108 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
the South. Not far from this another fold produces ‘an anticlinal axis on a small scale, and the 
slates are now found dipping towards the North-west. I found, at this place, a trap dyke about 
fifty feet wide. 
On the Wateree Creek the talcose slates, which immediately underlie the rocks just described, 
come to the surface. Some beds of excellent soapstone are found at this locality. A little farther 
on, and we come to beds of mica slates dipping. towards the South, at an angle of 45°. 
On the hill-sides, above the creek, the slates become silicious and fissile, being intersected at 
intervals by veins of common quartz. A section of about twelve miles in length, along the “Fork,” 
presents a series of folds in the strata, that changes the dip every few miles. 
The clay slate formation of South Carolina can no where be studied with equal facility with that 
presented by this section, which extends from the boundary of the Tertiary to a distance of twenty 
miles from Columbia. 
Near the Newberry line, and midway between the Saluda and Broad River, is an elevation called 
Ruff’s Mountain, which is sufficiently remarkable for its isolated position. The mountain is prin- 
cipally composed of mica and talcose slates, with a crest consisting of a thick stratum of quartz 
rock, very similar to that of King’s Mountain, which is broken down and scattered over the eastern 
side, in large angular blocks, having their weathered surfaces occasionally studded with crystals of 
kyanite. The talcose slates can be seen very advantageously on the western side, where the base 
of the mountain is washed by a little stream. Near the mill the slates are seen crossing the race, 
and rising up on the side of the mountain, being pushed into a position nearly vertical—the bedding 
planes so straight and even as to present smooth surfaces where the rock is split, and often so hard 
as to offer inducements for opening a quarry for flagging stones for pavements and other similar 
purposes. Near this spot a remarkable vein of quartz penetrates the slates, which I had a good 
opportunity of observing, as some persons, having more industry than skill in mining, had explored 
it to some depth for gold and silver. The walls of the vein are lined with pure, white tale, as if the 
quartz had contracted, leaving spaces which were afterwards filled by the tale. The fissures and 
seams in the vein are also coated, in a similar manner, with that mineral. Cubical cavities are 
interspersed throughout its mass, which are lined with hematite, beautifully iridescent. The fissures, 
too, are often coated with a thin film of iron. Crystals of iron pyrites undoubtedly once occupied 
the cavities. The sulphur, once a great portion of the iron, has disappeared, leaving a little of the 
latter mineral to line the cavities once occupied by the crystals. Crystals of pyrites, unaltered, still 
remain; and doubtless these crystals, as they often do, have suggested the gold and silver sought 
after in the vein. F 
That this curious and interesting locality should have attracted the attention of searchers after 
gold, is not surprising, but it seems strange that the pursuit should be continued so long and so 
laboriously, where not a particle of the precious metals was ever found. 
Higher up the mountain side promising indications of iron ore present themselves, and to this 
and the slate quarry, at the base, we would direct the attention of the owners, whose perseverance 
and industry deserve a better reward than the quartz vein is likely to afford. There is a prolonga- 
tion of this mountain extending into Newberry, but it differs little from its southern extremity, 
where its structure can be best studied. 
If we now resume the section traced nearly to the Newberry line, we will find the soil and aspect 
