116 GOLD AND TIN DEPOSITS OF SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 
Whether this ore was once a sulphide that is now oxidized below the water level or whether 
original oxide ores are present along with pyrite the writer is unable to say. 
The presence of gold in an old iron deposit known as the Bird bank, mentioned by Tuo- 
mey,« may be an indication that the deposit was the gossan of a sulphide vein. 
In conclusion it may be said that so long as the great sources of present supply of iron 
maintain their productiveness there seems little hope of the deposits of this portion of the 
Carolinas assuming much commercial importance. 
MANGANESE. 
So far as known no manganese has ever been produced in this region, although it has 
long been known to occur. Mention has already been made (pp. 2G, 114) of the black belt 
carrying manganese, which occurs on the east side of the Blacksburg fold. In places the 
percentage of manganese is high and ought to warrant more exploitation than the few 
shallow pits which have been sunk east of Blacksburg. Analyses of specimens from this 
place by Nitze b run up to 57 per cent of metallic manganese. A qualitative examination 
of this manganese ore by Dr. E. C. Sullivan, of the United States Geological Survey, shows 
that it contains traces of both nJGtel and cobalt. 
It seems probable that these deposits are metamorphosed bog ores. On the property of 
Dr. F. H. Morton, near Draytonville Mountain, about on the strike of this manganese belt, 
a depression of several acres in extent is covered with a layer of concretionary manganese 
oxide, with some iron, mixed with a small amount of clay — a typical bog ore. It has prob- 
ably been derived by decomposition of the manganiferous belt. It is possible that a suffi- 
cient amount of ore of suitable grade is present to make the deposit valuable. 
PYRITE. 
Some years ago pyrite was mined a few miles north of Kings Mountain and was used by 
the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. For rea- 
sons which were not learned operations were suspended, and in 1904 the machinery was 
being hauled away. 
A plant near Blacksburg, erected some years ago for the purpose of manufacturing sul- 
phuric acid and iron paint from pyrite, and at the same time recovering any gold which 
the sulphide might contain, obtained most of its ores from mines in the northwestern part 
of York County, the Ferguson, McGill, and Ross & Carroll mines being among the number. 
The general report is that the process was not successful. 
GRAPHITE 
Bands of graphite occurring as members of the rock series which makes up the Kings 
Mountain Range attain in places a thickness of 20 feet, but the mineral is said in general 
to be too impure to have commercial value. 
BARITE. 
Barite is said to occur in considerable amount on the eastern side of Kings Mountain. 
Specimens indicate that some of it is rather pure. Mining was carried on for some time 
up to about three years ago, and the output, which was shipped, reached at times 20 
wagon loads per day. Recently no work has been done. 
MONAZITE. 
Beginning about 3 miles west of Gaffney, the rare-earth phosphate, monazite, occurs along 
a northeasterly belt which, with a short gap near Broad River, continues into Cleveland 
County, N. C. To the south the monazite belt is known to reach nearly to Greer, Green- 
ville County, S. C. The most extensive deposits occur in the northern portion of this belt, 
oOp.cit., p. 88. 
b Bull. North Carolina Geol. Survey No. 1, 1893, p. 112. 
