5 ; J GOLD AND TIN DEPOSITS OF SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 
slight as hardly to deserve mention. The exposure at one of the streams, which is of course 
a fairer test than the pits, seems to show the dikes with less cassiterite and hence to indicate 
the unequal distribution of tin in the dike. In any event, this is one of the most promising 
prospects in the whole belt. 
Numerous other less prominent prospects have been opened in the northern part of the 
tin region. The Piedmont Tin Mining Company, of Kings Mountain, N. C, has recently 
been incorporated to develop the promising properties in Lincoln County. 
As may be inferred, the importance of placer deposits in this region is very slight. Some 
little tin has been won from the soil immediately adjoining and surrounding the tin-bearing 
dikes at the Ross and the Jones mines, and a small quantity was obtained in the early days] 
in the vicinity of Kings Mountain, but with these exceptions nothing of value has been 
found and little may be expected from this source. 
METHODS OF MINING AND EXTRACTION. 
Where the rocks have withstood decomposition and are hard, the method of mining is 
similar to that employed in nearly all kinds of mining where the body to be extracted isj 
narrow, inclined, and more or less tabular. Drilling is, up to the present time, done by 
hand. Such stoping as has been done has been mostly overhand stoping. Of the several 
shafts in the district, one is a very flat incline and the others are vertical. Little timbering 
is needed below the zone of surface decomposition. Near the surface the rocks are usually 
so decomposed that much timbering and constant attention are required to keep the ground 
in shape. Where water is plentiful, the walls run in like quicksand. Above the water level 
drifts can usually be run along the dikes by means of the pick, with only occasional blasting,, 
Since the present surface is in no way related to the origin of these deposits, a horizontal 
section of the dike is practically of as great instructive value as a vertical section. In other 
words, a surface trench 100 feet long reveals about as much as a shaft 100 feet deep. The 
trench has the advantages of being more expeditious and of much lower cost and of affording 
greater certainty in following the ore-bearing formation. In general, surface exploration 
in the way of pits and trenches should first be undertaken. If promising results are thus 
obtained — to be specific, if an ore shoot is thus exposed — a pit should be sunk upon it so 
that an idea of its extent, pitch, and richness may be obtained. Then, if the indications 
warrant, a shaft may be sunk to intercept the ore shoot at a desirable depth, it being borne 
in mind, however, that the dike and the ore shoot are liable to change direction or to pinch 
out before such a point is reached. In many respects an inclined shaft following the ore 
shoot would be the most effective means of development; but the possibility of change in 
direction of the ore shoot — necessitating either that the shaft be crooked, which is undesira- 
ble and uneconomical, or that the ore shoot be left, in which case an incline is less desirable 
than a vertical shaft — is so great that the risk is probably not justified. 
By whatever method the mine is opened, the essential feature of development should be: 
the following of the ore shoots. 
TESTS FOR CASSITERITE. 
Because of the dark color and metallic luster of the cassiterite from this region, numerous 
dark heavy minerals found along or near the tin belt have been mistaken for it. Of tliesej 
the iron ores ilmenite and magnetite are most common. It may therefore be of use to not^ 
here one or two simple tests for cassiterite. 
Magnetite can, of course, be identified by its attraction to a common magnet. Some} 
ilmenite is also feebly magnetic and can be detected in the same way. If the material is not 
magnetic, the following test is in many cases of great service. The color of powdered casi 
siterite ranges from white to brown, but is never black. If a small piece of the mineral in 
