Top, entry lo the new tunnel which laps the old shaft of the Isom mine in
Yancey; center, sheeting mica at Micavillc; and below, Yates Bennett, one of
the mine owners, looks happily at some of the big chunks of mica which came
from a 1,000-pound block. — (Photos by John Robinson).
Mine is High;
So is Mica!
The old Isom mine is
one of highest — and
richest — in America.
By BILL SHARPE
Here’s the highest mine in eastern
America, and one of the richest. It’s
so high, that its operators — the Yan¬
cey Mica Mining Co., Inc., have to
dig upward to reach it. This is the
old Isom mine, on a ridge of Cclo
Mountain, prettily known as Winter
Star, which is in the Black Range, not
far from Mt. Mitchell. The mouth of
the old shaft is at 5,000 feet altitude.
If you own a gold mine, even a nice
one, don’t try to swap it for the Isom
mine, because the owners arc very
happy with their product, which is
mica. Since the government's stock¬
piling program began, ruby mica of
the highest quality and in the larger •
sheets is selling for S70 a pound.
When you figure that one blast of
dynamite recently knocked loose 1,-1
000 pounds of mica from the Isom j
tunnel, you can sec what we mean. |
Because of the government program,
there’s a mica boom throughout the
mineral counties of western North ,
Carolina such as perhaps has never |
been seen before, and dealers in min¬
eral rights arc the busiest gentry in
that area. Of course, there aren’t many
— if any— other mines like the one on
top of Winter Star.
This mine, once also known as the 1
Cattail mine, was discovered about ■
1874 by the Silver brothers. They were i
bear-hunting, and their chase had led '
them far up on Cclo, when they |
slopped to drink from a spring. While
one of the weary brothers had his face
down in the cool, clear water, he
opened his eyes and saw the bed of |
the spring was a big chunk of mica.
The mine has been worked in¬
termittently since. The vein had gone I
straight down in the ground, and the
shaft extended 210 feet. When the
present operators wanted to resume
working, they were faced with a water
problem. So they started on the side
of the mountain and started blasting
a tunnel — slightly uphill — to tap the
bottom of the shaft. When they did, j
i6
THE STATE. DCCCMOCR 13. 1952
