Spruce Pine Facts
Published: 05/01/2010 by Rob Somes
SPRUCE PINE NORTH CAROLINA FACTS:
*Spruce Pine is Mitchell County’s largest city of just over 2,000 people and sits poised along the North Toe River
* Spruce Pine was once referred to as “The Kim Thickets”, after resident and axe handle and shovel maker Kim Mchone.
*Chartered in 1913, Spruce Pine was built around the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad Depot.
*One of the first industries in Spruce Pine was the Harris Clay & Mining Company. Employees of Harris Clay got paid in scrip and used it to purchase goods in company stores. Today, mining has proven to be the town’s economic mainstay. You’d be hard pressed to find a geologist that has not heard of Spruce Pine NC.
*Spruce Pine has a more concentrated area of feldspar than any other area on earth and accounts for 60% of the United States production of the mineral.
*Nearly 100% of the United States and the world supply of ultra-pure quartz, which is used in the manufacture of fused quartz apparatus used in the production of semi-conductors, come from the Spruce Pine area. If you have a computer you may rest assured the computer chips were manufactured from Spruce Pine quartz.
