Corundum Hill Mine

Corundum Hill, in the Cowee Valley near Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina, is the birthplace of the famous "Cowee Valley rubies." A farmer turned up heavy, strange rock while plowing his field here in 1867; systematic mining began in 1871 when C.W. Jenks opened the Corundum Hill Mine, and by the 1890s outfits including the American Prospecting and Mining Company and Tiffany & Co. were actively hunting for the source vein of Cowee's rubies (never found at commercial gem scale). The mine produced abundant industrial corundum for abrasives and enough gem-quality ruby and sapphire to be locally famous — a 49-pound corundum crystal from Corundum Hill is a prized exhibit at the Franklin Gem & Mineral Museum today. The historic mine itself is inactive, and the surrounding area now falls within Nantahala National Forest, though this dossier could not confirm a specific current collecting policy for the old workings. Franklin's broader "gem mining" tourism industry grew out of this same discovery, though most modern flume material is trucked in from other local mines rather than dug at Corundum Hill itself.

Corundum Hill is in the Cowee Valley/Ellijay area near Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina — now within the boundary of Nantahala National Forest. No current trailhead or access road was verified in this research; Franklin (with its numerous commercial gem-mining flume operations) is the nearest town for orientation.

UNVERIFIED for current access to the historic mine dumps specifically. If accessible as National Forest land, expect surface picking on old spoil piles with hand tools; corundum-bearing rock is dense and can require breaking with a hammer. For a guaranteed dig, Franklin's numerous fee flume operations (unrelated businesses, but drawing on the same regional corundum deposits) are the reliable option.

The Corundum Hill Mine itself is long inactive. Sources indicate the surrounding Ellijay area is now part of Nantahala National Forest, but no source in this research confirmed a specific collecting policy for the old mine workings — treat the exact pit location as land-status-unverified until confirmed with the Nantahala National Forest (Nantahala Ranger District). Old mine ground carries pit and shaft hazards.