Powhatan amphibole mine, near Lake Toxaway, North Carolina

The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook reported for 1950 and 1951 that the "Powhatan Mining Co. produced amphibole in Transylvania County near Lake Toxaway," North Carolina.^1,2 The yearbooks for 1953 and 1954 again list the company as producing amphibole asbestos in Transylvania County, without naming Lake Toxaway.^3,4 The fiber was not milled at the mine: the 1953 yearbook says it "is milled at its plant near Baltimore, Md.," and for 1954 that the company "shipped the asbestos rock to its plant in Baltimore, Md., where it was milled and processed to produce asbestos."^3,4 In 1973 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reporting the Bureau's figures, said Powhatan had "a new production site in Transylvania County"; that page does not name the site.⁵

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.⁴

Location

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1950

• Worked: “Powhatan Mining Co. produced amphibole in Transylvania County near Lake Toxaway” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2¹

1951

• Worked: “Powhatan Mining Co. produced amphibole in Transylvania County near Lake Toxaway” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2²

1953

• Worked: “The Powhatan Mining Co. produced amphibole in Transylvania County” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2³
• Mill: “The fiber produced by this company is milled at its plant near Baltimore, Md.” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2³

1954

• Mill: “shipped the asbestos rock to its plant in Baltimore, Md., where it was milled” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁴
• Worked: “Amphibole asbestos was produced in North Carolina by the Powhatan Mining Co. in Transylvania County” (Powhatan Mining Co.), p. 2⁴

1971

• Opened: “With a new production site in Transylvania County” (Powhatan Mining Company), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 40⁵

See also

• Asbestos exposure sites in North Carolina
• All asbestos mines

References

1. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1950 (January 1, 1951), p. 2.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1951 (January 1, 1952), p. 2.
3. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1953 (January 1, 1954), p. 2.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1954 (January 1, 1955), p. 2.
5. Asbestos Magazine, 1973, January 1973 (January 1, 1973), p. 40.