360 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 89. 



mica industry, and by reference to my notes 

 taken at the time, and the accompanying 

 letter of ex-United States Senator Thos. L. 

 Clingman, received in August of that year, I 

 am in a position to throw more light upon the 

 subject. 



The story then current in Bakersville was 

 quite similar to that above given. On July 27th 

 I had a conversation with Mr. C. T. C. Deake 

 (' Old Roan '), editor and proprietor of the ' Roan 

 Mountain Republican,' a very intelligent and 

 well-informed citizen, who said in substance : 

 Gen Clingman while prospecting for silver at 

 the Sinkhole Mine threw out mica.* A wag- 

 oner took some to Knoxville, Tenn. Here 

 Messrs. Heap and Clapp were engaged in the 

 hardware business. They knew the value of 

 mica in New York. Clapp came first and leased 

 the Sinkhole and other mines. This was 

 about '70. 



A few days later Mr. T. G. Heap, the sur- 

 viving member of the firm, informed me that 

 his attention was called to the existence of 

 mica at the Sinkhole silver mine by a peddler of 

 county ri^ts in a broadcast wheat-sowing 

 machine. This individual, ' footing it',' through 

 the country, came to the Sinkhole Mine, and 

 seeing the bright, shining mica brought a sam- 

 ple to Knoxville, where he exhibited it on the 

 street. No one recognizing its value save him- 

 self, he immediately dispatched his partner, 

 Clapp, to lease the mine, which had been for- 

 feited by the previous lessee (see Gen. Cling- 

 man's letter), and the first work was done ' on 

 the day of the great eclipse, 1869.' 



That "silver seems to dominate in the Caro- 

 linian dream of mineral wealth" was amply 

 demonstrated during my trip through the Blue 

 Ridge country sixteen years ago. As Hender- 

 son states, it was supposed that the prehistoric 

 trenches of Mitchell and other counties were 

 abandoned silver mines. That they were not 

 has been conclusively shown by both Prof. 

 Kerr and Gen. Clingman. The latter in his 

 letter states positively that his object in open- 

 ing the prehistoric mine at William Silvers, 



*Based upon this and similar statements I, too, 

 expressed the opinion that the search was for silver. 

 See an article on ' Mica Mining in North Carolina, ' 

 published in the Mining Record, N. Y., July 2, 1881. 



known as ' Sinkhole, ' was for the purpose of 

 obtaining mica. 



The association of silver with the excavations 

 of this particular locality may hav6 been due 

 to the fact that they occurred on the property 

 of a Mr. Silvers, and that they should eventu- 

 ally become known as old Spanish silver mines 

 is not, at least, impossible, considering the wide- 

 spread tradition that the early Spanish explor- 

 ers reached western Carolina. 



Gen. Clingman' s letter is as follows : 



AsHEViLLE, August 18, 1880. 



Dear Sir : Your favor has been received, 

 and I will, with pleasure, make you a brief state- 

 ment with reference to the mica operations in 

 our own State. 



During the summer of 1867, when in New 

 York, I learned that mica, owing to the failure 

 of supplies from New England, had become 

 very scarce in the market. Prof. A. Trippell 

 told me that he had for certain parties paid $8 

 per pound for ordinary mica. 



Knowing that it existed in several localities 

 in North Carolina, of good quality, I, on my re- 

 turn, made examinations in several of the coun- 

 ties. I commenced with Cleveland, on the east, 

 and passed through Rutherford, Burke, and 

 McDonald east of the ridge. I then examined 

 the northeastern part'of Buncombe, south of the 

 Black Mountains, and gave a good deal of time 

 to Yancey and Mitchell. I caused work to be 

 done in Cleveland, Burke, Yancej'' and Mitchell. 

 I became satisfied that the latter county held 

 out the best prospects for a good supply of the 

 mineral. 



I therefore returned to New York, and 

 made an arrangement with Messrs. Sloane and 

 Menden, then doing business at 113 Liberty 

 street. They agreed to work all such mines as 

 I had secured or might secure, and payjme one- 

 half of the net profits. Mr. Menden, in Janu- 

 ary, 1868, visited with me some localities east 

 of the Ridge, and we had some mica taken out 

 in Cleveland. Owing to the severity of the 

 winter weather, he postponed his visit to 

 Mitchell and Yancey until the opening of the 

 spring. In May we went into Yancey and 

 Mitchell to the Ray Mine and some others. 

 Owing to the roughness of the roads, however^ 

 he declined to go with me to the Silvers and 



