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Native Gemstones
Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: 2020/07 – July
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Macon County’s corundum mining placed its shiny pin on the map in the early 1870s. Hiram Crisp, a shoemaker and farmer, was the first in the county to plow up corundum. File that away for the next time you’re planting petunias.
Trace elements such as iron or chromium turn corundum blue, red, or occasionally yellow, white, or green. If it’s red, it’s a ruby; blue, a sapphire. The rest, I’m not so sure. Corundum can be a conundrum.
Nineteen year-old Charlie Jenks and his father, Col. Charles W. Jenks of St. Louis, launched the first corundum mine down where Sugartown Creek coursed out into the valley. Today it’s known as Corundum Hill. Their operation generated quality gems which they sold to Tiffany’s, the British Museum, J.P. Morgan, and Amherst. Who knew a chunk of mountain from a creek in the Carolinas could wind up in a cluster of Tiffany gloriousness?
More mines followed the first. Eventually the area was so productive it lay claim to the title: Gem Capital of the World, but there were obstacles … for one, the money panic of 1872-73 that shut things down.
Even so, the mining industry eventually came back in different guises. Corundum is second only to diamonds in hardness. That made it an excellent industrial abrasive. But when cheaper, synthetic corundum made its debut, the expensive real deal couldn’t compete. Its shiny pin fell right off the map.
Still, jewelers would always be looking for perfect stones. There were old claims that there was a mother lode of rubies and sapphires in the Cowee Range, but in spite of the American Mining and Prospecting Company’s best efforts, it was never found. People still search for that corundum deposit, but the mountains hold their secret dear.
If you are interested in learning more about the adventures of 95-pound Charlie Jenks who spent his next three years hunting and trapping in the Plateau region, enjoy a fascinating read in Ran Shaffner’s Heart of the Blue Ridge. For additional info about the history of the region, go to highlandshistory.com or email [email protected].
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