PRIMITIVE FORMATIONS. 139 
aspect, indicating a recent origin. It decomposes into a good 
soil. The primitive tract on which the University stands, and 
the central and northern part of Granville, have the same charac- 
teristics In this newer primitive, are nearly all the valuable vein 
mines of gold, and all the veins of copper, that have been wrought 
within the limits of the State of North Carolina ; not in immediate 
contact with the granite, but in beds of ill defined chlorite or clay slate, 
that are associated with or rest upon it. It may be conjectured that 
a galvanic influence, excited by the contact of large masses of gra- 
nite and slate, in the early ages of the earth, determined the sepa- 
ration from the whole body of each, of the gold, silver, copper, 
lead and other metals, they severally contained, and their collec- 
tion, near the common boundary, into the mineral repositories or 
veins, from which they are now extracted. Very great quantities 
of iron pyrites, are raised from the mines of both copper and gold. 
2. West of the formation just noticed, are the most ancient 
primitive rocks ; on the upper waters of the Dan the Yakkin, 
the Catawba, the French Broad, and their tributary streams. 
These are the counties of the mineralogist, where the various 
rare and beautiful, but worthless, crystalline forms, which it is 
his delight to discover, describe, and arrange in his cabinet, may 
be sought with some reasonable expectations of finding them. 
There is a great variety of granites in this region The ternary 
compound of quartz, feldspar, and mica is the most common, but 
with endless diversities, depending upon the proportion, colour, 
size of the grains, and other characters, of the constituent mine- 
rals. The gneiss and slates of different localities are less unlike, 
though they too are sometimes very dissimilar. All these are so 
interstratified, so alternate with, and are imbedded in each other, 
that an attempt to assign the limits of each, would be alike dif- 
ficult and useless. 
The most important and valuable mineral furnished by the an- 
cient primitive rocks of North Carolina, is iron ore, of which 
there are three principal localities. 1. That of Stokes and Sur- 
rey, near the dividing line of which counties, there is a series of 
beds, extending in a north-easterly and south-esterly direc- 
tion, from the Virginia line, to the Yadkin river. There are al- 
so some beds on the southern side of the river. The ore is no- 
where very abundant, though in sufficient quantity to supply the 
demand of a few forges. It consists of a mixture of the brown 
and black oxides, disseminated under the form of grains, small 
crystals, and amorphous masses, through mica slate and gneiss 
rocks, forming the variety called by the workmen shot ore. The 
proportion of the ore to the including rock, is sometimes so 
small as to render washing for the purpose of removing a part at 
least of the earthy matter, necessary, before it can be smelted. 
But this can be effected by a process so cheap as to render the 
operation profitable, only when the rock has been softened by a 
partial decomposition. The iron made from this ore is of a good 
