HISTORICAL SKETCH. 11 
miles below Marshall, in Madison County, in the spring of 1847.« 
(xen. T. C. Clingman, after considerable search, found another piece 
in the same vicinity in 1848, about a year after the first discovery of 
emery in place in Asia Minor by Dr. J. L. Smith. 
The first authenticated record of the occurrence of corundum in 
Georgia ^ was made in 1852, when Mr. Phmt, a banker of Macon, Ga., 
sent a ruby crystal to Professor Shepard at Amherst. This, like 
others, had been found in washing for gold. 
In 1852 Mr. W. P. Bhike ^ described corundum from the new local- 
ity at Vernon, Sussex County, N. J. In the spring of the same year 
Dr. C. L. Hunter "^ discovered corundum and emery in place in Gaston 
County, N. C. 
The first record of the occurrence of corundum in Canada was 
made in 1863. The report of the Geological Survey of Canada for 
that year (p. 499) describes the occurrence of corundum in Burgess. 
In 1864 the occurrence of emery at Chester, Mass., was predicted by 
Dr. C. T. Jackson because of his discovery there of margarite, a min- 
eral which Dr. J. L. Smith had just found to be characteristic of the 
emery deposits of Asia Minor. On the 6th of September of the same 
year Dr. H. S. Lucas ^ discovered emery in what had before been con- 
sidered only deposits of magnetic iron ore. Two years later distinct 
crystals of corundum were found in the same deposits.^ This dis- 
covery of emery soon led to the establishment of active mining, the 
first of its kind in America. This mine is still worked, and though it 
lias not been operated continuously from the beginning, it is still the 
main producer of corundum in this country. 
In 1870 Mr. Hiram Crisp found the first corundum that attracted 
attention to the present mining regions of North Carolina, at what 
is now the Corundum Hill mine (PI. IX). A specimen was sent to 
Prof. W. C. Kerr, then State geologist of North Carolina, for identi- 
fication, and considerable interest was aroused upon discovering that 
it was corundum. In the same year Mr. J. H. Adams ^ found corun- 
dum in a similar occurrence at Pelham, Mass. 
In 1870-71 considerable activity was displayed in the search for 
corundum in the peridotite regions of the southwestern counties of 
North Carolina, and new localities were soon brought to light in 
Macon, Jackson, Buncombe, and Yancey counties. In 1871 Dr. F. A. 
v^Tenth '* also discovered the emery of Guilford County. About this 
« Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey, No. 74, 1891, pp. 29-31. 
" Am. Jour. Sci., 8d ser., vol. 4, 1872, p. 109 ; and Geol. Surv. Georgia Bull., 2, 1894, 
p. 18. 
'■Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 1.3, 1852, p. 116. 
** Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 15, 1853, p. 376. 
« The exact date was furnished by Doctor Lucas. 
f Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 39, 1865, pp. 87-00 ; vol. 42, 1866, p. 421. 
»Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 49, 1870, p. 271. 
''Rept. Geol. Surv. North Carolina, vol. 1, 1875, p. 246. 
