112 JoUKISrAL OF THE MiTCHELL SoCIETY l_AugUSt 



tion of the schists and their general trend; but in a few in- 

 stances are cutting across the schist. In two or three instances 

 where these dikes are cutting across the schists, there are ap- 

 proximately parallel to them veins of tin ore. Pegmatitic dikes 

 are also common throughout this belt of metamorphic rocks in 

 North Carolina and in the gneisses further to the west in South 

 Carolina. They could be followed almost continuously from 

 three miles above Grover, North Carolina, to the Jones mine^ 

 7 miles northeast of King's Mountain. In one place, a short 

 distance below King's Mountain, North Carolina, the pegma- 

 titic dike was all of 200 feet wide. They follow m many cases 

 the planes of lamination of the schist which represent lines of 

 least resistance. Where the pegmatitic dikes are cutting across 

 the schists, they may be following old fractures that were pro- 

 duced at the time of the intrusion of the amphibole dikes. 



About one-half mile below Kings Mountain the pegmati- 

 tic rocks begin to outcrop very boldly and continue in this way 

 nearly to Grover, North Carolina, a distance of 7 miles. This 

 mass of pegmatite varies a good deal in width in this distance, 

 from twenty-five to six hundred feet. Just in the northern 

 edges of the town of King's Mountain there is another strong 

 outcrop of the pegmatite, but from this point there is but little 

 seen of the pegmatite northeast until Ramseur's mill is reached. 

 Here the pegmatite has a width of about 200 feet. 



A cross-section of the tin belt in the vicinity of King's Moun- 

 tain would show the following sequence: hornblende-gneiss 

 on the western boundary, followed on the east by schists which 

 are in many places very badly decomposed; then a narrow bed 

 of limestone, which is more or less siliceous; then quartzite; an- 

 other bed of limestone ; quartzite ; schist ; to the granite on 

 the extreme eastern portion of the belt, having a total width 

 of about 10 miles. 



Perhaps the most extensive development work has been car- 

 ried on near Lincolnton, Lincoln County, by the Piedmont Tin 

 Mining Company. The property of this company, begins about 

 2 miles southwest of Lincolnton and extends in a general south- 

 west direction for 2 miles, to the Little Catawba River, about 

 midway between Long Shoal and South Side, two stations on 



