Cheokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine in Franklin, North Carolina

The Nantahala region of North Carolina is full of opportunities for mining at locations from salted mines for passing tourists to family owned mines that lie further off the beaten path. A salted mine provides buckets of earth for visitors to sort through that have had low quality gemstones previously added to the earth. Non-salted mines, on the other hand, have no stones artificially added to the soil. Instead, non-salted mines offer an authentic opportunity to find high quality gemstones, as well as Native American relics and other unique finds. One of the better examples of a non-salted mine around Franklin, North Carolina is the Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine off of Cherokee Mine Road.

Cherokee Ruby mine is a family owned and operated working gem mine that offers some of the best public access mining in the area. This is largely because Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine obtains its soil from the alluvial valley of the Cowee River. Whereas many of the surrounding public mines harvest their stones from veins along the hillside, earth that is taken from the creek beds along the valley contain a far wider sampling of gem stones that gradually made there way don the hillside over the course of millenia. The alluvial soil available at Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire mine is particularly rich in gem stones because of the strategic selection of mining areas along old creek beds of the valley that have proven particularly lucky strikes in recent years.

Although the main attraction at Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine are the precious stones in the name of the mine, you never know what you are going to find. Other common finds in include garnets, rutile and sillimanite (best known as the source of tiger's eye stones). I am not particularly sharp eyed when it comes to spotting gem stones, but I have left happily with my finds on each of my visits with small but striking garnets, sapphires, sillimanite, shards of Indian pottery and even a small ruby. I've never spent a day at the mine without seeing somebody have a eureka find, whether it be a sizable ruby or the approximately 1000 carat hunk of sillimanite that someone found during my last trip that the owners say was the largest that they have ever seen in person.

The Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine is located at 41 Cherokee Mine Road just outside of Franklin, North Carolina. They are open from 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Saturday and from 12 pm to 4 pm on Sunday. For more information, visit their website or contact the mine staff via telephone at (828)349-2941. Access to the mine is $6.00 per person with an extra $2.50 per bucket of earth. Their helpful family staff spans three generations of gem stone experts who are readily available to ensure that you don't miss any precious gems by helping identify rocks and thoroughly explaining the optimal method to sifting through your soil.