ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 
2S3 
The origin of the gold here is doubtless to be sought in veins in the Blue 
Ridge, which rises as a precipitous wall of gray gneiss, sheer up from the 
valley 7 or 800 feet, on the north and east ; and it is along the base of 
this wall, where Georgetown Creek has cut a deep channel across it, that 
the gold is principally obtained. The deposits in Transylvania county 
east of the Blue Ridge, on the head waters of French Broad, will prob- 
ably be found to have the same origin, and are evidently a continuation 
of the same belt. 
The gold belt of Cherokee is in the same body of soft slates and 
schists which carry the limestone and iron. It is found both in veins 
and superficial deposits. The sands of Valley River yield profitably 
through a large part of its course, and some very rich “ washings ' r 
have been found along its tributary streams on the north side. The 
origin of this gold is very near the limestone. A remarkably rich 
vein has been opened near the town of Murphy, known as No. C, 
which immediately underlies the marble. This is a silver-lead quartz 
vein, in which is embedded a large percentage of free gold. There 
is a strong probability of other similar veins having furnished the golden 
sands of the river and streams above mentioned. 
On the southeast af the limestones is also a series of “ diggings ” along 
the lower slopes of the mountains, from near Valley town to Vengeance 
Creek, a distance of 12 to 15 miles. The gold is found here in the drift 
which covers the lower spurs and terminal ridges of the mountains lying 
south of Valley River. The drift beds have a depth of 10 to 20 feet and 
an elevation above the river of 150 to 200 feet, and are remarkable for 
the great size of their quartz boulders and their very large and abundant 
stanrotide crystals. These last indicate, with a good degree of probability, 
that the gold here is derived from the talco-micaceous slates, (several 
miles to the southeast), where these crystals are found in place. 
At one point, the Parker Mine, extensive arrangements had been com- 
pleted at the opening of the war for working these deposits by the hy- 
draulic process. For this purpose water was conveyed three or four miles 
along the face of the mountain in canals and aqueducts so as to gain the 
necessary elevation. 
The continuation of this gold belt southwestward across the country 
is rendered probable by the existence of several mines in this direction 
beyond the Hiwassee, as the Warren Mine, on Brass town Creek, and 
others on Nottleley River, in the edge of Georgia. 
The following general observations are added from the paper by Dr. 
Genth, already mentioned : 
Gold. According to the earliest records, the first piece of gold found 
