436 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1902. [bull. 213. 
occasional grains of pyrite and magnetite. In localities where the 
sandstone "cap rock" is found there is sometimes a mixture of the 
sand grains and the talc, as if the talc was a sedimentary deposit. 
The crystals of the silicates vary in size from mere needles up to 
prisms with diameters of half an inch and a length of 2 or 3 inches. 
These may he developed singly or arranged in radiating bunches and 
groups. The greatest development of these silicates is seen 5 miles 
northeast of Murphy, where the largest talc body of the region is ren- 
dered worthless by them for the present. They are intergrown with 
the talc in such numbers that it is not practicable to separate and 
work up the talc. These same minerals are to be seen in a number 
of localities crystallized in the marble where there is no talc. 
The methods employed in extracting the talc lenses from the mar- 
ble are very simple. For the most part the talc is obtained from pits 
and shallow shafts in the soil and decomposed rock. The pockets of 
talc thus encountered are usually a good deal weathered, and accord- 
ingly of less value. In the large mass of talc exposed 5 miles north- 
east of Murphy an open cut 50 feet square has been made, and the 
amount of talc in sight is large. As above stated, however, the sili- 
cate impurities there render the talc less desirable and easy to work. 
The chief developments in talc mining are confined to the extreme 
end of the Cherokee marble belt, on Nantahala River. Tunnels and 
shafts have been sunk in several adjoining properties, extending 
about a quarter of a mile along the river, and a body of talc has 
been proved for a vertical extent of about 150 feet. The dip of the 
strata and the included talc sheets is about 45° SE., which carries 
them under the bed of the river. The talc has been found in a shaft 
sunk considerably below the level of the river and is now being mined. 
In the past most of the talc lias been taken out from the smaller and 
more irregular lenses encountered here and there in the marble at 
points up to 100 feet above the river. From various tunnels of the 
Hewitt mine at this point a considerable amount of marble has been 
taken out in following up the talc. The slope of the hillside follows 
very nearly down the dip of the marble, and has been stripped over 
a large area in the search for talc. All the talc deposits of the Chero- 
kee marble are readily accessible, for a branch of the Southern Rail- 
way runs within a few rods of the marble belt throughout its extent 
in North Carolina. 
The second, or " soapstone," group of talc deposits is of far greater 
extent than the preceding group. The soapstone and talc are derived 
from the metamorphism of a very basic intrusive rock and are almost 
always found in connection with the areas of hornblende-gneiss and 
schist. Metamorphism of these basic rocks at different places has 
also resulted in the production of serpentine, dunite, and a number 
Of less important rocks. Although the areas of the formation seldom 
