74 JOURNAL OF THE 



the prehistoric inhabitants of the country, who disposed of the 

 mica, in part at least, to the mound-builders.* These "old men " 

 were possessed of considerable skill, not only in the location of 

 good deposits, but also in the extraction of the mica. The first 

 is proved by the fact that by following their "leads" modern 

 miners have found the best mica, and the second by the fact that 

 sheets of mica of considerable size have been found in old 

 mounds. Although some evidences of the use of other than 

 stone tools have been found in old drifts, the principal method 

 used by these "ancients" was fire-setting. 



They did not penetrate into the hard rock to any great exteut, 

 nor is it likely that they sank shafts. Curiously enough, the 

 method employed for opening the deposits in those days, viz., by 

 open trench, is that at present used in New Hampshire. Shaft- 

 mining, vertical and underlie, is the exception in New Hamp- 

 shire; it is the rule in North Carolina. In 1867 the Hon. 

 Thomas L. Clingman, of Asheville, N. C, was induced by some 

 New York mica dealers to undertake investigations in North 

 Carolina for mica. Small sheets were then selling at §8 per 

 pound, and the supply was uncertain. He began operations in 

 Cleveland county, and found some good mica, which was shipped 

 to New York. This was late in 1867, or early in 1868, and 

 is the first instance I have been able to find of the prosecution 

 of mica mining, as a regular business, since the days of the In- 

 dian mound-builders. Some work was done at this time in 

 Burke and Rutherford counties, also, but with no very satisfac- 

 tory results. He then transferred his explorations to Yancey 

 and Mitchell counties, selecting as the best spots what was after- 

 wards the Ray mine, in Yancey, and the Silvers or Sink Hole, 

 and the Buchanan or Clarissa mines in Mitchell. 



The first work done at the Silvers mine w T as not, however, 

 in searching for mica, but for silver. It was known that at this 

 place were great pits and treuches, amounting in all to some 

 1,800 feet in length, and in places 20 feet deep, with large trees 



*Foster, Prehistoric Races of America, pp. 191 and 270. 



