THE  SEMINOLE  COPPER  DEPOSIT  OF  GEORGIA. 
By  Thomas  L.  Watson. 
Location. — The  mines  of  the  Seminole  Mining  Company  are  in  the 
extreme  western  part  of  Lincoln  County,  12  miles  northeast  of  Wash- 
ington, the  county  seat  of  Wilkes  County,  and  2£  miles  east  of  Metas- 
ville,  the  nearest  post-office.  The  property  lies  partly  in  Lincoln  and 
partly  in  Wilkes  counties.     The  mines  are  in  the  former  county. 
History .—The  Seminole  property  was  worked  for  gold  from  1852 
to  1861,  under  the  name  of  the  Magruder  gold  mine.  It  then  remained 
practically  inactive  until  1880,  when  mining  for  gold  was  resumed  and 
continued  until  1881.  During  the  latter  period  some  lead  and  copper 
are  reported  to  have  been  shipped.  In  1900  mining  was  again  resumed 
on  the  property  by  the  Seminole  Mining  Company,  principally  for 
copper,  and  is  now  being  actively  carried  on. 
GEOLOGY. 
Physiography. — The  area  is  in  the  Piedmont  Plateau  region,  a  short 
distance  north  of  the  fall  line,  which  marks  the  passage  of  the  plateau 
crystallines  southeastward  beneath  the  Coastal  Plain  formations.  Its 
surface  is  more  or  less  hilly  and  forms  a  part  of  the  broadly  undulating 
plain  so  characteristic  of  the  inner  margin  of  the  plateau  region.  A 
number  of  low  ridges  or  unreduced  residual  areas  of  harder  rock, 
locally  called  mountains,  rise  above  the  general  level  of  the  plateau 
surface  over  parts  of  Lincoln  County.  None  of  these  occur  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  mines.     A  few  are  not  far  distant. 
Rocks. — In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  mines  the  country  rock  is 
composed  of  variable  schists  greatly  crushed  and  jointed  and  pene- 
trated by  a  network  of  closely  intersecting  basic  dikes,  which  in  most 
cases  are  completely  altered.  The  schists  are  of  the  mica  type,  vary- 
ing from  biotitic  to  sericitic,  and  in  places  highly  quartzitic.  Feld- 
spar is  only  sparingly  developed  in  the  schists  and  in  places  it  is 
absent.  Its  very  slight  occurrence  is  a  noteworthy  feature.  In  a 
large  number  of  thin  sections  hastily  examined  not  a  piece  of  striated 
feldspar  was  observed.  Variation  in  color  of  the  rocks  is  from  dark 
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