MONTGOMERY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

A total of around 50,000 ounces of gold was produced in Montgomery County, largely from two mines discovered in 1900 in the eastern part of the county. In the extreme northwest corner of the county there were many regional mines. The Bright, Ophir, Dry Hollow, Island Creek, Deep flat, Spanish Oak Gap, Pear Tree Hill, Tom's Creek, Harbin's, Bunnell Mountain, Dutchman's Creek and the Worth Mines all played an important part in the states mining history.

Very little mining was done during the Civil War with only one mine in operation in Montgomery County at the close of the conflict. Manpower was short. Men were away at war and those left at home were forced to take care of the farms in order to raise food for the table. In 1891, unofficially, there were 35 mines in operation, but a short while later, in 1896, the N.C. Geographical Survey named 18 mines in use.

Much of the information on gold mining in Montgomery County is a compilation of sketches and facts on the old mines where today rotting timbers and over grown sites still speak of the "better days".

Beaver Dam Creek

At the beaver Dam Creek junction with the Yadkin river, northeast 2 miles is the Beaver Dam Mine. It produced free gold with pyrite.

Candor

West of Candor by 2.5 miles is the Montgomery Mine which was a lode mine. West of Candor by 3 miles is the Iola Mine, which produced gold out of a pyrite ore.

Eldorado

Many of the old mines in this area produced silver, copper, zinc and a by product of gold. North of Eldorado 1.5 miles is the Coggins Mine. It produced lode gold. East of Eldorado is the Eldorado Mine, which produced lode gold with silver and pyrite. Southeast of the Eldorado 2 miles on the east side of the Uwharrie River is an old lode mine. East 3 miles is the Riggon Hill Mine. North 3 miles, near the Randolph county line, is the Russell Mine. It is accessible from Eldorado and had a total production of around 15,000 ounces of gold. South of Eldorado by 8 miles is the Moratock Mine, which produced gold with copper.

Ophir

West of Ophir 3 miles, along the Uwharrie river is the Steel Mine. The mine is now nearly inaccessible and the 1832 structures are in total ruins.

Star

West of Star 3 miles, is the Carter Mine, which is one of the oldest in the state.

Troy

Northeast of Troy 14 miles is the Black Ankle Mine.

Wadeville

West of Wadeville, to within 3 miles of junction of routes 24 and 27, is the Sam Christian Mine. This mine had native gold and produced many large nuggets.

Uwharrie River

Reported by: Ronald Reeves

A large number of the creeks in the area of Eldorado, North Carolina all of which produce gold. This community is located on highway 109 between the towns of Denton and Troy. A lot of the land is private, but anyone can pan or sluice in the area there known as Uwharrie National Forest. Also one can dredge in the Uwharrie River on both sides of the highway 109 bridge so long as you do not get onto the National Forest part.

MINES

Beaver Dam Mine - at the Beaver Dam Creek junction with the Yadkin River, northeast 2 miles, is the location of the Beaver Dam Mine which produced free gold, with pyrite. Beaver Dam Mine produced gold in placers. The Beaver Dam Placer, near the Flagtown Post Office, near corner of Montgomery County produced placer gold.

Black Ankle Mine - The Black Ankle Mine, 11 miles northeast of Troy and 4 miles north of Ether, was not discovered until 1828 but operated intermittently until a few years ago. Edward Hedreck, the owner in 1935, reported a total production of $15,000 or about 750 ounces. The workings comprise a pit 225 feet long, 120 feet wide and 50 feet deep, a shaft 112 feet deep in the pit and a shallow shaft sunk in the bottom of the pit. The ore body as a whole is of low grade, though its gold content is not actually known. Treatment of the material by washing, amalgamation, cyanidation and other methods has recovered on the average only a few cents to the ton. Considerable gold is said to have been lost owing to its extremely fine subdivision and slime produced by a clay like saprolite substance.

Bright Mine - The Bright was located on the West flank of Uwharrie Mountains.

Bunnell Mountain Mine - The Bunnell Mountain Placer was located on the west flank of Uwharrie Mountains.

Buck Mountain Gold Property - is 7 miles west of Troy and about a quarter of a mile from the Uwharrie River. Two quartz veins, 25 to 30 ft. wide, cut across the property and are exposed in the side of Buck (or Gold Mountain) which rises nearly 200 ft. above the surrounding country. Panning tests of the surface mantel over an area of 50 acres below the outcrops of veins showed from two or three colors to a pennyweight of gold to the pan. All the gold was rough, a fact which indicated that it had been moved but a short distance. Below the outcrop of the vein on Buck Mountain, fragments of quartz that showed free gold were picked up.

Carter mine - West of Star 3 miles, is the Carter Mine (one of oldest in state), which produced lode gold. Located about 3 miles east of Troy, the Carter mine is described as being on a vein that contained much lime carbonate and a rare "telluride" of gold. The mine is said to have produced $100,000 or more from workings less than 100 ft. deep. Gold bearing quartz was found in a vein that averaged 3 ft. in width and contained some very rich streaks. Rock found on the dumps in 1934 included a "sugar" vein quartz. "From the bed of the Uwharrie River, more pure gold was found within one mile than anywhere in the state. Two blasts were made, not more than thirty feet deep, and two thousand dollars worth of pure gold nuggets were quickly gathered, not including that scattered by the blast. The most important enterprise in Montgomery County was that of the N.C. Gold Mining and Bullion Company of New York. Their largest investment was in Montgomery County near the present village of Eldorado on the Uwharrie River. Being their richest investment and their urgent need for capital stock was placed on the market at ten dollars a share. A person could send two dollars and pay the remainder in thirty days. With each share a plot of land 25 by 100 ft. was given as a "mining claim". The work of this vast development was to be done with a Bennett Amalgamator. This method was to be a very conservative processing method. The amalgamator was to cost approximately $8,000 delivered to the river. Labor was advertised to be very cheap and plentiful. Day laborers could be obtained at 7 cents per day and skilled workmen from one to two dollars per day. The largest nugget found in the Uwharrie section, which weighed 11 pounds was picked up by Nelson Russell. The nugget was two thirds pure gold. After the discovery of the Saunders Mine in 1890, many people came from California to the Uwharrie section, buying what they could of it. Most of the claims were owned by the people there and were to begin operation in the spring of that same year. Within 15 months, $50,000 worth of gold was taken from this section by natives alone, using the very crudest machinery." (Excerpt from Greensboro Daily News, Dec. 8, 1957 by Larry Long).

Coggins (Appalachian) Mine - In the Eldorado area there are many area old mines that produced a by product gold with silver, copper, zinc. The old Coggins Gold Mine, once the site of bustling and hustling activity, today is but a ghost town, a shadowed reminder of its former existence when men dug for gold, talked of gold and even fought for gold. One can almost hear voices echoing from the past, mingled with the present quiet and disturbed only by an occasional drone of an automobile passing nearby. Only two weathered wooden houses remain beneath the trees, enclosed in a prison of thick undergrowth and trees, and nearby the curbing of the "community well" that served the families still stakes a claim on its original site like a silent sentinel. At the turn of the century on a nearby lot stood the blacksmith shop where the anvils rang out with pounding hammers and perhaps curious children lingered near or peeped inside the door, often being entertained with tales told by the Blacksmith. A few hundred feet away crouched the company store, once the meeting place for miners who tramped in and out for household staples. Across the road the music of pounding hammers and buzzing saws echoed through the carpenter shop. A little further up the road, on the left hand side, the boxy wooden hotel was home for numerous laborers employed in the mine. Today timbers that once were staunch supports for the stamp mill have tumbled into splintered decay. In the old days of mining activity, two boilers operated by steam provided energy to convey heavy buckets of ore and dirt down into the mill, and only recently the machinery for stamping the ore was removed by the owners. The small boarded Assay office today still claims many items used in the early days for determining value of the gold. Not too far away, over near Ophir Church, Will Davis is said to have operated the Cooper Shop where wooden barrens were made. Dr. Henry Bowman, industrial doctor for the mine, provoked medical watch care for employees as well as their families, and many times Dr. Shamburger, Dr. Daligny and Dr. Thompson made house calls to the mining section of Coggins Mine community. This was a self-contained world. Here the earth gave up its treasure to men who dug deep to disturb her treasures. Here women tended the house, took care of the cows and chickens and tilled the gardens. Here children laughed and played and grew into teenagers. The Coggins Mine has been operated intermittently since its discovery in 1886. From unpublished manuscripts as well as published reports, the workings were 50 ft. deep in 1886, and a 40-stamp mill was built in 1887. In 1890, the mine was 200 ft. deep, and in 1911 development work began by the Whitney Company who installed a 40-ton Lane mill. At that time the shaft was 226 ft. deep and the drifts were 660 ft. in length. That same year a report stated that $4,820 in gold was recovered from 1,698 tons of ore by amalgamation, an average of $2.84 per ton. On the 200 ft. level, engineers obtained values of $18-$25 per ton for a width of 16 to 20 feet. It was estimated that most of the rich gold deposits were extracted during a period of activity lasting from 1922 to 1925 in which a 50-stamp mill was operated. The mine was shut down in 1926, but early in the summer of 1934 it was temporarily unwatered by John M. Rogers for the purpose of sampling. If a substantial part of the assay value as indicated by samples of surveys was recovered, the total yield of this body must have been at least $1,000,000 (5,000 ounces), according to files of the D. H. Hill Library on the U.N.C. at Raleigh campus.

Deep Flat Mine - was an old lode gold mine.

Dry Hollow Mine - was an old lode gold mine.

Dutchman's Creek Mine - was a lode mine.

Eldorado Mine - the Eldorado Mine produced lode gold, with silver and pyrite.

Golconda Mine - Development work was done as late as the period 1904-1910 at the Golcanda mine located half a mile northeast of the Uwharrie with workings described as including a shaft 150 ft. deep with several levels that explore a vein 4 ft. wide. The vein apparently lies east of the projected course of the Iola mine, and materials on the mine dumps indicate that the country rock is similar to that of the nearby Iola mine. A 30 1/2 ton lot of ore yielded 15.1 ounces of gold but records state that about $5 per ton was lost in the tailings.

Grandman Mine - 4 miles southwest of Ophir, was an old lode mine.

Harbin's Mine - At the Harbin placer mine, located about 2 miles southeast of the Morratock mine, old workings disclose 2 to 6 ft. of gold bearing stream alluvium in a small valley and on a low bordering terrace.

Iola mine - The Iola and Uwarra mines, in eastern Montgomery County 2 miles west of the town of Candor, exploited the same vein. They were discovered in 1900 and are among the more recent gold discoveries in the Piedmont. By 1915, the Iola had produced $900,000 (about 45,000 ounces) and the Uwarra, $100,000 (about 5,000 ounces) in gold. Operations were suspended in 1916, and the properties remained idle through 1959. Ore deposits are along the contact of the Cretaceous Coastal Plain sediments with the metamorphosed tuffs, flows, and breccias of the Paleozoic(?) volcanic rocks of the Carolina slate belt. The deposits are in narrow veins, in siliceous pyritic zones in schist, and in groups of stringer veins. Most of the ore came from the Iola vein, which was worked for 2,000 feet along its strike. The ore contained very few sulfides and was free milling. Located near Candor and Bridges Creek. Some reports today say that peach orchards planted over parts of this mine have responded to the soil and mineral content, producing fine crops of peaches. The Iola Mine, according to a Greensboro Daily News story on Dec. 8, 1957 written by Larry Long of Candor, was the property of the Iola Mining Co. of Baltimore, incorporated in 1901-1903. The company was authorized to issue $1,000,000 worth of stock at five dollars par value, the company owning 55 acres of land. "The mill comprises a twenty stamp battery, rock breaker with one hundred horse power engine, one 100 horse power and two 60 horsepower boilers, two hoisting engines, one air compressor, three air drills, electric light plant and a commissary paying profits from two hundred to two hundred fifty dollars per month. When the shaft was only two hundred feet deep in 1904, one hundred sixty thousand dollars worth of gold was taken from the mine. The estimated amount of ore in sight at the fifth level was ninety one hundred tons. While the mine was operating with a ten stamp mill, the capacity of Dec. 1903 was six thousand dollars net profit. In the 1903 report from G.W.Lehmann and Son, chemist & Consulting Expert, it was stated: 'We consider the Iola Mine one of the most promising and valuable free milling gold propositions we have examined in the South, and feel fully justified in recommending it for consideration of the investigating public. Today the Iola Mine is completely abandoned. It is located on property which belongs to Joe D. Steed, Sr. and R.H. Lassiter of Candor. An interesting story is told of the Iola Mine's superintendent prior to the Civil War. Thomas T. Echhert, who was a famous telegrapher with the Pittsburgh & Chicago Branch Line of the Union Telegraph Co. before coming South to work in the mine. Under his supervision the enterprise prospered, and during this period of time, one of his employees in the mine was Amos Clodfelter (father of W.A. Clodfelter). When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Eckert felt it his duty to serve the North, so he went back to New York and was assigned the job of being Superintendent of Military Telegraphy. He became Brigadier General of the Volunteers but later was made Assistant Secretary of the War. In the meanwhile, Mr. Clodfelter had joined the Southern cause and fought his way to Gettysburg where he was captured, but the story goes that when Clodfelter was imprisoned at Elmira, N.Y., he learned of his friend Eckert's new duties and contacted him. Old friendships were renewed and Clodfelter was given passage to another prison nearer home in North Carolina. His family was not sure but they thought it was in Lexington or Thomasville.

Island Creek Mine - was an old lode gold mine.-

Martha Washington Mine -The Martha Washington mine was still in operation on Sept. 7, 1934 under a firm in Hartford, Conn. Paul Gerdhardt reported a 3 ft. vein of 16.00 ore on Martha Washington incline shaft.

Montgomery Mine - 2.5 miles west of Candor, the Montgomery mine produced lode gold.

Moratock Mine - South of Eldorado by 8 miles, the Moratock Mine produced gold, copper.

Morris Mountain Mine - is a lode gold mine.

Ophir Mine - is a lode gold mine.

Palmer mine - is a lode gold mine.

Pear Tree Hill mine - is a lode gold mine.

Riggon Hill Mine - East of Eldorado 3 miles is the Riggon Hill Mine which produced lode gold;

Russell Mine - near Ophir, the Russell Mine, is accessible from Eldorado, had a total production of around 15,000 ounces of lode gold. See also the Steel mine. This mine includes several open pits and underground workings that attain a depth of 200 ft. or more. The largest pit, "Big Cut", is about 300 ft. long, 150 ft. wide and 60 ft. deep. As a whole, material excavated from this pit is said to have averaged $2 to the ton in gold. The entire mass is gold bearing but only certain parts of it are rich enough to work, and even these parts are of low grade except for rich seams which appear and disappear abruptly. Ore is difficult to distinguish from waste, visually. The total production of the mine is reported to have exceeded $300,000

Sally Coggins Mine - This mine, like the Coggins, Steele and Russell mines, is located in northwestern Montgomery County near Eldorado. The main opening is an open-cut in a hillside. It is about 75 ft. long and 30 ft. wide and the back of it rises 35 ft. from the surface of standing water. The submerged part is said to be at least 35 ft. deep, and below this is a 60 ft. shaft. Northeast of this cut are old hydraulic pits and open workings, and about 150 ft. northwest of the cut, a ledge known as the "West Lead" crops out. From notes in the Engineering and Mining Journal issues for April, May, June and December 1896 it appears that both a hydraulic plant and a 10-stamp mill were operated in this time period and that a belt 50 ft. wide was washed, yielding 30 cents per cubic yard. Milling done at various times between 1906 and 1916 produced a total of $2,477 gold or about 123.5 ounces.

Sam Christian Mine - from Wadeville, west to within 3 miles of junctions of Routes 24 and 27, the Sam Christian Mine produced native gold (notable for large nuggets). Sam Christian Mine produced gold in placers, very large nuggets. This mine has gained something of a reputation for large and fine nuggets. The gold is found in old "channels", in gravel of a thickness of one to 3 feet and deeply covered with soil. The gold is rarely found in dust, but generally in nuggets of from 5 Dwts. to 1000 Dwts. The tract contains 1286 acres and has been worked in two places: Dry Hollow and the old Sam Christian Cut. Other channels are also known. The mine is 190 feet above the adjacent watercourses. The Yadkin River at Swift Island Ford are 3 miles away. The Sam Christian mine, located near Swift Island about 8 miles south of Morrowtock in the area of Shelter Mt., is mentioned in the following account of Mt. Gilead history: 1867-68 Christian mine operated by Sam Christian. 1872-Not in operation. 1890-Sam Christian mine in charge of a London company. 1896-Sam Christian mine owned by J.A. McAuley of Mt. Gilead. Gold was reportedly mined an a very small scale as early as 1785 near crossroads and Pekin in the lower section of Montgomery County, though no notes have been located to verify this fact. Located 4.5 miles west of Wadeville, the Sam Christian Mine was worked intermittently for several years and yielded many nuggets. This mine has been owned by many different men. It was operated for a time by hydraulic methods with water pumped from the nearby Yadkin River. The deposits of this mine consist of alluvium in former stream channels.

Sedberry Mine - was a lode mine.

Spanish Oak Gap Mine - was a lode mine.

Star Mine - was a lode mine

Steel mine - West of Ophir by 2-3 miles, along the Uwharrie River is the location of the Steele Mine (now nearly inaccessible, and 1832 structures in total ruins). It was a lode gold mine. The early history of this lode mine is obscure. Gold was discovered at the Steel mine about 1832, but no information concerning time of its discovery at the Russell site could be found. Both the Russell and the Steel mines have been idle for a long time. The buildings were in ruins and the workings were inaccessible at the time they were visited. Production data are fragmentary and are based on estimates. Total production of the Russell mine is estimated at about $3000,000 (about 15,000 ounces) in gold. Production data of the Steel mines is available only for 1887, when $150,000 (about 7,500 ounces ) in gold was produced. The country rock in the vicinity of the argillaceous slate, but according to some it is silicified schist. At the Russell mine the ore occurs in silicified and pyritized zones in the country rock. At least six such zones have been worked successfully by open cuts. At the Steel mine ore consists of thin seams of free gold, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite. These seams are conformable with the slaty cleavage or schistosity. Gold is said to have been discovered here about 1832, and the mine appears to have been worked extensively before 1853. However, its history during the intervening period is not known. Someone said that at this mine, gold digging amounted to mania for farmers were locating gold in almost every hill. In 1876 the property was purchased by an English company, and from then on until 1884 the ore was treated in Chilean mills. Notes in mining journals for 1886 and 1887 tell of the repairing of old shafts and building of a new mill containing at first 20 stamps and later 40 stamps. One shaft was 135 ft deep. The reported production during 1887 was $150,000. Assays of ore taken from rich seams ranged from 20 to several hundred ounces of gold to the ton, and the ore from a a few assayed more than 100 ounces of silver per ton. There is no record of any considerable activity at this mine since 1888. However, as late as 1934 a mill containing 10 stamps, a boiler, an engine, a roaster and other accessories remained on the going to ruin, standing as a reminder possessed men.

Swift Island Mine - large nuggets have been found on this property but it was quickly worked and now considered barren.

Tebe Saunders Mine - is located on Worth Creek. Richest in ore in 1888. An item appearing in a 1932 copy of the Greensboro Daily News stated that in a report on the Sanders Mine, a total of $20,000 was worked in a single day.

Tom's Creek Mine - Tom's Creek Placer, on Tom's Creek, in the west flank of Uwharrie Mountains.

Troy mine - is 6 miles north of Troy.

Uwarra mine - See also Iola Mine. This mine, as is the Iola, lies about 2 miles west of Candor. From 1901 until 1916 it is estimated that these two mines produced $1,000,000 in gold of which $900,000 came from the Iola mine. There is a recorded production of $93,904 from the Uwarra for the last period of operation 1914-1916. This mine produced substantially before 1914. There appear to be no authentic record of developments after this date since the mine survey plats and records are said to have been destroyed by fire. In the Uwarra property the vein has been explored to a depth of 400 ft. and has drifted on for a considerable distance. At the 225-foot level a "blind" vein known as the Montgomery vein was found. During the last period of operation, the yearly average recovery from ore milled ranged from 0.165 to 0.215 ounce of gold to the ton. As the ore was almost free from sulfides and was entirely free milling, it was very successfully treated by the cyanide process.

Worth Mine - very rich mine, near the Sanders Mine.

SUGGESTED PROSPECTING AREAS:

Burnett Mountain - gold can be found in placers.

Tom's Creek - gold can be found in placers.

Uwarra River - gold can be found in placers.

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