Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/677

Rh the greater amount of metallic bases would naturally separate first.

The location of the mines has been largely accidental. So far as I have been able to learn, the first one opened was the Sinkhole mine in Mitchell County. The spot was marked by the existence of trenches, many hundred feet long in the aggregate, and in places fully twenty feet deep. Large trees growing on the débris indicated that the workings were very ancient. It was supposed that they had been for silver; and when the trenches were reopened at the close of the war, the search was for that metal and not for mica. Silver seems to dominate in the Carolinian dream of mineral wealth, when it is, of all such dreams, the one least likely to be realized. The search for silver being unsuccessful, the mines were again abandoned. The mica that had been thrown out was left on the dump, and soon advertised the real character of the mine. A stock-driver, passing that way, carried a block of it with him to Knoxville, where it attracted the attention of men acquainted with its value. They investigated the matter, emigrated at once to Mitchell County, and began systematic mining for mica. As the mineral was then selling for from eight to eleven dollars a pound, the rewards were considerable, and much enterprise was shown in the development of the industry. The first-comers had the easy and profitable task of simply preparing and shipping the mica that had been already mined, and they enjoyed the further advantage of an undisturbed market. So profitable an enterprise, however, soon attracted others. Many of the hands employed in the mines were also land-owners and naturally concluded, as soon as they had learned something of the business, that it would pay better to work for themselves. They began exploring their own plantations, and as these often contained several hundred or even several thousand acres, the ground for prospecting was extensive. It is a region in which the majority of the people are land-poor. The single-tax project would not be apt to meet with favor there.

Then, as now, the mountaineers were largely guided in their search by the ancient workings. These were probably made by the aborigines, and were also for the purpose of obtaining mica. The old workers could only penetrate as far as the rock was decomposed, and were obliged to stop as soon as solid ground was reached. The imprint of their stone implements may still be seen in the decomposed stuff at the sides of the opening. What these people used the mica for is still problematical. Large plates of it have been found in the mounds of Eastern Tennessee, and would indicate that it had domestic application, or was used for personal decoration.