no. 8 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I9Q13 4 
cn 
Mitchell, it yields none of the boreal plants which make the floras of 
the mountains of New England so interesting. The lower mountains 
of North Carolina, and some of the other high peaks, are much more 
interesting botanically than this, the loftiest of them all. 
ANCIENT MICA MINES OF NORTH CAROLINA 
In April, 1913, W. H. Holmes, head curator of the department 
of anthropology, visited the mica mines of western North Carolina, 
making such observations as seemed necessary for a reasonable com- 
prehension of the nature and extent of the ancient operations. 
Fic. 46.—Section of an aboriginal mica mine: A, General schistose for- 
mation; B, Mica-bearing vein; C, Old digging partly filled up; D, Ancient 
dumps. 
\ica was in very general use among the Indian tribes east of the 
Great Plains and was mined by them at many points in the Appalach- 
ian highlands from Georgia to the St. Lawrence River. From 
these sources it passed by trade or otherwise to remote parts of the 
country and is found especially in burial mounds, stone graves, and 
ordinary burials throughout the Mississippi Valley. The crystals 
of mica are of diversified shapes and sizes, reaching in some cases 
upwards of two feet in dimensions. They separate readily into sheets 
of very attractive appearance, which are transparent or translucent, 
displaying various silvery and amber hues. Mica crystals occur dis- 
tributed through narrow veins of quartz and feldspar which extend 
at various angles through the inclosing schistose formations. 
Although probably serving few practical purposes the sheets were 
highly prized by the aborigines for the manufacture of personal or- 
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