24 JOUKNAL OF THE MiTCHELL SoCIETY [June 



discovered and mined in this country. The first chromite found 

 was in 1827 on the Reed farm in Harford County, about 27 

 miles northeast from Baltimore. There has been no mining of 

 chromite in Maryland for twenty years. 



The only other Southern State that offers any probability of 

 being a producer of chromite is North Carolina. Extending 

 from Ashe County to Clay County, N^orth Carolina, there is a 

 series of disconnected peridotite outcrops ; and, as has been ob- 

 served above, chromite is associated with all these peridotite 

 rocks. It is, however, in few localities only that the mineral 

 has been found in considerable quantity. Although prospecting 

 for chrome ore in this State was first undertaken over thirty 

 years ago and has been continued spasmodically ever since, there 

 has never been any systematic development of the localities. 



In the alluvial deposits at the base of the peridotite outcrops 

 there is usually a considerable amount of chromite crystals and 

 particles, but nowhere have they been observed in sufficient 

 quantity to constitute a chrome sand ore. 



The general character of the chromite ore is nearly uniform 

 throughout the entire area, being very hard and compact, though 

 often of a fine granular appearance, and there is but little that is 

 at all friable. The masses of chromite are usually very free 

 from seams of peridotite or its alteration product. This simpli- 

 fies the concentration, and a high grade ore can usually be ob- 

 tained by cobbing and hand picking. 



The more important deposits of chromite in l^orth Carolina 

 are in Yancey and Jackson counties, and in the former the de- 

 posits occur at Mine Hill, about five miles north of Burnsville 

 and within a few miles of the Clinchfield Railroad. The de- 

 posits of Jackson County are near Webster and a few miles 

 southwest of Balsam Gap on Dark Ridge Creek. These de- 

 posits are on the Southern Railway. 



As yet the existence of large deposits of chromite in ITorth 

 Carolina has not been conclusively shown, but the work done 

 points to the possibility of large deposits in that State, those 

 described above being the most promising ones kno^vn. 



The standard chrome ore contains 50 per cent of CrgOg, and 



