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Here's Reprint Of Magazine Article On Cowee Ruby Digging
WRITER TELLS
OF SUCCESSFUL
VENTURE HERE
Story Includes Picture
Layout On Activities
In The 'Ruby Valley'
Here's a reprint of "Rubles for
the Digging", an article on the
Cowee Ruby Mines which appears
in this month's (March) issue of
Woman's Day.
Written by Russell A. Bell, the
story also had a three-picture lay
out; one of a young Tennessee
girl who found a 25 carat rough
ruby last summer; a shot of Car
roll Oibson talking to a young
man at the side of his slab-board
ruby "headquarters"; and a third
picturing rock hound washing
gravel at the Holbrook mine.
The story:
We carried the rock and gravel
to the little stream and let the
water wash through, sieving out
the sand and dirt. In the gravel
that, remained, there was a red
crystal, so neatly formed as to
look, manufactured. It was dull,
but when cut and polished, it
would be a red like no other in
the world, a living red, like solid
ified light. There was no mistak
ing it; this was a ruby. And there
would likely be more where this
one came from.
. That was the pleasant answer
to a question that had been puz
zling us ever since we planned this
trip On hearing that there are
ruby mines open to the public,
mines where anyone may dig, your
natural tendency is to wonder
what the catch is.
Rubies, after all, are the most
precious of precious stones. A
ruby of any real size and quality
i? worth considerably more than
a diamond. And the public doesn't
get Invited to browse in the dia
mond mines, any more than it
gets invited to go souvenir hunt
ing in Tiffany's show windows.
So perhaps the strangest thing
about ruby hunting in North Car
olina's Cowee Valley, the only spot,
in the United States where rubies
of this caliber are known to exist,
is that there is no catch to it.
The mines are there, and they
are not worked out. as you might
reasonably* suspect. The only hitch
in the thing works to the ama
teur's benefit. For, if the pickings
were just a little better, these
mines would most certainly be
[surrounded by high fences and
guards.
To make a remarkable situation
even more so, you can move a few
miles from the "ruby valley" and
hunt for emeralds. There are only
four truly precious gems, and here
in a small area, you can hunt for
two of the four. It's one of nature's
better bargains.
Reports of this happy hunting
ground in the western section of
North Carolina led us to try a
gem-hunting vacation last August.
The ruby mines are located just
south of Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, which gave us a
good choice of camp sites to stay
in. (There are many other kinds
of accommodations nearby, too. >
We pitched our tents at one site,
called Smokemont, on the silvery
Oconaluftee River. Even if we had
come back empty-handed, the scen
ery would have repaid us for the
trip. The first gems you see on an
expedition like this are gems of
views.
A short drive, the next morning,
took us to the village of West's
Mill, where we bought lunch sup
plies in the general store. This, it
turned out, is a good move. For in
variably, along with your supplies,
you get useful information. People
go out of their way, down here, to
make sure you find what you are
after.
A mile or so beyond the village,
we turned off the blacktop onto a
gravel road, which would be pas
sable in all weather. Two miles up
this road, we found a slab-board
building bearing the sign: Oibson's
Ruby Mine.
The Gibson brothers. Weaver
and Carroll, opened their mine
to the public in 1950. That came
about because a rock hound
searched them out and offered
$5 to be allowed to spend a day
looking for rubies. "Too much",
said the Gibsons and set the
price at $1. Which is character
istic of the attitude toward mon
ey in these parts.
Weaver Gibson made us wel
come. It happened that the six
of us. two adults and four chil
dren. had the place to ourselves.
The owners make no effort to at
tract business, another striking
change from the situation tour
ists usually encounter. And the
$1 a day per person, including the
loan of tools, still stands.
The little vailey runs for about
six miles and consists of farm
land and meadows. The ? ruby
mines are strip mines; the mea
dow has been cut away in small
section^ to reveal the reddish
brown soil, which is studded with
rocks and boulders. So you waste
no time digging in soil that can't
contain rubies.
At Gibson's, it's a tossup: You
dig either beside the road, where
bigger stones are, or near a stream
for stones that are more plenti
ful, though smaller.
Rubies are found in only a few
localities in the world. Siam has
some, so has Ceylon; but the best
? of the tint called "pigeon blood"
? were long supposed to be pecul
iar to a region in Burma. Until
the mid-nineteenth century, it was
not even known that rubies exist
ed anywhere in North America.
Yet, there are specimens here as
fine as the best Burma can pro
duce.
Just who discovered this excit
jin? fact, or when, no one knows.
Local legend says it was a resi
jdent of the vaJ'.ey who had gone
, up on the ridge to visit a moon
i shiner's still. Coming down, he
' fell, passed out, and came out of
' it to find himself staring at a ruby
in a rock. So they say.
In any event, in the early days
of this century, extensive mining
operations were conducted here.
But the operation was an expen
sive hand process. And there were
not quite enough big flawless
rubies to make commercial mining
profitable. That is the stalemate
from which today's amateur gem
hunters benefit.
The possibility of recognizing
rubies, including star stones, is
heightened if you know a little
about the stone.
You are after a variety of the
mineral corundum. When blue, it
is called a sapphire; when red. a
ruby. This difference is an im
portant one. Sapphires are much
admired. But rubles ? they're
' royalty.
You are digging in alluvium ?
the sand, gravel, and rock deposit
ed by streams that vanished many
ages ago. The rock dissolves and
washes away as the centuries
wear on. The corundum remains
because it is next to diamonds in
hardness. Pure corundum is color
less and of no interest. But when
it contains a small amount of
metallic oxide, it takes on th-j
glowing, almost living colors that
so fascinate mankind.
However, you don't need to
know mineralogy to dig gem
stones here. All corundum crystals
have relatively sharp edges. Just
remember this, save them all. and
the owners of the mine will help
you make a further sorting. '
Another excellent source of in
formation is the new State Min
eral Museum on the Blue Ridge
Parkway, at Gillespie Gap, North
Carolina. This is operated jointly
by the state and The National
Park Service.
It's not an elaborate operation,
this kind of mining. All you need
are a pick and shovel, a bucket,
and a screen. The best procedure
seems to be to select a good-size
stone or boulder and pry it loose.
On the underside, there will be
clay and soil and gravel. Scrape
every bit of this off and put it
in your bucket.
When the bucket is full, you
carry it to the stream and pour
the contents into your screen
Now you let water spill In and
wash the gravel. You are watch
ing for that exciting glint of red.
Toting buckets of gravel is work
but rewarding. Some folks have
averaged one ruby in every buck
et. Should you like tb rough it
smoothly, you can hire a helper j
to dig the gravel, wash it, and
provide you with expert advice, as
well.
Washing the gravel, you may
find many other stones. Bits of
amethyst, perhaps, shiny black ru
tile, quartz crystals, banded agate,
small blades of cyanite.
Take any unusual stones you
find to the Museum, or ask fel
low gem hunters about them. Gem
hunting hereabouts is especially
pleasant in that everyone seems
happy to help the uninitiated.
Our next stop was at the Will
Holbrook mine. Just around a
bend in the road. Here the min?
is atop a hill, and the fee is $3 per
day per person, because water for
screenihg has to be pumped up
hill. But the screens are on stands
about 40 inches high, which is
easier than working in a creek
bed, and you can screen more
gravel. A man and wife working
together ? the man digging, the
wife screening ? can develop" a
pretty efficient operation.
A good many of the rabies here
abouts have flaws ? but not all.
And they aren't universally small,
either.
About a month after our visit.
Miss Lucille Smith, thirteen-year
old daughter of a Nashville. Ten
Nobody "spared the horses'*
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But power's just one of the things
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nessee, doctor, tried her luck in !
the Cowee Valley gravel. She :
found a ruby that. In the rough. <
was the size of a small marble? |
about 36 carats, by local report.
That should "cut out" to 12 or 15 <
carats. Estimates of the value ,
range from $3,000 to $12,000 or ,
$15,000, or possibly more, depend- ,j
ing on whether the pigeon-bloc: ?
color holds throughout. I
On our way home, up the Blue ,
Ridge Parkway, we had a go at
emerald hunting. Near the town f
of Little Switzerland, about thirty- 1
five miles northeast of Asheville 1
as the crow flies, is the old Big : j
Crabtree Emerald Mine. This, too. [ :
was once operated commercially. 1 (
Now amateurs crack rocks in (
search of anything good the pro- j ,
fessional miners overlooked. This
is rough country ? too rough un- '
less you are an enthusiast. But
we were rewarded by the genuine 1
thrill of finding some specks of
that matchless green.
It's really got'
QUALITY
Gem hunting in these parts is
a fine experience. You are screen
ing material never touched by thj j
hand of man. The possibility that
you will turn up a really superb I
stone is as good today as it ever
was. One of our fellow hunters
told us that on his first day, in :
1954. he found a ruby that when j
cut, was appraised at $350, which 1
is a pleasant start. Fine rubies I
are worth perhaps $1,000 a carat.:
sometimes even more: so there's
real excitement about this kind of
prospecting.
Then, there is the moment when ,
you look into the wet screen and I
it s LOADED with
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lee that glint of red which means
rou have found a ruby. It's hard
.0 imagine anyone who wouldn't
jet a charge out of this.
, We had a whale of a time and
:ame back bearing pill bottles and
:igar boxes full of loot. Until you
nit a stone and a window Into
it, It is impossible to tell exactly
what you have. But we brought
oack about four dozen rubles of
me quality or another.
One star stone can be made
into a ring; another beautiful ring
ian be made from smaller stones
arranged in a circle or square.
Other stones can be wrapped in
gold or silver wire and used in
their natural form; you merely
emphasize their beauty with the
wire. These may end up as brace
let dangles or a necklace.
We also brought back golden
beryl, black tourmaline, some
chatoyant white feldspar I think
can be polished into a beautiful
white stone, and some garnets.
We were skeptical when we set
out. but we came back enthusias
tic. My hobby is collecting gem
stone material and cutting geni
stones, and I brought home
enough material to occupy me en
joyably for months to come
What's more. I don't know where
you can have more fun in the
outdoors among nicer people.
We want to go back, and next
time we won't confine ourselves
to rubies, emeralds, and the like
Before gold was struck in Califor
nia, by the. forty-niners, Nortr
Carolina was one of the nation's
chief sources. Thai 's gold in them
hills, as well as rubles in the val
ley. Next time, we plan to mine
ourselves a spot of gold.
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