There 's Tiffany Under Those Soybeans
VJ
The dust turned up by the
plow may be worth more to the
farmer than the crops of this dry
year. Because under soy bean
and silage fields, as well as under
houses and gardens, timber
stands and kudzu, lie most of
Cleveland County’s 13 recorded
sites where gemstones have been
found.
Somewhere near Kings Moun
tain, the last of 13 diamonds
reported found in the states was
unearthed in 1893. Whether
there are any more at home like
that one has never been deter
mined.
Beryl-the mineral family that
produces emeralds and
acquamarine-has been found or
actively mined at five sites in the
county; corundum-the family of
rubies and sapphires-has been
collected on at least three.
One corundum site marked on
a state geological survey map,
lies about two tenths of a mile
north of U.S. 74 and about a
mile west of the Mooresville
business district. Another is now
under soybeans in the triangle
formed by SRI 136 and Old Buf
falo Church Road, where they
come together at Mt. Sinai
Church Road.
The latter site is part of the
Old Thompson farm, marked by
a deserted old house and sheds.
The Moss family currently owns
it, and James A. Moss, who
raises crops on the land, says he
has never noticed anything
sparkling unusual in the soil.
Not far away, on the old Allen
farm, the rains of half a century
have washed some soil back into
the trench that once was the
Plantation emerald mine. Tif
fany’s, of New York, once held
the mineral rights to that plot,
where beryl crystals first were
identified in 1909. The Turner
family owned the land back
then; they also had another mine
across Highway 18, off Davis
Road.
The Allens came later. “My
daddy never did dig down
there,” says Ruby Allen
Hamrick, one of the Allen
children, and now wife of James
O. Hamrick of Boiling Springs.
“He was a farmer. But he did
find one piece, just picked it up.
It was sort of bluish green.”
She remembers her father
talking to some people from up
north about mining the land.
Mrs. Hamrick says, but the out
come of that conference is
forgotten. According to state
geological records, about 3,000
carats of emerald rough were
gathered, mostly in small stones,
from the Plantation mine, before
it was left, sometimes in the
Depression years, to begin to
heal itself.
The mine, 1450 feet west of
Emerald Mine Road and about a
mile from Stice Dam, now
belongs to Mrs. Hamrick’s
nephew, Joel Wesson, and his
wife Gloria. Wesson says that
every now and then someone
will call and ask permission to
walk around the place. He’s run
into others who did not ask, and
he’d rather that were not so.
He’s met some older fellows
who used to work at the mine,
when it was active, he says. One
of the stories he’s heard is about
a freak crystal formation that
turned up in the digging. “They
got one about a couple of inches
long, and about the size of a pen
cil, in the shape of a cross. It was
finally sold to a church.”
Like most other people.
Wesson is hampered in his ex
ploration of his unusual property
by lack of knowledge of what to
. «*'
The deserted Thompson farmhouse, above, markes the site of a
farmer mine at Mt. Sinai.
' look for, he says. Bright little
rocks may be glass, or jewels, or
bright little rocks. He has no in
tention at this time, he says, of
opening the site commercially to
hopeful diggers, as has been
done in the mines around Spruce
Pine, Hiddenite and Franklin.
“If you do that, you have to stay
with it all the time,” he says.
Across Emerald Mine Road,
“For Sale” signs mark the last
couple of lots of a section of the
Allen farm that was divided up
for development. New people
will be moving in, most of whom
probably won’t be preoccupied
with the dirt under their feet, ex
cept when it gets on the carpet.
Only in the name of their street
will the past be remembered.
For anyone interested in the
locations of Cleveland County
or other North Carolina mineral
sites, the N.C. Department of
Natural Resources and Develop
ment, Geological Survey Sec
tion, has maps and guidebooks at
nominal prices. They’re at P.O.
Box 27687, Raleigh, N.C.,
27611.
The Foothills View
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1983
Blk. Postage Paid
BOILING SPRINGS NC
Permit No. 15 - Address Correction Requested
SINGLE COPY 15 CENTS
New Courses
Open At Tech’s
Continuing Ed
T^e Patience And Hope
Of A Summer Garden
Call To New
School Year At
I
G-W Convocation
The Continuing Education
Department of Cleveland
Technical College has scheduled
the following courses:
Cross Stitch begins Sept. 6,
from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at Floral &
Hobby Shop, Casar. The class
will meet each Tuesday evening
until Nov. 8. The instructor will
be Sondra Earl. Total hours 20.
The registrtion fee is $ 15.
The registration fee is $10.00.
Pottery Design & Production,
begins September 8, from 9-12
a.m. at Campus Ceramic Shop.
The class will meet each Thurs
day morning until November 17 .
The instructor will be Ada
Blankenship. Total hours 33.
The registration fee is $10.00.
i
-Gardner Webb College
marked the beginning of the new
school year Thursday by
welcoming back its students as
well as recognizing a key
member of the college’s new
financial development program.
Pottery Design & Production
begins September 6, from
6:30-9:30 p.m. at Dawn’s Busy
Hands. The class will meet each
Tuesday evening until Nov. 15.
The instructor will be Annie
Dixon. Total hours 33. The
registration fee is $10.
Quilting begins September 8,
from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Floral &
Hobby Shop Casar. The class
will meet each Thursday evening
until November 10. The instruc
tor will be Sondra Earl. Total
hours 20. The registration fee is
$15.00.
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Ml
George Blanton Jr. of Shelby
was present during the college’s
fall convocation as G-W Presi
dent Craven Williams announc
ed Blanton’s appointment as
chairman of the program’s en
dowment development commit
tee.
Iff A
a,:
%i.
Pottery Design & Production
begins September 7, from
6:30-9:30 at Dawn’s Busy
Hands. The class will meet each
Wednesday evening until Nov.
16. The instructor will be Annie
Dixon. Total hours 33. The
registration fee is $10.00.
Tole Painting II begins
September 12, from 6:30-9:30
p.m. at Eagle’s Nest. The class
will meet each Monday evening
until October 31. The instructor
will be Alice Johnson, total
hours 24. The registration fee is
$18.00. Registration is limited to
15 people.
iff
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Candlewicking begins
September 7, from 6:30-9:30
p.m. at Floral & Hobby Shop,
Casar. The class will meet each
Wednesday until November 9.
The instructor will be Sondra
Earl. Total hours 20. The
registration fee is $15.00.
Crochet, begins September 7,
from 2-4 p.m. at Fallston Baptist
Church. The class will meet each
Wednesday afternoon until
November 9. The instructor will
be Elisabeth O’Dell. Total hours
20. The registration fee is
$15.00.
Stunted by almost unbroken drought, her okra plants have
produced valiantly, all the same, for Mrs. Essie Rollins of Mt.
Sinai Church Road. Mrs. Rollins has gathered about half a
bucket, here, from just part of her rows. Her corn fared not so
well; it tasseled at about waist-high, and the beans she
planted among it never showed their heads at all. But an early
garden came and bore well and went, before the drought set
in, so all is not lost. Otherwise, "I have never seen such a sum
mer for trying to grow things," Mrs. Rollins says.
Pottery Design & Production
begins September 8, from 7-10
p.m. at Campus Ceramic Lab.
The class will meet each Thurs
day evening until November 17.
The instructor will be Ada
Blankenship. Total hours 33.
The registration fee is $10.00.
Crochet begins September 8,
from 9-11 a.m. at Elisabeth Bap
tist Church. The clas will meet
each Thursday morning until
Nov. 10. The instructor will be
Elisabeth O’Dell. Total hours 20.
The registration fee is $15.00.
Church Looking To Fill
Children 's Choir Robes
Pottery Design & Production
begins September 8, from 7-10
p.m. at Campus Ceramic Lab.
The cltiss will meet each Thurs
day evening until November 17.
The instructor will be Ada
Blankenship. Total hours 33.
Computer Awareness begins
Sept. 6, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at
Shelby Senior High School. The
class will meet each Tuesday
evening until Nov. 8. The in
structor will be Mike Sisk. Total
hours 30. The registration fee is
$10.00.
Boiling Springs Baptist will
begin its children’s choir pro
gram Wednesday, Sept. 7, with
games and refreshments planned
for this special enrollment day.
The children’s choir is part of
the church music program that
also includes chairs for
kindergarten through sixth
grade, choirs for college youth.
and handbell ensembles for
adults, youth, and children.
Boiling Springs Baptist also
sponsors a woodwind quintet,
flute choir, adult choir, men’s
and ladies’ chorus.
The church asks those in
terested in joining any of the
music groups to call 434-6244.
As committee chairman, Blan
ton will coordinate the fund rais
ing activities targeted at raising
$15.6 million for endowment.
This represents the largest por
tion of the $28.6 million finan
cial development program “Get
ting Ready For Tomorrow.”
“The importance of this pro
gram and the size of the objec
tive will require the best effort of
the best people available to us,”
Williams announced. “George
Blanton Jr. is the right person for
this college at this time. We eu-e
honored by and grateful for his
services.”
Blanton, who is chairman of
the board and chief executive of
ficer of the First National Bank
in Shelby, has for several years
served Gardner-Webb in a
number of capacities.
He was twice elected chair
man of the board of advisors and
is currently a member of the col
lege’s board of trustees.
In 1981, Blanton along with
his sisters, Caroline B. Thayer of
Chestnut Hills, Mass., and Milli-
cent B. Thompson of Charlotte,
presented the college with their
parents home on West Marion
Street in Shelby. It has been
renovated with funds donated
by the Blanton family and now
serves as the college president’s
home.
In addition to the positions he
holds with First National Bank,
Blanton is president of Eagle
Roller Mill, director of Dover
and Ora Mill companies and is
secretary and director of Shelby
Radio Corporation. He also
serves as vice president of both
Seal Wire Company and Artee
• Industries.
While being actively involved
with a number of business in
terests in Cleveland County,
Blanton has also found time to
donate his energies to many area
civic organizations as well.
He has been an officer in the
Shelby Junior Chamber of Com
merce as well as director and
vice president of the Shelby
Chamber of Commerce. He is
past president of the Cleveland
County Historical Association,
the Shelby Lions Club and has
twice been president of the
Cleveland County United Fund.
As Gardner-Webb prepares
for the challenges of its new
financial development program,
guest speaker Dr. Merrimon
Cuninggim reminded the college
students during convocation
that they too must prepare for
the challenges.
Cuninggim told the students
“Accept change - change is what
college is all about.”
A Rhodes scholar, Cuninggim
has 19 years of experience work
ing with college students and.
helping them adjust to the rigors
of college life.
He has served as professor of
religion at Pomona College in
Ceilifornia; Denison University
in Ohio; and Emory and Henry
College in Virginia. Cuninggim
has also served as director of
religious activities at Duke
University and for nine years
was dean of the Perkins School
of Theology at Southern
Methodist University.
From 1976 until 1979, Cun
inggim served as president of
Salem Academy and College in
Winston-Salem and currently is
chairman of the Center for Elec
tive Philanthropy.