided Lincoln county becomes connected with "Wil- 
 mington and the Seaboard, by means of a railway. The ore 
 being inexhaustible, water power to move machinery being 
 abundant, and more than all, a sufiiciency of fuel for char- 
 coal, makes the production of iron cheap. By aid of rail- 
 ways to take it to market, there is no question the iron may 
 compete successfully with northern iron in a northern mar- 
 ket. Charcoal iron must always have a preference over all 
 others ; and, for special purposes, no other can be used. For 
 all uses where machinery is exposed to great strains, no other 
 will do ; especially, in those parts of a vehicle which are lia- 
 ble to break, as the axles of locomotives, etc. 
 
 § 132. The prolongation of the Lincoln county ore appears 
 in the next place not far from the High Shoals of the Little 
 Catawba. 
 
 It preserves the same relations to the slate, quartz and 
 limestone, as those veins which have been alreadv described. 
 The character of the ore, however, in certain places, has 
 changed. l*^ear the High Shoals, or upon the property known 
 by this name, there are three locations called banks,||'rom 
 which the ore has been obtained. The first is known as the 
 Ferguson banb At this place the ore is brown; it has 
 
NOETH-CAROLmA GEOLOGICAL STJEVEY. . 117 
 
 become peroxidated, and has the color of snuff. The un- 
 changed ore is largely intermixed with sulphuret of iron. 
 It is unfit for bar iron, but may be employed for casting along 
 with better ores; in small quantities it makes a smoother 
 casting than the purer ores. When the Ferguson ore is en- 
 tirely decomposed, it makes a very good iron in the forge. 
 
 >The Ellis ore bank, is about three miles from the site of 
 Fullenwider's old furnace. It lies in the direction of King's 
 mountain. It is a black ore, and the vein is eighteen feet 
 wide. Its direction is IST. 20° E. It makes good iron, and is 
 inexhaustible. 
 
 The Carson ore bank is the most easterly of the three. It 
 is the common black magnetic ore, but is remarkably jointed, 
 and hence breaks into distinct angular pieces. This property, 
 or the High Shoal property, is well provided with the means 
 for manufacturing iron ; the water power, the ore and fuel 
 for coal is abundant on the premises. It contains 14,000 
 acres of land, and the south east part of which is valuable for 
 tillage. 
 
 The belt of ore with the same series of rocks continues to 
 King's mountain, in the vicinity of which iron has been made 
 for more than half a century. One of the principal veins is 
 forty feet thick. The business is carried on by Mr. Briggs, 
 who supplies the country with iron of an excellent quality. 
 The general character of the belt is preserved still farther 
 south. It passes into South-Carolina, extending to the Lime- 
 stone Springs, in the Spartanburg district ; or to the Broad 
 river, where iron works have been erected. 
 
 In addition to the seams of magnetic ore which belong to 
 this very extensive belt, there are beds of haematite near the 
 top of King's mountain. 
 
 Crowder's mountain also furnishes the peroxide or specular 
 ore near the top, and is said to constitute a vein six or seven 
 feet wide. This I have not visited. It is evident, from the 
 foregoing statements, that this important ore is widely dis- 
 tributed in Catawba, Lincoln and Gaston counties. There is 
 no probability, however, that the ore has been discovered at 
 all the accessible points. There is but little doubt, that upon 
 
118 NOSTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUENET. 
 
 this long belt, extending from the Catawba at Sherrill's ford 
 to the Broad river in South- Carolina, at the Limestone 
 Springs, other points not yet found -will come to light, which 
 will gi'eatly add ,to the amount already known to exist. 
 There seems, however, to be so much which is now accessi- 
 ble, that the inducements for finding more are not very im- 
 perative, even with those who are engaged in its manufac- 
 ture ; besides, the impossibihty of taking it to a distant mar- 
 ket, or one much beyond what may be called the home circle 
 of trade, must remain for the present a drawback upon this 
 branch of industry. 
 
 S 133. I have stated in what relation the foreffoino- belt of 
 iron ore is found ; that it is in close proximity to a narrow 
 belt of sediments. I am not satisfied, however, respecting a 
 question which might be raised, viz., whether it belongs 
 strictly to this belt, and to the same epoch. I am inclined 
 to regard it as an inferior series ; but geologically belong- 
 ing to the system of sediments which overlie those slates. 
 But it is a question which is open for discussion ; one which 
 may be debated, or which is by no means satisfactorily settled. 
 
 § 134. The second helt of iron ore in the midland counties. 
 It may be regarded as beginning in Montgomery county. It 
 passes through Eandolph county near Franklinville, thence 
 into Guilford county, and appears again ten miles west of 
 Greensborough, beyond which I have not traced it ; and in- 
 deed do not know that on this immediate hne of direction 
 iron ore veins are known. 
 
 The ore is upon the land of Mr.' DeBerri, and I believe is 
 ■ six or seven miles in a south west direction from Troy. The 
 country about it is uncultivated, and covered in the imme- 
 diate vicinity with the long leafed pine. 
 
 The relations of the ore to the surrounding rocks, is as follows : 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 (a 
 
 '3 
 
 
 
 
 ■*i 
 
 &H , 
 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 <i 
 
 
 -2 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 5q 
 
 O 03 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 2^ 
 
 ci 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 2 
 
 be 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 c 
 
 
 < 
 
 Eh 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLESrA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 119 
 
 The beds are trayersed hj a narrow bed of hornblende, 
 which, however, is not in a parallel position. 
 
 The mass of ore is about fifty feet wide. It occupies a 
 heavy knoll or hill of a moderate height. How far the ore 
 extends in the direction of its strike, I did not determine. 
 It may be traced a qnarter-of-a-mile, but being concealed by 
 debris, its extent could not be determined without excava- 
 tions. 
 
 At the surface it is silicious ; but subordinate seams of pure 
 heavy ore attest to the purity of the mass, as it will be found 
 below. 
 
 This ore is a peroxide at the surface. Its strike is N. 30° 
 E., and dip 'N. W. at a steep angle. It is jointed, and breaks 
 into angular pieces. The ore has never been noticed, and of 
 course no trials have been made respecting the mode in 
 which it will work, or the S:ind of iron it will make; but 
 being free from sulphuret of iron, it is probable that the 
 quality of iron will be such as to recommend it to the favor 
 of iron masters. 
 
 About four miles in a northerly direction from Troy, and 
 in a range with the ore just described, another series of veins 
 are known, and which lie in the neighborhood of the Cai'ter 
 gold mine. 
 
 This ore is the magnetic variety, and much of it is in mi- 
 nute octahedral crystals. It is very friable, but is intermixed 
 with talcose slate and grains of quartz, which contributes 
 very much to its softness. The beds of ore differ in compo- 
 sition, but still it is no objection to the view which I have 
 taken of them, viz., that they belong to the same epoch. It 
 sometimes happens that a vein of specular ore lies by the 
 side of a magnetic vein, being separated only a few feet. 
 
 In this belt or range the iron ore of Davie and Stokes coun- 
 ties should probably be placed. At rather distant points the 
 ore of this belt appears in a range so direct, that there is no 
 doubt of its passing entirely across the State. It lies paral- 
 lel with the limestones and slates ; but I am unable to trace 
 these rocks across Catawba and Davie counties. We lose, 
 after crossing the Catawba, the guides which 1 have spoken 
 
120 NOETH-CAEOLIlSrA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 of. There is some doubt too, respecting the age of the lime- 
 stone at Germanton ; that is, it seems to be different from 
 the King's mountain limestone, and still, if the iron ore is 
 regarded as an eruptive rock, there will be no objection to 
 combining the Davie and Stokes belts with the King's moun- 
 tain belt, which passes through Lincoln county. The conti- 
 nuity of the belt is preserved better in the south than in Da- 
 vie and Stokes, The ore of Davie presents great advantages 
 for working, in consequence of the water power of the South 
 Yadkin ; and as most of the iron used in this and the neigh- 
 boring counties is brought from Tennessee, it seems that even 
 a home market is an inducement sufficiently great for the 
 establishment of iron works upon the South Yadkin. 
 ' § 135. About three or four miles south west from Frank- 
 linville, in an uncultivated part of the country, I found heavy 
 black massive magnetic ore in abundance, lying in loose 
 blocks upon the surface. These masses I found in immediate 
 proximity to a vein of magnetic iron, which appears to be of 
 a superior quahty. This vein, though not in an exact geo- 
 logical relation with those of Montgomery county, is still re- 
 moved only a short distance from the quartzite. Its extent 
 has not been determined, and cannot be, without the sinking of 
 pits or uncovering the ore. I feel satisfied that it is exten- 
 sive ; and as it is near Deep river, its importance is enhanced 
 by this circumstance. 
 
 Specular ore was discovered near Trogden mountain many 
 years ago. The seam, however, is too inconsiderable to com- 
 mand attention. A shaft was sunk upon it before the pre- 
 sent inhabitants settled this part of the country. The bright- 
 ness of the ore probably deceived some discoverer, who mis- 
 took the ore for silver. Old crucibles and furnaces still at- 
 test to the unprofitable industry of some expectant of a for- 
 tune in the splendid lustre of this specular oxide of iron. 
 
 § 136. Ten miles west of Greensborough, in Guilford 
 county, on a tract of land formerly owned by Mr. Coffin, 
 two or more veins of magnetic iron of great purity were dis- 
 covered several years ago It is black and middhng coarse, 
 and has aU the external characteristics of a most valuable 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 121 
 
 ore. It is unmixed with any substance which injures the 
 quahty of iron, and at the same time sufficiently soft to work 
 easily, and make a tough iron. In Kew York, in the mineral 
 districts where the magnetic ores prevail, it is regarded as an 
 evidence, and in fact a proof, that an ore which crumbles in 
 the hand, or is easily broken, will make a soft iron ; while the 
 hard tough ores, with a bright and shining lustre, will invari- 
 ably make a hard iron with less toughness or tenacity, besides 
 it is not reduced so kindly. The dull loolring ores are always 
 regarded as the best ; those especially which become red up- 
 on the surface. 
 
 The ore which I am describing is a dull looking ore, but 
 very heavy and free from rock. 
 
 The veins to which the surface ore belongs have never 
 been uncovered or exposed. The distribution upon the sur- 
 face indicates at least two distinct parallel veins. The sur- 
 face masses become what is known as loadstone. They are 
 not only thoroughly magnetic, but have two or more poles, 
 and of course repel or attract the poles of a common survey- 
 or's needle, according as the poles are north or south ; north 
 and south poles attracting, and north poles repelling. I may 
 state in this connection, that a successful method of discov- 
 ering veins of magnetic iron, is by means of a needle mount- 
 ed like a dipping needle, but with one pole only. It is there- 
 fore made one-half of a thin bar of steel, and the other half 
 of brass. On passing over a concealed vein of ore the nee- 
 dle is attracted ; and when immediately over the ore, it 
 points downwards. Its course of direction may be traced by 
 the same instrument. 
 
 The ore upon the plantation of Mr. Coffin is between Brush 
 creek and Keedy Fork, It extends north, and appears on 
 the plantation of Mr. Joseph Harris, and onward to Rock- 
 ingham county to the Troublesome, upon the plantations of 
 John S. Morehead, Esq., where it is in great force; and 
 south, it crops out on the plantations of Mr. Joel Chipman 
 and John Unthanks. Thus it appears to form either another 
 belt distinct from those I have mentioned, or a subordinate 
 one. I mention it here as a subordinate one. The ore of Mr. 
 
122 NOKTH'CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEYET. 
 
 Coffin's mine, even taken from the surface, worked easily, and 
 made an excellent iron, wliicli is remarkable, for surface ore. 
 
 § 13T. The eastern or Chatham belt of iron ore is the least 
 regular, as it now appears from my present information. 
 Four or five miles from the Gulf, on the plankroad leading 
 north, or towards Graham, the specular iron ore crops out on 
 a ridge, on land owned in part by Mr. Evans. It is widely 
 and profusely scattered over the surface, but it also appears 
 in a heavy vein of rich ore some six or eight feet wide. This 
 .vein is in a talcose slate, and in connection also with a rock 
 which is regarded as soapstone, but which is by no means 
 magnesian ; it is properly the figure stone or agalmatolite, 
 and is known at many other places, in connexion with the 
 iron ores. This veiii I have traced three-fourths of a mile. 
 It has a compact structure and a fine lively grain when fresh- 
 ly broken, and is entirely free from sulphuret of iron. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing brief statement, that this 
 vein is an important and valuable one, being within a short 
 distance of the Gulf, upon Deep river. The ground is de- 
 scending to the river, a short distance only over the sandstone 
 can be regarded as hilly. The raising of the ore too, will be 
 attended with less cost than usual, inasmuch as the excava- 
 tions may be drained for a long time, and will therefore save 
 the expense of pumping by steam power. 
 
 Another seam or vein exists in this vicinity on lands owned 
 by Mr. Glass. It is the crystallized specular ore, but I have 
 seen it only upon the surface. Not far distant is the famous 
 locality of haematite, usually known as ore hill. It occupies 
 a knob some two or three hundred feet above the surround- 
 ing country. The ore lies in belts, which traverse the hill in 
 an easterly and westerly direction. Quartzite forms the pin- 
 nacle of the hill, and as usual, is associated with talcose slate. 
 The ore is more immediately associated with the latter rock. 
 
 It is from this place that the ore was procured mainly in 
 the time of the revolution. The old excavations are partially 
 filled. The ore is in large concretions or masses, which, in 
 their general arrangement, lie across the hill. It is not, I 
 believe, in one body, as has been supposed by many. The 
 
NOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL BUEVEY. 123 
 
 quantity I am unable to estimate ; but appearances go to 
 show that it must be large. 
 
 Some of the first ores of this neighborhood I found upon 
 the plantation of Mr. Heading. It is magnetic, and resem- 
 bles very closely the kind I have already spoken of in Guilford 
 county, on the plantation of the late Mr. Coffin. I have not, 
 however, seen the vein from which the remarkably fine spe- 
 cimens were derived. 
 
 Magnetic ore of a fine quality exists also on the plantation 
 of Mr. Temple Unthanks. It is two or three miles beyond 
 Mr. Evans' vein, and about three-fourths of a mile from the 
 plankroad. The vein varies in width from one to three feet. 
 From the foregoing statement, it will be perceived that in 
 this part of Chatham county there is a valuable mineral dis- 
 trict ; furnishing three species of iron ore, the hcBtnatite, tnag- 
 netio and specular. These are the principal ores from which 
 iron is, obtained. These repositories also contain ore of great 
 purity, difiFering from each other, however, in richness and 
 other qualities; a fact of considerable importance in the 
 manufacture of iron. It is by a combination of different 
 ores, possessing different qualities, that the manufacture of 
 this metal is facilitated, and by which one possessing the most 
 desirable qualities is obtained, I shall have occasion, how- 
 ever, farther on, to add two kinds of ore to the foregoing list ; 
 that of the hydrated oxide, mixed with carbonate and the 
 celebrated ore called the black band, which belongs to the 
 coal formation of Deep river. It is this first from which 
 Pennsylvania manufactures her iron principally, though 
 not entirely. Her iron masters also use the magnetic ores. 
 The two kinds are mixed. Experience proves the value of 
 the method. But who would suppose that iron masters, in 
 order to obtain the results they seek for, could afford to trans- 
 port the magnetic ore from Essex county, in northern New 
 York, to Pittsburg ? and yet thousands of tons are annually 
 sent there for this purpose. 
 
 Chatham county, however, can furnish within the radius of 
 seven or eight miles, five kinds of ore in abundance. It ap- 
 pears that the ore of this coal field, though less in extent 
 
124 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL BTJKVET. 
 
 than tliat of the true carboniferous in Pennsylvania ; yet, 
 there has been deposited in this formation, iron ores on as 
 large a scale as in the true carboniferous. Many are slow to 
 beheve it, but I do not see any way to avoid the conclusion, 
 seeing that an outcrop of it may be traced thirty miles. 
 These beds, too, have been cut in the great shaft at Egypt, a 
 thousand feet or more wdthin the outcrop. But this is not 
 the place to enter into a statement of details concerning this 
 great deposit of iron ore, I shall give all the facts respect- 
 ing it, when this formation comes up in its proper place for 
 consideration. 
 
 But, one word more respecting facilities for the manufac- 
 ture of iron upon Deep river. It has been supposed that 
 Pennsylvania must enjoy a monopoly in the manufacture of 
 this indispensable metal, in consequence of the extent of her 
 possessions, and the vast amount of anthracite which she can 
 employ. Of the extent of her resources in this respect no 
 one can doubt. She can make iron cheaply by her anthra- 
 cite, but no cheaper than it can be made on Deep river by 
 bituminous coal or coke ; and coke-made iron will be as good 
 as that made by charcoal, in consequence of the purity of 
 the bituminous coal on Deep river. And in the manufacture 
 of coke, I believe products of distillation may be obtained 
 which will more than pay the cost of making the coke. But 
 this is a matter to be tried, and does not properly come in for 
 consideration now. What I wish to say is, that in the coal 
 of Deep river, the manufacturer has all the material he can 
 want for this purpose ; and if a better article of iron can be 
 made from coke than by anthracite, then, in a district of 
 equal extent, North-Carolina has advantages over Pennsyl- 
 vania, for the manufacture of iron. In proof of this, I repeat 
 that she has, 1st. The peculiar ore of the coal fields; 2d. 
 The magnetic, specular and hsematitic ores of the primary 
 and palaeozoic rocks in immediate proximity ; 3d. The use of 
 coke by which to make the iron ; 4:th. A fine agricultural 
 region for the cereals, and 5th. A milder climate and rivers 
 both for moving machinery and transportation, which is un. 
 obstructed in the winter. The cost of living, and the means 
 
BTOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL StTEVEir. 125 
 
 for conducting the business, will be much cheaper. These 
 advantages are too obvious to require comment or farther 
 explanation. 
 
 § 138. Iron ore may exist in districts where it can be of 
 little value only ^ there may be a destitution of fuel, or a 
 want of water-power, though, with respect to the latter, it 
 can be disjifnsed with Vi'^hen there is an abundance of the 
 former. 
 
 In the first belt described, that which belongs to the King's 
 Mountain belt, there is yet timber and wood for a supply for 
 many years, I know not how many. The country is yet 
 thinly settled, although it was cultivated before the day of 
 the famous battle of King's Mountain. Oaks, chestnut, pine 
 and hickory yet cover the ridges and plane-grounds of the 
 Great and Little Catawbas. The water-courses furnish all 
 the power required for moving machinery. It is strictly a 
 district created for manufacturing purposes, supplying in it- 
 self all that is wanted to conduct the various manipulations 
 required in creating what may be termed the raw materials 
 for the arts. 
 
 The second belt, that which begins in Montgomery county, 
 and passes through Kandolph and onwards in a north- 
 eastwardly direction, is also supplied with timber, and wood 
 and water-power. The forests of the long-leaved pine, still 
 untouched by the boxing-axe and scraper of the turpentine 
 merchant, are certainly the finest in this or any other State, 
 The hills of Randoljjh are still clothed with trees. 
 
 The third belt, that which belongs to Chatham county, but 
 which also passes into Orange in the direction of Red moun- 
 tain, to which the belt of iron ore is prolonged, has its forests 
 of long-leaved pine, as well as its oaks, ash and hickory tim- 
 bers. Eocky river. Deep river, Haw and Kew Hope, furnish 
 all the mechanical power required for moving machinery. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, after a careful examination of the 
 premises in each belt, or district, that there is not lacking 
 any thing, which is necessary for the successful prosecu- 
 tion of the iron business — except capital. The great high- 
 
126 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEdLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 •ways are being opened to market, and I see no reason why 
 capitalists may not now step in and reap tlie harvests. 
 
 There are still subordinate deposits of iron ore wMcli have 
 not been mentioned. In Johnston connty, four miles west 
 of Smithtield, there is a large deposit of haematite. It is con- 
 nected with the quartzite of the locality. It is in the geolog- 
 ical position in which it is common to find lar^ accumula- 
 tions of ore. It is in this respect situated like those of Berk- 
 shire county, Massachusetts, and Cherokee and Lincoln coun- 
 ties, ITorth-Carolina. 
 
 Seven or eight miles south-west from Raleigh, in Wake 
 county, the rock is an argillaceous • slate and chloritic slate. 
 Near Mr. Whitaker's, a bluif of haematite, in the hydrous 
 peroxide of iron, is displayed very prominently. The whole 
 formation is similar to the locality already described, near 
 Smithfield, Johnston county. A thin seam of copper pyrites 
 has been noticed in the same formation, in a vein stone of 
 quartz eight inches wide, but it is of no account. The argil- 
 laceous slate resembles that of Davidson county. 
 
 Two miles south-west from Licolnton, Lincoln county, there 
 is a fine bed of haematite which was not noticed in its proper 
 place. 
 
 In Orange county, also in the range of Red mountain, ex- 
 tensive ore beds have been discovered, as I am informed by 
 Mr. Gillis, of Grranville county, who made explorations for 
 me in this part of the State, and which I state on his authority. 
 
 In conclusion of this branch of the report, I have no hesi- 
 tation in assuming the responsibility of assuring the citizens 
 of North-Carolina, that the quantity of iron ore in the mid- 
 land counties is enough to warrant the establishment of fur- 
 naces or forges, for its manufacture in all the districts 
 which I have named. It is not so much, however, a question 
 of quantity or quality as of expediency, at the present time. 
 The time for moving in enterprizes of this kind, must be left 
 to the judgment of parties. The great drawback, as all know, 
 in this business has been the expense of carrying the manu- 
 factured article to market. This bar to the enterprize it 
 
NOETH-CAKOLIlsrA GEOLOGICAL 8UEVEY. 127 
 
 is hoped and believed is about to be removed — is removed 
 in some of the districts referred to. 
 
 Carbonate of Iron, or Steel Ore. — The localities of this 
 mineral are rather numerous in IN'orth-Carolina. It is not 
 yet determined, however, whether they possess any value as 
 iron ore, for the production of iron. That it is frequently 
 valuable as a flux for smelting copper is conceded, or has 
 been proved by trial. The drawback upon this species of 
 ore, for the production of iron or steel, lies in the presence of 
 copper pyrites. It is not in beds, but an associate of other 
 metals or ores, and is their vein stone, and hence is more or 
 less intermixed with them. But in parts of several mines, 
 as the N^orth-Carolina copper mine, the copper is absent, and 
 it is only intermixed with quartz. 
 
 In the vicinity of G-en. Gray's, upon the head waters of 
 the Uwharrie, carbonate of iron is a very common substance. 
 Upon the plantation of Mr. Johnson, a vein composed main- 
 ly of this substance has been exposed, by sinking two or 
 three shafts, for the purpose of testing it for gold. This vein 
 is pure enough for making iron. It carries gold in its quartz, 
 but the quantity of the sulphurets is inconsiderable. I ob- 
 served it at several places in this district. It is not however 
 expected that this ore will be used by itself in the manufac- 
 ttire of iron. But where it exists in the vicinity of other 
 ores, it will form an excellent addition as a flux, while it will 
 also control the quantity of reduced iron, in the ultimate 
 result. 
 
 " BeGapitulation of the leading facts respecting the Ores of 
 Iron. — 1. The ores of iron, although they do not make an ex- 
 traordinary show upon the surface, yet, it will be seen from 
 the foregoing statements, that they constitute an important 
 source of wealth. 
 
 2. These ores embrace those which are known to be the 
 most important ones for the production of iron, and embrace 
 the brown oxides, or haematites, the specular and magnetic, 
 or black oxide of iron. 
 
 3. They are distributed in the midland counties in belts, 
 and though it cannot be shown that they form continuous 
 
128 NORTH-CAROLllsrA GEOLOGICAL SHRTET. . 
 
 masses or veins, still tliey lie in Certain ranges, tlirongli which 
 they may be traced, and upon which thej appear at the sur- 
 face at intervals. 
 
 4. They belong to both series of rocks, the pyrocrystal- 
 line and sedimentary ; in both they occur in veins, which of 
 course proves that they belong to a later period than that to 
 which the rock itself belongs. 
 
 5. Those veins which belong to the sediments appear to 
 hold a fixed relation to the quartzite or sandstone near the 
 base of the Taconic system, being, so far as yet known, be- 
 hind or beneath it, in slates which may be termed the bottom 
 rocks of the sedim^ents. 
 
 6. The haematites accompany, in set'eral instances at least, 
 the quartz rock already referred to \ and they bear the marks 
 of having been derived from pre-existing ores. 
 
 7. Experience has proved that the magnetic ores make a 
 superior iron. The specular has not been tested in the fur- 
 nace or forge, but their purity is a sufficient guarantee of 
 their value. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Mejyositories of the Metals continued. — Gold cmd its position^ 
 relations, etc. 
 
 § 139. The gold of North-Carohna belongs to four differ- 
 ent geological positions t 1. The loose quartz grits beneath 
 the surface soil ; 2. In stratified layers, which are cotempo- 
 raneous with the rock ; 3. In connection with seams and 
 joints of the rocks, and probably also diffused in the mass ; 
 4. In regular veins associated with quartz, and the sulphu- 
 rets of iron and copper. 
 
NOKTH-OAROLBSTA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 129 
 
 The quartz grits form loose beds, in which, as the name 
 implies, quartz is the characteristic mineral. It is both an- 
 gular and rounded, and is invariably made up of broken 
 down quartz veins, which were auriferous. This grit rests 
 usually on the rocky bed below, it may be granite, slate or 
 hornblende, or almost any rock. 
 
 The origin of this grit and the gold it contains, belongs to 
 the present epoch ; and the formation of it is due to the ac- 
 tion, in part at least, of existing forces. 
 
 In every region of the State where gold is known, this 
 formation is known ; it is coextensive with the auriferous for- 
 mations. It is, however, variable in thickness, depth and 
 richness. 
 
 "We do not, however, know when or how long ago the dis- 
 integration of the gold rocks of this State began. The rocks 
 themselves are the oldest, and as they have not received up- 
 on them other deposits than those which are derived from 
 themselves, it is clear that the process of disintegration may 
 have been going on from the remotest periods; and hence, 
 the oldest of the quartz grits containing gold may be contem- 
 poraneous with the Silurian system. What I have said in a 
 foregoing paragraph respecting the age of the auriferous 
 grits, means merely that the process is going on now. 
 
 A large proportion of the gold which has been obtained in 
 all periods, has been obtained from this formation. Most of 
 the gold from California and Australia is taken from it. All 
 the large pieces come from it. A fact of curious import. 
 Very few instances have occurred of lumps weighing several 
 pounds which were still imbedded in the vein, though vein 
 stone is usually attached to those which are found in the 
 soil. In Catawba county, at the Cansler and Shuford 
 mine, pieces weighing over a pound have been taken from 
 the rock near the surface. It does not appear necessary to 
 dwell upon these deposits of gold. They are well understood 
 in this State, It may be useful to state that in forming an 
 opinion of the richness of a vein, or of the rock which forms 
 the deposit, it is necessary to make a great allowance ; it is 
 not safe to infer from a rich washing that the vein must be 
 9 
 
130 NORTH-CAEOLIN'A aEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 rich also. The gold has been accnmulating, it may be, for a 
 long period ; and a large quantity of vein or rock has con- 
 tributed to the amount of gold obtained. A sauce pan full 
 of debris gives a grain or two of gold perhaps, but it may be, 
 that originally, this gold was distributed through twice the 
 quantity of material taken for the experiment ; or, to take 
 another case, it often happens that the gold is unequally 
 distributed in the rock or vein, a very rich spot may be hit 
 upon, which was derived from a single spot in the vein. This 
 result would give no criterion by which to judge of the rich- 
 ness of the whole vein. It is hardly necessary to say that 
 many experimental tests should be made, before a conclusion 
 is formed of the richness of the rock from which the gold 
 came. 
 
 § 140. The second geological position in which I find gold, 
 is in layers or heds in the rock with which it is contempora- 
 neous. If this view is correct, gold is a sediment ; and be- 
 longs, as I shall show, to the palaeozoic period. I do not 
 know that we could infer this from its occurrence in the 
 quartz grits which have been spoken of, though we might 
 probably be satisfied that this formation belonged to a distant 
 epoch. 
 
 These ancient auriferous deposits may be distinguished 
 from veins by the absence of walls ; there is really no line of 
 demarkation between the auriferous layers and the adjacent 
 ones. They can be determined only by testing, except by 
 miners, who have become perfectly familiar with the bed or 
 layer ; even those are not aware of a change, except by the 
 absence of gold, or until it is proved by panning. A slide, 
 for example, has taken place, the auriferous layer is shifted ; 
 yet the miner works along the plane of dip, and only discov- 
 ers the absence of gold in the mode I have stated. These 
 facts go to prove most conclusively that a fissure never was 
 formed, and that the layer has become auriferous by the 
 deposition of gold, in company with the sedimentary matter 
 which forms the layer. 
 
 I am not able, at this time, to state how widely gold is dis- 
 seminated in the palseozoic rocks ; but from indications deriv- 
 
NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 131 
 
 ed from a few facts, it appears probable that it may be wide- 
 ly diffused or contained in most of the rocks in North-Caro- 
 lina which belong to the Taconic system. Thus, in Eandolpli 
 county, small quantites of gold may be obtained from every 
 ravine, and frequently from the surface soil in which there is 
 not a particle of quartz grits ; it seems therefore to have been 
 derived at large from the rock, and not from broken down 
 veins. But it should be understood that the strata in whicli 
 the quantity is sufficient to pay a profit, are rare. 
 
 § 141. Tlie first deposit to which I shall call the attention 
 of the reader, is known as the Jones mine. It is situated in 
 Davidson county, about three miles east of Spencer's post 
 office. It is near the line of Kandolph and Davidson coun- 
 ties, and about three-quarters of a mile from the main road, 
 and near the dwelling of Mr. Arnold. At this mine, the gold 
 is disseminated through a mass of soft reddish talcose slate, 
 sixty feet wide. The auriferous part of the rock may be, 
 perhaps, more deeply tinged with brown than the rest of it, 
 but it scarcely differs from it. The auriferous particles are 
 evidently a decomposed sulphuret of iron, and probably of 
 fine particles of quartz ; for in the richest part of the mass, 
 the fine quartz is more abundant than the talc. The whole 
 has the softness of the talcose slates or a magnesian rock ; a. 
 microscope proves that the fine quartz is the most abundant 
 material. 
 
 The breast of ore as now exposed is sixty feet wide, and 
 from twenty-five to thirty feet high. This part of the rock 
 may be broken up by the hand, and when it is undermined, 
 large masses fall of their own weight into the pit. Hence, 
 it is easily quarried, the mining consisting mainly of cutting 
 out large slices of the rock by picks, wedges, etc. The main 
 mass yields from ten to twenty-five cents per bushel of ore. 
 Fifteen cents is an average, I believe, for the whole breast of 
 sixty feet. The abundance of ore, the softness of the rock 
 which enables the owner to work a large quantity per day, 
 places this mine among the valuable and paying ones in the 
 State, notwitstanding the small per centage it yields in the 
 mass. Ore of this description pays more than the evpenses 
 
V 
 
 132 NOETH-CAItOLMA GEOLOGICAL SIIEVEY. 
 
 of mining and separation of the gold, provided it yields only 
 ten cents per bushel. This statement will be confirmed, 
 when it is proven by experiment that six and seven hun- 
 dred bushels may be worked per day, in consequence of 
 the condition the ore is in, and the facility with which it is 
 mined; hence mines of this description, if properly worked 
 with the few laborers which are required, may become the 
 most profitable as well as the most valuable of the class. 
 
 Although I have classed this mine with the sediments, it is 
 still important to inform the reader, that immediately adja- 
 cent to the auriferous mass on the south and south-west, there 
 is a heavy bed of porphyrized rock. Its presence suggests 
 the inquiry, whether the agent which changed this mass had 
 any thing to do with charging the rock with gold ? That fis- 
 sures are charged with metallic matters by emanations, seems 
 to be proved. The case, however, under consideration pre- 
 sents itself under dijfferent circumstances; and though I 
 would not deny the possibility of charging a mass of rock 
 with gold in combination with the volatiKzable sulphurets, 
 still I cannot but regard the idea of its accumulating as a 
 sediment, as the most simple and probable. 
 
 § 142. Within a mile of the Jones mine, two other mines 
 of this class have been worked — the Lafflin and Delft mines. 
 The first yields thirty cents per bushel of ore. The material 
 is similar to an impure porcelain clay, or it is a pasty mass, 
 forty feet deep, and mostly contains gold — especially those 
 parts which contain black sand. It is a decomposed talcose 
 slate. 
 
 It would be superfiuous to repeat what has been already 
 said respecting the Jones mine. Less is known of the Delft, 
 however, than of the Lafiiin mine, which is now proving it- 
 self the best of the three. They are supposed to belong to 
 the same series of beds. In neither of these mines is it pos- 
 sible to discover walls which in any sense bound the aurifer- 
 ous mass. 
 
 § 143. Another in Eandolph county, which is similar to 
 the foregoing, is the Robbins mine, which is near the plank- 
 road between Asheborough and Hunt's store, but is in an 
 
NORTH- CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 133 
 
 obscure part of this section of the county. Tlie thickness of 
 the auriferous mass seldom exceeds two feet. It is, however, 
 rich only through the thickness of a few inches. It has been 
 worked sixty feet in depth, but at this point the auriferous 
 mass is much harder than above ; the sulphuret of iron is un- 
 decomposed, and the consequence may be foreseen, that the 
 expenses of mining having become greatly increased, while 
 the gold obtained is less. The slate, which is brown, reddish 
 and soft above, is blue and hard below ; and the sulphuret of 
 iron which carries the gold, is visible and unchanged. Por- 
 tions of the layers of this mixture yeilded a dollar per bushel ; 
 but its average is about fifty cents in the mass. 
 
 § 144. The well known Sawyer mine in the same county 
 may be regarded as belonging, to the sedimentary class. At 
 one time it was worked with great success and profit. Cir- 
 cumstances not connected unmediately with the value of this 
 mine, led to its abandonment several years ago. The bed 
 ranges K. 50° E., and dips at an angle of T5°-80°. The ma- 
 terial is a fine grained talcose slate, and disintegrates and 
 forms a fine white sand. Its beds, therefore, are siliceous. 
 This mine has five or six parallel beds which are worked in a 
 single tunnel or gallery. It has yielded six to ten dollars per 
 bushel of ore, taken from certain parts of the beds. But nar- 
 row films of ore of reddish color sometimes gave ten times as 
 much. Overlying these beds, is a porous black rock, highly 
 charged with sulphuret of iron. Although rich in sul])huret 
 of iron, which in this district is the principal vein stone, yet 
 it contains no gold. This mine has always been worked with 
 profit; but the person who leased it during the last five 
 years died, and no record of its monthly or annual profits are 
 accessible. 
 
 § 145. The Howie and Lawson Gold mine in Union county. 
 This mine is situated in the hills of Union county, adjacent 
 to the State line, dividing North from South Carolina. This 
 is probably _^the most elevated part of the country. The rock 
 of the county is mostly a clay slate ; but the hills about the 
 Howie mine are harder, and seem to be intermediate be- 
 tween a fine talcose and a clay slate. The bearing of the 
 
134 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 slates is N. 55° E., and the dip nearly vertical. Three dis- 
 tinct parallel beds have been worked, all of which being de- 
 posits, are of course parallel with the direction of the bearing 
 of the rock. ' 
 
 The auriferous beds differ from the common slate beds in 
 their hardness, which arises from a larger proportion of 
 quartz, which is either disseminated or in seams, or inter- 
 mingled with them irregularly. The quartz is tine, white, 
 and granular ; but on its surface of contact with slate it is 
 mottled or speckled with brown oxide of iron. It is upon 
 a surface bearing this peculiar asj)ect that the gold becomes 
 visible. Small cavities, partly in the quartz and slate, show 
 numerous particles of gold ; and some surfaces in the richest 
 parts of the beds are covered sufficiently to be polished, up- 
 on which the gold forms a perfect film, as if covered with 
 gold leaf. The beds are variable in width, but the same seam 
 is not uniform in this respect. The thinest is six and the 
 ;2:reatest thirty inches. When the seam or bed is onlv six 
 inches, it is difficult to follow it in depth, in consequence in 
 part of the slight difference between the auriferous and non- 
 auriferous beds ; and besides, a slight displacement increases 
 the difficulty. The thin beds, however, have been followed, 
 in one or two instances to the depth of eighty feet. The 
 amount of gold yielded per bushel has been variable. Prob- 
 ably the average amount, when worked by the owners, was 
 three dollars per bushel. But the statements gave more than 
 this. The uniform testimony of those who were concerned 
 in working it was, that there were places where they obtained 
 one dollar and a half per bushel. I obtained from speci- 
 mens I procured during my examination at the rate of eleven 
 dollars per bushel, a bushel weiging one hundred pounds. 
 The beds are nearly vertical. They have been traced three- 
 fourths of a mile. An auriferous vein of quartz intersects 
 these beds, its bearing is IST. Y0° E. Some portions yield two 
 dollars per bushel, but the gold is distributed unequally 
 through it. At this locality, therefore, we have two kinds of 
 repositories of gold, each preserving its own characteristics. 
 
 The Howie and Lawson mine belongs to two estates. No 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 135 
 
 one fact probably goes farther to prove the estimated value of 
 these deposits of ore, than the practice of keeping a plumb line 
 suspended over the exact boundaries, the object of which was 
 to prevent an encroachment upon their respective premises. 
 The miserable system prevailed of leasing the mine in small 
 parcels ; and hence, they were worked without system, and 
 by excavating an open trench. These parties were usually 
 men without means ; and hence, when their trenches extend- 
 ed to water they were abandoned and. another place sought, 
 where the same plan was pursued. The result which follow- 
 ed was the abandonment or suspension of the operations. 
 These valuable mines are, however, now in the hands of one* 
 who will pursue them with scientific skill. 
 
 § 146. One of the most interesting instances of the occur- 
 rence of gold in the consolidated sediments, is at a place call- 
 ed Zion, twelve miles from Troy, in Montgomery county. It 
 is both interesting and important, because here the fact that 
 gold is a sediment, is attested by the presence of fossils. This 
 locality has been already described ; and the geological posi- 
 tion of the rocks stated. The series consist of sandstones and 
 chert, which rest upon a thick mass of brecciated conglom- 
 erate, which in its turn overlies talcose slates. 
 
 Those parts of the rock which contain gold are brown and 
 of a loose texture from the ]3resence of the oxide of iron, 
 which undoubtedly originated from the sulphuret of iron 
 which is sometimes visible in the rock. 
 
 The gold which has been obtained was derived from the 
 debris of the rock, but the rock itself sometimes shows parti- 
 cles of gold. The position which seems to have furnished 
 the most gold is near the bottom of a hollow, or near the 
 head of a ravine towards which the rock slopes on all sides. 
 The drainage of these slopes begins in the granular quartz, 
 and the small stream which originates upon these slopes does 
 not pass over an eruptive rock of any kind. There is, there- 
 fore, no doubt respecting the beds from which the gold is 
 derived.f 
 
 * Commodore Stockton. 
 
 t The geological position of these beds is illustrated in Plate 14, section 2. 
 
136 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 N'o other locality except this fiirnislies fossils. With res" 
 pect to other localities geologists might probably differ as to 
 the question of the sedimentary origin of the gold, though 
 there seems to be sufficient evidence, that in those cases al- 
 ready described, they belong to the same mass, I have al- 
 ready stated that other localities furnish the fossils in which 
 the rocks of Zion abound, but I am not aware that they fur- 
 nish gold also. It is doubtful whether they have been tried. 
 Notwithstanding the evidence there is of the sedimentary 
 origin of the gold, it is a curious and interesting fact that it 
 is visible in seams'^ which traverse tho rock. Its relation in 
 these cases shows, however, that its position has changed since 
 it was deposited. If the rock was not proved to be a sediment, 
 its position and relations might be explained by some geolo- 
 gists by aid of the igneous injection. But this application of 
 the igneous theory cannot be applied in this case. There is 
 one fact respecting the distribution of the gold in these sand- 
 stones in which it differs from that of the slate, it is more 
 generally distributed in the rock, though it is more abundant 
 in certain localities than in others. The gold in the slate is 
 frequently confined to a single bed and only a few inches 
 thick, and the line of demarkation between the aurfferous 
 and non-auriferous parts is indistinctly defined. 
 
 As a mine, the Zion locality has never been regarded of 
 suflicient consequence to be named, and it is uniaiown out of 
 the neighborhood in which it is situated ; yet I was informed 
 that over one hundred thousand dollars had been obtained 
 from it. 
 
 * These seams are seggregations of quartz which sometimes pass through a fossil ; 
 they have no connexion with distinct and regular veins. 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 137 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 Repositofies of the Metals continued — Gold associated with 
 Quartzite and Slate, and frequently in irregulaT 'veins — 
 Seams and natural Joints. 
 
 § 14Y. This class of deposits partakes of tlie characters which 
 belong to the sediments pro]3er, described in the preceding- 
 chapter, and those in which the metal is distributed in regu- 
 lar veins. 
 
 The Ward mine, in Davidson county, belongs to this di- 
 vision or class; and its description and the accompanying il- 
 lustration will show what characteristics distinguish it from 
 those to which it is allied. 
 
 The gold of the Ward mine is connected immediately with 
 quartz seams or irregular veins ; those which do not extend 
 continuously through the rock but terminate in it, and which 
 do not pursue the usual direction. There is no direction 
 which they can be said to pursue in the main. The quartz is 
 subordinate to slate ; but I am not aware that the latter con- 
 tains gold, except when it is in contact with the former, or is 
 distributed in the natural joints, which usually contain a film 
 of quartz. The distribution of the metal too is irregular, and 
 is found in pockets or bunches, some of which are very pro- 
 ductive ; hence, there is more uncertainty in the results, and 
 the mining operations cannot be conducted in a manner so 
 systematic as when distributed in regular veins. 
 
 The quartz at the Ward mine occupies the crest of a knoll, 
 and it is so massive, I think, that it is rather one of the prin- 
 cipal rocks of the formation than a vein. Indeed, it is dis- 
 similar to the quartz which usually fills a vein fissure ; it is a 
 mass of quartzite in a drab colored slate ; subordinate also to 
 th#main mass, but separated from it by slate. In fact, the 
 knoll is made up of reticulations of heavy beds and thin 
 seams, which intersect the slate in many directions^ 
 
13S 
 
 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Fiffure 16 illustrates the 
 cliaracter of many of the 
 intersections which occurs, 
 
 1, 1, is a vein of quartz 
 two to three feet thick, 
 
 2, 2, seams passing out 
 from it. Now the main 
 mass of quartz is too poor 
 in gold to be worked, and 
 it is probable that it -is 
 
 rather confined to its junction with the slate ; but the small 
 seams 2, 2, are frequently rich. The large vein runs about 
 east and west, and dips to the north at a steep angle. But 
 the large mass of quartz upon the summit of the knoll ap- 
 pears to take the usual direction of the beds of this system, 
 that is north east and south west. The mining has been con- 
 fined to the south of this great mass of quartz, and hence, as 
 it is not exposed by cuts, it is still uncertain in what light to 
 regard it. It resembles, in a few of its characters, the fossili- 
 ferous quartz of Zion, Montgomery county, and the silicious 
 slates contain almond shaped concretions. 
 
 Fig. 17. The gold of this mine is crystallized. 
 
 The crystallizations, however, take the 
 skeleton form, in which the faces of 
 the octohedron are represented by 
 lines and not by smooth faces, as in 
 the annexed figure. The crystalline 
 pieces occur in the form of arrow 
 heads, spears, angular plates, etc. A 
 vely large proportion of the gold is 
 crystalline. The pockets containing 
 crystals usually lie in a red siliceous clay, which has been de- 
 rived from the rock in contact with a seam of quartz. Some 
 of the pockets have furnished five or six hundred dollars of 
 crystallized gold. 
 
 The greatest quantity of gold, however, has been obtained 
 by washing the soil, and hence it comes under the usual de- 
 nomination branch mine. Several acres have been tested by 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 139 
 
 panning, and the results obtained show that gold is widely 
 distributed in the immediate vicinity where the principal 
 workings have been carried on. The value of this mine is 
 not yet determined, as it is only very recently that the work 
 has been conducted with system, and a proper attention to 
 the peculiarities of the repository. 
 
 ~ § 148. The Hoover Hill gold mine, of Randolph county, 
 may be classed with the foregoing, as the metal is distrib- 
 uted in irregular branching seams which spring from a heavy 
 mass of tough quartzite. 
 
 The rock is traversed by two systems of joints, and which 
 may have been developed by a porphyrized dyke, whose di- 
 rection is N. 20° E. 
 
 The Hill is intersected by many cuts running in difierent 
 directions, which pursue the seams of quartz or the joints by 
 which it is divided. These joints have frequently given a 
 rich return, but too frequently the dishonest miner has filled 
 his bucket with the rich auriferous dust, and appropriated it 
 to his own use. If reports are correct, no mine has suffered 
 so much from the pilfering system as this. 
 
 The great drawback to a successful prosecution of mining 
 is the hardness of the rock which has to be encountered in 
 driving upon a vein of ore. The system of leasing it in parts 
 too has injured the owners of the property, all of which has 
 finally resulted virtually in its abandonment, until the obnox- 
 ious leases shall have expired. 
 
 § 149. Cansler and SJniford gold, mine, in Catawba county. 
 This mine is sixteen miles north easterly from Lincolnton, 
 and about six miles south from the ford. Both the soil above 
 the rock and the soft reddish rock itself yields the metal, but 
 the most productive parts of the rock are the natural joints 
 and quartz seams. A large quantity of gold has been ob- 
 tained, and pieces in proximity to the natural joints have 
 been found, which weighed a pound. These have an entirely 
 different form from most of the native gold. They are made 
 up of slightly coherent plates separated by slate or talc, but 
 the whole so adherent as to require the tearing or rending of 
 the, gold, in order to eifect a separation. Small lumps of 
 
140 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 gold of this structure have been quite common. I shall not 
 attempt to account for this peculiarity in the form of the 
 gold, when found in the connexion stated, "When gold has 
 been separated from its mechanical combination as it exists 
 in pyrites, it is cast down on the quartz in the form of a 
 plate, or lamina. The force employed in the separation and 
 final deposition upon the quartz, or upon a seam, or in a nat- 
 ural joint, may have been electro-magnetic. Practically, it 
 is importaant to be informed respecting the position in which 
 it is to be found in repositories of this kind. 
 . The Cansler and Shuford mine has been worked profitably 
 from its first opening. The want of water is the greatest ob- 
 stacle to a still more profitable result than has yet been ob- 
 tained. 
 
 § 150. Tlie Portis mine, in Franklin county, (if descrip- 
 tions can be relied upon,) may be referred to this class. It 
 belongs to the Taconic slates', and is therefore in the same 
 geological position. IS^o vein has ever been discovered ; and 
 hence, it is probable that the seams of quartz and seams in 
 the slate have been broken down, and their contents mingled 
 in the soil. It has been remarkable for the quantity of gold 
 which has been found in lumps. 
 
 § 151. The Parker mine of Stanly county I believe should 
 be ranked in this class, inasmuch as no vein has been discov- 
 ered, which carries gold. The rock is a decomposed mass, 
 rather tenacious ; but the gold is distributed in seams. Some 
 deep excavations have been made. Two hundred thousand 
 dollars in gold have been obtained from this material, which 
 it is needless to say differs from the auriferous quartz grits of 
 the branch mines. Several masses weighing four and five 
 pounds were taken from the surface. The whole area, com- 
 posing three or four acres, seems to be a decomposed slate 
 through which the metal is distributed. 
 
 The Beaver Dam mine, in Montgomery county, may be 
 
 classed also with the Portis and others, in which no distinct 
 
 or main vein has been, or is likely to be found ; and it is a 
 
 ' matter of considerable importance to know that mines of this 
 
 character have the gold attached, or in connexion with, their 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 141 
 
 seams or strings as they are frequently called ; for large ex- 
 penditures have been made, and are likely still to be made, 
 in attempting to discover a vein which does not probably ex- 
 ist. Therefore, it appears to me, that when the gold occurs 
 in the mode I have represented, it will be a waste of money 
 to cut deep trenches, or resort to other measures to discover 
 the vein. At the Ward mine quartz is not wanting, but the 
 largest masses are not auriferous. 
 
 The Beaver Dam mine has been very productive, if the 
 accounts I have heard of it can be relied upon. It is the tes- 
 timony of men worthy of confidence ; and it is interesting 
 to know that all of the mines which I have placed in this 
 class of repositories have yielded large profits, and none of 
 them have been abandoned. The Hoover Hill mine has not 
 been worked very vigorously of late, and I believe has paid 
 only moderate profits. They have all furnished, especially 
 those which are slaty and traversed with strings of quartz, 
 many large lumps of gold. Of this number is the Beaver 
 Dam, the Ward mine, Cansler and Shuford, and the Portis 
 mine. This has been rather a common occurrence at the 
 latter. 
 
 OHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 Repositories of the Metals continued. — Veins belonging to the 
 'Slates. — Ti'ue Veins. — Arrangements of the materials fil- 
 ling the Fissures. — Right running Veins., or cross courses. — ■ 
 Conrad Hill Gold Mine.— Description of its Veins — their 
 Characteristics. 
 
 § 152. Veins are the most productive, as well as the most 
 permanent repositories of the metals. These I have defined 
 as fissures in a rock which have been filled with the metals, 
 
*■*, 
 
 142 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 their oxides, sulpliurets and other chemical combinations, to- 
 gether with the stony mass with which they are associated, 
 which is called gangue or vein stone. 
 
 The metals or their combination with sulphur and oxygen 
 are scattered through the vein stone in masses of difierent 
 sizes, and when about to take the form of a vein, become 
 elongated or wedge form in planes parallel with the walls. 
 Veins pursue a certain uniform direction in every mineral 
 district. In Korth-Carolina this direction is usually east of 
 north ; and it coincides veiy nearly with the strike of the 
 beds. But while this direction coincides neai"ly with the 
 strike of the rock, and hence some geologists maintain that 
 they are merely beds ; it is rarely, if ever, that they coincide 
 with the beds as they descend into the rock. This want of 
 conformity to the layers or strata, places these repositories in 
 the class which are properly termed veins. It is doubtful too, 
 whether there is a coincidence in their strike with the planes 
 of bedding, or their coincidence can be claimed only for short 
 distances. 
 
 The metal in a promising vein, in addition to its distribu- 
 tion through the gangue in masses, is also accumulated upon 
 the foot wall; it may change its position, but its usual place 
 is there or in the middle of the vein stone, and rarely against 
 the roof or hanging wall. The most promising plane, as I 
 have remarked, is its accumulation in a belt or zone against 
 the foot wall. But this is more obvious in the case of the 
 sulphurets than in gold veins, in which the gangue is quartz. 
 If the gangue is sulphuret of iron and quartz, more gold will 
 be found adjacent to the foot wall than against the hang- 
 ing wall. 
 
 It sometimes happens that more than one set of veins crop 
 out and form another series, which run nearly a parallel 
 course among themselves, or they may be divergent from 
 each other. In determining which should be regarded as the 
 right running veins, it is necessary to inquire what is the usu- 
 al direction which the veins of a country or district pursue. 
 In Xorth-Carolina, this direction, as I have stated, is east of 
 north, though a few instances occur in which the direction is 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. .143 
 
 a few degi-ees west of north. The variation in the extreme 
 is from N. 10° W. to N. 70° E.; but iisiiallj only N. 45° E. 
 Veins, therefore, which run within the limits I have stated, 
 may be called the right running or normal veins. Those on 
 the contrary which clearly intersect these, should be regarded 
 as cross courses or cross veins. Instances of cross courses, 
 however, are not numerous in the mining districts of this 
 State. 
 
 § 153. The mining property, known as the Conrad Hill, is 
 situated in the north part of Davidson county, and about six 
 miles east of Lexington, its shiretown. It is favorably locat- 
 ed, and its reputation as a mining property has stood high. 
 It has been worked only for gold, though, as I shall show, it 
 is highly probable that it will be hereafter more profitable for 
 its copper ore. It has been impossible to ascertain how much 
 gold this mine has yielded, as it has been in the hands of 
 several persons since it was discovered. 
 
 The surrounding country is interesting, from the character 
 of the rocks and the number of metallic veins which are 
 known to exist, and many of which have been profitably 
 worked. The Three Hat mountain is upon the south, which 
 rises probably a thousand feet above the surrounding coun- 
 try. Its rock is quartzite, and a large portion of its surface 
 is covered with a slaty chert, exceedingly hard. Between 
 the mountain and Conrad Hill there is a deep valley, and 
 upon the ascent towards the hill there is a trapdike running 
 about north east which is one hundred yards thick. The 
 veins cross the highest part of the eminence already spoken 
 of, and in passing onwards in the direction of their strike, 
 cross a valley about five hundred feet wide ; after which, 
 they reappear on another eminence called Dodge Hill. 
 
 Conrad Hill is elevated only eighty-eight feet above the 
 plain just south of it, and through a part of which the heavy 
 eruptive rock passes. It is rounded, and slopes in all direc- 
 tions ; but the greater slopes are upon the south and south 
 west sides. The property is divided into two parts by a north 
 and south line. The east side is Conrad Hill proper. The 
 veins all crop out on the east side of the division line ; but as 
 
141 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL StRVEY. 't 
 
 they dip north westerly, those near the hne pass beyond the 
 limits of the Conrad Hill property. This hne, however, has 
 no connexion with the formation, and hence requires no far- 
 ther notice. 
 
 The repository of the gold is quartz, which carries the metal 
 intermixed both in the quarts, carbonate of iron, and in the 
 sulphurets ; the latter of which are decomposed, and the only 
 remaining element, iron^ is in the condition of a hydrous 
 brown oxide as usual. 
 
 § 154. The metal of this hill is collected in quartz veins. 
 While the quartz carries gold by itself, we find it also in the 
 sulphurets which the quartz contains, and probably these sul- 
 phurets are the true auriferous compounds. To a superficial 
 observer, or to one who is not fully informed of the facts res- 
 pecting gold bearing rocks, they would be led to believe that 
 the quartz, and a brownish or ferruginous substance consti- 
 tuted the only matrices for gold. But here, as elsewhere, the 
 undecomposed sulphurets are rich in this metal, although it 
 is difficult to obtain it from them. "When, however, these 
 sulphurets are decomposed by atmospheric agency, the gold 
 is disengaged from its combination, and hence, is obtained by 
 the simplest processes imaginable. 
 
 § 155. The veins of this hill have been worked only to the 
 depth of one hundred feet, and in but few places to that 
 depth. Hence, I am led to believe that large quantities of 
 ore still remain accessible, and may be raised at a profit by 
 its proprietors. Shafts have been sunk to the depths of 
 ninety-eight feet, and in one case to one hundred and seven- 
 teen feet below the surface of the hill. The deepest shaft, is 
 that sunk upon the west slojie of the hill. The veins which 
 have been explored at all, have been worked to about the 
 same extent as to depth and length ; probably the depth will 
 average eighty feet, and in length one hundred feet, the maxi- 
 mum length, I believe, will not exceed one hundred and fif- 
 ty-five feet. 
 
 § 156. The structure of Conrad Hill is interesting and in- 
 structing both to the geologist and practical miner. It fur- 
 nishes those phenomena which are of a decided character. 
 
PLAN or VEINS i\T CONR/\D HILL GOLD, MINE. 
 
 Tcansverse Sec1;iorL 
 
 Lith of J - Murray, Alb a ny- 
 
NORTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 145 
 
 The veins are bold and strong, and yet free from distur- 
 bances and shifts, which so frequently perplex the miner, and 
 occasion solicitude and expense to the proprietors ; and which 
 also sometimes thwart the skill of the most experienced work- 
 man. Notwithstanding the veins are all bold and strong, yet 
 differences of opinion exist as to their number as well as to 
 their relations. This, however, does not arise so much from 
 the existence of an intricacy in their relation as from a want 
 of a few suitable cross-cuts at the surface. In describing 
 these veins, I shall express the views which I have obtained 
 from a personal examination, though they may differ some- 
 what from those who have been employed for years in this 
 group of veins. 
 
 According, then, to my own examination, 1 am disposed to 
 maintain that upon Conrad Hill six distinct veins may be 
 pointed out, viz., three normal or right running and nearly 
 parallel veins, and three cross veins. The first class lie di- 
 rectly behind eq^h other, but do not crop out at equal dis- 
 tances apart. Their parallelism is confined to their strike, 
 and they differ in their angles of dip. The three cross veins 
 do not appear to be parallel with themselves, or with the nor- 
 mal veins, either in strike or in dip. But it is somewhat re- 
 markable that five of them are gold bearing ; but the sixth, 
 which has not been worked by the proprietors on either side 
 of the dividing line is supposed to be barren. The cross vein 
 which has not been worked, was pointed out to me by Mr. 
 Camman. If the characteristics are those which he stated, 
 it is to be numbered among the veins of the Hill. Those 
 characteristics are direction and dip, the further consideration 
 of which I leave for the present. The sixth vein which I 
 have reckoned as distinct, and entitled to a place in this 
 group, does not appear at the surface — and could have been 
 cut only at a depth of sixty-five or seventy feet ; yet, as its 
 course and direction is well defined, and as it is an important 
 rein, I am strongly inclined to believe that my views are cor- 
 rect respecting it, and that it should be treated as a distinct, 
 and not as a subordinate mass. 
 
 § 157. The order and relations in which they stand to each 
 10 
 
146 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 
 
 other are as follows, (see plate 13) : 1. Those "regular or right 
 running veins standing behind each other, viz., the front, 
 middle and back veins, or 1st, 2d and 3d veins, reckoning 
 from west to east ; 2d and 3d cross veins, cutting the forma- 
 tion in three different directions, not having among them- 
 selves, or with the others, the slightest parallelism. The re- • I 
 lations of these two groups are exhibited in pi. 13. The dia- 1 
 
 gram referred to is in the lower left corner of pi. 13, and the 
 veins are numbered 1, 2, 3, from west to east ; but another 
 vein, in front of JSTo. 1, and not numbered, is supposed to be 
 cut in-a shaft represented in the margin, at the depth of one 
 hundred and seventeen feet. 
 
 {1st.) Front Vein. — ^This vein crops out upon the dividing 
 line, traversing the hill in a north and south direction ; but 
 as it makes in easting, and is not strictly parallel with this 
 line, it makes from it, in the direction of its strike. The 
 strike is N. 10° E. It will be observed that this vein, as it 
 lies so close to the dividing line, has no vali^ upon that part 
 of the property which is known as the Conrad Hill. It ap- 
 pears however upon the Dodge Hill, five hundred feet to the 
 north, or east of north. This vein dips in the ratio of one to 
 three, or moves westward one foot for every three feet per- 
 pendicular descent. It is from eighteen inches to two feet 
 thick near its outcrop. Considering the position of the Ist 
 vein, I deem it unnecessary to dwell longer upon its charac- 
 teristics, than to state in brief, that it has been worked out to 
 the levels of seventy and eighty feet at the south end, and 
 that it has been productive in gold. 
 
 § 158. (2^.) The next vein in order js the first cross vein 
 unnumbered in the diagram. It was pointed out to me by 
 Mr. Camman, the superintendent of the works just put in 
 operation by a Company of New York capitahsts. Its direc- 
 tion is north east and south west, with a dip exceeding the 
 other veins by at least 15°, according to the statement of the 
 gentleman referred to. (If he is correct,) there can be no 
 doubt that the vein is really distinct, and not a portion of 
 one of the others which has been shifted from its place. It 
 is supposed to be cut at the bottom of the engine shaft ; the 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL 8UEVET. 147 
 
 position, direction and distance may be seen in diagram re- 
 ferred to. Its wide dejflection from a north and south line, 
 will carry it ratlier east of the Dodge Hill, or across its east- 
 ern slope, and through the low grounds south west of Conrad 
 Hill. The cutting of this vein, or the front vein, gave rise to 
 a powerful discharge of water, which finally resulted in drain- 
 ing all the veins to a level with the bottom shaft. This fact 
 proves that the veins have communications by water courses ; 
 even the tunnel cut many years since at the base of the 
 southern slope drained both Conrad and Dodge Hill to its 
 level; the water fell at the time, in Dodge Hill, fifteen feet. 
 This vein has not been worked by any of the parties who 
 have leased this property. It may prove a highly important 
 vein. The other cross veins are rich in gold. Tlie reason 
 why this vein has remained untouched is, that it has been 
 mistaken for the 1st vein No. 1 ; and as all the shafts but one 
 have been sunk behind it, it could not be cut by them. 
 
 § 159. (Sd.) The middle vein appears at the surface, fifty 
 feet eastward of the front vein, on the dividing line. This 
 vein runs parallel with the first. I am inclined to believe 
 that it is parallel, or nearly so, both in its strike and dip. It 
 has been worked with profit on both sides of the dividing 
 line, which has been already referred to. Pursuing the 
 coui'se downwards and northwards, it will not fail to strike 
 the observer, that upon the south side of Conrad Hill, as well 
 as upon its crowning part, it dips beneath the dividing line. 
 It is cut in the shaft at the depth of about eighty-two feet. 
 This shaft is fifteen feet west of the dividing line. In the 
 north strike of this vein, it recedes to the eastward ; so that 
 if it has not been worked out, there probably remains a 
 quantity of ore before it reaches Dodge's Hill, where it may 
 be readily traced, and I believe already exposed by a shaft. 
 It will appear, therefore, that so far as Conrad Hill is^ con- 
 cerned, this vein is of but little moment, but remains a good 
 vein on the w^est. I was informed that good ore still remain- 
 ed standing in this vein in the direction I have indicated ; 
 and as very slight changes of dip may produce an important 
 change in the relations of certain fixed lines and points, it is 
 
148 ifOKTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY- 
 
 propel' to observe in this place, that the dip of this and its 
 associated veins is influenced, to a certain extent, by the 
 form and slopes of the hill ; thus, on the north slope, this and 
 the other veins have a dip nearly north-west. The effect of 
 this change in the dip is to give to the east side a greater ex- 
 tent of vein. The same change occurs also upon the south 
 slope ; so that the normal dip to the west is changed to the 
 south-west. This change of dip is local, but it is not without 
 its benefits. The west dip, if there is a true west dip, is con- 
 fined to the crowning part of the Hill. 
 
 It would seem from the foregoing facts, that this part of the 
 veins of the hill was pushed forward to the west at the time 
 and moment when it was raised above the surrounding plains 
 by a force which may have been applied beneath. As far as 
 the front property is concerned, it receives the veins upon 
 the top of the hill at a level less deep, and upon the sides at a 
 deeper level. 
 
 § 160. The next vein which I shall speak of, is the 2d 
 cross vein. Its strike is ]^. 75° E. and S. Y5° W. It may 
 vary from this statement 5°. Seventy degrees eastward is 
 not an uncommon direction. Its dip is about S. 25° E. or S. 
 20° E. ; the outcrop is limited, and hence I was unable to 
 tietermine those facts with precision. 
 
 This vein has been worked out on its western range to the 
 depth of ninety feet, and upon its eastern prolongation, 
 about eighty feet. The linear extent is about one hundred 
 feet. Its average width is about two feet. Next to the 
 Back vein, this has probably been the richest in gold. In its 
 north-eastward prolongation, it passes far to the south of 
 Dodge's Hill, where it has not been pursued. It should ap- 
 pear in this valley north-east of Conrad Hill. 
 
 § 161. The Back vein, or 3d vein, is the most remarkable 
 of the veins of Conrad Hill. This is true, both as it respects 
 tlie amount of gold it carries and has carried, as well as its 
 thickness and amount and kind of matter which composes it. 
 Its outcrop is 209 feet east of the dividing fine, or 159 feet 
 eeist ot tlie middle vein. Its angle of dip is less than that of 
 the veins already spoken of. It is cut in the Morehead shaft 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 149 
 
 at the depth of about eighty feet, and this shaft is about fifty 
 feet east of the dividing hne. At the depth of eighty feet, 
 where it is cut by this shaft, the middle vein is at least sixty- 
 five feet in advance, where, as I have already stated, it is cut 
 by the New York Company's shaft, fifteen feet west of the 
 dividing line and at the depth of about eighty-two feet. 
 . I 162. At the depth of about sixty feet it sends off a di- 
 verging branch which has been regarded as the middle vein, 
 and it is supposed that at this depth the middle and back 
 veins come together. I have illustrated my own views of the 
 question by diagram referrea to. It is evident that the mid- 
 dle vein crops out fifty feet in rear of the front vein, and that 
 it is quite flat at the surface ; and farther, that it moves to 
 the w^st in the ratio I have already stated. This fact, there- 
 fore, p.roves that the vein which appears to join the back vein 
 at the depth of about sixty or sixty-five feet, cannot be the 
 middle vein. I therefore regard the so called middle vein, as 
 a branch of the third. Its junction is still fifty or sixty feet 
 east of the line, and the middle vein has passed (at the depth 
 of eighty-two feet,) fifteen feet west of the same line. This 
 branch has been worked out to about the same extent as the 
 front veins. 
 
 At its outcrop, the back vein is about fifteen inches thick ; 
 as it descends, it soon becomes thicker, and at the depth of 
 forty or fifty feet is about five feet thick. The thickness is 
 not however uniform, still it continues to give an increased 
 amount of matter ; and when at the depth of between sixty 
 and seventy feet, it is from ten to eighteen feet thick. Tb.e 
 vein is quartz above, but at fifty feet carbonate of iron — car- 
 rying sulphuret of copper and iron, comes in, and finally, at 
 the ninety foot level, as it is called, it exists in great force, 
 being at least four feet thick next to the foot wall, which car- 
 ries gold. This part of the vein has always been rich in gold, 
 but being overlaid with so thick a mass of quartz, which is 
 intermixed also with crushed slates, it is more expensive 
 to mine it at this depth, and on this account, than above and 
 nearer the outcrop. The part of the vein next the hanging 
 
150 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 
 
 wall, consisting of layers of quartz and crushed slates, con- 
 tains gold ; but is poor, though rich pockets are found. 
 
 The rich part of this vein is separated from the poorer by 
 a line of de_markation, and at certain points, appears almost 
 as distinct as if it were a vein separated from the overlying 
 mass. This part is four feet thick. Its matrix is quartz and 
 carbonate of iron, interspersed with sulphuret of copper and 
 iron, the former of which is far the most abundant. 
 
 Between that which is called the ninety-foot level and the 
 dividing line of the two properties, the depth of ore which 
 remains in situ, is variable. At the commencement of the 
 south tunnel in the sloping shaft, the msLss is some twenty- 
 five feet deeper than at any point farther south. Here it is 
 over one hundred feet. At the extreme south end of the gal- 
 lery of the ninety-foot level, it approaches this line, both 
 from the direction of the workings and the direction of the 
 vein ; still, at this point, it is twenty feet to the line, measur- 
 ed horizontally ; for, on measuring from the hole which was 
 pointed out as under the line, and measuring along a tunnel 
 above, which terminates in the shaft fifteen feet on the west 
 side of the line, I found it to be thirty-five feet, which makes 
 this hole about twenty-six feet east of the dividing line. 
 This prism of ore, therefore, is an important part of the min- 
 ing property situated upon the east side of the dividing line. 
 To understand the facts relating to the question, it is impor- 
 tant to consider that the vein dips considerably, and recedes 
 from the dividing line northwardly. So, as the dip north on 
 the line of strike, turns northward, or becomes nearly north- 
 west, it will not pass this line so soon as it would, provided 
 its dip was due west. Now a shaft sunk upon the line op- 
 posite or west of the sloping shaft, would not cut this vein at 
 a lower level than 150 feet. There remains, then, probably 
 a prism of ore 100 feet deep at this point, and 55 or 60 feet 
 near the southern termination of the tunnel of the ninety-foot 
 level. This vein, or that portion of it which is rich, is four 
 feet thick. Consisting as it does of carbonate of iron, the 
 blasts which are designed to remove ore are not so efifective 
 as in quartz alone, but it is drilled with less labor. Being 
 
NOETH-CAKOLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 151 
 
 jointed, it splits off from the mass with greater ease, or it 
 blows out, as the miners call the effect in such cases. The 
 whole width of the vein at the ninety-foot level, is at least 
 eighteen feet, and carries some gold throughout the mass. 
 Pockets of rich places are interspei-sed through it. This 
 great mass of ore still pursues its way downward, and at the 
 deep shaft, fifteen feet west of the line, it will probably be 
 cut at the depth of 130 feet. 
 
 § 163. The last vein which remains to be noticed in this 
 report, comes in at or near the sixty-foot level. I could not, 
 however, determine the exact point where it was first ob- 
 served. Different views might probably be entertained res- 
 pecting this vein. Taking all the facts into consideration, I 
 am disposed to regard it as a cross vein entirely distinct from 
 any of the preceding. It has been regarded as one already 
 described by some, and which turns back upon its former 
 course ; but this is probably an incorrect view ; for the cross 
 vein with which it is compared dips directly south, or in a 
 contrary direction. It seems, therefore, to be of itself a vein 
 derived from some prolific source, which gave origin to the 
 veins traversing Conrad Hill. This vein was cut in the tun- 
 nel shown in the diagram in the right corner of plate 13. 
 a. a. represents the course it would take if prolonged upwards. 
 The vein, however, is in the lower corner of the tunnel, and 
 does not appear to be of any account above it ; it is a vein 
 which does not make an outcrop upon the surface. 
 
 § 164. I should remark here that this vein does not dip to- 
 wards the dividing lino. It however swings around slightly 
 westward in that direction. Its strike is nearly east and west, 
 its dip south, and its width about four feet. Eastward, it 
 passes under props which are placed to support the roof 
 w'here the back vein has been removed. Upon this line, ex- 
 tending from near the hole, as it is called, but to the east of 
 it, I measured forty-two feet to the point where it passes be- 
 neath the props. It extends some twenty feet farther west, 
 beyond the west point where I measured. Its present acces- 
 sible portion is about sixty-two feet. But if we may judge from 
 analogy, the vein is prolonged both eastward and westward. 
 
152 NORTH-OAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 This vein is probably the richest vein which has been hith- 
 erto explored upon Conrad Hill. This fact I was able to test 
 and prove from the ore which I took from the vein. I did 
 not determine the amount of gold .which it yields per bushel, 
 but the results obtained by panning, and the fact that visible 
 grains of gold are common in the mass, was, to me, satisfac- 
 tory evidence of its richness. 
 
 The foregoing statements comprise the most important 
 facts in my pssession relative to the mining property of Con- 
 rad Hill proper. I have but little information respecting the 
 Dodge Hill, in the immediate vicinity of Conrad Hill. The 
 veins, or at least a part of them, appear there, and carry 
 gold. The opinion is that they are not so rich as Conrad 
 Hill ; and still it would be rather an anomaly in mining, if 
 veins which are so rich should become too poor to work in so 
 short a distance. The fact is common in North-Carolina, that 
 veins continue frequently a mile, and carry sufficient metal 
 to pay for working the whole distance. It will appear from 
 the foregoing facts that the two front veins have been work- 
 ed by the owners and leasers of the property situated upon 
 the west side of the dividing line ; and that the middle and 
 back veins have- been worked upon the Morehead or Conrad 
 Hill side, together with all the cross veins except the first, 
 which has not been worked by either party. The back vein 
 has not been reached by the shafts upon the west side of the 
 dividing line. 
 
 § 165. The main rock of Conrad Hill is Talcose slate. Tlie 
 rocks which are trappean, and which are commonly known as 
 ne^TO heads, do not appear in either of the hills ; but I believe 
 that both upon east and west sides, the country is traversed 
 by wide belts of trap. The lamina of the slate are not par- 
 allel with the dip and strike of the veins. The intersecting 
 quartz bands are therefore to be regarded as true veins. The 
 plan upon which I would recommend the working of Conrad 
 Hill, is to arrange the means for taking the ore efficiently out 
 of the deep cross vein, and to work out also the rich four foot 
 stratum of the back vein which lies in proximity to the cross 
 vein. These two veins are capable of furnishing a large 
 
NOBTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 153 
 
 amount of ore. In addition to this, I would recommend the 
 sinking of a deep shaft about two hundred feet to the north 
 west, which must necessarily cut the three regular veins. 
 This shaft should be between Conrad and Dodge's Hill. It 
 will not be difficult to find the several cross veins also, which 
 crop out upon the surface. They have proved rich, I believe, 
 without exception. 
 
 Plate 13 shows the relations of those veins which appear at 
 the surface ; the three long parallel veins dip westward and 
 north westward ; 1, 2, 3, are the right running veins, and 4 
 and 5 cross veins ; a rich cross vein which does not reach the 
 surface, is exposed and cut by a tunnel driven east and west 
 at the depth of sixty feet ; it was made for the purpose of 
 exposing more effectually the veins b. b. The right running- 
 veins extend across Dodge Hill, about five hundred feet to 
 the north east of the base of Conrad Hill, 
 
 The number of veins which cross Conrad Hill is worthy of 
 note. The unfortunate ownership being in two properties, 
 interferes with the most profitable pursuit of these rich veins. 
 As far as the veins have been taken out, there are no indi- 
 cations that they are poorer than they were near the surface. 
 The yield of the lowest portion of the vein, No. 1, was one 
 dollar per bushel, but the variations in the product have oc- 
 curred at different depths, and different parts of the same 
 lode. There remains, unquestionably, a large quantity of 
 metal below, for it is to be recollected that a very small 
 quantity only of ore has been taken out below one hundred 
 feet. At this depth the veins become more cupriferous, and 
 the probability is, that in the future, instead of being worked 
 for gold, the westerly and deepest veins will be worked for 
 copper ; but still, above the points where the copper pyrites 
 begin to come, there are large prisms of auriferous veins 
 standing; and some of the veins do not, at the depths ex- 
 plored, contain any pyrites, the vein stone being quartz in- 
 termixed with some carbonate of iron. This is the case with 
 the cross vein exposed by the tunnel. It is probable, there- 
 fore, that a part of the veins will continue to carry gold, 
 while a part, especially the front veins, will ultimately carry 
 
154 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 ) 
 
 copper pyrites. The veins wliicli belong to Conrad Hill pro- 
 per, have not been worked out extensively to the north east, 
 or in the direction of Dodge Hill. There remains, therefore, 
 belonging to this property, ample space for the prosecution 
 of the most productive veins. 
 
 I have spoken of this mine rather as a property than as a 
 combination of geological facts of great interest. "We find, 
 in a very limited space, six distinct veins ; and one of them 
 branching or forking about sixty feet below the surface, and 
 another rich vein, three-and-a-half feet wide, coming in at 
 the same depth, which does not reach the surface. This vein 
 shows gold at many points where it is exposed. Tlie quartz 
 is opaque, and stained brown, and is intermixed with decom- 
 posed and decomposing sulphuret of iron. The vein stone of 
 all the depositories is shattered and angular, and often in ra- 
 ther small wedge form pieces. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXHI. 
 
 depositories of the Metals continued. — Auriferous Veins. — « 
 Oold Hill Gold Mine. 
 
 § 166. The history of the Gold Hill gold mine, if it could 
 be gathered up and compiled from the recollections of the 
 many individuals who have been interested in its develop- 
 ment, would show the importance of perseverance under dis- 
 couraging prospects — sufiiciently so, it is believed, to have in- 
 duced many operators to have abandoned the mine at an early 
 day. But owing to the persevering efforts of Messrs. Holmes 
 and the Messrs. Mauney, and the late Captain Peters, it ha^ 
 proved one of the rich mines of the State, and it is believed it 
 
NOKTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 155 
 
 is an established mine^ and fully proved by its depth and the 
 length of vein along which the workings have been carried. 
 
 § 167. It is only fourteen years since mining began at 
 Gold Hill. In the progress of the operations required in the 
 business, and in consequence of the direction of the attention 
 of the operators to the character of the country, many new 
 discoveries have been made since the first surface-mine was 
 worked on the land of Andrew Troutman, in 1842. The 
 first veins discovered were upon the land of John Troutman. 
 By this discovery, $400,000 were obtained, the deepes^haft 
 reaching only to the depth of 100 feet. 
 
 The Honeycut vein was discovered in the same year. This 
 mine yielded $101,665. 
 
 The next year, (1854), the mine known as the Earnhardt 
 was discovered on the land of George Heilick. Its relatioEPs 
 are shown upon plate 9, eastern vein, upon which the shafts, 
 old shaft Earnhardt and Louder & Co. ; it is the east vein. 
 
 The most productive vein remained to be discovered — that 
 of the Earnhardt vein — which took place in one month after that 
 of the Earnhardt. It is noted on the map by the Earnhardt 
 and Handolph shafts, etc., which show its relative position. 
 
 Between the Earnhardt and the Earnhardt, there is still an- 
 other, called the middle vein, which has never been regarded 
 as a rich vein. 
 
 The numerous veins of Gold Hill are an illustration of the 
 fact, that veins and mineral repositories occur in districts^ 
 and that it would be rather an anomaly to find one vein by 
 itself- — it would be an exception to a common rule. The 
 veins of Gold Hill have not all proved remunerative, but the 
 aggregate production of gold from all the veins up to the 
 present time, 1856, has been $2,000,000.* 
 
 § 168. Gold Hill is on the southern border of Rowan coun- 
 ty, adjoining Cabarrus county. It is fourteen miles south 
 from Salisbury. It is situated upon a narrow ridge, prolong- 
 ed in a north-eastwardly and south-westwardly direction. It 
 is only one mile east of the granite belt upon which Salisbury 
 
 * I am indebted to Mr. Ephraim MauDej and Mr. Moses Holmes for much valuable 
 iaformation in relation to this mine. 
 
156 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 is situated. The formation is slate, dipping rather westerly, 
 and with a strike of E". 30° E. The angle of dip is abont 
 80°. The strata are not disturbed by eruptive or intrusive 
 rocks. It is therefore in a measure free from accidents aris- 
 ing from faults and dislocations. The principal veins of the 
 hill pursue a direct course, scarcely deviating at any point 
 from their general direction. Tliere is, too, a regularity in 
 the descent, by which the miner may strike the vein at those 
 points which he desires with great certainty. The principal 
 variAon is that of thickness, a variation which is, however, 
 met with in all veins ; another which may be alluded to, and 
 which will be more particularly described hereafter, is that 
 of richness, which is somewhat regular in its variations. 
 
 § 169. The veins of Gold Hill belong exclusively to a slate 
 which has usually been regarded as a Talcose slate. Deep 
 in the shafts it is uniformly blue, while at the surface it is 
 changed into a soft reddish earthy mass, except that which 
 bounds the Earnhardt vein. This is blue, rather fine, and 
 maintains its integrity much longer when exposed to the 
 weather than most of it upon the hill. 
 
 All the slate however should be considered as clay slate, 
 differing scarcely, if at all, from the clay slate towards the 
 Yadkin, or which is so common in Stanly county. It occu- 
 pies, I believe, the same position, and is the same geologically. 
 
 At Gold Hill the strike is K 30° E., and the dip north 
 west at an angle of 80°. To the south eastward, or toward 
 the Yadkin, it changes to a south east dip ; but in about two 
 miles in this direction, the breciated conglomerate is en- 
 countered ; after which, the rock which succeeds is clay slate 
 again. . 
 
 The veins which carry gold are composed of quartz and 
 quartziferous slate, and the sulphurets of iron and copper. 
 Of these vein stones, the sulphuret of iron is the richest ; the 
 gold attaches itself to this mineral more freely than to the 
 sulphuret of copper. It is an illustration of a fact which has 
 not been sufficiently attended to in other cases. For exam- 
 ple, in a mixture of galena, blende and the pyrites, the 
 silver will be found in combination with the first, perhaps not 
 
PL 10 
 
 Ir- 
 
 liOixgitiLctinaL Section of the"West Tern. . 
 
 Lith of J.Murraj^. 
 


 NOBTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 157 
 
 exclusively, but mainly ; the blende will carry tlie least, and 
 probably not any. 
 
 The vein which represents the series belonging to Gold 
 Hill, is the Earnhardt. It is the only one which is now worked, 
 or has been worked since the survey began, and hence the 
 only one which I have been able to examine. The vein stone 
 is principally a combination of iron and copper pyrites inter- 
 mixed with seams and masses of quartz. In these minerals 
 gold is mechanically mixed ; and it is so fine, that even when 
 rich, it requires great care and attention in grinding and pan- 
 ning to find it. But surfaces sometimes show gold, when 
 the}^ have been rubbed in the mine against each other. The 
 vein may be said to be worked to about four hundred and 
 ten feet in depth. Its thickness V9,ries from six inches to four 
 feet, and in one part of the vein it is 7 feet. 
 
 § 170 Having stated very generally some of the leading- 
 facts relative to this vein, it is important to notice the manner 
 in which the mineral matter, particularly the gold, is dis- 
 tributed. 
 
 As a vein, oi' considered in mass, it may be divided into 
 sections which are arranged rather obliquely with respect to 
 the walls. The vein does not form a single sheet which rests 
 Uniformly against, or between the walls, but is divided into 
 many lenticular segments, which, as it were, overlap each 
 other at their thin edges ; the lower segment has its upper 
 edge behind and against the wall, and its lower edge over 
 the edge of the next segment beneath. Plate 10, diagram 
 on the left, shows a transverse section of the vein, though the 
 lenticular masses are not so distinctly connected as here rep- 
 resented. An arrangement of this kind prevails in most of 
 the good mines of this State. 
 
 § 171. I have stated the general arrangement of the sub- 
 ordinate masses composed of segments as they are arranged ; 
 it now remains to show the distribution of the gold, without 
 veference to these subordinate segments. 
 
 For the purpose of illustrating this part of the subject, 1 
 bave prepared plate 10. It is derived from the examination 
 conducted by the survey, and also from tlie captains of the 
 
158 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 
 
 mines, who have been for many years engaged in directing 
 the nndergronnd operations. The plate, without explana- 
 tion, shows the principal facts. Tlie shafts in the order in 
 which they have been sunk, begin upon the right, and have 
 been sunk the deepest. In order to understand the diagram, 
 the reader must suppose himself placed upon the west or 
 east side of a sheet of ore, with the wall removed, and as he 
 looks, he will see the vein before him in the direction of its 
 strike ; it presents, therefore, a longitudinal vein with the 
 vein restored, and the good and poor parts standing in the 
 order in which they were found when the vein was stoped 
 but, or taken down. Beginning on the right, there is rep- 
 resented a belt of good ore extending obliquely to the right, 
 and connecting itself with another good belt towards the bot- 
 tom, and which extends to the depth of three hundred and 
 ninety feet ; and between each, and in the fork, there is a 
 triangular mass of poor ore. It is proper to state here, that 
 the poor and good ores are relative terms ; the gold of course 
 is not absent, but much less, and in some of the belts thus 
 marked, ^fter the expenses of mining and extraction of metal 
 were paid, the profits remaining were very small. The lines 
 of demarkation, however, are very clearly defined, and can 
 be. determined at once by the miner; the transition from 
 good to poor is rather abrupt than gradual. The miner's 
 phrase with respect to these rich and poor belts, is rich and 
 poor pocTcets. 
 
 Towards the north east the vein seems to be all poor, it 
 continues north east, but, for some reason, it has not been 
 thoroughly tested ; but the explorations which have been 
 made are supposed to indicate a poor vein throughout in this 
 direction. 
 
 Towards the southwest, however, the shoots, belts or pock- 
 ets of good ore are decided, and the best pocket ever open- 
 ed is the Randolph, which is penetrated by the Randolph 
 shaft farthest to the south west. This pocket is now being 
 taken out. It expands downwards, and at the three hundred 
 and thirty feet level it is extending both ways, and will, it is 
 supposed, become connected with the adjacent pocket on the 
 
NOETH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SITRVET. 169 
 
 right. The ore which was used in 1854-'55 was regarded as 
 poor ore. All of the sheet of ore represented and marked as 
 good and poor ore has been taken out, on the right to the 
 depth of four hundred and ten feet, and on the left in the 
 JRandolph pocket, to the depth only of three hundred and 
 thirty feet. There is, therefore, a sheet of ore standing, from 
 which the water is drained, of about eighty feet in depth and 
 two hundred and fifty in length. The diagram is made on a 
 scale of eighty feet to the inch ; and the part exposed and 
 represented as worked out, includes all the stoping and ex- 
 ploration which have been made in this vein since it was first 
 discovered. In length, this extends about five hundred and 
 sixty feet. This is but a limited extent compared with other 
 veins in this vicinity, or in the slate district. In the prolon- 
 gation of the pockets downwards, this expansion is indicative 
 of a union of all of them at no great depth. It is useless to 
 speculate upon the probability of an increased richness should 
 a union take place. How far, too, the vein may be expected 
 to continue is not determinable ; and hence, useless also to 
 express an opinion ; only, a vein so well defined and regular 
 is usually prolonged much farther. 
 
 DiflPerent opinions prevail upon the question of the con- 
 tinuance of metal below; especially with respect to the dimi- 
 nution of or increase of gold. This vein has been exposed 
 to a greater depth than any other mine in the State ; but its 
 workings are shallow, compared with many mines in other 
 countries. There is^ however, no diminution in the amount 
 of gold obtained as yet at the bottom, compared with the 
 more superficial parts. When the lithological characters of 
 the poor and rich pockets are compared, the differences are 
 scarcely perceptible. The mineral is in each case a sulphu- 
 ret, and intermixed in the same proportion with flint or 
 quartz. To the eye therefore, if only inspected in the gen- 
 eral, no difference of structure or composition will be ob- 
 served. This appears difficult to account for on the common 
 views which are entertained with respect to the mode in 
 which vein fissures are filled. If we adopt the view that they 
 may have been filled by gasseous emanations, the difficulties 
 
160 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 in tlie way of understanding the mode seem to be less than 
 if it is supposed the fissnre was filled. by the eruptive mode, 
 and in a mass, and in a state of incandescence. There are 
 apparent objections to the latter theory \ there is, for instance, 
 no appearance of a change upon the walls denoting an igni-- 
 tion of the vein materials. How much weight should be 
 given to a negative, is impossible to say. 
 
 § 1Y2. The machinery employed at Gold Hill for separat- 
 ing gold, consists, first, of the Chilian mill for crushing and 
 grinding after being broken by hammers, the Tyrolese bowls, 
 the Burke rockers, and the Drag mill. Amalgamation is al- 
 ways resorted to, though it has been frequently suggested 
 that the ore is sufiiciently rich to be reduced in the furnace. 
 
 The work for a Chilian mill of this ore is seventy bushels 
 per day ; and our mills run for twenty- four hours, with one 
 or two short interruptions. They are all moved by steam 
 power, and all the water used in the mills is pumped from 
 the mine. The Burke rocker is the principal and best saving 
 machine employed. The Drag mill is also a good machine, 
 is cheap, and easily kept in repair. On inspecting these 
 opeiations when going on, it is impossible to resist the con- 
 clusion that touch of the gold is wasted along with the mer- 
 cury. I believe this is admitted by the proprietors, and yet 
 it is allowed to go on day after day, and still they show some 
 good sense \ the amount of gold which is obtained by the 
 methods now in use is very respectable ; and if not wholly 
 satisfactory as to method, the determination seems to be to 
 keep the wlieels in motion and save what they can, instead 
 of stopping and changing, for the purpose of trying all the 
 new proposed methods which are continually thrust upon 
 their notice by l^ew York machinists, who know nothing 
 practically about the matter. I say there is a fund of good 
 and practical common sense in the methods now in use ; they 
 do well by their use, and hence they have succeeded in ma- 
 king money, when many of their neighbors, by changing 
 their apparatus and adopting the untried or cheating coYi- 
 eems, which were hatched by mere mechanics, have lo^t 
 money. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY, 161 
 
 § 173. The only change for the better which can be 
 adopted at Gold Hill, for the separation of gold, is by smelt- 
 ing. The Chilian mill has a sliding or slipping motion as it 
 turns on its short axle, which flattens the particles of gold. 
 A machine which will divide without flattening, is the deside- 
 ratum in all mechanical methods. The consequence of the 
 thin condition of a particle of gold, is to give it buoyancy in 
 the liquid, which is of course charged more or less with earth 
 or clay. But flat gold, where it approaches gold leaf, con- 
 denses upon its surface the air diffused in the liquid ; and 
 hence, although the heaviest of substances is often found ab- 
 solutely floating, especially where there is a gyratory motion, 
 or much motion of any kind in the liquid. For example, it 
 is difiicult in a tub furnished with stirrers, and which of course 
 impart a circular motion to the water, to move them slow 
 enough to prevent the passing ofl" of the gold^ and at the 
 same time keep the dirt from caking at the bottom. If the 
 latter is kept evenly diffused through the liquid, the gold 
 will pass ofl"; if the motion is slower, it will subside at the 
 bottom, and the gold will have no opportunity to come in 
 contact with the mercurj^ So with respect to the Chilian 
 mill; a certain rapidity of motion must be obtained. If the 
 stones make two many revolutions in a minute, the gold 
 floats away and does not come in contact with the mercury 
 in the channel. The movement for all kinds of ore is within 
 a limited range ; they should make from seven to ten turns 
 in a minute ; some ores require seven, others nine, and it is 
 very rare that ten can be made without a loss both of gold 
 and mercury. 
 
 § 1T4. Tlie force employed at Gold Hill, for working the 
 Earnhart vein, consists of sixty-six miners paid by the month, 
 and thirty-nine negroes hired by the year. The day of 
 twenty -four hours is divided into three shifts of eight hours 
 each, for underground work. Tlie expenses per month for 
 the whole year amount to four thousand and thirty-eight dol- 
 lars and forty-five cents, ($4:,038 45.) In the expenses for 
 the year (1854), f.ve hundred and ninety-two dollars were for 
 construction. The average mining expenses, leaving out the 
 11 
 
 ^• 
 
 'M 
 
162 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 item for construction, amount to three thousand four hundred 
 and forty-five dollars and seventy cents, (|3,44:5 70.) Hence, 
 for the year, the mining expenses amount to about forty-one 
 thousand three hundred and forty-eight dollars and forty 
 cents, ($41,348 40.) This includes the negro hire for the 
 year, which amounted to four thousand one hundred and 
 twenty-four dollars and thirty cents, ($4,124 30.) 
 ^ § 1T5. The amount of gold obtained in 1854, in the follow- 
 
 ing months, as derived from the books of the company, was as 
 follows : 
 
 December and January, $ 16,697 66 
 
 February and March, 13,514: 75 
 
 April and May, .• 13,379 23 
 
 June and July, 11,014 95 
 
 August, 7,000 00 
 
 September and October, 7,615 05 
 
 November and December, 9,881 96 
 
 1855. January, 10,625 16 
 
 February, 3,386 76 
 
 March, 11,280 92 
 
 April, 13,696 81 
 
 May, 11,642 61 
 
 June, 7,051 08 
 
 Gold obtained in 13 months, $ 136,636 76 
 
 Expenses, 60,331 07 
 
 $ 76,305 69 
 
 Expenses for the following months in 1854-55 : 
 
 1854. October $ 2,857 16 
 
 Novembei , 4,356 07 
 
 December, 4,406 90 
 
 1855. January, 4,692 26 
 
 February, 4,076 77 
 
 March, 4,245 83 
 
 April, 6,784 00 
 
 May, 4,384 01 
 
 June, 3,430 13 
 
 July, 2,578 76 
 
 August 4,736 54 
 
 September 3,653 61 
 
 October, 2,269 69 
 
 November, 2,145 04 
 
 December, 3,778 30 
 
 Expedses in 15 months, I 60,351 07 
 
NORTH-CAJiOLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 163 
 
 By adding to the foregoing the expenses of four months, 
 $16,084, the amount which would be expended in nineteen 
 months would be $76,429. Total expenses incurred for nine- 
 teen months, thus : 
 
 Gold obtained, $ 136,636 76 
 
 Expenses incurred, 76,429 00 
 
 Remaining over and above expenses, $ 60,207 76 
 
 § 176. But it should be stated that during the time which 
 includes the foregoing record, only the ore taken from the 
 poor pockets was worked ; and it is only since January last, 
 (1856,) that the ore has been taken from the rich Randolph 
 pocket. To ascertain what the rich ores would yield, the 
 mills were put in order, and they were allowed to use the 
 richest ores for one day ; which gave fifteen hundred dollars 
 for the time. But specimens were taken out of the office 
 and ground up and turned into gold, a mercantile transac- 
 tion, and worthy of the President. It results in the loss of 
 very fine specimens for exhibition. I have entered into a 
 more specific statement of the mine and the afi'airs of this 
 Company, because it is not known in the State what profits 
 are reaped from this mine. It is generally known that 'i(:- is 
 rich, and pays ; but how much, I never have met with th€?i^, 
 person who could tell me, except those who manag^^d its af- ■ 
 fairs. I have entered into these particulars also, because the 
 credit of the North-Carolina mines has sufi'ered from mis- 
 management, and have obtained an unfortunate notoriety in 
 Wall Street ; that of being almost worthless. There are suf- 
 ficient and good reasons why this has happened : 1st. The 
 capital stock is too large ; 2d. Attempts to speculate in them, 
 and of couree the double game is played by the Bulls and 
 Bears; and 3d. The cross purposes of the knowing stock- 
 holders to oust out the more ignorant, and get possession of 
 the prize. But there has been no substantial reason why the 
 Gold Hill stock should have declined at all. It has been 
 reaping a harvest of gold during the whole time of its de- 
 pression in the stock market ; and when it was said of it in 
 
164 NOETH-CAJEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 the mining journals when its stock came down to " cypher,'' 
 " the last rose of summer is gone ;" it was still one of the 
 most productive and paying mines of this country. 
 
 § 1T7. In working the ore of this mine, certain difficulties 
 are encountered. The greatest appears to be the fineness of 
 the gold, and its mechanical mixture with the heavy sulphu- 
 rets. In consequence of this state, the ore must be ground 
 extremely fine, or the gold cannot be separated; and the 
 consequence of grinding fine, subdivides the mercury to 
 an injurious extent. But even when ground finely, only the 
 largest part of the gold is obtained. Hence, it is now cus- 
 tomary to save the sand and work it over after it has been 
 exposed ten or twelve months. In the course of this time 
 the sulphurets are decomposed, and liberate the metal. 
 
 These difi&culties met the first miners. It was the inexpe- 
 rience in this kind of ore which led to losses, and which might 
 have resulted in its abandonment, had not the gentleman 
 whom I have named jDossessed a large degree of skill and 
 enterprize. The ore of the Earnhardt vein, while it was 
 worked at the time the Earnhart was less prosperous, was in 
 ■A state of disintegration to a considerable depth ; and hence, 
 its metal was separated with less difficulty. Experience in 
 the ores has been gradually acquired, and now the desidera- 
 tum is a method by which to extract all the metal at a single 
 operation ; a desideratum which will be found only by dis- 
 pensing with mercury and resorting to the furnace. 
 
 § 178. The middle vein of Gold Hill is eighty-three yards 
 east of the Earnhart vein, and runs nearly parallel with it. 
 It has been explored by three or four shallow shafts sunk on 
 the vein ; very Kttle is therefore known of it, though it is re- 
 garded as too poor to work. Tlie ore which has been tested 
 gave twenty-five cents to the bushel of ore. It passes imme- 
 diately by the road side. 
 
 ij} 179. The Earnhardt vein has been productive, but I was 
 not able to ascertain why it has been abandoned. Its vein 
 stutt' is decomposed to a great depth, and the material raised 
 becomes in a short time a reddish earth. Its ore and its slate 
 brought from one hundred and fifty feet, is rather coarser 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 165 
 
 than the Earnhart, but in other respects it resembles it. The 
 most imjjortant difference consists in the greater amount of 
 sulphuret of copper and less gold. The copper and iron py- 
 rites is from eighteen inches to four feet wide at the bottom 
 of the deepest shafts. The ore yielded eight per cent, of 
 copper. If as abundant as represented, the per centage 
 would give a profit, if worked for copper, provided it was 
 smelted on the ground. 
 
 This vein at the south end is divided in strings which pen- 
 etrate the rock extensively in the old field south east of tlie 
 village, where the surface is perforated by many shafts and 
 tu»nels. Of the three veins which occupy the crest of the 
 verge on which the works are built two have been rich, but 
 the middle one is poor. It sometimes occurs in parallel veins, 
 that when one is poor in places, the other is rich in the same 
 relative position, and vice versa^ an interchange apparently of 
 metal occurring in each respectively. 
 
 The Honeycutt vein was worked at the south west extremi- 
 ty of the village, where the old shafts are still visible. It 
 appears to be a prolongation of the middle vein, or perhaps 
 of the Earnhart. This vein is from fifteen inches to two feet 
 wide. It was profitably worked by A. Honeycutt, Gulps & 
 Co. It yielded one hundred and one thousand, six hundred 
 and sixty-five dollars, (101,665.) A shaft was sunk to the 
 depth of one hundred and eighty-five feet. This mine is dis- 
 turbed by a cross course, or as it is usually called, a mud slide. 
 
 § 180. Miners frequently meet with unexpected changes in 
 {\\Q character of the vein ; it may become very rich and pro- 
 ductive, or it may become suddenly poor. An instance oc- 
 curred of a sudden change in the Icyhour vein, on tlie the 
 west side of Bufii'alo, and two miles from Gold Hill. In prose- 
 cuting the usual mining operations the vein changed from 
 poor to rich, that is, it ordinarily yielded from fifteen to twen- 
 ty cents per bushel of ore. A longitudinal pocket was struck 
 which yielded one dollar and a half per bushel. This ricli 
 segment of the vein was extended some seventy or eighty feet 
 in length, but was entirely taken out ; and it was found that 
 it had no connection by strings with the mass below, but was 
 
166 NOETH-OAEOLINA GEOLOOICAL SUKVET. 
 
 perfectly isolated in the midst of ore, yielding the amount 
 yery uniformly, as I have stated. The vein stone is slaty, 
 but contains fine quartz, and is a regular vein, but free, in a 
 great measure, from the sulphurets. It is difficult to account 
 for isolated masses of rich ore situated in the midst of poor, 
 and marked out by lines so distinct. 
 
 § 181. Reed mine is in Cabarrus county, and was brought 
 to the notice of the public in consequence of the large pieces 
 which have been found upon the plantation. The weight 
 and dates when these remarkable specimens of gold were 
 found, are taken from Wheeler's history of North-Carolina, 
 p. 64. The following is a copy of the statement referred t% : 
 
 WEIGHT OF DIFFERENT PIECES OP GOLD FOUND AT THE EBED MINE. 
 
 1803, 28 lbs. 
 
 1804, 9 " 
 
 " y « 
 
 " 3 " 
 
 " ■ 2 " 
 
 " 13€ " 
 
 1826, 16 " 
 
 " 9K " 
 
 " 8 " 
 
 1835, 13% " 
 
 " 4>^ " 
 
 " 5 " 
 
 i< 2 « 
 
 115^ lbs. steelyard weight. 
 
 One large piece had been found in 1799, that must have 
 weighed three or four pounds, which was sold in Fayetteville 
 for three dollars and a half I believe this is the earliest re- 
 cord of the discovery of gold in ISTorth-Carolina. 
 
 The vein is in the slate near the dividing line between the 
 slate and granite. The direction is east of north. A shaft 
 has been sunk upon the vein to the depth of ninety feet. At 
 this depth, the vein was followed ninety feet ; and is repre- 
 sented to have yielded one dollar and fifteen cents per bushel. 
 A cross vein intersects it, whose direction is N. 40° E. 
 
 I have been unable to obtain any information respecting 
 this mine from personal examination of its interior. If testi- 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 16T, 
 
 mony may be relied upon, it cannot but be regarded as a 
 valuable mine. Operations were suspended at this mine at 
 the instance of Mr, Keed, who procured an injunction against 
 the lessees for an alleged fraud in their returns. 
 
 Upon this property a lead vein (galena) has been discover- 
 ed, whose strike is N. 25° E., and dips slightly to the north. 
 It is eight or ten inches wide. A shaft sunk upon the vein a 
 short distance shows that it is broken into vertical segments, 
 but the explorations are too superficial to furnish much infor- 
 mation respecting its character. 
 
 § 182. The Phifer, Davis and the Pewter mines form a 
 cluster in a soft, reddish and purplish slate in Union county, 
 on or near five mile creek. The first was a rich mine, and 
 was sometimes called the mint, and the second paid very 
 handsome dividends, and the third, the metal obtained from 
 it was an alloy of silver and gold. It contained from forty to 
 seventy per cent, of silver ; its white, and rather dull white 
 color, gave the name Pewter mine. They have all been 
 abandoned ; it may be temporarily. The Davis vein was di- 
 vided at the depth of ninety feet by a dyke or horse, be- 
 came poor, and was afterwards abandoned. 
 
 The Hearne gold mine, in Stanly county, is two-and-a-half 
 miles west from Albemarle. It is on high ground, and asso- 
 ciated with hard iron colored trappean rock. But the rock 
 of the country is clay slate. It is a strong vein. It is three 
 feet wide, and has been traced a mile. The vein stone is 
 quartz. As an evidence of its richness eight quarts of se- 
 lected ore yielded eighty dollars. The mine is now worked 
 successfully. 
 
 § 183. Long Creek mine, upon the High Shoal property, 
 has been very extensively worked in former years under 
 leases, which, when they expired, the explorations were dis- 
 continued until the property passed into the hands of a New 
 York Company. It traverses slate in a direction K. 20° E. 
 It dips westerly. It is from four to ten feet wide. The vein 
 stone is quartz, containing bunches of iron pyrites often fine- 
 ly crystalized. The vein has been taken out usually four 
 feet in width, ; when ten feet, it is too poor to take the whole 
 
168 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 vein ; or, if taken out, it should be selected ; tlie ricliest part 
 contains the most pyrites. The vein has frequently yielded 
 three dollars per bushel ; the poorest about fifty cents. The 
 average yield has been one dollar per bushel. When it is 
 worked down below fifty feet, arsenical pyrites is intermixed 
 with the iron pyrites. When these sulphurets coexist in the 
 ore, or form it, the mercury is excessively divided, which 
 leads to a loss of the metals. This explanation has been giv- 
 en to account for losses which the Company has sustained in 
 working the mine. The vein fissure is wide, and carries a 
 great quantity of good ore near the surface, and hence, has 
 been trenched at many places for nearly a mile. 
 
 It frequently happens that the mercuiy is divided minutely 
 in the process of amalgamation, and so much so, that it ap- 
 pears like foam or froth ; in cases where it is divided to this 
 extent, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to collect it ; 
 and hence it is lost, together with the gold which has been 
 taken up. To efi'ect a re-union of the minute globules of 
 mercury, soda ash may be added in small quantities. It is 
 the most eff'ective means which can be devised for this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 § 184. Reynolds' gold mine is about six miles north east of 
 Troy, in Montgomery county. It is in slate, which is back 
 of or below the quartz and porphyritic beds in which those 
 remarkable fossils occur, the palaeotrochis, major and minor. 
 
 The slate is rusty, not bright, and is traversed by seams of 
 quartz ; and it is also stained with manganese. It rarely 
 yields over fifty cents per bushel of ore, but as the slate is 
 comparatively soft, it gives, at the present time, a moderate 
 profit. Kests of the sulphuret of copper and sulphuret of 
 silver came in at the depth of sixty feet. This vein furnishes 
 occasionally the telluret of gold. The vein is rather obscure, 
 and it is unsafe to form an opinion respecting its value. I 
 have been informed since I left Montgomery county, that the 
 vein is increasing in width, and has yielded, very readily, fif- 
 ty cents per bushel of ore. 
 
 § 185. The King's mountain gold mine is west of the range 
 
NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 169 
 
 of that name. It is widely known, having been worked suc- 
 cessfullj for many years by Mr. Briggs. 
 
 The vein is from six to eight feet wide, its direction north 
 west, and its dip north east. It differs from most mines by 
 an intermixture of Kmestone with the quartz at the depth of 
 ninety feet. But the vein above this level was found to be a 
 porous brown quartz ; the gold in it being frequently coarse 
 and visible. But the upper part originally did not differ from 
 the lower : the limestone above the ninetv feet level having 
 been dissolved out, left the quartz in this porous condition. 
 From the ninety foot level where the engine shaft was sunk, 
 the undecomposed part rises towards the surface and towards 
 the north west. In the undecomposed part, seams of quartz 
 are not uncommon ; the surfaces when separated are spotted 
 with galena and sulphuret of copper, and small crystals of 
 carbonate of lime. The limestone in this vein is not unlike 
 that of Carter mine, in Montgomery county, which frequent- 
 ly contained that rare mineral, the telluret of gold. I did 
 not succeed in finding it at King's mountain mine, but was 
 informed that it was present in the ore. The rock which sup- 
 ports the vein is the Talcose slate, which lies below the brown 
 sandstones and limestones of the Taconic system, and is in 
 the same formation as the heavy veins of magnetic iron ore 
 of this region. It is from six to seven feet wide, and is capa- 
 ble of furnishing a large amount of ore. The vein stuff is 
 rather hard, and would require for working it powerful ma- 
 chinery. It is believed that the vein has not materially 
 changed in the quantity of gold diffused through it. 
 
170 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 He'positories of the Ores continued — Gold Veins in the Sye- 
 nitic Granite of the Salisbury and Greensborough belt — 
 McCullock Gold Mine — Pioneer Mine — Fisher Hill Gold, 
 Mine^ etc. 
 
 % 186. The success which attended the working of the 
 McCulloch mine when under the direction of Mr. James 
 Sloan, gave it a high reputation. But it unfortunately fell 
 into the hands of men who cannot be safely followed in mat- 
 ters pertaining to this business. It is sufficient to say that 
 the mine has been mismanaged. It was loaded with debt 
 and with unnecessary apparatus, and it passed from a paying 
 to a non-paying mine in the course of eighteen months after 
 the New York owners came into possession of it, and after 
 having given them seventy-two thousand dollars in one year. 
 
 The vein fissure pursues a north east course, but is curved 
 in the middle. It dips S. 80° E., and at one place south east. 
 The vein is composed of a column of brown ore resting on 
 the foot wall, which extends from the outcrop to one hundred 
 and thirty feet in depth. Upon this rests the disintegrated 
 ore, containing eight inches of beautiful copper pyrites ; and 
 then against the hanging wall, quartz rather poor in gold and 
 frequently eight feet thick. The vein at the surface is about 
 two feet wide ; at sixty feet, it is four ; at ninety, ten ; and at 
 one hundred and thirty twenty-four feet six inches. It dips 
 at an angle of forty-five degrees. At the one hundred and 
 thirty foot level, it swells out into a rather lenticular form, 
 and is twenty-four feet wide in the thickest part. Here the 
 ore is concretionary ; on the foot wall the brown ore is six 
 inches thick only, then copper pyrites, then a belt of brown 
 ore centaining nodules or concretions of pyrites more er less 
 changed, the middle of which is rich in gold. Upon the 
 hanging wall is the principal mass of porous quartz, which, 
 though it sometimes shows thin films of gold, yet is general- 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 171 
 
 ly poor. The brown ore is soft and easily crushed. It is in- 
 termixed with fine qnartz, and spongy masses of it, which 
 are rich in gold. The average yield is from one-and-a-half to 
 two dollars per bushel. It sometimes exceeds five. At the 
 south west the vein runs into the Lindsay property. Towards 
 the north there is a ravine into which the water of the mine 
 at the sixty foot level flows through an adit. Beyond the ra- 
 vine in this direction, and about one-third of a mile from the 
 engine shaft, is Jack's Hill, a little higher than the McCul- 
 loch's Hill. A shaft sunk in the top of this hill cut the vein 
 at the depth of seventy-seven feet, where it is seventeen feet 
 thick. There is exposed at the bottom of the vein a base of 
 three thousand feet, in the limits of which is stored a vast 
 quantity of valuable ore. 
 
 The copper is the purest sulphuret, yielding by analysis 
 thirty per cent, of copper. It decomposes rapidly even at the 
 depth of one hundred and thirty feet. The walls are often 
 colored blue by the sulphate of copper by the decomposition 
 of the pyrites. 
 
 I have been unable to ascertain how much gold the mine 
 has yielded, excepting for a single year — the last eighteen 
 months the matter pertaining to have been in an unsettled 
 state. That it is a paying mine, and may be worked with 
 profit, is probably true ; but when a mine is frequently ad- 
 vertised for sale, every one suspects that it has run out, or 
 else certain schemes are in progress which are intended to 
 benefit only a small part of the stockholders. At this mine 
 the sulphate of iron and copper, oxide of copper, limonite. 
 cacoxenite, specular oxide of iron, earthy oxide. of manga- 
 nese, and occasionally crystals of limpid quartz are found. 
 The gold and copper mines rarely contain fine minerals, ex- 
 cepting those of common occurrence. 
 
 The McCuUoch vein carries its gold in combination with 
 the sulphurets. When, therefore, the veinstone is made up 
 of quartz, gold will not be found in it ; and when, on the con- 
 trary, pyrites reappears, after having been absent perhaps for 
 a hundred feet, the gold reappears. It is a mass of quartz 
 which is under foot at the present time ; for the time being, 
 
 ■^ 
 
172 NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 therefore, it is too poor to pay the expenses of mining. But 
 it will probably return to its former value. A mine so well 
 developed and maintaining its width of vein, extending, in- 
 cluding the Lindsay vein, not less than a mile in length, may 
 be expected to continue to yield in the future as much gold 
 as during the past. 
 
 As quartz in this mine is unproductive, it is in vain to 
 work this material. The course which may be regarded 
 then as the most likely to be a successful one, is to sink the 
 Colby shaft to the depth of 300 feet, where it is expected to 
 intersect the vein, and then drive each way, if necessary, for 
 the rich ore. That unproductive spaces are encountered, is 
 not rare in the experience of miners, and a change of this 
 kind should not deter the capitalist from pursuing the vein, 
 for there can scarcely arise a doubt of a final successful ter- 
 mination of the project projDosed. 
 
 In making the foregoing remarks I wish it to be distinctly 
 understood, that I do not mean to back the doctrine that the 
 McCulloch mine may be expected to pay the interest upon its 
 capital stock ; for although it has done so for a short period, 
 yet this fact does not warrant an investment in its stocks, 
 even at par value. All mines have their periods of adversity, 
 and to meet the expenses which accrue during those periods, 
 there should be a surplus capital. The eai-nings of the mine 
 during the period of its prosperity should be laid by in part 
 for use when required. 
 
 § 187. Fisher Hill Gold Mine. — This vein has peculiari- 
 ties which require a passing notice. It lies very flat, its dip 
 is between fifteen and twenty degrees ; and its vein stone 
 quartz, in which a white sulphuret of iron is mixed irregu- 
 larly through it. I have not observed a trace of copper. To 
 the eye, before it is burnt, the ore appears poor ; but this is 
 a deception. 
 
 In consequence of its perfect freedom from copper pyrites, 
 it may be burnt to great advantage. If this vein should not 
 change, it must be regarded one of the first class of mines. 
 Its thickness is from two to four feet near the surface. The 
 quartz is brittle, and when burnt is easily pulverized. 
 
 # 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 178 
 
 The yield o:^ gold to the bushel averages three dollai's, and 
 it is worth ninety-nine cents to the pennyweight. The north 
 west end of this mine the ore is worth only eighty-six cents 
 to the bushel. It has changed its dip at this point, and has 
 become very steep. 
 
 In consequence of the slight dip, the vein lying just be- 
 neath the soil, it has been frequently perforated by shafts by 
 the lessees ; it is therefore much exposed to surface water, 
 which, in some locations, would be detrimental to the future 
 prosecution of mining. It is known for rather more than a 
 mile in the direction of its strike, and to be equally rich in 
 its south western prolongation. 
 
 If the mining was prosecuted vigorously, this vein might 
 furnish per day from fifty to seventy dollars over and above 
 the expense of attending its working. The metal is attached 
 both to the sulphuret of iron and the quartz ; and by being 
 heated to redness it breaks and grinds without difficulty in a 
 drag mill. 
 
 § 188. In the vicinity of the Fisher Hill is the abandoned 
 Hodge's Hill mine, which I believe never gave results which 
 were perfectly satisfactory. The gold is distributed unequal- 
 ly through a heavy vein, whose width varies from six inches 
 to twelve feet. Not having been able to examine the work- 
 ings, I can say but little respecting it. It furnishes many fa- 
 mous quartz crystals. Its gold is distributed through quartz 
 and copper pyrites ; the latter is pure and handsome, and 
 may furnish an inducement to some capitalist to reopen the 
 mine. 
 
 The miilerals taken out of the vein are peroxide of man- 
 ganese, limonite, carbonate of iron, hornstone, very large 
 quartz crystals, carbonate of copper, and its earthy red oxide. 
 
 § 189. The Lindsay mine is supposed to be a continuation 
 of McCulloch ; it is less rich, was formerly worked with suc- 
 cess, but was badly excavated, according to reports. It is re- 
 opened, and I am informed with fair prospects. 
 
 It has been said that the McCulloch vein is split into strings. 
 If the two forms one continuous vein, then the branches unite 
 and form a consolidated lode which, in the Lindsay mine, is 
 
174 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 from eighteen to ten feet wide. It is distant from the McCul- 
 loch engine shaft about one hundred rods. 
 
 § 190. The veins in the mining district of Jamestown are 
 quite numerous, all of which are worked only for gold when 
 first discovered. The McCulloch, which has been noticed, 
 the Lindsey, the Beason, the Harlan and Gardner mines, and 
 the Beard mine. The four last are not worked. Gold having 
 been the only metal sought, they were pursued down to wa- 
 ter, where their characters were materially changed by the 
 sulphurets of copper and iron, and the easy method of ex- 
 tracting the gold no longer existing, they were mostly aban- 
 doned. They are all true veins in the sienitic granite, and it 
 will be an important question to determine whether they 
 may be reopened with a fair prospect of success. In the 
 mean time a few mines are being pursued, which probably 
 have in their time presented equal obstacles to a successful 
 result, and indeed have, in their turn, been abandoned also ; 
 but which on farther prosecution, with better means and 
 more experience, are likely to become lasting sources of 
 wealth. 
 
 § 191. Among the mines of this cluster, near Jamestown, 
 in Guilford county, is one known as the Gardner mine, and 
 I propose to make at least the usual statements respecting its 
 character ; and besides, there are certain interesting facts 
 worthy of note, which require this brief notice. It is in the 
 sienitic granite. It is a true vein, whose direction is IST. 20° 
 E., and with a westerly dip. It was worked for gold, and the 
 lessees, who paid one quarter of the gold obtained as toll, 
 made a profitable undertaking, as their books show. One 
 hundred thousand dollars have been taken from the lode and 
 surface mine. The gangue is quartz intermixed with brown 
 ore which lies against the foot wall, and is from six to twelve 
 inches thick. It rarely yields over one dollar per bushel, but 
 the quartz is frequently richer, and hence has paid large pro- 
 fits. The lode is bounded by slate or killas ; but the adja- 
 cent granite on the lower or foot wall is extremely tough and 
 hard, while that on the upper side is soft. The arrangement 
 of the vein stone is shown in figure 18. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 175 
 
 a. a. the granite inclosing the vein fissure. 
 b. b. killas or slate, c. vein. The vein fis- 
 sure is rarely more than three feet wide near 
 the top, and in a part of the lode at the 
 depth of eighty feet is only eight inches, 
 where the ore is poor. 
 
 § 192. The vein stone is quartz as is com- 
 monly the case in granite, but upon each 
 side it is bounded by slate, which of course 
 fills in part the fissure. In this slate I find fine micaceous 
 oxide of iron, and frequently it exists in connexion with the 
 quartz where most of it has passed into the brown hydrous 
 oxide of iron, l^ow the most valuable ore of this mine is a 
 brown oxide, and to the eye it cannot be distinguished from 
 that produced from the micaceous oxide ; but the gold bear- 
 ing oxide is derived from the copper and iron pyrites. It 
 was noticed in working the ore of this mine that a part of it 
 was rich, and another part was worthless. I found, on ex- 
 amination, that the worthless was derived from the micaceous 
 oxide. It seems, therefore, that gold attaches itself, as usual, 
 to the sulphurets ; and it becomes necessary in examining 
 the ores of a gold mine to determine their origin, for the mi- 
 caceous oxide is not a rare mineral in veins carrying gold. 
 In this mine we find the killas which have been alluded to. 
 It seems that under the circumstances in which they occur 
 in veins, it is difficult to determine how they were formed. 
 At the Rudersill mine near Charlotte, and at the Dunn mine 
 they are very thick, while at the Gardner mine they are thin ; 
 but in each of these cases they must have been produced in. 
 the same way ; and what i#perplexing is, they are similar to 
 the slates of the country ; and where thick, as near Charlotte, 
 they have quartz veins which are like those of the sediments, 
 and have no gold or metal in them. I have in another place 
 spoken of the laminated dykes or slaty dykes ; these killas of 
 the veins, except when quite wide, resemble them. 
 
 The Gardner mine, at the depth of one hundred and ten 
 feet, yields, under careful management, about one dollar per 
 bushel ; the poorest about fifty cents, Tlie ore contains a 
 
176 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 handsome quantity of rich sulphnret of iron and copper ; it 
 yields about thirty per cent of copper ; it is not largely inter- 
 mixed with iron pyrites at any part of the vein. There are 
 probably three veins upon the Gardner property ; but I have 
 been unable to determine their relations, two visits having 
 been made to the mine when it was impossible to examine 
 the exposed lodes underground. 
 
 § 193. Rudersill gold mine is near Charlotte, Mecklenburg 
 county, and was at one time regarded as the most productive 
 mine in the State. In this, as in many other instances, a rich 
 and productive deposit of gold did not save the property 
 from sale under execution. An infatuation seemed to have 
 seized the managers, and extravagance was increased in a 
 greater ratio than the returns of the mine, which indeed were 
 known to have been very remarkable. This mine was re- 
 opened about two years ago, under the management and su- 
 perintendence of an able, as well as prudent engineer. The 
 present prospects warrant a favorable conclusion to the en- 
 terprise. Tlie rock both above and below the two veins 
 which constitute the mine is the syenitic granite of the Salis- 
 bury and Greeusborough belt ; but the veins are immediate- 
 ly in killas or slate, or mass which cannot be distinguished 
 from the slates which predominate in the slate belt; and 
 there are other points where the slate is in granite, and not 
 less than one hundred feet thick, which is traversed with 
 veins of quartz. It is difficult to determine whether the slate 
 thus situated is to be regarded as the killas of a vein, or as 
 masses of the slate sj^stem isolated by an eruptive rock, 
 
 Tlius the Rudersill veins are between masses of an erup- 
 tive rock, and the lower is regalRed as the elvan of the Cor- 
 nish miners. The vein fissure is fifty feet thick, occupied 
 mostly by talcose slate, which is overlaid by white granite 
 and underlaid by elvan or a darker trappean rock. In this 
 fifty feet of slate lie the two principal veins, which, instead 
 of pursuing a direct course, are frequently curved or rather 
 turned out of their regular course as represented in Plate 12, 
 at the one hundred foot level of both the front and back veins. 
 
 A vertical section, Plate 12, shows the position of two vehia 
 
7> 
 
 C 
 
 o 
 
 n 
 
NOKTH-OAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 177 
 
 lying, one against the elvan, and the other against the white 
 granite. There is also a branch called the third vein, which 
 will intersect the back vein. It is mostly quartz. The prin- 
 cipal veins, front and back as they are called, are from three 
 to four feet wide, with a west dip. The gangue slaty, and 
 slate with stripes of quartz, carrying sulphuret of iron and 
 copper pyrites. 
 
 The front vein yields, in some parts of it, for sixty continu- 
 ous feet, one dollar per 'bushel, and the back vein only fifty 
 cents. Carbonate of iron is one of the common minerals of 
 the vein, though not so abundant as in many copper mines. 
 An important advantage which this mine enjoys, is the 
 amount of ore which can be commanded. It may be regard- 
 ed as one of those repositories which, if prudently managed, 
 will continue to give a very respectable profit at all times. 
 One or the other of its veins may be depended upon, and it 
 may turn out that when the one that now gives one dollar 
 per bushel should be less productive, the loss will be made 
 up by an increased productiveness of the other, and so vice 
 versa. The arrangement of ore in the lode is usually in rich 
 bunches, which are connected by strings. The quartz is brit- 
 tle, and hence is readily crushed. The whole work of fitting 
 and pulverizing the ore is by steam power. 
 
 § 194. The Dunn mine is inclosed in a heavy mass of slate 
 also. It is seven miles from Charlotte, on the plank road ; 
 but the principal rock is granite. It has been worked for 
 gold. It is remarkable for the large quantity of limonite 
 which has been produced from iron pyrites. Imbedded in 
 masses of limonite, fine and beautiful scales and plates of 
 specular iron are common. It is of no account as a gold 
 mine. 
 
 Phoenix mine in Cabarrus county furnished good ore in 
 the quartz, intermixed with the sulphuret of iron. It was 
 proved to be rich to the depth of one hundred and forty feet. 
 At this level a white quartz and sulphate of barytes re- 
 placed the brown ore, and it immediately became poor, and 
 yielded only twenty-five cents to the bushel. It yielded from 
 one to three dollars per bushel above the one hundred and 
 12 
 
178 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAli STJKVET. ' 
 
 forty foot level. No company has as yet had sufficient cour- 
 age to undertake to cut through the barytic part, and deter- 
 mine whether the vein stone changes and becomes rich again 
 or not. 
 
 The Phoenix mine is about fourteen miles south east of Con- 
 cord, and its general direction is north east. It belongs to 
 the sienitic belt of rocks, and at the depth of one hundred 
 and eighty feet is one foot wide. It is nearly vertical. This 
 vein prolonged about one-and-a-quarter miles, takes the name 
 of Vanderburgh mine, where the vein stone is sulphate of 
 barytes and quartz. Its contents differ from those of the 
 Phoenix mine. Copper pyrites prevails to that extent, that 
 it has been in market as a copper mine. 
 
 One-and-a-quarter miles south west of the old Phoenix 
 mine it has taken the name of Barrier mine, which is rep- 
 resented as a productive gold mine. 
 
 The Orchard mine is one-fourth of a mile east of the Phoe- 
 nix, and runs parallel with it ; it carries copper pyrites, but is 
 not supposed to be rich enough to work. 
 
 Between the Yanderburgh and Phoenix locations a heavy 
 trap dyke intersects the vein. This fact may throw some 
 light upon the change of material which has taken place 
 north of it. 
 
 The Barnhardt gold mine of Cabarrus county is in granite, 
 and pursues a northeasterly direction. It is a well developed 
 mine ; its gangue of quartz, taken near the surface, contains 
 coarse gold. It is without doubt a rich mine, and well wor- 
 thy the attention of capitalists. 
 
 Pioneer gold mine is in a cluster of interesting, and which 
 I believe will turn out to be valuable mines. This is the on- 
 ly one in the district which is worked at present. It is twelve 
 miles east of Concord, and situated upon the eastern border 
 of the sienitic granite, and in a belt upon which there are 
 numerous veins carrying both gold and copper. The vein 
 fissure in the granite is between sixteen and seventeen feet 
 wide. Its direction is 1^. T0° E. The true vein stone is 
 quartz from eight to thirty inches thick, both sides of which 
 is bounded by the killas. 
 
NOKTH-OAROLINA GEOLOGICAL STJEVEY. 179 
 
 The vein stone is usually stained with carbonate of copper ; 
 it is brittle and not difficult to pulverize, and the gold is con- 
 tained both in the pure quartz and the sulphurets, intermin- 
 gled with it. 
 
 Tlie following items will show how the mine yields. There 
 is only one pair of Chilian mill-stones in operation, whose 
 movements were not graduated to the proper speed which 
 the ore requires. The revolutions were too many for this ore, 
 making, 1 believe, eleven in a minute. The defects of the 
 machinery were too obvious to escape notice ; but with these 
 defects, the mine was proving itself a valuable one. I state 
 the results according to the amount of ore used. Thirty to 
 forty bushels of ore ground per day with the aid of a single 
 mill. Thus : 
 
 BUSHELS. YIELDED IN GOLD. 
 
 147 $ 364 
 
 92 123 
 
 118 361 
 
 103 408 
 
 127 570 
 
 • 131 496 
 
 38 201 
 
 143 618 
 
 121 456 
 
 138 301 
 
 139 352 
 
 134 417 
 
 154 447 
 
 92 560 
 
 Bushels, 1677 $5,674 
 
 The yield, therefore, for the whole amount, is three dollars 
 and thirty cents a bushel. 
 
 The labor is performed in, and at the mine by from fifteen 
 to twenty hands, working from eighteen to twenty days in 
 the month ; and the whole cost amounts to four hundred dol- 
 lars ($400) per month. Now under a certain plan of man- 
 agement the mine did not pay expenses, and became in debt 
 in various ways, and would have been sold by the company, 
 but the present agent, by proper attention to the manage- 
 ment of the machinery, and particularly by using mercury 
 
180 NORTH-CA.EOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 in the Chilian mill, made the handsome profits shown above, 
 b}' the nse of the same kind of ore which before did not pay 
 the expenses of mining. It is impossible to make money by 
 working a gold mine without the closest attention; every 
 leakage must be found and stopped ; the revolutions of the 
 Chilian mills must be timed to suit the character of the ore. 
 If the ore of the Pioneer mine yielded only twenty-five cents 
 per bushel with proper attention and economy, and the use 
 of sufficient machinery to grind one hundred bushels per day, 
 it would give a handsome profit. 
 
 Yery few persons have been economical in working gold 
 mines, and fewer still have thought of timing the movements 
 of the machinerv to suit the character of the ore : if this is 
 not done, the gold 'and mercury is lost ; for of all things yet 
 discovered, gold is the most difiicult to catch, and the easiest 
 to slip away. 
 
 The vein stone is arranged in the fissure much as it is in 
 the Gold Hill mine, viz., in lenticular segments ; which over- 
 lap at the lower edge, and set back against the foot wall at 
 the upper. The great quantity of ore at this mine, and the 
 ease with which it is obtained, confers great advantages 
 upon it. 
 
 I have observed that the Pioneer mine is in the immediate vi- 
 cinity of several other mines ; thus, upon the Morrison planta- 
 tion there are four veins, all of which carry gold. The fii-st Ib 
 one mile south west of the Pioneer mine. Around an old shaft 
 the refuse ore I found rich in gold. The vein stone is quartz, 
 interspersed with the sulphurets. The second is one mile 
 east. It resembles the first. In the third, the gold is in com • 
 binatioii with copper pyrites. The fourth is a quartz vein, 
 situated at the north east part of the plantation ; it is com- 
 posed of quartz and iron pyrites. The general direction of 
 these veins is north east. In addition to the foregoing, there 
 is a valuable vein carrying quartz and copper pyrites upon 
 the plantation of Dr. Cosby, The part of the vein which has 
 been tested is rich in gold, but the indication favors the ex- 
 pectation that it will prove rather a copper than a gold bear- 
 ' ing vein. 
 
NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. ISl 
 
 The Long mine is two miles north west from the Pioneer. 
 It is nearly vertical, is two feet wide, and carries less copper 
 than the Pioneer, and contains a larger amount of decompos- 
 ed ore. The vein fissure is from eight to ten feet wide, and 
 bears N. 10° W. It has been explored to the depth of 
 iifty feet, the ore steadily improving in quality. It Avas re- 
 garded as rich as the Pioneer mine, and in certain respects, 
 as having advantages which the latter does not possess. 
 
 A vein of quartz passes also throngh the plantation upon 
 which the Pioneer mine is situated, which will intersect it, if 
 both are prolonged a few hundred yards beyond the present 
 workings. In itself, it is of no consequence ; its presence 
 shows the extent to which this small mineral district has been 
 iissured. Its direction is IST. 10° W. 
 
 Rymer gold mine is six miles east of Salisbury, Kowau 
 county, and one mile to the left of the road loading to Gold 
 Hill. Direction north east, and nearly vertical. The vein 
 stone is seven feet wide. It is a prominent mass of brittle 
 quartz. The immediate repository is a pale colored sulphu- 
 ret of iron, which lies mostly against the foot wall. The ore 
 is three feet wide. The sulphuret is sometimes crystallized 
 in cubes. There is no copper pyrites intermixed with it. It 
 resembles the Fisher Hill gold mine. As it contains no cop- 
 per, the ore admits of roasting, which favors the discharge of 
 the gold from the sulphuret, and the pulverization of the 
 gangue. It is subordinate to granite. It has been opened 
 but a short time, and the returns of gold have not been ob- 
 tained. It is spoken well of by persons who have informa- 
 tion npon the subject. 
 
 KECAPITULATION OF SOilE OF THE LEADES'G FACTS KESPECTING THE 
 
 GOLD ORES. 
 
 1. I have shown that gold belongs both to the pyrocrystal- 
 line and sedimentary rocks. In the former it is always in 
 veins ; in the latter, in both veins and beds. 
 
 2. The gold repositories, therefore, belong to two geologi- 
 cal periods. The first and oldest must be assigned to fhosf-. 
 
182 KOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SIJEVEY. 
 
 which belong to the pyrocrystalHne rocks, gneiss, mica and 
 talcose slates, etc. 
 
 3. From the debris of the auriferous veins of these rocks 
 the beds are formed which have been already described, and 
 which belong to the oldest palaeozoic rocks. 
 
 4. I have also shown that anriferons veins exist in the pa- 
 laeozoic rocks as well as beds. There are, therefore, two pe- 
 riods to which the auriferous veins of this slate must be as 
 signed ; the first prior to the creation of organic beings, and 
 the second one bears a subsequent date, or comes within the 
 palaeozoic era. 
 
 5. As yet no veins are known of a later date than those 
 which have been described as belonging to the Taconic sys- 
 tem ; that is, we have no auriferous veins belonging to the 
 Silurian, which succeeds the Taconic system. 
 
 6. Gold is associated with quartz and the sulphurets of cop- 
 per and iron — ^but sulphuret of iron appears to be the sub- 
 stance with which gold is more immediately associated. 
 
 7. Gold, like other substances, has been subjected to mo- 
 lecular movements, by which it has been transferred from 
 the interior of a mass to its surface planes. Thus, in the 
 slates it is more abundant upon the planes, or between two 
 parallel planes, than in the lamina of the slate. So it often 
 occurs in seams which were formed perhaps during the slow 
 consolidation of the rock. 
 
 8. Gold is mechanically mixed with the quartz and the 
 sulphurets, and rarely occurs in any chemical combination, 
 except with tellurium. Its separation is therefore effected 
 mechanically. 
 
 9. The amount of gold which can be obtained depends ve- 
 ry much upon the means employed. All the machinery for 
 the separation of gold is defective. The Chilian mill, which 
 is probably the most effective, flattens the gold too much : 
 the consequence of this is, that the surfaces condense air, 
 which aid in buoying it up in the pasty fluid in which it is 
 immersed, and hence it floats off with the escaping fluid. If 
 the process were conducted in a heated fluid, less air would 
 be condensed and more gold saved. A mill which operates 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 183 
 
 like tb.6 flouring mill may be more successful than the Chilian, 
 or like the eccentric plates of the Bogardus mill. Whatever 
 form of apparatus is selected, it should be with reference to 
 the preservation of the rounded form in which the coarse gold 
 exists. In some cases and indeed in many it is already flat, 
 and approaches the condition of gold leaf; it is therefore dif- 
 ficult to save. Much gold is lost by the haste in which the 
 different processes are conducted, and the slight attention 
 which is paid to the movements of the machinery ; for it is 
 to this point that the attention should be especially directed. 
 The condition of the gold should be ascertained, whether it 
 is fine or coarse, as those points must be determined before 
 the movements of the machinery can be properly adjusted. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXV. 
 
 Jiej^osiiories of Metals continued — Silver ; Washington Sil- 
 ver mine / its prolongation^ eto^ — Character of the Veins at 
 different depths, etc. 
 
 § 195. This metal is much rarer in the United States than 
 gold. Silver is combined, it is true, with the galena of many 
 of the repositories of this metal ; but it is not often that its 
 per centage will warrant the expense of its extraction. The 
 Washington silver mine has passed through the usual vicissi. 
 tudes which attend all mining operations. It has had its day 
 of partial success, when it seemed that its owners were just 
 upon the point of realizing their hopes, when some unfortu- 
 nate occurrence took place which set them afloat upon a tide 
 of uncertainty. Various methods were resorted to to sepa- 
 rate the silver and gold from the sulphurets by different as- 
 sayists, but the results more frequently proved so near a 
 failure, that they amounted in the end to the same thing ; for 
 
184 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 more money was expended by the company than was re- 
 ceived, though the returns came within a thousand or two 
 dollars per annum of the expenditures, so that the company 
 lived, because it was wealthy. It would happen that the 
 amount of metals received was about eighteen thousand dol- 
 lars, but it had to expend twenty thousand to get it ; and the 
 consequence was, that the operations at the Washington mine 
 were suspended for several years ; still it was estabhshed that 
 a much larger per centage of silver and gold existed in the 
 mineral than was ever obtained by any furnace operations. 
 It was therefore a question of skill, whether the mine should 
 be abandoned or not. There was ore enough, it was rich 
 enough, but all who had been employed to smelt the ores 
 succeeded only partially. Money, it is*true, was made, while 
 certain surface ores continued ; but when they gave out, and 
 greater skill was required, then the failure became too plain 
 to be denied. It was precisely like working the surface of a 
 gold mine which consists of brown ore, where the sulphurets 
 were thoroughly decomposed. Any person with only ordi- 
 nary skill could perform the work successfully, but when the 
 undecomposed sulphurets were to be dealt with, it was an- 
 other thing, and required skill and knowledge combined, in 
 order to be successful with them, and as both were frequent- 
 ly defective or totally wanting, most of the gold mines of the 
 State were abandoned. Tlie ore of the Washington mine is 
 a mixture of the sulphurets of lead, zinc, copper and iron, in 
 which there is gold and the sulphuret of silver. The sulphu- 
 rets of lead and zinc predominate, the sulphuret of iron 
 stands next, and the sulphuret of copper and iron is the 
 least. Zinc predominates over the lead. In some pieces 
 they seem to be in nearly equal proportions. But almost all 
 the lumps of much size contain the four sulphurets, with the 
 gold and silver besides. There are, therefore, five metals to 
 which the attention must be directed, and all of them should 
 be saved; the gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc. The ore it 
 Avill be seen is very complex, and it is no wonder that success 
 did not crown the efforts of the owners until and after sev- 
 eral years of trial and the expenditure of a large capital, es- 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL 8URVEY. 185 
 
 pacially when one of those metals which formed nearly half of 
 the mass is one of the most refractory metals to deal with. In 
 the first attempt to separate the metals composing this com- . 
 plicated ore, the silver and gold were of com'se the principal 
 objects sought for. The lead in the ore was one of the agents 
 or means by which this result was obtained, and the compa- 
 ny I believe were enabled to save small bars as long as the 
 carbonates of lead were abundant ; but when this gave out, 
 then litharage was purchased to aid the process of separation, 
 and much of the lead added to the ores for this purpose was 
 dissipated and lost. The difiiculty encountered arose from 
 the presence of so much zinc, which, in attempting to volatil- 
 ize, dissipated the lea^also, and which no doubt carried in its 
 vapours some of the^ilver and gold with it. But I have 
 dwelt perhaps too long upon this branch of the subject. 
 
 The rock of the country is a clay slate, reddish, striped and 
 greenish, totally or partially changed into a hard rock. It 
 often contains beds of extremely fine silex suitable for hones, 
 and also masses which are porphyrized. Beds also of breccia 
 and brecciated conglomerates are common. The formation 
 belongs to the sedimentary series, and to that system which 
 I have denominated the Taconic system. The evidence 
 which I have been able to gather respecting the age of the 
 vein fissures of this mine is, that it is of the same period as 
 the auriferous veins in the same formation. There is a paral- 
 lelism and a general resemblance in the characteristics of all 
 these repositories ; and there has not as yet come to light any 
 fact which discredits the foregoing conclusion. For these 
 reasons, therefore, I have been disposed to look upon the au- 
 riferous veins of the slate, and those which carry the com- 
 plex combinations, as all belonging to one epoch. Upon the 
 east side of Silver Hill, or the Washington mine, the heavy 
 bed or porphyrized breccia passes on to the north east ;• it is 
 the same mass which is so perfectly developed near the Nar- 
 rows upon the Yadkin, and passes within two miles of Gold 
 Hill and forms the Flat Swamp mountain, and from thence 
 passes Silver Hill, leaving the mine upon the West. Four- 
 and-a-half miles farther north easterly the same rock passes 
 
186 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SIIEVET. 
 
 tlirongh the plantation of David Beck, near tlie Headrick 
 copper mine, and from thence passing in the same direction, 
 forms the Three Hat mountain sonth of Conrad Hill. This 
 persistent porphyrized rock would be expected to preserve the 
 same relations to the mines or veins upon its west side, but 
 this does not occur ; for at the distance of about six miles 
 north easterly, I found the "Washington silver lead mines to 
 reappear upon the east side of this singular belt, in which I 
 have rarely found productive mineral veins, though quartz 
 veins are very common. So also I may notice the fact in this 
 place, that the Headrick copper mine is a slate which cannot 
 be distinguished from that of Grold Hill, and the mineral mat- 
 ter of the vein resembles so closely that of the Earnhardt 
 vein, that they cannot be distinguisMd. It appears, there- 
 fore, that these veins reappear on the east side of this breccia, 
 but never appear in it — or they come up to the surface from 
 six to twenty miles from the most important points where 
 they are now worked. These facts are well illustrated in the 
 Washington mine, near the residence of Mr. A. J. Moore, on 
 the fork of the Salisbury and Lexington roads. The zinc, lead 
 and copper were struck in a shaft designed to be sunk upon 
 a gold bearing vein, and accompanied with the peculiar slates 
 and minerals of the "Washington veins, so perfect that no one 
 would have suspected that they were taken at a point six 
 miles to the north east. 
 
 The veins of the "Washington mine traverse the crest of 
 a low rounded hill, from fifty to seventy-five feet above the 
 adjacent valley. The veins were exposed by the plough, or 
 in the cultivation of this field, and their outcrop was scarcely 
 observable; they presented nothing prominent or striking, 
 and were accompanied with the usual quartz veins. Upon 
 the west side of the vein, the rock is also rather thick bedded 
 and hard, but not porphyrized. The slates adjacent to the 
 vein are soft, and of various colors. The immediate rocks 
 of the mine, or those which may be said to invest it, are uni- 
 formly hard rocks. The mine consists of two heavy veins, 
 pursuing in depth a nearly parallel course ; and the smaller 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 187 
 
 veins less perfectly developed, and which have been discov- 
 ered by the underground workings. 
 
 As this mine is one of the most important and valuable in 
 North-Carolina, and as it is geologically important, I shall 
 state with as much minuteness as possible the numerous 
 changes which it undergoes or has undergone during the time 
 it has been worked. These changes do not, however, differ 
 in character from those which have been observed in other 
 mines, and as they indeed correspond, the idea is sustained 
 that all these repositories are more or less regular in their 
 structure, and conform to certain rules. 
 
 The two principal veins are explored by three perpendicu- 
 lar shafts. They are sunk in the rock of the country, and 
 hence furnish information respecting the rock adjacent to the 
 lodes as well as the structure and composition of the lodes 
 themselves., of which the two principal are termed the east 
 and west lodes. Upon the east lode, the first shaft of sixty 
 feet was the first which penetrated this rich metaliferous for- 
 mation. It begins upon the outcrop of the east vein, and 
 hence passes down behind it. At the depth of forty feet a 
 cross cut was made to the west which intersected both lodes 
 at this depth. This cross cut extends to the west side of the 
 west vein, and is thirty-eight feet long ; from this it appears 
 that the veins had made to the west twenty feet in forty. 
 Tlie shaft passes through soft rock, or that which is disinte- 
 grated, and it is not until the sixty feet level is attained that 
 the rock becomes hard and firm. The distance between the 
 two veins is twenty-eight feet. The underlie or dip is sixt}'-- 
 eight feet, and to the west. 
 
 The next shaft is sunk twenty-eight feet to the west of the 
 west lode. It intersects the west vein at one hundred feet, 
 (100.) The appearance of the lodes in the upper part is that 
 of yellowish white or frequently silvery substance, both soft 
 and friable, in which the mineral matter is not very distinct. 
 The vein stone is a talcose slate more or less disintegrated, 
 which envelops or conceals the metal, though its weight is 
 perceptibly greater than that of common stone or rock. It 
 was however in this material that silver was first recognized ; 
 
• 
 
 188 NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 it was found both in tlie native state, and in combination with 
 galena. It was also in this level, or near it, (60 feet) that 
 gold was first detected in both veins. In a state of jDurity 
 the quantity has not been exceeded. The east vein has car- 
 ried more silver than the west, and the difference in this res- 
 pect between them has been so perceptible, that the east has 
 been called the silver, and the west the lead vein. The space 
 between is occupied for one hundred feet by soft slate, but 
 traces of mineral matter pervade this mass, though somewhat 
 disguised by the soft and pasty talcose slate. The spaces be- 
 tween the hanging wall of the west vein, and the foot wall of 
 the east, is twenty-eight feet in both the forty and sixty feet 
 levels. The ground becomes gradually firmer as the shafts 
 descend. 
 
 The working of the vein along the sixty foot level, disclos- 
 ed an interesting geological fact ; the approximation and in- 
 deed coalescence of the two lodes, which gave a width of 
 twenty feet. This conjunction sustains the common belief, 
 that where two lodes come together their richness is increas- 
 ed ; it was so in this instance. The lodes, however, though 
 they come together do not cross, they soon separate, and 
 then resume very nearly the same relations and distance they 
 had prior to their junction. But at the junction the silver 
 was in part transferred to the west lode ; it became richer for 
 the time than the east lode. At this point also manganese 
 appears in the space between the veins, and the beautiful 
 carbonates and phosphates of lead were also abundant here. 
 These were associated with the silicates and carbonates of 
 copper, and foliated native silver. 
 
 At the depth of one hundred feet, the volume of the lodes 
 and the included metals has perceptibly increased, Tlie walls 
 r»f the veins and the rock have become firmer and harder. 
 Tlie lodes assume a more permanent character. Besides 
 these indications of a favorable Idnd, another vein is disclos- 
 ed, which contains also silver in connection with lead, accom- 
 panied as usual with zinc, twelve feet to the east of the east 
 vein ; it first appears at about the depth of eighty feet. It is 
 not parallel with the two larger veins, but may be regarded 
 
NORTH-CAROLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 189 
 
 as a cross course which will intersect them. Another small 
 vein also was disclosed by the workings upon the one hun- 
 dred feet level containing the usual metals of the main re- 
 positories on the west side of the west vein, it was intersect- 
 ed by the cross cut from the engine shaft in the west vein ; 
 it dips to the eastward. It is called the little west vein. 
 
 Levels have been driven at the sixty foot levels two hun- 
 dred and forty-seven feet on the east, and three hundred feet 
 upon the west vein.' 
 
 The west vein between the sixty and one hundred foot 
 levels expanded and yielded also rich silver ores, and below" 
 the one hundred foot level, the working results were uncom- 
 monly favorable, owing to the presence of the massive car- 
 bonates which yielded thirty per cent, of lead comprising the 
 silver. So also the vein stuff of the west lode from sixty to 
 two hundred feet level changed from the hght and rather 
 earthy looking mass, and small specific gravity, to the heavy 
 and crystalized carbonates and phosphates, and to a black po- 
 rous argentiferous galena native silver and blende. The 
 lead was, however, much less than the smelter of the ore de- 
 sired. This admixture was unequal. The lode in this neigh- 
 borhood has become from ten to fifteen feet thick ; but the 
 expanded portions are not so well defined as the narrow parts, 
 and the cavities in the walls become what the miners term 
 "vw^^," in which, however, there are valuable accumulations 
 of metals. 
 
 At the one hundred and sixty foot level, it is perceived 
 that the dip of the vein has changed, having become steeper ; 
 its underlie is now 63° from the horizon ; and this underlie 
 continues to increase in its descent, and both veins preserve 
 iheir relations, that is, both become steeper, though they are 
 now thirty two feet apart. A change of dip of this kind has 
 been regarded as favorable to the increase of metal in the 
 lodes ; and such is the fact in this instance. The lodes at this 
 level expand also into vugs, which are occupied with black 
 steel grained zinc ore, with galena interspersed with arbores- 
 cent foliated and filiform native silver, as well as that which 
 
 is still in combination with the lead. The black ore of thia 
 
190 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 level contains from forty-nine to fifty-two per cent, of silver- 
 lead; which yields from fifty to one hundred and eighty 
 ounces of silver to the ton of metal. A variety still richer, 
 called the hlue ore, and which is intersj)ersed with the other 
 ore unequally, gave Prof. Booth, 
 
 Of Lead, 88. ' 
 
 Of Silver, 2.875 per c^nt. 
 
 This astonishing result, it must be recollected, cannot be 
 obtained from the great mass of ore, it is obtained only from 
 comparatively small masses, unequally distributed through 
 the vein at certain places. 
 
 The most important facts disclosed in these lower levels are, 
 that the lodes have become more decisive in their tone and 
 character, or in their general features. They are wider, the 
 mineral matter heavier and more solid, or less intermixed 
 with gangue. The mineral matter has increased, and the 
 precious metals, gold and silver, have by no means duiiinish- 
 ed in quantity, but have rather increased in the same ratio 
 with that of the lead and zinc and copper. 
 
 At one hundred and sixty feet, the east lode has regained, 
 as it were, its predominance in silver. Arborescent silver is 
 frequently obtained, and the south end of the lode con- 
 tained better silver-lead than had been seen in the upper 
 levels. The east lode is now ten feet wide, but at one point 
 it is split into two parts by intervening hard rock. This dis- 
 appears before it reaches the two hundred foot level. It is 
 singular that the west lode is also split at this level in the 
 same manner, and disappears at about the same time. In 
 the west lode, the mineral contents consist of an admixture of 
 zinc and argentiferous lead ores. The vein fissure has ex- 
 panded about seven feet more. The lower parts of both fis- 
 sures is filled with hard blende mixed with lead and silver. 
 The minerals are also contorted and twisted. 
 
 The east lode at two hundred feet has increased in argen- 
 tiferous galena, and the ore consists of from 
 
 40 — 50 per cent, of Zinc, 
 
 15 — 20 per cent, of Lead, 
 25 per cent, of Sulphur, 
 20 per cent, of Iron Silica and Alumina. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJEVEY. 
 
 191 
 
 The east vein has maintained its character for greater rich- 
 ness in silver between the one hundred and sixty and two 
 hundred foot levels, Next to the foot wall the zinc and sil- 
 ver-lead is hard, and more abundant there, but at the same 
 time both are distributed through the vein. 
 
 The west lode at two hundred feet is from ten to sixteen 
 feet thick, and it is said that the amount of silver and galena 
 has increased, or is increasing, as the last ten feet yielded 
 better results than had been obtained before from this lode. 
 Both veins, it appears, are becoming steeps at the lowest 
 points at which they have been explored, being at the depth 
 of one hundred to one hundred and sixty feet — as one to two 
 in inclination; an indication which, as has been already 
 stated, is to be taken as a favorable omen. 
 
 It appears from the foregoing statements that it some- 
 times happens, when two lodes are in such close proximity, 
 that one is rich and the other poor alternately ; but in this 
 case, both seem to go on increasing slowly in richness at the 
 same time, for the eastern vein between the hundred and 
 seventy foot level and the two hundred contained the most 
 silver ; and a pocket, as it is called, was found at this depth 
 which had a breadth in the vein of two feet, which gave more 
 silver than any part which had been before met with. 
 
 The Symonds vein as it is called, which was struck twelve 
 feet to the east of the east vein, scarcely differs from the pre- 
 ceding one in its general characteristics. It contains speci- 
 mens which show that it has undergone the same changes — 
 the transformation of galena into carbonate and phosphate of 
 lead, where the needful conditions existed ; as at the more 
 superficial parts of the vein. Both galena and carbonate of 
 lead exist together in the same specimen. Although its ca- 
 pacity is less than the old veins, it is still competent to supply 
 a large quantity. It is supposed by some geologists, that in 
 the existence of vugs, or cavities, a black color and a porous 
 slaggy slate denotes the action of fire. These conditions, 
 however, are often the results of decomposition which has 
 slowly taken place, and water frequently produce changes 
 which similate those of fire or heat. 
 
192 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 I alluded in the beginning of this chapter to the imperfect 
 results which were obtained in the smelting of the complex 
 ores of the Washington mine. In order to illustrate this im- 
 portant matter, I shall quote a paragraph from a report made 
 to the stockholders of this mine by H. Schoonmaker, Esq., 
 Chairman of the Board of Trustees. It shows the loss which 
 the first company were obliged to sustain in attempting to 
 separate the silver and gold ; and so common was the result, 
 that the public lost confidence in the enterprise, and regarded 
 this valuable uaiue as another failure in this branch of bu- 
 siness. ^^ 
 
 It appears that on the 4th of August, 1851, the furnaces 
 were charged with 9,600 lbs. of roasted ore, equal to 20 per 
 cent., or 1,920 lbs. lead ; and 900 lbs. litharage — 93, Or 837 lbs.; 
 and the production of the week was 513 lbs., or by the ope- 
 rations, a loss had been sustained of 32'± lbs. of lead less than 
 the litharage which had been put, in the furnace, and also the 
 1,920 lbs. contained in the ore, making in the aggregate a 
 loss of 3,214 lbs. of lead in one week's operation, in addition 
 to the bullion that accompanied it. On the 8th of S6pt., there 
 was put into the furnace 9,750 lbs, of roasted ore equaling 20 
 per cent., or 6,950 lbs. of lead and 975 lbs. of litharage, 
 equaling 93 per cent, or 905 lbs., amounting to 2,855 lbs. 
 Tlie production was only 513 lbs., from which a loss was sus- 
 tained of 2,342 lbs., with its bullion. 
 
 The eifect of these losses required the labor of 60 men, a 
 steam engine of 60 horse power, 5 horses, the consumption of 
 14 cords of wood, and 400 bushels of charcoal per day. The 
 foregoing are perhaps extreme examples, but wath much less 
 loss, the influence w^ould be at once ruinous, had it not been 
 for the extreme richness of the ore, which gave in the 513 lbs. 
 of lead a large quantity of silver. It was knownj long 
 ago that zinc and lead could not be smelted together, as one 
 requires only the heat of fusion, while the other, zinc, re- 
 quires that of volatilization. ■ It follows, therefore, that it is 
 indispensable that the lead and zinc should be separated be- 
 fore they are put into the furnace, and it is a fortunate fact 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 193 
 
 that the precious metals in the mixture are not attached to 
 the zinc. 
 
 The present mode of operating at the "Washington mine 
 gives much better results than those I have just alluded to. 
 The favorable returns obtained at present depend upon a me- 
 chanical separation of the zinc from the silver, -prior to its 
 introduction into the smelting furnace. This is effected by 
 Bradford's Separators, which, after the pulverization of the 
 Bulphurets, is detached from the galena by a simple shaking 
 movement of a plate of copper, aided by water, over which 
 the metals are passing. The separation is possible, in conse- 
 quence of the slight difference in the specific gravity of the 
 compounds. "When the zinc is separated, the process of re- 
 duction in the furnace resolves itself into an easy and certain 
 operation. The old process attempted the entire volatiliza- 
 tion of zinc by heat, which of course was lost, and which, too, 
 carried off the bullion as well as the lead. By the new 
 method, the zinc is saved by a much cheaper process than 
 that of volatilization, while at the same time the other metals 
 are not wasted. The blende which is saved, can be converted 
 into a white paint. 
 
 As the processes are now only in their incipient stage, I do 
 not propose to give in full the results which have been ob- 
 tained. It is, however, estimated, that the expenses for min- 
 ing, the engine work, including the use of six cords of wood 
 per day, two engineers, the roasting of ores, breaking and 
 pulverizing, etc.j will amount to seventy dollars per day. 
 
 As the ore is abundant, and as the means now at hand will 
 enahle the proprietors to smelt three tons of the silver-lead 
 ore per day, which is worth one hundred dollars per ton, con- 
 taining also bullion amounting to one hundred ounces to each 
 ton of lead, and which is worth-ten dollars per ounce, it is 
 evident that very handsome profits must be realized from the 
 Washington silver mine. 
 
 § 196. Th& north-eastern extremity of the Washington 8il- 
 mr vnine. — Three miles west of Spencer's PostofBce, and near 
 the residence of A. J. Moore, Esq., a vein of metal, identi- 
 cal in appearance with that of the Washington mine, was ex- 
 13 
 
 % 
 
194: ' NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 posed in sinking a shaft for the recovery of a gold-bearing 
 vein, by the late John Ward, Esq. It does not appear at the 
 surface ; the slate is closed above, and hence there was no 
 appearance of a vein, until the shaft had penetrated into the 
 rock six feet. Its discovery was therefore accidental ; but 
 may be regarded as a fact interesting in itself, independent 
 of the economical value of the discovery. The ore is the sil- 
 ver-lead ore, of a fine grain and texture, intermixed with 
 blende. The vein stone appears to be talc, or a soft white 
 earthy substance, in which scaly talc abounds. 
 
 The ore, so far as it is known, scarcely differs in composi- 
 tion from that of the "Washington mine. Even a porous lava 
 looking vein stone, which is often seen at the Washington 
 mine, is a,lso present at this locality. Indeed there is the 
 same singular mixture of blende, galena, copper and iron py- 
 rites, carrying gold, as at the mine already referred to ; the 
 similarity extending to the numerous varieties of minerals 
 which also occur at the Washington mine. 
 
 The vein fissure is distinct and well developed in the rock, 
 and contains a large amount of metal, arranged in lamina, in 
 which talc is frequently the most prominent substance. The 
 vein is from three to six feet wide ; but as the shaft is shal- 
 low, it is impossible to gain the information required to form 
 an opinion respecting its value. 
 
 McMackin silver mine is one mile and a-half south-west of 
 Gold Hill, and in the same formations. The minerals however 
 which accompany the metals are quite different. The vein con- 
 sists of sulphuret of lead and zinc intermixed in the same man- 
 ner as in the Washington mine at Gold Hill. The grain of each 
 is fine and sparkling. The pieces lying about the mine con- 
 tain more zinc than lead. How, or in what proportions they 
 are distributed in the mine I was unable to learn — the old 
 shafts having fallen in. The rock is talcose slate ; the vein 
 stone a massive dolomite, colored with manganese, and often 
 of a delicate rose color. The manganese changes the appear- 
 ance of the rock after having been exposed to the atmos- 
 phere a few years: it becomes brown, and often black. Sil- 
 very talc is disseminated throughout the vein, and often di- 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 196 
 
 rides the sulplmrets into laminated masses. It appears that 
 the vein was earthy at its outcrop, the metals having been 
 removed, or their place occupied by earthy substances. 
 
 At the depth of sixty feet in the shaft sunk upon the vein 
 the sulphurets are said to form a solid mass two feet thick in 
 the middle of a six foot vein, the sides being occupied by the 
 manganesian dolomite. The information respecting the ore 
 in the shaft M^as derived from Mr. Idler, a mining engineer ^^ 
 of note residing at Gold Hill. 
 
 The amount of the sulphurets upon the surface corroborates 
 his statement. Some of the pieces were mostly a silver lead, 
 resembling that of the Washington mine. Others were mix- 
 tures of galena and blende, resembling also that of the lo- 
 cality referred to. 
 
 The probability therefore is, that this mine is a very valu- 
 able one ; and as success attends the operations at the Wash- 
 ington mine, an ore like this, it is hoped that it may be tested 
 in a large way. Tlie phosphates and carbonates of lead, to- 
 gether with sulphate of barytes occur at this mine, though 
 not as beautiful as those of the Washington mine. Among 
 the earthy minerals I observed stealite, and a fine variety of 
 it equal to French chalk for marking, and fine green talc ; 
 a fine variety of columnar flesh colored dolomite, and the 
 earthy black oxide of manganese. The dolomite is upon the 
 walls of the vein, and is concretionary, or in the form of 
 ovoid tough masses coated with talc, which is also dissemi- 
 nated in the interior. 
 
 No attempts have been made to smelt this ore, but the in- 
 dications are so promising that it is desirable that the pro- 
 prietor of the mine should undertake the task, seeing that the 
 zinc which accompanies the metals may be separated from 
 them mechanically, and at trifling expense. 
 
196 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJUVET. 
 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 Repositories of the Metals continued — Veins belonging t9 
 Granite — Copper considered as one of the Metals accompor 
 nying Gold — Copper Veins of the granitic formation-^ 
 ^orth- Carolina and other Copper Mines of the granitic 
 districts. 
 
 § 197. The establishment of the fact that copper ores may 
 be profitably worked in ^North-Carolina, formed a new era in 
 the mining enterprises of this State. It is scarcely second to 
 that of gold. The sulphuret of copper and iron, or copper 
 pyrites, or which is the same thing, the yellow sulphuret of 
 copper, had been encountered in many of the mines which 
 were worked for gold ; but it was always an unwelcome at- 
 tendant of the gold ores, and when it formed a considerable 
 proportion of the lode, it led to its abandonment. The sepa- 
 ration of the gold became more difficult and expensive, and 
 indeed, the process pursued for the separation of gold, as it 
 was usually or frequently conducted, only a small part was 
 obtained ; and if any process was resorted to to aid the ope- 
 ration, as heating or roasting, some of the pyrites was re- 
 duced to a metalic state, and an alloy of gold and copper was 
 obtained, which might or might not pay the expense of sepa- 
 ration. 
 
 The first attempt at working a mine for its copper was the 
 Fentress, or the North-Carolina Coppermine, Guilford county. 
 It was recommended as a test mine to determine the ques- 
 tion whether this ore could be profitably worked by the per- 
 sons having charge of the geological survey. Much anxiety 
 was felt upon the subject, for it was supposed that its success 
 would operate favorably upon this branch of industry, and if 
 it failed, it was expected that it would put it back, and retard 
 for a time this most important branch of mining. The fear 
 expressed, however, did not arise from a want of confidence 
 in the resources of the mine, but in the mode in which it 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVETf. 197 
 
 might be conducted ; and it turned out that the feehng was 
 pot groundless. The beginning of the enterprise seemed to 
 be highly successful; it was indeed too successful in one 
 sense, for it raised expectations which could not be realized. 
 It fell into the hands of persons who knew how to make for 
 themsel\^es the most of a good thing. The success, however, 
 Beemed to forsake the mine after six or eight months, and the 
 consequence was, that its stock went down to a mere nominal 
 Bum ; and yet there was no time when confidence in its re- 
 sources should have been lost ; that is, it possessed those char- 
 acteristics which were sufficient to sustain it — not at the high 
 and extravagant value which had been set upon it, but to 
 sustain it at the price which was paid for it. For a time it 
 did not furnish copper, but there could not be entertained a 
 doubt but that it would be struck again. But to a stock- 
 holder, one who had paid twice as much for it as it was worth, 
 it was disastrous ; he must submit to a loss ; and so it ever 
 will be under similar circumstances. Those who first issue 
 stock at an enormous price, reap the benefits as far as they 
 can sell ; and those who buy, in expectation of making mo- 
 ney by the earnings of the mine, must lose — not because the 
 mine has no resources — not because it is worthless — but be- 
 cause it is only half as valuable as it is represented by inter- 
 ested persons. 
 
 § 198. The E'orth-Carolina Copper mine has been traced 
 at least three miles, by the remarkable show of quartz which 
 range in the direction of its strike. The parties which have 
 been interested in this property have sunk upon the vein six 
 shafts. The two extremes are about thi-ee-fourths of a mile 
 apart. The south-western is called the "Worth shaft, the north- 
 eastern was sunk under the direction or superintendence of 
 Mr. Fentress. At each of those points where the vein is cut, 
 it may be known by its common characteristics. The direc- 
 tion it pursues appears to be N. 25° 30' E, The vein is rather 
 flat, but its dip is variable at difi'erent levels, having an un- 
 derlie of 38°, 45°, 50° and 60°. So also the strike is known 
 to be variable, and to be governed apparently by the slope of 
 the country above. Thus as it passes from the south-west- 
 
1^8 NOBTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 ward to the north-eastward beneath a sloping surface, it takes 
 the curve of the hilh This surface influence is not uncom- 
 mon in the veins of IS'orth-Carolina, especially where the 
 veins are flat. An example of this kind of curve, influenced 
 bj, or rather I should say coinciding with the surface slopes, 
 exists in one of the veins of Conrad Hill. In all flat veins a 
 departure from a straight or direct course is more perceptible 
 than it can be in veins nearly vertical. Flat veins, it may be 
 said in this place, are not regarded with so much favor as the 
 steep veins. The miner uses this language respecting them, 
 , " they are lazy veins," or, in other words, they are not so well 
 filled with metals as the steeper ones ; and when one of this 
 character becomes steep, it is found to become richer than 
 when it was flat. 
 
 It must be well known by the dear results of experience 
 in cases of this kind, that the fall in nominal value cannot be 
 arrested at the true point of value ; but it must go as much 
 below, as it was above, its value. This forms the basis of 
 Wall street operations ; and it is to be hoped the stock of this 
 mine never will go above its par value. The mJning inter- 
 ests require that the profits should be made out of the mine, 
 from legitimate earnings ; and this mode of making money 
 by copper or any other metal, is perfectly incompatible with 
 that of stock jobbing. The mJning interests of this State 
 suffered from the mismanagement of this and two or three 
 others ; but it had one good efl'ect, it drove out of the State 
 for the time the mere speculator. It only requires the return 
 of sufiicient confidence in its mines to place this interest on a 
 good footing, a better footing than if no disasters had occurred. 
 
 § 199. The l^orth-Carolina copper mine is upon the eastern 
 verge of the sienitic granite. It is, therefore, on a geologi- 
 cal parallel with several others which have been opened in a 
 south-westerly direction. This granite, however, does not 
 pursue a direct or straight line. As it approaches Guilford 
 county from the south west, it bends to the east; still it occu- 
 pies the same relative position as several mines in Davidson, 
 Rowan and Cabarrus. All these mines seem to have been 
 formed in the thin edge of the granite. It is along the thin- 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 199 
 
 est parts of the rock, that trap dykes are the most numerous, 
 as well as other eruptive rocks ; and very few vein iissures are 
 known in the central and thicker part of it. I state this as a 
 fact ; leaving it to be accounted for by those who are better 
 acquainted with the efficient causes which have been instru- 
 mental in producing geological phenomina. The width of 
 the vein in the different levels and at different shafts is ex- 
 pected to be variable. In this mine the following statement 
 of these variations mav be interesting: 
 
 At the Worth shaft, at the extreme south west, the vein ia 
 from three to four feet thick, at the depth of forty feet. At 
 the extreme north east, it is three feet thick, at the depth of 
 fifty-five feet. At the Colby shaft it is about one foot thick 
 at forty feet. It is nearer the outcrop than the preceding. 
 
 In the lowest level, three hundred and ten feet, the fissure 
 between the walls is from seven to eight feet, and in parts of 
 the level expands to twelve and thirteen feet. There is, how- 
 ever, no improvement in the vein when it is thus expanded ; 
 it carries about the same quantity of copper as the vein of 
 Beven and eight feet, and it has this disadvantage, that it is 
 more scattered through the gangue — more vein than requires 
 removal ; and hence the expense of stoping is increased. 
 The vein shows no tendency to close in at either of the levels ; 
 it rather, thus far, widens in its descent, and it is compactly 
 filled with vein stone throughout, though, unfortunately, it is 
 often but vein stone poor in copper. As in most cases of 
 mining in this State, there is a timidity in prosecuting the 
 work. It is well known that copper is not a surface metal. 
 In an instance where a vein is so well developed, there can 
 be but one successful plan of working, that of sinking shafts 
 to the proper depth, or to that point where experience has 
 proved in other mining districts that this metal is generally 
 found. While it is notorious in this mine that the fissure is 
 compactly filled, it is quite singular that the lode of copper 
 shifts its position. It lies, for example, upon the foot wall for 
 thirty or forty feet, when suddenly it curves upward, and fol- 
 lows for a distance of twenty or thirty feet again, the hanging 
 
m 
 
 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 wail ; or without a curve, it suddenly leaves one wall and 
 takes to the other. 
 
 The foregoing statement applies to the shiftings of a solid 
 shoot of ore. In addition to these shoots, the copper is dis- 
 tributed in masses through the vein stone, which has been at 
 times very equable ; in others, less so ; occasionally it is in 
 nests or solid insulated masses eighteen or twenty inches 
 long, and seven or eight inches thick. 
 
 § 200. The vein stone consists of two substances, quartz 
 and carbonate of iron. Or it may be, that the carbonate of 
 iron should be regarded not as a vein stone or gangue proper, 
 but one of the metallic substances carried. But the copper 
 is intermixed in it, or often distributed through it, as in other 
 vein stones. Spaces have been filled with quartz and carbo- 
 nate of iron, which contained only traces of copper pyrites. 
 These intervals which are marked by the total absence of 
 metal are rare, but in one irstance it extended sixt}'^ feet in 
 length. In those spaces where the copper is absent, the 
 quartz may be regarded as the vein stone, and the carbonate 
 of iron as the metaL Tliese spaces seem to alternate ; for in 
 the lowest level the quartz carries the metal, and the carbo- 
 nate of iron is absent. 
 
 § 201. The foregoing statements respecting the North- 
 Carolina copper mine presents the most important peculiari- 
 ties which I have been able to observe, as well as those which 
 are common to the veins which traverse the granitic forma- 
 tion. I say granitic formation, for I conceive there are strik- 
 ing differences existing between those which belong to the 
 granite and those of the slate formation ; for although quartz 
 is a vein stone common to each, yet there are associations of 
 other minerals which seem to be peculiar to each. Thus car- 
 bonate of iron is at least a more constant associate of copper 
 in the copper veins in the granitic district, than with those in 
 the slate. Conrad Hill, which is really in a slate district, con- 
 tains, it is true, carbonate of iron ; but its presence seems to 
 be due to an enormous mass of eruptive rock, which tra- 
 verses the southeastern side of the hill. Tliis mine is, there- 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 201 
 
 fore, placed in a position which makes it quite analogous to 
 those belonging to the belt of granite, 
 
 § 202. Considering the time during which the North-Caro- 
 lina mine has been worked, the metal which it has produced 
 cannot be regarded as very extraordinary ; at the same time, 
 when the circumstances which have attended the working of 
 the mine are considered, it is at least worthy of note, and 
 probably as great as could be expected. The whole amount 
 in barrels which have been sent to market is three thousand 
 and five hundred. The aggregate weight is between four- 
 teen and fifteen hundred tons (1,400 and 1,600 tons.) The 
 per centage of copper has never exceeded twenty-three per 
 cent., and none has been shipped which yielded less than 
 fourteen per cent, of copper. 
 
 The cost of transporting a ton of copper to Boston by way 
 of Wilmington is thirteen dollars, ($13,00.) The twenty per 
 cent, ore is worth, at the present time, in Boston, four dollars 
 and seventy-five cents per cent, per ton, or ninty-five dollars 
 per ton. The mine, therefore, seems to have yielded one 
 hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars, ($133,000,) save 
 expenses of mining, transportation, &c. But it should be re- 
 collected that a fifteen per cent, ore must be included in the 
 aggregate quantity which has been shipped; and hence the 
 amount of cash received for ore will be considerably dimin- 
 ished. The estimate, however, is hard on the present value 
 of ore ; its value has been greater than it is now. We can- 
 not, therefore, state the exact sum which has been realized 
 from the sale of ore ; but it would seem that the mine should 
 have made something, notwithstanding its early bad man- 
 agement. 
 
 The present shoot of ore in the three hundred and ten foot' 
 le.vel is between eighty and ninety feet long, mostly of solid 
 copper ; its thickest part is about thirty-four inches. The 
 mass lies upon the foot wall. To reach the shoot of ore, be- 
 tween sixty and seventy feet of barren vein had to be pene- 
 trated. This shoot came in in October last, and it still holds 
 out, giving to the proprietors a very fair prospect of remu- 
 nerating returns. 
 
202 
 
 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOQICAL SURVEY. 
 
 As this mine is still regarded as a test mine for North-Caro- 
 lina, its affairs are watched with a good deal of interest 
 Other veins which resemble this may be opened on the east- 
 ern border of the granite formation. If it should prove a 
 paying mine, adventurers will not be wanting to try their 
 fortunes in several which are already known in Guilford, Da- 
 vidson and Cabarrus counties. The encouragement for pene- 
 trating this lode still farther is found in the regularity of its 
 formation, in which respect, it is as perfect as Wall Street it- 
 self The fissure is well developed, and is wide enough to 
 satisfy the oldest and most experienced miner. The ore comes 
 in at intervals in great force, and the quantity is increasing 
 in each shoot. The drawback or the discouraging features of 
 the mine lie in the long intervals of barren vein stone be- 
 tween the productive shoots. These varieties, however, are 
 by no means uncommon. They are not indicative of a fail- 
 ure of the mine. Indeed, there has been no mine but has 
 precisely this kind of irregularity, and therefore its occur- 
 rence here should not be disheartening. Should this mine 
 fail to give fair returns to its proprietors, it would be an ex- 
 traordinary occurrence in the annals of mining. But stoping 
 ground should be prepared in anticipation or beforehand, to 
 meet the probable barren spots, which may be expected to 
 occur at intervals. A shaft should reach a six hundred feet 
 level at an early a day as possible, and if at this level it is 
 not productive, it should be abandoned. - 
 
 § 203. Upon the western border of the sienite in Cabarrus 
 county, and about eleven or twelve miles from Gold Hill, 
 there are three promising veins, carrying the yellow sulphu- 
 ret of copper, viz., the Ludowick, Boger and Hill mine. The 
 Boger vein intersects the Concord road near the crossing of 
 the Mount Pleasant road, at a distance of about eight miles 
 from Concord. Upon the Ludowick property there are two 
 veins traversing a hard sienite. Direction N. 70° E., gangue 
 quartz, and from twelve to eighteen in width. 
 
 The Boger vein runs N. 20° W., and is nearly vertical ; 
 angle of dip 80°; gangue quartz; the yellow sulphuret pre- 
 sents a fine appearance. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 203 
 
 The yellow sulphiiret on the Hill property is contained in 
 ft vein from eighteen inches to two feet at the outcrop. The 
 Beam of copper is about four inches thick in the middle of a 
 quartz gangue, in which carbonate of iron is disseminated 
 and intermixed also with copper. This mine is one mile 
 south west of the Boger vein ; its strike N. 40° W.; angle of 
 dip 80°, and to the west. Tliese veins have not been tested ; 
 their characters at the surface are as promising as, if not more 
 BO than, those of the North- Carolina copper mine ; indeed the 
 ore with the vein stone clearly resembles it. 
 
 These veins were not particularly noticed until the copper 
 mines of I^orth-Carolina were below par in market ; and 
 hence, there was no attempt to expose them at a proper 
 depth. 
 
 The indications at all of these mines belonging to one 
 neighborhood are, thA,t they will prove to be good mines, be- 
 ing traceable from one-half of a mile to a mile by their vein 
 stones, and showing handsome ore at their outcrops ; and 
 which is arranged apparently in continuous sheets. The yel- 
 low sulphuret is solid, and is unaccompanied with iron pyrites. 
 
 § 204. The Twin mine is six miles south west from Greens- 
 borough. Its name came into use from the circumstance that 
 two parallel veins are exposed in one tunnel. Their direc- 
 tion is N. 40° E., with a southeasterly dip. The slate be- 
 tween the veins is four feet thick, and the veins about 
 eighteen inches, consisting of quartz thickly interspersed 
 with yellow sulphuret of copper, at the depth of sixty feet. 
 At this depth the sulphuret assumes the form of a vein, the 
 masses being connected together by strings. 
 
 The rock and walls are hard and firm, and at the depth of 
 forty feet the rock required to be excavated is tough. Still 
 the vein, at the depth of sixty feet, contains considerable 
 stamp ore, and is not intermixed with iron pyrites. 
 
 This mine is in the vicinity of three veins running nearly 
 parallel with this, upon which attempts were made to open 
 and expose their contents. These veins traverse the Guilford 
 granite, and may be traced over a mile. Indeed, the Twin 
 mine is a continuation of one of these, which is known in tho 
 
204 NOKTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 neighborhood as the Raleigh mine. These mines are situat- 
 ed upon the highest point of land in the vicinity. 
 
 Should farther developments put a favorable aspect upon 
 these veins, which, by themselves, constitute a mineral dis- 
 trict in Guilford county, their position near the Central Rail- 
 road would give them important advantages so far as convey- 
 ance to market is concerned. 
 
 § 205. Veins of Co])jper Pyrites 'belonging to the Slate for- 
 mation. — Headrick copper mine belongs to this formation ; 
 its color is dark blue, and might be denominated chloritio 
 slate. Those who are acquainted with the slates of Gold 
 Hill would recognize it at once. I am satisfied that these 
 dark slates are merely varieties of clay slate, which may be 
 colored by chlorite. 
 
 This mine was oj^ened for a gold mine, but the persons to 
 whom it belonged were imperfectly prepared for conducting . 
 the business, and failed to obtain remunerating returns. 
 They obtained about thirty-seven cents per bushel. Consid- 
 ered as a gold vein, the vein stone is quartz and copper and 
 iron pyrites. The gold, however, is distributed principalh'' 
 through the sulphurets. 
 
 The direction of the vein is N. 21° E. and S. 21° W. Its 
 course scarcely varies for one mile. The dip is N. 21° "W., 
 and makes westward seven feet in seventeen in its descent. 
 The metal is a mixture of copper and iron pyrites. The vein 
 was six inches wide at its outcrop, and consisted of quartz 
 intermixed with brown ore, some of which was worth one 
 dollar per bushel. At the depth of twenty feet the lode of 
 copper pyrites was thirty inches thick, and furnished several 
 tons of copper pyrites, which gave fifteen per cent, of copper. 
 The solid ore diminishes below this point, and is only about 
 six inches thick, but is still scattered through the slate for 
 two feet. The vein fissure does not appear to be confined to 
 this space, inasmuch as two thin veins and a sheet of slate 
 carrying gold and quartz are closely connected together. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 ^05 
 
 t'lQ. 19. The diagram will 
 
 serve to explain the 
 arrangement of the 
 masses composing 
 the vein. 1, Lode 
 _^ consisting of copper 
 A S 6 7 8 9 pj^rites adjacent to 
 
 the foot wall eighteen inches to two feet thick ; 2, blue slate ; 
 3, mucky quartz, with some pyrites ; 4, slate ; 5, slate M'-hich 
 weathers brown, and contains gold three feet thick ; 6, con- ' 
 torted slate ; 7, vein of copper pyrites and quartz, between 
 three and four inches thick; 8, slate; 9, vein of copper py- 
 rites and iron three to four inches thick — terminating in slate. 
 Twelve hundred feet northeasterly, or K. 21° E., a shaft of 
 sixty feet cuts the vein where it is six inches wide in a solid 
 mass, but distributed throuo-h the auartz and slate two feet 
 
 7, O J. 
 
 wide. Southerly twelve hundred feet the same vein has cop- 
 per very much the same character as in the other shafts. 
 The vein has been traced more than a mile in length contin- 
 uously. Although this lode has not been fully developed by 
 shafts sunk to a proper depth to secure that end, still there is 
 very little doubt but it will prove a valuable mine. Its 
 length and regularity, the two strings of four inches, which 
 are intersected at the two principal shafts, distant from each 
 other twelve hundred feet, are favorable indications, and go 
 far to sustain the view I have taken of the Ileadrick copper 
 mine. 
 
 § 206. The Barnhardt vein of Gold Hill, at the depth of 
 between one hundred and seventy and two hundred feet, or 
 at the level at which the lessees suspended their operations, 
 contains considerable copper. The lode is equal to eight or 
 ten inches, but is intermixed with iron pyrites. It yields, by 
 trial, eight per cent, of copper ; but as the expenses of min- 
 ing and transportation on waggons are too great to warrant 
 an attempt to work it for copper, nothing has been done far- 
 ther than to test it for the per centage of copper. Still, pro- 
 vided there were smelting works upon the ground, this per 
 eentage of copper would give a fair profit. 
 
806 NOETH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 I have hopes that the time is not far distant when all the 
 ores (gold and copper) will be smelted, and the use of mer- 
 cury dispensed with. A large amount of copper is annuallj 
 lost at Gold Hill, and it will probably turn out that the losses 
 in various ways will pay the cost of smelting, were proper 
 works erected. 
 
 § 207. Remarks similar or in keeping with the foregoing 
 may be made with respect to the copper lodes of Conrad 
 Hill. The regular front veins of this mine change their char- 
 acter, and at the depth of one hundred and seventeen feet 
 copper pyrites take the place of the brown ore. These veins 
 ■are remarkable for their regularity, width or strength, and it 
 is by no means to be supposed that the fissuies will be found 
 closed, or cease to carry mineral matter. 
 
 A vein of pyrites of some promise exists on the lands of 
 Leonard and Young. At its outcrop it is five feet thick, 
 mostly quartz ; but upon the foot wall there is from three to 
 four inches of copper and iron pyrites. The vein dips at an 
 angle of from twelve to fifteen degrees westward, and hence, 
 is very flat, but it soon becomes steeper. It has been traced 
 more than half a mile, and was formerly worked for gold. 
 
 § 208. Spencer Copper Mine^ in Randolph county. — ^It is 
 upon the upper branches of the Caraway, near the south 
 boundary of Guilford county. It is from four to six feet 
 wide, and nearly vertical. Its direction is IST. 20° W. The 
 vein stone is quartz, through which the yellow sulphuret is 
 disseminated. I have seen very handsome ore from this ' 
 mine, but have not examined it in place. The sulphuret is 
 interspersed through the quartz near the outcrop, but at sixty 
 feet is collected in masses nearer the foot wall. 
 
 § 209. Standard property near Gold Hill. — This property 
 at one time was regarded as very valuable. As the mineral 
 now appears, I should esteem it more important for copper 
 than gold. It is traversed by a net work of veins, or by sev- 
 eral veins, whose direction is N. 20° E. The mineral at the 
 Burface is gossan^ or the hj'drous oxide of iron, and resembles 
 the cap which covers some of the copper mines at Duck- 
 town, Tenn. The veins which appear below this mass of gos- 
 
NORTH-CAJROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY.' 
 
 '•^ 20T 
 
 san are more or less siliceous, and show the carbonates of 
 copper and small masses of the black oxide. A place known 
 as the big cut exhibits the vein to the best advantage. It is 
 in a small cluster of veins, the relative position of which is 
 fihown on Plate 9, upon the left. Six or seven veins traverse 
 tlie slate of this district, some of which are, no doubt, the 
 prolongation of the veins which are worked at the village of 
 GoldHiH. 
 
 § 210. The Townsend vein is supposed to be upon the 
 range of the Barnliardt mine. But the slate is rather coarser 
 and harder, and somewhat concretionary. 
 
 Upon the surface and in the rubbish from this abandoned 
 mine, I found a mixture of copper pyrites, or. the sulphuret 
 of iron and copper. The vein is one foot wide, and has 
 regular walls. Although it yielded gold when woi'ked sev- 
 eral years ago, it is evident that if pursued at all it should be 
 for copper. The same remark is applicable to the Standard 
 and Idler veins, which, at the time they were worked, the 
 presence of copper p^a-ites was disregarded, or considered 
 rather as an injurious mineral. 
 
 § 211. The Conrad Hill. The front veins at the depth of 
 one hundred and ten feet carry the yellow sulphuret of cop- 
 per. The upper part of the veins have been worked profita- 
 bly for gold, but at the lowest levels which have been ex- 
 plored, copper formes the most important metal. But as no 
 attempts to raise this ore have as yet been made, I do not 
 propose to speak farther of its value. 
 
 In this vicinity several other auriferous veins are known to 
 carry copper at between forty aud fifty feet. They remain 
 however untried, and their shafts are fallen in or filled with 
 water. 
 
 '^ 
 
•208 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY- 
 
 CHAPTEK XXYn. 
 
 -Bepositoj'ies of the metals continued — Lead and its Comhina' 
 tions / its Geological Relations and Associations. 
 
 § 212. Galena or lead, cannot be said to abound in North- 
 Carolina ; yet, at three localities it may be regarded as an 
 important metal, viz., at the Washington silver mine, which 
 has been already described — the McMackin silver mine in 
 the vicinity of Gold Hill, in Cabarrus county, and^ near the 
 residence of A. J. Moore, Esq., in Davidson county. 
 
 The rock in which lead is most frequently found is the ar- 
 gillaceous slate of the Taconic system. The localities already 
 noticed belong to the slate formation. Others are also known 
 which bear the same relations ; for example, the Hoover and 
 Boss lead mines in the neighborhood of the Headrick copper 
 mine in Davidson county. Lead is not known in connection 
 with the copper mines of the granitic districts ; at least the 
 quantity in connection with the copper or gold mines in thia 
 formation is too small to merit even a passing notice. What 
 may be discovered in the copper and gold veins at deeper 
 levels cannot of course be predicted. In the North-Carolina 
 copper mine, carbonate of lime has made its appearance in 
 the vein stone, and indeed forms, in one of the levels, a con- 
 stituent part of it. This fact is in itself an indication that 
 galena or a silver lead may come in also, an occurrence which 
 would be injurious, i*ather than beneficial to the mine. 
 
 The Boss lead mine, in Davidson county, is scarcely enti- 
 tled to a notice as a mine. It has furnished handsome cabi- 
 net specimens of galena, which were taken from a very dis- 
 tinct vein of quarts. The mineral is associated with copper 
 pyrites. The metal is scattered through a very tough vein 
 stone, but has been exj)osed only near the outcrop. The most 
 favorable fact which this depository presents, is the develop- 
 ment of a very distinct vein fissure, which, at several placesj 
 carries metal in small quantities both of copper and lead near 
 
NOilTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 209 
 
 the^utcrop ; but these metals appear in diiFerent parts of tlie 
 vein, and are not mixed together. 
 
 The vein is from four to six feet wide, and takes the course 
 of the majority of the metallic depositories of the country. 
 
 The Hoover lead mine is two miles south from the Boss 
 mine ; and was formerly owned by a Mr. Williams, on whose 
 plantation it was discovered. The galena is coarser and more 
 crystalline than that of the "Washington mine. The vein 
 is promising at its outcrop, but at the depth of ten feet dwin- 
 dles to mere string in its Calcareous vein stone. It furnished 
 two or three tons of metal which seemed to form a pocket or 
 bunch merely, in its gangue. 
 
 This place, however, oifers one inducement to pursue the 
 metal in the direction of the vein ; it is the calcareous gan- 
 gue of the lead which bids fair to pay, in part, the expenses 
 of testing the depository more thoroughly than has as yet 
 been done. Limestone is extremely scarce in this part of the 
 State, and as it is six or seven feet wide, enough would be ob- 
 tained to be employed for a flux in smelting the ores of the 
 Washington silver mine, or other metals of this mineral dis- 
 trict, while the vein itself would be sufficiently -tested to de- 
 termine its value. 
 
 The only important depositories of lead of the midland 
 counties which may be regarded as important, are those al- 
 ready referred to, and which are associated in each instance 
 with blende. They are all silver lead ores, and their value 
 as mines is only beginning -to be appreciated. Their value 
 has been evolved by the discovery that the blende with which 
 the lead is associated may be separated by a mechanical pro- 
 cess, after which, the whole of the silver and lead may be 
 obtained by the usual process of smelting and cuppellation. 
 Tlie lead becomes valuable in these cases as an instrument, 
 or an agent in the process of reduction. 
 
 It is an interesting geological fact that the silver lead ores 
 all belong to the Gold Hill belt, and the diflerent localities 
 lie in^'il, range with each other. The extreme points of the 
 belt, at which these interesting conibinations of metal have 
 been discovered is about thirty miles. The most southwest-^ 
 14 . 
 
310 
 
 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 ern point is the McMacMn silver mine, and tlie most nor^- 
 easterly one is that near the residence of Mr. Moore, in Da- 
 vidson county. 
 
 The enquiry will no doubt be raised whether the same vein 
 of metal may not be found between these extreme points. 
 This expectation may, perhaps, be reahzed ; but the inter- 
 vening country is crossed by an overlying brecciated con- 
 glomerate, into which this vein of metal does not probably 
 penetrate. The Gold Hill part of this belt is on the west 
 si^e of the conglomerate, and the Davidson extremity is up- 
 on the eastern side of it. The facts respecting the relation 
 of these silver lead veins, induces me to adopt the opinion 
 that they would rather pass beneath the conglomerate than 
 through it. "We have no evidence, it is true, that the veins 
 of silver lead are continuous, only they are upon one line of 
 strike, and the ores resemble each other externally, as well 
 as in their chemical constitution. Admitting, however, their 
 continuity, which is hardly credible, the overlying brecciated 
 conglomerates will conceal them throughout most of the dis- 
 tance between the points which I have named. As it re- 
 gards the galena or lead of the Washington mine, the Mc- 
 MacMn and the Davidson mine, enough has been said under 
 each respective head ; inasmuch as the two last require far- 
 ther exploration to estabhsh their true value. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXYin. 
 
 Bepositories of the metals continued — Zmc, its ores^ geological 
 relations and associations. 
 
 § 213. So far as the investigations have been made, it ap- 
 pears that zinc is found in this State only in combination with 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 211 
 
 snlplrar. I have already noticed it as a mixture with galena 
 and copper at the "Washington mine in Davidson, and at the 
 McMackin mine in Cabarrus counties. At both of these 
 mines it is found in masses which consist almost exclusively 
 of blende. Its color is brown, and its texture fine grained, and 
 often quite compact. At the McMackin mine it is yellowish, 
 and always of a lighter color than at the Washington mine, 
 and at this place also it is often distinct from the galena. At 
 the Davidson zinc and lead mine, near the residence of Mr. 
 Moore, it resembles that of the Washington mine. With 
 respect to this metal, it is important to recollect that neither 
 gold nor silver may be expected to be found in it, either in a 
 state of mechanical mixture or chemical combination, not- 
 withstanding it is in contact with lead and pyrites, in which 
 both silver and gold are intermixed. Perhaps it is going too 
 far to assert that neither of these may exist in the blende in 
 very minute proportions. In all the trials which have been 
 made, it has not been detected in sufficient quantities to 
 make them objects worthy of future search, with a view to 
 secure economical results. 
 
 An interesting locality of the sulphuret of zinc exists at 
 the Jacob Troutman gold mine, one mile south east of Gold 
 Hill. The ore is of an ash gray color, with a low metallic 
 lustre. It is fine grained, and rings like cast iron when struck 
 with a hammer. It is also quite hard. It becomes coated 
 with a yellowish powder when heated to bright redness, and 
 exhales the odor of sul]3hur, the latter of which is readily dis- 
 charged, or volatilized in a capsule over the flame of an al- 
 coholic lamp. 
 
 It is uncombined with lead, bismuth, cadmium, copper, 
 gold, antimony or arsenic; as it appears when fused with 
 nitre or carbonate of soda, and afterwards dissolved in mu- 
 riatic acid, which leaves silica in a gelatinous state. The acid 
 solution, tested with sulphurated hydrogen, gave no precipi- 
 tate which indicates, as I have remarked already, the absence 
 of the foregoing metals, some of which were suspected, es- 
 pecially antimony and arsenic. 
 
 The principal metal present in this gray compound was 
 
'2i-2 IS^OETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL 8TJEVET. 
 
 proved to be zinc, by passing again snlphuretted hydrogeB. 
 throiigli a neutral solution, and to which caustic soda was 
 added, which gave a white precipitate ; this was also easily 
 soluble in muriatic acid, 
 
 A small quantity of iron is also present, which exists, dif- 
 fused sparingly through the mineral in small grains. This 
 form of sulplmret of zine first appears in the Troutman vein, 
 at the depth of one hundred feet, where it is only two inches 
 thick. At the one hundred and fifty foot level it is six inches 
 thick, and exists in a solid mass. It is attached to the quartz 
 of the vein, which, at a higher level was very porous and 
 carried gold, yielding, near the outcrop, at the rate of fifty 
 dollars per bushel ; gave at the one hundred feet level ,only 
 one dollar per bushel. After the shaft had been sunk one 
 hundred and fifty feet, the vein was regarded as too poor to' 
 work, and was abandoned. The zinc which had come in at 
 this depth was disregarded, and indeed the nature of the 
 inetal was not suspected ; it yielded neither gold nor silver, 
 and the operators were unable to extract lead from it ; and 
 hence it appeared to be worthless. The readiness with which 
 this variety of sulphuret of zinc is decomposed, proves that it 
 may be converted into a valuable white paint, provided the 
 quantity of metal should be sufiicient for this purpose. This 
 is the most easterly of the veins belonging to the Gold Hill 
 mineral district ; its course is east of north. It appears to be 
 a strong, well defined vein, and belongs to the slate forma- 
 tion ; but in its progress north-eastward will pass beneath the 
 brecciated conglomerate. It is known only at the Troutmaw 
 plantation. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 01 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 jReposito7'ies of the metals continued — Manganese, its ores, 
 their geological position and relations. 
 
 § 214. Manganese is widely diffused in the rocks of North- '' 
 Carolina, and next to iron it is the most common of the 
 metals. The surface is frequently nearly covered in certain 
 places with black nodules or concretions about the size of h, 
 pea ; these are composed of the black oxide of manganese 
 and iron— their dark color is due to the presence of the for- 
 mer. The natural joints of the slate rocks are generally cov- 
 ered with a film of manganese which has escaped from the 
 interior of the rock to the surface. The only ore of this 
 metal which has a commercial value, is the black, or perox- 
 ide of manganese. It is usually associated in this country 
 with the iimonites or brown haematite, and occurs in beds, or , 
 as a deposit in the soil. I have not, however, been so fortu- 
 nate as to discover this species of ore in the connexion I have 
 named, in the midland counties, in sufficient quanty, and at 
 any place, to be regarded as possessing a commercial value. 
 The use to which it is put, is to form in the chloride of lime 
 which is employed in bleaching. 
 
 The species of manganese which has fallen under my no- 
 tice is the silicate of the metal. Of this there are three veins, 
 each of which may be traced a half a mile or more upon the 
 surface ; and which are from five to seven feet wide. 
 
 -A vein of this mineral is referred to in Prof Olmsted's re- 
 port, and which was regarded by him as the black oxide. It 
 forms a superficial layer of the black oxide, but the quantity 
 ■of it in this condition is too small to possess a commercial 
 value. The vein I have reference to is about three-fourths 
 of a mile south-west from Gold Hill. It is four or five feet 
 wide, and is mixed at the surface with the oxide of iron. 
 
 Another vein crosses the plankroad about ten miles east of 
 Lincolnton. It forms a conspicuous black stripe by the road 
 
214 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 side. The first impression is, tliat it is produced by the pre- 
 sence of coal. It is black upon the surface in consequence 
 of oxidation ; it is traversed by seams of a reddish substance, 
 and by seams of quartz. 
 
 The third vein of this substance crosses the road at Mr. 
 Briggs' iron works, in Gaston county. 
 
 This mineral has not been applied to any useful purpose. 
 But manganese is frequently associated with silver ores, and 
 hence, the veins should be examined for the purpose of as- 
 certaining if there exists any valuable metal in connexion 
 with it. 
 
 At the McMackin silver lead mine manganese enters into 
 the constitution of the vein and forms in part the vein stone, 
 or perhaps may be regarded as one of its metals. 
 
 OHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 Earthy Minerals and Rocks which possess a value in the 
 Arts.— Steatite — Agalmatolite — Pseudo Burrhstone — Roof- 
 ing Slate — Fire-stone — Fire-clay — Porcelain-clay — Build- 
 ing Stone — Porphyry — Antifriction Pochs, or Pocks which 
 may he employed for the hearings of heavy wheels. 
 
 § 215. Steatite or Soapstone. — ^This important material is 
 common in several of the midland counties. In Wake coun- 
 ty it occurs on the plantation of Mr. Lewis JSTippers ; it is 
 rather coarse, and contains upon the surface too much quartz. 
 It is associated with slates containing veins of quartz carrying 
 the specular ore of iron, which seems to be a very common 
 association in this State. Two miles north-east from this 
 place, and probably also at intermediate points, soapstone ex- 
 ists in large beds or mountain masses, which, though rather 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 215 
 
 coarse, is of a very good quality, and is suitable for hearths, 
 jambs and other purposes. Its color is green, and the mass 
 is rather crystalline. It may be sawn into blocks of any re- 
 quired size. It is in inexhaustible quantities. Where soap- 
 stone is to be employed in the construction of hearths, backs 
 or jambs for fire-places, too much caution cannot be observed 
 in exposing the stone to heat for the first time. It often hap- 
 pens that water is inclosed in the rock, and if heated rapidly, 
 it is converted into steam and explodes ; and the breaking of 
 the stone might be followed with fatal consequences. Hence, 
 the rock should be dried in the first place, and all its water 
 expelled slowly, which saves the stone from flaking off subse- 
 quently. 
 
 Soapstone occurs three miles west of Ashborough, and 
 five or six miles north-west of FranklinviUe, in Randolph 
 county. 
 
 The use of soapstone is generally known. Its valuable 
 quahties are dependent upon its softness and refractory pow- 
 ers. It enables the mechanic to give it form and shape at a 
 very trifling expense. It is true it is not handsome in itself, 
 as it is not susceptible of a polish ; still, when planed and var- 
 nished, it makes a very handsome mantle-piece. The var- 
 nish brings out lively light green tints which give the sur- 
 face the appearance of a variegated marble. 
 
 The most valuable soapstones are free from flint and horn- 
 blende spar, and other foreign minerals. When present, 
 they diminish more or less its value. The most important use 
 of soapstone is as a fining for stoves, and its employment in 
 the formation of registers in houses heated with hot air. 
 The fine compact varieties are selected for these purposes. 
 In quarrying soapstone, gunpowder should not be used — in- 
 deed its use is not attended with much success' — and when it 
 breaks out a mass, it produces shakes or invisible cracks 
 which greatly damage the stone, and which open, on expo- 
 sure to heat and frost. The only safe method of quarrying, 
 is to cut out rectangular masses by means of suitable tools. 
 
 Soapstone, as a rock, belongs to the pyrocrystalline series, 
 and never occurs as a sediment ; it is associated with ser- 
 
216 NOKTH-CAHOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 pentine, hornblende and talcose slate. It freq^nently con- 
 tains, in isolated crystalline masses, dolomite, or magnesian car- 
 bonate of lime, sparry iron, or carbonate of iron — brown spar, 
 asbestos, etc. In Massachusetts it passes gradually into ser- 
 pentine. I have never seen it passing directly into serpen- 
 tine in Il^orth-Carolina. 
 
 Agalmatolite belongs to the sedimentary class of rocks. 
 As such, it may be regarded as a white variety of argilla- 
 ceous slate. The most remarkable locality of this rock is 
 near Hancock's mills, in Chatham county. It is also asso- 
 ciated with the massive specular ores of iron, both in Mont- 
 gomery and Chatham counties. • It is also in immediate con- 
 nexion with quartz rock in Montgomery county. It is often 
 useless, from the presence of fine granular quartz, or from 
 disseminated grains of magnetic iron. 
 
 In foreign countries this stone is cut into pagodas or im- 
 ages, and hence, has been called Jlgure stone. 
 
 As its grain is very fine, and its texture compact and at the 
 same time soft, it is adapted to a variety of useful or orna- 
 mental purposes, as ink-stands, paper-weights, etc. When 
 exposed to heat, it does not become as hard as soapstone. It 
 however receives something of a polish which may be height- 
 ened by varnish ; and hence, may become rather handsome 
 for mantle-pieces. This use of it is important in llTorth-Caro- 
 lina, as marbles are extremely scarce. The soapstones and 
 figure stones are important also, in consequence of their com- 
 bined strength, softness, and their ability to stand the weather ; 
 the latter property enabling the artist to quarry and shape 
 them readily, and when placed in a building, they are more 
 durable than granite. 
 
 § 216. JfarMe. — There is probably no material so scarce 
 in l^orth-Carolina as limestone, when its actual quantity is 
 compared with other States of the Union. Limestone, how- 
 ever, forms an interrupted belt across the State. At one or 
 two localities in Catawba county it has a fine, even, granular 
 structure, combined with a lively lustre, which equals in 
 beauty any of the Italian marbles. But these qualities are 
 too limited at the surface to be of any use. The question is, 
 is it probable that beds possessing these fine properties may 
 
NORTH- CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 217 
 
 be obtained by deeper explorations. It is not at all im- 
 probable. 
 
 Agalnnatolite. — ^This rock has been already noticed. It re- 
 sembles steatite, and so much so, that it has always been con- 
 founded with it. It is, however, quite different in composi- 
 tion, though it has the soft soapy feel, and the light greenish 
 white colors. In North-Carolina it is much liner and whiter 
 than its soapstones, and hence, it has been regarded as a bet- 
 ter kind of this rock. In the arts and as a fire-stone it is not 
 as valuable, as it is more likely to split and flake off when 
 exposed to the tire. If carefully dried, this defect may be 
 partly overcome ; but when used as a fire-stone, it should be 
 exposed endways to the flame or fire. It splits like an argil- 
 laceous slate ; indeed it is a white variety of this rock. In 
 addition to its use as a fire-stone, it is supposed to be employ- 
 ed, when ground, for adulterating white paint or white lead ; 
 but for this purpose it is not adapted. When mixed with oil 
 it becomes translucent, or loses its opacity ; and hence, in 
 common language, it has no body. But the use to which the 
 powdered rock is employed, is to adulterate hard soap ; that 
 is, I suppose aditlteration is the right word, inasmuch as it is 
 designed to increase its w^eight. It has, however, other pro- 
 perties which may justify, in part, its employment ; it is re- 
 tentive of odors, and hence, in fancy soaps, it may serve a 
 useful purpose ; besides, it no doubt assists in absorbing grease, 
 and in cleansing surfaces. It may not be, therefore, an abso- 
 lute cheat in soap, as it has certain useful qualities. Large ' 
 quantities have been ground the last year in Chatham county 
 for the New York market. It is necessary that it should be 
 free from grit. When pure, it is suitable for antifriction pow- 
 der, and may also be used as a cosmetic, in place of chalk, 
 lead, etc., without injuring the skin. 
 
 Tlie composition of this variety of Agalmatolite is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Silex, 75.00 
 
 Alumina, 18.75 
 
 Potash, 2.00 
 
 Water, 3.50 
 
 Traces of iron, , , 
 
 , , 99.25 Jackson. 
 
218 NOKTH-CA.EOLINA GEOLOGICAL SrRVET. 
 
 An analysis may give an excess of silex in consequence of 
 its mechanical intermixture, as it is not unfrequently dissemi- 
 nated through the mass as a foreign mineral. It will make, 
 according to Dr. Jackson, a very refractory material for pot- 
 ter's stone-ware and crucibles. The oxide of iron is an acci- 
 dental mixture, varying very much in quantity at different 
 locaHties. Sometimes octahedral iron abounds in certain lay- 
 ers in thick and heavy beds ; it is apparently absent, and be- 
 comes snow white in the furnace, 
 
 Burrhstone or Pseudo-l)urrhstone. — This rock, upon its exte- 
 rior, is exceedingly rough and ragged , and as it is an ex- 
 tremely tough siliceous rock, it may probably possess the same 
 valuable properties as the Paris burrhstone. But I do not 
 speak confidently ; for the fact can be known only by apply- 
 ing a stone suitably prepared to this use, that of a miUstone. 
 The material of the rock is in the required condition at the 
 surface. It consists of a porous chert ; or, originally, it was 
 a porphyrized chert, the felspar having disintegrated, leaves 
 rough cavities bounded by a tough sharp edged material, 
 similar to that of the Paris burrhstone. One difficulty may 
 materially interfere with the introduction of this stone for 
 the purpose proposed, viz., the expense of cutting it, in con- 
 sequence of the toughness of the material ; and besides, the 
 stone has not weathered deeply, except when detached from 
 the parent bed. But the formation is extensive, and the va- 
 rieties or kinds are quite numerous ; and hence, it is expected 
 that locahties will occur suitable for the pm-pose I have pro- 
 posed. 
 
 The most extensive beds of the Pseudo-burr hstone occur in 
 Montgomery county, near Troy. It is the fossilliferous mass 
 which is intimately connected with the granular quartz. A 
 rock possessing characters quite similar to the foregoing exists 
 in large masses at the Plat Swamp mountain, in a part of 
 Stanly and Davidson counties. So far as they have fallen un- 
 der my observation, they are not so good as those of Mont- 
 gomery county. The whole range too, from a point near 
 Gold Hill to the Flat Swamp mountain is traversed by a sili- 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 219 
 
 ceous porous rock, which possesses many of the characters 
 required for a good millstone. 
 
 § 217. Roofing Slate. — In the slates of Chatham county there 
 are beds which are firm, hard and strong, which may be em- 
 ployed for roofing. The colors are blue and purple. Of the 
 former, the most important beds are near Rocky river. , The 
 purple beds were observed on the plantation of Mr. Headen. 
 The best were brought up in sinking a well. The slates ex- 
 tend, I believe, across the State — but the debris of rocks con- 
 ceal so frequently the outcrops, that they cannot be traced 
 continuously. The only drawback which seems to exist 
 resjDecting the roofing slates, is the depth of the beds, or the 
 want of a sufficient extent of outcrop. It is not so accesible 
 as in the more elevated parts of this country. Quarries of 
 slate require an elevation above the general level of the 
 country in order to obtain depth, and at the same time space 
 above ground, so as not to be obliged to incur much expense 
 in draining. 
 
 Fire-stone., and Stone for Furnace-hearths. — The sandstone 
 of the Taconic system furnishes fire-stones which may be relied 
 upon ; also, for the hearths of furnaces. It is a white and 
 rather friable rock, with some mica. Specimens of it would 
 be called arenaceous quartz. There are two ranges of this 
 rock, one passes through Wake county, and runs parallel with 
 the veins of graphite — the other through Lincoln and Ca- 
 tawba counties. The latter have been proved by experience 
 to be valuable for the pi^rposes I stated — those of Wake do 
 not differ from them, and hence may be regarded as equally 
 valuable. 
 
 § 218. Fire-clay for Fire-bricTc — Pipe-clay.' — Clay for fire- 
 brick is abundant in Gaston county. •\i is free, I believe, 
 entirely froni lime and the alkalies, potash and soda. It ex- 
 tends through the county. It is inexhaustible in the vicinity 
 of King's mountain, and appears at numerous places between 
 the iron- works and Dallas, as well as at numerous places in 
 and about the latter place. 
 
 Pipe-clay occurs in Forsyth county, and is employed ex- 
 tensively for the bowls of pipes. In Davidson county, also, 
 
220 NOETH-CAKOLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 this variety of clay exists in the depressions of the surface, 
 particularly in the vicinity of Spencer's Post Office. When 
 exposed to high heat, the bowls lose the whiteness of the 
 clay, and change to a drab. These clays are also suitable for 
 jugs, pans and other vessels for domestic use. These clays, 
 howQver, are employed only to a very limited extent. • 
 
 § 219. Porcelain-clay. — This substance exists at numerous 
 locahties. In Lincoln county, at Lincolnton, it appears to be 
 abundantj and of good quality. In Davidson it is also said 
 to exist, but it is probably a pipe-clay. White clays are 
 abundant ; but whether they wiU. retain their whiteness when 
 heated intensely, has not been determined by myself, except 
 in a few instances. A large tract of country, forming part of 
 the plantation of Mr. Bryant, at Jones' Falls, is underlaid 
 by a white clay. 
 
 § 220. Building Stone. — The granites of ISTorth-Carolina 
 are frequently in a disintegrated condition. But the quarries 
 near Raleigh furnish a very good granite for construction. 
 The micaceous sandstone of Wake also furnishes a good ma- 
 terial for building, which is easily quarried. There is, how- 
 ever, no want of building material in any part of the State. 
 Tlie best, however, is the freestone of Deep and Dan rivers, 
 of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 
 
 § 221. Porphyry. — There is a belt of porphyry extendhig 
 from Jones' Falls, some seven or eight miles north-east. Its 
 base is black, purple and green of diiferent shades — some of 
 it is equal in beauty to the porphyry of the ancients. There 
 is, however, little probabihty that-it will be brought into use 
 as an ornamental stone, though it is susceptible of a high and 
 ]jeautiful polish. It is also well adapted for mortars, being 
 very hard and tough? 
 
 The porphyry passes by insensible shades into hornstoue, 
 Avhich frequently is very fine-grained or compact. It is green, 
 gray, blue, purple and green, and purple in stripe, and some- 
 times spotted. The compact varieties are highly valued for 
 the bearing of gudgeons and axles of wheels. Tears elapse 
 before it can be seen that they are worn in the least. For all 
 lieavy wheels, therefore, they are as important in diminishing 
 
 \ 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 221 
 
 friction as the diamond and other gems in the wheel work of 
 time keepers. 
 
 These admirable antifriction stones abound in Chatham, 
 Randolph, Davidson and Montgomery counties. They ma}" 
 be selected from the finest varieties of hornstones and por- 
 phyries, which are frequently found in extensive beds in the 
 clay slates of these counties. . 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Graphite — Its relations, extent, quality and uses. 
 
 % 222. The occurrence of this substance in ISTorth-Carolinti 
 has been known for more than a quarter of a century. IsTot- 
 withstanding the length of time it has been known, its true 
 value has not been detarmined. The works, however, which 
 are now in operation wnll probably settle the question res- 
 pecting its value. The best known locality is in Wake coun- 
 ty ; it is a few miles west of Raleigh, and it crosses all the 
 roads running south-west, west, or north-west. It is much 
 more distinct in the gullies or the road side on a wet day. 
 than when it is diVj. On the Hillsborough road there are two 
 belts rather less than half a mile apart. 
 
 The whole formation consists of three or perhaps more par-^ 
 allel veins ; they are apparently variable however in number 
 at different points of exposure. 
 
 The feature which this mineral presents, most worthy of 
 notice, is its great persistency ; for there are, I believe, no 
 mines on record, whose extent can be compared with the 
 graphite of Wake. It is known to occur fifteen miles south- 
 west of Raleigh, on Black creek, in a hill by the road side 
 discoloring the soil forty feet in width ; and it is explored 
 
222 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 seven miles north-west of Raleigh ; and from these distant 
 points it shows no signs of giving ont. Its veins, therefore, 
 extend eighteen or twenty miles, though I do not assume that 
 they are absolutely continuous, yet I have little doubt that 
 they may be traced uj^on the surface throughout this entire 
 range. Enough is not known of the exact relations of these 
 depositories of graphite to enable us to speak with certainty 
 of their relation to the enclosing rock. With the facts which 
 are now in my possession, I am disposed to regard them as 
 veins and not as beds. Tlieir strike is a few degrees (about 
 10) east of north. The general range of the slates is IST. 25° 
 30' E.; and besides, the graphite has a veinstone of quartz, 
 or is accompanied with quartz ; hence, from facts of this kind, 
 I look upon or regard them as deserving the name of vein, as 
 much as any of the auriferous depositories of this State. 
 
 The dip is north-westerly at an angle of 65° to Y0°. Shafts 
 have been sunk upon them to the depth of one hundred feet, 
 and a single vein has been stoped out to the depth of seventy 
 feet. The distance of the continuous stoping is about one 
 thousand feet. This ground furnishes the most reliable infor- 
 mation respecting the character of these repositories of gra- 
 phite. The level of the tunnel or drift referred to, shows a 
 vein varying in width from six to eighteen inches, with regu- 
 lar walls, showing friction and triac, or slickensides, proving 
 thereby the existence of a vein fissure. Intermixed with the 
 graphite we frequently find lenticular masses of quartz, be- 
 sides the quartz in fine grains more immediately disseminated 
 in the metal itselt. It rarely contains sulphuret of iron. 
 The graphite, though confined mostly to the seam, yet 
 spreads more widely in the rock, and stains it black for sev- 
 eral feet, and hence the vein appears wider than it actually 
 is. The adjacent parts which are colored resemble the com- 
 mon plumbaginous slates of which there are many examples 
 in the Talcose slates of ISTew England. 
 
 The following beds accompany the veins, and they lie in 
 the following order : 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 22$ 
 
 o 
 
 Md .K.CO aa s.S &. 
 
 rn 22^ S 3 oS «89 T^$ ^55 o 
 
 •3 .2oa> '^ _, Sg — '^S £„"rt o.Sai t-^ 
 
 H g-StS ^ S Q-6 PhEc-5 ii25 >-i.o^ QM 
 
 The graphite, wherever it occurs in North-Carolina, is not 
 far beneath the sandstone referred to. Hence the veins of 
 graphite occupy a position quite similar to the iron ore veins 
 of Lincoln countv. This sandstone is near the base of the 
 Taconic system in some places, indeed in most it is underlaid 
 by a conglomerate and a few beds of slate. 
 
 Tlie graphite belongs to the primary slates ; it is a mineral 
 which differs in its origin from coal, that is, there is no evi- 
 dence that it has been in the condition of organic matter. 
 
 § 223. This question respecting its origin is one of the most 
 interesting in geology. Coal, without doubt, is of vegetable 
 origin. In composition it will be perceived that it is not 
 greatly dissimilar to anthracite, by a reference to their res- 
 pective constituents; but anthracite, however near it ap- 
 proaches in composition to graphite, is derived from organic 
 matter. We cannot, however, under the circumstances in 
 which the graphite of "Wake county occurs, assign its origin 
 to the same source. We are necessarily driven, therefore, to 
 account for its occurrence on other grounds. To do this sat- 
 isfactorily, we must ascertain whether there are any phe- 
 nomena in nature or art which are illustrative of those chemi- 
 cal changes, which may throw light upon its formation. Up- 
 on this ground we may confidently refer to the production of 
 artificial graphite in iron furnaces, which, when working well, 
 and under the full and advantageous application of heat, in- 
 variably produce graphite both in the metal and in the slag. 
 The artificial graphites contain, I believe invariably, a small 
 per centage of iron ; and in its formation it involves the pro- 
 cess of- a combination of the vapor of the two elements. 
 When, therefore, it is an established fact that graphite is 
 formed under favorable circumstances from any substance 
 
224 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEYEY. 
 
 which contams carbon, it does not appear difficult to account 
 for it as it occurs in the veins of Wake and Lincoln. All we 
 have to assume, is the existence of the carbonates in the in- 
 terior of the earth. These, when exposed to heat, being sus- 
 ceptible of decomposition, undergo the needful changes for 
 the production of this carbonaceous substance. It undoubt- 
 edly rises in vapor, and is condensed in the fissures in the 
 form in which it is now found. We have no occasion to call 
 to our aid the metamorphism so frequently alluded to, and so 
 frequently employed in accounting for phenomena of a kin- 
 dred character. That carbon of a coal seam is susceptible of 
 being converted into graphite may be admitted ; but when- 
 ever carbon occurs in rocks of a sedimentary origin, it is ac- 
 companied with other phenomena v/hich form a conclusive 
 argument respecting its origin. Here, in Wake, we have a 
 rock distinctly primary in its character, showing no traces of 
 sedimentary origin, or at least of having been deposited with- 
 in the organic era ; and as graphite is formed artificially un- 
 der the needful conditions, it cannot be regarded as an un- 
 warrantable assumption that it may also be formed directly 
 in the interior of the earth, and independent of any preexist- 
 ing; organic matter. 
 
 Its occurrence in veins or fissures is also accordant with 
 facts which are established in the case of metallic bodies. 
 Any substance which can be vaporized may be found in and 
 filling the preexisting fissures. 
 
 Graphite is a very important substance ; it has become an 
 indispensable article ot commerce — but it very rarely occurs 
 in that state of purity which is required for the purposes for 
 which it is employed. Silex or quartz in fine- grains is the 
 most common impurity, and the most difficult to separate. 
 When crystalized and pure it still requires the aid of art to 
 bring it to a state in which it can be employed. In its pure 
 laminated state the mechanical condition produces singular 
 changes in its molecules, or rather particles ; it is almost im- 
 possible to pulverize it and impart to them that form which 
 seems essential for its employment in the arts. These, when 
 mechanically separated, are split almost ad infinitum^ or in a 
 
iTOETH-CAEOLtNA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 226 
 
 taode similar to talc and mica, and become thereby light as 
 down, and difficult to recombine. The variety known in 
 Wake has a rounded form ; and hence, it is susceptible of a 
 mechanical division, and of assuming readily the state re- 
 quired in the arts. The impurity of this variety is silex in a 
 state of minute subdivision; and before it can be applied for 
 certain purposes, this must be separated from it by mechan- 
 ical means. It cannot be used for pencils, or as an antifric- 
 tion agent in its natural state. It is, however, not so objec- 
 tionable when it is employed upon wood, as wagon axles, 
 &c,; but where iron is employed, it wears the surfaces rapid- 
 ly — hence it is common for farmers to employ it in its native 
 state upon their wooden axles, mixed with grease, with good 
 effects. 
 
 The experiments which are being made by Mr. Miller, at 
 Raleigh works, will probably test most thoroughly the ques' 
 tion respecting its value and uses for various purposes. 
 
 It should however be stated, that for certain purposes, as 
 for paint and its application for stoves there can be no doubt 
 of value, with only an imperfect separation of silex. For the 
 presence of fine silex cannot be injurious when used for a 
 paint for roofs ; its presence is rather beneficial, as it thereby 
 becomes less combustible, and renders the wood in a measure 
 fire-proof; it is far more valuable for paint than any of the 
 stone paints in use, having, when in combination with fine 
 silex, all the incombustible properties which they are suppos- 
 ed to possess. It is not only with respect to the use of gra- 
 phite as a paint for roofs, but also in an equal degree as a 
 paint for ships. I believe, for these purposes, the separation 
 of silex is not required ; it should be as fine as possible, free 
 from slate, and contain simply graphite and silex. Graphite,^ 
 notwithstanding its lightness, has a body unequalled for 
 strength, by any substance. A minute quantity indeed is suf- 
 ficient to give color to a large quantity of fluid, and cover a 
 large surface of wood. Graphite must also protect wood in 
 a certain degree from decay. Old roofs, for example, where 
 it has been employed, have, as it were, been renewed by its 
 use, and rendered durable for years, when, withoutj they would 
 15 
 
226 NOKTH-CAHOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. ' ^ - 
 
 have been useless. It protects most thoroughly from the air» . 
 and when of a good quality is adherent. It is^ therefore, one 
 of the most valuable of paints ; but it has not been sufficient- 
 ly common in market to supply the demands ^ but it appears 
 to me that the depositories of Wake, when brought properly 
 before the public, and the great value of the article becomes 
 known, can supply an immense amount of material; in- 
 deed, it is only in this country that graphite is sufficiently 
 abundant to. meet the wants of the public, and it is singular 
 that so little should have been done up to this time in intro- 
 ducing graphite into the commercial world as one of the most 
 valuable paints for roofs and shipping. The value of gra- 
 phite for crucibles is well known ; but as it regards the adop- 
 tion of it in its partially pure state, I am not well informed 
 enough to speak with confidence ; but inasmuch as in the 
 manufacture, clay of a fine quality is required to form the 
 body of the utensil, it seems that it may be all that is wanted. 
 In addition to the remarkable depositories in Wake county, 
 the old county of Lincoln also furnishes, or will fornish those, 
 which are probably equally pure ; but they are not so exten- 
 sive. The formation is the same, and the mode of occurrence 
 the same ; that is, it is in veins in a talcose slate,, whose dip 
 and direction closely conform to that of the rock. It is, how- 
 ever, proper to observe, that the graphite of Lincoln, (or It 
 may be within the limits of Catawba) county, has not been 
 explored except superficially, but the surface indications are 
 favorable both as to quantity and quality. 
 
 Although the graphite of Wake county is beneath the mi- 
 caceous sandstone, it does not necessarily follow that it will 
 always occupy that position in North-Carolina. We can see 
 no reason for limiting it to any of the older rocks, including 
 the palaeozoic slates and sandstones. In most cases, whether 
 in the palaeozoic or hypozoic strata, the direction or course of 
 the depositories may be expected to pursue the usual course 
 which prevails in the formations of the slates. 
 
 In iRew York the graphite is connected with the primary 
 limestone in which it occurs in irregular veins or disconnect- 
 ed masses. It is always, however, crystalline, and in many 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 22T 
 
 instances perfectly pure ; but as in the case of other sub- 
 stances .which occur as ores, it is uncertain in its continuance. 
 In North-Carolina, however, the depositories appear to be 
 permanent or persistent in depth, and the great desideratum 
 is to free it from silica. The partial failures seem to have 
 arisen from not having employed more extended vats, and 
 the use of too little water, for the amount of fine graphite 
 which had to pass through them. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXII.. 
 
 De&p River Goal Field — Masses which compose the fonna- 
 tion — Considerations respecting its age. 
 
 § 224. No formation has excited more attention than that 
 of Deep river. In Connecticut and new Jersey it has been 
 known under the name of New Red. Sandstone, and has been 
 carefully examined by Dr. Dean of Greenfield, and President 
 Hitchcock of Amhurst College, Mr. Redfield of New York, 
 and Prof Rodgers of Boston. The most remarkable discov- 
 eries which have been made in connexion with this forma- 
 tion, are the foot prints of birds ;, and jDrobably their discove- 
 ry has given as much celebrity to North American geology 
 as any which have been made. The age however of this 
 series had not been determined to the satisfaction of all par- 
 ties, prior to the commencement of the Geological Survey of 
 North-Carolina. The difiiculties which beset this question 
 are uncommonly great. Resting as it does in the northern 
 and southern States, upon granite or pyrocrystalline rocks, its 
 geological relations gave no clue to the epoch of its deposit ;, 
 and then, to add to the obscurity, most of the fossils whicli 
 had been discovered, were equivocal in their meaning. So 
 
228 NOKTH-CAHGLINA GEOLOaiCAL SURVEY. 
 
 that, neither its position in the series could be deciphered by 
 its relations, nor indicated with certainty by its organic re- 
 mains. During the progress of the survey of North-Carolina, 
 evidence has been gradually accumulating respecting its age ; 
 but it is only during the last two years, or since the publica- 
 tion of my report in 1852, that the evidence has taken a more 
 positive form. It is true that I had in my possession fossils 
 which pointed to the Permian system as its equivalent ; but 
 this evidence became neutralized in part by the occurrence 
 of fossils which belong: to the Triassic type ; or may be re- 
 garded by other geologists as Triassic. I was led, in view of 
 all the facts known to me at the time of the publication of 
 the report referred to, to express the opinion that the Deep 
 river coal series belonged to the Triassic, or ISTew Red Sand- 
 stone epoch. The reader will see in the sequel what changes 
 this opinion has undergone since that time. Waving the geo- 
 logical question for the present, I shall proceed to describe 
 the series as it is developed upon Deep river. 
 
 § 225. A natural division seems to exist when we take in- 
 to account the physical characters of the formation only ; 
 and indeed it would be disregarding important features, were 
 these to be passed by unnoticed. According then to these 
 features, the series should be divided into three great depos- 
 its, the lower red standstone and its conglomerate ; the coal' 
 rneasures including slates, shales and drab colored sandstones, 
 with their subordinates ; and lastly, the upper red sandstones 
 and marls. 
 
 These three parts of an apparent unbroken series, so far as 
 succession is concerned, seem to be continuous deposits with- 
 out breaks or unconformability, with one exception ; but 
 when their organic remains are taken into the account, we 
 cannot avoid doubting the correctness of the foregoing view. 
 The lower sandstone has nothing in common with the upper, 
 excepting its lithological characters ; but there is a gradual 
 transition of the lower into drab colored sandstones, and the 
 obscure fossils belonging to the vegetable kingdom extend 
 from one to the other, though there is a want of certainty in 
 the exact determination of those forms. "When, however, the 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 229 
 
 wpper red sandstone is examined, its fossils are found to be 
 entirely different from those below ; and hence the necessity, 
 as will be seen in the sequel, of separating it from all the in- 
 ferior masses, notwithstanding its apparent conformability. 
 
 I have said the series is conformable and without breaks 
 excepting in one instance. I here refer to a conglomerate 
 lying between the upper drab colored sandstones and the up- 
 per red sandstones and marls. It is not clear that there is a 
 decided unconformability, but I am inclined to adopt the 
 opinion that there is. 
 
 § 226. The lower sandstone is red or purplish red, often 
 deep red, or the color of a well burnt brick. It is made up 
 of grains of quartz, which are rarely coarse ; its texture is 
 even, and many beds are firm, free from marly layers, and 
 constitute an excellent free stone. 
 
 The lower beds are made up of pebbles of quartz strongly 
 compacted together, without the intervention of a cement. 
 So firm are these beds of conglomerate that they make an 
 excellent corn stone, which, when broken from the quarry, 
 split across the pebbles without removing them from their 
 beds. The pebbles are derived from the adjacent and infe- 
 rior Taconic slates, or the auriferous slates, with their series 
 of imbedded minerals. 
 
 The most conspicuous part of the conglomerate is quartz, 
 which is rounded by attrition, and has often assumed a flat- 
 tened or oval form. 
 
 The origin of these pebbles is, without doubt, from the 
 slates ; particularly the veins which traverse them. The slate 
 itself is largely intermixed with disintegrated matter, which 
 sets free the undecomposable milky quartz, and hence, when 
 exposed to the action of water upon a sea beach, they are 
 rounded by the attrition to which they are subjected. It re- 
 quires afterwards that they should be consolidated by pres- 
 sure, when they form a solid mass of conglomerate. 
 
 The thickness of the beds varies from six inches to two feet. 
 These solid beds are parted by soft or marly matter, which 
 gives an opportunity to split them horizontally from the 
 planes upon which they were deposited. 
 
330 NOETH-CAKOLTNA GEOLOGICAL StTEVET. 
 
 Tlie color of the conglomerate is usually gray ; but when 
 the pebbles diminish, and the marly matter increases, they 
 are red. These are perishable masses, and hence are not 
 suited for millstones. The lower conglomerate is full sixty 
 feet thick, and rests, as has been already observed, upon 
 slates and other beds of the Taconic system ; but as the rock 
 extends north-east and south-west, or obliquely across the 
 slate, it reposes upon certain pyrocrystalline rocks, and has 
 its conglomerates made up, in part, from them. Hence we 
 may find pebbles from the quartz veins of the slates which 
 carry gold, as well as from the gneiss, hornblende and granite. 
 The two systems, it is scarcely necessary to say, are strictly 
 unconformable — the slates having been tilted up prior to the 
 deposition of the sandstone with its conglomerate. Hence, 
 the formation rests upon the upturned edges of the inferior 
 and older rocks. The conglomerates, though instructive, re- 
 quire no farther descriptive details, except^ it is proper to say 
 here, that they are destitute of fossils, excepting the occa- 
 sional occurrence of lignite, and perhaps near their junction 
 with sandstone, that of silicified trunks of trees, as at Ger- 
 manton, in Forsythe county. I have not been able as yet 
 to detect a leaf of a cycad, or a fern ; though the silicified 
 trunks of a conifer are very common. This fact is of consid- 
 erable importance ; for, at the beginning of another stage, 
 these remarkable vegetables are very common. I cannot, 
 however, say that they will not be found ; but only mean to 
 assert, that after many diligent examinations, they have not 
 as yet been discovered. 
 
 The statements which have been made relate to the quar- 
 ries of Moore county, which furnish the millstones. It is not 
 present everwhere beneath the sandstone in so much force ; 
 unless it is concealed by soil. Thus, at or near the junction 
 of the sandstones with the slate, at the Gulf, I have not ob- 
 served the conglomerate in place ; it is there, but in thinner 
 beds. 
 
 § 227. The lower red sandstone which succeeds the con- 
 glomerate, is made up of both angular and rounded grains of 
 quartz, which are always coated with peroxide of iron. Thi^^ 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GE0L0C41CAL SURVEY. 231 
 
 coating may be washed off wheii the grains resume their 
 common colot and histre. The upper part of this mass, how- 
 ever, is frequently of a drab color, and has fine grains. The 
 hyaline quartz, with its red coating, is absent. The point 
 where these drab colored beds may be observed, is on the 
 north side of Deep river, at Egypt. So also near the Gulf; 
 but this mass is variable in thickness, and it is common for 
 the red sandstone to continue, until it is replaced by coal 
 shales; but the coal shales are invariably succeeded by the 
 drab colored sandstones, where they become an important 
 mass. 
 
 The lower sandstones, as they exist, extending from Evans' 
 Mills to the slates bordering the sandstone on the north, con- 
 sist of, 
 
 1. An inferior conglomerate too much Wncealed hy the soil to admit of measure- 
 ment. 
 
 2. A hard dark brown freestone. 
 
 3. A softer thick bedded brown sandstone. 
 
 4. Gray sandstone. 
 
 5. Hard red sandstone. 
 
 6. Soft red sandstone, frequently passing into a marly sandstone. 
 
 7. Gray and olive green sandstone. 
 
 The foregoing description of rocks or strata which succeed 
 the conglomerate, and lie beneath the coal slates, will apply 
 to this part of the formation. Some of the strata are soft, 
 others hard, and a few occupying the upper part are gray 
 and drab. Ked sandstones predominate over the rest ; and 
 besides, they are generally hard and durable. 
 
 § 228. The dip of the sandstones is somewhat variable in 
 direction as well as in amount. In direction it is about S. 
 25° W. The amout of dip varies from 10 to 22 degrees. It 
 is frequently steeper near the bottom beds than near the 
 slates. The thickness of the lower red sandstones at the Gulf 
 and Egypt is at least fifteen hundred feet, (1500,) and proba- 
 bly is nearer two thousand, (2000.) "West of Carthage, in 
 Moore county, it is greater. But as the rock approaches 
 Jones' Falls, in Chatham county, it evidently becomes thin- 
 ner, and, as I believe, nearly thins out. If my observations 
 are correct with respect to this change, important conse- 
 
232 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 
 
 quences must flow from them ; for in that case it is the upper 
 sandstone which is prolonged north-eastward into Granville 
 county, and that which is connected with the coal, or beneath 
 it, thins out. At Jones' Falls there is less than forty feet of 
 sandstone and conglomerates, which is probably the lower 
 part of the sandstone. Following, however, these lower beds 
 from Jones' Falls northwardly, it appears that the lower 
 masses become thicker, and about six or seven miles east of 
 Chapel Hill the black slate of the coal measures reappears. 
 There seems to be a deep depression upon the strike of the 
 lower beds, in which the inferior rocks come in again, which 
 may also contain seams of coal as at Farmville and Egypt. 
 But still farther north or north-eastward the black slate dis- 
 appears, or is concealed by an overlying red sandstone. I 
 have said all that appears to me can be useful to the student 
 respecting the lower mass, so far as it is required when its 
 composition only is to be considered. That which relates to 
 its organic contents will be noticed farther on. 
 
 § 229. The coal measures consist of two principal rocks ; 
 the drab and gray sandstone, and the coal slates or shales. 
 The sandstones are rather fine sediments, and rarely if ever 
 very coarse. They are even and rather thin bedded rocks, 
 and some of them are suitable for grindstones. Frequently 
 they are defective from excess of clay, and when exposed to 
 the air crumble and fall to pieces. 
 
 The sea in which they were deposited was probably shal- 
 lower than when the lower red or upper red sandstones were 
 deposited. Ripple marks which are rare in the latter are 
 common in the former, the drab colored beds ; so also their 
 surfaces are marked with marine plants, which grow in the 
 shallow water. The dip of this middle mass corresponds to 
 the lower red sandstone. The thickness of this part of the 
 series at Mr. Mclvers' plantation, near Egypt, is twelve hun- 
 dred feet, (1 200.) This measurement excludes the black and 
 green slates and the drab colored beds beneath them ; or, in 
 other words, it embraces the series of the continuous beds of 
 this color up to the conglomerates of the upper red sand- 
 stone. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 233 
 
 It is worthy of notice tliat the surfaces of these rocks, when 
 exposed to the atmosphere, become covered with an efiio- 
 rescent salt during the dry weather of summer, which con- 
 sists of chloride of sodium, or common salt ; and the water 
 at many places, which is obtained by sinking wells, is brack- 
 ish, ISTo well?, however, are sunk more than 30 or 35 feet. 
 They are therefore shallow, and do not give us the necessarj^ 
 information respecting the quantity of native matter with 
 which the formation is charged. It is evident that there is a 
 change in this respect, for in the deep shaft of Egypt, (460 
 feet,) the water is entirely free from foreign matters, and is 
 an excellent water for domestic use. There are no brine 
 springs worthy of note issuing from this formation— which is 
 contrary to what might be expected considering the constancy 
 of the salt which appears upon the surface rock. 
 
 § 230. The coal measures of Deep river form a distinct belt 
 of rocks between the two red sandstones. The drab colored 
 beds of the middle series has been described ; the slate, which 
 is an important member, will come up for consideration in 
 this place. Of the belt which is occupied by slate, it may be 
 said that it is extremely variable in the character of its beds ; 
 yet is by far the thickest mass, or most important in quantity. 
 The great shaft of Egypt passes through slates and calcareous 
 shales, 423 feet, while there is also a heavy bed of slate above 
 the shaft, or where it begins, probably amounting to 150 or 
 200 feet ; but below the 423 feet level the red strata are nu- 
 merous. 
 
 The first 233 feet of shaft is black slate and calcareous 
 shale of a greenish color, which is always more or less crust- 
 ed. There are seven (7) alternations of these beds ; and what 
 is worthy of particular attention, is the constant occurrence 
 of fossils in the former, while the latter are entirely destitute 
 of them. The cypris, which is so common in the black slate, 
 never appears in the greenish calcareous shales. The princi- 
 pal interruption to the continuance of the slates is the inter- 
 position of the beds of argillaceous oxide of iron, which are 
 not far from 223 feet from the surface, or 200 feet above the 
 first coal seam. The beds of iron balls and layers are about 
 
234 KOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEf . 
 
 six feet thick ; beneath, slates and shales continue, with only 
 a few important interruptions, until the coal seam is reached 
 at the depth of 423 feet. The shaft is sunk about 1,000 feet 
 from its outcrop. The first thirty feet is soil. The last two 
 feet is made up of coarse gravel, large rounded rocks, trap, 
 and pieces of coal, all of which rested upon the black slate. 
 The overlying soil is, evidently, at this point, made up of 
 transported materials ; though at a greater distance from the 
 river the debris of the rocks remains in place. Below the 
 first coal seam, the black slates reappear; but the principal 
 bed is a gray sandstone which partakes of the character of a 
 fire-clay, which is some fifteen feet thick. At the depth of 
 thirty feet below the first coal seam another thin seam of coal 
 comes in from twelve to fifteen inches thick, accompanied 
 with black band. The slates still continue, and probably two 
 hundred feet deeper. The body of slate at Egypt is probably 
 thicker than at any other place in the coal field. At Evans' 
 mills it is scarcely greater than six hundred feet thick. Four 
 miles farther east from Egypt the slate is divided into four 
 distinct beds by drab and gray sandstone, which are freqilent- 
 ly covered with ripple marks. 
 
 There is, therefore, considerable diversity in the formation 
 of the slate and shales with which the coal seams are imme- 
 diately connected. 
 
 The slates are more or less charged with sulphuret of iron 
 when near the coal ; and hence, on exposure to the air, disin- 
 tegrate or decompose, and become covered with saline eftio- 
 rescence, which consists of the sulphates of iron and alumina. 
 The black slates are highly bituminous,, and take fire readily, 
 and burn with a white flame. The greenish calcareous shales 
 are destitute of bitumen, although they are equally, if not 
 more fragile than the black slates. As a whole, these slates, 
 on an exposure of a few months to the air, fall to pieces and 
 decompose, and become an incoherent heap of fine slate, in- 
 termixed with a grayish ash or earth. The dip of the slate 
 in the shaft of Egypt, at the depth of three hundred feet, is 
 nineteen degrees. This angle is very constant from near the 
 top to the bottom of the shaft. There is a slight change, 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGHCAL SURVEY. 235 
 
 which indicates that the clip will become less towards the 
 middle of the trough, inasmuch as at the outcrop of the coal 
 seam at the Taylor plantation the dip is twenty-two degrees. 
 
 § 231. The number of seams of coal which have been 
 recognized are five. The first or upper is the most important. 
 Its width is six-and-a-half feet. It consists of two seams, sep- 
 arated by a seam of black band similar to the celebrated 
 Scotch black band, which is celebrated for its valuable prop- 
 erties in the manufacture of iron. This variety of iron ore I 
 observed at Farmville, soon after the slope had extended one 
 hundred feet. At the surface or outcrop it is indistinct, and 
 would pass for the common black slate ^ but it becomes heavy 
 and perceptibly rich in iron when it is beyond the reach of 
 atmospheric influences. The black band I believe accompa- 
 nies all the coal seams, and as the connexion of this mass is 
 such that it may be raised with the coal, it becomes a valua- 
 ble addition to the resources of the coalfield. 
 
 § 232. The fire-clays, though they are not found at the bot- 
 tom of ever}^ seam, still are quite common in the slates. 
 They are traversed by organic remains vertically ; but con- 
 tain an entirely different series of vegetable from those of 
 the older coalfields. Stems of sigellaria or stigmaria are un- 
 known. Those plants which do occur, are so closely inter- 
 laced and matted together, that it is extremely difficult to de- 
 termine their forms. We find, therefore, the slates and the 
 coal measures to be made up of beds which are perfectly 
 analogous to those of the coalfields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. 
 This fact is quite interesting, as it furnishes a refutation of a 
 geological dogma, that all the valuable coals belong to the 
 carboniferous period. 1. We find the black bituminous slates 
 so highly charged as to burn readily. 2. The coal seams 
 which in the aggregate are nearly seven feet thick. 3. The 
 black band, an ore supposed to be peculiar to the carbonife- 
 rous epoch. 4. Bands of argillaceous iron ore both in balls 
 and beds. 5. Fire-clays abounding in vegetable fibres and 
 stones, the former of which appear to be roots ; one bed of 
 fire-clay is fifteen feet thick ; and beds occur which are not 
 . accompanied with a coal seam. We find, therefore, all the 
 
236 KOETH-OAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 
 
 coneomitants of a coal series whicli belong to the carbonife- 
 rous epocli. The seams of coal which have been exposed to 
 the greatest extent are bituminous ; but semi-bituminous seams 
 are known, which are separated from the former several hun- 
 dred feet. For example, there is a seam of anthracite near 
 the junction of the slate with the upper red sandstone at the 
 Gulf, Its extent is unknown. Another U known as the Wil- 
 cox seam. The latter is one mile south of the Murchison 
 seam, and I have at times entertained the opinion that it is 
 near the inferior sandstone, but still have doubts respecting 
 its position, and should not be disappointed if it turned out 
 that it holds a position above the bituminous seams. It is 
 probably a local change, although I have not observed any- 
 local cause which is competent to dissipate the bituminous 
 matter. At the Gulf, and also at Evans' mills, the semi-bitu- 
 minous seams are near a heavy trap dyke, which apparently 
 accounts for the condition of the coal. 
 
 § 233. The upper red sandstone diifers slightly in aspect 
 from the lower. It is more marly ; and although hard beds 
 occur frequently, yet by far the greater part of the rock is 
 soft and perishable. Its- color is the same ; and a geologist 
 might pass from the lower to the upper sandstone without 
 being aware of the fact. Still, an inspection of the fossils 
 which have been obtained from each respectively, demon- 
 strates clearly the importance of regarding them as two dis- 
 tinct sandstones, belonging to two distinct epochs. 
 
 The upper may be characterized by saying that it consists 
 of hard brown beds, alternating brown, or red, and mottled 
 marls or clays, or those which are variegated. The spots are 
 green or greenish, and usually distinctly circumscribed. The 
 beds are frequently marked by cavities of an irregular form, 
 which are evidently caused by the former presence of some 
 salt, as the chloride of sodium, which is invariably dissolved 
 out. The lower part of this sandstone is pebbly; indeed it 
 may be regarded as beginning in a conglomerate, which is 
 another fact which goes to prove that it is separated from the 
 lower by a change in the physical condition of the country. 
 The beds of conglomerate rest upon a gray or drab-colored 
 
^ . ifORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 237 
 
 sandstone. The conglomerates are below the greenish shales, 
 which are some ten feet thick, and in which I have found 
 cycads, ferns and certain forms of conifera belonging princi- 
 pally to sycopodiacca. Above this plant bed, the rock is a 
 sandstone of a reddish color, with a very few beds which are 
 gray. 
 
 "We may, therefore, enumerate the beds which form the 
 upper series, as follows, beginning with the inferior beds : 
 
 1. Gray or drab-colored sandstones, which probably belong to the coal measures. 
 
 2. Beds of conglomerate, from ten to fifteen feet thick. 
 
 3. Green and dark colored slates, with plants, consisting of cycads, ferns, &c. 
 
 4. Red and gray sandstones and marls, more or less mottled with green, green- 
 
 ish and white, some of which contain the posidonia. 
 
 The most important localities for examination of the con- 
 glomerates are : 1. Mr. House's quarries, upon Haw river ^ 
 at Haywood; 2. Jones' Falls; and 3. A locality about six 
 miles south-west from Jones' Falls, on the plantation of Mr, 
 Ellington. 
 
 The conglomerates which crop out at the two first localities, 
 have been mistaken for those at the base of the lower sand- 
 stone ; for at Jones' Falls it is evident that the whole thick- 
 ness of rock belonging to the sandstone series is less than 
 thirty feet. It is not so distinct at House's quarry, upon the 
 Haw river. At Mr. Ellington's, however, the same con- 
 oiomerates are far above the bottom rocks of the series. The 
 thickness of the sandstones beneath, at this place, cannot be 
 less than eight hundred feet. 
 
 The identity of these beds of conglomerate is proved by 
 the presence of the plant bed, which occupies the same rela- 
 tive position to the conglomerate, and furnishes the same spe- 
 cies of plants. 
 
 I have been particular in stating these facts, for they 
 change the whole aspect of the question respecting the age 
 of this formation. If it were true, as most of the geologists 
 who have visited Jones' Falls on Deep river have asserted, 
 that the conglomerates there were at the base of the lower 
 red sandstone, it would be necessary to group in one system 
 the whole formation whose age or epoch would be that of the 
 
238 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 new red sandstone, being determined by the vegetables con- 
 tained in the plant bed ; but, when the facts are presented as 
 in the foregoing paragrahps, we are satisfied that the plants 
 belong to the npper beds, and it is to this age and epoch onlj 
 that they belong. They have nothing to do with the age 
 of the lower, being separated from it by the coal mea- 
 sures, and also by beds of conglomerates. It will be seen 
 from the foregoing, also, why I have taken the position that 
 it is the lower sandstone and coal measures which thin out 
 as the series passes from Mclver's to Jones' Falls. For 
 at Jones's Falls, the beds below the plant bed cannot ex- 
 ceed forty feet ; while at Ellington's, only six miles from 
 Jones', the thickness of the rocks beneath it is at least eight 
 hundred. This fact, of itself, proves that the conglomerate 
 at Jones' Falls is not the conglomerate of the lower red, from 
 which the millstones are taken, six miles from Carthage, and 
 which I have stated are about sixty feet thick. These lower 
 beds of conglomerate sometimes enclose lignite, or stems of 
 wood which are carbonized ; but I have not been able to dis- 
 cover in connexion with them beds of slate or shale equiva- 
 lent to those I have already described. I have carefully 
 sought for them near Egypt and the Gulf, without success. 
 Beds of conglomerate, occupying about the same horizon as 
 those of Jones' and Ellingtons', traverse, T believe, the whole 
 length of the formation. The}" may be observed at Benjamin 
 Wickers, and near the saw-mill of Mr. Mclver, from which 
 place they may be traced to Egx-pt. The plant bed has not 
 been observed west of Ellington's ; but the rocks pass mostly 
 through a forest, where the debris of the sandstone conceals 
 a large part of the formation, and hence, it is highly proba- 
 ble it may be covered up. 
 
 I have now stated those facts relative to the sandstone se- 
 ries of Deep river,, which are necessary for a correct under- 
 standing of the divisions which have been proposed, and 
 which may be recapitulated in a brief form at this place. 
 
 1 . Lower red sandstone with its conglomerate. 
 
 2. Coal measures, consisting of drab colored sandstones, bituminous slates and 
 calcareous shale, coal seams, fire-clay, and bands of iron stone. 
 
NORTB-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 239 
 
 3. Upper led san dstone, with mottled sandstones and marls, together with its 
 conglomerates at the base, green shales with plats belonging to the order cyca- 
 dacea, ferns and sycopodiacea, etc. 
 
 In a country wliich is only slightly disturbed, and wliere so 
 much of the rock is concealed beneath its own debris, it is 
 extremely difficult to obtain certain facts which bear upon 
 the conformalities of the series. There seems to be a slight 
 unconformability of the upper red sandstone and marls with , 
 the lower ; but it is slight, and a geologist might honestly 
 question the accuracy of the opinion. If the coming in of 
 the upper conglomerate marks the position of an unconfor- 
 mability, that, together with the fossils of the plant bed, would 
 indicate the commencement of the series which,, in Germany, 
 is known under the name of the Keuper sandstone, which 
 usually succeeds the Huschelkalk. But in Shuringia the 
 Keuper rests upon a jDlant bed which consists of slates con- 
 taining cycads, ferns, etc., not unlike those of Deep river, 
 and which stand apparently in the same relation as those be- 
 longing to the foreign locality already referred to. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXIII. 
 
 GeograpMcal extent of the Coal Measiires^ together with the 
 binder and overlying Sandstones. 
 
 § 23,4. It is evidently important to determine the area over 
 which a coal series extends. Their importance or value rests 
 upon such a determination when their value to the public at 
 large is to be decided, and especially when large expendi- 
 tures are required to convey it to market. It has been main- 
 tained that this coalfield is of little value to the immediate 
 country in which it is situated. This view is undoubtedly er- 
 roneous, though the fact upon which it is founded may be 
 
240 NOETH-CAEOLtiTA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY; 
 
 trtle. For the warming of houses, for example, it may not 
 be necessary, in consequence of the forests which still re- 
 main, and the rapidity with which they are renewed, when 
 removed for tillage ; yet, coal is important in the arts, it is 
 important as a fuel everywhere in conducting most branches 
 of manufacturing industry. It is so, because it is cheaper 
 and better adapted to many pursuits than wood or charcoal. 
 The coal, therefore, is important in the immediate neighbor- 
 hood where it is found, inasmuch as it is the best or cheap- 
 est fuel which can be employed in the manufacture of iron. 
 It is taken for granted, that the people require additional 
 means for getting their produce to market. The time has 
 come when the ordinary means of transportation of the pro- 
 duce of the plantation must be superseded by those which 
 are more rapid and certain, and which can be felled upon for 
 quantity ; so also, those which cheapen taansportation must 
 be constructed, if the country wishes to prosper. The manu- 
 facture of iron, therefore, by means of coal, does not presup- 
 pose that new and expensive means of transportation to mar- 
 ket for its own accommodation. It comes in, however, in aid 
 of those means which the planter and farmer require, 
 whether manufacturing projects are devised and carried into 
 execution or not. 
 
 The coal of Deep river will be useful at home, and may be 
 explored for domestic manufacturing with profit, although 
 the country in its immediate neighborhood is well wooded. 
 When this view is taken in connexion with the fact that it 
 may also be transported to market with the ordinary profits 
 of this business, the value of the coalfield begins to assume 
 its importance. 
 
 § 235. The first statement respecting the geographical ex- 
 tent of this series with which the coal stands connected, is 
 that relating to the sandstones, which occupy a much larger 
 area than that part of the series which contains the coal, or 
 which has been called the coal measures. 
 
 The rocks occupy a deep depression in the oldest sedimen- 
 tary slates. In whatever direction the series is approached, 
 this fact becomes perceptible ; the outer border is always be- 
 
1 
 
 SKCf ION NV t. 
 
 ..!>' 
 
 ' Catiiwli.- Tvivi. 
 
 
 
 Iiconit Hocki 
 
 N° 1 CONTINIFED. 
 
 N? I CONTINriKD. 
 
 * >• <* <?■ 
 
 •i? 5" > ^^ •« 5; 
 
 
 JAni'?^MuiTii>, Lid' -AlbcvtivN "i 
 
4 
 
 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 241 
 
 low the surrounding country ; and to reach the sandstones, 
 there is a descent both on the north-western and south-eastern 
 sides. This long valley, prior to the deposition of the rocks 
 which now occupy it, must have been very deep. This is 
 evident, from the fact that the series is very thick. 
 
 This valley is now isolated or cut off from those in which 
 similar formations are known to exist. It is therefore an in- 
 dependent one, so far as the Dan river or the Richmond se- 
 ries are concerned. The long axis of this valley is parallel, ap- 
 proximately at least with both, though it has no connexion with 
 either. I have traced this valley, with its sandstones, from a 
 point about six miles from Oxford, in Granville county, across 
 the State in a south-westerly direction. It passes into South- 
 Carolina, about six or seven miles, where it terminates. 
 Within the State its length is about one hundred and twenty 
 miles. Its breadth is variable. Where it terminates near 
 Oxford, in Granville county, it is very narrow, or indeed runs 
 to a point. The widest part is between Raleigh and Chapel 
 Hill, on the line of which it is eighteen miles wide. On the 
 Neuse it is twelve. On the Cape Fear, between Jones' Falls 
 and the Buckhorn, it scarcely exceeds six miles. This is one 
 of the narrowest places of the series, it widens rapidly in a 
 north-easterly and south-westerly direction, till, towards 
 Chapel Hill, or rather eastward of that place, it becomes 
 eighteen miles, as stated, from which it soon diminishes in 
 breadth. From Capt. E. Bryan's, at Jones' Falls, the direc- 
 tion of the western margin, for about six miles, is about south- 
 west. Soon afterward its course is more westerly, and even 
 sweeps around and takes a northerly course ; but afterwards 
 resumes a south-west course into South-Carolina, after cross- 
 ing the corner of Union county. The auriferous slates may 
 be observed at numerous places on the north-western border. 
 The exceptions which have fallen under my notice show the 
 series in a metamorphic condition. At Capt. Bryan's, a belt 
 of chert and porphyry rises from beneath the sandstones, and 
 extends seven or eight miles in a north-easterly direction. 
 A similar belt also rises up from beneath the same series one- 
 and-a-half miles northerly from the Gulf, on the plankroad, 
 16 4 
 
242 NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 and pursues a course parallel with the former. This is proba- 
 bly a repetition of the series at Jones' Falls. But the un- 
 changed slates emerge in an unconformable position at nu- 
 merous places in Chatham and Moore counties, among which 
 I may mention the millstone quarries on the waters of Rich- 
 land creek, the tributaries of Indian creek within one mile of 
 Evans' bridge, and on the road leading to Salem, and again 
 about a mile above the mouth of Line creek, which enters 
 Deep river not far above the same bridge. An important 
 point which exhibits the junction of the series is about one- 
 and-a-half miles from Farmers ville, on the Pittsborough road, 
 where a deep ravine divides the lower conglomerate and red 
 sandstone from the slates of the Taconic system. The slates, 
 as usual, dip nearly to the north-west at a high angle, while 
 the sandstones dip from them, or southerly, at a very moderate 
 inclination. An interesting exposure of the inferior beds of 
 these sediments, resting upon the slates, occurs at the quarry 
 of Mr. Seawells, where the conglomerate or millstone has 
 been entirely removed, by which an intervening stratum of 
 clay which rests upon the edges of the slate is exposed. The 
 conglomerate or millstone grit is about forty feet thick. It 
 dips at an angle of seventeen or eighteen degrees, and to the 
 south-east. On the north-west side it appears, from observa- 
 tion, to repose upon the gold slates, especially all of it south 
 of Orange county ; or upon rocks of the same series, and 
 which have been changed, or have been porphyritic. The 
 width of the lower sandstone on the north-west side, beyond 
 its junction with the bituminous slates, varies at different 
 places; it is from three-fourths of a mile to three miles- 
 Small fields are still farther removed, but they are usually 
 isolated, and cut off by projecting ridges of the older slates. 
 The largest field which is thus isolated, is in Anson county. 
 
 § 236. The south-east margin is concealed through all that 
 part which lies south-west of Cape Fear river but at several 
 points near the margin where the auriferous slates make 
 their appearance. In Anson county, one mile-and-a-half 
 sout-east of Wadesborough, the red sandstones dip gently to 
 the west. But the characters which these rocks exhibit in- 
 
 4 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 243 
 
 dicate that it is the upper sandstone whicli is tlius prolonged. 
 It resembles that of Brassfield's, sixteen miles from Ealeigh, 
 on the Hillsborough road, where the sandstones become cal- 
 careous and somewhat nodular. But neither place furnishes 
 fossils, and hence the criteria by which to judge of their 
 identity are indecisive. I would not make the statement res- 
 pecting this question without reservation. Yet, those calca- 
 reous concretions seem to belong to the upper mass at Brass- 
 iields, and those near Wadesborough closely resemble them. 
 The south-east side, from its crossing of the Cape Fear to the 
 Pedee, is usually covered with the tertiary sands. We are 
 unable, therefore, to learn the character of this margin, 
 whether it is horizontal, or dips away or towards the axis of 
 the formation. There is no exposure by which the position 
 of the coal measures can be determined ;: this part of the se- 
 ries does not appear on this side ; there is no positive fact 
 from which we can judge of its existence at all; and this be- 
 comes still more obscure, in consequence of the facts which 
 have been already stated, which have led me to believe that 
 it is the upper sandstone which is prolonged, and forms the 
 extreme points of the formation. Plence, it is not improba- 
 ble that the upper sandstone extends beyond the coal mea- 
 sures, and conceals them from observation. If so, there are 
 no inducements of sufficient value which would warrant the 
 expenditure of capital in attempting to obtain them upon the 
 south-east side. North of the Cape Fear, as the formation 
 passes onward through Orange into G-ranville county, the 
 southrcast side is equally unpromising for coal ; while on the 
 north-west side, about six miles from Chapel Hill, in the neigh- 
 borhood of Mr. Mooring^s, in Chatham county^ there is an 
 exposure of black slate, containing the common fossils of this 
 part of the coal measures. But this exposure is limited ; and 
 from this locality the indications of the presence of coal can- 
 not be discovered, or they are merely lignite beds, which are 
 the products of a single coniferous tree. It is not difficult to 
 distinguish these appearances from those which accompany 
 the coal seams. In the former, its speedy removal from its 
 bed should be sufficient to satisfy every reasonable mind, 
 
244 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 though many still persist in seeing a coal seam in a flattened 
 stem of an ancient tree, provided it is fully carbonized. 
 
 We find the coal measures confined mostly to the central 
 part of the sandstones, where they traverse the counties of 
 Chatham and Moore. The formation pursues a westerly 
 course, parallel witli the general direction of Deep I'iver. 
 The outcrop crosses the river between Evander Mclver's and 
 the Hornville property, thence by Farmersville, it crosses 
 the river obliquely at Egypt, and soon recrosses it again near 
 the fish-trap, and passes into the Taylor plantation. It con- 
 tinues on the north side of the river until it passes the plan- 
 tation of Mr. Murchison, from which it crosses it again for 
 the last time into the plantation of Mr. Fooshee, where the 
 coal series is well developed, three or four seams of good coal 
 having been exposed by several excavations directly over the 
 outcrop of the seams. The direction of the outcrop of the 
 coal seams from Murchison's to Fooshee's is S. 54° W., which 
 may be taken as the direction which the north-western mar- 
 gin pursues for the next eight or ten miles ; after which the 
 direction is about S. 45° W, The extent of the coal seams in 
 this direction is not determined. The features of the forma- 
 tion are still favorable for their continuance. The coal seams 
 upon the plantation of Mr. Fooshee are equal in thickness^ 
 and possess qualities of the same nature as those of Egypt. 
 There is, therefore, grounds for the expectation of its contin- 
 uance still farther in this direction. But the outcrop of the 
 series is concealed, and requires the expenditure of capital to 
 test the correctness of this expectation. 
 
 The whole length of the outcrop, following its windings, is 
 about thirty miles. The extreme point beyond Evander Mc- 
 . Ivor's, where the coal seams have been discovered, is at Martin 
 Dyer's, where a boring cut a seam near the outcrop ten inches 
 thick. The locality still farther north-eastward in this direc- 
 tion, known as the Rhiney Wicker's property, but owned by 
 Mr. Ellington, does not belong to the same series as the Egypt 
 and other seams, whose value lias been tested. The Ellington 
 
 seam is in connexion with the plant bed I have spoken of, 
 aiid undoubtedly belongs to the upper sandstone. It is less^ 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 245 
 
 than three inches thick, and therefore of no importance. I 
 have spoken of this locaKty in former reports, but had not 
 visited it. When, however, I had an opportunity to examine 
 the character of the beds in which it occurs, I was satisfied 
 it was wholly unconnected with the true coal measures of the 
 lower series. The existence of coal seams has, therefore, 
 been determined by the auger, and by excavations from Mar- 
 tin Dyer's to Mr, Fooshee's, on the south side ol the Deep 
 river, in Moore county. The coal slates are known to be pro- 
 longed in each direction from these points ; and though the 
 existence of the coal seams in the prolonged slate may be 
 questioned, still, there are no reasons for their immediate dis- 
 continuance. It should, however, be stated here, that the 
 slates beyond Martin Dyer's are known only for about two 
 miles, where they are accompanied with tine beds of argilla- 
 ceous oxide of iron. But they extend much farther to the 
 south-west, and nearly to the Great Pedee. But their thick- 
 ness is diminished at Drowning Creek, and there are no ex- 
 posures of iron ore. Beyond the Great Pedee, in Anson 
 county, the black slates, if they occur at all, are feeble or 
 thin ; though this plat of the formation may be concealed by 
 the deep soil of the valley, still the prospects for finding coal 
 are not encouraging. My opinion with respect to the extent 
 of the coal is, that it will be prolonged about ten miles ; that 
 it will turn out that the continuous outcrop will be, ultimate- 
 ly, about forty miles ; that it will be extended farther in a 
 south-west than in a north-east direction is rendered probable, 
 from the fact, that in the latter direction I am unable to per- 
 ceive that the seams show any signs of giving out ; and it is 
 in this direction that the black slate is extended much farther 
 than in the others I have referred to. 
 
 I do not deem it necessary to enter upon a discussion re- 
 specting the probable extent of the coal seams in the direc- 
 tion of their dip. Circumstances have changed since the 
 publication of the first report, in which I made certain condi- 
 tional statements of the probable quantity of coal in the Deep 
 river formation. At that time doubts were entertained, and 
 freely expressed, whether Chatham and Moore contained a 
 
24:6 NORTH-CAHOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 coalfield at all. Believing, as I had a right, that those were 
 erroneous views, and calculated to injure the interests of the 
 State, I felt bound to make those statements which would 
 place in its true light the value of this coalfield ; for, if those 
 interests were abandoned at that time, the prospect for im- 
 proving this property would be delayed necessarily for a long- 
 time. I believed that the most important interests of the 
 State were centered upon Deep river. Those interests were 
 not confined to a single product, nor a single enterprise. 
 There were two great interests at stake, that which related to 
 the production of coal, and that which related to the produc- 
 tion of iron. Here were the raw materials. Here were the 
 elements which, if properly used and employed, would in- 
 crease the wealth of this section of country more than four- 
 fold. But more than this, I saw in it a stimulus to enterprise 
 and mental activity. Industry would be promoted in every 
 branch of pursuit which the products of this section of the 
 State could foster. It did not confine itself to coal and iron, 
 but extended to agriculture and home manufactures. The 
 stimulus arising from success would pervade the whole com- 
 munity, and put a new aspect on society. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIY. 
 
 Quantity and quality of the Deep river Coal — Composi- 
 tion^ etc. 
 
 § 237. I have stated that it seems unnecessary to express, 
 at the present time, an opinion respecting the quantity of ac- 
 cessible coal in the Deep river district. I believe the devel- 
 opments are now sufficient to establish its character, and that 
 the deep shaft at Egypt contains what we had a right to ex- 
 pect, or were justified in expecting. It has established this 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 24T 
 
 position, that the known quantity demanded the construction 
 of means to carry it to market ; and these means are now so 
 far completed, that there is no danger the pubUc will take a 
 retrograde course. Times haye been, when there was danger 
 that all the works for developing the resources of this coal- 
 field would stop, and the public are indebted, in a great mea- 
 sure, to the exertions of Mr. McLane, for the completion of 
 an enterprise which imparts confidence where it was want- 
 ing, and at the same time infuses new energy in the few who 
 were always confident of ultimate success. 
 
 § 238. The quality of the coal is of a high order ; it is 
 true it is not equal to the Breckinridge coal for its volatile 
 matters, but it equals it in its combustible products. For the 
 purpose of giving a greater publicity to the excellent charac- 
 :^er of this coal, I shall make use of the analyses which have 
 been made of it, together with others which are well known, 
 and which will serve as standards for comparison. No one 
 had pursued a plan so thorough as the late Prof. Johnson, 
 whose experience in this line of investigation was equal, if 
 not greater, than any of whom we could boast. They are 
 characterized by thoroughness, which gives confidence in 
 their accuracy. I shall, therefore, deem it proper to put in 
 circulation again the analyses which were issued in a report, 
 the circulation of which has been extremely limited, and 
 which it is now difficult to procure. 
 
 The first analysis of this order was made of the coal of the 
 lower seam, at Farmersville, and recently mined. The com- 
 position was found to be as follows : 
 
 Volatile matter, 80.91 
 
 Fixed carbon, 50.70 ' 
 
 Earthy matter, 18.32 
 
 99.93 
 
 The specific gravity of the specimen 1.416. The coke of 
 this coal is light and puffy, ashes purplish gray- 
 A second specimen gave — 
 
248 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 
 
 Volatile matter, 28.47 
 
 Fixed carbon, ' 64.70 
 
 Earthy matter, 6.83 
 
 100.00 
 
 Specific gravity 1.497. Coked very slowly. Ashes brown- 
 ish red. 
 A third specimen from the lower seam, gave, 
 
 Volatile matter, 30.85 
 
 Fixed carbon,... 63.90 
 
 Earthy matter, 5.25 
 
 100.00 
 
 Specific gravity 1.415. Ashes white and very light. 
 The fourth specimen gave, 
 
 Volatile matter, 81.30 
 
 Fixed carbon, 64.40 
 
 Earthy matter, 4.30 
 
 100.00 
 
 Specific gravity 1.308. Coked slowly. Ashes nearly white. 
 
 The foregoing analyses were made of coal taken only a 
 few feet from the surface. They are designed to show, in 
 part, the effect of meteoric influences which had necessarily 
 diminished the amount of volatile, and increased relatively 
 the earthy matters, as well as to increase also the quantity of hy- 
 grometric water. This coal at greater depths is found to sustain 
 this veiw, as will be seen by analyses of coal taken from great- 
 er depths, and farther removed from atmospheric influence. 
 
 Coal taken from the deep pit at Egypt, and analyzed for me 
 by Dr. Jackson, gave, 
 
 Fixed carbon, 68.6 
 
 Garb. Hydrogen gas, 34.8 
 
 Ashes, 1.6 
 
 99.0 
 
 Color of the ashes reddish brown. 
 
NORTH- CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 249 
 
 This coal, it is true, was not takeu from the same place as 
 those whose analyses have been given in the preceding para- 
 graphs ; but the Egypt and the Farmersville coal cannot be 
 distinguished from each other, when taken from about the 
 same depth. The analysis of the Egypt coal shows a better 
 quality and an increase of volatile matter, and less earth or 
 ash ; probably no analysis shows a better composition for all 
 the purposes for which coal is employed. Another mode of 
 testing the value of coals, is to determine the amount of 
 steam which a given quantity of coal will generate. Thus 
 Johnson found, by experiment, that the steam producing or 
 evaporating power of this coal, was equivalent to 8.1 ; or that 
 one pound of coal would convert 8,1 pounds of water into 
 steam ; and also, that one part, by weight, of dried coal, will 
 reduce twenty-six and ninety-seven hundredths times its 
 weight of lead. 
 
 The following table of comparison is quoted from Prof. 
 Johnson's report, showing the evaporative and lead produc- 
 ing power of coals taken from the different pits of the Eich- 
 mond basin, and certain foreign bituminous coals, which hold 
 about the same rank as to reducing and steam producing 
 power. In an economical point of view, this comparison is 
 interesting; showing that the coals of the Richmond and 
 Deep river basins do not differ materially from each other, or 
 from those of the carboniferous period : 
 
 Names of Coal. 
 
 Chesterfield mining Co. Va., . 
 
 New Castle, Eng., 
 
 Clover Hill, Va., 
 
 Liverpool, Va., 
 
 Picton, N. Scotia, 
 
 Midlothian, Va., (screened,). 
 
 Midlothian, (average,) 
 
 Pittsburg, Pa 
 
 Farmersville, N. C., 
 
 Lead reduced 
 
 Steam gener- 
 
 ly one part 
 
 ated ly one 
 part of Coal. 
 
 of Coal. 
 
 25.78 
 
 8.99 
 
 26.78 
 
 8.65 
 
 26.96 
 
 7.67 
 
 27.07 
 
 7.84 
 
 27.24 
 
 8.41 
 
 27.28 
 
 8.94 
 
 27.34 
 
 8.29 
 
 27.54 
 
 8.20 
 
 26.97 
 
 8.10 
 
 Other foreign, and particularly British coals, produce simi- 
 lar results ; the reductive and evaporative powers do not ex- 
 ceed those of Deep river. Thus, according to the results ob- 
 tained by the British Commissioners on coals, the following 
 
250 
 
 NOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 kinds yield the following numbers, expressive of their power, 
 as in the foregoing table : 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 € 
 7 
 8 
 
 Names of Coal. 
 
 Broomhill coal, 
 
 Coleshill, 
 
 Dalkeith Jewel seam, . . . . 
 Three-quarter rock vein,. 
 
 Ponty-Poo.], 
 
 Bedwas, 
 
 Cwm Frood rock vein, . . . 
 Grangemouth, 
 
 Averages, 
 
 27.11 
 
 Lead reduced. 
 
 Stem gener- 
 
 
 ated. 
 
 25.32 
 
 8.85 
 
 26.14 
 
 8.00 
 
 27.42 
 
 7.08 
 
 26.62 
 
 8.84 
 
 27.46 
 
 7.47 
 
 28.20 
 
 9.97 
 
 28.30 
 
 8.70 
 
 28.45 
 
 7.40 
 
 .09 
 
 The composition of the Farmersville coal, in a raw state, as 
 determined by organic analysis, is as follows, the water be- 
 ing determined by a separate process, and, as equal to 1.71 
 per cent.: 
 
 Sulphur, 3.30 
 
 Carbon, 68.41 
 
 Hydrogen, 4.64 
 
 Oxygen, 8.37 
 
 Earthy matter, 13.60 
 
 Water, 1.71 
 
 100.00 
 
 The excess of hydrogen which the foregoing analysis ex- 
 hibits, over and above that which is necessary to form water, 
 is equivalent to 3.57 per cent. 
 
 The earthy matter in the better specimens of the Farmers- 
 ville coal, though taken near the surface, where it is less ex- 
 posed to meteoric influences, is only 3.81 per cent., instead 
 of 13.60, where it is still more exposed; and an analysis of 
 this coal gave Johnson : 
 
 Moisture, 2.35 per cent. 
 
 Sulphur 0.22 
 
 Carbon, 80.20 
 
 Hydrogen, 5.45 
 
 Oxygen and other vol. matter, 7.97 
 
 Earthy matter, 3.81 
 
 Hydrogen in excess, . 
 
 100.00 
 4.46 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. . 251 
 
 The fixed carbon of this variety, when coked slowly, is 
 •64.57 per cent. The volatile carbon of the 80.20 per cent, is 
 15.63 per cent.; which leaves the 64.57 as the fixed carbon of 
 the specimen. Three thirty-seven hundredths per cent, more 
 passes off in vapour when the coal is coked rapidly. 
 
 The question respecting the presence of injurious matter 
 in this coal, is also determined by the foregoing analyses. 
 Thns, sulphur is injurious in various ways. If present in a 
 large quantity when burnt in grates, its odor is extremely 
 offensive, and it blackens the several articles of furniture which 
 are often used. Twenty-five grains triated for sulphur gave 
 3.3 per cent. Another analysis gave 3.20 sulphur. It is evi- 
 dent, both from experiment and observation, that the sulphur 
 diminishes as the depth increases ; or as other foreign matter 
 diminishes, the sulphur also becomes less. The sulphur in all 
 the pits appears disseminated, and sometimes in lumps, in the 
 slate, while I have observed it in the coal seam, only in one 
 or two instances, in a visible mass in the coal. The impure 
 coals, those which contain slate, contain the most sulphur. 
 When the coal is therefore pure and free from the foreign ir- 
 termixture of slate, coprolites, animal and vegetable matter 
 only partially changed, then the sulphur is in excess. 
 
 § 239. The combustion of this coal, and the case with 
 which it can be ignited, are important qualities. It burns 
 briskly with a brilliant and free combustion. It therefore 
 gives a pleasant and agreeable fire in parlor grates. In this 
 respect, I believe it is not excelled by any coal now in market- 
 This brilliant combustion is attended with a swelling of the 
 whole mass, by which a good hollow fire is maintained, ag- 
 glutinating as the combustion proceeds, and ending in the 
 production of a light porous coke. It is for these qualities, 
 that it is so well adapted to the use of smiths ; and it is inva- 
 riably remarked by them, that they wish for no better coal. 
 In market it sells to Blacksmiths for forty cents per bushel. 
 The amount of sulphur in the iron of the coal produces inju- 
 rious effects in iron which is heated and welded by it. It is 
 stated by Johnson, that the sulphur will not injure it on ship- 
 board or on shore. 
 
252 NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 Sometimes in a rapid combustion of the coal in a grate, it 
 melts partially", and exhibits a tendency to flow. This fact 
 shows that its volatile matter or bitumen is in large propor- 
 tions. This tendency, however, does not exhibit itself in 
 slow combustion. 
 
 The Breckinridge coal melts and flows when ignited. 
 This, however, contains nearly twice as much bitumen or vol- 
 atile matter as the Farmville coal. The Breckinridge has 
 about 61 per cent, of volatile matter, while that from the 
 Egypt pit has only 34.8, or nearly 35 per cent. Whether 
 the Deep river coal can be profitably employed for the pro- 
 duction of Goal oil and other matters for light, has yet to be 
 determined by a series of well conducted experiments. It is 
 desirable that its value for light should be determined, but it 
 is probable that it cannot compete with several richer coals 
 now in market. 
 
 The value of the bituminous coal for the common furnaces, 
 seems to be well established ; there can be no doubt of its 
 value for warming parlors, or for grates, for smith's work of 
 all kinds, being both cheaper and more economical than char- 
 coal ; that is, at forty cents per bushel, it is more economical 
 than charcoal at five cents. The value of the semi-bitumin- 
 ous coals is not so well determined. From several analyses 
 by Johnson, its composition near the outcrop has been deter- 
 mined. Thus the per centage of volatile and fixed matters 
 gave, in 
 
 No. ] , Fixed carbon, 83.12 
 
 Volatile matter, 8.28 
 
 Earthy, 8.60 
 
 100.00 
 
 The ash is purplish gray. This specimen had been long 
 exposed to atmospheric influences; its specific gravity 1.45. 
 
 No. 2, Fixed carbon, 63.76 
 
 Volatile matter, 6.64 
 
 Earthy, 9.60 
 
 100.00 
 
 Ashes reddish gray. Specific gravity 1.54. 
 
KOEtS-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 25S 
 
 No. 3, Fixed carbon, 87.18 
 
 Volatile matter, 7 35 
 
 Earthy matter, 6.47 
 
 100.00 
 
 Specific gravity 1.47. Ash reddish gray. Obtained from 
 a fresh opening, and taken from the 2|- foot seam. 
 
 In this semi-bituminous coal of Geo. Wilcox's seams, it ad- 
 pears that the votatile matter is less than one-fourth of that 
 which belongs to the Farmville or Egypt coal. Tlie value of 
 this variety has not yet been determined ; it is doubtful 
 whether the semi-bituminous coals can be carried to market, 
 where they will have to compete with the Anthracite of Penn- 
 sylvania. They have their place, howeverj and will be em- 
 ployed for warming apartments in the large villages and 
 cities of the State, both in grates and coal stoves. These 
 coals would be well adapted for the Raleigh and Wilmington 
 markets, or for home consumption ; and it is probable, may 
 be employed economically in the manufacture of iron. But 
 the question is not yet settled whether these semi-bituminou;? 
 seams are permanent, or may not prove to be locally anthra- 
 cite or nearly so ; but w^hich may become bituminous at 
 greater depths upon the dip of the seams, and perhaps eveu 
 at comparatively small depths, the semi-bituminous seam may 
 become a bituminous one. As the value of the latter is 
 greater, such a result is to be hoped for. If the loss of bitu- 
 men was to be attributed solely to the local action of trap 
 dykes, such a result appears highly probable ; but as a gen- 
 eral disturbance of the coal strata seems to be connected as a 
 cause with the loss of bitumen, a change can scarcely be ex- 
 pected where this disturbance is excessive at the surface. 
 The escape of steam through fissures in the broken coal strata 
 no doubt carries off" bitumen, while the dry heat of a melted 
 rock would operate only through a limited extent. This re- 
 sult arises from low conducting power of rocks. It fre- 
 quently happens that a rock, in immediate contact with trap, 
 is vitrified only a few inches ; while on the other hand, where 
 rocks are broken up and twisted, or their layers bent, the 
 
254 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 metamorphism is very extensive, though trap is nowhere visi- 
 ble in the altered series. Hence it is, that miners are rarely 
 alarmed when they see trap dykes passing through a coal- 
 lield; provided the strata are not much disturbed. They 
 know that the heat of a trap dyke, at the time of its injection^ 
 cannot alter or change the coal extensively. They look more^ 
 therefore, to the changes which the strata have undergone^- 
 and become alarmed only, when they see they have passed 
 from a continuous plane into interrupted ones, in consequence 
 of faults. It is doubtful whether dykes have much effect in 
 deranging the condition of rocks. It is to be attributed rather 
 to a force which acted in a stage prior to the one by which 
 the dyke fissure is filled. But this view does not affect the 
 reasoning of the miner. With him it is a question how much 
 the strata are disturbed, without reference to the agent, act^ 
 or time. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXY. 
 
 The Dan River Coalfield — Dwision of the Beds Composing 
 It. — Conglomerates and Breccias. — Lower Sandstones. — 
 Coal Shales. — Upper Sandstones. — Conglomerates — and 
 Brecciated Conglomerates. 
 
 § 240. The counties of Rockingham and Stokes contain 
 within their respective areas a series of deposits, which do 
 not differ materially from those of Deep river. Tliey contain 
 coal, but the seams are less known ; and, judging from the 
 depths of the works which have exposed them, they seem to 
 be less promising than those of Deep river. While all the 
 beds which are connected in this formation, or which stand 
 together, are much the same as those of Chatham and Moore, 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 255 
 
 the coal seam is mostly semi-bituminous, or similar to the 
 George Wilcox seam which has been described. 
 
 There are certain peculiarities, however, worthy of notice, 
 which do not exist in the Deep river formation. Those pe- 
 culiarities will be recognised in the following division of the 
 Dan river series : 
 
 1. And at the bottom, conglomerates and breccias. 
 
 2. Lower sandstones, including the soft and hard. 
 
 3. Gray sandstones, with bituminous shales, fire-clays, &C' 
 
 4. Upper sandstones and marls. 
 
 5. Brecciated conglomerates. 
 
 These parts are all distinct and separate at Leaksville, where 
 the system is probably more perfect than elsewhere. They 
 lie in a trough in the primary series, or in the laminated py- 
 rocrystalline rocks, whose direction is about north-east and 
 south-west. The axis of the trough runs parallel with a line 
 which connects Leaksville with Germanton. The system dips 
 to the north-west ; the angle of dip is variable, and ranges 
 between 15° and 40°, it is usually greater than 20°. 
 
 The whole extent or range of the Dan river series is about 
 forty miles, thirty of which is comprised within the bounds of 
 Korth- Carolina. The north-east extremity extends into Yir- 
 ginia, about ten miles. The breadth of the series is not less 
 than four, and not greater than seven miles. 
 
 It has no connection with the Richmond coalfield, though 
 it is prolonged in that direction ; neither is it connected or 
 (continuous with another small coalfield in Halifax county in 
 Yirginia. These several troughs are, all of them, isolated de- 
 pressions in the primary series. Those geologists who are fa- 
 miliar with the northern parts of our country, may infer that 
 these troughs were once connected, and that diluvial action 
 lias removed intermediate parts of the series. This view 
 does not, however, seem to be sustained. There is no evi- 
 dence of diluvial action at all; there is no drift proper in 
 North-Carolina. But all of these isolated troughs were con- 
 nected at a comparative recent period with the ocean. We 
 are notified of an approach to these troughs by the pebbly 
 
356 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 beds which border them, whicli overlie the series, and which 
 appear to bound them. These beds of pebbles, while they 
 surround the coal series, are still distributed along the line of 
 drainage towards the ocean. 
 
 If a correct geological map of the United States is consult- 
 ed, and the positions of the coal iields to which reference has 
 been made is noted, we cannot fail to notice the singular fact 
 that there are four small troughs formed in the primary rocks, 
 or slates, all of which lie with their axes directed to the south- 
 west and north-east — a direction which, in this region, is 
 nearly parallel with the present coast line. These troughs, 
 as I have already said, are disconnected ; and an examina- 
 tion of the series, their outcrops, &c., goes to show that each 
 was formed in a trough by itself, and entirely separate and 
 independent ; each series of sediments was deposited in its 
 own deep sea, or arm of the sea : and furthermore, consider- 
 ing the limited area of each, the depth of these seas or estu- 
 aries was very great. These areas have been only slightly 
 disturbed, though they are traversed by many dykes. The 
 Richmond trough has been disturbed the most, the inclina- 
 tion or dip of the beds often exceeding forty degrees. 
 
 The lowest mass of the Dan river series is conglomerate ; 
 but it is badly developed. It is not exposed at Leaksville, 
 the north-east extremity ; but at Germanton these beds con- 
 sist of angular fragments of granite and gneiss, intermixed 
 with a few imperfectly formed pebbles. This mass might be 
 mistaken for granite, were it not that it contains here and 
 there the pebbles referred to ; or it may be fragments of sili- 
 cihed wood. In this mass I have also found the roots of the 
 silicified trunks penetrating and branching into it, showing 
 that the trees grew upon the spot where they are now found. 
 Above the conglomerate, or brecciated conglomerate, the 
 silicified trunks of coniferous trees are sufficiently numerous 
 to be regarded as an ancient forest. The roots are sometimes 
 changed into lignite. What appears to be trunks are always 
 silicified. These, sometimes, exceed two feet in diameter ; 
 segments of which stand out from the sandstones at an angle 
 of 45° ; but they are usually prostrate. It is remarkable, 
 
NOETH-CAUOLIN-A GEOLOGICAL, SUKVEY. 257 
 
 that at this locality, the trunks and roots only remain. All 
 the tender and leafy parts are destroyed. The beds contain- 
 ing the silicified trunks extend half a mile. In immediate 
 connexion with the soft sandstones which contain the vegeta- 
 ble products already referred to, I found a concretionary clay. 
 Large concentric circles mark the boundaries of the concre- 
 tions, some of which are four feet in diameter. Above the 
 argillaceous concretionary mass, we find the regular bedded 
 red sandstones, consisting of variegated strata in part — but 
 mostly red sandstones, of various degrees of coarseness. 
 These terminate in the black and green shales and slates, 
 which contain the seams of coal. 
 
 At Leaksville, where the series is the best exposed, they 
 consist of the following strata : 
 
 1. Shale or black bituminous slate below the coal ; thickness undetermined. 
 
 2. Slaty micaceous sandstones two feet. 
 
 3. Shaly coal at the outcrop eighteen inches. 
 
 4. Micaceous shale two feet. / 
 
 5. Semi-bituminous coal from two to three feet at the outcrop. 
 
 6. Shale one hundred feet. 
 
 7. Strata of a semi-concretionary limestone more or less silicious, from four to 
 six feet. This is probably an equivalent of the argillaceous iron ore. 
 
 8. Soft green, blueish and black shales with posidonias, sixty feet. 
 
 The shales, however, still continue ; but being covered with 
 soil, their thickness remains to be determined. The calcare- 
 ous strata are above the coal seams ; as no others are known, 
 and as they extend through the coalfield, they become way 
 boards for the discovery of the seams of coal beneath them. 
 These layers are well preserved at Madison, and contain sep- 
 taria. 
 
 The dip of the slates at Leaksville is N. 35° W.; angle of 
 dip 25°. 
 
 A section of rocks between Eagle bridge and Gov. More- 
 head's factory, consists of the following strata : 
 
 1. Sandstones and conglomerate, mostly concealed, at the bridge. 
 
 2. Flinty black slates, two hundred feet thick. 
 
 3. Coal slates, consisting of green and black slates, with posidonia and cypris in 
 great abundance. 
 
 4. Red and gray sandstones. 
 
 17 
 
258 NORTH- CAUOLETA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 5. Conglomerates. 
 
 3. Shaly aud green variegated sandstones. 
 , 7. Conglomerarates and brecciated conglomerates at least three hundred feet 
 thick. 
 
 They contain many angular fragments, some of whicli are 
 very large. 
 
 The upper part, which may be observed at Morehead's fac- 
 tory, presents the following strata, which I state more in de- 
 tail, and in the ascending order : 
 
 1. Greenish brecciated trappean mass. • 
 
 2. Coarse, brecciated mass, intermixed with pebbles only partially rounded, eigh- 
 ty to one hundred feet thick. 
 
 3. Greenish slate and shale. 
 
 4. Greenish slaty sandstone. 
 
 5. Coarse decomposing sandstone, one hundred feet thick. 
 
 The first, or Ko. 1. of this upper part of the series is made 
 up of various rocks, as talcose slates, granite, and masses of 
 feldspar and trap. The size of these angular fragments is 
 from seven to eight inches long, and four to five thick. It is 
 a decomposing mass. 
 
 The coarse brecciated mass immediately above this, is a 
 tough, durable, building stone, of a gray color, and looks like 
 granite at a distance. It contains a large amount of quartz, 
 and the ground or paste in which it is imbedded, is less dis- 
 posed to disintegrate. Tlie dip of this series is IN". 30° W. 
 
 The upper part of the Dan river sandstone is unlike that of 
 Deep river, unless it is parallel with the rocks at Jones' Falls, 
 which I am disposed to regard as probable, and as the inferior 
 beds of the New Ked sandstone. There is evidently a change 
 in the deposits indicative of a more important one, connected 
 with a change of the organic remains. This remains to be 
 determined. 
 
 The series of sandstones again, which are exposed on Fac- 
 tory creek, four miles from Madison, on the road to Martin's 
 lime-kilns, are interesting, as they are exposed by the denu- 
 dation of the stream. They are enumerated in the ascending 
 order, and probably begin near the coal shales : 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 259 
 
 1. Soft greenish slates. 
 
 2. Coarse sandstone, with pebbles. .^ ^ . 
 S. Red and brown sandstones. 
 
 4. Porous red sandstones, or sandstone with angular cavities, similar to those of 
 Deep river, which may have contained a soluble salt. 
 
 5. Green and gray hard sandstones. 
 
 6. Coarse sandstones, with pebbles. 
 
 7. Conglomerates resembling those at Morehead's factory. 
 
 S. Marls, reddish and mottled, beneath which are the primary slates in an uncon- 
 formable position. 
 
 The dip in this series is very regular ; the angle of dip is 
 twenty degrees, and the distance across them is about half a 
 'mile, and every stratum being exposed, there is no danger of 
 committing an error in the succession, or being misled by 
 repetitions. This series is probably equivalent to that which 
 begins at Jones' Falls, upon Deep river ; or, in other words, is 
 the upper part of the Triassic system. At the time the ex- 
 amination was made, I noted the succession only, omitting 
 even the approximate thickness of the strata composing the 
 series. Obscure fucoids were observed, but not obtained. 
 
 The Thecodont saurian remains were obtained far below this 
 series ; and hence, though we iind apparent differences in the 
 groups, we may be confident, I think, that the upper and 
 lower parts of the formations upon Deep and Dan rivers, are 
 the equivalents of each other. 
 
 At Madison, the series below the coal slates, as exposed on 
 the east side of Dan river, is made up of the following strata. 
 They rest upon gneiss : 
 
 1. Soft variegated micaceous sandstones, two hundred feet thick. 
 
 2. Green, shaly and drab colored sandstones, about five hundred feet thick. 
 
 3. Red sandstones, with small angular cavities. 
 
 4. Green and dark colored coal shales, the latter bituminous. 
 
 At Madison, the fossils of the slate are the same as those at 
 Evans' Mills, on Deep river. The conglomerate, which is sg 
 conspicuous a member of this formation on Deep river, is 
 very imperfectly developed upon the Dan. 
 
 At Germanton, at the extreme south-western extremity of 
 the formation, coal has been obtained. The series is not well 
 exposed, but the relations of the beds are as follows : 
 
260 SrOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL 8UEVEY. 
 
 1. Slate below. 
 
 a. Fire-clay. . # 4^ 
 
 .". Coal eighteen inches. 
 
 4. Slate, one foot. 
 
 5. Coal, eighteen inches. 
 
 %. Black bituminous slate, five feet. 
 7. Sandstone and slate. 
 
 Semi-bituminous coal was first obtained about four mile^ 
 from Germanton. Subsequently, only two miles. This coal 
 is not pure at the outcrop. Coal is known at several places 
 between Leaksville and Germanton ; but no new discoveries 
 have been made since my report was published. The Leaks-^. 
 ville seam has been explored deeper; the slope has been 
 sunk about one hundred feet. The seam had increased ; the 
 thickness now being from three-and-a-half to four feet. But, 
 as yet, the investigations of these coal seams have not been 
 sufficiently extended to allow us to express a positive opinion 
 of their value. The coal itself is less valuable than upon the 
 Deep river, inasmuch as it ranks only with the anthracite 
 coals. But the exploration on the plantation of Mr. Wade, 
 at or near Leaksville, becomes more favorable ; the coal seam 
 having increased in thickness and improved in quality. But 
 as the means for transporting the article to market were in- 
 sufficient and defective, no decidedly favorable results could 
 have been anticipated. 
 
 § 241. When the lower sandstones and conglomerates of 
 the two rivers are compared, it is evident that the beds below 
 the coal series are less important upon Dan than upon Deep 
 river. In the latter, the lower sandstones, with their con- 
 glomerates, are remarkably thick ; and we have seen that the 
 conglomerate is very feebly developed upon the Dan at Ger- 
 manton, and wanting at Madison ; and it appears that in Vir- 
 ginia, the lower sandstones, with their conglomerates, are en- 
 tirely wanting. 
 
 The slates of the coal measures of the two districts are 
 probably equal in thickness ; but it appears from facts thus 
 far developed, that the coal, and the argillaceous iron ores, 
 are less in quantity in the Dan river district. 
 
 The series above the coal slates, however, are either better 
 
NORTH-CAUOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 261 
 
 exposed, or else are actually thicker. There is no locality 
 where the upper rocks are so well exposed as upon Factory 
 creek. Of the identity of the two series there can be no 
 doubt. The fossils of the Dan, differ in no respect from those 
 of Deep river. I have obtained a much larger number from 
 the latter than the formei'. I found it necessary to confine 
 my explorations for the time being to Deep river. It must 
 be understood, that while explorations are in progress, is the 
 best time to obtain the evidence of the age and epoch of the 
 formation. It has happened that this evidence was frequent- 
 ly lost to myself, in consequence of the decomposition of the 
 materials which were taken out of the shafts which were be- 
 ing sunk, as well as dispersed by the hands of visitors, who 
 were frequently present. Hence, it has required much time 
 to obtain a class of facts essential and necessary to decide 
 certain geological questions of real importance. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Economical Products of the Coal Fields^ and of the Red 
 Sam^dstones. 
 
 § 242, Industry never lacks materials upon which to ex- 
 pend its exergy. It is not cupidity which always seeks the 
 useful, in the rough quarries of nature. The occurrence of 
 one valuable product is but a step towards the discovery of 
 another ; and we are frequently surprised at the numerous 
 wants which are supplied in a single series of sediments. In 
 addition to the coal, which is the first object of pursuit, and 
 the discovery of which has opened the way for others, and 
 which probably would be useless, were there no coal, iron 
 ore, free stones, grindstone grits, and fire-clays, may be enu- 
 merated. 
 
262 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 The iron ores belong to two or three distinct kinds : 
 
 1. The ordinary hjdrons peroxides, with arggillaceous mat- 
 ter, which are undoubtedly the altered products derived from 
 the argillaceous carbonate, 
 
 2. The same kind in appearance, but which is magnetic. 
 
 3. The black band of the Scotch miners, and which is re- 
 garded by a gentleman well acquainted with this ore, as the 
 BldcTcbest of the Scottish miners. 
 
 All these kinds appear to be abundant, or to be coexten- 
 si^^e with the coal slates. I am not able to speak of the ex- 
 tent of the brown magnetic ore which occurs upon the plan- 
 tation of Mr. Tyson. It is an interesting anomaly in the way of 
 iron ores, to find the brown ores, with their ordinary aspect, 
 strongly magnetic. I suspect this kind may be confined to 
 the surface, inasmuch, as under the action of light, and per- 
 haps certain atmospheric influences, the black ores of the older 
 rocks become very strong magnets. 
 
 The argillaceous carbonate, when exposed to meteoroic in- 
 fluence, the hydrous peroxide, with argillaceous matter, oc- 
 curs at the depth of about two hundred and thirty feet in the 
 shaft at Egyi^t. It is frequently found outcropping above the 
 coal seams, in nodular masses of difi'erent forms and sizes, 
 and may be employed as a clue to the position of the coal 
 seams ; inasmuch, as there are no known bituminous seams 
 above the iron ore beds. The principal seams are below ; 
 bjLit inasmuch as there is another outcropping of iron below 
 the seams, about thirty-four yards distant, it is necessary to 
 be on guard, so as not to be led astray by the inferior beds of 
 iron. These outcropping beds of iron ore at the Gulf, are un- 
 doubtedly the seams of black band, belonging to the next 
 seam of coal below the main seam, which at Egypt is thirty 
 feet below in the shaft. But this ore, though traces of its 
 outcropping may be seen at several places, is not always to 
 l)e found upon the surface. It is rarely as strong at any place, 
 • as at the Gulf. 
 
 The argillaceous carbonate occurs in balls, and in continu- 
 ous beds. Tliey are adjacent to each other. The color of the 
 ore is gray or drab ; it eftervesces with acids, and is some- 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOaiCAL SURVEY. 26S 
 
 what silicious ; and certain parts of tlie seams of ore are 
 tough. It differs in no respect from the argillaceous carbo- 
 nate of the carboniferous series. It contains about thirty- 
 three per cent, of metallic iron. The surface ores being al- 
 tered, the carbonates contain fifty per cent, of metallic iron. 
 This is not too large a per ce^ntage to be estimated for the 
 magnetic ores of the Tyson plantation. Of the quantity of 
 these carbonates there can be no doubt ; since they occur 
 along the entire outcrop of the slates of the coal series. A 
 very beautiful and rich kind is found at Benjamin Wicker's, 
 beyond the known limits of the coal seam ; so, at the other 
 extreme, at Murchison's, it is still in place, and holding the 
 same relations as at the Gulf, at Egypt, or Mclver's. 
 
 I am unable to distinguish the black band from the argilla- 
 ceous carbonate, where it has been subjected to meteoric in- 
 fluences. I have, heretofore, maintained and expressed the 
 opinion, that there were two bands of the ore under consid- 
 eration ; one above, and the other below, the main coal seam ; 
 but the shaft at Egypt proves the existence of the black band 
 accompanying the little coal seam ; and hence, it is probable 
 that what appears to be argillaceous carbonate, is the black 
 band, changed by exposure to the air. There is, probably, 
 only two bands of the argillaceous carbonate — the continuous 
 band or seam, and the band of iron balls in proximity with 
 each other. 
 
 This is mined with great ease and facility. Although hard 
 and difiicult to penetrate with the augur, yet, when the slate 
 beneath the band is taken out, tons of it fall into the pit at 
 once. The expense therefore of mining, is trifling under the 
 circumstances ; and hence, there is no reason for doubting 
 the feasibility of making iron from it at a profit. 
 
 The black band invariably accompanies the coal seams. 
 There are now known three seams of it ; one between the 
 main coal seams, another immediately below, and a third, 
 equally important, accompanying the little coal seam thirty 
 feet below the former, and from which it is separated by 
 slates and gritty fire-clay, fifteen feet thick. 
 
 The black band owes its high value as an ore, to the facili- 
 
264 NOKTH-OAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL STTKVEY. 
 
 ty with which it is converted into pig, and the quality of the 
 pig produced from it. The ore itself is black and somewhat 
 massire, as a slate ; fracture compact and even, or only 
 slightly conchoidal. It would be mistaken for a heavy mas- 
 sive slate. 
 
 This ore was first discovered at Farmersville ; but it was 
 not suspected to be the Scotch hlack hand ; but that it would 
 prove available ore there could be no doubt. Mr. Paton, a 
 gentleman of great experience in iron making, first suggest- 
 ed to Mr. McLane the character of the ore. Examination 
 proved the correctness of the gentleman's opinion already 
 referred to. When roasted it is strongly magnetic, and prob- 
 ably the brown magnetic ore of Tyson's, is only an altered 
 black band, as it occurs also in layers, or in the form of a fis- 
 sile ferruginous slate. 
 
 The composition of the black band was determined for me 
 by my friend Dr. Jackson. It is composed of, 
 
 Carbon, 31.30 
 
 Peroxide of iron, 47.50 
 
 Silex, 9.00 
 
 Bitumen and water, 8.81 
 
 Sulphur, 3.39 
 
 100.00 
 
 The roasted ore yields only 0.89 per cent, of sulphur. Sul- 
 phur, as in the case of the slate, seems to attach itself to the slaty 
 parts of the mass ; but I should have expected also a small per 
 centage of phosphoric acid, seeing that coprolites are very 
 common in the black band. The fossils of the black band 
 too, are, more abundant than in the slate ; it is at the junction 
 of this ore with the coal, that the saurian teeth occur in the 
 greatest abundance, especially in that stratum which inter- 
 venes between the coal seams. 
 
 This ore becomes important, in consequence of the facility 
 of its conversion into pig. I am not able to say whether the 
 89 hundredths per cent, of sulphur in the roasted ore is suffi- 
 cient to exert much influence in the furnace product j proba- 
 bly not. In the progress of mining, the black band is so 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOaiCAL SURVEY. 265 
 
 closely connected with tlie coal, that it will necessarily be 
 raised ; and hence, a valuable ore will be obtained at the 
 surface, with only a trifling additional cost, over that which 
 attends the mining and raising of the coal only. 
 
 From the occurrence of this ore, the mineral resources or 
 the wealth of the coalfield is very much increased. We may, 
 therefore, congratulate the friends of the Deep river improve- 
 ment, and those of the mining interest of the country, of this 
 accession of valuable products ; which must secure for this 
 region important establishments for the manufacture of iron. 
 
 § 243. In connexion with the subject of iron ores, I may 
 very properly introduce those which are denominated mate- 
 rials for construction, such as free stones and fire-clays. The 
 red and purple sandstones abound, in the lower red sand- 
 stone, with beds suitable for building stone. The color of 
 these beds, whatever it may be, is lively and inviting. In- 
 deed, no difiference can be discovered between those of Deep 
 river and those of the Hudson river, or the Connecticut river 
 sandstone. As these beds are extensive, they furnish, at ma- 
 ny points, stone of a suitable quality for any purpose which 
 may be required. jSTo quarry has been, as yet, opened ex- 
 tensively enough to prove the value of the material. These 
 remarks are made without reference to the state of the peo- 
 ple, and their present wants or means to get the material to 
 market. In the event that the improvements upon Deep 
 river turn out as the friends of improvement expect and hope, 
 the free stone will be in demand. It should have its value as 
 in other parts of our country where means of intercommuni- 
 cation are provided, which lead to the cultivation of a good 
 taste in building, and hold out inducements to construct dura- 
 ble structures. Where, on the contrary, the temptations to 
 change place and emigrate for bettering their condition, no 
 unprovements in construction are made. But the opening of 
 the navigation of Deep river, the commencement of manu- 
 factures, etc., will put a new phase on society, and lead ulti- 
 mately to the construction of durable residences. 
 
 § 244. The Jire-days, though, they are not found beneath 
 every coal seam, still are common in connexion with the 
 
'^6Q NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 coal, and between the main and little seams. It is well 
 known that they are important for fire-brick and other kin- 
 dred purposes, where a refractory article is reqiiired. When 
 exposed to atmospheric influence at the outcrop, they have 
 all the characters of an argillaceous stratum. When deep in 
 the interior, and removed from atmospheric influence, they 
 appear like a fragile sandstone. When taken up with other 
 materials and exposed, they soon disintegrate, become soft, 
 and pass into another form. Vegetable fibre penetrates the 
 mass, vertically as well as horizontally. These singular beds 
 are regarded as the soil upon which the coal-producing plants 
 grew. Whether this view be true or not, the fact is well ac- 
 counted for by this theory. The vegetable matter, however, 
 of these beds, is not all of it the remains of roots. Prostrate 
 stems of calamites, and the foliage of vegetables are easily' 
 detected in the network, or mesh of roots. There are no 
 stems of sigilloaria or stigmaria in these fire-clays, as in all 
 the beds which belong to the carboniferous system, Tlieir 
 absence proves the epoch of the series not to belong to that 
 refei-red to. It proves, however, that coal can be, and is pro- 
 duced from a vegetation quite different from that which pre- 
 vailed in the epoch of the true coal. It proves too, that ge- 
 ologists have been too hasty in claiming from the so named 
 coal period, the only one which has produced coal in suflS.- 
 cient quantity to make its exploration for a distant market a 
 business from which profits, and even wealth, are likely to 
 flow. We find not only coal, but also fire-clay, bands of iron 
 both nodular and in continuous beds, but even the rarer ore, 
 the hIacJu hand^ which is found only in the coal measures of 
 Europe, 
 
 § 215, Millstones. — Beneath the red sandstone, the con- 
 glomerate is so ]]^erfectly consolidated that it forms a valua- 
 ble millstone. This is made up almost entirely of compacted 
 quartz pebbles, which are so firmly imbedded that their frac- 
 ture is often directly across the axis of the pebble, where it 
 would be expected to break out. These pebbles are derived 
 from the quartz veins of the Taconic system, and hence, con- 
 sist of milky quartz. 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 267 
 
 The beds vary in thickness from six inches to eighteen, or 
 even two feet. 
 
 The stone is adapted to the grinding of indian corn. They 
 are said to be better cornstones than the French Bui-rhstone ; 
 for grinding wheat, the latter have been always preferred, as 
 they are far less liable to heat the flour. Several quarries 
 are opened in Moore county, and from them the country is 
 principally supplied. The conglomerate at or near the base 
 of the upper sandstone is less consolidated, and is not so well 
 adapted to the formation of millstones. The thickness of the 
 beds is from forty to sixty feet ; but it is a mass which thins 
 out, and hence its thickness at several points is extremely va- 
 riable. The lower sandstone, with its conglomerates, is bet- 
 ter developed in the south-west part of Moore county than 
 elsewhere. We find, even at the Gulf, the conglomerate 
 ceases to be an important stratum. 
 
 As a whole, the mass is made up of rounded pebbles in 
 beds of variable thickness, which are separated from each 
 other by finer and softer varieties. The conglomerates rest 
 almost immediately and unconformably upon the slates of the 
 Taconic system. A circumstance worthy of note, is the fact 
 that the pebbles are auriferous ; hence, the opinion expressed 
 by distinguished geologists, that gold is a recent product, 
 probably of the Tertiary period, is erroneous. It must have 
 existed at the time of the laying down of the bottom rocks of 
 this coalfield ; indeed, long before. So that instead of its 
 being a recent metal, it is one of the oldest, being certainly 
 coeval with copper and iron pyrites. 
 
 § 246. Orindstone Grits. — In the midst of the gray stone 
 beds, more particularly those which occupy a place between 
 the two red sandstones, I have frequently observed valuable 
 grits, which are suitable both for coarse and fine grindstones. 
 Grindstones have, however, been frequently made from the 
 reddish bed as well as the drab and gray grits. These stones 
 have been made to supply the wants of the citizens in a 
 neighborhood far removed from the means of transporting 
 heavy materials. No systematic efforts have been directed 
 steadily towards the business of preparing these stones for 
 
268 NORTH-CAHOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 market. It is only when manufactures are established, that a 
 demand will arise out of the interests and wants of the com- 
 munity, that these lesser products of industry will take their 
 place in the regular trade of the country. 
 
 § 247. Bituminous Slate. — 'The slates of the coal series, es- 
 pecially where they are very near the coal seams, are highly 
 bituminous. They are known to contain 28.6 per cent, of 
 volatile matter, and 19.55 per cent, of fixed carbon. Slates 
 are employed for illumination in Europe, when they are near 
 a large population. It would seem, therefore, that the slates 
 of Deep river may, under favorable circumstances, be em- 
 ployed for this purpose. It is evident that they cannot be 
 transported far for any purpose. They ignite readily in the 
 fire and in a candle, blaze and burn with a good flame, emit- 
 ting a white light. The question may be entertained, wheth- 
 er it is not possible to obtain the bitumen or volatile matter 
 in a portable slate. The importance cf light and fuel certain- 
 ly warrant trials for this purpose. Even the slate far remov- 
 ed from the coal seams is combustible, and highly so. It is 
 doubtful whether such a mass or bituminous slates exists 
 even in the carboniferous series. It is impossible to esti- 
 mate the amount of combustible matter locked up in them, 
 and which it is possible may be turned to some account. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXYII. 
 
 The Advantages of Dee]) River for the Manufacture of 
 Iron, etc. 
 
 § 248. It is the centralization of materials which creates 
 an important manufacturing locality when combined espe- 
 cially with a power to move machinery, and an aggricultural 
 capacity to sustain a large population. These give impor- 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOOICAL SUEVEYs 269 
 
 tance to any location for establishing a manufacturing inter- 
 est upon a large scale. 
 
 Assuming tne doctrine as true, we may proceed to ascer- 
 tain whether there is such a centralization of means upon 
 Deep river, sufficient to build up the interests alluded to* 
 First, it has already been proved that the products of the 
 coalfield make good the assumption. The hydrous peroxide 
 of iron, the black band and coal, need not be spoken of again. 
 The fuel and the material productions are abundant for any 
 projects in this line of operations. 
 
 But the additional means in other ores in striking distance, 
 add to and greatly increase the means for the purposes in 
 view. Thus, the inexhaustible specular ore, four miles from 
 the Gulf, the magnetic ore a few miles farther, the hematite 
 of ore will make an addition of three kinds of ore to those 
 already known in so much abundance in the coalfield. There 
 is, then, the water power, if it is wished to employ it for 
 moving machinery ; or what is better, the employment of 
 steam may be substituted for it ; and still this power should 
 not be lost. 
 
 The next important material is timber. The timber of 
 Deep river and vicinity furnishes a variety not excelled in 
 the State, or anv State, First and foremost is the lone: leaf 
 pine, of which forests line its banks. The growth is large, 
 the wood mature, and is unimpaired by age or by the wood» 
 man's axe. The next most important timbers are the oaks 
 and hickories. The manufacturing interests have been scarce- 
 ly encouraged hitherto ; all the materials in the line of wood- 
 work remain as in a new country 
 
 The next article of importance is stone for construction. 
 These have been spoken of already. The free stone is not 
 only well adapted to the construction of durable or imperish- 
 able buildings, but it is adapted to the construction of elegant 
 ones. Whether strength, durability or beauty, or all of these 
 characteristics are combined, there is ample room for obtain- 
 ing all that can be wished. 
 
 The last essential qualification for manufactures, is an agri- 
 •ultural country ; one whose soil is adapted to the production 
 
370 NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAI. SURVEY. 
 
 of the cereals ; for if these can be grown, every other neces- 
 sary is provided for. The adaptation of Chatham county to 
 the growth of the cereals cannot be doubted ; past experi- 
 ence may be cited in proof, or rather the testimony of the 
 whole community confirms the position. 
 
 But climate should not be overlooked. There is a temper- 
 ature suited to tlie constitution, which, while it favors lon- 
 gevity, favors also the sustenance of life at the lowest ex- 
 pense ; while it preserves the strength, and does not weaken 
 the body by a high summer range. Such, I believe, is the 
 favorable climate of North-Carolina. The moderate range of 
 the thermometer, the freedom from long and excessive heats, 
 or long continued cold, favors the cheap sustenance of la- 
 borers, both as to food and clothing, and adds several num- 
 bers to the per centage of advantages over a climate which 
 is subjected to either extreme of temperature. But an ac- 
 cessible market is indisj^ensable to prosperity. We do not, 
 and cannot rely upon what has hitherto been done ; it is what 
 may be, or what improvements the country admits of. The 
 outlet for trade is not restricted to one direction. It is not 
 Raleigh, nor ISTorfolk, ¥ayetteville or Wilmington, but it is 
 in all these directions ; and so also a route may be opened to 
 Charleston and the West. The position of Deep river is cen- 
 tral. If the manufacturing interest is fostered, intercommu- 
 eation with distant towns follows of necessity. A town will 
 grow up with greater rapidity on Deep river than at Beau- 
 fort. Here are the elements which always draw together an 
 active and intelligent community. These elements have ever 
 created wealthy and flourishing towns. If, then, we require 
 a concentration of means and interests to build up large 
 towns, I do not know where a greater number of the requi- 
 site elements can be found in the interior of any State. 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 2T1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYIII. 
 
 History of the opinions respecting the age of the Deep 
 and Dan River Formations. — Division of the Series ivith 
 remarTcs sustaining it. 
 
 § 249. I have spoken of the formations under consideration 
 in general terms. It is now necessary to place before the 
 reader those details in which I find those facts which go to 
 establish the views which have been forced upon me respect- 
 ing the age of the Deep river coal measures, and the sand- 
 stone upon which they repose. I shall, however, give, in the 
 first place, a brief statement of the opinions which have been 
 expressed by several eminent and distinguished geologists, 
 who have investigated the question at issue. 
 
 Maclure, in his geology of the United States, referred this 
 series to the old red sandstone ; being misled by the close re- 
 semblance of the two formations in their lithological aspects. 
 
 Regarding the sandstones of the Connecticut valley as 
 equivalents in part of the JN^orth-Carolina series, Prof. Hith- 
 cock, in his earlier reports, adopted the opinion of Maclure. 
 Leaving out of view, however, these distant equivalents, I 
 shall limit my statements to those formations which belong to 
 ISTorth-Carolina and Yirginia. Of the latter, those which are 
 known as red and gray sandstones of the Atlantic slope, and 
 particularly those which belong to the Richmond coal basin, 
 the late Richard C. Taylor expressed the opinion, in his first 
 examinations, that they belonged to the regular coal measures. 
 This opinion was founded upon an error, to which Mr. Taylor 
 was not a party. 
 
 Previously, Mr. Nuttall had discovered Zamias, or Zami- 
 tes, which have since been regarded as evidence that the 
 Richmond series were cotemporaneous with the Oolites of 
 Brora. Mr. ISTuttall, however, was not the author of this de- 
 duction, he was the first to discover this order of vegetables. 
 This deduction was not, at this time, thought of; but it was 
 
272 NOKTH-CAHOLINA GEOLOGICAL 8UEVET. 
 
 left to the sagacity of Prof. Wm. B. Rodgers, who, after ob- 
 taining additional information, communicated a memoir to 
 the American Association, in 1843, in which he addressed a 
 body of evidence bearing upon, and sustaining this view, 
 which has been regarded by most geologists as satisfactory in 
 its evidence, that the Richmond series was cotemporary with 
 that of Brora in Scotland, and on a parallel also with that of 
 Whitby in Yorkshire, England. This opinion was ably sus- 
 tained by its author, and has been approved by some of the 
 most distinguished men of this country. 
 
 But, after all, it does not appear to be fully established ; 
 and Prof. Bunbury, who has examined critically a series of 
 fossils from this formation, leans but slightly to that side main- 
 tained by Prof. Podgers ; regarding the evidence almost as 
 conclusive, that it is cotemporary with the Trias, as with the 
 Oolite. These remarks I regard as appropriate ; inasmuch as 
 the Richmond basin, that especially which contains the coal 
 seams, is supposed to be cotemporaneous with that of Deep 
 river. It is this bearing of the question which makes it ne- 
 cessary to establish the age of the Richmond basin first. I 
 have maintained this position myself, ha-ving seen, as I sup- 
 posed, sufficient evidence that the two belonged to the same 
 epoch. This view is now also sustained by Prof. Wm. B. 
 Rodgers. But in the course of my later examinations of the 
 Deep river coal series, certain facts have come to light which 
 diminish my confidence in my former opinion. 
 
 Other geologists place these formations at the base of the 
 Liassic series. Prof. Agassiz, relying on the testimony of the 
 remains of fish, supports this view. In this conflict of opin- 
 ion, it is plain the question is not yet at rest ; it is not settled ; 
 the evidence which bears directly upon it is conflicting, be- 
 cause the facts themselves are too few and too meagre to sup- 
 port an opinion. As far as they go, they may be indicative, 
 but other facts more du-ect may set them aside. 
 
 In 1853, I expressed the opinion that the Deep and Dan 
 river series were cotemporaneous with the Trias. I have, 
 however, often spoken of the Permian rocks of North-Caro- 
 lina, without communicating the ground upon which thb 
 
HOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 273 
 
 opinion rested, or the facts whicli seemed to warrant sucli a 
 deduction. Having stated thus mncli respecting the views 
 of others at diifercnt times, as well as my own, I shall pro- 
 ceed to state the divisions which I now propose, and which are 
 drawn from a careful examination of facts. In doing this, I 
 shall exhibit a concise view of the epoch to which the parts 
 of this series belong ; and in thus condensing as it were the 
 whole subject with their subordinate parts in the simj^le divi- 
 sion I propose, certain conflicting facts will be at once recon- 
 ciled. It will be perceived why and how certain opinions 
 have been derived, which have caused their authors, some to 
 lean to the side of the Lias or Oolite, and others to the Trias. 
 According then to my present view, the Deep and Dan 
 river series admits of the following divisions : 
 
 Names. Foreign Equivalents. 
 
 f 1. Eed sandstones, marls, etc., fKeuper sandstone & marls, 
 
 ToTio J 2. Black or blue slate, with plants and a coal J coal shale, group of the 
 '■^^^^- \ seam, "| ThuringerwaTd. 
 
 1_3. Conglomerate. [ Muschelkalk absent. 
 
 r Drab colored sandstones, f . 
 
 I Calcareous and bituminous shales, | pp„„-„„ 
 
 Permian. ■< Coal, fire-clav, argil, oxide of iron, -! tj„+i, ''+ 'j^^ i:^ ^„j„„ 
 
 I Red sandstone, semetimes gray and drab, | ^""^^^ ^°^^^ hegendse. 
 [^ Conglomerate. |_ 
 
 In the foregoing schedule I have placed the beds in the or- 
 der they stand, or according to the ordej of superposition. 
 
 As a physical group, their true relations are represented 
 in the foregoing scheme. But it remains to be seen whether 
 it is what some call a natural history grouping ; whether its 
 natural history characters will conflict with the arrangement 
 of the masses as they stand and are named, or whether it can 
 be sustained by the evidence of fossils at all, which geolo- 
 gists regard as the test, and the only one by which to try 
 physical groups. But, it should be said that we must first 
 make out these groups ; fossils cannot, and should not, over- 
 ride the testimony of superposition. Having made out the 
 arrangement, having determined the order of superposition, 
 we are then prepared to see what we have got in the line of 
 fossils, and having seen that, we may then look abroad, and 
 see what series the great masses, as well as the component 
 18 . • 
 
274 
 
 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 parts, are cotemporaneous with. This I conceive to be the 
 use of fossils. 
 
 Admitting, however, that the testimony of fossils will be 
 required to sustain the division and the names I have affixed 
 to those divisions, it should certainly be recollected that we 
 are drawing a parallel between a series of rocks and their 
 fossil contents, which are separated from each other three 
 thousand miles ; and that it cannot be expected that systems 
 80 wide asunder should admit of that direct evidence which 
 those do which are nearer to each other, and upon the same 
 continent. We cannot reasonably expect that many species 
 will be common to two groups so widely separated. 
 
 Our conclusions, too, will probably stand some chance of 
 being embarrassed by the presence of new species, or new 
 genera, which, in themselves, unless they are analogous to 
 those of supposed cotemporaneous strata, cannot help us in 
 making up the results. It may occur, too, that certain Spe- 
 cies which in one country are confined to certain distinct well 
 determined bands, will, in another, pass beyond the limits in 
 which they are supposed to be confined, especially at distant 
 localities. When the number of embarrassments are likely 
 to be multiplied, it is wise to avail ourselves of all the lights 
 which may shine from any source ; and hencej we should not 
 entirely neglect lithological characters ; we may give them 
 weight when taken in connexion with others of more impor- 
 tance, and to which they should be subordinate. We should 
 allow generic relations their share in the evidence ; in- 
 deed, it is unreasonable to expect full specific evidence, by 
 which I mean, that which arises from the presence of many 
 identical species. It should be recollected, too, that this for-; 
 mation comes in at the close of the Palaeozoic period, and. 
 that specific affiliations are diminishing, and have diminished 
 materially since tho beginning of the Silurian epoch. 
 
 In the formations under consideration, many species have 
 been found, which are at present unknown in the same par- 
 allels in Europe ; but, provided their analogies are known, or, 
 in other words, their generic affiliations can be made out, we 
 should be satisfied. Mr. Agassiz's determination of the age 
 
NORTH- CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 275 
 
 of the Richmond coalfield rests on the remains of fish which 
 are only generically related to those which in Europe belong 
 to the Liassic group ; they are not identical species. Hence, 
 if we find the Thecodont saurians in the Deep river coal 
 measures, we are justified in adopting the opinion that it is 
 of the age, or nearly parallel with, the Bristol conglomerate. 
 We find the analogies of the Bristol conglomerate, and not 
 the identical species. It would be evidence sufficient to de- 
 termine us to place it in the Permian rather than the Triassic, 
 where another order, the Batracian reptiles are found, or in 
 rather parallel planes with the Lias, where Ichthyosaurs and 
 Pleisiosaurs constitute the most striking part of its saurian 
 fauna. Labyrinthodonts belong to the Triassic, and Theco- 
 donts to the Permian epoch. 
 
 In order to substantiate the correctness of the preceding 
 division, as well as to sustain the views which I have express- 
 ed, I propose to place before the reader the palseontological 
 evidence in my possession, and upon which the whole is 
 based. In the first place, I shall succeed better in presenting 
 the palseontological evidence in an intelligible form, by sta- 
 ting certain facts which have a direct bearing upon the right 
 or wrong of the proposed division. 
 
 The division proposed, I acknowledge, grew out of pate- 
 ontology. I had observed the constant occurrence of certain 
 fossil vegetables in certain relations, which seemed incompati- 
 ble with the true geological position these fossils were snp- 
 posed to occupy. This observation led to an investigation of 
 the facts pertaining to their supposed position, when it was 
 found that this position, or the supposed position and relation, 
 was erroneous. This investigation finally led to the correct 
 determination of the position this plant bed occupies. Tie 
 plant bed in question is the one I have placed in a parallel 
 position with Lettenkohle group of the Thuringerwald. 
 
 1. The earliest discovery which led me to entertain the 
 opinion that the lower sandstone and Deep i-iver coal meas- 
 ures were cotemporaneous with the Permian system in part, 
 -was the existence therein of a class of saurians which Prof. 
 Owen, of London, has denominated Thecodonts, from the 
 
276 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL STUlVE*. 
 
 mode in whicli tlieir teeth are connected witli the jaw. The 
 teeth of these sanrians were found on my first visit to the 
 coalfield. By sections, I have been able to determine that 
 these canine looking teeth did not belong to Sauroid fishes, 
 neither were they the teeth of the Labyrinthodonts, frog like 
 sanrians which belong to the New Red sandstone. I have 
 found also, that they do not occur much above or much be- 
 low the rocks which immediately invest the coal seams. 
 
 2. At Ellington's, which is usually known as the Ehiney 
 Wicker place, and so named upon the map, I found a pecu- 
 liar plant bed formed of dark blue slates, in which there is a 
 seam of fine bituminous coal about two inches thich. Tliese 
 blue slates or shales rest upon a coarse conglomerate. This 
 plant bed I afterwards traced to Jones' Falls or Lockville, 
 where it also rests upon a conglomerate, which, to all appear- 
 ance, is equivalent to the conglomerate below the lowest red 
 sandstone ; and which, in Moore county, is used for mill- 
 stones. To determine the question whether it is or is not 
 tliis lower conglomerate, I have examined the lower part of 
 the red sandstone at the Gulf and elsewhere, but have never 
 discovered this plant bed in the position it occupies at Jones^ 
 Falls. It is only forty feet above the porphyries of the Ta- 
 conic system at this place ; but when traced to the Ellington 
 plantation, six miles south-west, the sandstones below the 
 conglomerate have come in in great force, and their aggre- 
 gate thickness is not less than eight hundred feet. Here, 
 then, we have proof that the plant bed which is connected 
 with a conglomerate cannot be that conglomerate which be- 
 longs to the base of the lower red sandstone. When traced 
 still farther south-west, I found that it rises apparently in the 
 series ; and we find it in the next place overriding the whole 
 of the carboniferous series. 
 
 3. This bhie slate containing plants is again exposed about 
 three miles north-east of Jones' Falls, on the plantation of 
 Mr. House, on the banks of Haw river. 
 
 This plant bed, then, may be traced nearly ten miles. It 
 is always accompanied by the conglomerate, which is thirty 
 
NORTH-CAEOLUSTA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 277 
 
 or forty feet thick, if we'embrace all the beds ; some of which 
 are interlaminated with drab colored sandstones. 
 
 To the south-west, after leaving Ellington's, most of the 
 rocks are concealed by the debris ; and where the conglome- 
 rate appears at Evander Mclver's mill, I have been unable, 
 as yet, to find the blue slates. To the north-east again, after 
 leaving House's quarry upon the Haw river, the lower sand- 
 stones increase in thickness again ; and in the neighborhood 
 of Mooring's, six miles from Chapel Hill, the black bitumin- 
 ous shales or slates make their appearance. At this place, 
 there is probably another deep depression in the primary 
 rocks, where it is possible we may discover a limited coal- 
 field. But in attempting to trace the outcrop of these lower 
 3'ocks farther north-eastward, we find it is soon lost, and they 
 are entirely discontinued or concealed beneath the upper red 
 sandstone. We soon find ourselves in the red and greenish 
 marls, which we suppose may be the Triassic of English wri- 
 ters ; or more correctly, it may be regarded as the Keuper of 
 the German. The j)lant bed lies beneath the Keuper, and 
 its plants are certainly analogous to those which are found in 
 the Lettenkoble group of the Thuringerwalds. I can see no 
 objection to regard the blue slates as its equivalent. This 
 bed contains no fish scales, or any animal forms ; and I be- 
 lieve there is no plants in it w^hich belong to the bituminous 
 shales of the coal seams. These are certainly strong facts,' 
 and they go to establish the doctrine, that these beds and 
 their overlying red and green marls should be separated from 
 the bituminous beds of the coal series. If this plant bed was 
 beneath the coal measures, it would establish the docti'ine, 
 that the whole series belong to the Triassic period. 
 
 But as this plant bed occurs high up in the series, and after 
 the deposition of a conglomerate, it only effects the age of 
 the series above it. ISToV as the conglomerate at Jones' Falls 
 rests on the porphyries and porphyritic slates of the Taconic 
 system, it is evident that there is wanting at this place a vast 
 series of rocks, consisting of the lower red sandstone, and 
 the whole of the coal measures, as they are developed at 
 Egj^pt and elsewhere. Their absence is a fact, and that fact 
 
278 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 proves that all of their seams thins out in this direction, and 
 that the sandstones about Haywood and onward towards 
 Grranville county, are no less and no more than the upper 
 sandstone which I have ventured to regard as equivalent to 
 the Keuper of European writers. The lower sandstone, if 
 the foregoing views are correct, is the E-otheliegendes, the 
 lowest mass of the Permian system, while the middle is iden- 
 tified as Permian, by its Thecodont saurians. 
 
 It is, I think, evident, from an inspection of the rocks, dis- 
 regarding the evidence of fossils, that they should be divided. 
 The two red sandstones are widely separated by intervening 
 rocks ; and I am inclined to believe that there is a slight un- 
 conformability between them.. Their fossils, too, are dissimi- 
 lar. It will be found that the upper is fossilferous, while the 
 lower is extremely poor in organic bodies. In whatever light, 
 then, we view the members of this series, we are forced to 
 come to the conclusion that it consists of members belonging 
 to two different stages, and that we cannot consistently, with 
 known geological principles, place the whole series under one 
 head, with one name and denomination. We cannot call the 
 lower sandstone Triassic or Liassic, because it has none of 
 their characters ; but in the upper sandstone there are Trias- 
 sic fossils, and the beds which contain them are separated 
 from those beneath by conglomerates, as well as by thick 
 masses of other sediments. The foregoing facts place in a 
 strong light the danger of hasty generalizations where the 
 series of sediments are complicated, and where their position 
 and relations are obscure from the absence of the necessary 
 terms, for a correct and immediate comparison ; especially, 
 those generalizations which are founded or drawn from one 
 or two organic facts. 
 
 It is with considerable difiidence that I have proposed the 
 separation of the upper sandstone ^-om the sediments be- 
 neath, and it is only after a careful examination, and mature 
 deliberation, that I have ventured to adopt the plan, and pub- 
 lish it under the circumstances I am placed in, knowing very 
 well that it is not in accordance to the published opinions of 
 our most learned geologists. I find, however, that the phe- 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 279 
 
 nomena do not admit of any other interpretation, in the light 
 of facts now known. It may turn out, it is true, that other 
 discoveries will put upon the questions at issue a different 
 geological aspect ; but until other facts with other bearings 
 are brought to light, I shall adhere to what I now publish, 
 believing it is more consistent with the received geological 
 principles of the day, than those views and opinions which 
 have heretofore been promulgated. 
 
 In forming or making up a judgment respecting the epoch 
 of the deep and Dan river formations, it is necessary to deter- 
 mine, if possible, what weight each class of fossils should of 
 right possess in the balance. It is clear, in the first place, 
 that we are obliged to rely upon the testimonji^ of fossils 
 which belong to analogous formations in Europe, their sys- 
 tems having been established both on the ground of super- 
 position and the presence of certain organic bodies, before 
 our formations had received that attention which is necessary 
 to determine the exact period in the world's history, which 
 they represent. In this respect, we are obliged to follow the 
 lead of European geologists. We are obliged to determine 
 at what period some of our formations were laid down, by 
 the assistance of European tests. We cannot now take an 
 independent course. Yet we are bound to make out a strati- 
 graphical series correctly, when possible ; but where a forma- 
 tion is deposited upon the rocks of the primary or Taconic 
 series as is the fact with the Deep river coal series, we have 
 no stratigraphical clue to base our opinions upon ; and hence, 
 we are left to grope our way slowly by the aid of fossils ; and 
 it cannot be expected that in a formation so peculiar, so bar- 
 ren in these products the world over, that we can at once 
 
 Note.— The Bristol conglomerate, Eng., which contains the teeth and bones of the 
 Thecodont saurians, is supposed by Prof. Phillips to belong to the lower part of the 
 Trias. Should his view prevail, it will change also the position I have taken ; for it 
 is the presence of these saurians in the Deep and Dan river formations which induces 
 me to place a part of this series in the Permian system. I have been sustaind in this 
 view, by the fact that these saurian remains are found upon the continent in the un- 
 disputed Permian beds. I think I am warranted in this course by the opinions of all 
 other European geologists, who have invariably regarded the presence of this order 
 of saurians as the best test of age ; and besides, Prof. Phillips stands alone in locat- 
 iHg the Bristol conglomerate in the Triassfc system. 
 
280 • NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 
 
 it 
 
 make tliose comparisons with European standards which will 
 give us results upon which we may rely. The comparisons 
 which had been made prior to my investigation of this series 
 of sediments, it had been settled that they were formed in a 
 period subsequent to that of the true carboniferous, as devel- 
 ed in Pensylvania and Ohio. 
 
 The series which succeed the latter is known in Europe by 
 the name of Permian, a system which has been separated 
 from the IsTew Red, with which it had been groupei. This 
 was done only recently. Then, in going up to the next beds 
 of the upper part of the messozoic series, we find the green 
 sand. Now, it was well settled that the Deep river and 
 Bichmond coal basins, together with the red sandstones of 
 Kew Jersey and Connecticut valley, were deposited at some 
 period between the close of the carboniferous period and the 
 green sand. The known European rocks which are interpos- 
 ed between these perods, are, the Permian, Triassic, Liassic 
 and Oolite, with certain other limited or local formations, 
 which it is unnecessary to notice in this place. 
 
 But it does not satisfy the requirements of geology to de- 
 termine simply and only that our formations may lie some- 
 where in this wide interval. This wide interval is filled with 
 stirring; events, it is not a blank ; but we find in it the closing 
 up of the palgeozoic account, and the entry upon a new book, 
 the messozoic ; and among the first entries, we have to note 
 the foot marks of warm blooded animals ; the animals which 
 had lived before were all cold blooded. This is one of the 
 first entries upon the messozoic book ; and here we find the 
 feathered biped, whose footmarks are seen in all countries 
 where the New JKed sandstone or Trias is known. The next 
 page in the messozoic book is the record of the creation of 
 the mamiferous types, which then is another important stage 
 recorded in oolites of Solenhoften. 
 
 We see, therefore, if we would bring up our geological 
 dates with those of Europe, we must localize our formations 
 more closely ; we must draw the parallels in lines which shall 
 be nearly coincident. Prof. William B. Eodgers, in carrying 
 out the objects which I have thus designated, has recently 
 
NOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 281 
 
 drawn certain parallels by whicli he makes the formations 
 under consideration coincident with the Liassic of Europe. 
 This conclusion rests on a few fossils only, and those which 
 are equivalent in their nature. Thus, the Equisetum Colum- 
 nare is a fossil, which is eminently characteristic of the Keu- 
 per sandstones and marls of the Trias. The Cypridse referred 
 to, of themselves, possess but little weight; they exist be- 
 fore this period, and would go equally as far to identify the 
 Deep river series with older formations, as with the Liassic 
 or the Jura. ^At most, there are but two species yet known 
 in the Deep river rocks, though one of them is very com- 
 mon. The Lycopodites is, manifestly, quite a different spe- 
 cies from the L. Williamsonis. ISTone of the Zamites have 
 been identified with species of the Jurassic age. But the 
 conclusion that certain parts of the formations under consider- 
 ation belong to one age, and certain to another, there remains 
 scarcely a doubt ; a view which I had adopted several years 
 ago. I have already stated the facts upon which I rely for 
 establishing the Permian age of the lower members of this 
 series, and more evidence remains to be brought forward 
 respecting the identity of the upper members with the Keu- 
 per sandstone and marls. But 1 may, for the benefit of the 
 general reader, dwell a little longer upon the saurians I have re- 
 ferred to. I do this, not so much for the sake of argument or 
 the bearing the facts may have upon the settlement of the 
 question at issue, as for the sake of the history they furnish ; 
 but in passing, I have one remark upon another point, it is 
 this, that the higher grade of fossils should have more weight 
 in deciding a doubtful question than the lower ; that an ani- 
 mal should have more weight than a vegetable ; that a Palse- 
 osaur should be regarded as more important than a Pecop- 
 teris, a cypris, or posidonia ; and a vertebrated animal should 
 have more weight than an invertebrate. This, I beheve, is 
 the doctrine of Prof. Agassiz. 
 
 The Thecodont saurians of the Bristol conglomerate, to- 
 gether with those of this type in other Permian strata upon 
 the Continent, were Lacertian reptiles provided with four 
 members for locomotion, and which were adapted for swim- 
 
282 NOKTH-CAROLESrA GEOLOGICAL STTRVET. 
 
 ming as well as progression upon land. They would rank in 
 the same grade as the highest reptiles of the present, the rep- 
 tilian characters being developed in full, unless indeed the 
 ichthyic type remained recognizable in the biconcave form 
 of the vertebra. With the double headed rib, we see the 
 reptilian heart and circulation taking precedence over that of 
 the fish, and with this advancement in rank we find, most 
 probably, the most perfect representation of this mode of cir- 
 culation to which any order of animals had attained in this 
 early period. Reptiles, then, of the highest rank, are the 
 representatives of the Permian epoch ; and without doubt 
 should be placed in the front rank of its characteristic fossils. 
 If to this, however, is added the subsequent introduction of 
 Triassic fossils, and the discontinuance of those belonging to 
 the beds in which these peculiar saurians occur, it seems to 
 me the evidence is as complete as possible, that in the lower 
 members of the Deep river series we may claim the exist- 
 ence of the Permian system. Should this conclusion be sus- 
 tained, it will add to our sedimentary systems an imjDortant 
 member, which most, if not all geologists of this country, 
 have hitherto supposed was wanting. It fills up an impor- 
 tant gap in our series, and supplies in this country a continu- 
 ous chain of the history of our planet ; and if the discoveries 
 of Prof. Marcou in the far west are also confirmed respect- 
 ing the existence of the Jurassic series, it will probably turn 
 out that geologic time is as fully represented in the American 
 as in the European systems. It will then be confirmatory of 
 the great doctrine which has been taught, that there has been 
 an uniformity the world over, in the operation of nature, in 
 both the organic and inorganic worlds.- 
 
 Thus, in Europe, the Sauroid fish appear in the Devonian 
 system ; then a class of saurians in the Carboniferous ; then 
 the Tliecodonts in Permian, followed by the Labyi'inthodonts 
 or frog like saurians of the Trias, and the Ichthyosaurs and 
 Pleisiosaurs in the Lias or Jura. In the latter, however, we 
 have something to do to complete the analogies. But in the 
 upper messozoic we have, .as in Europe, the Mossosaurus ; 
 and finally, in the Pre Adamic period, a parallel in the ma- 
 
, NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 283 
 
 malian fauna, especially in the general distribution of tlie 
 the family of Elephants and Mastodons. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXIX. 
 
 Description of the Organic Remains of the lower series of 
 Deposits of Deep river, which have been denominated the 
 Perjnian system. 
 
 § 250. The fossils will be described in the order in which 
 they occur in the beds, beginning with the inferior ones. 
 Tliese fossils consist of plants and animals. In the older or 
 lower red sandstone, but few fossils of any kind exist. Those 
 which have been found are marine vegetables, whose char- 
 acters are obscure ; yet they are so well preserved, that it is 
 not difficult to recognize them. No animal remains have 
 been discovered in the lower red sandstone. 
 
 1. Remains of vegetables in the lower sandstone, or Rothe- 
 liegendes. — The most important vegetable remains are the 
 silicified trunks of trees belonging to the order of conifera or 
 cone bearing trees. The fragments of the stems are well 
 known as petrified wood. These stems and trunks occur of 
 various dimensions, and seem to be found at, or to belong to, 
 the inferior part of this rock. They are usually brown, some- 
 times black, as if penetrated by manganese. The bark is al- 
 ways absent, unless in certain obscure parts, which appear 
 like roots when the outside surface is charred. The texture 
 of the wood is usually vissible, and the structure peculiar to 
 coniferous trees can be made out with a good lens. 
 
 The stems are always broken, but some of the pieces are 
 five or six feet long. The place of a branch is often visible 
 by the growth around the part. Of the silicified trees, the 
 
284 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJRITEY. ■. 
 
 locality, where tliej exist in tlie greatest numbers, is in Ger- 
 manton, in Stokes connty. They are so numerous as to have 
 received the name petrified forest. They are not confined to 
 this place, but are found strewed upon the surface of the 
 ground at Haywood, in Chatham county ; near Wadesbo- 
 rough, in Anson ; and also some fifteen miles south-west of 
 Troy, in Montgomery. At Jones' Falls, I found a rolled 
 fragment of one in the conglomerate of that place. Frag- 
 ments have also been transported to the east, when they are 
 folmd in "Wayne county, in the alluvial covering of the 
 Meiocene. 
 
 As it regards the precise period to which these silicified 
 stems belong, I believe it is not yet satisfactorily determined. 
 Stems of this description are found along the edge or borders 
 of the upper sandstone ; but 1 have not found any which I 
 could sav belonged to the rock. I can see no difference, ex- 
 ternally, between those bordering the upper sandstone, and 
 those which are inclosed in the lower. The rolled fragment 
 in the conglomerate is older, of course, than the beds of which 
 it formed a part ; and as these beds underlie the npper sand- 
 stone, it is evident they do not form a part of its organic re- 
 mains. And those which lie upon the surface, on the bor- 
 ders of the upper, may have been transported there by 
 streams which have ceased to flow. From the foregoing facts 
 and reasoning, I am disposed to regard these stems of conife- 
 rous plants as having grown during the deposition of the 
 Rothe todthe Liegendes. It appears from circumstances, 
 however, that these trunks have been subjected to violence ; 
 and though we find some standing upon end, yet it is to be 
 proved that they grew in the position which they now occupy. 
 
 § 251. YegetcMes which are sometimes known under the 
 name of fucoids. — As in most countries, so in IlTorth-Carolina, 
 the lower sandstone and conglomerates which represent the 
 beds known in Germany as the Rothe todthe liegendes, are 
 quite barren of fossils. The conglomerate contains lignite in 
 a bad state of preservation ; but the plants which grew while 
 the rock was being deposited, were certain marine plants ; 
 and the most common one which I have observed in the 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEr. 285 
 
 sandstone, and which is distributed through it, generally be- 
 longs to the genus Chondkites. It penetrates the rock verti- 
 cally, is somewhat branching ; but what is quite peculiar, is, 
 that its main frond* is double, or appears so, and these stems 
 are usually twisted or winding. It enlarges and contracts ir- 
 regularly, but is never inflated or much swollen. It has no 
 foilage, of course, but it sends off subdivisions of the main 
 frond, which alternate with each other. The sub-divisions go 
 off nearly at right angles to the branches from which they 
 proceed. 
 
 It is impossible to trace this fucoid far enough to determine 
 its length. I have observed some parts of the plant which 
 are four inches long. I believe it is confined to the lower red 
 sandstone, and is the most abundant in its middle part. The 
 name which I propose for this plant is Choistdeites, d%tpli' 
 catus. 
 
 It should be observed that it is probable this rock will be 
 found richer in fossils than I have represented. As yet there 
 are no quarries opened, and as it ij generally concealed be- 
 neath its own debris, few opportunities are furnished for test- 
 ing or determining its organic wealth. ~^o animal remains 
 have been observed in this rock. 
 
 This sandstone has the texture of the red and purplish free- 
 stones of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut ; and 
 much of it is well adapted to construction. It however con- 
 tains marly beds, which are undergoing disintegration. Peb- 
 bly beds are not unfrequent ; bat it has no important bed of 
 conglomerate except that upon which it rests. Hence, it ap- 
 pears to have been deposited in waters which were compara- 
 tively quiet and undisturbed by violent currents. Hence, 
 too, we cannot attribute its paucity of organic remains to this 
 cause ; but must probably look to the presence of the oxide 
 of iron which gave a turbid slate to its waters, and which ul- 
 timately invested the grains of quartz of which it is mainly 
 
 * The term frond applies to that part of the plant which would usually be regard- 
 ed as the stem, or main support ; but it also applies to the whole of the plant, as it is 
 destitute of leaves, or the common forms of floral organs. 
 
286 
 
 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 
 
 composed. These may be washed and freed from its coating 
 when they become either white or hyahne. 
 
 § 252. (2.) Fossils of the Goal Measures^ including the drab 
 colored sandstones. — A. Yegetable remains. — As there is no 
 distinct hne of demarcation between the shales or bituminous 
 slates and the drab colored sandstones, I shall describe the 
 fossils of each as if they formed one rock. They, however 
 alternate, and finally the slates give way, and the sandstones 
 predominate. These are often marked by the waving ridges 
 and furrows which are known under the name of rijpple 
 marks, proving, as is sujDposed, that the sandstones were de- 
 posited in shallow water. The annexed figure illustrates the 
 phenomenon I have described. 
 
 Fig 2f>. 
 
 The gray or drab colored beds begin or appear in some 
 places below the slates, and perhaps the red always disap- 
 pears before the thin fighter colored rocks appear in the se- 
 ries. Indeed, there are drab colored beds intermixed with 
 the lower red at various places. 
 
 The coal measures are made up, therefore, of gray and 
 drab colored sandstones, black bituminous shales and green- 
 ish calcareous shales, which also contain bitumen, but no fos- 
 sils, argillaceous oxide of iron, black band, fire-clay and coal 
 seams. There are no less than seven alternations of these 
 nonfossilferous beds with the bituminous beds, which are 
 loaded with cypris and many posidonia, fish scales, etc. The 
 coal slates and shales proper, which do not alternate with 
 
NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 28T 
 
 beds of sandstone, are about eight hundred feet thick at 
 Egypt, embracing a few beds of drab colored sandstone be- 
 low the slate. Tlie drab colored sandstones above the coal 
 slates are about twelve hundred feet thick at Evander Mc- 
 Iver's plantation. The whole series then which I have de- 
 nominated for the sake of convenience, coal measures, (per- 
 haps improperly,) is nearly two thousand feet thick. These 
 upper beds of gray or drab colored sandstones, are oft^n par- 
 tially covered with an efflorescence in summer which consists 
 mostly of common salt, hence this part of the series has been 
 denoted as the salines in one of my sections ; and probably 
 it will be found necessary to make a wider distinction be- 
 tween the upper gray mass and the beds below it than I have 
 hitherto made. This upper drab colored mass ends with con- 
 glomerates below the Keuper sandstone and marls, the up- 
 per member of the Triassic system. 
 
 The chemical composition of the calcareous shales is as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Carbonate of lime, 35.50 
 
 Carb. of magnesia, ■ 9.25 
 
 Alumina and protoxide of iron,... 15.70 
 
 Hygrometric water, 2.59 
 
 Insoluble, 36.88 
 
 99.42 
 
 The shale is traversed by soft gray seams half an inch wide, 
 which are richer in lime, probably, than the more shaly part. 
 The examination proves that these beds contain magnesia, 
 which is a fact common to these locahties. The beds are, no 
 doubt, variable ; but probably magnesia is a constant con- 
 stituent. 
 
 SUB KINGDOM, CEYPTOGMIA. 
 The plants belonging to this sub-kingdom form two classes, 
 which are known under the names, Thallogens and Acrogens, 
 They are characterized thus: structure cellular, stems and 
 leaves undistinguishable. — Ldstdley. 
 
288 JTOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 The Tliallogens contains tlie Algales, Fungales and Lin- 
 clienales of Lindley. 
 
 SUB CLASS Algales. — LnsfCLEY. 
 The fossil vegetables belonging to this division of tbe vege- 
 table Kingdom, are generally known under tbe name of Fu- 
 coids, or plants like the present sea weeds. 
 
 GENUS, Chondrites. — Steenbekg. 
 
 Chondrites interruptus. — E. n. s. 
 
 Frond smooth, irregularly interrupted, branching, dichoto- 
 mous ; angle acute. Smaller branches constricted where 
 they leave the main frond, generally short and acute, rather 
 thick in the middle, clustered together at the upper extremi- 
 ty, prostrate. 
 
 The fronds are never twisted nor double, as in the one in 
 the lower sandstone already described. Large surfaces of the 
 thin bedded drab colored sandstone, interlaminated with the 
 black bituminous slate, are often covered with tliis fucoid. The 
 beds alternate a few times with a fragile slate which abounds 
 in a minute Posidonia. This fossil is found upon the planta- 
 tion of Evander Mclver, Esq., about four miles east of Egypt, 
 beneath the coal seams ; bnt being upon or near a line of dis- 
 turbance, it is uncertain at what depth below the coal seams 
 these fucoid beds occur. 
 
 Chondrites gracilis. — E. n. s, 
 Plate 2, Fig. 4. 
 
 Frond slender and smooth, gently tapering, and apparent- 
 ly branching, branches distant. 
 
 This fucoid forms a coiled mesh of delicate cordlike fronds 
 upon the drab colored sandstones. They appear at first sight 
 like a matted mass of roots, but on close inspection they turn 
 out to be the fronds of a marine plant. It is sometimes lar- 
 ger than I have represented in the figure ; but it is found un- 
 der a lens, to be interwoven with many delicate threads. 
 These, no doubt, are the extremities of the branches. The 
 
N-OETH-CAEOLIlfA GEOLOGICAL SUiaVEY. . 289 
 
 Numerous crossings of these threads and cordlike fronds ob- 
 scures the characters of the plant, and especially the mode 
 in which it branches. It occurs npon the plantation of Mr. 
 Forshee, about two miles west of Egypt, where the sand- 
 stones have suffered a dislocation, and rise up from Deep 
 river in a high bluff, about opposite the Taylor plantation. 
 This fossil is in the drab sandstones above the bituminous 
 slates. At the place where they occur, the fracture is more 
 prominent than at any other point upon Deep river. The 
 displacement is, at least, five hundred feet. 
 
 Chondkites EAMosrs. — E. n. s. 
 
 Stem or frond interruptedly ridged, or coarsely striate, 
 tapering branches alternate. 
 
 The ridges of the stem or frond may have become so by 
 pressure, though, to all appearance, the ridged surface, to- 
 gether with the interruptions, is due to the natural growth of 
 the plant. It is flattened and prostrate. Its appearance is 
 indicative of its having been a land plant; but its minute 
 branches are destitute of foliage, and it is evident that it is 
 not a fern.* This plant is briefly noticed, as it is quite com- 
 mon at Egypt, in intimate relation to the coal seams. This 
 speciriien was taken from that part of the shaft which lies 
 between the six foot and the little seam thirty feet below. It 
 is associated with an E(|uisetum and a. Cheilanthites. 
 
 GENUS, GymNOOAULUS, 71. g. — E, 
 
 - • Plate I. Fig. 4. 
 
 Frond tapering and branching, branchlets dichotomous, 
 the main branches forming with each other, or with the main 
 ' stem, an angle of YO^. 
 
 GymnocAlus, alteknatus. 
 Stem or frond apparently smooth, tapering; branches al^ 
 ternate, naked, dichotomous. 
 
 The figure referred to gives all the information respecting 
 this plant of which I am in possession. The structure is 
 shown iii th6 main stem, where it appears rather coarsely 
 19 
 
290 NOETH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 cellular. The condition of the plant is similar to half de- 
 cayed vegetable ; and hence, is not silicified, or in any way 
 mineralized. The largest of the stems are half an inch in 
 diameter. It has some resemblance to the Cryptomeritus. 
 but is, notwithstanding, a difterent plant. 
 
 It is found in the black bituminous slates of the Dan river, 
 at Madison, Stokes county, and on the Deep river at Evans' 
 bridge. It is very common in some places, the most so of 
 any fossil except the cypris of the shales. 
 
 CLASS, CkYPTOGAMU., CONTINUED. 
 
 SUB CLASS II. ACEOGENS — MuSOALES. 
 
 1 "■ . ' • 
 
 I^AT. ORDER EqUISETACEA OF HoRSETAILS; 
 
 a 
 
 Equisetum columnaroides. — E. n. s. 
 Plate 2, Fig. 3. 
 
 Cuticular surface very finely striate reticulate ; articula- 
 tions indistinct, uniform, obscurely marked and linear ribs, 
 composed of two alternating kinds, the ligulate an^ acutely 
 tapering; the latter, grooved in the middle, sometimes the 
 groove is obsolete: 
 
 The articulations are from one-and-a-half to two inches dis- 
 tant from each other. In the specimen from which the de- 
 scription is drawn, which is nine inches long, there are four 
 joints, and half of another ; and there are twelve or thirteen 
 ribs in a width of two inches. 
 
 This specimen of Equisetum occurs at Egypt, and is quite 
 abundant in the materials taken from the deep shaft, espe- 
 cially in that part of it between the six foot and one foot seam. 
 It is mostly in a gray sandy fire-clay, which disintegrates 
 rapidly by exposure to the air. 
 
 The specimen from which the figure was drawn occurred 
 in the black bituminous shales, upon the plantation of Mr. 
 Mclver, and was taken from the mass above the coal seam. 
 
 It therefore probably ranges through this series ; but doesi 
 not occur in the drab colored sandstones, above these slates. 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICiX SURVEY. 291 
 
 It resembles, in certain points, the Eqiiisetiim columnare,' 
 for wliich it might possibly be mistaken ; but the points are 
 twice the distance apart, at least, and at uniform or nearly 
 uniform intervals, though in the columnare they are more dis- 
 tant toward the middle of the stem than at the base ; but it 
 more especially differs from the Equisetum columnare of 
 Brogn. in the linear form of the points, and the absence of 
 teeth or pointed terminations of the ribs at each of the joints. 
 
 Remarks. — ^The specimen from which the figure was taken 
 was perfectly flattened, and resembles a leaf rather than a 
 stem; but it appears to be sufficiently exact to lead the col- 
 lectors aright ; it was figured before the better specimens of 
 the plant were brought to light at Egypt. 
 
 I have not yet observed, in the coal slates of Deep river, 
 specimens of the Equisetum columnare described by Yvoi. 
 William B. Eodgers, and which is regarded as one of the 
 characteristic fossils of the Richmond series. In a specimen 
 • which I obtained from this series, the tuberculations at the 
 joints are quite distinct, and hence I have no doubt respect- 
 ing the accuracy of the observations of M. Brogniardt re- 
 specting his plant from the Richmond coal field ; but it is not 
 as distinct in its tuberculations as some specimens of the C- 
 8uckowi. 
 
 LyCOPODALES. LiNDLEY. 
 
 Nat. oedee, Lycopodiage^, oe clubb mosses. 
 Plate 3, Eig. 3. 
 § 253. Plants belonging to the Lycopodiacese occur in the 
 bituminous slate and gray sandstone of the coal measure. 
 All the specimens which have fallen under my notice are too 
 obscure to be successfully compared with Fig. 2, of the same 
 plate. The specimen figure was taken from the most perfect 
 I have seen. It appears to be a smaller plant, and with a 
 stem supporting fewer branches ; indeed, I have not seen one 
 which branched at all ; whereas, the other by its side, is 
 profuse in giving off branches. 
 
 Filicales. — Lindley. 
 
292 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVElf. 
 
 POLIPODIACE^, OK FEENS. 
 
 Tlie ferns of this country are always small plants, with 
 under ground stems, while in warmer climates they are pro-^ 
 vided with serial stems which rise to the height of fifty or 
 sixty feet. They are then called tree ferns. Of this descrip^ 
 tion wei'e many of the ferns of the carboniferous system, a. 
 fact which is indicative of a molster and warmer climate, and 
 one in which an extreme cold was probably unknown. The 
 leaves of these plants are termed fronds^ and the organs 
 which are necessary to reproduce the plant, and which are 
 analogous in these functions to seeds, grow upon the back of 
 the leaflets of the frond, either upon the small veins or upon 
 ih.% margin. The organs are microscopic, though in mass dis- 
 tinctly visible. The spores or the reproductive organs, when 
 mature, become visible where the plant is agitated, or shaken, 
 in the form of a darkish cloud. This appearance is pro- 
 duced by the detachment of millions of spores or repro- 
 ductive grains, which in mass have received the name of 
 Sori. The grains resemble more than anything else the pol- 
 len of plants. Some plants bear no organs of fructification, 
 and hence are termed barren. 
 
 Upon Plate 4, Fig. 9, I have figured a fertile fossil fern, 
 which shows the Sori in the form of dots arranged in lines 
 upon the back of the pinnules. This arrangement, together with 
 the organs themselves, is a perfect exhibition of the fructifi- 
 cation which may be frequently seen during the summer 
 and autumn, in many recent ferns. Indeed, the original 
 type of this beautiful class of plants is perfectly preserved ; 
 and may be seen in all the geological stages at present known, 
 since ferns became the inhabitants of earth. 
 
 ChEILANTHITES. — GOEPPERT. 
 
 Frond bi-pinnate ; pinnse oblique, sessile lobed ; lobes^ 
 acute, rather than rounded, proximate alternate. 
 
 This plant is poorly preserved except in its firmer parts, as 
 the stem and midribs of the leafets, which may be distinctly 
 traced; but the jJarenchyma is obscurely defined, and it 
 was difficult to obtain an exact outline of it. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 293 
 
 This plant occurs abundantly in the deep shaft at Egypt, 
 associated with the Equisetum columnaroides, in the fragile 
 gritty fire-clay between the coal seams. It is a large fern, 
 the stem of which is sometimes half an inch in diameter. 
 
 Family undetermined. 
 
 Dyctuocaulus striatus, n. g. — ^E. 
 Plate 1, Fig. 3. 
 
 Frond, or stem thick, tapering below, somewhat triangular, 
 lobed ; lobes striate, from the base or divergent from it — 
 growth' often parasitic. 
 
 The stem appears to have been succulent, and to have re- 
 sembled some of the varieties of plants commonly known un- 
 der the name of prickly pear. This plant was at one time 
 very common in the coal at Farmville, indeed it is always in 
 the form of a soft bituminous coal which preserve the stems 
 in a state in which it was possible to detach them from the 
 mass. They always exhibited two or three tiers of growth, 
 each stem starting out from the summit of an older one ; as 
 represented in the figure. This plant apparently throws some 
 light upon the kind of vegetation from which the coal itself 
 originated ; but a soft succulent stem, when subjected to the 
 pressure which a coal seam has to sustain, must be generally 
 ^obliterated, or crushed into one homogeneous mass. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Of the Animal Remains of the Coal Measures of Deep and 
 Dan rivers. — JSTotice of tde Vertebral Remains of the Bris- 
 tol Conglomerate^ etc. 
 
 § 254. Tlie organic remains which I have discovered in the 
 
294 . NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SIJKVET. 
 
 formations under consideration, in the course of the geologi- 
 cal survey, and which are confined to the coal measures pro- 
 per, belong to three classes, the vertehrata, molusca and ar- 
 ticulata. All are important, although there are only a few 
 species under each class. In the molusca only one or two 
 species are known, and the same may be said of the articu- 
 lata. Of the vertebrata, which really contain the most in- 
 teresting and important of the discoveries, there are proba- 
 bly four species or kinds. They belong to a peculiar order of 
 saurians, of which but few only are known to have existed, 
 or of which at least, but a few discoveries have been made in 
 any part of the world. They belong to that order of reptiles 
 which have received, for certain reasons, the name of Theco- 
 donts, which were supposed to have inhabited seas or estua- 
 ries ; but at the same time, to have been provided with ex- 
 tremities suitable for walking, or for progression upon land. 
 They ranked higher in the scale of organization than othei-s 
 of the same order which lived nearer our own times ; and 
 hence, seem to break up that regularity in progressive rank 
 or development which is claimed by many geological writers. 
 As I propose to describe the vertebrate animals first, I may 
 here state in this place that they belong to two great families ; 
 the rejptiles and^sA, Of these the former are the most impor- 
 tant, as the discoveries now stand, inasmuch as their charac- 
 ters are preserved better, and their presence furnishes the 
 most decisive test of the age of the rocks which contain them. 
 
 The common reader who has not turned his attention par- 
 ticularly to natural history, may form a tolerably correct idea 
 of the reptiles which are to form the subject of the following re- 
 marks, by reference to the Aligator of the Southern rivers, as 
 in their form as well as in their habit they resemble these extinct 
 or lost saurians of the Deep and Dan river rocks. They were 
 not, at any rate, very unlike each other in these respects. In 
 the smaller details of the construction of their bodies the}' 
 differ ; but still, when their general forms are compared, they 
 were probably as much alike as the Aligator of our Southern 
 rivers and the Gavial of the east. 
 
 The first discoveries of the remains of these extinct rep- 
 
NOETH'CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY- 295 
 
 tiles of the order termed Thecodonts, and which are so close- 
 ly related to those of the Deep and Dan river formations, 
 was made by Messrs. Ryley & Scutchburg in a rock known 
 in England, under the name of the Bristol conglomerate, 
 whose age is supposed to be the same as the inferior part of 
 the Permian system, to which allusion has been frequently 
 made. This fact seems to require that I should state in de- 
 tail, some of the characters which belong to these remains, in 
 order that the reader may be put in possession of the facts 
 which will enable him to form his own conclusions respect- 
 iug the inferences which I propose to draw from the facts 
 themselves; for their truth, or correctness of the inferences 
 respecting the age of the Deep and Dan river coal measures, 
 turns mainly upon the affinities which belong to the fossil re- 
 mains of the Bristol conglomerate, and those I have discov- 
 ered in the rocks just referred to. If the affinities are as in- 
 timate and close as I suppose, then my inferences respecting 
 the age of the rocks under consideration will be regarded as 
 nearly parallel with those of the Bristol conglomerate, and 
 my deductions respecting their contemporariety, will be re- 
 garded with favor. We may not, however, expect that the 
 reptiles of the rocks of Deep and Dan rivers will possess a 
 nearer resemblance than to furnish strong analogies, that is, 
 it cannot be expected that separated as the formations are, a 
 distance of three thousand miles, that these reptiles will form 
 one species. It will be sufficient to sustain my deductions, 
 provided I can establish a close analogy between them, or 
 that there is a close family resemblance. 
 
 The reptiles of the Bristol conglomerate, (Eng.,) belong to 
 two distinct genera, the Thecodontosaueus and the Palseo- 
 saurus. These genera were founded by their discoverers up- 
 on the characters of their teeth, and the mode of their inser- 
 tion or attachment to the jaw, and being very peculiar, and 
 differing from any which had been at that time discovered, 
 they became important representatives of the time or epoch 
 of their creation. I therefore extract from various publica- 
 tions, an account of these remains, in order, as I have already 
 said, of putting in possession of the reader those facts which 
 
296 NOSTH-CAE-OLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 will enable him to make the j)roper comparisons between the 
 fossils in question. 
 
 The first genus, then, and which was called Thecodonto- 
 SAUEus, was founded upon the structure and implantation of 
 their teeth in the jaw in distinct alveoli, or sockets. Prior to 
 the discovery of this peculiar mode of attachment, all rep- 
 tiles had their teeth soldered to a plate or parapet of the outer 
 face of the jaw, like that which prevailed in fishes. But in 
 this extinct genus, the inner parapet of the lower jaw is near- 
 ly as high as the outer one, and the teeth are arranged in a 
 close set series, slightly decreasing in size towards the poste- 
 rior part of the jaw. Each ramus of the jaw is supposed to 
 have been furnished with twenty-one conical slender teeth, 
 which were compressed, acutely pointed, and finely serrated 
 with the serratures directed towards the apex of the tooth. 
 
 In the latter respect, it resembled the genus Hhopalodon of 
 G. risher. The outer surface was more convex than the in- 
 ner, and the apex was slightly recurved, making the anterior 
 edge more curved than the posterior. The base of the crown 
 was contracted, and the fang at this point became rounded, 
 or sub-cylindrical. The pulp cavity remained open in the 
 base of the crown. The body of the tooth consists of com- 
 pact dentine, in which the calcigerous tubes diverge from an 
 open pulp cavity at nearly a right angle, to the surface of the 
 tooth. They form a slight curve at their origin with the con- 
 cavity directed towards the base of the tooth, then proceed 
 straight, and at the periphery bend upward in a contrary di- 
 rection. The crown of the tooth is invested with a thin coat 
 of enamel. 
 
 Only one species of the foregoing described genus is known^ 
 the T antiquus. The most important parts of its remains con- 
 sist of a ramus of the lower jaw three-and-a-quarter inches 
 long, and one-and-a-half in the greatest depth, consisting of 
 the dental bone containing twenty-one teeth, with the sub- 
 angular and complimentary bones. The teeth resemble a 
 surgeon's abscess lancet, being acutely pointed and flattened ; 
 the middle are the largest, rising above the alveoli only about 
 one-fourth, of an inch* 
 
N-OETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 29^ 
 
 The other genus, the Pal^osaueus, has a different tooth, 
 being carinated, lateraly and finely serrated, but with the 
 serratures at right angles to the axis of the tooth, instead of 
 being directed towards the apex, as in the former genus. 
 They are curved and slightly compressed, and were inserted 
 into the jaw in distinct alveoli, or sockets. The breadth, as 
 compared with the height or length of the tooth, is much 
 greater than in the Thecodontosaurus. 
 
 To the foregoing account I propose to add an extract from 
 the Eeport of Prof. Owen, at the eleventh meeting of the 
 British Association, which contains some additional matter 
 respecting both genera, which is both interesting as well as 
 necessary, for a full understanding of the characters of these 
 reptiles ; — " Their vertebrae are biconcave, with the bodies 
 " more constricted than their articular ends, and deeper than 
 " the Teleosaueus ; but they are chiefly remarkable for the 
 "depth of the spinal canal, at the middle of each vertebra, 
 " where it sinks into the centrum ; thus, the canal is wider 
 " vertically at the middle than at the two ends ; an analogous 
 " structure prevails in another saurian, the Ehynchosaueus of 
 " the ]S[ew Red sandstone, but is less marked. Besides devi- 
 " ating from existing lizzards in the Thecodont dentition, and 
 '' biconcave vertebra, the ancient saurians of the Bristol con- 
 " glomerate also differed in having some of their ribs articu- 
 " lated by a head and tubercle to two surfaces of the verte- 
 " bra, as at the anterior part of the chest in Crocodiles and 
 " Dinosaurs. The shaft of the ribs were traversed, as in the 
 " Ichthyosaur and Rhyncosaur, by a deep longitudinal groove, 
 " for the protection of the blood-vessels. Some fragments of 
 " bone indicate obscurely that the pectoral arch deviated from 
 " the Croccodilian and approached the Lacertian type in the 
 " presence of a clavicle, and in the breadth and complicated 
 " form of the Coracoid bone. The humerus appears to have 
 " been but little more than half the length of the femur, and 
 " to have been like that of the Rhyncosaurs unusually ex- 
 " panded at the two extremities. The tibia, fibula and meta- 
 " tarsal bones manifest, like the femur, the fitness of the The 
 " codont saurians for progression on land. The ungual pha- 
 
298 
 
 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 '• langes a]*e sub-compressed and curved downwards, pointed 
 " and impressed on each side with the usual curved canals." 
 
 The most important facts communicated in the foregoing 
 extract on the peculiar characters of the vertebrse, which are 
 represented to have been biconcave, the double articulation 
 of the ribs, the groove beneath, the presence of a clavicle, 
 and a probable complicated coracoid, and particularly the 
 implantion of the teeth in distinct sockets. These are impor- 
 tant points to be recollected when we come to compare with 
 them the fossil bones of Deep river. 
 
 The first discovery which was made in this country of anal- 
 agous saurian remains, was by our distinguished countryman 
 and naturalist, Mr. Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia. Several frag- 
 ments of vertebrse and teeth having been brought to light in 
 cutting a road through beds of conglomerate in the town of 
 Upper Milford, Pa. Mr. Lea undertook this investigation, 
 w^hich resulted in the discovery, that they were Thecodont 
 saurians with biconcave vertebrae, such as have been describ- 
 ed, and which were strictly analogous to those of the Bristol - 
 conglomerate. But those of Milford, Pa., seem to differ 
 from them genericaly ; and hence, Mr. Lea instead of refer- 
 rmg them to the Palseosaurus, found it necessary to construct 
 a new genus Avhich he has named Clepsisaurus, in allusion to 
 the hour glass form of the vertebrse. This genus will hereaf- 
 ter be found to bear the type of one or more of our Deep 
 river species. I propose merely to allude to this discovery 
 in this place. I shall have occasion to make frequent refer- 
 ence to it hereafter ; but in the mean time, I shall take up 
 my own discoveries, and lay before the reader figures and 
 descriptions of these reptile remains, beginning with the 
 teeth. 
 
NORTH-CAEQLINA GEOI-OGIOAL SURVEY. 
 
 299 
 
 Fig. B. 
 
 The first series of teetli belong, I believe, to the Clepsisaii- 
 Rus, of Lea, figure B., 1, 2, 3, 4 ; tlie largest of which, is one 
 inch and thirteen-sixteenths of an inch long, and three-eighths 
 of an inch wide at base. It projected from the jaw about one 
 inch and a half. The base contracted when it entered the 
 socket, and where it is usually compressed as if it were pinch- 
 ed off; showing, that it was hollow, at this part of the tooth. 
 The largest, tooth is bicarinate, as shown in the annexed trans- 
 verse section E., Fig. , the carina dividing the tooth into 
 two unequal parts : Towards the tip, the carina or ridges 
 become serrate with the serratures standing at right angles 
 to the axis of the tooth, as seen in Plate 5, Fig. 3. The sur- 
 face of the compact dentine is covered with a thin enamel 
 which is prone to scale off and leave the dentine smooth and 
 bare. The enamel is marked by fine, rather oblique wrinkles, 
 which are not impressed upon the dentine. IN^o. 2. of this 
 series. Fig. B. has the same characters, but for a fuller illus- 
 
300 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 
 
 Fig. 21. ti'ation, I annex Fig. 22, as they show the 
 peculiar wrinkles of those adjacent to the 
 sharp lateral ridges of carina of the tooth. 
 There is a fine feathery arrangement here 
 which seems to be characteristic of this kind 
 of tooth. JSTo. 2, also of the series of which 
 
 /'*ffl '(IIP there are four, shows the character of the 
 w wi|| dentition in the existence of a point of a 
 young tooth entering the pulp cavity of an 
 old one. 'No. 3 and 4 belong evidently to 
 the same series, being smaller, but exhibiting 
 the same markings as well as forms. The carinse, however, 
 are less distinct than in the larger ones, and while the sharp 
 ridge may be present, the serratures towards the base become' 
 obsolete, but are more distinct towards the apex of the tooth, 
 or upon the upper half of the crown. These teeth are beau- 
 tiful and glossy on the outside, when not in contact with a 
 rock containing sulphuret of iron. This substance frequently 
 destroys the tooth, especially when it enters into its texture. 
 In this case it is impossible to preserve them by external ap- 
 plications, and in the end they split, and are perfectly de- 
 stroyed. Others seem to be perfectly carbonized, and though 
 perfect to the eye, yet are so brittle, that a slight blow breaks 
 them transversely, and it is impossible to polish them down 
 sufficiently thin to obtain a knowledge of their structure. 
 
 The teeth represented in Fig. B. appear to have belonged 
 to but one species, and probably to the one described by Mr. 
 Lea under the name of Clepsisaukus Pennsylvajstius. This 
 opinion is founded upon the form and markings of the teeth 
 and their insertion into the jaw. The jaw in both cases was 
 not grooved for the reception of the teeth, but provided with 
 distinct alveoli or sockets. The proof of this fact is derived 
 from the distinct markings near the base of the crown, which 
 show the depth to which the tooth was implanted in the jaw. 
 This mode of dentition goes to show, that this saurian approx- 
 imated the alligator as has been suggested; for in this reptile 
 we find the teeth implanted in separate sockets, and the 
 young tooth to displace the old one by entering into its pulp 
 
. :KrOETH-CAftOLI]SrA geological StJEVEY. 301 
 
 cavity represented in Fig, 2, or else into its side where its 
 pressure creates an absorption, and the final formation of a 
 round or oval hcfle, through which it passes into the pulp 
 cavity. It is also probable that inasmuch as the teeth differ 
 in size, the place of insertion of the jaw of the Clepsisaurus, 
 had the same irregularity as that we now perceive exists in 
 the Alligator. The first and largest of the teeth in the series 
 B. was found at Farmville, in the black bituminous slate. It 
 is the largest I have seen, and it differs somewhat from the 
 smaller in its bicarination. All the pits along the whole out- 
 crop of the bituminous shale, furnish teeth, but few bones. 
 They are common at Egypt and Farmville, the Taylor plant- 
 ation and the Gulf. They are more common at the junction 
 of the black band with the coal seam. I have also found 
 them in the Dan river coal field, but I have not as yet in the 
 calcareous shales between the bituminous beds, above or be- 
 low the coal seams. These teeth remains, seem therefore, 
 restricted to this part of the formation ; but of this, I can 
 only speak of the discoveries which have been made up to 
 this time. Certain bones of saurians have been found in 
 the drab colored sandstones which lie in proximity with the 
 carboniferous shales, but as they have not been accompanied 
 • with teeth, a direct comparison cannot be instituted between 
 those of the sandstones and those of the black slates. Bones 
 too, as Avill be seen in the sequel, have been obtained in the 
 upper marls and sandstones, but these differ in form and size 
 from those of the coal series, and must belong to saurians 
 quite different; and which may probably turn out to be Lab- 
 yrinthodonts ; but these too are unaccompanied with -teeth. 
 
 I am unable with certainty to connect the teeth described 
 in the foregoing paragraphs with the bones of the skeleton ; 
 but as these teeth seem to be identical with those found in 
 connection with the vertebra at Milford — Mr. Lea's Clepsi- 
 saurus Pennsylvanius — it may be regarded as highly proba- 
 ble that this series of four teeth belonged also to a skeleton 
 whose vertibrce were biconcave and constricted in the middle, 
 or had the form of an hour glass. In consequence, however, of 
 the scarcity of information upon this point, I prefer regarding 
 
302 
 
 NOKTH-CAUOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 these of Deep river provisionally as the same as Mr. Lea's 
 found at Milford. Its name, will therefore, be the same as 
 that conferred by this distinguished naturalist. 
 
 § 255. The saurian remains which I shall next describe, are 
 so far perfect, that I am able to show the relation of the teeth 
 to the skeleton, or to certain parts of it, particularly the ver- 
 tebra. They will be found, as the reader will see, to be dif- 
 ferent from the preceding, not so much in the actual form of 
 the tooth, as in the peculiar plaits of the enamel as well as of 
 the dentine itself. From these important diiferences, I am 
 disposed to regard the animal to which they belonged, as dif- 
 fering generically from the Clepsisaurus, and as the teeth oc- 
 curred in connexion with the vertebrse, and as these differ 
 considerably in details from this genus, I am strengthened 
 in mj belief that it should be regarded as a different genus. 
 In accordance with this belief, therefore, I propose for it a 
 name which is expressive of the peculiar external appearance 
 of the teeth and their plaited or slightly grooved surface. 
 Tlie name proposed provisionally is, Kutiodon, from Rutis, 
 plaits, and odous, tooth. 
 
 Fig. a. 
 
 These teeth are represented in the series x\.., 1, 2, 3, 4, .5. 
 which show the form and relative size. No plaited tooth has 
 been found as large as the largest in the first series. 
 
 NoTB. — An account of these reptiles of the Deep river formation was read before 
 Ihe Albany Institute in March, 1856 ; but, I had on many occasions previously eom- 
 nBunicated my views to several individuals both orally and in writing. 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 303 
 
 Of the latter, the largest is one inch and three-eighths lonj*, 
 and live-sixteenths of an inch in diameter at the base. The ex- 
 ternal characters, as I have said, differ from the former in 
 having plaits or iiutings upon their surface which extend to 
 the dentine beneath. The enamel is superficiallj wrinkled as 
 in the first series, but more so. Laterally the tooth is marked 
 on one side with a sharp ridge or carina, and in th6 larger, 
 faintly on the other side, but the serrations are wanting. The 
 ridges when present divide the tooth into two unequal parts. 
 The flutings never extend to the apex : only about two-fifths 
 of the crown is thus ornamented ; the rest is nearly smooth. 
 The smallest tooth of the series is five-eighths of an inch in 
 length and one-eighth in diameter. Like those composing 
 the series B., they are slightly compressed, some more, and ' 
 others less. At the base of the crown, they become more 
 rounded, but flattened in that part which is inserted into the 
 jaw, in consequence of the tooth having been hollow. When 
 the two series are compared, it will be admitted that there 
 are important differences between them, which however, ap- 
 pears in a more striking fight when the individuals are placed 
 side by side, than when veiled through the medium of figures 
 and descriptions. Tliey never pass into each other ; the pat- 
 terns always j-emain distinct. 
 
 ^'■- ^- The structure of the fluted teeth is 
 
 shown in Fig. C. The calcigerous tubes 
 as seen under the microscope start from 
 the 23ulp cavity, rise a Kttle upward 
 then pass to the outside nearly at right, 
 angles to the axis of the tooth, turning 
 a little upwards as they approach the 
 enameled covering. There is seen, al- 
 so, light belts crossing the section, as 
 represented in the accompanying figure ; but there is no ar- 
 rangement approaching that which has been so frequently 
 illustrated as existing in the Labyrinthodonts of the 'New Ked 
 sandstone. This conclusion is also borne out by the structure 
 or outward form of the vertebra, with which the teeth are 
 associated. 
 
304 
 
 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 Reference having been made to the form of the accompa^ 
 nying vertebra, 1 propose in the next place to furnish a de' 
 scription of them, annexing also a figure of one of the most 
 ilistinct in my possession. 
 
 Fi«-22. This vertebra is slightly 
 
 compressed obliquely from 
 its articular surfaces ; its pro- 
 portions, however, are pre- 
 served. It is biconcave and 
 its concavities rather deep, 
 and bordered by a broad 
 rounded ridge. The cen- 
 trum or body is compressed 
 or constricted, M^'hich gives 
 it the hour glass form of the 
 Clepsisaurus and Thecodon- 
 tosaurus of the Bristol con- 
 glomerate. Its diameter 
 through the centrum from 
 side to side, is only seven- 
 tiighths of an inch, and one inch and five-eighths from the 
 upper to the lower edge. 
 
 The longest, or the vertical diameter of the aflterior or ar- 
 ticular surface, is one inch and a half; the transverse, one 
 inch and two-eighths of an inch. Its form, (articular surface,) 
 is orate, as represented in Plate 7, Fig. 4, the widest part be- 
 ing the lower half. 
 
 The vertical, or greatest diameter of the anterior articular 
 surface is one inch and seven-eights, (1 in. f). The trans- 
 verse diameter through the middle is one inch and five- 
 eighths, (1 in. -f). The difiPerence is owing in part to the pro- 
 tuberances seen in the figure towards the lower side of the 
 centrum. Length of the vertebra one inch and five-eighths, 
 (1 in. f). In this vertebra the spinous process is evidently 
 l)roken oif ; but in a mode which has left the surfaces com- 
 paratively smooth. Its form, particularly its constriction in 
 the middle, its excavation between the articular ends in the 
 line of the spinal marrow, giving to the latter a monilliforn) 
 
I'TOETH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 305 
 
 ■sliape, its biconcave structure atid its teeth places the animal 
 among the Thecodonts, and its microscopic structure shows 
 that it couJd not have been a Labyrinthodont. But while its 
 type is saurian it cannot escape our notice that it also departs 
 but slightly in certain respects from the ichthyic type, as all 
 fish have vertebra which are strictly biconcave, and the junc- 
 tion of the processes to the body of the vertebl-a seem to be 
 less firm than in others related to this family, the suture re- 
 maining distinct ; in consequence of which the processes may 
 be separated, as in the young of the mammiferous class. 
 
 The neural arch being broken in this case, the groove pro- 
 tecting the spinal marrow is brought to view. It consists 
 simply of two sharp ridges of bone which begin at about half 
 an inch from the articulating border, and the canal widening 
 towards the posterior extremity, it becomes about one-fourth 
 ■of an inch wide, and about one-fifth of an inch deep. 
 
 From the anterior lower half of the centrum there rises a 
 rido;e of bone which terminates on the eda:e of the articular 
 border, in a rounded protuberance against which the head 
 of a rib rested. Beneath the compressed body or centrum it 
 has another sharp ridge extending from one articular surface 
 to the other. 
 
 The other vertebrse which belonged to the same skeleton 
 have preserved essentially the same characters. In some of 
 these there is exhibited a peculiar, broad, expanded form of 
 the articular surfaces, which may be described as hell-form, 
 only the concavities are too shallow to admit strictly of the 
 comparison. (See plate vi, fig. 8.) The processes of these ver- 
 tebrae, as usual, are broken, having been imbedded in a yield- 
 ing or compressible bed of bituminous coal. The two verte- 
 brae which are represented here in juxtaposition are four 
 inches and one-eighth of an inch long, (4|- in. ;) greatest 
 diameter, two inches and one-eighth, (2|- in.) The figure 
 shows also, besides the vertebrae, several ribs which are more 
 or less crushed, but some of which preserve the grooves for 
 the transmission of blood vessels. At the lower edge of the fig- 
 ure there projects the end of a spinal process, which shows itself 
 ©n the inferior side about two inches. It is one inch and three- 
 20 
 
306 NORTH-CAEOLESrA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. ' 
 
 quarters wide, and half an inch thick at its exposed ex- 
 tremity. Six vertebrae were found in two or three clusters, 
 imbedded in the lower seam of coal at Farmville. The clus- 
 ter contained vertebrae, ribs, and portions of the sternal arch, 
 and several teeth, whose surfaces were plaited. It may 
 therefore be inferred that the teeth belonged to this skeleton, 
 along which they were found, inasmuch, too, as no other kind 
 than these were found along with it, though they were com- 
 mon in other connections. 
 
 Some of the ribs show that they were doubly articulated, 
 and one in particular, whose inferior surface was exposed, 
 shows a wide, shallow groove for the protection of blood ves- 
 sels and nerves. 
 
 Among these clusters of bones I found in one mass a por- 
 tion of a cranium, which I have referred to the frontal bone. 
 There are no curious sculptures or markings, as is sometimes 
 the case in cranial bones of saurians and sauroid fishes, but 
 simple striae, as represented in plate v, fig. 5. The striations 
 referred to seem' to be common to all the bones of the skele- 
 ton, especially the ribs, and even on the articular surfaces of 
 the vertebrfE they may be seen. 
 
 § 256. The questions which may be properly discussed at 
 this stage of our examination of these remains, would proba- 
 bly be, are they known to the scientific world — or have they 
 been described, and is there any doubt respecting the family 
 to which they belong? I have already had occasion more 
 than once to refer to the discovery of Mr, Lea and to his 
 Clepsisaurus. It is stated that this genus has bi-concave ver- 
 tebrae and a constricted centrum, and a carinated tooth much 
 resembling the first described series, and a double-headed rib. 
 There is, therefore, as will be seen by reference again to my 
 descriptions, a close relationship between those of Deep 
 river, Milford, Pa., and Bristol, in England. They form 
 one family, or a group, in which there is a strong family re- 
 semblance. They all belong to the order Lacertilia, of Owen, 
 which have teeth implanted in distinct sockets, forms of ver- 
 tebrae and ribs alike. When we compare the minor details 
 of structure and of form, we find certain dissimilarities which 
 
NORTH-CAKOLINA GEQLOGICAL BUKVET. 307 
 
 go to show tliat they may belong to different genera, as is the 
 case with, the Thecodontosaukus and Pal^osauetjs, though 
 found together in the same bed. The teeth, for example, in 
 the Rutiodon, are always smaller, but more especially should 
 it be observed that they are plaited, while those described by 
 Mr, Lea, as well as those of the Bristol conglomerate, are 
 smooth. 
 
 In Mr. Lea's saurian the diameter of the articulating sur- 
 faces of the vertebrae is only one inch and six-tenths, (1 6-10 
 inches.) In the Deep river saurian, last described, it is rather 
 Over two inches. In the smallest of the vertebrae, however, 
 the diameter is about the same, but the vertical diameter 
 through the middle of th<3 centrum is one inch and seven- 
 tenths, (1 T-10 in.,) while in Mr. Lea's it is only one inch 
 and one-tenth, (11 10 in.) Although we are not able in this 
 case to compare homologous parts, yet I think there can re- 
 main but little doubt that the genera are different, as has been 
 laid down. But though there may remain an amount of 
 uncertainty, still I believe I am justified in regarding the 
 E.UTI0D0N as distinct, and hence should receive also its speci- 
 fic name, and hence I propose Carolinensis, which will be a 
 suitable name to distinguish it farther from Mr. Lea's Clepsi- 
 saurus Pennsylvanicus. There can be no objection in making 
 a provisional distinction by name, seeing the fossils belong to 
 similar formations in different States. It enables ns to speak 
 of them without circumlocution, and should it prove that the 
 denomination has been hasty, the synonims are not likely to 
 
 Note. — Since the foregoing was written, fragments of the skull of a saurian, with 
 beautifully sculptured surface, have been fouud at Egypt. As the simpler striated 
 skull bone must have belonged to the Rutiodon, it is possible that the sculptured one 
 may have belonged to an Archegosaurus ; it cannot be a Palseosaurus. I have 
 to add, also, that since the foregoing was written, Mr. Lea has communicated 
 to me the fact that he had discovered a tooth in the red sandstone formation of New 
 Jersey, the locality of which is not recollected, and which, on its being shown me, I 
 recognized as one which belongs to the last series of five, the plaited teeth of Beep river, 
 . He had given the name of Centemodon, from Kentema, awl, and odous, tooth, with 
 the specific name, sulcatus. This discovery proves the existence at the North of the 
 two genera which have been described. Mr. L. has communicated his discovery to 
 the Society of Natural History of Philadelphia. 
 
308 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJEVEl'. 
 
 be SO far multiplied as to occasion any inconvenience. Bui 
 there are diiferences, as I have shown, and the only question 
 which can arise is with respect to the genera, and whether 
 they belong to and should constitute but one. If it should 
 turn out that they constitute but one genus ; the names will 
 stand very well beside each other. They will then read 
 Clepsisaueus, Pennsylvanicus, and Carolinensis. 
 
 § 257. The nearest living representative in our country of 
 the genera Clepsisaurus and Rutiodon, is' the Alligator, so 
 well known in the southern part of ISTorth-Carolina. But the 
 Alligator has a diiferent form of vertebrae. The articulating 
 surfaces are concave before and convex behind ; or, in the 
 technical phrase often employed, the ancient Saurians were 
 AmjyhiGodian^ and the Alligators are prooodian / their verte- 
 brae being, really, ball and socket joints. 
 
 In comparing the size of these genera, and taking the skele- 
 ton of the Alligator as the standard, one which is eleven feet 
 long, I find the Eutiodon must have been both longer and 
 larger. Thus the vertical diameter of a dorsal vertebra of 
 this Alligator is only one inch and an eighth of an inch, 
 (1 in. 1^,) and the length one inch and five-eighths, (1 in. f). 
 The Butiodon it will be seen, on referring to the measure- 
 ments already stated, must have been more than two, proba- 
 bly three feet longer than the full grown Alligator of our 
 rivers, though probably the Alligator may acquire a length of 
 fourteen or fifteen feet. We have, however, no positive data 
 as it respects the length of tlie tail and of the neck, as no 
 vertebrge belonging to either of these parts have been found. 
 The relative form of the vertebrae of these two reptiles was 
 evidently somewhat diiferent; thus, the transverse diameter 
 of the vertebrae of the Aligator is greater than the vertical, 
 while in the Eutiodon the vertical diameter is the greatest. 
 This fact seems to indicate a greater height in proportion to 
 the leutrth and breadth. In the size of the teeth, the Alli- 
 (xhyji' is H xxiatcli for the Eutiodon, and, like the former, the 
 i>se is as variable, while generally in the ancient saurians the 
 faize or length of the teeth is more uniform. 
 
 From the foregoing facts, we may infer that the soil of 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 309 
 
 North-Carolina lias been trod, and its waters have swarmed 
 with reptiles from the remotest ages. They are common to 
 all the formations, from the Deep river coal measures down 
 to the tertiary beds, and they are still the formidable inhabi- 
 tants of its waters. Those which I have from the tertiary 
 are considerably larger than those from any former epoch, or 
 those which belong to the present. • ' , 
 
 While engaged in the examination of the formations upon 
 the Dan river, I discovered the vertebral remains of another 
 saurian, closely allied to those already described. They were 
 imbedded in the black slate near Leaksville, at a point near 
 the bridge over Smith's river. This part of the formation, it 
 is now well known, is between the red sandstones, and is very 
 near the coal seams. These remains are more perfect in some 
 respects than those which have been discovered upon Deep 
 river, at Farmville. Three of these vertebras are delineated 
 upon plate 8, Fig. 1. It will be observed that these are also 
 biconcave, or belong to the Amphicoelian type, and have the 
 hourglass form of vertebrae ; that they have two articulating 
 aurfaces for a double headed rib, that their processes are unit- 
 ed to the body by suture. In the union of the process by 
 ■suture, and in the existence of two articulating surfaces for a 
 double headed rib, Plate 8, Fig. 3, we see the same arrange- 
 ments as now exist in the Alligator. As these vetebrse have 
 lost only a part of their spinous processes, they are proper 
 parts for comparison and measurement. I obtained the fol- 
 lowing dimensions of the vertibrse under consideration : 
 
 Vertiealdiametei of the posterior articulating surface, 1 inch and J-^ of an inch. 
 
 Transverse diameter, 1 " ^ " 
 
 Length of body, .• 1 " % " 
 
 Height of body and spinous process, 4 " % " 
 
 Width of spinous process, % , " 
 
 Distance of the articulating surface of the head of the 
 rib to the upper part of the articulating surface of 
 
 the oblique process, ■ 2 " J^ " 
 
 The body of each vertebrae is traversed longitudinally by 
 three ridges, two lateral and one inferior : concave surfaces 
 bound these ridges, or they may be regarded as longitudinal 
 
310 
 
 NOETH-OAKOLIN-A GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 depressions. These vertebrae are strong and rough^ and the 
 spinous processes wide and high, more so relatively than the 
 homologous parts of the Alhgator. To the eye, there is the 
 same disproportion between the articular ends, as in the ver- 
 tebrae of the Eutiodon. The anterior articulating surface is 
 the smallest. In the fine specimens figured, the rock will 
 not permit the measurement of bone so as to verify what is 
 apparent to the eye. 
 
 Frj. m. 
 
NOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 311 
 
 Another dorsal vertebra of this series, Fig. M., the spinous 
 process of which is nearly perfect, has the following dimen- 
 sions : 
 
 Vertical diameter of the anterior articulating surface, 1 inch and % of an inch. 
 
 1. 
 
 a 
 
 Transverse, 1 ' 
 
 Vertical diameter of the concavity, 1 " 1-16 " 
 
 Transverse, % " 
 
 Distance from the lower edge of the vertebras to the 
 
 end of the spi nal process, 4 " J^ " 
 
 Width of the spinal process near its base, 1 " 00 " 
 
 Width at the top, % " 
 
 "Depth of the concavity 6-16 " 
 
 The anterior edge of the spinal process of this vertebrae is 
 grooved, and the posterior edge is provided with a sharp 
 ridge. 
 
 Another dorsal vertebra of this series, measures from 
 the upper edge of the articulating surface of- the 
 centrum to the top of the spinal process, 3 inch, and ^ of an inch. 
 
 From the end of the transverse process to the top of 
 the spinal process, 3 " H " 
 
 Length of the transverse process, 1 " y^ " 
 
 From the inside of the ridge surrounding the concavi- 
 ty to the outer articulating surface of the oblique 
 process, 1 " 5-16 " 
 
 This vertebra is anterior in the spine to those referred to 
 in Plate 8, Fig. 1 ; but its exact position, or its number, I am 
 unable to determine. 
 
 The Leaksville series contain fourteen pieces, more or less 
 perfect; and all appear to be dorsal. 
 
 Among these vertebrae are fragments of ribs, one of which, 
 minus the head and neck, is six inches long. It is rounded 
 at the proximal extremity, and flattened at the distal end, 
 where it is 1^ of an inch wide. The inner edge is grooved. 
 From being nearly round at the proximal end, it first be- 
 comes somewhat triangular, and then flat and expanded, 
 sending off on one side near its extremity an oblique flat- 
 tened branch, which joins its fellow rib below, something 
 like the plan which prevails in birds. The whole length of 
 the rib was probably 7^ inches. This rib is about half an 
 inch thick at the proximal extremity. 
 
312 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 The question whicli it is important for us to determine 
 is, wKether the Leaksville Saurian is identical with on© 
 or the other of those which have been already described. 
 "While it is true that we^ are yet deficient in information re- 
 specting certain parts of the skeleton to enable us to satisfy 
 the demands of the question, still we may avail ourselves of 
 all the facts within our reach ; and probably this course may 
 give us something which will be a clue to a correct de- 
 termination which we require, and enable us to form at least 
 a rational conjecture. For this, I propose to compare the 
 parts of each species with one another, and, in the first place, 
 I will take the Clepsisaurus for comparison 'with the Leaks- 
 ville specimen. The measurements of Clepsisaurus which 
 bear immediately upon the question, are the distance from 
 the centrum to the top of the vertebral spine, etc.: 
 
 1. The measurement is, .. 2 inch, and 1-5 of an inch. 
 
 2. Length of vertebraj , 2 " 1-10 " ■■ 
 
 3. Vei'tical diameter of the constricted part, 1 00 
 
 4. Transverse, 8-10 " 
 
 5. Length of the transverse process, 2 GO 
 
 In the Leaksville saurian, 
 
 1. The height from the centrum to the top of the spi- 
 
 nal processjis, 3 inch, and 3^ of an inch. 
 
 2. Length of vertebrae, ,... 1 " % " 
 
 Tliese measurements dift'er ; and of the fourteen vertebrce 
 from Leaksville, none of their measurements agree with those 
 of the Clepsisaurus. 
 
 The length of one transverse process, is one and an eighth of 
 an inch. The length of this process in the C. Pennsylvanicus, 
 as will be seen, is two inches ; but this is variable, and we caur 
 not afiirm that we are measuring homologous parts. There be- 
 ing however, considerable diflference in the relative propor- 
 tions of parts, it must appear probable that the Leaksville 
 and Milford saurians are different, or belong to different spe-r 
 cies, admitting that the individuals were adults ; and admit- 
 ting that one of them was an immature individual, we should 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 313 
 
 have a right to expect that the proportions would tally more 
 closely. The probability is, when the character of the bones 
 are considered, we need entertain scarcely the shadow of a 
 doubt but that both individuals were mature, especially when 
 the teeth are taken into the account ; that is, when the teeth 
 and bones of the C. Pennsylvanicus are brought together, 
 there can remain scarcely a doubt that this belonged to an 
 adult individual ; and as this is the smallest of the two, little 
 doubt should be entertained respecting the Leaksville speci- 
 men. The difference in the proportion's of these species is 
 considerable ; and as proportions are the most reliable char- 
 acters for the determination of questions of this kind, I shall 
 regard them as belonging at least to different species. It 
 seems probable from the proportions which have been obtain- 
 ed by measurement, that the Leaksville saurian was higher 
 than the Milford, the latter was also lower and broader of the 
 two. 
 
 We may now compare the Leaksville with the Deep river 
 saurian. 
 
 The only points of comparison which lie within our reach, 
 must be drawn mainly from the vertebrge and its appendages. 
 As to the height of the spine, the Leaksville is the highest, 
 and the vertebrae comparatively more slender. The teeth 
 which have been found in the Dan river slates, resemble 
 those of the Clepsisaurus, but no teeth occurred in connec- 
 tion with the bones : we are left in ignorance respecting these 
 important organs. Upon the whole, I am disposed to regard 
 it as differing only specifically from the Clepsisaurus : I pro- 
 pose for the Leaksville saurian the specific name, Leai, out 
 of respect for the high standing of the discoverer of the first 
 of the Thecodont saurians in this country. 
 
 We may before we leave this subject, sum up the charaC' 
 ters upon which each of the foregoing species and genus now 
 stand. In the first of the discovered genera, the Clepsisaurus, 
 the charactei'istics were derived from the teeth. They differed 
 both from the Thecodontosaurus and Palseosaurus of Riley 
 and Scutchbury, while it resembles them in the biconcave 
 form of the vertebrae, The Clepsisaurus could not harmonize 
 
 "^ 
 
314 NOETH-CAEOLESTA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 witli the genera which had been established ; hence the ne- 
 cessity of founding a new one for the reception of the one 
 discovered in this country. In subsequent discoveries of 
 similar types in our formations, it becomes necessary to 
 make the comparisons with all the genera which have been 
 established. In comparing, therefore, the Rutiodon with 
 known genera, it is found that the outward form and structure 
 also of the teeth, differed from any which had been previous- 
 ly described. It was in consequence of these differences, that 
 I have ventured to propose the genus referred to. The facts 
 respecting the Leaksville saurian, it is evident, do not wholly 
 clear up the question as to genus ; though it is quite plain 
 from its proportions, that it cannot agree specifically with the 
 Clepsisaijeus or Eutiodon ; but to which of these genera it 
 actually belongs, cannot be decided before ,we obtain more 
 information respecting its teeth. I have supposed it more 
 probable that it is a Clepsisaurus, as teeth belonging to this 
 genus have been found in the slates of Dan river, and none 
 which belong to the Rutiodon. 
 
 § 258. If the foregoing statements and conclusions are 
 founded in principles of Natural History, we have three spe- 
 cies of Thecodont saurians existing cotemporaneously, whose 
 remains were entombed in the slates of the coal measures of 
 Deep and Dan rivers. It will be seen that they are found in 
 a well-defined geological horizon ; hence their remains be- 
 come available for the purpose I have used them — that of de- 
 fining the age of this series of deposits. Tlie remains of the 
 Clepsisaurus Pennsylvanicus seems to be farther removed from 
 this horizon than either of the three species belonging to 
 North Carolina. The epoch of the conglomerate in which 
 they are embedded, may be near the beginning of the Per- 
 mian system, or later; the deposits at and near Milford, Pa., 
 are not so clearly defined as those of North Carolina. In 
 view of all the facts presented, it seems I am justified in 
 expressing the opinion that the older sandstone and coal 
 measures are correctly located in the Permian system. I 
 have, however, still more testimony which supports this opin- 
 ion, and I shall now proceed to lay before the reader this tes- 
 
NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 315 
 
 tirnony which is contained in another discovery of saurian re- 
 mains approximating closely to the Pal^eosaiteus platyodon, 
 found in the Bristol conglomerate, and which has been 
 already referred to. These remains are better known by the 
 teeth, which are compressed and serrate, with the seraturea 
 standing at right angles to the axis of the tooth. ISTow the 
 teeth are the only organs which I have found, but these agree 
 so well with the figures of those of the Palseosaurus that no 
 one can doubt of their being generically related. The annexed 
 Fig. f. three figures, showing the tooth in 
 
 different positions, will convey a cor- 
 rect idea of the form of the Palseo- 
 saurus tooth. Fig. 1, side view, but 
 too narrow at base ; ISTo. 2 is an edge 
 view, showing that though apparent- 
 ly quite flat when its broad planes 
 ^- 2. ». are seen, that it has considerable 
 
 thickness ; fig. 3, enlarged, shows the . serratures of the edge. 
 A corrected outline of the shape of this tooth is given in 
 Fig. G.I Kg. Gr. 'No. 1 is an exact outline of its form. 'No. 
 2 represents its transverse section at its junction 
 with the jaw. It is bicarinate ; serrate on both sides 
 from its base to the apex. The tooth is lancet- 
 shaped, being compressed, but the crown becomes 
 thicker towards the base, especially on one side, 
 2. f~\ whence its transverse section is obliquely gibbous. 
 — The serratures are not simply notches in the edge, 
 like those of a saw, but impressions which extend beyond the 
 edge into the margin of the%namel. The outer face of the 
 tooth is more convex than the inner, and the anterior edge 
 also the most convex of the two. Below the enamel the 
 tooth is slightly constricted, perhaps only apparently so by 
 the discontinuance of the enamel, which is rather thick and 
 strong, and adheres firmly to the dentine, and at the place 
 where the tooth enters the socket it is nearly cylindrical. The 
 calcigerous tubes, as seen under the microscope, ascend a lit- 
 tle from the pulp cavity, and then pass off at right angles to 
 
816 
 
 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJEVET. 
 
 FiG.H. the axis of the tooth. Fig, H. represents 
 
 the appearance of the calcigerons tubes 
 under the magnifying power of 350 
 diameters. Tlie following dimensions of 
 the tooth will convey a more accurate 
 jjf idea of its form and characters than can 
 be obtained by description alone : 
 
 Length, }^ inch. 
 
 Width at base, 5-16 " 
 
 Thickness at base, }^ " 
 
 The inner face, adjacent to the edge, has a flat groove, or 
 rather the tooth becomes flattened, or is brought to an edge 
 rapidly, and which is rather thin, as if an edge was made by 
 scooping out a piece longitudinally from a cylinder by a small 
 gouge. The tooth appears quite flat when imbedded in slate, 
 and in this relation it has the exact form of the Palceosaurus 
 tooth figured by Sir Charles Lyell, in his Elements. P. 306, 
 fig. 348. 
 
 A small tooth belonging to the genus Pal- 
 I seosaurus has the following proportions and 
 ' dimensions : (Fig. I.) No. 1. 
 
 Length, 5-16 of an inch ; breadth at base, 
 nearly ^ of an inch ; thickness, 3-16 of an 
 3 12 inch. 
 
 ]^o. 2 shows the serratures as they appear on both edges 
 of the tooth enlarged. The smallest tooth which has fallen 
 under my notice, is one-fourth of an inch long ; it preserves 
 in its measurements the propor^ons of those which have been 
 already given. There is, therefore, no doubt, but that these 
 flattened, bi-carinate teeth, belong to one species of saurian, 
 though they differ in size. From the foregoing figures and 
 descriptions, it will no doubt be admitted, that the genua 
 represented by them, dijffers generically from the Rtjtiodon 
 
 Fig. I. 
 
 Note. — The tooth No. 3, fig. I, belongs to the Rutiodon. It is one of the smaller 
 fluted teeth, but is a good figure of this kind, showing very clearly, the difference 
 between the Clepsisaurus and the Rutiodon. 
 
KOETH-CAKOLIKA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 317 
 
 and Clepsisaurus. ~ The form, and especially the structure of . 
 the teeth is very different. They have no resembance to the 
 Labyrinthodonts of the l^ew Red sandstones. The other 
 genus, the Thecodontosaueus, with compressed teeth, the 
 serratures point to the apex of the teeth. 
 
 When these compressed teeth, therefore, are compared 
 with those of the PALEeosAUKUS, a genus established by Riley 
 and Scutchbury, it is difficult to resist the conviction, that our 
 Saurian is closely related to it. The figures of the teeth, 
 however, do not give all the information respecting them, 
 which is necessary for an exact determination ; but as far as 
 they go, they sustain the opinion I have expressed of their 
 generic affinity. I should infer from the figures of the 3?al- 
 geosaurian teeth that they were thinner than ours, while the 
 latter must be shorter and stouter ; those of the Bristol con- 
 glomerate being nine lines long and five wide.. These pro- 
 portions do not differ from those of Deep river. 
 
 From the foregoing facts, I am disposed to regard the teeth 
 imder consideration, as belonging to the Paleeosaur, but dif- 
 fering specifically fi-om that of the Bristol conglomerate. I 
 propose naming it Pal^osadeius Oaeolinensis, as Korth-Car- 
 olina.is the only State in which these remains are found. Of 
 its vertebrae we are yet ignorant ; but I am disposed to be- 
 lieve that the fragments of its cranium may yet be found at 
 Egypt. 
 
 § 259. There is still another kind of tooth which I am un- 
 able to refer to any species which has been described. 
 
 Its form reminds one at once of the Palseosaur, 
 but an attentive examination of its character will 
 convince any one that it differs from the foregoing 
 species. Fig. l!^. are outline figures; 'No. 1 shows 
 the curvature of the tooth, and 2 the form of the 
 transverse section near the base of the crown. 
 
 O 
 
318 NOBTH-CAEOLINA aEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Pig. (No. 3,) sliows tlie convex fluted surface; the 
 flutings liowever, are somewhat irregular, but are 
 not to be regarded as accidental. Fig. JSTo. 4, 
 shows the serratures of one edge ; those of the op- 
 posite edge are obsolete, and exist only faintly to- 
 wards the apex of the tooth. The figures are, of 
 the natural size. 
 
 The following measurements show the relative 
 proportions between their/length and breadth : 
 
 4. 
 
 Length rather greater than J^ of an inch. 
 
 Breadth at base 5-16 " \ '• 
 
 Thickness, rather exceeds ^ " " 
 
 The foregoing description and figures of teeth, prove that 
 the length ana breadth differ from the P. Carolinensis, and 
 that their proportions also differ ; 2. that the transverse sec- 
 tion is diff'erent, and 3, that the serratures exist principallj'" on 
 one edge ; that though the transverse section is gibbous, yet 
 it is not obliquely so. It is therefore specifically diflferent 
 from that, or appears to be. The texture of teeth, and the 
 character of the enamel also appears different ; it is less com- 
 pact and the enamel is thinner ; and hence, so far as my dis- 
 coveries go, they appear to warrant the establishment of a 
 species, and I therefore, propose the specific name, Sulcatus^ 
 from the furrows upon the convex face of the tooth, when it 
 will stand, Pal^osaueus Stjlcatfs. 
 
 Prom the foregoing determinations, (which may be re- 
 garded as provisional,) it cannot fail to strike the person who 
 is conversant with the discoveries in palfeontology, that this 
 period was rich in the Thecodont saurians, and that they 
 characterize the Permian as clearly as the Ichthysaurus and 
 Pleisiosaurs do the Liassic epoch ; and so far as discoveries 
 now warrant, our conclusions are sustained that they are 
 probably confined to the Permian epoch. 
 
 § 260. Of the Bones found in the Gray Sandstone. — In 
 Germanton, I found a cluster of bones belonging to a saurian 
 in close proximity to the coal slates, but beneath them. 
 Those which I regard as the most important, consist of a 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEpLOGICAL SUE^^T. 319 
 
 femur and tibia ; both, lioweverj imperfect. There were 
 many small bones more or less mutilated, and hence, too 
 imperfect for determination ; but what was quite as unfortu- 
 nate for the bones and my discovery, was that the rock itself 
 had become concretionary, and was quite refractory in break- 
 ing, being both tough and massive. The large bones refer- 
 red to, are represented on Plate 7, Fig 1, 2. These bones, 
 though not properly mineralized, yet they seem to have un- 
 dergone a change in structure. Parts of the more compact 
 bones are crystalline and brittle, and hence the difficulty of 
 exposing them in their matrix is increased. The tissue of the 
 bones is fine and close ; color black, except where they have 
 been long exposed to the weather. 
 
 The femur, Plate 7, Fig. 1, is broken towards the proximal 
 extremity ; but the outline of the head is imprinted in the 
 roek, and portions of the bone remain in situ. The distal ex- 
 tremity is removed just above the condyles. 
 
 The tibia has two gentle curves, but its extremities are 
 marred, and a large notch is broken out of the front of the 
 condyles. A side view presents somewhat the shape ' of 
 letter S, 
 
 The preserved portions have furnished me with the follow- 
 ing measurements : 
 
 Femur. Length preserved, 7, 00 inches. 
 
 Distance across the proximal end, including a part of 
 
 the head, 3 inch, and 3^ of an inch. 
 
 Diameter of the bone four inches from the head, 1 " % " 
 
 Thickness rather greater than, '. . % " 
 
 The form of the cylinder of bone, or its transverse section, 
 is represented on Plate 7, Fig. 5. This flattening or com- 
 pression appears to have been natural, and not due to me- 
 chanical pressure in the rock. At the point where it is bro- 
 ken, it begins to widen; the fracture, therefore, is just above 
 the condyles. It was probably nine or ten inches long when 
 perfect. 
 
 The tibia is more broken, though the general form appears 
 to be preserved. It is thick through the condyles, and be- 
 
320' NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 gins to form a curve as it passes down towards the middle of 
 the bone ; and the curve exists at the distal extremity. ' 
 I have the following dimensions ; 
 
 Length of the tibia, 10 inch, and J^ of an inch. 
 
 Breadth across the condyles, 2 " }£ " 
 
 Diameter below the condyles, 1 " ^ " 
 
 A metatarsal bone? is figured, Plate 6, Fig. 3. Several de- 
 tached ones were found in the rock, its surface is striated. 
 
 All the small bones are black and crystalline, and extreme- 
 ly brittle. I was unable to discover in this mass of bones 
 any teeth or vertebrae, and hence it is impossible to deter- 
 mine whether they belong to the Thecodont Saurians, with 
 biconcave vertebrae, or not. The size of these bones belong 
 evidently to a larger individual than any which I have de- 
 scribed. Kone of the bones are provided with medularj 
 cavities; or those cavities are wanting where the bones are 
 broken, 
 
 A remarkable cluster containing sixteen curved bones, five 
 inches long, and from one-fourth to one-half of an inch thick, 
 was found in this group in the sandstone. They are black, 
 compact, and disposed to break into oblique prisms. The 
 first impression they convey is, that they are short ribs. 
 They taper towards both extremities, and are neither 
 provided with tubercles or heads, or any process. They 
 are flattened on one side, and rounded and striated lon- 
 gitudinally on the others. 
 
 I speak of them in this place, more for the purjDose of di- 
 recting the attention of geologists to these singular bones, 
 than for the purpose of describing them in detail ; in hopes 
 thereby that some one more fortunate than myself may yet 
 discover other facts which will throw some light uj>on .their 
 position in the skeleton. 
 
 The metatarsal bones, I should remark before leaving the 
 subject, is nearly straight. 
 
 Several other bones were discovered at this place, but as 
 they are imperfect, I omit for the present a farther notice of 
 them. 
 

 -rS-' y'^H 
 
SOKTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 321 
 
 Class P18CE8, OR Fisp. 
 The remains of fish are numerous in the black bituminous 
 slates. They consist entirely or almost so of small shining 
 rhombic scales, and belong to the ganoid order. A few parts 
 of the fins rarely occur. Uones also of the head, and in one 
 ease, a temporal bone, about four inches long, was taken from 
 the Egypt shaft. When I found the mass of slate to which it was 
 attached, it had so far disintegrated that on lifting it, though 
 carefully, it fell into many pieces, and the relict was de- 
 stroyed. The fish, which seemed to have swarmed in those 
 days, after dying, were completely broken up by decay, leav- 
 ing nothing except the harder bones and the scales. The 
 fish scales appear in the upper beds of slate, but I have never 
 observed any in the sandstones below or above. 
 Fig. p. The next most common remains to the fish-scale is a 
 defensive bone, probably belonging to that kind usu- 
 ally called Ichthyodolerite. The annexed figure P 
 shows its size and form. Like the scale, it is confined 
 apparently to the bituminous slate. 
 
 It belongs to the front part of the dorsal fin of 
 the genus catopterus, Eedfield, or Ischypterus of 
 Sir P. G. Edgerton. But as it has not been discov- 
 ered in connection with the fin, I am under the ne- 
 cessity of expressing myself doubtfully respecting the 
 genus to which it should be referred. In the genus 
 Ischypterus I have not been able to discover in the fin 
 itself a line of demarcation through which the front part could 
 be detached and leave it as perfect and distinct as it is usually 
 found. 
 
 There are evidently two kinds of fish teeth in the Deep 
 river slate ; one slender and terete like the point of a needle, 
 and slightly flattened at the larger end. It is rather more 
 than one-eighth of an inch long, and scarcely ever exceeds 
 one-fourth. 
 
 The other is a small, short, conical tooth, with a compara- 
 tively large base, and seems to have been set directly upon 
 the jaw. 
 
 21 
 
322 NOETH-CA.E,OLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 I am aware that the foregoing very brief statement respect- 
 ing the fish of this formation is too meagre and too indefinite 
 to be of much service in determining the age of this forma- 
 tion. I prefer to wait the result of discoveries before attempt- 
 ing to make use of the present knowledge, which is evidently 
 too scanty upon which to form a geological opinion. ' 
 
 It is now well known to geologists that two genera of fish I 
 have been found in the slates of the Richmond coal basin — ■ * 
 the Tetragonolepis, Agassiz, whose scales are rather large, »M 
 (pi. 9, fig. 3 ;) the other is a slender fish, with scales more re- " 
 sembling those in the rocks of Deep river, (pi. 9, fig. 1.) But 
 none of the large scales indicative of the existence of the Te- 
 tragonolepis have been found with those smaller rhombic 
 scales in the formations of Deep or Dan river. It may be 
 questioned then whether the fish may not be difi'erent in the 
 two localities, the scales of the Deep river being much smaller 
 and more acutely rhombic. 
 
 The most common body which is connected with animal 
 remains are coprolites, the excrement of fish and saurians. 
 They are common and abundant in all the bituminous schists. 
 Their forms are variable, as well as their size. The one most 
 frequently met with is about one and a half inches long, and 
 half an inch in diameter ; this kind is never spiral. But an- 
 other, not diflering materially in size, shows a spiral arrange- , 
 ment of parts, (plate 6, figs. 6, 7 and 9, of which ISTo. 7 is the ■ 
 most abundant. ■ , 
 
 After having examined critically a large number of beds in 
 the Deep and Dan rivers coal fields, I am confident the fish 
 remains thus far difi'er from those of the Kichmond basin. 
 The Tetragonolepis, which is a liassic genus, has not yet been 
 found in JSTorth Carolina, and I am confident, too, that the 
 scales, fins and fish bones, found on the deep river, do no tbe- 
 long to either species of Dictyopyge of the Richmond coal- 
 field. (See proceedings of the Geological Society of London, 
 vol. 3, pp. 280, from which the figures were copied.) 
 
 Class Molusca — Bivalve Shells. 
 The genus Posidonia is the only animal of this class which 
 
NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJKVET. 323 
 
 has been observed. It is a small, tliin, bivalve shell, concen- 
 trically marked with lines or fm^rows. It is pressed perfectly 
 flat in the black bituminous slates. It is often abundant, but 
 it is also frequently absent. It is associated with a cypris, 
 and the fossils which have already been noticed. The shell 
 is as thin as paper, and we rarely find one perfect, though a 
 large surface may be covered with them. 
 
 Fig. w. The posidonia of the black slates 
 
 appears to be a different species from 
 those which occur in the upper red 
 sandstone. Figs. W are accurate 
 outlines of the shells — the Posidonia 
 1. 2. ovalis. The smallest, 'No. 1, is the 
 
 natural size, and 2 is enlarged. 
 
 Class Articulata. — Order, Crustacea. 
 Family Gijfridm. — This singular fossil, the cypris, composes 
 entire strata among the bituminous slates. It is a very small 
 fossil, the largest individual scarcely exceeding one-thirtieth 
 of an inch in length. Their form is much like that of bean, 
 though infinitely smaller. In the midst of this multitude of 
 small carapaces of this family, it is usual to find two sizes, one 
 about half the length of the largest, but the small ones 
 scarcely differ in form from the larger ; both are smooth, and 
 the only marking which they exhibit is an oblique groove, 
 which may be due to pressure. The great interest which 
 attaches itself to these curious fossils, is their abundance. In 
 the shaft of Egypt it was very singular also to observe their 
 sudden disappearance from the green calcareous shale, and 
 their sudden return again on the reappearance of the black 
 bituminous slate. Prof. Rogers speaks of one species with 
 a granulated carapace, which I have not seen. 
 
 Note. — Scales of the Tetragouolepis have been found since the foregoing Wi. s 
 written. 
 
32-i NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL 8UBVET. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLI. 
 
 FossUs of the Argillaceous Blue Slates. — Eqidvalent to the 
 Coal Shale grou^ of the ThuringervMld, with remarks and 
 descriptionSi ■ ' ' 
 
 § 261. The plant bed reposing upon tlie conglomerate at 
 Jones' Falls or Lockville, as the place has recently been 
 called, is one of the most remarkable, as well as the most 
 characteristic bed in the whole series upon Deep river. 
 
 After the deposition of the conglomerate the beds were 
 quietly formed. The accumnlation began in dark blue slates 
 or shale, perhaps not more than ten feet thick, to which suc- 
 ceeded a soft gray sandstone, which is probably equally rich 
 in plants as the slates themselves ; but the latter has not been 
 examined with much care, and an examination which was 
 continued for half an hour, gave several new plants, is all 
 that has been done. These beds have furnished only plants, 
 consisting of ferns and cicadeous ones, which seem to be 
 quite abundant. The importance of these beds in a geologi- 
 cal point of view, consists in giving us a clear and well de- 
 fined boundary to the Keuper sandstones and marls, which 
 overhe the beds in question. The Muschelkalk were it pres- 
 ent, would occupy a position immediately below the plant 
 bed. 
 
 It may be well to recur in this place, to the chain of evi- 
 dence which supports the view which I have presented. 
 
 1. The lithological characters of the lower sandstone, 
 agree in these respects with the formation in other parts of 
 the world. 
 
 2. The series next above it, are shown to belong to the 
 Permian system, by the existence of Thecodont saurian 
 remains. 
 
 3. The Trias succeeds the Permian, and as we have found 
 several plants which in their localities represent the system, 
 there can remain scarcely a doubt that the view I have pre^ 
 
NOKTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUKVET. 325 
 
 sented, is supported by a class of facts, wMcli in other cases, 
 would be regarded as decisive. The upper part of the series 
 which I have placed with the Permian, the drab colored 
 sandstone beneath the conglomerate, may be found hereafter 
 to be Triassic. I have placed them in the upper Permian, 
 because I have yet seen no line of demarkation separating 
 the lower, from the upper, until we reach the conglomerate 
 referred to. But the series which is composed of drab col- 
 ored sandstones, is so much concealed, that a clear line of 
 this kind may exist, and may have escaped detection. The 
 Musehelkalk is wanting ; that central limestone so rich in fos- 
 sils in Germany, and which is a well defined fingerboard in 
 the geological horizon ; but the Keuper-scheifer of the Ger- 
 mans may be represented by our calcareous shales and bitu- 
 minous coal shale bands. 
 
 Our evidence is not confined to the existence of certain 
 saurian remains ; it is also found in the succeeding beds, 
 whose fossils I shall now proceed to describe. 
 
 PiLICITES OE FEKNS. 
 OKDFK, PECOPTEEroES. — GoEPP. 
 
 Frond, simple, pinnate, bi or tripinnate, or bitripinnatified ; 
 pinnules, equal or dilated at base, midrib or main nerve, 
 strong and not evanescent towards the apex ; secondary 
 nerves dichotomous and sometimes twice or thrice forked, or 
 anastomosing with each other. 
 
 Steangeeites. 
 
 TiENIOPTEEIS. 
 
 Frond, many nerved, middle nerve thick, side nerves par- 
 allel, dichotomous. — Borneman, 
 
 Steajstgeeffes obliquus. — E. n. s. 
 The nerves or side veins go off at first at an acute angle, 
 when they soon become nearly at right angles with the mar- 
 gin of the frond. Some of the side veins divide near the 
 mid rib ; others do not fork until they nearly reach the mar- 
 
326 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURYEY. 
 
 gin. Those wliicli bifurcate low down or near the mid rib, 
 usually fork twice. This fern occurs at Ellingtons, but is rare. 
 Another species also belongs to this locality. It is much 
 longer, and not so wide, and is a much more delicate plant ; 
 the mid rib is less robust, or more slender. 
 
 ackostichites oblongus.---g0ep. n. s. 
 
 Pecopteeis Whitbtensis. 
 Plate 4, Figs. 8 and 6.-. 
 
 Frond bi-pinnate, primary pinnee going off nearly at right 
 angles, prolonged and tapering ; leafets ; oblong, obtuse ; close: 
 ly placed, but not united ; adherent by the whole base, and 
 shghtly widened ; edges nearly parallel ;. midribs rather faint, 
 especially near the apex ; side veins making rather an acute 
 angle, anastomosing, but frequently fork towards the margin, 
 primary rachis, thick strait, as in Fig. 6, Plate 4. 
 The fern just described, I had supposed was the P Whitbyensis, 
 described by Prof. "Wm. B. Eogers, in the Transactions of the 
 American Association. A critical examination of the side veins 
 of the leafets, seems to throw considerable doubt upon the cor- 
 rectness of my first impression. I was moreover confirmed in 
 that view for a time, by a remark of this gentleman on seeing 
 the plant, that it was the one I referred to ; but Prof. P. saw 
 it at a distance, and is not responsible for an opinion express- 
 ed under the circumstances. It differs from the Whitbyensis 
 as stated in the peculiar distribution of its side veins, and be- 
 ing anastomising, throws it into Goepeets genus Aceosti- 
 CHiTEs. The leafets of the P. Whitbyensis are falcate and 
 acute. It is true the general appearance of the plant, thick 
 rachis is much like Brogniarts figure, but differs from it es- 
 sentially in the details. It agrees much less with Lindley's 
 and Hutton's figure of this fern. In their figure, the rachis 
 is slender, and the leafets decidedly acute and falcate. 
 
 This fern, so far as my examination has extended, is un- 
 described ; and hence, I have proposed the name oblongits, 
 from the form of the leafets. If it should prove that this is 
 the plant which has been taken for the Whitbyensis, it will 
 change somewhat the evidence which has been adduced in 
 
NOKTH-OAEOLINA GEOLOGIOAI. SURVEY. 327 
 
 support of the views that the Richmond coalfield is of the age 
 of than of Whitby, in England, 
 
 That the distribution of the side veins may have been over- 
 looked, appears possible from the fact that Prof. Bunbury, 
 who alludes to it, speaks of the obscurity of the side viens ; 
 indeed, in most specimens the midrib becomes very obscure 
 toward the apex of the leafet and the lower leafets, the mid- 
 rib is so evanescent that it might pass for a neuropteris, to 
 which genus it undoubtedly has a close affinity. This fern 
 occurs at Ellingtons in the blue slate, associated with other 
 species of Pecopteris, Equisetum Calamites, &c. It does not 
 appear to be very common, 
 
 Pecopteeis falcatus, E, n. s. 
 Plate 4. Fig. 9. 
 
 Frond pinnate, Or bi-pinnate ; secondary rachis smooth, 
 channeled ; leafets long, rather distant than approximate ; 
 obtuse, somewhat falciform, slightly protracted at base, and 
 adherent their whole width ;' midrib distinct to the apex ; side 
 viens go off at an acute angle, fork once, and also twice ; sori 
 round, in two rows, with from twelve to seventeen in a row. 
 The standing of the leaves vary as to closeness. They are 
 approximate on parts of the frond. I have never seen an en- 
 tire frond. It is evidently as large, or nearly so, as the P. in- 
 signis. 
 
 It is rather common at Ellington's in the blue slate ; I have 
 also seen a poor specimen at Lockville in the same kind of 
 slate ; and also in a decomposing, light-colored slate at House's 
 quarries on the Haw river. 
 
 Fig. ,5, of the same plate, seems to be closely allied to the 
 preceding. It may be a barren frond, or the leafets may be 
 variable in length, towards the base of the rachis. It is pe- 
 culiar in the variable form of the leafets. It is more common 
 at Ellington's than any which I have noticed at that locality. 
 
 Pecopteeis Gaeolinensis, E., ft. ■§. 
 PL 4., Fig. 1, 2. 
 Frond pinnate, or bi-pinnate, leafets long, tapering when 
 
328 NOKTH-OAKOLmA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 beyond their middle, sub-acute, close, apices only, seem to be 
 free ; slightly dilated at base ; midrib perceptible near the 
 apex ; side veins going off at an acute angle, dividing once 
 or twice. Fructification spots, arranged singly and in a row, 
 on each side of the midrib ; large, round, scolloped, elevated 
 it the middle, and radiate. 
 
 The leafets of this fern are rather more than an inch long ; 
 they are thin and delicate, and taper from near the middle to 
 an obtuse point. Fragments only of this large fern have been 
 found, some six or seven inches long. It might be mistaken 
 for the preceding ; the sori, however, are quite unlike those 
 of the falcatus, resembling those of the Phlebopteris, but the 
 side veins are not reticulated as in that genus. It occurs at 
 Ellington's, in the blue slate. 
 
 Pecopteris (Aspidites) Bullatus. — BuNBimY. 
 Plate. 2, Fig. 8. 
 
 " Frond bi-pinnate ; leafets contiguous, widening at base, 
 " obtuse, nearly entire ; veins, oblique ; sori, sunk in round 
 "pits, and thickly implanted, or approximate, and in one 
 " series on each side of the midrib. 
 
 " The stem is smooth, and the primary pinnae go off at right 
 " angles. The leafets are very nearly perpendicular to the 
 " partial rachis, closely placed, but not united at their bases, 
 " and about three-tenths of an inch long, more or less obtuse, 
 " and their margins apparently entire ; the midrib scarcely 
 " reaches the extremity of the leafet ; side veins obscure, but 
 " when distinguishable, oblique and pinnated, with three or 
 " more alternate branches. The peculiar distinctive charaC' 
 " ter of the species consists in the round pits in which the 
 "sori are placed. Bunbury. This species belongs to the 
 " Richmond coalfield."* 
 
 From proceedings of the Geological Society, London, p. 383, 
 
noeth-cakolina geolocjucal sukvey. 329 
 
 ISTeuropteeides. 
 
 ISTeTJROPTEEIS LINN^FOLIA. BUNBUEY. 
 
 Plate 2, Fig. 6. 
 " Frond bi-pinnate, pinnae, sub-opposite alternate, sessile 
 ^' contiguous, sub-imbricate, orbicular, entire sub-convex ; 
 " veins dichotomous, flexuous, diverging from tlie base of the 
 " leafet. Primary pinnae, nearly opposite , long, narrow, nearly 
 " linear ; leafets numerous, opposite or alternate, or placed 
 " closely to each otlier so as to touch ; slightly cordate, one- 
 " quarter of an inch in length ; no distinct midrib ; veins rather 
 " strongly marked, numerous, and radiate from the bases of 
 ." the leafet, and repeatedly forked ; surface of the leafets 
 " granulated between the veins. — considered as intermediate 
 " between the I^europteris and Odontopteris. Bunbury. It 
 " belongs to the Richmond coalfield.""^ 
 
 Cyclopteeis. 
 Plate 4. Fig. 10. 
 Frond sub-orbicular; sessile, veins three or four times 
 divided, jiexuous. The imperfection in the outline of this 
 fern renders it impossible to give the general form. The 
 veins or nerves are strong and radiate from the base. There 
 are some indications that what appear to be nerves and de- 
 scribed as such, may be thread-like bodies, as some of them 
 appear to cross the others ; so, also, there are round dots like 
 Bori between the veins, consisting of impressions which are 
 nearly obliterated ; but these are too doubtful to allow a 
 change of name. It occurs in the blue slates at Ellingtons ; 
 only two specimens were obtained. This fern being obscure 
 and not presenting to the eye any strong marks by which it 
 is easily recognized, may be quite common at this locality and 
 yet escape detection. I have met with only two specimens 
 of it. 
 
 * Proceedings Geological Society, London, vol. iii, p. 281. 
 
330 NOETH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Cycadeace^, ok OYOADS. 
 
 PTEEOZAJinTES DECUSSATFS. E. Ql. S. 
 
 Plate 3, Fig. 1. 
 
 Pinnate, petiole strong, striate, leaves opposite elongate, 
 many nerved, parallel, at riglit angles to the petiole, obtuse. 
 
 There is no doubt that the position of the leaves upon the 
 petiole, as in the ligure, represents the mode in which they 
 were attached ; but as there is no opportunity for determin- 
 ing their length, and whether obtuse or acute, the description 
 miist remain defective. The probability is they are obtuse, 
 and hence I have placed it in this genus. 
 
 It occurs at Ellingtons in the blue slate, and appears to be 
 rare. , 
 
 Cycadites acutus. — E. n. s. 
 , Petiole, strong and striate ; leaves thick, narrow, supplied 
 with a single thick nerve in the middle of the leaf, rigid, 
 acute ; margins revolute ; leaves about two inches long and 
 standing nearly at right angles to the petiole. This is no 
 doubt a true cycas. 
 It occurs in the dark slates of Lockville or Jones' Falls. 
 
 Cycadites loisegifolius. — E n. s. 
 
 Stem or petiole, channeled ; leaves opposite, thick, acute, 
 and apparently supplied with a single mid rib ; margins rev- 
 olute, or thickened ; leaves standing at an acute angle with 
 the petiole. Frond was probably fourteen or fifteen inches, 
 if not two feet long ; leaves about three inches long. 
 
 The specimen adheres by the back side of the frond. The 
 upper shows a channel in the middle, which indicates a mid 
 rib, but no side veins can be discovered. 
 
 It occurs at Lockville. Fragments of the leaves are not 
 uncommon. 
 
 ZaMITES GRAMESriOIDES. E. U. S. 
 
 Plate 4, Fig. 11. 
 Frond pinnate, midrib, rather coarsely striate ; leaves op- 
 
NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 331 
 
 posite, long, narrow, acute, slightly constricted at base, many- 
 nerved, parallel. 
 
 The figure represents the leaves as not constricted at base ; 
 better specimens show that they are slightly constricted. 
 Tliis grass like Zamites differs from the gramineus proposed 
 by Prof. Bnnbury in the length of the leaves, they are 
 shorter and not as wide. The longest are about an inch and 
 a qnarter, and they are supplied with about six nerves, one 
 of them becoming more prominent than the rest. 
 
 Zaj^htes obtusifolius. — Rogers. 
 A species agreeing with the obtusifolius as described by 
 Prof Rogers, is found in the blue slates at Ellingtons. 
 
 Podozamites lanceolatus. — E. n. s. 
 Plate 3. Eig. T. 
 Stem or midrib, strong, striate ; leaves nearly opposite, or 
 rather alternating ; lanceolate, contracted at base ; nerves 
 many, parallel, converging towards the apex. The detached 
 leaves of this plant are very common in the blue slate at El- 
 lingtons ; some are half an inch wide. 
 
 Podozamites longifolius. — ^E. oi. s. 
 
 Leaves linear, lanceolate, acute, constricted immediately at 
 the base ; nerves, fine parallel, converging towards the apex. 
 The P. longifolius difi^ers from the former in the proportion of 
 the leaves ; they are narrower in proportion to their length 
 than the lanceolatus ; the base is wider and constricted less, 
 and the nerves are not so strong and distinct. The frond is 
 seven inches wide, and was probably two feet long. 
 
 It occurs at Lockville in the blue slates ; it is a more robust 
 plant than the former. 
 
 At Ellingtons, in the blue slate, I have found an apparently 
 singular fruit disk, which I believe is entirely new. I sup- 
 posed at fii'st, it might be the fruit of a cycadeous plant ; but 
 it is quite evident, that it difi'ers in toto from the fruit of this 
 family, as it is usually represented ; besides, there are certain 
 facts connected with the specimens which go to show,, that it 
 
332 NOBTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 is in itself a complete plant. I have called this singular pro- 
 duction, L&pacydotes, from its being composed of a circle of 
 scales, having a distant resemblance to the scales of a cone of 
 a pine. It is one of the most common plants at this locality, 
 the detached scales occurring throughout the slate. 
 
 {Natural order Undetermined^ 
 
 Lepactclotes. — n. g. 
 Disk circular or elliptic and formed of numerous scales ar- 
 ranged in a circle or in that of an ellipse ; scales terminating 
 outwardly, in triangular points, which form a border outside 
 of a circular ridge. 
 
 Lepagyolotes cmcuLAKis. — ^E. n. s. 
 Plate 3, Fig. 4. 
 Disk circular and formed of numerous triangular pointed 
 scales, which radiate apparently from a centre. This species 
 appeared to be furnished with a thin fleshy disk, most of 
 which broke in detaching it from the rock. A portion how- 
 ever, still remains as represented in the figure. 
 
 Lepagyolotes, ellipticus. — E. n. s. 
 Plate 3, Fig. 6. 
 
 Disk elliptic, scales inserted or standing around an elipti- 
 cal area, which is marked by an elevated line ; scales with a 
 ridge upon the back, bounded by two shallow furrows or de- 
 pressions. 
 
 The thin triangular expansions outside the ridge, are varia- 
 ble in length. 
 
 This species is by far the most common, and it furnishes 
 some anomalous forms which it is difficult to understand on 
 the assumption that it is a coniferous fruit. Thus, I have one 
 specimen less than half an inch in its longest diameter, and 
 another, if complete, more than eight inches, and formed of 
 tliree concentric circles, as if it were an entire plant ; one 
 circle growing upon another. When I first observed this 
 species, I supposed its elliptic form was due to pressure ; but 
 
NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 33S 
 
 1 am persuaded tlie form is constant, whether the disk is small 
 or large. I believe too, that its form marks a specific difference- 
 
 The latter, L. ellipticus, is sometimes furnished with a stem 
 which traverses the disk in the direction of its long diameter, 
 or its longest axis. At first, it appeared to me, that it was 
 an accidental accompaniment ; but having seen it already, 
 three or four times, and always lying in this direction, I be- 
 lieve it should be regarded as a stem, or support of the disk, 
 and that it is a part of the plant. 
 
 JBoth species occur at Ellingtons; the ellipticus is by far 
 the most common. 
 
 LYCOPODLiCE^. ' 
 
 "Walchia diffusus.— E. n. s. 
 Plate 3, Fig. 2. 
 
 Stem and branches thickly covered with small recurved 
 lanceolate leaves, clasping at base; larger upon the main 
 stem than branches ; branches numerous, and irregular 
 often elongated, leafy. 
 
 This species is quite abundant at Ellington's, in the blue 
 slate. It does not occur in the carboniferous slates at all. 
 There is one in this lower formation, however, which is only 
 seen in fragments, but which I believe is quste different. It 
 has been referred to. 
 
 Walchia longifolius. — E. n. s. 
 
 Leaves pointed or acute, beginning to taper about one- 
 third their length from the base ; clasping and decurrent ; 
 main stem large, leafy, and supplied apparently with simple 
 branches. 
 
 The leaves are three times as long as those of the W. dif- 
 fusus, and their length is very uniform. This species occurs 
 at Lockville, in the blue slate. Tlie stems are sometimes half 
 an inch in diameter. 
 
 Another species occurs at Lockville with slender elongated 
 branches, with leaves about the length of those of the W. diffu- 
 
334 NOKTH-CAJROLINA GEOLOGICAI. SUKVEY. 
 
 sus, but more pointed. It may be a variety of the foriiier. The 
 W. longefoliiis resembles very closely the Yoltzia acutifolius. 
 
 Equisetace^. 
 
 Calamites disjunctus. — ^E. n. s. 
 Plate 4, Fig. 7. 
 Joints distant, ribs distant with the surface between, mark- 
 ed with fine parallel lines. 
 
 The outside resembles that of the C. Moutgeottii, and may 
 belong to that species ; but I have never observed the inter- 
 nal stem which is like the C. arenaceus. 
 
 CALAMriES AEENACEUS. 
 
 The dark cuticle is without markings ; beneath, finely rib- 
 bed ; specimens occur in which the joints are enlarged. IsTum- 
 ber of ribs in an inch about forty. This is the most common 
 calamites at Lockville and Ellington's. 
 
 Eqiiisetum column are. 
 Plate 2, Fig. 9. 
 A specimen from the Richmond coal basin. It has not 
 been discovered as yet in connection with the series upon 
 Deep river. 
 
 Fossil plants of the Kjeupee sandstone and maels. 
 {Natural order undetermined^ 
 
 Sphenoglossum. — E. n. g. 
 
 § 262. Leaves short, wedge form ; or sub-triangular, mark- 
 ed with striae radiating from the centre, arranged in twos or 
 fours around the stem or support. 
 
 I have seen specimens with two opposite leaves in place. 
 In the one from which the figure was taken there are three^ 
 and one is restored. 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 335 
 
 Sphenoglossum quadkifolium. — E. n. s. 
 Plate 1, rig. 2. 
 
 Leaves witli divergent margins, and marked with unequal 
 divergent lines. Stem quadrangular? The softness of the 
 stone and the slight abrasion it has suffered at the centre, 
 renders it uncertain respecting the shape of the stem. 
 
 This fossil plant occurs in the soft reddish marls near Hay- 
 wood. It is associated with Fig. 1, on Plate 2. Mr. Lea of^ 
 Philadelphia, has a similar plant from Turner's Falls, Mass., 
 a locality which has furnished so many fine foot prints of 
 birds and saurians. 
 
 Pecopteeides. 
 
 Pecopteeis ? 
 Plate 2, Pig. 1. 
 This plant which occurs in the Keuper sandstone near Hay- 
 wood, Chatham county, is too indistinct for the determina- 
 tion of the genus to which it belongs. The outline of the 
 frond, with its leafets, are easily made out, but the more im- 
 portant characters are too much obliterated. 
 
 Animal Pemains of the Keupee Sandstone and Maels. 
 
 Desgeiption of a TiBixi OF A Saijeian. 
 Plate 5, Pig. 1, one-half natural size. 
 The specimen is not altered or changed in its composition, \ 
 but is still bone, and bears a resemblance to a grave-yard 
 bone ; hence, its texture or structure is visible to the eye, and 
 is seen to be coarsely cellular throughout, with broken cylin-. 
 ders or canals traversing it in an oblique direction. The tex- 
 ture appears as coarse and open as any bone belonging to the 
 mammiferous order. Li this respect it is in contrast with the 
 bones figured on plate ISTo. 7. 
 
 Note. — I have several other plants from the Keuper, which are too imjjerfect for 
 determinatiou ; amoug them is a large Zamites or cycadeous plaut. 
 
336 WORTH-CAHOLINA GEOLOGICAL STJEVETf. 
 
 The bone is very thick at the proximal extremity, or at its 
 articulation with the thigh bone. Its articulating surface is 
 well preserved. It is divided into two unequal parts by an 
 elevation which fits to the space between the condyles of the 
 femur. This surface is very oblique, the greater has a width 
 of two and a half inches ; the lesser of one inch, measured 
 transversely. 
 
 At the distance of about seven inches from the proximal 
 extremity it has a strong curve, or such as represented in the 
 figure. The upper part is obliquely quadrangular. "The an- 
 terior surface of this part has a deep broad groove, which ex- 
 tends nearly to the curvature, but becomes flattened or shal- 
 low near this part of the bone. The outside is narrower than 
 the inside. The inside surface is broad, slightly convex. The 
 posterior side shows the deep longitudinal depression between 
 the condyles for the transmission of its vessels and nerves- 
 The inferior part, which is seven inches long, is straight from 
 the curvature ; just at the bend it is oval in a transverse sec- 
 tion, but as it proceeds towards the lower extremity, it is 
 flattened ; the anterior edge is only about half as wide as the 
 posterior. It is broken at this end, and there is probably a 
 loss of two inches in length. It continues to widen to the 
 broken extremity, and its surface is injured ; none of the natu- 
 ral unbroken surface remains, but the foi-m is preserved. 
 
 Dimensions of the bone, etc. : " 
 
 The whole length measured over the currature to the 
 
 articulating surface 13 inch, and J^ of an inch. 
 
 Thickness of the condyles /?'om side to side 3 " 34 " 
 
 Circumference of the condyle 10 " 
 
 Thickness through the inner condyle 8 " 
 
 Thickness through the bend 1 " % " 
 
 Thickness through the flattened extremity /'/•owi the an- 
 terior to the posterior 2 " % " 
 
 Thickness from side to side 1 " /4 " 
 
 This bone has a small medullary cavity, which is brought to 
 view by a fracture near its curvature. 
 
 The bone is stained throughout with a reddish tint, which 
 was derived from the rock inclosing it, which, when ground 
 
NOETH-CAROLmA G-EOLOGICAL SURVEY. 33T 
 
 down, is white, and its structure is as easily brought out as 
 the recent bone. 
 
 Another bone from the same sandstone as represented upon 
 plate 5, fig. 2, was found near the locality of the former. 
 It is a fragment of a cervical vertebra. If a vertebra, its spi- 
 nous process must have been very long, as the piece remain- 
 ing is still four and a half inches. It is flattened, and its trans- 
 verse section oval, and is provided with sharp ridges on each 
 edge for the attachment of muscles. It is three-quarters of 
 an inch wide, three-eighths of an inch thick. The portion of 
 the centrum remaining has two large articulating surfaces, 
 the one above fig. 2 is more than one inch across and runs 
 parallel with the flattened faces of the bone ; it must have 
 been two inches long. The other is oblique, and is concealed 
 in the figure under the triangular process, and the broken one 
 on the right. There is also a deep groove running in the di- 
 rection of the spine, but which terminates in a sharp ridge. 
 
 The bones were discovered by Mr. Leadbetter, of Anson 
 Co., IST. C. The position is near the upper part of the red 
 sandstone. I visited the place and know from personal ex- 
 amination that it belongs geologically to this formation. I 
 regarded the bone as a remarkable one, and hence was cau- 
 tious not to leave the question of place in uncertainty, 
 although for myself I put perfect confidence in the observa- 
 tion of the gentleman who found it. 
 
 POSIDONIA. 
 
 § 264. The posidonias of the sandstone and marl are very 
 
 abundant at a locality six or seven miles south from Mr. Mc- 
 
 Ivers. There seem to be two species. One represented by 
 
 . Fig. X. Figure X., upon which the ribs are fine 
 
 and numerous, amounting to twenty, 
 
 having the external form of an Edmon- 
 
 dia, with a nearly straight hinge fine 
 
 which I have named P. multicostata. 
 
 The other has fewer but stronger ribs 
 and a more triangular form ; the repre- 
 sentation indicates a thick shell like an astarte, but it is thin ; 
 22 
 
^' 
 
 338 NOETH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 the ribs are strong, but the erroneous impression arises from 
 the enlargement of the figure. 
 
 Fig. v. This form of the shell suggests the name 
 
 triangi.ilaris^ should it prove to be a new spe- 
 cies. They are associated with a calamites, 
 the characteristics of which are rather obscure, 
 Plate 1, Fig. 1. 
 The stem appears as if it was angular, but as neither the 
 equisetum or calamites are angular, it is probably due to 
 pressure. 
 
 A species of cypris also occurs in the red shales, in Anson 
 county. They were discovered by my friend Mr. Leadbetter« 
 who also discovered the fossil bones of the red rocks which 
 have been described. 
 
 CHAPTEK XLII. 
 
 The Coalfields of Deep river and of Richmond^ compared^ 
 1st, as to their lithological characters, %d, their paloeontolog- 
 ical contents, and 3d, the indications of their comparative 
 age. 
 
 § 365. The rocks which stand connected immediately with 
 the coal seams, lie between two red rocks or masses ; the 
 Rothertodthe liegendes below, and certain beds of the New 
 Red sandstone above, which I suppose may be cotempora- 
 neous with the Keuper sandstones and marls. The coal seams 
 themselves are connected with, or embraced in a black bitu- 
 minous slate, the whole thickness of which at Egypt, I have 
 estimated at eight hundred feet. Immediately succeeding 
 the slates, we find drab colored sandstones, then beds of con- 
 
NOKTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 339 
 
 glomerate, followed by a thin plant bed, composed of blue 
 slates whose flora is peculiar ; and finally, the upper red sand- 
 stone already alluded to. Such is briefly the character of 
 the Deep river rocks. 
 
 The Richmond coal formation, it will be seen, is quite dif- 
 ferent. In the first place, the inferior red sandstone is ab- 
 sent. In the second place, the mass of beds are mostly grits 
 and gray sandstones, with only intercalated beds of slates and 
 the coal seams, and near the bottom of the series, and in 
 some instances repose almost immediately upon syenitic gran- 
 ite. We perceive then, at once, that as physical groups, they 
 are unlike each other, which will become more striking by 
 stating somewhat in detail the nature of the rocks which 
 overhe the coal seams. Thus we have the following series of 
 beds : 
 
 FEET. INCHES. 
 
 Sandstone with shale 570 00 
 
 Slate with calamites 8 01 
 
 Sandstone and shale 43 00 
 
 Sandstone with calamites 8 10 
 
 Sandstone with shale 48 08 
 
 Slate with long vegetable stems 2 06 
 
 Sandstone. 6 06 
 
 S late with many calamites 5 06 
 
 Sandstone 14 00 
 
 Carbonaceous rock 13 00 
 
 Slate 5 . 00 
 
 Main Coal Seam 36 00 
 
 Sandstone 5 00 
 
 Slate 4 00 
 
 Coal 1 00 
 
 Slate ,8 00 
 
 Sandstone and grit 7 00 
 
 Granite 00 0© 
 
 773 10 
 
 Here we perceive the coal seam is within ten feet of gran- 
 ite, and the main seam within twenty. In other shafts the 
 coal is found resting upon an uneven mass of granite. There 
 
 ♦ ^ 
 
 * Copied from Mr. Lyell's paper, read before the Geological Society of London, en- 
 titled " Structure and probable age of the coal of James river near Richmond, Va." 
 
340 NORTH-CAKOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 are' others where tlie coal is thirty or forty feet above the 
 granite. There is, however, no red sandstone interposed be- 
 tween the granite and the coal. It is certain the lower sand- 
 stones of Deep river, and the foregoing slates and grits, are 
 not cotemporaneous beds, inasmuch as the fossils are totally 
 different, and indicate a different epoch. We have, therefore, 
 a period represented by the rocks of Deep river, which are 
 older than the coal seams of the Richmond trough, and which 
 are not represented at all in this series. 
 
 But this fact alone would not prove that the rocks which 
 represent the two systems which inclose the respective seams, 
 differ in age. It is proved only that long before the rocks 
 near Richmond had begun to be deposited, the country where 
 Deep river now flows had been for a long time beneath the 
 waters of the ocean, in which there had accumulated by the 
 slow accessions of matter, an immense thickness of sandstone. 
 
 But then the fact that subsequently coal seams were 
 formed, does not prove that they must necessarily be cotem- 
 poraneous. I have shown that the coal seams of Deep river 
 belong probably to rocks of the Permian epoch. But those 
 inclosing the coal seams of Richmond may belong to the Tri- 
 assic, Liassic, or Oolitic epochs. The exact epoch must be 
 determined by the fossils which have been or may yet be dis- 
 covered in the rocks of this district. 
 
 The determination of the age of the Deep river formation 
 may aid us in determining the age of the Richmond basin. 
 
 In fixing upon the age of the former we have a base from 
 which to start. We have reason to believe that the formation 
 of these rocks went on continuously. But it is also proved 
 that during the time they were forming, very important 
 changes took place in the races of organic beings which lived 
 during that time. Thus, the fossils of the coal shale group 
 at Lockville and Ellington's, are totally different from any be- 
 low the group, or prior to it in time. There is not the slight- 
 est resemblance between the fossils of the beds connected 
 with the coal seams and those of the beds at Lockville and 
 Ellingtons. There is not a species in common. 
 
 Having ascertained thus much relative to the series of 
 
NORTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 341 
 
 rocks on Beep river, we can hardly avoid the enquiry^ 
 whether we find anything in common in the coal shale group 
 find sandstones above the carboniferous beds and the Rich- 
 mond basin. I can answer, that there is a very close generic 
 resemblance at least, and to a limited extent, a specific re- 
 semblance also. Thus, the T8enioj)teris magnifolius, Zamites 
 -obtusifolius and the Calamites arenaceus, are identical from 
 these two localities. If fossils are to be relied upon as tests 
 of age, the Richmond coalfield is formed of rocks which were 
 deposited cotemporaneously with the upper series on Deep 
 river, beginning with the upper conglomerate ; or, in other 
 words, the Richmond coalfield is Triassic, and the Deep river, 
 Permian. The latter represents, it is supposed, the last of the 
 Palmozoic period, the former, one of the first stages of the 
 Mesozoic period. This generalization may appear to be too 
 bold in the minds of some Geologists, to be true. But the 
 idea, that the Richmond coalfield may be Triassic, has been 
 suggested before ; for Prof Bunbury, after examining criti- 
 cally a series of fossils collected by Mr. Lyell, remarks, " that 
 
 . there is about as much evidence of its being Triassic, as 
 Oolitic." 
 
 It appears that most of the fossils relied upon by Profl 
 Rogers for his determinations, are found in the Triassic 
 group, and some of them are eminently Triassic fossils, as the 
 Calamites arenaceus, and there is but one among them 
 which could be claimed as exclusively Oolitic, viz : the Pe- 
 copteris Whitbyensis. Of the correct determination of this 
 
 ' plant, I believe we should entertain strong doubts. If there- 
 fore, the plants of the Richmond coal series are mostly Tri- 
 assic, I cannot see that we need object to the view presented, 
 sustained as it is by a comparison with the Deep river fossils, 
 which belong to rocks above the middle conglomerate or the 
 one immediately below the coal shale group at Ellingtons. 
 
 It is interesting to find that there is so much probability 
 or proof existing, which sustains certain general conclusions 
 respecting the carboniferous eras or formations in this coun- 
 try. The carboniferous epoch proper, has been regarded as 
 the only one which we could rely upon for coal. The coal- 
 
342 NOKTH-CAEOLINA GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 
 
 field of Kichmond was looked upon as an anomaly after it 
 had been determined to belong to a more recent epoch than 
 the former. But if our conclusions respecting the epoch of 
 the Deep river series are sustained, we have in this country 
 the true carboniferous ; and in the next stage, the Permian 
 comes in with its coal, and then the 'New Red sandstone in 
 the next stage with workable coal seams, so that it is proba- 
 ]>le we have coal seams occurring in three consecutive stages. 
 As coal originates from vegetables, it is also interesting to 
 note, that these three consecutive stages, are characterized 
 by peculiar vegetations ; that each stage differs in its coal 
 plants, or the plants from which the coal is produced. So 
 also, it is probably true, that the Oolitic coal of Brora, Scot- 
 land, had its peculiar vegetation, or its peculiar plants from 
 which the coal was derived. But the physical phenomena 
 attending the carboniferous epochs, must have been quite 
 similar in each ; they must have been accompanied with sub- 
 sidences, and other necessary changes and conditions, in or- 
 der to have secured results so similar in each respective 
 epoch. 
 
 Note. — The Palceotrochis of Montgomery county, is closely allied to the Oldhamia 
 of Ireland, the oldest known fossil of the British Dominions ; both are Zoophites of 
 the same order. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I AViSH to supply in this appendix some omissions without 
 a special division into chapters and sections, which I have 
 made in the body of the report. - 
 
 § 1. The first omissions relate to the water power of the 
 Koanoke at and near Weldon. 
 
 This power occupies an important position in consequence 
 of the intersection of rail ways at this place, making it an 
 accessible point from the north, north-west, south and south- 
 west. It is also in the midst of fertile and productive lands. 
 
 I have not attempted to estimate the amount of this power 
 at or near this place ; but it will be seen, that it is very great. 
 Let any one examine the locations along the canal for five or 
 six miles, and he will be surprised that a power so vast, so 
 convenient, so controllable, is still unoccupied by mills. If 
 the canal itself should take the place of a mill race, and there 
 can be no objection to this position, it furnishes sites for man- 
 ufactories for five or six miles, with the whole power of the 
 Roanoke to support them. Weldon should become a large 
 manufacturing town ; at least, I can see no reason why it 
 should not. 
 
 § 2. Jones' Fall or Lockmlle. — The alterations which have 
 been made in the locks and canal at this place, will greatly 
 improve it as a manufacturing site. The whole river will be 
 controlled and commanded. The site itself is convenient and 
 free from danger during high water. On the south-west side, 
 one mile and a qarter above the Falls, there is another valua- 
 ble water power owned by Capt. Bryant ; the amount of fall 
 and its advantages I am not able to state. 
 
 These water powers are near the deposits of coal and iron, 
 or near the centre of an important and growing district. It 
 is connected with Pittsborough by a Plankroad, and will un- 
 doubtedly be connected with Raleigh by a Railway ; and 
 
■A ■ 
 
 344: APPENDIX. 
 
 being upon the river, it is connected with Fayetteville and 
 Wilmington and the ocean, by navigable waters ; hence this 
 point is one of great importance. The village of Haywood 
 near by, though now dilapidated, is built upon a pleasant and 
 healthy site in the forks of Deep and Haw river ; its position 
 is beautiful and furnishes eligible sites for country residences, 
 scarcely equalled by any in the State. 
 
 There are many locations in this State, with advantages for 
 manufacturing, which recommend themselves to I^orthern 
 companies who require more power than they can command 
 at home. Of these, "Weldon, Jones' Falls, the Horseshoe 
 Bend of the Catawba, the South Yadkin, are among the best 
 unoccupied sites. "Weldon is the place for the manufacture 
 of cotton ; Jones' Falls is adapted to cotton and iron ; the 
 Horseshoe Bend and the South Yadkin for iron. 
 
 GILLIS COPPER MINE. 
 
 § 3. Tliis mine is near the east line of Person separating it 
 from Granville county. It is in the north-east corner of Per- 
 son, and only about five miles from the Yirginia line. The 
 country is rather elevated, being probably eight or nine hun- 
 dred feet above Henderson. 
 
 The rock immediately investing the mine is an altered 
 slate belonging to the Taconic system. About a mile east, 
 the conglomerates form a very prominent part of the series ; 
 but they are beyond the influence of the forces which chang- 
 ed the slates referred to. 
 
 On the west, slates which I have usually regarded as tal- 
 cose, but which I now believe are argillaceous, succeeded 
 the metamorphic ones ; but another altered belt is encoun- 
 tered in about five miles to the west, in which there are also 
 veins which carry the ores of copper. I refer to the belt 
 which traverses the land of William Gillis. The altered belt 
 in which the Gillis mine occurs, pursues a direction nearly 
 north and south, or nearly, if not exactly on the parallel of 
 the line dividing the two counties ; but the strike of the vein 
 isN". 10° E., with a steep easterly dip, amounting to about Y0°. 
 It is however, slightly variable at difi'erent depths in the shaft. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 345 
 
 The metal which the vein carries, is known as the vitreous 
 copper ore, which yields when properly dressed, about sixty 
 per cent, of copper. Two shafts have been sunk upon the 
 vein, both of which have been carried to the depth of eighty 
 feet. The lode continues all the way down, but is variable 
 in width. At the present time, at the depth of eighty feet, 
 it is eighteen inches in the south shaft, and about five feet in 
 the north. The vein stone is a porous quartz, stained and 
 impregnated with the green carbonate of copper. In the 
 north shaft, calcspar has accompanied the quartz, though it 
 is mostly in bunches. • '^ 
 
 The vein carries in addition to the vitreous copper, silicate 
 of copper, green carbonate, red and black oxides of cop- 
 per, the latter rare ; and the red oxide first appeared in the 
 eighty foot level, where the vitreous ore is in a continuous 
 belt running across the shaft. The width is from two to four 
 inches nearly pure vitreous copper. On each side the quartz, 
 gossan, etc, is impregnated with the carbonate intermixed 
 with chrysocoUa. 
 
 This vein was examined about eighteen months ago. I 
 expressed a favorable opinion of it which was based partly 
 upon the ground, that it carried a rich metal in a continuous 
 depository, which extended according to my own examina- 
 tion, at that time, almost a mile. It is now known to extend 
 about five miles. The vein I found well formed and regular. 
 Subsequently a contract was made by a party who proposed 
 to work it. This party, however, reported after a brief trial, 
 that the vein had disappeared, and that it was entirely worth- 
 less. This unexpected report was scarcely credible, but be- 
 ing unable at that time to make a farther exploration, I could 
 not say that the report was untrue. I omitted, therefore, a 
 reference to it in the proper place ; but fortunately, the own- 
 ers having employed a gentleman of intelligence and capac- 
 ity, to open the mine properly, it turns out a rich and valua- 
 ble depository of metal. Encouragement has followed the 
 sinking of the shafts referred to, and I now feel confident that 
 it will prove better than I was led to expect on my first ex- 
 
346 APPENDIX. 
 
 amination. It now bids fair to become one of tbe rich mines 
 of the State. 
 
 It was expected when Gillis' mine was first opened, the 
 vitrons copper would change, or be replaced by the poorer, 
 the yellow sulphuret, but as yet there are no indications of 
 change, very few particles of the yellow ore having been 
 observed. 
 
 The indications which the rocks furnish, taken in connec- 
 tion with the fact that there are other veins than the one de- 
 scribed in this neighborhood are that this part of Person and 
 Granville will prove a mineral district of considerable import- 
 ance. 
 
 § 4. One remark which may be properly made in this place 
 respects the chemical composition of the copper ores : it is 
 this, that they cannot be regarded as definite chemical com- 
 pounds, but mixtures which may have the following range : 
 2 Cu. S., Fe. S., but are generally represented by Cu. S., Fe. 
 
 2 ' 2 
 
 S. or 3 Cu. S. Fe. S, There are ores or sulphides (sulphur- 
 
 2 2 3 
 
 ets) which are definite in composition, or uniform in their 
 proportions of sulphur and metallic elements, especially when 
 crystalized, or crystaline, but there is more which is promis- 
 cuously commingled, and which consists of several sulphides 
 in various and indeterminable proportions, and those which 
 are richest in gold have an excess of sulphur. Selenium 
 sometimes occurs also in some varieties of sulphides. 
 
 § 5. Iron ore of a fine quality is another product which is wor- 
 thy of note, but this ore is more abundant in the region of 
 Mount Tirza and Red Mountain, 
 
 This series of sediments continues westward from fifteen to 
 twenty miles. Upon Hyco, about five miles north of Kox- 
 boro, I found its northern termination in a mass of felspar- 
 thic quartz rock at Marlow Mountain, on a ridge of hills show- 
 ing some very bold features where they are traversed. Two 
 prominent naked pinnacles crown the summits of this moun- 
 tain. They are highly picturesque objects, and well worthy 
 of a visit by the curious and by geologists. They seem to be 
 metamorphic, and consist of a compound of albite and quartz, 
 
APPENDIX. 347 
 
 or else of the prismatic felspdr. Associated with those 
 singular pinnacles are beds of argillaceous slate, agalmatolite 
 or argillaceous soapstone, silicious slate, approaching a sand- 
 stone. Some of the beds are highly charged with magnetic 
 iron ore, in imperfect crystals, and it is highly probable that 
 it will be found in beds of considerable magnitude. 
 
 This formation in Person County is identical with that of 
 Montgomery County, not far from Troy. It is there accom- 
 panied with veins of iron ore. The stellated talc of Cotton 
 Stone Mountain occurs in a similar formation. It may prove 
 that this mineral is not magnesian, and may be one of the 
 . forms or varieties of Agalmatolite. These rocks rest upon the 
 primary schists, hornblende slate, talcose slate, etc., with fels- 
 pathic veins, some of which are white and pure. 
 
 § 6. Labyrinthodont of the Deep Hiver Coal Measures. — Al- 
 lusion has been already made to this fossil under the name of 
 Archegosaurus. The first saurians of this type were found in 
 the coal of Saarbruck, in Germany. The cranial bones of this 
 singular lizard are beautifully sculptured, and ornamented 
 with pits. It is readily distinguished from the Thecodont sau- 
 rians by these characteristics. It occupies the same position, 
 being imbedded in the coal of the lower part of the six foot 
 seam. 
 
 In conclusion, I find it necessary to say that the animal re- 
 mains which have been described in the foregoing pages have 
 been submitted to the examination of Joseph Leidy, Prof, of 
 Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. L. is one 
 of the ablest comparative anatomist in this country, and it was 
 expected that he would have been able to have furnished a 
 descriptive catalogue of the interesting fossils of deep and Dan 
 rivers in season to have been inserted in this report. But in 
 this expectation I am disappointed, and have occasion to re- 
 gret it, because, if I have fallen into errors, those errors would 
 have been corrected in this volume. 
 
 Fig. e. g Y. OivnssiON. — ^The figure of the transverse section 
 
 Oof the large tooth of the Clepsisaurus Pennsylvani- 
 cus was omitted. It is now placed in the margin. 
 It is bicarinate near the base and unequally convex. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 
 
 Plate I. 
 
 Fig. 1. Supposed to be an Equisetum. Its stem, however, 
 appears to be angular, and if so it belongs probably to an un- 
 described genus. It belongs to the npper Sandstone of Deep 
 river. 
 
 Fig. 2. Sphenoglossum quadrifolium. Upper sandstone. 
 
 Fig. 3. Dyctuocaulus striatus. 
 
 Fig. 4. Grjmnocaulus alternatus. 
 
 Plate II. 
 
 Fig. 1. Supposed to be a Pecopteris. 
 
 Fig. 2. Neuropteris. (?) 
 
 Fig. 3. Equisetum column aroides. 
 
 Fig. 4. Chondrites gracilis. 
 
 Fig. 5. Leafet of an undescribed plant. 
 
 Fig. 6. Neuropteris linsefolia. 
 
 Fig. 7. Diaphragm of the Equisetum columnare. 
 
 Fig. 8. Pecopteris buUatus. 
 
 Fig. 9. Equisetum columnare. — Eichmond coal basin. 
 
 Plate III. 
 
 Fig. 1. Pterozamites decussatus. 
 
 Fig. 2. Walchia diffusus. 
 
 Fig. 3. Lycopodites. 
 
 Fig. 4. Lepacyciotes circularis. 
 
 Fig. 5. Undetermined, in consequence of the obscurity of 
 the side veins. 
 
 Fig. 6. Lepacyciotes elHpticus. 
 
 Fig. 7. Podozamites lanceolatus. 
 
 Fig. 8. Pterozamites of the upper sandstone. 
 
 Plate lY. 
 
 Fig. 1. Pecopteris CaroKnensis, showing its sori, nat. size. 
 
 Fig. 2. Sori enlarged. 
 
 Fig. 3. Pecopteris? 
 
 Fig. 4. Calamites disjunctus. 
 
 Fig. 5. Pecopteris falcatus. ? Barren frond. ? 
 
 Fig. 8. Acrostichites oblongus. 
 
 Fig. 6. Enlarged view, showing the reticulated side veins 
 and their distribution. 
 
 Fig. 7. Calamites. . 
 
 Fig. 9. Pecopteris falcatus. 
 
 Fig. 10. Cyclopteris. 
 
 Fig. 11. Dionites graminoides. 
 
350 descrivtion of the plates. 
 
 Plate Y. 
 
 Fig. 1. Tibia of a saurian found in the upper sandstone, or 
 tlie Keuper sandstone. 
 
 Fig. 2. Fragment of a cervical verfeba. ? 
 
 Fig. 3. Tooth of the Clepsisaurus Pennsylvanicus. 
 
 Fig. 4. Fish scale enlarged ; natural size below. 
 
 Fig. 5. Portion of the frontal bone of the Rutiodon Caroli- 
 nensis. 
 
 Plate YI. 
 
 Fig. 1. Fish scale, natural size. 
 
 Fig. 2. Supposed ichthyodolerite. 
 
 Fig. 3. Metatarsal bone, or it may be a short rib. Taken 
 from the sandstone at Germantown. 
 
 Fig. 4. Undetermined. Found in the bituminous shale at 
 Farmersville. 
 
 Fig. 5. Undetermined. From the black bituminous shale 
 of Farmersville. 
 
 Figs. 6, Y and 9. Coprolites from the bituminous shale, 
 Farmersville. 
 
 Fig. 8. Two lumbar vertebrse, in position and iiatural size, 
 with the crushed ribs, and beneath showing a portion of the 
 spinous process. From the bituminous shale, Farmersville. 
 
 Plate YII. 
 
 Fig. 1. Femur of a saurian from the gray sandstone, Ger- 
 man ton. 
 
 Fig. 2. Tibia in juxtaposition with the former. 
 
 Fig. 3. Showing the form of a transverse section near the 
 distal extremity. 
 
 Fig. 4. Form or shape of the articular extremity of the ver- 
 tebra of the Putiodon. 
 
 Fig. 5. Longitudinal section of the same vertebra, showing 
 its concavities and constricted centrum. 
 
 Plate YIII. 
 
 Fig. 1. Three consecutive dorsal vertebrse, showing tha 
 articulation of the ribs. 
 
 Fig. 2. The form and relation of the rib to the vertebra. 
 
 Fig. 3. Coracoid bone. 
 
 Fiff. 4. Supposed to be a part of the humerus. 
 
 Plate rX. 
 
 Figs. 1 and 2. Dictyopyge from the Pichmond coal forma- 
 tion. 
 
 Fig. 3. Tetragonolepis, from the same. 
 
 Fig. 4. Genus Ischypterus, Sunderland, Mass. 
 
 "Plate 9. (Map.) 
 
 Plan of the veins at Gold Hill, showing their relations and 
 directions. 
 
DESCKIPTION OF THE PLATES. 
 
 361 
 
 Plate X. 
 
 Plan sliowino; the arrangement of tlie pockets, as they are 
 called, in the Gold Hill mine, and on the left the regular off 
 sets of the vein as it descends. 
 
 Plate XI. 
 
 Exhibits a plan of the working of the ISTorth Carolina cop- 
 per mine of Guilford county. 
 
 Plate XII. 
 
 The underground workings of the Pudersill mine at Char- 
 lotte, Mecklenburgh county. 
 
 Plate XIII. 
 
 Plan of the veins of the Conrad Hill mine, Davidson 
 county. 
 
 Plate XI Y. — Sections. 
 
 Sec. 1. Extending from Lincolnton to Wadesboro', running 
 nearly east and west, showing the position of the Taconic sys- 
 tem near Lincolnton, and the relations of the Trias, near 
 "Wadesboro, Anson County. The numbers below indicate the 
 distance in miles. 
 
 Sec. 2. Showing the relation of the rocks from Gold Hill 
 to Troy, Montgomery county, and the position in which fos- 
 sils occur in the older rocks at the latter place. 
 
 Plate. (Seetions.) 
 
 Sec. 1. Showing the series of sandstones and slates with 
 the coal seams at the Gulf. 
 
 Sec. 2. The same section prolonged north-west, showing 
 the relations and position of the veins of iron ore in the Ta- 
 conic series, together with the position of the brecciated con- 
 glomerates. S. I., specular iron. H. I., hsematitic iron at 
 ore knob. Con., conglomerate. T. S., Taconic slates. 
 
 Sec. 3, extends across the coal series at Murchisons, Moore 
 county. F. C, fire clay. 
 
 Sec. 4, extends across the coal series at Evander Mclver's. 
 The Salines consist of drab colored sandstanes, which, in dry 
 weather, are coated with salt. The Breccia marks the boun- 
 dary here between the Keuper sandstone and the coal meas- 
 ures, though the term breccia would be more properly re- 
 placed by the term conglomerate. 
 
EEEATA. 
 
 Page XV., 6th line from top for ''fine'' read "/re." 
 
 Page XVI, 16th line from top, for "prqjenitoirs" read "progenitors.^* 
 
 Page 20, 12th line from the top, for " chrystallme'' read " crystalline'^ 
 
 Page 21, 4th line from the bottom, for "plains" read "planes." 
 
 Page 96, middle of the page, for "irimptive" read "eruptive." 
 
 Page 154, 2nd line from the bottom, for "Maury" read " Mooney." 
 
 Page 216, 4th line from the top, for " Asbestos" read " Ashestus." 
 
 Page 219, 7th line from the top for " Eeaden" read "Heading." 
 
 Page 201, 14th line from the bottom, for "hard" read "hased." 
 
 Page 205, 9th line from the top, for "murkey" read "railkey." 
 
 Page 228, for " Ti'iassic" read " Liassic." 
 
 Page 291. for " Clubb" read " Club." 
 
 Page 295, for " Byley avxl Scutchburg" read " Riley and Scutchbury." 
 
 Page 292, for " Polipodiacea" read " Polypodiaoea." 
 
 Page 233, 8th line from the top, for " Native" read " Saline." 
 
 Page 238, 10th line from the bottom, for "crusted" read "ci'ushed." 
 
 Page 235, 17th line from the bottom, for " Sigellaria" read " Sigillaria.'' 
 
 Page 235, 8d line from the bottom, for " Stone" read " Stems." 
 
 Page 269, 14th line from the top, tor "Jiemalite" read " TiaemMite." 
 
 Page 239, 2nd line from the top, for "plats" read " plants." 
 
 Page 239, 3d line, for " SycopodiacecC read " Lycopodiacea." 
 
 Page 233, 15th line from the top, for " Suringia" read " TImringia." 
 
 Page 244 and 245, for " Fooshee" read " Fm^shee," and for " Dyers" read " Dye's." 
 
 Page 251, 11th line from the top, for "triated" read " tested" and for "case" read 
 
 ease." 
 
 Page 290, 4th Une from the top, for " Gryptomeritus" read " Cryptomerites." 
 
 Page 300, 11th line from the bottom for " Pennsylvanius" read " Pennsyhanicus." 
 
 Page 337, for " Sycopodiacea" read "Lycopodiacea." 
 
 Change Zamites, Plate 4, fig. 11, to Dionites. 
 
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