96 GOLD AND TIN DEPOSITS OF SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 
chalcopyrite, and needles of epidote, found in some of the decomposed porous ore are 
perhaps likewise of secondary origin. 
This ore has a rather wide range of values, assays showing from a trace up to over $75 
per ton. a It is said that the ore as mined averaged perhaps $4 to $6 per ton. a Of this, 
not over $3 was saved, b largely, it is said, because the graphitic material of portions of the 
ore prevented the amalgamation of much of the fine gold. The concentrates ran $35 to $40 
per ton. The amount of silver in the ore was very small, but was approximately propor- 
tional to the amount of gold. 
The ore body consisted at the surface of the siliceous iron gossan, and in depth of the 
impregnated schistose limestone and the quartz stringers in it. It was parallel to the 
foliation of the rocks, striking about N. 40° E. and dipping 45° to 55° NW. This body 
reached in places a width of 60 feet. It consisted in reality of five known shoots of richer 
ore, especially penetrated by gold-bearing quartz stringers, and generally near the graphite 
foot wall, together with the poorer material which occurred between and along the walls 
of these shoots. It is said that a stope begins near the surface at one of the old rocker pits, 
200 feet southwest of the Holliday shaft, extends beyond that shaft, probably 400 feet 
in all, and gradually deepens to the northwest till at the Holliday shaft it is 330 feet from 
the surface. The writer was told by Mr. R. Hufstickler, one of the former miners, that 
some of the best ore in the mine was left in the bottom of a 30-foot winze below the bottom 
level when work was last stopped. Beyond this meager statement nothing can be said as 
to the possible extent of this ore body or the future of the mine. 
FERGUSON MINE. 
The Ferguson mine is situated in the northwest corner of York County, S. C, about 7 
miles by road northeast of Kings Creek station, on the Three C's branch of the Southern 
Railway, and about 11 miles southeast of Grover, N. C, on the main line of the Southern. 
It is owned by Messrs. Frank & Dover, who are operating it at the present time, c 
This mine has been known for some time and was worked some years ago by Maj. John F. 
Jones, of Blacksburg, who is said to have hauled 1,500 tons of the ore to that place for treat- 
ment. Recently it has been taken up by the present owners. In addition to four old 
incline shafts sunk on the vein, that to the southwest being the deepest (80 feet), a new 
vertical shaft 100 feet deep has been sunk in the hanging wall and a crosscut run 60 feet to 
the vein, on which stoping is being done in a small way, really as exploration or development 
work. The surface improvements include a stamp mill (five stamps in place and foundation 
ready for five additional) with Wilfley table, and a cyanide plant, besides head frame and 
hoisting engine at the shaft. 
The geologic relations were only partially grasped in the short time spent at the mine, 
and it required microscopic study of the specimens collected to reach the opinions now 
held. The Ferguson vein lies approximately at the contact between amphibolitc and a por- 
phyritic tuff, both of which have been subjected to much foliation. The amphibolite, 
which lies on the southeast, is a rather massive dark rock, which at close view is seen flecked 
all through with small light-colored particles. Toward the contact, which strikes about 
N. 40° E. and dips 65° to 75° SE., the foliation is more marked and the rock becomes slaty. 
The lack of sharpness at the contact with the porphyritic tuff may be an indication that the 
amphibolite has been derived from a rock which was also tuffaceous or brecciated, but certain 
remains of igneous-rock structure make it probable that the original rock was a diorite or 
gabbro. The tuff, which occurs on the northwest side of the contact and outcrops in the 
stream some distance west of the mine, is of gray color with a silvery luster, and has a decided 
fissility or schistosity which may correspond to original bedding of the tuff. The fresh and 
glistening rock from underground is called, as at other mines, " fish-scale slate." The 
mineral fragments which make up this rock show that the massive equivalent would be a 
quartz-monzonite porphyry. It is practically identical with the tuff at the Colossus mine 
and probably the same as that at the Haile. There seems to have been a zone of especially 
aNitze and Hanna, Bull. North Carolina Geol. Survey No. 3, 1896, p. 147. 
&Nitze and Wilkens, Bull. North Carolina Geol. Survey No. 10, 1897, p. 67. 
c According to report, this mine was closed down in 1905. 
