274 
GEOLOGY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
the slope of the mountain are promising outcrops of gossan, but no ex- 
plorations of them had been made. 
The Peach Bottom Mine is in the western part of Alleghany county 
on Elk Creek, and not far from New River. This mine had been opened 
before the war to a depth of 150 feet, and works erected for the prepara- 
tion of the ore for market; and during the war several hundred barrels 
of fine ore were sent to Petersburg. The shaft was full of water at the- 
time of my visit. The ere is calchopyrite, with a little galenite. The 
rock is a gray soft decomposable gneiss. 
Gap Creek Mine is situated in Watauga county, near the southern 
border of Ashe, and about 3 miles from Deep Gap. This is a quartz, 
vein, or rather a group of them ; the principal one carrying variegated 
copper, with a little chalcopyrite, malachite, chrysocolla, specular iron, 
pyrite, together with visible free gold and silver. The vein is in a large 
body of hornblende slate, though the prevalent rock of the section is a 
gray gneiss, with a strike N. 60° E., and dip southeast 40°. The vein is 
a true fissure, with a direction N. 35° W., dip northeast 45°. Dr. Em- 
mons, who visited the mine when it was open, says : “ This is a true vein, 
and has a perfect regularity in direction as well as in its walls.” “ The 
width is variable, being 18 inches at the surface, and from 12 to 24 inches 
at different depths below ground.” The ore was analyzed by Mr. 
Manross, who reported “gold If ounces and silver 18 ounces per ton of 
mixed ore and rock.” 
The most remarkable vein however in this range, and indeed in the 
state, is at Ore Knob in the southeast corner of Ashe, near the top of the 
Blue Ridge, and about 2 miles from New River. This mine was opened 
before the war, but not explored to any depth or with any system, and 
its real character was not developed until about two years ago, when it 
was purchased by the present owners, the Messrs. Clayton & Co., of Bal- 
timore. These gentlemen have opened the vein by a series of shafts and 
tunnels, and have been repaid by the discovery of a body of ore which 
is not equalled at any mine I know of outside of Ducktown. The accom- 
panying topographical chart and section will show the relations of things 
and the extent of the operations better than any description. The chart 
was made from observations taken last autumn with a Locke’s level and 
pocket barometer and compass, and the section is a copy kindly made for 
me from the working section in the office, by a young civil engineer, Mr. 
Raht, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic School, who happened to be present.. 
