CORUNDUM IN UNITKI) STATES. 125 
rystals, which are easily cleaned and sei)arated from the oangiic. 
'hese two mines are in Transyh^ania Connty. Just beh)w this mine, 
n the slopes of Poplar Rido^e, a vein of corundum was exposed in 
)ctober, 1900, by workmen who were making a new road. The 
orundum is massive, and gives good indications of occurring in 
uantity. 
Sdpphire mine. — The little work that was done at tlie vSapphire 
line shows a considerable (piantity of white and gray corundum, 
ften speckled with blue, very similar to the corundum found at the 
HiiteAvater mine, (> miles south of the Sapphire mine. The Socrates 
line is about three-quarters of a mile southwest of the Sapphire, in 
bold outcrop of ])eridotite. The corundum is in small, knotty 
odules, and is easily cleaned. A border vein was encountered, but 
ttle work was done to develop it. 
Bad Creek mine. — The Bad Creek mine has been worked more than 
ny other in this section, and is located about three-quarters of a mile 
early south of Sapphire. The work done at this mine has been 
Imost entirely on a border vein which has been exposed for the dis- 
mce of 130 feet and has been worked at one point to a depth of 00 
Bet. The corundum ore that was encountered in this vein is of two 
istinct kinds; in one the corundum is associated with garnet and 
ornblende, and in the other, which is free from garnet, it is found 
1 a matrix of biotite-mica. These two ores should always be kept 
3parate, for the corundum can readily be cleaned and separated from 
[le associated minerals in the biotite ore and will yield a product 
[lat can be used in the manufacture of the vitrified wheel, but the 
orundum can be separated only w^ith difficulty from the ore that coii- 
liiis the garnet. Unless the garnet can be entirely eliminated this 
re will not make a product that can be used for making the vitrified 
dieel. The vein has an average width of nearly feet, and will carry 
rom 15 to i^O per cent of corundum. All the mines just referred to 
elong to the Toxaway Company, Sapphire, N. C. 
Corundum has been found at a number of the peridotite outcrops 
etween the Bad Creek and the Whitewater mines; and though this 
oes not by any means indicate that there are large deposits of this 
lineral in these rocks, it does indicate, taking into consideration the 
orundum deposits already found northeast and soutliAvest of them, 
hat there is a possibility of such deposits, and it makes this section 
promising one for systematic prospecting. 
During the summer of 1903 considerable work Avas done at the 
mpphire corundum localities by Mr. Walter G. Chandler, with a 
iew^ of ascertaining whether or not there Avere commercial deposits 
f corundum at these various mines. His work, Avhile it shoAved the 
►resence of corundum at all the localities examined, did not develop 
