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QUARTZ MINES OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - PART ONE (ongoing project)
As I get older I feel compelled to share more of the information I have gleaned over the years about North Carolina mineral localities with future generations of collectors and scientists.
With that in mind, I am compiling an annotated listing of the quartz mines that I am familiar with in Montgomery County, which has an almost exclusive claim to possessing these quartz mines. Only a handful are known in other NC counties, mainly Randolph and Stanly. First I must define what I mean by the term “quartz mine”. These are sites that were mined for commercial purposes for the extraction of large quantities of milky quartz for use in the construction industry. As far as I have been able to determine, without exception, these were all mined in the 1960’s.
This does not include shallow diggings, prospects, road cuts, gold mines, or quartz crystal vein diggings. (One site, the Morris Mountain Mine, may have only been a gold mine, though large quantities of quartz were removed, I have not been able to determine if it was mined for quartz and gold, or only gold). All of these sites involved drilling, blasting, and heavy equipment. Most of them today are highly modified from their original morphology, having been partially filled by both man and erosional forces, and often overgrown with large trees. The quartz was crushed into pea gravel size and incorporated into concrete construction panels used on large buildings. Most of you have probably seen these panels on buildings, with a surface of quartz fragments embedded in concrete. This “fad’ seems to have faded out in the 1970’s. Perhaps people agreed with my assessment that they are ugly! Fortunately for quartz crystal collectors, these mines penetrated many of the largest quartz outcrops in the county, and they still continue to provide us with numerous specimens. I am not aware of any published accounts of crystals found during this time by the miners, but I (and others) have heard anecdotal accounts that are astounding. My knowledge of these sites has been greatly augmented by other collectors sharing information with me, in particular Mike McDuffie, Jim Ray, Archie Craven, Rob Whaley, Wayne Roberson, and most recently, Kayla Johanson. I am only including general locations for now in this report, though I would like to develop a complete listing of GPS coordinates to share, with the caveat that all of these are either on private property or National Forest land. Permission should always be secured before visiting these sites, or in the case of Federal land, all rules and regulations regarding collecting should be observed. I hope to continually upgrade and expand the information contained in this listing, as I learn more and as I have the time to expand the content. I welcome any and all additional information that can be incorporated into this report by the readers. This listing will start off sketchy, but over time will hopefully evolve into a comprehensive report on all aspects of these mines, including history, morphology, geology, and mineralogy. Over time hopefully the report can be supplemented with photographs, published references, and anecdotes. A few of these sites are at present unnamed, but efforts are underway to determine appropriate names for all of them, and to explain the origin of these names. No doubt there are several quartz mines out there that I have not located or know nothing about, so this cannot be considered a complete listing, though I am confident that all the major mines are included.
Important Note: The following descriptions are primarily based on my own recollections, so the accuracy of many of my observations is bound to be suspect. For instance, I may remember a pit being 40 x 50 feet, but you might go out there and measure the pit and find that it is 75 x 60 feet. I can only provide the information I have in my memory and my notes and conversations with others. This is where readers can hopefully refine my descriptions to make them more accurate over time, so if I remember something wrong, please correct me. It is very difficult to be totally objective in a report of this kind, so forgive me if I make mistakes or omissions.
1) ELDORADO QUARTZ MINE
Located on a prominant hilltop about a mile northeast of Eldorado in the northern part of the county, this is one of the largest of the quartz mines in the county. In addition to the mine, an area adjacent to the mine on south side was the site of large scale crushing operation to process the quartz from the mine, but served other nearby mines as well, with the material being trucked in from the other mines. All that remains today are the concrete slabs and overgrown roads where the crushing occurred. The mine itself is a large open cut pit, with very steep sides, some nearly vertical, and presently with pine trees to 10 inches in diameter. A great deal of clay has washed down into the bottom of the pit over the years from the saprolitic mudstone intermixed with the quartz, leaving a very flat bottom overgrown in pines. While a good number of specimens have been collected here, the quality of most specimens are inferior to the better mines in the county. Smaller crystals can be quite clear, but larger ones tend to be more milky and often fractured, though of good form. Mike Weeks dug a milky crystal measuring about 12 inches from here about 9 years ago, most are much smaller. The collecting used to be very good, but over the years has declined, and few good pieces are found these days. The south side of the pit is frankly dangerous, with very steep slopes and small cliffs, and lots of loose rock, so all visitors should be extremely cautious, even hardhats are advised. A saprolite exposure on the east end of the quarry produced the largest limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite ever found in North Carolina. A four inch cube was collected by Wayne Roberson in the 1980’s, and I have collected cubes to 3 inches, though most were much smaller, down to 1/4 inch. The cubes are very sharp with perfect right angles, but are often intergrown with tiny quartz veins and often having a coating of micro drusy quartz, giving a sparkling appearance. These specimens were never common and digging them out required major effort. Only a few made good display specimens, but a handful of exceptional pieces were found. Private property, but traditionally open to collecting. Very recently, the area around the pit has been logged, and a large downed tree blocks the 4 wheel drive road up to the pit, so hiking up is now required.
2) FROSTY MINE
This is a small but fascinating mine located about 1/4 mile south of the Eldorado Quartz Mine, at the southeast end of a low ridge topped with a large quartz outcrop. Only the south end of the outcrop was mined, in a pit measuring approx. 75 x 75 feet and 20 to 25 feet deep with mostly sloping sides. A hand dug hole on the southwest side of the pit produced most of the specimens dug since the mining days, but rumors of amazing crystals found by the miners persist. Unfortunately, a large tract adjacent to the mine was recently logged, and while bulldozing a logging road adjacent to the mine, the pit was filled in by the dozer, so digging there now is impossible. The specimens from this mine are so distinct that they are easily recognizable from the other county mines, with a “frosty” appearance to many of the crystals, hence the mine’s name. This frostiness is the result of microscopic etching and sometimes rehealing. Intermixed with the crystals in the very red clay are numerous quartz fragments, often quite clear, but virtually all with rehealed surfaces. Even milky fragments have a fine rehealed texture. The crystals are up to 6 inches in length, but average about 2 inches, sometimes with a slight tapering toward the termination. Unfrosted crystals are not common, but the frostiness can be very attractive. Good clusters are rare, the best specimens are individual crystals, but intergrown masses of rehealed crystals can reach a foot and a half across, but do not make quality specimens. In addition to the distinctive frostiness, about half the crystals have light green chlorite inclusions, many very heavily included, to the point that some are completely opaque. Some are what I call “ bullets”, as they are so infused with chlorite that the crystal growth was interrupted, producing opaque crystals with rounded edges and terminations, resembling bullets. Rob Whaley was one of the first collectors to dig in this mine and I originally learned of the mine from him. Only a handful of collectors dug there before it was closed and not that many good specimens are extant, so they should be treasured.
3) MORRIS MOUNTAIN QUARTZ MINE
After more research I have determined that there are two mines on Morris Mountain, the Morris Mountain Mine, a gold mine described in P. Albert Carpenter’s Book “Metallic Mineral Deposits of the Carolina Slate Belt, North Carolina” N.C. Geological Survey Bulletin 84. (1976) and a quartz mine that I am naming the Morris Mountain Quartz Mine to differentiate the two. The Carpenter book by the way is an important and valuable reference for collectors of NC minerals. The quartz mine is located on the NW side of Morris Mountain just above a saddle between Morris Mountain and a smaller ridge to the west, about 1 mile NW of Eldorado and about a mile SW of the Coggins Gold Mine. The excavation is approx. 75 x 40 feet and maybe 20 feet deep, though slumping and erosion have obviously filled in the pit considerably since the mining days. The south end of the cut is open, so you can walk in. Dump piles are located along the south edge. A neat old antique iron mining bucket is partially buried in the dumps, weighing many hundreds of pounds, but fit for a museum. Quartz crystals are generally small, but fairly clear, and usually growing on milky matrix, though some individual crystals can be found. I have only visited the mine twice, and have done little digging there. Perhaps more interesting is an outcrop area, not mined, that lies a couple hundred yards north of the mine. Some of the boulders at this outcrop may have been dumped there from the mine, but it is difficult to be sure. Small cavities are numerous here and are often lined with small crystals. I believe the entire area is worthy of further investigation and may produce some nice specimens. Private property.
4) CAGLE QUARTZ MINE
This is one of several quartz mines operated by the Cagle Brothers Company, the same outfit that mined the Lost Quartz Mine (aka Tower Road mIne) and the Kidd’s Mill Mine near Grays Chapel in Randolph County. This very obscure locality was shown to me many years ago by Mike McDuffie, and the two of us, with the possible exception of Rob Whaley, are probably the only “modern” collectors to have ever visited the site. This is one of those that you would need a guide who has been there before to help you find it. It is located approx. 8 miles north of Troy off of State Hwy. 134, and about 3 miles south of the Randolph County line. It lies approx. 2 miles west of the highway, reached by a series of small rutted dirt roads. A small residence sits adjacent to the mine, and permission must be obtained from the gentleman who lives there before visiting. I believe he said that he does not own the mine proper, but caretakes the area. This was one of the largest quartz mines in the county, but it is difficult to determine the size of the pit, as it is floored with deep water. Above the water, the pit measures approx 75 feet by 300 feet and has a dogleg shape. The dumps are considerably overgrown with large trees and it is difficult to find areas worthy of digging, though stray specimens might be found anywhere on the property. Obviously a huge amount of material was removed and processed from this mine. The old road that leads down to the mine provides some of the best collecting, where erosion ditches have exposed material. Crystals are generally small, though some were found up to 3 inches and with decent clarity. No doubt many fine specimens were crushed during the mining operations, a possibility that is very likely at all the county quartz mines. My last visit was about 6 years ago, so current conditions are not known.
5) SUBSTATION QUARTZ MINE
This quartz mine is located about 5 miles north of Troy just off State Hwy. 134 and about 1/4 mile south of the "electrical substation” near the east end of Substation Road. When I first visited this mine about 25 years ago, it was quite accessible, but some 15 years ago the tract was logged, and the subsequent regrowth rendered the area nearly impenetrable, with huge briar thickets, poison ivy, etc. Now the pines are getting large enough to shade out a lot of this undergrowth, so conditions are improving, but still not much fun to negotiate. This was never one of the better sites for crystals, probably because the 2 or 3 “pits” there were fairly small and shallow and the dumps are small. It appears that many of the diggings were partially refilled during the logging operations. Crystals from here a small, usually 1 inch or less, and clear. Drusy matrix pieces are the most common, but do not rise to the level of good specimens. I originally found this site by my own explorations, but shortly thereafter Mike McDuffie told me he had collected there a few times. The most interesting aspect of this mine are the small hematite (or ilmenite) “roses” that were found on a few specimens by Mike. I believe they never reached more than 1/2 inch across, but were well formed and lustrous. Hopefully Mike will supplement this information for us. The only other mine in the county to produce similar roses was the Thickety Creek Quartz Mine in the southern part of the county. Small pseudomorphs of limonite after pyrite can be found on the dirt road south of the mine. The mine area is reached by a gated and posted dirt road, leased by a hunting club, so visitation is not recommended unless you can obtain permission. (It seems like the entire county is now leased by hunting clubs!)
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Montgomery County (Read 88212 times)
