Buck Creek Corundum Mines
Clay County, NC
| Most of my time at the Buck Creek Barrens is spent botanizing. But the unusual plants found growing here are the result of soil developed from the area's underlying geology. The Buck Creek Corundum Area includes several groups of prospects within the same large peridotite area. The area was heavily mined for Corundum between 1875 and World War I, and prospected again during WW-II due to a critical need for abrasives for the war effort. There were dozens of pits, trenches, tunnels and shafts covering the hills. Now, the underground works are mostly caved in or flooded, with a few remaining cavities covered by grates installed by the USFS. While I'd photographed a few of the major mining works in 2017, it wasn't until late 2023 that I started photo- documenting the multitude of (recorded and unrecorded) mining operations here. Between examining old mining reports and perusing LIDAR imagery, I was able to find and photograph most of the old operations. |
