If you are planning a vacation near the Smokey Mountains area, you may want to consider that you will be in an area that is famous for many minerals such as Rubies, Sapphires, Garnets and a host of others. If you know what you are looking for and you have the time, you can have fun exploring and finding your own. But if you don't, you can go to any one of over a dozen mines that provide sluices for you to find gems in the rough. I just returned from vacation from a very nice place that is just north of Franklin, North Carolina, on Highway 441.


Gold City - Sylva/Franklin, North Carolina

Gold City is on the side of the road on highway 441, just to the north of Franklin. After parking your car, you head up to the sluice which is open to the elements but covered by a roof. Pick a seat, and then ask about what types of stones they have, and what the current prices are.
I should point out at this time that MOST of the mines in the Franklin area charge you an admission fee, and THEN charge for the dirt to search through. At Gold City Admission is FREE and the only thing you pay for is the dirt you search through. The dirt comes in 5 gallon buckets (there are differing prices for these depending on what you wish to search for starting at $7.00 for Ruby and Sapphire, $15.00 for Emerald, and so on) or there are also smaller bags that are mainly for the kids to search for at a very nominal fee(you get 5 bags for $5.00, and each bag was about a gallon of dirt).


HERE'S WHERE THE FUN BEGINS

Now that you have your dirt, it's time to start looking for your stones. BEFORE YOU BEGIN, make sure you ask to SEE what it is you are looking for....especially if it is Ruby or Sapphire(more on that in a bit). You sit on the bench that is in front of the sluice and grab a sifting box, that is made of wood and has a metal screen in the bottom. Pour some of the dirt into the box, and then put the box into the nice COLD North Carolina water that is quickly flowing past you in the sluice. If the water is TOO cold for you, you can purchase a pair of gloves to use as you sluice. As the water washes the dirt away, the box will begin to show a number of different stones....some big, some small, some tiny.


WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Make sure you ask the attendant what the stones look like that you will be searching for. I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH. I made a small haul just on the stones that had been thrown on the ground by people who didn't know what they had in their sifting box......and this is especially true of the mineral CORUNDUM......which YOU know as Ruby or Sapphire. Corundum is the hardest mineral this side of a diamond, and it comes in a variety of colors....red, purple, pink, violet, magenta, blue, grey, even white. The Rubies will display a violet to magenta hue, and the Sapphires will be EVERYTHING ELSE color wise.....but mainly blue or various shades of brown or grey. They will range in size from pebble, to about 1/4 inch, and maybe even an inch or more in size. The largest I found was about an inch and a half in diameter, and it is a blue Sapphire. There is also a certain feel that Corundum has.....it feels VERY HEAVY and dense, as compared to other stones you will encounter. Many of the stones will also have a CRYSTAL STRUCTURE or SHAPE. Hold a piece up and look at it to see if it looks like it has a HEX shape....if it does, BAG IT and TAG IT!!!! Even if the shape is only PARTIALLY there, that is a good enough indication that you have found a Corundum piece(you can use this little test in most rough gem hunting, even if you don't know what it is you've found...if a stone has ANY kind of crystal shape at all, save it and you can later find out what it is, and if you want to keep it). When you have finished looking though your current batch of stones, and you are SURE, or pretty sure you have found all there is to find, you empty your box onto the ground by turning it upside down, give it a bang on the edge of the sluice to loosen the most of the small stones over the edge of the sluice that is on the attendant side of the sluice, and you are now ready to reload it with more dirt. The kids dirt is easier, as it will have colorful pieces in it such as Topaz (Yellow or Clear);Quartz (Pink=Rose Quartz), (Purple/Violet=Amethyst), (Grey=Smokey Quartz); Garnet (Red or Brown),(Violet=Rhodolite)), Beryl (Green=Emerald), (Blue=Aquamarine); as well as some Ruby and Sapphire. There are also Emerald buckets available, and of course those are easy to find because of their well known color. BUT, if you find a BLUE one in the bucket, it is not an Emerald....it's an Aquamarine. They are both the mineral BERYL.


WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED

After you're done, you can take your findings over to the gift shop. The friendly people there will be more than happy to sort it for you, tell you what you have found, and let you know if you have found that EXTRA SPECIAL STONE. You may have a stone that can be made into a piece of jewelry, a ring maybe, or even a pendant. It doesn't cost a thing to find out what you have, so it is well worth the time to have your pieces looked at before you leave. The gift shop itself is very cute with lots of things to look at for both you and the kids, including minerals, as well a books that will tell you places you can go to find minerals on your own. There is also a chair-lift that runs to the top of the mountain, but it was not operating the day we were there. They also run a GOLD sluice as well, if GOLD is what you are after. It is mainly gold flakes and dust, and really wasn't of interest to us, so we passed on that.

This is a nice little stop for the day, or just a couple of hours, whatever your plans may be.


WHAT DID WE FIND...and how much did it COST us???

Between me and my wife and daughter, we spent $25.00.
And here is what we found:

Emerald...only a few, as we did NOT purchase the emerald bucket this time.
Topaz.......numerous pieces....
Ruby........numerous pieces (50+), Violet hue
Sapphire....numerous pieces (50+), mostly Blue.
Rhodolite(Garnet)....2
Aquamarine..2
Kyanite.....2
Rutile......9
Hiddenite...1
Mica........numerous small books
Quartz:
Rock(CLEAR)...6
Citrine.....numerous
Amethyst....numerous (40+)
Smokey......3

A very nice amount for a very small amount of money.


THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SHOULD WEAR

Your attire should be comfortable and casual....and should be something that you will not mind getting a little dirty and wet in....and please HEED THIS WARNING: The dirt and clay mixture is a pretty orange color that is due to the minerals that have weathered over the years. But, IT CAN AND WILL STAIN your clothing, as well as your shoes. It will also stain your hands, so wash them off after you are done. So if you are planning on wearing your pair of new $100 white NIKES, be prepaired to see them in a nice ORANGE color when you have finished. Every time I have been there (or any place in the Piedmont region digging in the dirt) it has taken about 3 months worth of average washing to get the stains out....


FIND OUT MORE ABOUT GOLD CITY

Gold City has a web site at WWW.GOLDCITYAMUSEMENT.COM.
You can see pictures of the flume and get info on where they are located.
This was our fourth time to Franklin, and our second to Gold City. There are a lot of other mines that are interesting to check out, but so far Gold City has the best prices for the material you are able to find.


TRAVEL WARNING

The Franklin area is small, and the hotels and motels that are in the area fill up quickly, especially during the major holidays. If you plan your trip during a holiday week or weekend, be sure to find a place to stay and reserve it before you travel. It will save you a lot of trouble.
Also, be aware that the Smokey Mountains got that name for a very good reason. There is considerable fog, haze, and low(?) clouds there, and travel visibility can drop down to nothing in a very short amount of time when traveling at night.


RELATED INFO

If you would like some extra info about minerals and collecting, see my Epinions book review at http://www.epinions.com/book-review-722F-8F52CDF-391BBDCB-prod3 of the AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE to NORTH AMERICAN ROCKS and MINERALS.



This was just one portion of our recent vacation, which took us across the entire state of North Carolina. It is a beautiful state, and I love going there. I love it so much I'm trying to bring the entire state back home with me....a few rocks at a time!





Recommended: Yes