Notice of Gold in North Carolina.. 131 



he now concludes to publish it, although at so great a distance of time 

 from its date, believing that the facts are still valuable, and trusting 

 that the author will forgive the delay. — Ed. 



TO PROFESSOR SILLII\1AN. 



Dear Sir — Your letter, directed to the postmaster of this place, 

 was by him handed to me some weeks since, and would have been 

 answered sooner but on account of indisposition, which prevented 

 me from complying with the request therein contained as soon as 

 my own wishes would have dictated. Even now I feel a delicacy 

 in writing upon a subject to which my limited mineralogical know- 

 ledge prevents me from doing adequate justice. 



Before entering into a statement of the facts connected with the 

 large quantity of gold lately found near this place, and to which 

 your letter of inquiry refers, it will be necessary to premise, that 

 the gold of this section of country is found in three separate and 

 distinct situations, varying essentially, not only in their locality, but 

 in the appearance exhibited by the metal itself, and the minerals 

 with which it is connected. 



The first and doubtless the most important situation, both as re- 

 gards the certainty and continuance of its products, in which gold is 

 found, is that of veins. Here it is found mingled with quartz and 

 slate, (I speak in the common language of the country,) either in 

 crystals of sulphuret of iron, or the sulphuret being apparently de- 

 composed, and an oxide formed in the crevices of the rock, which 

 give it the appearance and designation among the miners of honey- 

 comb. The gold is found in veins, exhibiting peculiar and distinct 

 appearances from that found, secondly, in alluvial deposits. These 

 alluvial deposits, as their name imports, are found in valleys, and no 

 doubt are produced by the washing from the veins of the adjacent 

 hills. This seems probable from the fact, that the adjacent hills are 

 in every instance, when examined, found to contain veins of gold 

 more or less valuable — that the deposits themselves are at various 

 distances from the surface, and that the pieces of gold, when found, 

 whether pure or connected with quartz, always exhibit that peculiar 

 rounded appearance which is produced by the agitation of water. 



The third situation in which gold is found, and that which is most 

 surprising, is that of deposits, or, to use the expression of the miners, 

 "pockets," on the tops or declivities of hills. This differs from the 

 first situation in not exhibiting regularly formed veins, and from the 



