E.S.C. quarterly

              North Carolina State Library
S.C
Raleigh
TERLY
VOLUME 5. NO. 1 (FORMERLY "THE U.C.C. QUARTERLY") WINTER. 1947
North Carolina Possesses A Bountiful Supply
of Metallic Minerals
«»
wpre^wfr from w c^vsrsity LIBRARY
\ o*eye? //>
NORTH CAROLINA'S BEAUTIFUL STATE CAPITOL IN RAL|
Constructed of Gneiss, a Crystalline Rock Quarried Within One Mile of Its
Building. Completed in 1840 / L. f j§£ R^p^ '^
V , ^v 21 mi
myeksiv
<-j-' •
'
PUBLISHED BY
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina
(Formerly "Unemployment Compensation Commission of North Carolina")
PAGE 2 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
The E. S. C. Quarterly
Volume 5 ; Number 1 Winter, 1947
Issued four times a year at Raleigh, N. C, by the
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioners: Mrs. W. T. Bost, Raleigh; Judge C. E. Cowan,
Morganton; C. A. Fink, Spencer; R. Dave Hall, Belmont;
Marion W. Heiss, Greensboro; Dr. Harry JL\ Wolf, Chapel
Hill.
State Advisory Council: Capus M. Waynick, Raleigh, Chair-man;
Willard Dowell, Raleigh; H. L. Kiser, Charlotte; Dr.
Thurman D. Kitchin, Wake Forest; Robert F. Phillips, Ashe-ville;
Mrs. Dillard Reynolds, Winston-Salem; Mrs. Emil
Rosenthal, Goldsboro; W. Cedric Stallings, Charlotte.
HENRY E. KENDALL Chairman
R. FULLER MARTIN Director
Unemployment Compensation Division
ERNEST C. McCRACKEN Director
North Carolina State Employment Service Division
M. R. DUNNAGAN Editor
Informational Service Representative
Cover illustrations represent typical North Carolina
industries under the unemployment compensation
program or related activities.
Cover for Winter, 191fl—North Carolina's Capitol, located in
the center of a six-acre tract, around which was laid out the
City of Raleigh as a State Capital, of Grecian Doric design
copied from the Temple of Minerva (The Parthenon) in
Athens and with other Grecian and Roman architectural
features, was designed and built by David Paton, Scotch
architect, who was brought to Raleigh to design and super-vise
its construction. Seven years, 1833-1840, were required
for its completion, at a total cost of $531,674.46, which was
appropriated by seven annual sessions of the General As-sembly.
The stone of which it was constructed was quarried
within one mile of the Capitol, largely by convict labor, and
was hauled to Capitol Square on a narrow-gauge railroad
track from the quarry to the Square. The stone is gneiss,
particularly suitable for construction of large buildings.
"The old rock quarry," long a deep hole caused by quarrying
the stone, partially filled with water for 100 years and located
south-east of Capitol Square, was finally filled in during the
early 1940s.
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals, agencies,
organizations and libraries. Address: E. S. C. Informational
Service, Raleigh, N. C.
CONTENTS
Page
North Carolina's Beautiful State Capitol (picture) -_ Front
Our Name Changes to "The ESC Quarterly" 2
N. C. Granite Produced in Year 19 45 Valued at
$312,794 2
Mount Airy Granite Famous for Buildings—Monu-ments
3
By M. R. Dunnagan
Talc Mining Is an Important Activity in Cherokee
County ' 7
Balfour Pink Most Noted of Rowan County Granites ._ 8
By M. R. Dunnagan
International Demand for Cherokee County Marble __ 10
By.James Chadwick
Behind Scene in Locating Stone for Duke University.- 12
By Brent S. Drane
Huronian Slate Used in Duke University Buildings
Defined 12
By Jasper L. Stuckey
State's Limitless Store of Non-Metallic Minerals 16
By T. G. Murdock
Summary of Provisions of Amendments to U. C. Law 23
By W. D. Holoman
Regular and Veteran Benefit Activities in 1948 26
By Hugh M. Raper
History of Employment Security Program in State__ 28
By S. F. Campbell
OUR NAME CHANGES TO "THE
E.S.C. QUARTERLY": NEW SSZE
Because the recent session of the North Carolina
General Assembly changed the name of the "Unem-ployment
Compensation Commission of North Caro-lina"
to the "Employment Security Commission of
North Carolina" and the "Unemployment Compen-sation
Law" to the "Employment Security Law," the
name of "The U.C.C. Quarterly" is also changed to
"The E.S.C. Quarterly."
Articles in this issue were written before the
change was made, so wherever the initials "U.C.C",
or the longer name for which they stand, appear, it
means "E.S.C." or Employment Security Commis-sion.
With this issue the size of our quarterly changes,
but only in one respect—the overall size, which is
reduced slightly. Type sizes and type pages remain
the same. Only the margins are slightly reduced.
N. C. GRANITE PRODUCED IN
YEAR 1945 VALUED AT $312,794
"The South, a Leader in Stone Production" is the
title of an article written by Oliver Bowles and Rob-ert
P. Willing and, with eight illustrations, occupies
several pages in the February issue of Manufactur-ers
Record, Baltimore, Md.
Three of the illustrations are from North Carolina.
One is the exterior view of the U. S. gold depository
at Fort Knox, Ky., made of Mount Airy granite;
another is of a big granite lathe at the Mount Airy
plant, turning a round granite post; and the third
shows a stack of granite being crushed for highway
construction, with the information that four quarries
and four plants of one North Carolina company (not
identified) produce gravel and crushed stone.
For many years, the authors relate, the South has
been one of the country's leading stone producers.
Figures based on the report of the Minerals Year
Book of the Bureau of Mines, the South produced
nearly 30 percent of the nation's total in 1945, or
43,999,610 short tons valued at $53,033,607. Pro-duction
includes ornamental stone such as that used
in Washington's magnificent structures and other
dimension stone for building, as well as crushed and
broken stone used in lime and cement and highway
construction, the article relates.
Reference is made to the granite operations at
Mount Airy and near Salisbury, the marble develop-ments
in Cherokee County and crushed stone activi-ties
in many parts of the State. One paragraph in
the article reads as follows
:
"North Carolina also produces considerable quantities of di-mension
granite near Mount Airy in Surry County near the
northern State boundary. The cut stone produced in this re-gion
is widely used in bridges, dry docks and in large build-ings.
An extensive market likewise has developed for the
smaller fragments—ashlar—for constructing moderate priced
homes. Both quarries and mills at Mount Airy are equipped
with modern machinery. In addition to Surry County, granite
is found in Rowan, Davidson, Wake and Henderson Counties.
In 1945 North Carolina produced 13,990 short tons of granite
valued at $312,794."
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 3
Mount Airy Granite Famous for Buildings and Monuments
By M. R. Dunnagan, hifovulational Service Representative, ESC
About 75 years ago, one Robert S. Gilmer purchased
a large farm in Surry County, on a portion of which
part of the Town of Mount Airy is now located.
Within the farm area, about two miles from the site
of the Town of Mount Airy, was a huge rock forma-tion,
known locally as "The Rock," about 50 acres in
area and in appearance something like a huge oyster
shell. The farm was bought at a "per acre" rate,
and, as it was not suitable for farm purposes, "The
Rock" was not counted in the acreage, but was given
to the purchaser without charge as a part of the farm
area.
That part of the farm which was then considered
worthless is now famous as the largest open-faced
granite quarry in the world, with 80 acres of work-able
granite exposed. From its surface many thous-ands
of tons of granite have been quarried and sold
for millions of dollars for use in public buildings,
bridges, homes, memorials, and mausoleums in prac-tically
every state in the nation.
In 1889, while the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley
Railroad was being built from Wilmington to Mount
Airy, an English-born family named Woodruff, then
living in Greensboro, had the contract for building
the railroad stations between Greensboro and Mount
Airy. Four sons in this family, William, George,
Thomas and Frank, lived in Mount Airy while com-pleting
the construction work on that end of the line.
Seeing possibilities in "The Rock," whose principal
use up to that time was as a location for picnics for
the people in the surrounding countryside, these
Woodruff brothers purchased it and some of the sur-rounding
land from Mr. Gilmer for about $5,000.
They set about quarrying the granite immediately
upon purchase in 1889, and several years later in
1904, The North Carolina Granite Corporation was
formed.
Around 1910, John Davis Sargent, an experienced
quarryman from Vermont was brought to Mount
Airy to operate the quarry. Mr. Sargent soon saw
the possibilities of cutting stone for buildings, monu-ments,
etc., and leased from the Woodruff brothers
the cutting sheds which they had been operating
along with the quarry. Mr. Sargent then formed
the J. D. Sargent Granite Co. on his own and began
cutting the granite into dimension, monumental, and
other types of stone. The J. D. Sargent Granite Co.
bought the rough granite from the Woodruff's cor-poration,
which Mr. Sargent continued to run for
them.
It was not long before the young cutting company
became the largest part of the operation, and having
proved itself was taken into the larger corporation
with Mr. Sargent as president of the North Carolina
Granite Corporation.
Note—Information for this article was furnished largely by John P. Frank,
president, N. C. Granite Corp., Caleb H. Haynes, Mount Airy, N. C, and from
an article published in "Rock Products," McLean-Hunter Pub. Corp., Chi-cago
6, III.
Shortly after this Francis H. Fries and W. F.
Shaffner, bankers of Winston-Salem, and Charles B.
Keesee, a banker in Martinsville, Va. became inter-ested
financially in the corporation, and they together
with Mr. Sargent formed the "big four" stockhold-ers,
after buying out the interests of all other stock-holders,
including the Woodruff brothers. Messrs.
Fries, Shaffner, and Keesee had come to know of the
quarry through dealings, and vacations spent at
White Sulphur Springs, near Mount Airy.
"BIG FOUR" DEVELOP QUARRY
This "big four," sparked by the dynamic Mr. Sar-
KILLED GENERAL, LATER SHARPENED
TOOLS TO CARVE MONUMENT TO HIM
The State of Pennsylvania, during the years after the War
Between the States, decided to erect a monument to its illus-trious
sons, and gave the contract to the owners of the Mount
Airy granite quarry for the stone, the Ionic columns and the
heroic statues of the citizens it was to honor. The material was
produced and the monument was erected at Gettysburg, com-memorating
that famous battle and rising high above the
battleground.
When most of the figures of noted Pennsylvania men had
been completed or were Hearing completion, a resident of
Pennsylvania came to North Carolina on other matters. He
knew of the plans for the monument and visited the quarry
more than once. Taking others to see the work, he pointed
out the various distinguished men represented. He pointed to
one statue, explaining that it was of General Reynolds, of
Pennsylvania, and that he had been killed in the Battle of
Gettysburg.
"I think it is entirely appropriate," spoke up one of his
guests, "for Pennsylvania to have this work done in North
Carolina, in Surry County and here at Mount Airy. For it
was," he continued, "a Surry County and a Mount Airy man
who killed General Reynolds. In fact, the man who killed
General Reynolds is the man who is now and has been for some
years in charge of making and sharpening the tools with which
the statue of General Reynolds was carved."
And, as the man who had shot General Reynolds was pointed
out, as he went about his forge working on tools used in the
quarry, the story was unfolded. It has been picked out of the
blacksmith, who previously had operated a blacksmith shop
near Dobson, by friends who knew something of the incident.
The blacksmith and tool sharpener was so modest that they
had to keep picking and questioning to get him to relate what
happened.
Sharpshooter Frank Wood and Private Cox, it developed,
were in the thick of the fight at Gettysburg. In some way they
became separated from their company and found themselves
in a railroad cut, right in the line of fire. Nearby, they saw
a rail fence and ducked to it for protection. From this cover
they surveyed the scene. A few hundred yards away they saw
on a big horse a man, gold braid on his hat, epauletts on his
shoulders, scabbard and boots with spurs and other accoutre-ments
speaking of high rank. He was standing up in his stir-rups,
waving his sword and shouting to his men.
"Give them hell, boys. Give them the grape. Give them hell.
Give them the grape."
Private Cox asked Sharpshooter Wood if he couldn't pick
that man off at that distance. Wood wasn't sure, but thought
he could. He estimated the distance, raised the sights on his
musket, took deliberate aim, and fired. The man fell from his
horse, dead.
That was General Reynolds and Sharpshooter Wood, back
home and a blacksmith for several years, went with the Mount
Airy granite firm to make and sharpen tools, and produced
the tools with which the statue of General Reynolds was cut
and chiseled and formed. (See picture of Pennsylvania Monu-ment,
page 6)—M. R. D.
(Information supplied by Caleb H. Haynes, Mount Airy,
N. C.)
PAGE 4 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
gent, actually and figuratively, put Mount Airy gran-ite
on the map of most states in the Union. Novel
methods of advertising and publicizing this granite
were promoted by Mr. Sargent and his associates.
By-products of the quarry were utilized and many
new uses for granite from the screening to dimension
blocks were devised and developed.
During this time the "big four" would take into
the firm promising young men, test them, give them
positions of importance and trust, and when they
proved their mettle, allow them to purchase stock,
or, in some cases, give them stock to increase their
interest in the success of the firm.
One of these employees was John Prather Frank,
son of Methodist missionaries to Japan. Mr. Frank
was taught by his parents in Japan. His entire
formal schooling included one year in high school at
Mount Airy, two years at Trinity Park school on the
Trinity College campus, and four years at Duke Uni-versity.
He specialized in business administration.
After finishing college at 20 years of age, Mr. Frank
applied for a job at the quarry, was hired at $15 a
week and paid $20 for his second week. He started
in the drafting room, worked there about eight
months and was transferred to the business office,
doing clerical work.
After four years Mr. Frank was elected assistant
secretary-treasurer of the firm. In 1935 he was pro-moted
to secretary-treasurer, in 1940 to vice-presi-dent,
and in July, 1945, following the death of Mr.
Sargent, was elected president of The North Carolina
Granite Corporation.
Chris Binder was brought into the business in 1916
by Mr. Sargent, who recognized his ability as a cut
stone man. Mr. Binder's experience was gathered
from operations in New England, Pennsylvania, and
Georgia. It was not long before he became Manager
of the Cut Stone Department of the corporation, and
has operated that department successfully for the
BUILDINGS, BRIDGES, MEMORIALS
PRODUCED FROM MT. AIRY GRANITE
Mount Airy granite has been used in the construction of
many nationally known buildings bridges, mausoleums, monu-ments
and memorials throughout the eastern half of the United
States. A listing of some of these and their locations is given
below:
Arlington Memorial Bridge Washington, D. C.
Wright Brothers Memorial Kitty Hawk, N. C.
Department of Justice Building Raleigh, N. C.
Union Trust Building Washington, D. C.
Patterson Monument Dayton, Ohio
Cuneo Mausoleum Chicago, 111.
Dodbe (Brothers) Mausoleum Detroit, Mich.
U. S. Post Office Siler City, N. C.
Rose Hill Mausoleum .. Chicago, 111.
Mississippi River Bridge (85% Complete) Memphis, Tenn.
Delaware River Bridge Philadelphia-Camden, N. J.
State Education Building Raleigh, N. C.
Masonic Monument (part) Acacia Park, Buffalo, N. Y.
Modernistic Mausoleum Fredonia, N. Y.
Ward Hall, U. S. Naval Academy Annapolis, Md.
U. S. Gold Bullion Depository Fort Knox, Ky.
U. S. Post Office Mount Airy, N. C.
Jefferson-Standard Bldg. (1st floor) Greensboro, N. C.
McCourtie Mausoleum Somerset Center, Mich.
Pennsylvania Monument. Gettysburg, Penn.
Cone Mausoleum Greensboro, N. C.
George Rogers Clark Memorial—Pylons Vincennes, Ind.
Guilford County Court House.. .— = „. = Greensboro, N. C.
North Carolina Education Building in Raleigh, housing several
State Departments and agencies. Exterior facing and ap-proaches
cut from white Mount Airy granite.
past 30 years. At the present time he is Vice-Presi-dent
and General Manager of the parent corporation.
Other officers of the corporation, all of whom
"grew up" on the job and acquired stock, in addition
to President Frank and Vice-President Binder, in-clude
: Frank L. Smith, Treasurer ; G. Kellock Hale,
Jr., Secretary; A. Clark Lackey, Chief Draftsman;
and Dallas M. Owens, Chief Estimator.
Meanwhile, as members of the "big four" died,
their interests were taken over in the most part by
other members of their families, although some has
been left in trust for their heirs.
The present Board of Directors, in addition to
President Frank and Vice-President Binder, include
:
W. F. Shaffner, Jr., real estate and insurance man of
Winston-Salem, who with his sister, Mrs. Virginia
Shaffner Pleasants, inherited their father's stock;
Morgan Simmons, chairman of the board at the
American Furniture Co., in Martinsville, Va., and
a former associate of Mr. Sargent at the quarry ; and
Charles E. Norfleet, vice-president of the Wachovia
Bank & Trust Co., in Winston-Salem.
In addition to owning 500 acres of land, including
the 80 acre face of the quarry, this firm also owns
1200 acres of land, embracing valuable granite de-posits,
in Wilkes and Alleghany counties, located in
Famous V. 8. Gold Bullion Depository, Fort Knox, Ky. Ex-terior
walls, machine gun turrets and gate houses cut from
white Mount Airy granite.
VINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 5
North Carolin Justice Building in Raleigh. Exterior facings
and approaches were cut from white Mount Airy granite. It
hotises N. C. Supreme Court, Attorney General, State Bureau
of Investigation, Selective Service, National Guard and other
offices.
the Traphill area of the Elkin-Roaring Gap high-way.
Little activity is carried on at this latter site
at present.
COMPOSITION AND CONDITIONS
"The Rock" at Mount Airy still has the appear-ance
of a monstrous oyster shell, even though prob-ably
50,000,000 cubic feet of granite have been re-moved.
During periods of normal operations about
3,000 carloads are removed each year, yet it is esti-mated
that 500 years of quarrying at that rate will
not exhaust the supply. The granite surface is still
above or even with the surrounding land area—no
underground or below surface operations.
Mount Airy granite is described as a biotite gran-ite
of medium grain, almost white, but with a light
grey appearance. The feldspar, principal constitu-ent,
is white; the quartz is blue-gray and the small
amount of mica is black. All of these parts are even-ly
distributed throughout the entire deposit, result-ing
in a remarkable uniformity.
Tests are interesting. They show that a cubic
foot of this granite weighs 165 pounds; that the
crushing strength per square inch is 23,069 pounds.
They also reveal that the water absorbed by a cubic
Well-knotvn Arlington Memorial Bridge, connecting Arlington
Cemetery and the City of Washington. Bridge and approaches
contain 685 carloads of finished white Mount Airy granite.
foot of this granite is only 0.33 of a pound. This
means that if 165 pounds of this granite were sub-merged
in water, it would absorb less than one-third
of a pound of the water. Its crushing strength and
water resistant qualities are pointed to as particu-larly
desirable in the construction of large buildings
and bridges.
The average person will be surprised at the sim-plicity
of the quarrying processes. Dynamite is
never used for quarrying. Results of its use would
be disastrous. Its force would shatter and crack the
granite, causing flaws in the blocks. Nor is com-pressed
air used in the lifting process, although it is
used extensively in granite quarrying and cutting.
Mother Nature, with her heat expansion in sum-mer
and cold contraction in winter, is a most valu-able
worker at this quarry. Her chief ally and aide
is one of the oldest of explosives, black gunpowder,
and this is used sparingly. The splitting quality of
the granite aids in the quarrying. The grain of the
granite is horizontal and a light force starts a split
which gives a smoother surface than is achieved in
splitting boards. Also, regular and even force ex-erted
through the principle of the wedge gives a
smooth and remarkably even perpendicular split. It
is the same principle used by the ice man who marks
a chunk of ice with his axe, gives a harder stroke and
a smooth, even, 50-pound piece of ice separates itself.
So, when a sheet of granite is needed for large cut
or dimension stone construction, a hole, about 2V->
inches in diameter, is drilled perpendicularly into the
granite four to eight feet deep. A small, very small,
charge of black powder is placed at the bottom of
this hole and exploded. The explosion merely starts
a small horizontal crack in all directions from the
bottom of the hole. A slightly larger charge of pow-der
is exploded, extending this crack or split in the
granite. Another slightly larger charge is exploded,
extending the split still further, but not damaging
the granite. This process is continued until the hori-zontal
split is as large as is needed, or it is left for
HUGE CUT STONES AND FINE GRIT
COME FROM MOUNT AIRY GRANITE
The wide range of sizes and wider range of uses for Mount
Airy granite is shown in the following list:
Cut Stone—Huge blocks, shaped and sculptured, form mauso-leums,
monuments and memorials, columns, heroic figures
and other decorations for buildings.
Dimension Stone—Used in constructing buildings, bridges
and other large structures.
Paving Blocks—Usually 4y2 x5xl0 inches or size desired, and
Street Curbing, usual or unusual sizes.
Flagstones—Made from quarry blisters, from one to five
inches thick, form artistic, rough natural stones for walkways
in gardens, floors of open places and other bases.
Rough Ashlar—Suitable for schools and churches, 6x9x4
inches, and larger, ready for use as it comes from the quarry.
Rubble—Needs shaping, before use in building walls.
Rip-Rap—Odd sizes of quarry refuse, suitable for sea walls,
embankments and aggregates for heavy concrete foundations.
Crushed Stone—Crushed to various sizes. One machine re-duces
granite to 2% inches or down to one inch, screened for
size. Another crusher reduces it further. It is used as road
material and concrete aggregates, 2V2 inches and down; for
roofing gravel, % to % inch; aggregates for making concrete
blocks and lamp posts; station yard and track ballast, 14 inch
and down; poultry grit, in sieye sizes for turkeys and old, young
and baby chicks.
PAGE 6 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
the heat of the sun and the cooler nights, or the cold
of winter to continue the splitting process.
By "soundings" on the surface, that is, tapping the
granite with a hammer, it is possible by the sound
produced to tell how far the split extends in all direc-tions
from the original base of the hole. If it is dis-covered
that the split is not extending in the direc-tions
desired to get the sheet (if four to eight feet
thick granite can be called a sheet) , then a new hole
is drilled further along in that direction to a similar
depth and black powder is exploded to extend the
split already started. This undersurface split can
and sometimes is extended over an area including
several acres. So, it is possible to split off a sheet
four to eight feet thick and acres in area.
PEEL OFF HUGE GRANITE SHEETS
Naturally, such large -sheets cannot be handled.
When the area is sufficient for current needs, holes
are drilled perpendicularly a few inches deep and a
few inches apart. The wedge principle is used to
separate the entire sheet of the blocks. Wedges are
driven into these shallow holes and tightened grad-ually.
Due to the markings made by the drilled
holes, the granite splits perpendicularly almost as
regularly and evenly as it does horizontally. The
heat and cold expansion and contraction also help
this process of cutting the blocks of granite to the
size needed.
Sizes of granite blocks are limited to capacity of
railroad cars. It is possible for cars to carry a max-imum
of 100 tons, although 50 tons is nearer the
usual car. Twelve cubic feet of granite weigh about
a ton. Maximum sizes of blocks are 40 feet by 5 feet
by 5 feet. More usual sizes are 30x4x4 feet.
The Arlington Memorial Bridge, connecting Wash-ington
and Arlington Cemetery over the Potomac
River, is one of the largest masses of Mount Airy
granite. In its construction 685 carloads of granite
were used. The weight of this granite is about
nil^fP1*^ 'IP
iBIIillllli
Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg, Pa., honoring military
leaders in War Between the States, including General Reynolds,
one of the heroic figures. Structure and figures carved from,
xchite Mount Airy granite. (See article, Page 3, headed "Killed
General, Later Sharpened Tools to Carve Monument to Him.")
Quarry Ledge View, showing sheet and blocks of white Mount
Airy granite, with garage, compressor room and blacksmith
shop in background.
30,000 tons. A solid train of freight cars sufficient
to haul the granite used in this bridge would be more
than four miles in length.
The Mississippi River bridge at Memphis, Tenn.,
now under construction and about 85 percent com-plete,
will contain 320 carloads of granite. In this
bridge will be seven granite piers, 100 feet high, 90
feet long and 20 feet wide.
BY-PRODUCTS BECOME IMPORTANT
At the Mount Airy granite quarry there is prac-tically
no loss. The sizes are all used, from the
largest cut stone to the fine grit fed to baby chicks to
help them grind the food they take into their craws.
The range is from cut and dimension stone down
through paving blocks and street curbing, flagstones,
rough ashlar, rubble, rip-rap, crushed stone, gravel
and poultry grit. This poultry grit production is de-velopinging
into one of the firm's important sources
of income. Several carloads are shipped each week,
graded into grit for turkeys, grown chickens, broil-ers,
fryers and for baby chicks. It supplies a needed
product for another growing North Carolina indus-try—
poultry raising. And, large quantities go to all
states east of Colorado.
Full utilization of the granite quarried is due to ex-tensive
study and planning to take advantage of all
sizes of stone and over a long period. Cut stone and
dimension stone form more than two-thirds of the
total sales, yet utilize only slightly more than one-fourth
of the total volume of material. By-products
are just that when attention is directed toward pro-ducing
the main items, but when periods of slack big
business occur, the by-products become the more im-portant
products of the quarry.
In the early 1890s the Cape Fear and Yadkin Val-ley
Railroad was completed from Mount Airy to
Wilmington, thus giving Mount Airy granite an out-let
to other railroads. A spur track surrounds "The
Rock" and passes the cutting and crushing houses.
This railroad, now the Atlantic and Yadkin Railway,
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 7
connects at nearby points with other far-reaching
railroad lines.
Power for operation is supplied by electricity and
by a 175-horsepower engine and two 150 -horsepower
coal burning boilers. Electric cranes, compressors,
granite crushers, locomotives, granite lathes, steam
cranes, diesel shovels, granite saws, sand blast and
other equipment are in operation at the plant. In-dicative
of the value of this equipment is a new
crusher just installed which cost $35,000.
The Mount Airy granite quarry operates with a
normal force of about 400 workers. With veterans
returning for training they are gradually getting
back to that level. Many former G. I.'s are learning
the granite business. And more could be used.
At the peak of operations in 1925-1926 about 800
workers were employed. During the war period and
the later restrictions in building, the industry was
hard hit in its bigger operations, the by-products
saving the day. However, production is gradually
returning to normal, and the granite industry hopes
to get going in a big way in the next few years.
The labor at the quarry is native, efficient and sat-isfied.
Many workers have been on the payroll al-most
since they became old enough to work. In fact,
at "The Rock" may be found grandfathers, fathers
and sons working side by side.
Notable is the cleanliness and neatness observed
at the quarry. Unsuitable parts are cleaned up just
about as soon as they accumulate in the production
of the many by-products of the quarry. The keep-clean
thought is stressed and new workers soon re-
. alize that they are
to keep the place
clean and neat. It
soon becomes regu-lar
routine. That is
why the place al-ways
has the ap-pearance
of just
having been scrub-bed
and swept.
Mount Airy gran-ite
officials are
awaiting the all-clear
signal, when
the immediate needs
of veterans and
others for housing
have been met. Then
conditions are ex-pected
to be so they
can proceed with big
contracts for build-ings
and bridges, as
well as for monu-ments,
memorials,
mausoleums and
other smaller prod-ucts
of the quarry.
Wright Memorial on Kill Devil Hill.
Kitty Haiok, N. C, honoring Orville
and Wilbur WrHght who flew the
first heavier than air plane carrying
the weight of a man from this spot
on December 17, W03. Constructed
of white Mount Airy marble, with
parts of Rowan County granite.
Raleigh, N. C. United States Postoffice. First large building
erected of Rowa?i County gray granite. Cornerstone laid July
If, 1874. Enlarged in 1913-14 and again hi 1937-38, both times
with Roivan County granite.
TALC MINING IS AN IMPORTANT
ACTIVITY IN CHEROKEE COUNTY
Talc mining is developing into an important indus-try
in Cherokee County. Two or three talc mines
have been operated in various sections of the country,
but a rich vein has been struck not far from the town
limits of Murphy and is now being worked extensive-ly.
Large quantities of talc are being mined a short dis-tance
underground by the Hitchcock Corporation,
headed by Francis Bourne, and is being processed in
a plant at the mouth of the mine.
Talcum powder, of course, is the first item thought
of when talc is mentioned—and is an important item
produced by the Cherokee County Plant. The lump
talc is ground into a fine powder and that is talcum
powder, practically the finished product, except for
the addition of perfume.
The Hitchcock Corporation also produces talc pen-cils
which are used in marking all kinds of materials,
especially iron and steel, which have to be subjected
to intense heat. Talc marks, numbers to identify
iron and steel parts, are just as plain after these ma-terials
have been subjected to intense heat as they
were before.
Two types of pencils are made by this plant. Both
are about six inches long. One is a round pencil,
about the size of the usual lead pencil, but composed
entirely of talc. The other is a flat pencil, approxi-mately
the shape of a carpenter's pencil, also com-posed
entirely of talc. The waste talc from trimming
or turning these pencils is suitable for making talcum
powder.
Talc is described as a mineral composed of mag-nesium,
silica and water, and is commonly classed as
hydrous, magnesian silicate. It is soft and has a
greasy or soapy feeling. Talc is related to soapstone,
although talc is classified as a mineral and soapstone
is of the rock family and is composed of talc, chlorite,
and impurities. Like talc, soapstone is soft and has a
greasy or oily feeling.
PAGE 8 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
President James Buchanan Memorial, Meridian Hill Park,
Washington. D. €., Balfour Pink granite from Rowan County.
Balfour Pink Most Noted of Rowan County Granites
By M. R. Dunnagan, Informational Service Representative, ESC
Nearly 200 years ago a settler moved into Rowan
County, North Carolina, and took up his abode.
Within a few years he built a house. Many other
settlers built houses. The difference is that this set-tler
built a house which is still standing, while other
houses have been built and burned or rotted away,
and the settlers rebuilt or moved on.
But this settler, Michael Braun, by name, built a
house of stone, or more accurately, of granite, and
had the foresight to place his name in the stone over
the doorway. That stone, the name and the stone
house are still there, now honored landmark, known
as the "Old Stone House" and visited as a place of
unusual interest by people of many states.
Michael Braun's house, erected in 1766, was made
of neighbohood surface stone, probably chipped and
chiseled into shape and formed into a dwelling by
slave labor Today, as 180 years have passed, it
stands intact, except in spots where the woodwork
has decayed and allowed the stone to shift.
Near the "Old Stone House," the Balfour Pink,
the Carolina Pink, the Shuping and the Dunn Moun-tain
quarries are owned by The Harris Granite Quar-ries
Co., and, since Michael Braun's day, have fur-nished
great quantities of the highest test, most in-destructable
granite to be found on earth for erec-tion
of millions of dollars worth of public buildings,
bridges, mausoleums, monuments, memorials, and in
building highways and streets in many states, and
in foreign countries.
Note—Material used in this article was furnished largely by John E. Ram-sey,
vice-president and general manager of the Harris Granite Quarries Co.,
Salisbury, N. C.
"Old Stone House" four miles out of Salisbury. Erected in 1776
by Micnael Braun of Roivan County granite, near one of the
present famous quarries. Still standing and almost intact, it
is one of the shoto places of the State.
BALFOUR PINK—"GRANITE ETERNAL"
Balfour Pink—the best known of the Rowan
County granites, by U. S. Government tests, is one
of the hardest, toughest and most durable granites
known. It takes a very high polish. It is truly a
"Granite Eternal." The Federal Trade Commission,
desiring "truth" in advertising, questioned the trade
mark "Granite Eternal" under which it was sold.
John Ernest Ramsay, vice-president and general
manager of The Harris Granite Quarries Co., who
has been in charge of quarrying and testing Balfour
Pink Granite, replied as follows : "We use the word
'Eternal' in the same sense as it is found in the Holy
Scripture when it speaks of "The Eternal Hills."
The hills are in many instances based on granite,
their surfaces change, but Balfour Pink Granite,
cooled and formed before the existence of man has
not shown but slight erosion since its formation, and
it is more permanent than 'The Eternal Hills'." The
trade mark "Granite Eternal" continues.
Official tests show that Balfour Pink Granite is
composed of: Silica (quartz) 76.06, Alumina 14.10,
Potash 6.00, Soda 2.01, Iron Oxide 1.20, and traces
of lime manganese and Titanium Oxide, Sulphuric
and Phosphoric Anhydride. Other qualities: Loss
on ignition .12, water absorption .772, crushing
strength 34,860, percent of wear 2.0, hardness 18.7.
Microscopic examination reveals the complete inter-locking
and entwining of its crystals, showing its
dense and compact and homogeneous structure.
The above chemical and physical tests, setting
forth low absorption and dense structure, prove Bal-four
Pink Granite to be eminently suitable for polish-ed,
hammered, honed, stippled and quarry face fin-ishes,
and for use in permanent structures, monu-ments,
mausoleums, public buildings, bridges and
highway construction. Liner blocks for tubular
mills, pebbles for pulverizing and grinding, Durax
and paving blocks for heavy traffic and steep grades
in streets are manufactured from the high test and
durable granite and are receiving a ready sale.
Balfour Pink, "highest test" of the Rowan County
granites takes an unusually high polish, revealing
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY RAGE 9
a slight purplish tint. When carved or lettered, it
has a decided contrast of color, and is extensively
used for memorials and public buildings.
Carolina Pink Granite, when polished is slightly
darker, having a creamy peach-glow tint. It is not
quite as hard as Balfour Pink Granite, and is manu-factured
at a slightly lower cost. The Harris Gran-ite
Quarries Co. also owns Dunn Mountain, Shuping,
Powlas Mountain, and Rowan quarries which are
not in operation—owing to labor shortages.
WENDELL WILLKIE MEMORIAL
Recently a Memorial to Wendell L. Willkie, Can-didate
for President of the United States, has been
cut from Carolina Pink Granite and erected at Rush-ville,
Indiana, and unveiled last fall. A partial list
of Memorials and buildings cut from Rowan County
Granites is given below
:
Field House of the George Washington Bridge,
New York City.
Philadelphia Fidelity Trust Building (base
course) Philadelphia, Pa.
Blackstone Hotel (base course), Chicago, Illinois.
Asheville Senior High School, Asheville, N. C.
U. S. Post Office, Raleigh, N. C.
James Buchanan Memorial, Meridian Hill Park,
Washington, D. C.
Will Rogers Memorial, Claremore, Oklahoma,
Lewis and Clark Memorial, Charlottesville, Va.
Smith Memorial Arch, Andover, Mass.
Pioneer Governor t
Endicott, (pedes-tal),
Boston, Mass.
World War I Me-morial,
Des Moines, y-
Iowa. i \'i
Sophie Loeb Me-morial
Fountain,
Central Park, New
York City.
The turn of the
century brought
many mechanical
inventions and im-provements
in the
methods of quarry-ing
and cutting
granite.
More than forty
years ago, F. W.
Ruckstuhl, French
sculptor of the Con-federate
Monument,
Salisburg, called
upon Mr. Ramsay, a
Salisbury architect
requesting informa-t
i o n concerning
Rowan granites. As Wendell L. Willkie Memorial, 12
the Daughters of the feet Mffhi unveiled in November.
19J/G, at Rushmore, Indiana. Made
Contederacy wanted f Rowan Comity granite.
t&m.
Loading a railroad car with the famous Rowan County granite
at the quarry near Salisbury.
the pedestal of their memorial of "Native Stone,"
Ruckstuhl was taken to the small opening of the Bal-four
Pink Granite Quarry, by Mr. Ramsay, and upon
examination of the granite, was so highly pleased that
he said: "This is one of the most beautiful granites
I have ever seen. If I were you, I would soon be in
the granite business." Mr. Ramsay later became as-sociated
with Mr. George R. Collins who came to
Salisbury from Asheville in the operation of the Bal-four
Quarry. Subsequently, after several years, Mr.
Ramsay became vice-president and general manager
of The Harris Granite Quarries Co., largely owned
and organized by the late Charles J. Harris of Dills-boro,
N. C.
IMPORTANT LOCAL INDUSTRY
The quarries are all open-face pits. The Balfour
Pink quarry now covers more than five acres and in
places is more than one hundred feet deep. All of the
quarries are within a radius of six miles of Salisbury,
N. C. The Cutting Plant is within the city limits of
Salisbury, on the Southern Railway line to Atlanta.
The offices of the company are in the Wallace Build-ing.
Representatives of the companies have travelled
extensively presenting the beauty and qualities of
Rowan County Granites. Many contracts have been
secured, and thousands of dollars have been brought
into the county from the sale of one of nature's de-posits.
During World War II, practically all granite
products were declared to be non-essential, labor
from the quarries left for other industries, and have
not all returned, and the companies are greatly be-hind
in making deliveries. During the War Period,
liners, grinding and pulverizing stone could not be
obtained from over seas. The Harris Granite Quar-ries
Co. erected mills, produced pebbles of various
sizes for grinding and pulverizing, and lines blocks
for lining tubular mills, thereby assisting in the War
effort.
The Harris Granite Quarries Co. has a large plant
located in South Salisbury, equipped with highpow-ered
electric cranes, air compressors, granite saws,
polishers, carbo saws, surfacers, sandblast room,
(Continued on Page 27)
PAGE 10 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
International Demand for Cherokee County Marble
James Chadwick, Assistant Secretary Columbia Marble Company, Marble, N. C.
Marble is one of Cherokee County's valuable raw
materials. The main marble outcroppings are evi-dent
at Hewitts in Swain County near the Nantahala
River and extend almost due south into Cherokee
County approximately twenty-five miles to Valley
River. In the center of this zone, near Marble, the
choice blue and grey marble is quarried. A smaller
marble belt begins at the head of Peachtree Creek
and runs parallel to the above marble nearly ten
miles to Little Brasstown Creek.
Perhaps the first marble quarried in Cherokee
County for a commercial purpose was by the Notla
Marble and Talc Company in 1900. Their quarry
was located five miles southwest of Murphy and was
named Kinsey Quarry. The marble quarried was
good but the only sales made were for flux.
In 1902, the Regal Marble Company was opened
by Captain Brady at Regal, three and one-half miles
northeast of Murphy with B. M. Harben as general
manager. The company had a personnel of thirty
men and this marked the real beginning of the marble
industry as a manufacturing enterprise. The first
operations of this company was quarrying the marble
and sawing it into slabs for shipment.
The next owner of the Regal company was the
Casparis Marble Company. This company began the
fabrication of the marble into monuments.
CHEROKEE COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Raymond Harris was the next manager. It was
under his direction that the stone for the Murphy
courthouse was made. The courthouse, a two story
structure approximately three hundred by two hun-dred
fifty feet, was built in 1926 and 1927 out of
Regal Blue marble. It contains about twenty-five
offices and the courtroom. Four massive blue marble
William Jennings Bryan, "the Great
Commoner," three times candidate
for President. The base is of Ten-nessee
marble, hut the carving was
done at the plant of the Columbia
Marble Co. at Marble, N. C. It con-tains
about 500 cubic feet of Marble.
Cherokee County Courthouse at Murphy, N. C, constructed of
the famous Regal Blue marble quarried in Cherokee County.
The outside front steps are of Mount Airy white granite. The
Murphy General Hospital at Murphy is also constructed of a
conglomerate of Cherokee County marble.
columns support the
roof beneath the
dome. In the dome,
the town clock, an
eleven hundred
pound bell, and a
siren are located.
The entrance to the
courthouse leads in-to
a rotunda fifty
feet high. From the
rotunda, hallways
lead to the various
offices.
During the Regal
operations, three
quarries were open-ed.
They ranged in
depth from one hun-dred
to one hundred
thirty-five feet and
all yielded blue mar-ble.
Business became
dull and J. A. Martin
bought the company
and moved to Mar-ble,
ten miles north-east
of Murphy. His operations were chiefly crush-ed
stone and its products.
The company was then acquired by Hinds and
Adams of New York. They kept it only a short time
and the Columbia Marble Company of which B. F.
Coggins was president purchased it.
In 1931, the company moved one mile east of
Marble and located on the Southern Railway. A
steel finishing plant one hundred fifty feet by two
hundred sixty feet was built. Modern machinery
was installed and two overhead cranes were erected
to facilitate operations. When operations began,
there was approximately forty-five thousand square
feet in the quarry area.
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
The company uses the following process to manu-facture
a monument or slabs for buildings. Four
gang saws divide the blocks into slabs and these are
sent to two diamond saws for further division. Three
rubbing beds are operated to put a smooth finish on
the marble. At this point, the marble begins to take
the shape of monuments or slabs of buildings. After
the smoothing process, it is sent to the cutters
benches where it is cut in various designs by pneu-matic
air hammers and carborundum saws. Two
polishing machines are used to put the silk like gloss
on the marble and to bring out its beautiful texture.
Expert designers then place the designs and letters
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 1 1
on the marble with tools and sandblast equipment.
The memorial is then finished and sent to the ship-ping
department to be crated and shipped.
Columbia Marble Company contributed a large
part to the defense program by selling the steel shed
and two overhead cranes to Hinderliter Tool Com-pany
of Tulsa, Oklahoma in the early part of the war.
They dismantled the building and moved it to Tulsa
where it was reconstructed as a part of a defense
plant. After the steel building was removed, the
company built another finishing plant at the same
location.
In 1945, T. A. McGahey of Columbus, Mississippi
purchased the Columbia Marble Company. At the
present time, he is President-Treasurer. The other
company officials are : T. A. McGahey, Jr., Vice-Presi-dent-
Secretary ; James Chadwick, Assistant-Secre-tary
; and Edward Plesko, General Manager.
The quarries of the Columbia Marble Company
produce two types of marble. They are Regal Blue
and Sterling Grey. These marbles are crystalline in
texture and their main constituent is limestone. They
take a high polish and the absorption of water is low.
The stone is durable and suitable for both monu-mental
and building material. Although practically
all the marble quarried is manufactured into a finish-ed
product, there is some waste or scrap. This is
sold locally to build buildings or sent to paint com-panies
or iron mills for fluxing purposes. Alabama,
Vermont, and Tennessee marble are also bought and
sold by the Columbia Marble Company.
The sales of the Columbia Marble Company have
become almost universal. The marble is sold in all
states, Canada, Hawaii, and in the islands south of
Florida. Sales have consisted of monuments, bank
fronts, mausoleums, soda founts, baptismal bowls,
grave vaults, and interior and exterior marble for
buildings.
MARBLE IN NOTABLE BUILDINGS
Some of the outstanding jobs completed at Co-
Statesville Post Office, lobby view, showing the wainscoating
of Sterling Grey marble and base course of Regal Blue marble
from, the Columbia Marble Go. plant at Marble, N. G.
lumbia Marble Company are parts of the following:
Supreme Court Library in Washington, D. C. ; Mu-nicipal
Utilities Building in Saint Petersburg, Flori-da:
Philip Liberman Synagogue in Miami, Florida;
U. S. Post Office and Courthouse in Statesville, North
Carolina ; Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church in
Saint Petersburg, Florida ; and The Schwob Company
in Columbus, Georgia.
The outstanding monument processed was the
memorial to William Jennings Bryan. This monu-ment
had approximately five hundred cubic feet of
Tennessee marble in it and required about thirty days
to carve. A five-ton crane would not lift one piece of
this monument because of its weight.
The Columbia Marble Company is operating six
days a week and furnishing gainful employment to
about forty-five people. It's officials are looking to-ward
the future with optimism in anticipation of do-ing
a larger and better business in the marble in-dustry.
In December, 1946, it was found by UCC officials
that 62 claimants for unemployment benefits in the
regular UCC program had received benefits in prior
months to which they were not entitled, aggregating
$2,362.00. In 16 cases involving evidence of fraud,
the UCC has or will prosecute the recipients. In the
other cases demand for repayment of the amount in-volved
has been made. Those not refunding the
amount will have it charged against their accounts
and deducted from any benefits they may be due to
receive when and if they file claims for benefits
later.
Quarrying Cherokee County marble at the quarry at Marble,
N. C, showing size of blocks of marble extracted.
Jobs were found for 121,000 unemployed workers,
48,000 of them war veterans, in the year 1946 by the
North Carolina State Employment Service Division
of UCC, operating most of the year as the United
States Employment Service.
"*:
i
' : '. -.
PAGE 12 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
Behind Scene In Locating Stone for Duke University
By Brent S. Drane, Engineer, Construction Division United States Civilian Production Board
Several months ago a chance inquiry by a friend
of mine started me on the task of recapturing the
record of the chain of events which located the stone
from which the new Duke University was built. It
was surprising how disjointed and scattered I found
the links in the record, and, most of all, how inade-quate
was the record of the matter in the files of the
Geological Survey. Now that I have the record in
hand, it seems to me that I ought to take pains to see
that the full account gets into the Survey's public rec-ords
; because it reflects upon the Survey credit in
keeping with its highest traditions.
I am therefore addressing this letter to you for
that purpose. I take the privilege of writing it as a
friendly personal narrative rather than in crabbed,
scientific report style ; but it is, I believe, entirely ac-curate
for all that.
For the background picture I am using John Wilbur
Jenkins' account in his "James B. Duke, Master
Builder." In this matter he gives a trained journal-ist's
straighforward account of events then quite re-cent,
involving people whom he knew and understood.
Mr. Jenkins describes the 1924 establishment of
the Duke Foundation, which transformed Trinity
College into Duke University; Mr. Duke's close per-sonal
concern with every detail of the evolution; his
choice of the architect whose Princeton buildings he
liked. He tells of the apparent impasse when prices
of adjacent land needed for expansion of the old
Trinity Campus climbed to levels which Mr. Duke de-clined
to pay ; of the proposal to buy the large unde-veloped
woodland area which the new Duke Univer-sity
now occupies, and of Mr. Duke's pessimistic dis-belief
that the purchase could be negotiated secretly
enough to prevent another hold-up ; of how Professor
Flowers, the University Treasurer, had to beg to be
NOTE: This article is in the form of a letter from Brent
S. Drane, Washington, D. C, who, at the time of the inci-dents
described in it, was State Director of the old North
Carolina Geological and Economic Survey, to Dr. Jasper L.
Stuekey, then, and now, State Geologist, with the State De-partment
of Conservation and Development, which succeed-ed
the Geological and Economic Survey.
Mr. Drane, formerly of Charlotte, was for some years an
engineer with the Water Resources Division of the National
Planning Board in Washington. Subsequently he served in
the Water Division of War Utilities of the War Production
Board. He is now with the Construction Division of the
Civilian Production Board. He first wrote the letter to
Louis Graves, Chapel Hill publisher. A copy happened to
fall into the hands of our M. R. Dunnagan, who, because of
its historic value, asked Mr. Drane's permission to use it.
Realizing the importance of the information to posterity,
Mr. Drane embraced it in a second letter to Dr. Stuekey, so
it could become a part of the public records of the Mineral
Resources Unit of the Department of Conservation and De-velopment.
Since the original letter was addressed to Mr. Graves, he
was given opportunity to make public the letter to Dr.
Stuekey, which he published in his Chapel Hill Weekly of
January 31, 1947. Mr. Dunnagan was also given permission
to use it in this issue devoted largely to granite, marble and
other stone products in North Carolina.—Henry E. Kendall.
allowed to see what he could do, and of his success
that astonished and delighted Mr. Duke.
He tells how Mr. Duke had test panels built of the
various building stones proposed by his advisers so
that he could see for himself just what each looked
like ; and how, when the general choice fell on a stone
from a distant State which would have cost a fortune
to transport, he called for backing up and starting
all over again with more study of what lay nearer at
hand.
MR. DUKE CALLS FOR STONE
So much for the stage setting. Mr. Duke had told
his employees and Duke faculty collaborators to get
out and find him a new quarry. There is no doubt in
the world but that under those circumstances a new
quarry was going to be found, and a good one; for
there was a great deal of pressure behind the old
gentleman's mild expression of his desires, as I had
HURONIAN SLATE, USED IN DUKE
UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS, DEFINED
By Dr. Jasper L. Stuckey, State Geologist
State Department of Conservation and Development
The Huronian Slate Belt, from which the stone for the
buildings on the west campus of Duke University was ob-tained,
has been of interest for more than one hundred years.
It was first described by Denison Olmstead in 18 25 in a print-ed
report entitled "Report on the Geology of North Carolina
Conducted Under the Board of Agriculture," published by
J. Gale and Son, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In this
report, Olmstead described the "Great Slate Formation" in
Person, Orange, Chatham, Montgomery and other counties.
The slate belt was further described by Ebenezer Emmons
in his "Geology of the Midland Counties of North Carolina,"
published in 18 56. W. C. Kerr, in his "Geology of North
Carolina," published in 1875, added the name "Huronian"
in his description of the slates. Olmstead, Emmons, and
Kerr all considered the rocks of the slate belt to be normal
sediments which had been changed to slate by metamorphism.
G. H. Williams, Professor of Geology in the Johns Hop-kins
University, studied a small area of the slate belt in
Chatham County and published a paper on his work in the
Journal of Geology, Vol. 2, 1894. He described the rocks as
volcanic flows and breccias with finer tuff deposits, all
metamorphosed into slates by dynamic agencies.
The Carolina Slate Belt, as it is known today, embraces
a belt of country which varies in width from eight to fifty
miles and extends in a general northeast-southwesterly di-rection
across the State. Its western boundary is marked
by a line a few miles east of Greensboro, Lexington, and
Charlotte. Its eastern boundary is marked by a line a few
miles west of Durham, Sanford, and Wadesboro.
The rocks of the area, because of the complex character
and well defined cleavage, have been called "slates"; but
the name is misleading and confusing. They consist of vol-canic-
sedimentary formations made up of slates and tuffs
with which are long interbedded bands and lenses of vol-canic
breccia, flows and ash. There are two distinct types
of tuffs, breccias and flows: one is acid and the other a more
basic phase. The acid phase consists of fine and coarse
tuft's, and breccias chiefly of a rhyolitic and dacitic character,
with flows of rhyolite and dacite. In the basic phase the
breccia and flow types are more common than the fine and
coarse tuffs, but the latter are usually present in at least
small amounts. Both phases are more or less stained and
colored by weathering. The acid phase contains gray, red-dish,
and brown colors while much of the basic phase is
greenish in color due to the formation of epidote in it.
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 13
observed in an interesting experience I had once had
with him. The only question now was how to find it
in an atmosphere so over-charged with suspicious
fearfulness and secrecy, a hang-over from the land-price
impasse which had just been escaped.
Your and my connection with the business began,
as I connect up the dates, early in January, 1925,
when I was the new Director of the State Geological
and Economic Survey and you were the new State
Duke University Aik View—Duke University's massive build-ings.
West Campus, erected on a plateau nearly a mile long
and one-third of a mile wide and located about a mile west of
the City of Durham, were constructed of stone taken from a
quarry about 15 miles away, located a few miles west of Hills-boro,
near the Eno River, close to the Southern Railway tracks
and a short distance from the State Highway between Hillsboro
and Efland.
The stone is classified as Huronian slate, similar to a stone
found near Lake Huron. In the quarry, owned by Duke Univer-sity,
were found all of the seven primary colors and seventeen
different shades of these colors, making it particularly suitable
and beautiful for development of a great university plant. The
quarry is said to contain enough desirable stone to erect an-other
group of buildings as large as those which make up the
main part of Duke University.
To the left is the Duke Chapel. To the rear right is the front
of Duke Hospital. The Duke Stadium, not shown, is to the
lower left.
Geologist. I was on an evening train for Greensboro,
just past Durham, when I was joined by a Charlotte
friend, member of the construction company which
was doing Mr. Duke's experimental work in Durham.
After a little he got me to go with him to his seat to
look at some stone specimens he had in his bag.
With extravagant caution against being seen or over-heard,
he showed me several pieces of lustrous black
hornblende gneiss, and asked me if I knew where it
could be found in quantity. I thought that I did and
proposed to verify my ideas and write to him. He
knew that I knew enough of Mr. Duke's plans and of
his own connection with the sample panels of mason-ry
on Trinity Campus to make his present interest
no mystery to me. Upon undertaking to keep our
talk confidential, he told me in some detail of the
Princeton buildings that Mr. Duke had picked as his
prototype. In conclusion I advised him to consult
with you, the State Geologist.
DR. STUCKEY IS CONSULTED
Promptly after this the Business Manager of the
new Duke University came into the picture, a Pro-fessor
of English whose keenness in practical matters
PAGE 14 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
had brought him to the front in Trinity College's
business management. He called at the Geological
Survey offices in Raleigh and was promptly turned
over to you. Happily, you were extraordinarily well
prepared for just such a consultation. Back in 1920
at Dr. Pratt's suggestion you had made a collection
of more than a hundred specimens representing the
range of building stones found in North Carolina,
and the collection was still intact at the Survey's old
quarters at Chapel Hill. After a general discussion
with him, you made an appointment to meet him
later in Chapel Hill to show him the specimens and
give him more information based upon them.
Very shortly after that you had a visit in Raleigh
from my contractor friend. He told you of our
earlier discussion on the train, showed you what
doubtless were the same specimens of hornblende
gneiss he had shown me, and gave you to understand
that they represented a type of stone sought in con-nection
with the Duke University building program.
Your knowledge of the occurrence of this stone in
western North Carolina was of course much more
definite than mine had been ; and you gave him what
information you could about its occurences nearest to
Durham.
Several days later you got a letter from him and a
small package containing several other specimens of
stone ; the letter stated that these, rather than those
he had shown you on his visit were of the type par-ticularly
wanted for the Duke buildings. You brought
the new specimens to me for examination, and we
discussed them in some detail. We both recognized
the mailed-in samples as similar to material used for
flagstone in Chapel Hill ; and we recalled that it was
quarried somewhere near Hillsboro. As a result of
our discussion we agreed that you ought to learn all
you could about the Hillsboro sources before meeting
the Duke Business Manager, Professor Brown, at
Chapel Hill.
LOUIS GRAVES' FLAGSTONES
Here is where some of my close personal friends
become active helpers. I recalled particularly the
flagstones Louis Graves had at his home in Chapel
Duke Hospital—Showing entrances to lobby and clinic.
Hill ; I had noticed them and asked him about them.
I consequently wrote from the Survey Office in Ral-eigh
on January 15, 1925, to my friend Cheshire
Webb, an active and public-spirited business man in
Hillsboro.
''I am very much interested to know where the old
stone flagging used around Hillsboro came from. I
recall that Louie Graves sent to Hillsboro for flags
to put in his yard. Won't you try to get all the dope
you can to me from the old residenters?"
Mr. Webb replied at once that he knew the quarry
from which the flagstone had come; and that he
would be glad to show it to me or to anyone I might
send to him. That one was, of course, yourself. On
the morning of the day set for your afternoon ap-pointment
with the Duke Business Manager, Mr.
Brown, in Chapel Hill, you went first to Hillsboro and
got in touch with Mr. Webb. He took you out to the
old quarry, and there you collected a number of speci-mens.
That afternoon after reviewing with Mr. Brown
your collection in the old Survey Offices in Chapel
Hill, you showed him your Hillsboro specimens. He
professed to be somewhat critical of them, but he
could not entirely conceal an eager interest; and he
asked permission to take several of the specimens
with him. Bright and early the next morning he wag
in Hillsboro, calling on Mr. Webb.
That ends the story of the finding; but Mr. Webb's
concern in the matter, which was of major import-ance,
continued. At Mr. Brown's request he obtained
a purchase-option on the quarry-farm. I have a letter
which Mr. Brown wrote him dated "24 January,"
cautioning him ; "Please be sure to have the man's
wife sign it ; otherwise it is not of much value ... As
soon as the option is signed I shall be grateful if you
will notify me that we may make an examination of
the quarry."
CHESHIRE WEBB HANDLES DEAL
Two options are recorded in the Hillsboro Court
House, both signed January 31, 1925, and filed for
registration February 3. One was a 60-day option
on the right to acquire for $595 in cash, the right to
mine and remove the rock and stone from the land,
except an 8-acre tract immediately surrounding the
dwelling house. The other was an option on the right
to buy the 72-acre farm outright for $4,000. I have
a letter which the University Treasurer, Professor
Flowers, wrote to Mr. Webb on March 26, 1925. The
options were about to expire, and Mr. Webb had evi-dently
told him that if the University did not want
the property he intended to buy it. The letter states
that Professor Flowers wishes "to confirm the state-ment
made on the telephone last evening" ; that if
Mr. Webb will relinquish the options to him he will
undertake to endorse them back to him if they are
not exercised before the date of their expiration ; and
if the options are exercised and the stone then found
not suitable for the University's purpose, he will give
Mr. Webb the opportunity to acquire the rights under
the options at the same price they cost. "I appreciate
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 15
very highly the help you have rendered us," he said.
I have also a letter from Mr. Brown to Mr. Webb
rather elaborately stating his appreciation for his
"fine and unselfish spirit in being so willing to do
such a service for the institution." On March 31,
1925, the land was bought under the purchase option
by a Durham real estate agent acting for Duke Uni-versity,
and he gave deed to Duke University on
April 24 following.
Your records show that you made five subsequent
trips to the property with Mr. Brown. In the course
of the investigation the latter got the State Highway
Commission to make some tests of the Hillsboro
stone, with the arrangement that you should write
the interpretation of the tests. Later on, Professor
Flowers arranged for tests and a report by the United
States Bureau of Standards at Washington, and he
sent you a copy of that report. It pleased you to find
that you had been more conservative in your inter-pretation
of the Highway Commission tests than was
the interpretation of its own tests by the Bureau of
Standards.
Its soundness having been proven by tests, the
great value of that particular body of stone lay in its
nearness to the Hillsboro-Durham railroad. It cost
relatively little to build a short spur-track into the
quarry, so that quarried stone coud be mechanically
loaded at very low cost directly into a railroad car
and cheaply transported to the very site of the build-ing
for which it was destined. The perfect combina-tion
of high quality, easy accessibility, and low-cost
transportation—to say nothing of its low purchase-cost,
all made that particular quarry the kind of a
find that delights a construction man's heart ; and at
heart Mr. Duke was a construction man. This was
exactly what he had told his people to get out and
find.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY HELP RECORDED
But the way in which it was found has, I think not
heretofore been recorded so as to give proper credit
to the Geological Survey. The well-established tradi-tion
that a business-like Professor did the finding
has exalted a middle-man. to the complete obscura-tion
of how the desired stone actually came to be
found in this particular outcrop. It was inconspicu-ous,
little known, not actively worked as a quarry, and
the chance was infinitesimal that it ever could have
been thought of as a site for a larger quarrying oper-ation.
But the Duke University Business Manager
had more luck than anyone could have had any right
to expect when he followed the logical course and
consulted the State Geologist. That State Official
happened to have been particularly prepared for this
very job by his eminent predecessor, Dr. Joseph Hyde
Pratt. But beyond and entirely apart from that,
"The long arm of coincidence" must be given a large
share of the credit ; in the circumstance that I hap-pened
at the time to be Director of the State Geolog-ical
and Economic Survey, that Louis Graves and his
flagstones in Chapel Hill were my good friends, and
that Cheshire Webb in Hillsboro was a good and loyal
ally of mine, ready and zealous to help bring to a
handsome conclusion a matter of the old Geological
Survey's business in which I had asked his friendly
help.
UNEMPLOYMENT DECREASES:
AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES
SHOW AN INCREASE
Industry in North Carolina is making a strong
effort, and with a marked degree of success, to over-come
the natural and man-made handicaps that grew
out of the World War II crisis, as indicated by the
increase of workers in covered employment.
In a compilation prepared by S. F. Campbell, of
the Bureau of Research and Statistics, it is revealed
that covered employment in North Carolina in the
second quarter of 1946 was only 8.7 percent below
the highest level reached during the all-time high
period in the early war year of 1942, when 591,391
workers were in covered employment.
During 1942 war camp construction was at its
height and Selective Service withdrawals had not
reached their peak. In one quarter of that year
covered employment exceeded 600,000. Selective
Service withdrawals, demand for workers in war
industries in other states and halting construction
work generally reduced the covered labor force in
the State to 509,352 workers in July, 1945, the
lowest point reached. From that date employment
began to increase, despite the lay-off of about 70,000
war workers in August, 1945 ; by September 527,527
were employed and by December 539,180 covered
workers were employed.
Also, during this period, wages were showing a
steady increase, an increase of 30.9 percent from
$23.75 average weekly wage in 1942 to $31.10 in
1945. From an average weekly wage of $17.44 in
1940, the increase was 78.3 percent by 1945.
By comparing the wage increases in North Caro-lina
with those of the nation, Mr. Campbell points
out that the State still has nothing to boast about.
Whereas, he finds, the average weekly wage of wage
earners or production workers is still below the
national level, the average salaries of corporate
officials and administrative personnel are lower still
when compared with the national level.
Indications are that a small drop may be seen in
average weekly wages of covered workers in 1946,
as compared with 1945, due to the discontinuance of
war-time shipbuilding, ordnance and electrical ap-paratus.
Skilled workers in these industries are not
being replaced by activities which require labor of
comparable skill and earning capacity.
Unemployed workers in North Carolina had been
paid through March, 1947, a total of $32,059,842.20
from January 1938, when benefits were first paid
under the Employment Security program. Liable
employers had paid $147,227,679.30 in contributions
into the fund, which, deposit in the U. S. Treasury,
had earned $9,810,204.10 in interest. This gives
total receipts of $157,037,883.40, and a balance on
March 31 of $124,979,041.20.
PAGE 16 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
State's Limitless Store of Non-Metallic Minerals
By T. G. Murdock, Assistant State Geologist North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development
GENERAL FEATURES OF THE GEOLOGY
It would be expected that the first state to have
sponsored geologic research and to have had a formal-ly
organized geological survey since 1852 would be
an important producer of a wide variety of rock
products. Although a generous nature has endowed
North Carolina with over 300 different minerals and
many kinds of rocks, the deposits of metals and min-eral
fuels are small in comparison with other states.
This situation has led to the development of the in-dustrial
rocks and minerals—the less spectacular
non-metallics.
The Mineral Resources Division of the North Caro-lina
Department of Conservation and Development is
actively engaged in a broad program of geologic re-search
under the direction of Dr. Jasper L. Stuckey,
State Geologist. Since 1936 the total value of the
State's mineral production has more than doubled,
and in 1944 established an all-time record.
North Carolina has a total length from east to west
of 503 miles and lies across three geological prov-inces
: The Coastal Plain, Piedmont Plateau, and the
Appalachian Mountains. The rocks and minerals
and their geologic relations in each province are dis-tinctive.
Stratigraphically the rock formations
range from ancient pre-Cambrian crystallines of the
Mountain Province to coastal and estuarine sands
and gravels of Quaternary age, constituting the most
easterly formations. Thus the State's mineral re-sources
have been formed by various processes and
at many different times, in rocks ranging in age from
half a billion years to a few thousand. The structure
of the rock units in some parts of the State is simple
and in others very complex.
The Coastal Plain extends from the Atlantic Ocean
on the east to the Piedmont Plateau on the west. Its
area is about two-fifths of that of the State, exceed-ing
21,000 square miles and embracing wholly, or in
part, 42 of the 100 counties. It is underlain by rela-tively
young, loosely consolidated sediments that dip
gently towards the ocean. The most important
known mineral resources of the Coastal Plain are ce-ment
materials, clay, greensand, phosphate rock,
sand and gravel, shell limestone, shell marl, and peat.
The Tuscaloosa formation is the earliest of the
Cretaceous sediments in North Carolina and rests on
the eroded edges of the basement rocks. This forma-
NOTE—This article was written by Mr. Murdock for
"Rock Products," published monthly by the MacLean-Hunter
Publishing Corporation, 309 West Jackson Boulevard, Chi-cago
6, Illinois, and appeared in the January issue. It is
copyrighted by the publishers and is used here by permission
of Mr. Bror Nordberg, editor.
In the first section of the article Mr. Murdock gives a
learned and technical account of the rock formations and
their origins in North Carolina. In the second and third
sections he discusses the commercial and industrial uses of
the various non-metallic minerals of the State.
tion is essentially a mixture of sands and clays, light
gray or greenish-gray in color, though locally stained
by iron. The Black Creek sands and clays and the
Pee Dee sands are representative formations of the
upper Cretaceous. An ideal section of the overlying
Tertiary sediments shows that the Eocene is repre-sented
by the Castle Hayne marls and shell rock ; the
Miocene by the Trent, St. Mary's, Duplin, and York-town
formations; and, the Pliocene by the Wacca-maw
and so-called "Lafayette."
"CAROLINA SLATE BELT"
The central hill country, known as the Piedmont
Plateau, attains a greater width in North Carolina
than in the states to the north, and is also far more
rugged. The western margin of this Plateau has an
altitude of 1200-1500 feet above sea level. At places
precipitious spurs of the Blue Ridge Mountains pro-ject
eastward and southeastward across the Pied-mont
section in irregular, straggling ranges. The
area of this region is about 22,000 square miles ; its
altitude descends gradually from 1500 to about 300
feet, with an average close to 1000 feet.
The Piedmont Plateau is largely underlain by very
old, highly deformed crystalline rocks with smaller
amounts of well consolidated, gently folding sedi-ments.
Mesozoic sediments, mainly shales and sand-stones,
are represented by two areas of Triassic
strata: The Dan River area of Stokes and Rocking-ham
counties, and the larger Deep River area, com-prising
the belt of central and south central counties
from Granville to Montgomery. Algonkian rocks
cover a large portion of the middle and lower Pied-mont
Plateau—the area known as the "Carolina
Slate Belt"—and consist of a great series of schistose
volcanics and slates. This series is composed of ash
and tuff of rhyolitic and andesitic compositition,
flows of rhyolite and andesite, and beds of shale, all
of which have been metamorphosed into schistose
and slate-like rocks.
"CAROLINA IGNEOUS BELT"
The "Carolina Igneous Belt," composed principally
of Carboniferous granite, occupies a nearly central
position in the Piedmont Plateau and extends in a
northeast-southwest direction from South Carolina
on the south nearly to Virginia on the north. The
width is 15-50 miles and it is traversed for most of its
length by the main line of the Southern Railway. In
addition to granite, this area is composed of diorite
and there are numerous dikes of diabase and other
basic igneous rocks which penetrate the older rock.
The rocks of the western Piedmont are mainly of
the pre-Cambrian Carolina gneiss formation, whose
original nature is in doubt but it probably consisted
of igneous and sedimentary rocks. The Carolina
gneiss consists of a great series of interbedded
gneisses and schists, chiefly composed of quartz,
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 1 7
varying amounts of acid feldspar and either musco-vite
or biotite or both. At times either garnet or
kyanite may be dominant minerals in the gneiss or
schist. The rocks are light or dark gray, and have
a fine grain, marked schistosity and, except for the
larger crystals of kyanite and garnet, an even tex-ture.
The Cambrian metamorphosed sediments form
scattered belts and irregular areas in the upper Pied-mont
Plateau and Mountain sections of the State. In
their present condition these formations are largely
schist, slate, and quartzite. The most important
known industrial mineral deposits of the Piedmont
Plateau are barite, clay and shale, granite and gneiss,
kyanite, kaolin, limestone, marble, mica, monazite,
pyrophyllite, quartz, sandstone, sillimanite, slate,
soapstone, spodumene, and trap rock.
The Mountain region of North Carolina includes
the Blue Ridge, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the
country between, which is occupied by numerous ir-regular
ranges, often separated by narrow valleys
and deep gorges. The average altitude of this re-gion
is about 2700 feet above sea level but the sum-mits
of many ridges exceed 5000 feet, and a consid-erable
number of peaks tower above 6000 feet. Over
the larger part of this region are to be found the
older crystalline rocks, largely gneisses and granites,
which are continuous with those of the western part
of the Piedmont Plateau, and, like these, are con-sidered
of pre-Cambrian age. These rocks are often
greatly folded and faulted and extreme metamor-phism
has frequently obscured or completely obliter-ated
all traces of their original character. On the
western and eastern borders of this mountain region,
approximately along the line of the Blue Ridge and
Great Smokies, are two narrow belts of younger
rocks consisting of limestones, sandstones, shales,
and conglomerates, and their metamorphic equiva-lents,
crystalline limestones, slates, and quartzites.
ANCIENT ROCK FORMATIONS
The Mountain and Piedmont regions of North Car-olina
are but a portion of the great belt of crystalline
rocks that is coextensive with the Appalachian Moun-tain
system. On account of their complex structure,
and highly crystalline character, these rocks are
generally considered to be of Archaen age. The prin-cipal
constituent of this system is banded gneiss,
which includes many masses of granitic and other
distinctly igneous rocks, and which often, through
higher development of lamination, passes into mica
schists and amphibole-schists.
The gneisses have been usually considered, in part,
sedimentary rocks that have lost most of their orig-inal
characteristics in the great earth movements and
other metamorphosing agencies to which they have
been subjected. Some of them are undoubtedly gran-ites,
diorites, and other igneous rocks that have been
sheared or squeezed by the same agencies, and tran-sitions
from the massive to the laminated forms are
common.
£
(a
s_
•"> „o
o _i
5- <D
QC g. 2 _s
1- <n Co Of
(A 2 ro '<5
Q LL £;
(0
UJ <j" o OS
UJ Z o 1_
Q zo
UJ UJ a.2
UJ
r-
Z
<
_l
CD
UJ c
o - 4«
UJ
UJ
2 < £4 O
-i _j O £ <n
$<®$
Map of North Carolina Showing Diversity of Stone Deposits
Map courtesy "Rock Products," MacLean-Hunter Pub. Corp., Chicago.
PAGE 18 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
The different formations of the Mountain region
have furnished suitable materials for construction
and have in some cases been the host rock for eco-nomic
mineralization, both metallic and non-metallic.
However the pegmatites and peridotites have been
the source of the major mineral development.
Pegmatites are quite widespread throughout the
Mountain region and even in some parts of the Pied-mont
Pleateau. These rocks are closely allied to
granite in composition and are commonly regarded
as emanations from granitic magmas that have solidi-fied
in dikelike bodies in the enclosed rocks. As in
granite the essential constituents are feldspar and
quartz, with more or less mica and other accessory
minerals. The feldspar occurs in masses and rough
crystals, some of them with a diameter of several
feet. These rocks vary considerably in form, some
being typically lenticular in shape and others more
or less persistent in length. The lens-shaped bodies
are generally conformable with the schistosity of the
enclosing rock. They may lie in the same line of bed-ding
or schistosity and be connected by smaller
streaks or stringers of pegmatite, or by mere seams
in the rock. Many of them, on the other hand, lie in
planes of schistosity more or less separated from one
another and form parallel or overlapping bodies.
MICA AND FELDSPAR SOURCES
Although pegmatites may be one mile or more long
and 100 to 300 feet wide, they may be streaks a few
feet, or even inches in length and width. Notwith-standing
their deep-seated origin, they may pinch out
in depth as well as laterally. The pegmatites have
been extensively exploited and have been the source
of the commercial mica and feldspar production of
the State. Some of the quartz from pegmatites has
been marketed and small amounts of beryl and co-lumbite
recovered as by-products. At least 44 differ-ent
minerals have been reported from the pegmatites
of the Spruce Pine District.
In addition to the typical occurrence of pegmatites
a coarse-grained pegmatitic granite crops out over
rather extensive areas in Mitchell, Avery, and Yan-cey
counties. This material has been denominated
"alaskite" and consists essentially of oligoclase,
quartz, microcline, and muscovite, in order of abund-ance.
Unlike pegmatites, in which irregular mineral
distribution is the rule, the alaskite has a relatively
uniform mineral composition and grain size. The
alaskite was originally intruded as a magma into mica
schist and biotite-hornblende gneiss ; these intrusions
were later affected by much folding and faulting, and
they now crop out in large irregular bodies. Upon
weathering and decomposition the alaskite yields a
kaolinized product, about 10 to 15 percent of which
is recoverable as the residual china clay of the cera-mic
trade.
STATE LEADER IN KAOLIN
For about 50 years North Carolina has been a lead-ing
producer of this commodity, which when refined
has an alumina content of 37-38 percent and consti-tutes
a potential low-grade source of aluminum. In
some places workable kaolin has been found to depths
of 100 feet ; in others the proportion of hard feldspar
is too great for profitable operation, even near the
surface. A later development has been the process-ing
of the unkaolinized alaskite and the recovery of
the feldspar by flotation.
Most of the peridotites and related magnesian
rocks in western North Carolina are confined to the
belt of gneisses and schists that lies chiefly west of
the Blue Ridge, and are arranged generally in a some-what
well-defined belt or belts within these gneisses.
These peridotites are intruded into the central part of
a great geanticline and many of these intrusives are
thought to have been a part of a volcanic system once
active in pre-Cambrian times. Many of the perido-tites
are of the dunite and saxonite type and contain
essentially pure olivine with smaller amounts of as-sociated
primary minerals. Some formations and
parts of others have undergone serpentinization.
However there are at least 25 deposits which are re-markably
sound and in North Carolina and adjacent
parts of Georgia there are at least 230,000,000 tons
of high-grade forsterite olivine, averaging 48.09 per-cent
magnesia. The earliest development of the
peridotites was for corundum and nickel silicates
;
later associated talc, chromite, and anthophyllite as-bestos
were produced ; and still more recently a ver-miculite
industry has been developed to exploit this
very unique group of minerals. For the past decade
there has been a small but increasing production of
olivine, for the refractory trade and for making mag-nesium
salts. Olivine is also regarded by many as a
future ore of magnesium metal.
II.—COMMERCIAL ROCK DEPOSITS
Granite and allied rocks have, for many years, been
a chief mineral asset of North Carolina. The State
ranks first in quality and second in quantity only to
Georgia in the southeastern states. Quarries have
been successfully developed from a location in the
Coastal Plain near Wilson throughout the Piedmont
Plateau and into the Appalachian Mountain region
as far west as Hendersonville. "Balfour Pink" from
Rowan County and "Mount Airy granite" from Surry
County are names that have already become well
established in the trade and are accepted as a guar-antee
of high-grade monumental and building stone.
The workable granites of the Coastal Plain region
are exposed in Anson and Richmond Counties along
the South Carolina line, and in Wilson, Edgecombe,
and Nash Counties to the east of Raleigh. The gran-ites
are essentially biotite granites and they show a
considerable range in variation of color and texture,
from light gray to pink with a very pleasing mixed
yellowish and pink appearance in places.
Within the northeastern Carolina Granite Belt,
comprising Wake, Franklin, Warren, Vance, and
Granville Counties, extensive workable areas of dif-ferent
grades of granite are found, suited for all
grades of work in which granite is used, except for
the better grades of monumental stock. Although
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 19
production has been reported from numerous locali-ties
in this belt the principal quarries are at Roles-ville
and Wendell in Wake County and at Greystone
in Vance County.
GRANITE IN TEN COUNTIES
The Carolina Igneous Belt comprises the main
granite belt of the State. Extensive areas of granite
are exposed more or less in each of the 10 counties
included within the belt and, in each county some
stone has been quarried from time to time, usually to
satisfy local demands. The principal development is
to the east and south of Salisbury where the earliest
quarrying was many years before the Civil War. The
Balfour stone is produced in the Salisbury area. Im-portant
quarries for the production of crushed stone
have been operated in the Greensboro, Burlington,
Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Reidsville, and Salisbury
areas.
Massive granites are less abundantly distributed
over the western Piedmont gneiss and granite belt
than over some other parts of the State. The princi-pal
development within the belt has been in Surry,
Wilkes, Alleghany, and Alexander Counties. The
granites of the belt are all-biotite bearing, usually of
light color and of medium texture. The most import-ant
commercial granite deposit in this belt, or even
in the South, occurs in the northeastern section of
Surry County, near Mt. Airy. The famous "Mount
Airy granite" is noted for its beautiful white color.
It is composed essentially of quartz and feldspar with
a very small amount of mica, zircon, epidote, and very
little iron oxide. The minerals are so arranged that
a very uniform color is to be had throughout the en-tire
deposit.
The Appalachian Mountain granite area includes
several of the mountain counties which lie between
the Piedmont area and the Tennessee line. However,
only three, Buncombe, Henderson, and McDowell,
have shown a production during recent years.
STATE CAPITOL OF GNEISS
Gneiss made an important entry into construction
in North Carolina more than one hundred years ago
when the State Capitol was built of this type of rock
which was quarried just east of Raleigh. In recent
years there has been renewed interest in this rock
throughout the State.
Limestone, marble, and marl, although not present
in unlimited amounts, are important mineral re-sources.
More than one hundred years ago farmers
in the eastern section were using marl as a fertilizer.
During the recent military construction in that re-gion
shell limestone was produced on a large scale
from the Maysville-Belgrade area and from Warsaw.
The marls and shell limestones of the New Bern area
constitute a source of raw material for cement manu-facture
and it is possible that such a utilization will
eventually result. The crystalline limestones and
marbles of the western part of the State have found
a ready utilization. During recent years quarries
have been operated in the vicinity of Kings Mountain,
Yadkinville, Newton, Fletcher, Marion, Ashford,
Nantahala, and Hot Springs. A dolomitic phase is
recognizable in several of the limestones exploited,
and a pure dolomite deposit is found in Mitchell
County. Marble has been quarried in Cherokee
County for more than 35 years. There are import-ant
reserves of marble in this County—especially a
dark blue or black variety known as Regal Blue which
is very desirable as a monumental and ornamental
stone.
The exploitation of the sandstones in the State is
limited wholly to the Triassic beds. These rocks are
geologically and lithologically equivalent to the cele-brated
brownstones in states further north. Al-though
these stones have in the past been used lo-cally
in Anson, Moore, Chatham, Orange, Wake, and
Durham Counties successful quarry development
has been retarded by the abundant jointing of the
beds and a lack of uniformity in color. During re-cent
years a small amount of sandstone and quartzite
has been used for crushed stone.
MONUMENTAL-ORNAMENTAL STONE
The granites of North Carolina, in addition to a
wide utilization as a monumental and ornamental
stone, have been used in the past as paving stones
and blocks. The wider use of concrete and asphalt
has led to a decreased use for these purposes and a
greater use as crushed stone. Granite millstones,
from the Salisbury area, were formerly an important
product, but these too are now produced on a very
small scale. During the war period when imported
grinding pebbles and mill liners were not available,
the Salisbury granites were successfully used, the
pebbles being formed by tumbling cubes of granite.
A poultry grit by-product is made from the Mount
Airy granite and has found wide acceptance. The
stone industry is an important industry in North
Carolina. The average annual production of all
crushed stone in the State, for the period of 1935-44,
inclusive, was 3,648,315 short tons valued at $4,-
577,137. The total value of the crushed stone pro-duction
during 1944 was $5,349,378, a figure which
was exceeded only slightly by that of the leading
state—Pennsylvania.
Clay for the production of brick, building tile, and
sewer pipe comes from two sources in North Caro-lina.
For many years the entire production came
from the sedimentary clays of the Coastal Plain and
from flood-plain clays along streams. Today import-ant
amounts of clay products are being made from
clays found near or on the flood-plains of the Roanoke,
the Tar, the Neuse, and the Cape Fear rivers of the
Coastal Plain and from flood-plain clays of the Yad-kin,
Catawba, and French Broad Rivers and their
tributaries in the Piedmont Plateau and Mountain
sections of the State. During the past 25 years the
clay shales of the State have become of importance
for the production of structural clay products. Im-portant
plants using Triassic shales are located near
Sanford and Durham in the Deep River area and near
Pine Hall in the Dan River area. A large plant near
PAGE 20 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
Greensboro uses shales from both the Deep River and
Dan River areas. Plants near Monroe, Norwood, Mt.
Gilead, Denton, and New London use the pre-Cam-brian
shales. The Cambrian shales are processed in
a plant near Brevard. Structural clay products con-stitute
the State's third mineral resource in value.
MICA MINING STARTED EARLY
Mica in North Carolina antedates historical rec-ords.
Stone implements unearthed in old deposits
show that, older even than Indian tradition, a race of
men valued and mined for mica. Since 1903 North
Carolina has supplied more than one-half of the total
mica production of the United States. During World
War II over 1500 mines and prospects produced stra-tegic
grades of mica and in 1943 the production of
sheet mica amounted to 1,901,120 pounds valued at
$1,772,324. The mica belt covers twenty counties in
western North Carolina and extends northeast and
southwest across the State, reaching an extreme
width of 100 miles. The most important mica pro-ducing
counties are Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke,
Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Jackson, Lin-coln,
Macon, Stokes, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes,
Yadkin, and Yancey. The State is also the leading
producer of scrap mica which is ground by wet or dry
process. Plants are in operation near Spruce Pines,
Franklin, and Asheville. In addition to a production
of ground mica from the scrap obtained by processing
sheet mica and mined for scrap some mica schist is
ground and the mica is recovered from kaolin-refin-ing
operations.
The first feldspar was shipped from North Carolina
in 1911. By 1915 the State had become an important
producer and has furnished approximately half of all
the feldspar mined in the United States since then.
The production has been from pegmatite dikes widely
distributed throughout the upper Piedmont Plateau
and Mountain sections of the State. Production at
present comes chiefly from Mitchell, Yancey, Avery,
and Swain Counties. Grinding plants are located in
the Spruce Pine district, and near Burnsville and
Dillsboro.
KAOLIN, QUARTZ, TALC PLENTIFUL
North Carolina has for many years been the lead-ing
State in the production of true, non-plastic, resi-dual
kaolin. Approximately 100 deposits, mines and
prospects have been described at one time or other
throughout the Piedmont Plateau and Mountain sec-tions.
Some of the deposits have been formed
through the kaolinization of the feldspar of pegma-tite
dikes, however the bodies of kaolinized "alaskite"
granite are the source of the present production
which is from Mitchell, Avery, and Yancey Counties,
an area where five refining plants are in operation.
Halloysite, another clay mineral, is being produced
from near Alexander, Buncombe County.
Quartz occurs in veins of varying size at numer-ous
localities in the Piedmont Plateau and Mountain
section and also in pegmatite dikes in these regions.
Small amounts of quartz were at one time mined in
the Piedmont region and ground at Charlotte. Some
quartz is also recovered as a by-product in feldspar
mining and from sand and gravel washing operations.
Talc is found associated with the Murphy marbles
as lenses and irregular bodies in Cherokee and Swain
Counties. A recent intensive exploration campaign
has led to the opening up of two new mines and a re-vival
of operations at others. A high-grade material
is produced which can be utilized for the various re-quirements
of the market. Talc also occurs at many
places in western North Carolina in association with
the peridotites ; Madison County has been the prin-cipal
producer of this kind of talc.
North Carolina is the chief producer of pyrophyl-lite
in the United States. This talc-like mineral
which contains aluminum instead of magnesium has
been known to occur in Moore County since 1850 ; as
a result of detailed geologigal investigation of the
deposits, an important industry has been developed
with mines in Moore, Randolph, and Alamance
Counties. The pyrophyllite occurs chiefly in acid
tuffs of the "Carolina Slate Belt." The 1943 produc-tion
was valued at approximately $500,000.
OLIVINE AND MONAZITE ABOUND
Olivine production has been chiefly from Jackson
and Yancey Counties. Although vermiculite deposits
are known from Clay County northeastward to Avery
County, the main development has been around Elli-jay,
Macon County, and Swannonoa, Buncombe
County. There is an important production of antho-phyllite
asbestos in Yancey County and Avery County
has likewise been active in this field.
Monazite was formerly produced from placer de-posits,
particularly in Burke, Cleveland, and Ruther-ford
Counties. Barite mining operations have been
carried out near Kings Mountain and in Madison
County. More recently spodumene-bearing pegma-tites
have been mined and milled near Kings Moun-tain.
For some years kyanite was recovered from a
large lens of kyanitic gneiss on Little Celo Mountain,
near Burnsville, Yancey County, but the operation
has now been suspended. A recent discovery of con-siderable
importance is the occurrence of a belt of
sillimanite schist extending from Rutherford County
northeastward to the Yadkin River—a distance of
about 95 miles.
The development of the industrial minerals in
North Carolina is a good example of the importance
of progressive research to determine local resources,
their technology and uses. Much has already been
accomplished and much remains to be done.
Ill—SAND AND GRAVEL DEPOSITS
North Carolina has a fair amount of sand and
gravel in the water-formed deposits. These deposits,
are fluviatal (streams), fluviomarine (streams and
sea), marine (sea), and lacustrine (lake) in origin.
In the Mountain and upper Piedmont regions, de-posits
occur along the bottom or flood plain areas of
the streams. In the lower Piedmont and Coastal
Plain, deposits are rather widespread and roughly
follow the old shore line. The best deposits are
found in the beach terrace areas.
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 21
The commercial sand consists chiefly of quartz;
the chief impurities are feldspar, mica, hornblende,
and clay, the products of the weathering of the crys-talline
rocks, and organic matter. Most of the impur-ities
are eliminated when the material is washed and
screened.
The lower Piedmont and Coastal Plain gravels are
composed of more or less rounded quartz pebbles
which are derived from the quartz veins that cut the
pre-Cambrian rocks to the west of the fall line (the
western boundary of the Coastal Plain). The round
form is due to the wearing caused by stream and
wave action before and during deposition.
The gravels of the upper Piedmont and Mountain
sections are composed of quartz pebbles and frag-ments
of older crystalline rocks. These gravels are
also more or less rounded and vary in size from coarse
sand to large-sized boulders. These gravels must be
crushed as well as screened before they are suitable
for commercial use.
The most important sand and gravel deposits cross
the State in a northeast-southwest direction and lie
east of the fall line. The richest deposits occur where
the larger rivers enter the ocean. Geologically they
belong to a formation formerly known as the "Lafay-ette,"
of Pliocene age. This formation is well devel-oped
in parts of Anson, Richmond, Moore, Harnett,
Johnston, Nash, Halifax and Northampton Counties.
The important deposits are near the Pee Dee River
in Anson County; well distributed over Moore
County, along the Cape Fear River near Lillington in
Harnett County and, in Halifax and Northampton
Counties along the Roanoke River. All of these de-posits
are of varying value and have been exploited
to some extent.
VALUABLE GRAVEL IN PEE DEE AREA
The Anson County deposits occur in lenses and
beds from 10 to 40 feet thick, chiefly on the west side
of the Pee Dee River, where the "Lafayette" forma-tion
overlies the crystalline rocks. In most places
the deposits are covered by 10 to 20 feet of overbur-den.
They cover about 300 acres, part of which have
been worked. The gravel is a high grade material
consisting of quartz and quartzite pebbles mixed in
sand and clay. The pebbles range in size from three
inches in diameter down to fine sand. Six miles
southeast of Wadesboro and one mile east of Bennett
Station some small deposits, containing clay, sand,
and gravel, are found. The average depth is from
two to six feet and covers about 30 acres. In the
eastern part of the County small lenses of sand and
gravel are found in the Coastal Plain formations,
south of Wadesboro.
The "Lafayette" formation also contains extensive
sand and gravel deposits in Moore County. One de-posit
has an irregular outline, varying in width from
i/2 to 1^2 miles, and extends for four or five miles
southeast of Carthage. The deposit consists of
rounded pebbles of quartz and quartzite, and sand ; it
occurs as a covering 1 to 12 feet thick along the tops
of the highest hills and ridges. Deposits also occur
west of Carthage. These range in width from '/•> to
2 miles and are about 10-12 miles long. They consist
of semi-rounded and crushed quartz mixed with soil,
sand, and clay, and occur along the tops of hills and
ridges. In another area to the southeast of Carthage
the gravel consists of white to orange-colored quartz
and quartzite pebbles, well-rounded and mixed with
a quartz sand. The gravel is clean and easily washed.
In places the deposits run as high as 70 percent grav-el,
not counting sand.
SAND AND GRAVEL NEAR CAPE FEAR
In Harnett County, just east of the fall line and
along the Cape Fear River rich and extensive deposits
occur. The greatest development has been between
Lillington and the River. The deposits occur in
hills and ridges and range in depth from 10 to 40
feet. They consist of gravel pebbles composed
mainly of quartzite, quartz, and sand grains that
are almost pure quartz. The gravel and sand
are easily washed and cleaned. In many parts
of the deposit the amount of foreign matter is
not over two or three percent. The washing opera-tion
produces concrete gravel, cementing gravel,
roofing gravel, concrete sand, and filter sand. In some
parts of the deposit an excess of clay makes those
portions not of a washable grade. These, however,
have been utilized for roads and streets, particularly
at nearby Fort Bragg. Other deposits are situated
southwest and northwest of Lillington. Some of these
contain a high proportion of clay, but others contain
a satisfactory material; all of these have a depth
much less than that of the principal deposit between
Lillington and the Cape Fear.
Johnston County is crossed by the "Lafayette" ter-race
formation and deposits of gravel are found along
the Neuse River just west of Smithfield and near
Selma. Good deposits of sand occur about two miles
west of Selma and about one mile east of the Neuse,
on a low flat ridge that rises a few feet above the
river valley. A foundry sand is found there, overlain
by 12 to 15 inches of soil. Below this is a bed of filter
sand which at a greater depth grades into a clayey
gravel. About one mile west of Selma is a very good
gravel deposit. The geology there consists of shal-low
deposits of sand, clay, and gravel, with exposures
of older basement rock. This gravel has been used
as railroad ballast; the more sandy, porous grades
were sought and the clayey grades were left in the
pit. The material is mainly quartzitic and quartz and
ranges in size from one inch down to a coarse sand.
Some of the clayey gravel has been used with consid-erable
success in local road construction. The gravel
deposits around Smithfield are shallow—3 to 10 feet
deep—but they are of a good quality and are locally
important.
SAND PITS NEAR NEUSE RIVER
Lenoir County has been extensively prospected for
sand. The deposits are rather large and rich. The
Neuse River valley is about three miles wide in the
vicinity of Kinston and is filled with plenty of good
sand which yields several grades, ranging in size from
PAGE 22 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
small gravel to ordinary plaster sand. It is angular
and remarkably free from mica and organic matter.
A number of sand pits have been in operation in the
Kinston area ; one of these covers 3 to 4 acres and has
an average depth of 20 feet. The finer product has
found a utilization as sheet asphalt filler.
In Edgecombe County sand and gravel occur along
the streams and in the old stream valleys. The most
important deposits occur along the Tar River. Near
Tarboro where this stream makes a long bend there
is a sandbar which supplied a great deal of high grade
sand. At each freshet the sandbar is rebuilt thereby
effecting a continuous supply of sand. Also just to
the southeast of Tarboro a very good building sand is
found. The sand is composed chiefly of quartz, very
clean and free of mica. One mile north of Tarboro
on the inside of a bend of the Tar River a very exten-sive
deposit of a clean, hard, angular sand is found,
ranging in depth from 4 to 10 feet and covering sev-eral
acres.
Halifax and Northampton Counties have rather
extensive but not deep deposits of gravel. The "La-fayette"
formation is rather well marked in the sec-tion
around Thelma and near Weldon. In this area
and especially along the old valley of the Roanoke
River there are large deposits of gravel. Near Thel-ma
there are gravelly hills that are parallel to the
river valley. The topography is rolling to hilly and is
deeply cut by several small streams. The gravel
shows a depth of from 15 feet on the tops of the
ridges to 4 feet along the hillsides and valleys ; it con-sists
of well-rounded quartz and quartzite pebbles in
a matrix of sand and clay. Although there are sev-eral
other localities in these counties the most im-portant
is near Garysburg where the gravel occurs
along a rolling and hilly area on the north edge of the
Roanoke River Valley. A modern washing plant has
been in operation there for some years. The gravel
ranges in depth from 15 to 20 feet and consists of
both sand and clay gravel. The gravel itself is a
quartz-quartzite material ranging in size from 3
inches in diameter down to coarse sand. The average
size is from 11/2 inches to 14 inch.
Wake County has little gravel and sand. A few
small deposits are found along the fall line and near
streams. There is one good deposit of crushed quartz
near Garner. In the southwestern section are de-posits
of gravel that are of local importance. None
of these are great in extent or depth. The gravel
consists mostly of a mixture of water-worn pebbles
in clay. The pebbles are quartz and quartzite, com-prising
an excellent road material.
GRAVEL DEPOSITS ON PIEDMONT STREAMS
In the western counties there are no extensive sand
and gravel deposits, but there are many local ones
which may be worked commercially. The gravel de-posits
of these counties occur principally along the
main stream valleys and in the stream terraces,
caused by the streams meandering across the broader
valleys. The most outstanding deposit is in Bun-combe
County near Swannanoa, where a modern plant
of the Grove Stone Company has been producing
sand and gravel for many years.
Most of the counties along the foot of the Blue
Ridge Mountains, as Polk, Rutherford, McDowell,
Burke, Caldwell, Wilkes, and Surry, have stream
gravel deposits. These gravels are composed of
quartz, quartzite, and rounded fragments of the old
crystalline rocks. They range in size from sand to
large boulders. In most of the deposits the gravel has
to be crushed, washed, and screened before being
suitable for the various trades. No real good quartz
gravel deposits, as those just below the fall line, are
found. Only occasionally are deposits found where
the gravel is uniform. As a result of this condition
the deposits have not been worked to any extent.
Then too there are so many exposures of rocks of dif-ferent
varieties which are easily quarried for the
various trades.
Along the Yadkin River from the boundary of For-syth
County westward to North Wilkesboro and be-yond
there is an abundance of sand which has been
worked at several places. Most of this sand was put
down in the 1916 flood. Much of it is too fine for ordi-nary
concrete use. However, locally, there are de-posits
that are very good. Besides concrete sand,
much fine sand for sheet asphalt and filler can be ob-tained.
In the mountain district some exploitation of com-mercial
sand and gravel is in Burke County, especial-ly
along Silver Creek; on the headwaters of this
stream a great deal of quartz is mixed in the gravel
but no true quartz gravels are found. In some places
the material is quite angular although in others it is
well rounded. Other localities, where the most im-portant
deposits occur, include along the Catawba
River in Iredell County, and between Old Fort and
Marion. Rounded fragments of crystalline rocks
constitute extensive deposits along the river bottoms
between the Broad and Second Broad Rivers in Ruth-erford
County.
For the ten year period of 1935 to 1944 inclusive
the average annual production of sand and gravel in
North Carolina was 2,659,356 short tons ; the average
annual value was $1,265,736. The maximum produc-tion
was in 1941 and amounted to 4,473,297 short
tons, valued at $2,345,165.
REFERENCES
1. Bryson, H. J., The mining industry in North Carolina during 1927 and
1928: North Carolina Dept. Cons, and Devel. Econ. Paper 63, 1930.
2. Bryson, H. J., The mining industry in North Carolina from 1929 to 1936:
North Carolina Dept. Cons, and Devel Econ. Paper 64, 1937.
3. Hunter, C. E., Residual alaskite deposits of North Carolina: Am. Ceramic
Soc. Bull., vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 98-103, March 1940.
4. Olson, J. C, Economic Geology of the Spruce Pine pegmatite district:
North Carolina Dept. Cons, and Devel. Bull. 43, 1944.
5. Stuckey, J. L., Geology and North Carolina: The Southern Engineer, vol.
4, no. I, pp. 10-11, 24-26, October 1939.
5. U. S. Bureau of Mines: Minerals Yearbook, 1935-1944.
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 23
Summary of Provisions of Amendments to U. C. Law
By W. D. Holoman, Chief Counsel, ESC
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION
IS NEW NAME OF THE FORMER UCC
"Employment Security Commission of North Carolina"
and "Employment Security Law" now take the place of the
former "Unemployment Compensation Commission of North
Carolina" and the "Unemployment Compensation Law," the
change in name having heen provided in an amendment in-troduced
in the General Assembly by Senator Lee B. Weath-ers
of Cleveland County and enacted by that body.
The change in name was considered as more nearly re-flecting'
the activities of the two principal divisions of the
Commission, since both the North Carolina Employment
Service Division and the Unemployment Compensation Divi-sion
deal with employment security. Several states have
made the change in recent years, indicating a trend toward
a name which comes closer to describing the activities of the
Commission.
Change in the name became effective upon passage of the
amendment, but provision was made by which the Commis-sion
is authorized to continue to use its old forms, checks,
letterheads, stationery and other printed materials bearing
the former name until they become exhausted. All new sup-plies
will bear the new name.
The new amendment makes several provisions, includ-ing
the following:
The Commission shall cooperate with other state agencies
to oppose federalization of state employment security pro-grams.
The Commission may enter into reciprocal agreements by
which wages earned in covered employment in more than
one state, if producing less than the eligible amount, may be
combined and the individual paid benefits, to be charged to
the partially pooled account, and not to any employer.
If an employer operating in more than one state pays an
individual $3,000 for services in another state prior to his
employment in North Carolina, and had paid unemployment
compensation taxes to such other state, such individual's
wages earned in this State; would be exempt.
The bonds of the Commission's field representatives are
increased from $2,000 to $3,000 to conform to the amounts
for other state employees in comparable positions.
An unemployed person is disqualified to draw benefits
under the E. S. Law if he asserts his right to benefits against
another state or the Federal Government, unless such claim
is filed under a reciprocal agreement plan with another state.
Two amendments recently passed, relating to reciprocal
agreements, are deleted to make the law conform to changes
made by this act.
EARLIER AMENDMENTS
The first Unemployment Compensation Law in
North Carolina was passed at a special session of the
General Assembly in December 1936. The original
law was prepared primarily from suggested drafts
furnished by the Social Security Board. Due to the
urgency of the passage of this Act by the special
session, the members of the Legislature and the
officials sponsoring it, did not have an opportunity
to give its provisions the careful consideration which
an Act of such proportions required. At that time
the over-all Social Security Program, and particu-larly
the Unemployment Compensation Program,
which was a part thereof, constituted a new experi-ment
in this country. The only precedents which
the Federal Government and the respective states
had to follow were those precedents established in
European countries.
As this program was in its infancy it could not be
expected that the original law would be adequate to
meet the needs of this state. Since that time, there-fore,
it has been necessary to amend the original
law to meet changing conditions and to remedy de-fects
found from time to time. It has also been
necessary to make changes relative to a more efficient
administration of the program in North Carolina.
At each session of the Legislature since the adoption
of the original law certain amendments have been
necessary, and the year 1947 is no exception.
The amendments suggested by the Commission
and passed by the 1947 Legislature, in general are
not controversial, but primarily deal with a more
efficient administration of the law, and were neces-sary
by reason of certain changes by Congress in the
Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
It is needless to comment on the minor adminis-trative
amendments. However, a few changes de-serve
comment as they affect workers and employers
generally throughout the state.
SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE FUND
A new fund was created in the State treasury which
was designated as a Special Unemployment Compen-sation
Administration Fund. It was provided by the
amendment that subsequent to June 30, 1947, all
interest and penalties collected from employers under
the Unemployment Compensation Law shall be paid
into such special fund. No part of such special fund
shall be used or expended in lieu of any Federal
funds made available to the Commission for the
administration of the law. Out of this Special Un-employment
Compensation Fund will be paid all re-funds
of interest erroneously collected by the Com-mission
provided such interest was paid into the
fund.
Prior to the adoption of the amendment, if the So-cial
Security Administration found that any amount
had been expended from the Unemployment Compen-sation
Administration Fund for any purposes other
than those found necessary by the Social Security
Administration, the State was required to replace
such funds, and it further required the Governor to
submit to the Legislature a request for an appro-priation
to replace such amounts. As an example,
an employee who is paid the entire month's salary
on the 25th of the month might fail to report back
to work after that date. It is obvious that such em-ployee
is overpaid. If, after the Commission ex-hausts
its efforts to collect such amount and fails,
then the Legislature would be required to appro-priate
an amount so that the Unemployment Com-pensation
fund might be reimbursed. The special
fund would take care of such contingencies and the
Commission could reimburse the Unemployment
Compensation Administration fund from the special
fund.
MARITIME SERVICES COVERED
Several amendments were passed relating to Mari-time
coverage to bring the State law into conformity
PAGE 24 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER, 1947
with a recent Federal Amendment. On August 10,
1946, Congress passed an amendment to the Federal
Unemployment Tax Act, effective July 1, 1946, pro-viding
that salaries and wages paid for services per-formed
by the officers or members of a crew in con-nection
with the operation of an American vessel, are
taxable under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
The amendment to the North Carolina Law brings
under its coverage like services performed on such
vessels when the operations are controlled from an
office located in the State of North Carolina. These
amendments conform to the Federal Act and tax only
the same type of services as does the Federal Act.
An individual who maintains an operating office in
this State from which such individual supervises,
manages, directs, and controls the operation of an
American vessel operating on the navigable waters
within or within and without the United States, is
brought under the State law.
TIPS NOT COUNTED AS WAGES
Under the Unemployment Compensation Law
wages means all remuneration for services from
whatever source and the term wages, prior to a
recent amendment, has been defined by the Act to
include gratuities customarily received by an indi-vidual
in the course of his work from persons other
than his employing unit. This definition of wages,
therefore, made it necessary for the Commission to
attempt to tax tips received by individuals from per-sons
other than the employing unit just as if such
amounts had been paid by the employing unit. The
employers throughout North Carolina found it prac-tically
impossible to keep account of the amount of
tips received by individuals in their employ as the
individuals did not report the tips to the employing
unit. So, it was practically impossible to administer
that portion of the law. A recent amendment de-leted
from the definition of wages those gratuities
which constituted tips. Such amendment should
meet with the whole-hearted approval of all em-ployers
who are faced with such a problem.
REMUNERATION TAXED IN YEAR PAID
Another amendment was adopted in which all em-ployers
should be particularly interested and which
they should bear in mind when preparing any and
all future returns. This amendment amends Section
96-9, subsection (a), paragraph (2) of the Unem-ployment
Compensation Law, by providing that from
and after January 1, 1947, the term wages shall in-clude
the first $3,000 paid by an employer to an
employee during a calendar year without regard to
the year in which the employment occurred. Prior
to the amendment remuneration not in excess of
$3,000 was taxable with respect to the year in which
it was earned regardless of the year in which it was
paid ; therefore, subsequent to January 1, 1947, em-ployers
in preparing their returns should report and
pay contributions only on remuneration up to $3,000
which has actually been paid employees during the
calendar year irrespective of the year in which the
employment occurred.
SIMPLIFIES VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
Prior to the recent amendments, the Unemploy-ment
Compensation Law provided, in its Employer
Experience Rating plan that an employer could make
a voluntary contribution, in addition to the contri-butions
required under the law, for the purpose of
reducing his tax rate for the following year, but it
was necessary for such voluntary contributions to be
made not later than July 31 of the calendar year in
order for such contribution to be taken into con-sideration
in computing the tax rate for the follow-ing
year. Under the statute, prior to the amendment,
it was impossible for the employer to know what
voluntary contribution it would be necessary for him
to make in order to get the desired reduction, as he
was not cognizant of what charges had been made
to his reserve account for the three months' period
ending July 31. The law, as amended, places upon
the Commission the responsibility of notifying an
employer, as soon after July 31 as possible, of all
charges made against his reserve account for the
three months preceding August 1, so that such em-ployer
can accurately compute the amount of volun-tary
contribution necessary to reduce his rate. As a
result of the amendment the employer may, within
ten days after the mailing of such notice of charges
against his account by the Commission, make con-tributions
which will be credited back as of July 31
so that he may get the benefit of the reduced rate.
This will materially benefit those employers who de-sire
to make a voluntary contribution for the purpose
of getting a reduced rate for the following year.
SPECIFIES DATE OF STARTING SUIT
No suit or proceeding for the collection of unpaid
contributions may be begun by the Commission after
five years from the date on which such contributions
became due; this in effect is a five-year statute of
limitation on the collection of unpaid contributions.
An amendment was adopted recently for the purpose
of defining when a proceeding shall be deemed to
have been instituted or begun. Under the amend-ment
a proceeding shall be deemed to have been in-stituted
upon the date of the issuance of an order by
the Chairman of the Commission directing a hearing
to be held to determine liability or non-liability, or
upon the date notice and demand is mailed by regis-tered
mail to the last known address of an employing
unit. Since the adoption of the amendment there
can be no question raised by any employer or em-ploying
unit, or interested party as to when a pro-ceeding
is deemed to have begun as it relates to the
five-year statute of limitations.
THAWS FROZEN CREDITS
In 1941 the General Assembly amended the Un-employment
Compensation Law to provide that wage
credits of workers entering military service would
be available to the workers when they were dis-charged.
The purpose of such amendment in 1941
was to freeze wage credits so that the returned
veteran would be entitled to some unemployment
benefits from prior credits after discharge from
WINTER, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 25
military service and until he could find work and
readjust himself. Subsequent to the passage of such
amendment the Servicemens Readjustment Allow-ance
Act was passed by Congress and under the Act,
veterans who are unemployed through no fault of
their own, after discharge from military service are
entitled to $20 per week for a maximum of 52 weeks.
It was felt, therefore, that since the veterans' rights
were so well taken care of by the Servicemens Re-adjustment
Allowance Act, which the Unemployment
Compensation Commission of this State is adminis-tering
for the Federal Government, that their credits
should no longer be frozen under the North Carolina
Law, therefore, the freezing provisions above-referred
to were deleted from the law by a recent
amendment. Before the amendment to delete such
freezing provisions was offered to the Legislature,
the Legislative Committee of the American Legion
was notified that an amendment of that nature was
contemplated and no objections were raised by that
committee. Under the law as amended a veteran
who is unemployed through no fault of his own, who
is able and available for work, and otherwise eligible
for benefits, may draw readjustment allowances,
which are paid by the Federal Government, for a
maximum of 52 weeks. If after exhausting the
benefits available for him under the Readjustment
Allowance Act, he is still unemployed, he may then
draw benefits under the Unemployment Compensa-tion
Law of North Carolina, provided that he has
built up wage credits in a base period subsequent to
his return from military service.
CLAIMANT MUST SEEK WORK
There is another amendment which should be of
interest to employers and employees alike. To be
entitled or eligible to receive any benefits under the
Unemployment Compensation Law, it is necessary
for an individual to show to the satisfaction of the
Commission that he has registered for work at a
public employment office; that he has filed a claim
for benefits, and that he is able to work and available
for work. A recent amendment adds a proviso to
these eligibility conditions which provides that no
individual shall be deemed available for work unless
he shows to the satisfaction of the Commission that
he is actively seeking work. This puts a definite
responsibility on the unemployed individual to go
out and try to find a job himself. Prior to the amend-ment
the mere fact that an individual had registered
at an employment office and filed a claim, and stated
that he was able and available for work, was taken
as evidence of his availability. Now, it will be neces-sary
for him to show that he has made real efforts
on his own behalf to secure employment.
REPEALS SUBCONTRACTOR CLAUSE
The General Assembly saw fit to repeal that sec-tion
of the law which is commonly known as the
subcontractor clause. This provision of the law is
Section 96-8 (f) (8) of the General Statutes of
North Carolina. The repeal of the subcontractor
clause was not suggested to the General Assembly
by the Commission. That section of the law was the
one under which contractors or subcontractors hav-ing
a contractual relationship with a principal
covered employer, were held liable even though they
did not have as many as eight or more individuals in
their employment. Such section also provided that
even though neither the principal nor the subcon-tractor
had as many as eight individuals in the
respective employ of each, and by combining the
employment record of each, they would jointly have
eight or more, then because of such contractual re-lationship,
both the principal and the subcontractor
were liable. Since the repeal of this section of the
law, it will be necessary for the Commission to more
closely scrutinize the relationship between the prin-cipal
employer and contractor or subcontractor in
order to determine whether or not the contractor or
subcontractor comes within the definitions of em-ployment.
No changes were made in the coverage under the
Unemployment Compensation Law except as to
maritime workers. No changes were made in re-spect
to increasing weekly benefit amounts, nor in
respect to the extension of weeks of unemployment
benefits. It is felt that the amendments as a whole
were constructive amendments.
•
MARBLE, GRANITE, CRUSHED STONE
In 26 North Carolina counties various types of
granite, marble and crushed stone are produced in
commercial quantities and in 1945 the UCC records
show that 2,615 covered workers were engaged in this
industry. The record follows
:
Employment
Average—1945
Alleghany—Miscellaneous Non-Metalic Mining 2
Anson—Sand and Gravel : 70
Avery—Miscellaneous Non-Metalic Mining 130
Buncombe—Sand and Gravel Quarries 3 3
Buncombe—Miscellaneous Non-Metalic Mining-- 761
Cherokee—Dimension Stone (Marble) 50
Cherokee—Miscellaneous