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Olmsted on the Gold Mines of North Carolina. 3 
- II.—On the Gold Mines of North Carolina ; By Den- 
1son OxmsteD, Professor of PMI ae ry 
an ‘the University of North Capotine: age 
aah t 
co 
g gold mines of North Carolina, which have recent- 
ly coe. an object of much inquiry both at home and 
abroad, are situated between the 35th and 36th degrees of 
N. latitude, and between the 80th and 81st degrees of W. 
longitude from London. They are on the southern side of 
the State, not far from the borders of South Carolina, and- 
somewhat westward of the centre. pre oe ~~ a 
country flows the river Pedee, receiving, within 
district, the Uwharre from the north, and sa River frm 
the south; both considerable streams. Above t ni 
with the Uwharre, the Pedee bears the name or 
The gold 
easily trace its boundaries, so far as they have been hither- 
to observed. From a point taken eight miles west by south 
of the mouth of the Uwharre, with a radius of eighteen 
oni describe a circle,—it will erste the greatest part of 
the county of Montgomery, the northern part of Anson, the 
north-eastern corner of Mulenberg, Cabarrus, a little | 
yond Concord on the west, and a corner of Rowan and of 
Randolph. In almost any part of this region, gold may be 
found, in greater or less abundance, at or near the surface 
of the ground. Its true bed, however, is a thin stratum of 
gravel enclosed in a dense mud, usually of a pale blue, but 
sometimes of a yellow colour ‘On ground that is elevated 
-“ exposed to be washed by rains, this stratum frequent- 
ears at the surface ; and in low grounds, where the 
alluvial earth has been accumulated by the same agent, it 
is found to the depth of eight feet : where no cause‘ 
rates to alter its original depth, it lies about three feet be- 
low the surface. Rocky river and its small tributaries 
which cut through this stratum, have hitherto proved the 
most fruitful localities of the precious meta 
— prevailing rock in the gold country is Argillite 
This belongs to an extensive formation of the same, which 
crosses the State in numerous beds, forming a zone more 
than twenty miles in width, and embracing, , among many 
leas important varieties of slate, several extensive beds of 
