32 GOLD AND TIN DEPOSITS OF SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 
production. The reserve stocks held in various parts of the world are accordingly being 
greatly depleted and the price of tin is gradually rising. 
For these reasons the discovery of a new tin locality is of much interest to mining men, 
and to many who are more or less directly connected with the metal industry, as well as to I 
investors. The fact that the United States consumes over 40 per cent of the world's output 
while contributing an inappreciable amount makes of especial interest any information 
regarding a tin locality within the borders of this country which gives the least promise of 
becoming economically important. Previous waves of excitement have arisen on several 
occasion-*, only to wane and finally die out because of the failure to demonstrate the presence 
of valuable tin deposits. South Dakota, Missouri, California, Virginia, and Alabama afford 
notable instances of this and the Carolina tin belt itself has once risen to prominence and 
then almost passed from memory. Within the past couple of years interest has been 
revived in this region and it is now attracting a good share of attention from the outside, 
while within the tin-bearing territory considerable excitement prevails. 
It was mainly with the idea of studying these tin deposits and satisfying a demand for 
information concerning them that the reconnaissance of this region was undertaken. For 
this reason chiefly the description of the tin deposits is placed before that of the intrinsically 
more important product of the area, gold. 
HISTORY OF TIN MINING IN THE CAROLINAS. 
Tin was first mentioned in this region in 1875 by Kerr," who stated that it occurred in 
a micaceous -late in Gaston County, associated with garnet and columnar topaz (pyenite). 
The first authentic discovery of the metal was made some years later at the village of 
Kings Mountain, Cast on County, N. C. Mr. Robert T. Claywell, of Morganton, X. C, who 
is by all accredited with the first collection of specimens from this locality, communicated 
with the writer on this subject and the substance of his statements is here repeated. 
While a student at the Kings Mountain high school in 1881, Mr. Claywell found in a street 
of the town a number of pieces of a dark-colored mineral of noticeable specific gravity. 
Although he was an amateur student of mineralogy at that time, he was unable to identify 
this mineral. It appears that this mineral was added to a collection which he was making 
and remained unidentified for some time. In 1883, at the request of Col. S. McD. Tate, 
who was making a collection of North Carolina minerals for the American Exposition at 
Boston, this mineral collection, including the cassiterite, was sent to Boston. It is said 
by Mr. Claywell that thisspecimen before being sent was marked by Colonel Tate "Tin(?).| 
So far as is known, the first published statement, aside from the one by Kerr, noted before, 
regarding tin in North Carolina, is said to have appeared in the Commercial Bulletin of 
Boston, ( )ctober 13, 1883. In the list of minerals from North Carolina given in that issue 
occurred the following paragraph: 
"Cassiterite, pure tin oxide. Found massive and semicrystallized in the western part of 
North Carolina. Sp. grav., 6.8; hardness, 7; 70 per cent tin. "6 
Mr. Hidden claims the credit of the identification of this mineral, and states that he 
labeled it;c the foregoing paragraph was obviously a copy of the label. 
[n an article dated February 14, 1884, Dr. C. W.Dabney, jr.,« stated that a specimen col- 
lected by Mr. Claywell was sent to him by Colonel Tate marked " No. — , tin ?, " but he does 
not tell when it was sent. He says, however, that he received other specimens in July, 
1883, which also doubtless came indirectly from Mr. Claywell, and he visited Kings Mountain 
and instituted some explorations for the mineral. This is evidently the first signed article 
dealing with the discovery of the mineral. In a recent letter Doctor Dabney states that 
so far as he know- he was the first to identify Mr. ClaywelPs mineral as cassiterite. 
a Geologv of North Carolina, 1875, p. 291. 
b Hidden, W. K.. lour. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc, 1889, pt. 2,jp. 66. The writer regrets that he has beef 
unable to obtain this number of the Commercial Bulletin, 
c Loc. cit. and personal letter to the writer. 
d Science, vol. 3, February 22, 1884, p. 217; also Jour. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc, vol. 1, 1883-84, pp. 79-81. 
