The Emerald Mine
One small settlement survived even after the mining machines retreated
The settlement of Little Switzerland was created in 1909 in the American state of North Carolina, as a resort in the mountains of the Blue Ridge. Idyllic scenery gave birth to that settlement: in the United States, since the late 19th century, this name has been attributed to any beautiful mountain region covered with evergreen trees. But the surroundings of the settlement did not fit into the principles of ecology either then or today.
Soon after the settlement was established, mining companies discovered that the hills hide a real mineral wealth: quartz, feldspar, apatite and attractive granite, predominantly red minerals that look like jewels. One of the mines belonged to the company “Bon ami” whose name it still bears, although Robert Schabillon bought it after the company retired in the sixties of the last century.
Along with various guesthouses and resorts, Little Switzerland can also boast of with entertainment and educational park “Emerald village”. Visitors have at their disposal the huge North Carolina Mining Museum, several mines (out of a total of twelve), even a hunt for tools and precious minerals.
A few years after discovering the Bon ami mine, the Schabillion family began inviting visitors to pick feldspar from the walls with chisel and bucket, as miners once did — and perhaps see, by the shine of the tools, why the company wanted to put that mineral into its metal polishing powder. When the generations changed in the first decade of the 21st century, Alan Schabillion entered a shallow mine one night with his wife. Armed with a “black light”, the fearless Mr. and Mrs. Schabillion stared in amazement into the walls of the mine and the fifteen-meter high ceiling, bathed in a magical green light. It was as if they found themselves in the middle of the aurora borealis.
The reason, of course, was not magic. The stone is studded with large amounts of hyalite, a transparent type of opal. It is usually pale and yellowish, unappealing to the eye and barely noticeable under ordinary light. But this mineral also contains traces of uranium, which glows bright green under ultraviolet light. That’s exactly why the Schabillions entered the mine with “black light” lamps. It was clear to them that they had discovered a veritable treasure trove of gems, and the only thing they needed to get after that was a few portable ultraviolet lamps.
Their hyalite deposits are rich enough in uranium to illuminate the entire pit with an alien green glow, but still not enough to endanger health. It didn’t take long for them to start opening the first pit to visitors — but not every night. The Emerald Village is open every day from April to October, but a night tour is possible only ten times a year, always on Saturdays.
To make sure everything doesn’t end in green, in several places in the pit, feldspar deposits shine orange-pink, manganese-apatite cream-orange, and third deposits shine bright blue — but no one has yet determined which mineral it is. Earth’s wealth, it seems, isn’t wasted so easily, even when we pollute everything else to get it
