Geological Report of the Midland Counties of North Carolina (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXI. Repositories of the Metals continued--Gold associated with Quartette and Slate, and frequently in irregular veins--Seams and natural Joints. 147. This class of deposits partakes of the characters which belong to the sediments proper, described in the preceding chapter, and those in which the metal is distributed in regular veins. The Ward mine, in Davidson county, belongs to this division or class; and its description and the accompanying illustration will show what characteristics distinguish it from those to which it is allied. The gold of the Ward mine is connected immediately with quartz seams or irregular veins; those which do not extend continuously through the rock but terminate in it, and which do not pursue the usual direction. There is no direction which they can be said to pursue in the main. The quartz is subordinate to slate; but I am not aware that the latter contains gold, except when it is in contact with the former, or is distributed in the natural joints, which usually contain a film of quartz. The distribution of the metal too is irregular, and is found in pockets or bunches, some of which are very productive; hence, there is more uncertainty in the results, and the mining operations cannot be conducted in a manner so systematic as when distributed in regular veins. The quartz at the Ward mine occupies the crest of a knoll, and it is so massive, I think, that it is rather one of the principal rocks of the formation than a vein. Indeed, it is dissimilar to the quartz which usually fills a vein fissure; it is a mass of quartzite in a drab colored slate; subordinate also to the main mass, but separated from it by slate. In fact, the knoll is made up of reticulations of heavy beds and thin seams, which intersect the slat...