ThatвЂ™s around the same time that Ernest Fredrick Klatt opened Ruby City Gems and Minerals. Kribble says that it was around that time in the 1960s that the tourism gem industry really took off. The Macon County Gemboree in July is now in itвЂ™s 55th year. The biggest gem show is on MotherвЂ™s Day weekend. Kribble estimates that about 15,000 people come through the museum each year and many more go to the three gem shows that they help host. They also come to visit the Gem and Mineral Museum in downtown Franklin. The end of the commercial industry in the are resulted in many mines like MasonвЂ™s where tourists can come to pan for gems. Please allow one business day for replies from NCpedia. If you prefer not to leave an email address, check back at your NCpedia comment for a reply. If you would like a reply by email, note that some email servers, such as public school accounts, are blocked from accepting messages from outside email servers or domains. NCpedia will not publish personal contact information in comments, questions, or responses. Comments are not published until reviewed by NCpedia editors at the State Library of NC, and the editors reserve the right to not publish any comment submitted that is considered inappropriate for this resource. PLEASE NOTE: NCpedia provides the comments feature as a way for viewers to engage with the resources. Here's an article on Rutherford's Campaign We have articles on several different places and people named that: Heaps of broken wafer-like waste sheets littered the whole side of the mountain, sparkling like silver in the sun.вЂќ North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.Д¬an you be more specific? I don't know what you're asking about. The accompanying text noted that the вЂњflakes are cut in oblong squares by enormous shears, packed, and sent north. This engraving from an 1880 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine shows mica being mined, split, and cut near Waynesville. Keep reading > Part 2: Important Minerals, Gems, and Rocks Mined in North Carolina Several of these commercial mines, such as the Cherokee Ruby Mine, Cowee Mountain Ruby Mine, and Jackson Hole Mine, were located in Franklin (Macon County), which is also the site of the Franklin Gem and Mineral Museum. Gemstones in the late twentieth century remained a factor in the state's economy, with numerous mines open to amateur collectors and annual production averaging about $50,000. New industrial applications were found, while the market for old reliables such as feldspar and mica, along with new beneficiation techniques, increased their rate of recovery. As the twentieth century progressed, lithium and tungsten mines and phosphate deposits were opened. From 1881 to 1919 the production of all gemstones, including aquamarines, rhodolite garnets, golden beryl, emeralds and hiddenite, and gem corundum (rubies and sapphires), was a minor but colorful industry. North Carolina's small but unique gemstone supply-the state has the greatest variety and quantity of gemstones in the East-became attractive to collectors. Kunz were also active mineral collectors of the late nineteenth century. Stephenson of Statesville offered rewards to anyone finding minerals of interest and was the first collector reported to have the then-unknown hiddenite in his collection. Jenks began to mine gem corundum in Macon County, but this evolved into the more profitable abrasive business with gemstones an erratic by-product. As early as 1822, Professor Denison Olmsted at the University of North Carolina submitted a descriptive list of rocks and minerals to the American Journal of Science, some of which he had collected himself and others that had been sent to him. In the nineteenth century there was an abundance of mining activity as the state surveyed its mineral assets. The colonial period saw mainly local use of these materials as well as the burning of shell marls for cement and small-scale iron making from the most accessible deposits. Other resources exploited early were clay and kaolin.

It appears that Indians also used talc and soapstone for making utensils. Mining was known to the region's Indians before European settlement, and evidence of mica mining and trade with other tribes may be seen at the Baird Mine in Macon County and the Sink Hole Mine in Mitchell County.

Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Important Minerals, Gems, and Rocks Mined in North Carolina Part 3: ReferencesДЄ variety of minerals, gems, and rocks have been excavated in North Carolina since the precolonial era. See also: Bechtler Mint Big Ore Bank Cabinet of Minerals Gold Hill Mine Gold Rush.

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