Exploring the Gemstone Mines of North Carolina: Little Switzerland and Spruce Pines.

In this video, we explore the gemstone community of the Spruce Pines region of North Carolina. The Blue Ridge Mountains create a beautiful backdrop for looking at the history and minerals of the region.
This is part of our year long research trip, as we explore the early roots of American Gemcutting.
Time Stamps:
00:00 Sunrise
00:49 Entering the Blue Ridge Mountains
00:58 Emerald Village
06:29 Comparing NC to Other Localities
07:32 1920's Mining Town
08:03 Discovery Center and Lapidary Machines
09:27 The Emerald Mine and the Biggest Emerald
10:36 The Skyline Village Inn
10:54 Burnsville
11:26 Spruce Pines
12:02 The Chalet
12:18 The Museum of North Carolina Minerals
13:24 A Story about a 1920s NC Faceter
13:53 Crabtree Emerald Mine
18:02 Rio Dóce Gem Mine
19:18 Gem Mountain
20:29 Our Emerald
🎵 Music by epidemicsound.com
💖 If you would like to support my faceting endeavors, please become my patron: / justinkprim
✨ If you would like to buy faceting merch like shirts and wall prints: www.magusgems.com
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🎥 Gear Used:
(Please note that these are affiliate links)
Video:
Nikon Z6 amzn.to/3fMQ4ab
Nikon Z50 (x2) with 16-50mm lens amzn.to/3vsgoN9
Nikkor 105mm Macro amzn.to/3yKHBwW
Nikkor Z 24mm amzn.to/3fncy2f
Neewer Lights: amzn.to/34jcFWm
Audio:
Rode Video Mic Pro amzn.to/34jcIBw
Rode NT-1 (x2 for ASMR) amzn.to/3urx9ab
Boya Lavalier Mic (x 2) amzn.to/2Sx7DCS
PreSonus Audiobox USB 96 amzn.to/3fqQsfC

[@f14fixer101]

Cheerwine IS NOT DR Pepper, not even by a long shot.

[@utubewatcher806]

Give him a break; he's not sure if it's North or South Carolina...0:23 LOL!

[@rhondajones1313]

Cheerwine is nothing like Dr Pepper. Cheerwine is better

[@shanelanders6220]

My brother lives in Mars Hill. My son and I go visit him. Toccoa(my son, is am army combat medic) I was a u.s.navy combat radioman.we were riding in my bros v.w. camper and Toccoa started screaming: I'm in heavean,,,look dad, a cherry wine coke box.pull over pgatz, I got to buy one.

[@wildrynogames]

first thing i thought to myself

[@randythomas3478]

Yanks interpretation....go figure.

[@stephenbrown7924]

At Crabtree Creek Mine I found a 1/2 carat emerald in the tailings pile. It was around 1976 and had a ring made from it.

[@JustinKPrim]

Wow!

[@susie5710]

Great video, I appreciate all the info about attractions and mining in the area. Thanks

[@jakemocci3953]

What a collection of antique equipment, they cannot allow that to sit in the elements and rot away.

[@randythomas3478]

Ok...great video sir!

[@justinmynatt896]

I have the exact same Frantom machine! It was given to me by a friend and needed a lot of restoration but after some TLC I absolutely love using it. You can almost feel the history when it fires up

[@iciuszenith776]

Gotta know a lotta North Carolinians hot about that Dr Pepper comment 😂

[@user-te5wl1gd4u]

Yeah, it irked me bad

[@gsellis]

At Crabtree, the emeralds are usually found along the border of where the biotite (black mica) meets with the quartz. Emeralds will be in the border, in the quartz, and in the biotite.

[@ellenlewis9860]

Salisbury is in NC

[@hollytaylor9421]

I live in Spruce Pine. My grandfathers picture is in this video at 2 mins he owned the Crabtree Emerald mine.

[@hollytaylor9421]

Bill Collins… she named him he found the big emerald. So cool

[@JustinKPrim]

Cool!

[@philliphutcheson4219]

@@JustinKPrimnow it’s owned by the Ledfords who I’d recommend looking up online as they also have an emerald mine nearby that is currently producing but is closed to the public. Also, every mine that you went to but the Crabtree is a salted mine. Oh and whenever you go to Hiddenite, look up Mark Randle as he’s one of the few still prospecting and finding emeralds there currently. Terry Ledford was until he passed away years ago when a mine wall collapsed on him. His track record of finds in the 70’s-2010’s is unparalleled. Got to meet him at the N.A.E.M. When Jaime Hill opened for mining to the public in 2012. Sadly it has been bought out and is now a gravel pit not open to mining. I did find emerald there every trip I went though! Oh be forewarned, the Emerald Hollow Mine in Hiddenite salts their stuff as well. Look up the videos of when we got to mine N.A.E.M. in 2012 and your jaw will be on the floor. I feel so blessed to have been able to go there!

[@gmariet1391]

Beautiful video , thank you !

[@judyalbertie6504]

I have ordered several bags of gemstone ore and paydirt from Emerald Village. One of the I guess managers, Lauren, is a really nice lady. I always get a lot of gorgeous rocks, crystals and gemstones. I will be ordering another one soon.

[@scottpartlow8912]

Good video, this is definitely a good place to look around do some prospecting, I think you can find Ruby's in places not far from there.

[@jackwyatt1218]

Try Hiddenite, NC. Emerald Hollow Mine !

[@CreativeCreatorCreates]

My dad and I used to go there when I was younger. I haven’t been in ages!

[@ELCEV]

Great video, thanks for posting.

[@johnfromfancyatoms2419]

Aloha Justin, seeing the Crabtree mine was sooo cool! I can vividly remember that big crane thing getting fired up to haul the cart up from the mine. I can also recall seeing emeralds that were clean and the size of your fingers in the office of the mine. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼

[@JustinKPrim]

Wow. The machinery looks so old and rusted that it’s almost hard to imagine that anyone could still remember it running 😅😂

[@judyford2499]

we also have Garnet mines, in Marshall NC

[@yankeetimeline]

Spruce pine has tons of great rockhoundi ng and gem collecting area. And last month was the big rock and gem show there.

[@JustinKPrim]

Yeah unfortunately we missed the show by a week. Next time

[@jmatt4life]

I gotta check this out.

[@user-ds8pb6vh2v]

Its funny seeing someone with a cheerwine whos never had it .btw not dr pepper at all idk why that was said

[@JustinKPrim]

I went back a year later and got chided by some local friends for saying that cheerwine taste like Dr Pepper. Then I tasted it again. It still taste like Dr Pepper to me. Not 100% exactly, but it’s the only soda that I can think of the taste anything remotely like it. I’ve not been a regular soda drinker for about 20 years, so maybe my tastebuds are totally clueless on this.

[@SwainySwain13]

Great video! Carolinian approved!

[@randythomas3478]

Ole chap is of Eastern European descent

[@coreymerrill3257]

Very cool , will you be doing the topaz / red beryl mining in Utah or going to Montana for sapphires? While I am sure your schedule is packed, don't forget, a lot of the same areas with gems have gold too. Not all, but many do. Just saying keep your eyes peeled for that too. A gold nugget may sneak by if you aren't looking for it . Cool videos.

[@JustinKPrim]

OOh I didn't know about topaz/red beryl... what city is that near? We are going to Utah for a few weeks after the Montana mines.

[@micahhanley4899]

@@JustinKPrim There are public areas as well as commercial mines. I haven't been there in about 25 years when I was a teen, but here's a website for Topaz Mountain. www.blm.gov/visit/topaz-mountain Can't wait to see your stuff from Montana. My family and I have been there for sapphires more than once. IMO, for someone who doesn't have commercial contacts the Gem Mountain mine site has been good to us near Phillipsburg, but I think they are closed for the season now. We have also had good success at the Blue Jewel Mine outside Helena.

[@oldmountainmarineandmetals9736]

That's what I was going to tell you, that you missed the best one of all, Hiddenite, I live about 5 miles from there.

[@JustinKPrim]

Oh yeah I know but I didn’t have more time. Next time!

[@shimaze5479]

What restaurant did you eat dinner at?

[@4pittbullsacrossamerica4750]

My daughter lives in spruce pine

[@robinscountry]

Never had Cheerwine. Never had Dr Pepper either

[@graceann547]

Is there an admission price for going into the cave?

[@JustinKPrim]

Yes it’s part of a museum. $10-$15 I think

[@graceann547]

@@JustinKPrim ok thanks!

[@lorawaring883]

Did you take golden beryl home?

[@JustinKPrim]

No but I took a small emerald in matrix home.

[@davikillinem786]

Cheer wine is way better than Dr Pepper lol 😂

[@michaelhayes7471]

I went to the first mine about ten years ago I found a beautiful emerald that looked a lot like a Colombian had it cut what I got back was junk was solid green looked like it was paint stay away

[@panthergrowl12]

Salisbury is right doen the road from me in NORTH CAROLINA not SC.

[@randythomas3478]

Ore carts

[@aung3627]

ဘိုးဖွားများသမိုင်အမွေအနှစ်များစုဆောင်မှူများမျဝေပေးလိုက်သည်

[@shimaze5479]

You be weird & junk = ဘိုးဖွားများသမိုင်အမွေအနှစ်များစုဆောင်မှူများမျဝေပေးလိုက်သည်

[@golgedekiyangn171]

where in switzerland can you write your location

[@JustinKPrim]

Little Switzerland is a city in North Carolina, USA

[@chrisskinner6291]

Almost appears as if these mountains is no more then the rocks taken from t& earth and made into mounds of rock and dirt.They had to put the waste somewhere .

[@chrisburch9232]

Do you really know what state you are 8n?

[@JustinKPrim]

I thought so. Was I wrong?

[@willbruce3]

I was on board until you said cheerwine was practically dr pepper.

[@JustinKPrim]

Sorry. I didn’t know till later that it was a deep cultural offense.

[@oinkybihtch]

@0:40 immediately insults my culture 😂

[@JustinKPrim]

😅😭😭

[@annermel9121]

Cheerwine does not taste like Dr Pepper

[@lisathomas1622]

I would have loved to see all the things you quickly panned over. For me it just makes a super frustrating video. Views of the landscape, great, blurry fast views of the gems…not great.

[@rodhelms-yt2pk]

Women work in mines hum pooping cart could be ok

[@0311chapman]

🤦🏽‍♂️

[@zusclhz]

Background Noise HERTZ SO BAD, cam moves too fast for focus

[@2Goiz_1ShanDA]

It's all society perspective ..there was no need to even break conversation just because you're using the toilet 🇺🇲🤠

[@dougmcmusic1161]

Yawn

[@danieldevite668]

Boring