ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 77 



There has always been a curious reticence on the part of the 

 North Carolina mica miners and Healers, and a corresponding 

 difficulty in acquiring correct information. While indeed there 

 are some notable exceptions (and to' these I would return my 

 warmest acknowledgments of their kindness) they serve but to 

 make the background all the more obscure. I am often at a loss 

 to know to what this reticence is to be ascribed. There are no 

 more hospitable people in the world than the inhabitants of the 

 mountains of Western North Carolina, nor any upon whose 

 willingness to aid one in any laudable undertaking more assur- 

 ance could be placed. And yet when it comes to mica mining 

 they are reserved to the last degree, and it was only after repeated 

 visits to the mines, and extended acquaintance among the miners, 

 that I was able to acquire much information concerning the 

 business. 



It is proposed in this paper to describe this business; the 

 geology of the mining districts; the formation of the veins; 

 dressing the mica; the percentage yield of cut mica from block 

 mica, etc., etc. 



The success that attended the operations of Heap & Clapp in 

 1869 in Mitchell county soon induced others to enter the field. 

 The profit was large, the work comparatively easy and the mica 

 abundant. The Indians (I use the term for lack of a better) 

 had shown that good mica was to be had with very little expense 

 or trouble. The whites were indeed for some time in doubt as 

 to the purpose of the old works, but as on following the trenches 

 and re-excavating the old diggings they found only mica, they 

 soon came to understand this mystery. Had it not been for the 

 prehistoric operations much time and money would have been 

 expended on searching for the true veins. But, as it was, the 

 miners of 1869 took their cue from the miners of 1500-1600, 

 and with their modern appliances — rude, indeed it may be, but 

 far superior to those of their predecessors — they carried on the 

 business vigorously. It was not long before Mitchell and 

 Yancey counties were dotted with prospect holes of more or 1< 

 promise. The Ray mine, Westall, Joe Gibbs, Young, Baily 



