“Enjoyed your recent article about gold ore in the Dark Corner,” said an unknown truck driver leaving the Ingles parking lot. “Any other kind of precious stones around?”

“No precious ones, but a lot of iron ore,” I said, waving goodbye.

I was remembering that Glassy Mountain could have become an iron ore producer like that of Red Mountain in Birgingham, Ala., which feeds the large iron furnaces of the region.

Glassy Mountain’s iron ore was discovered by accident in 1906, when an amateur geologist accompanied Colonel R.E. Johnston of Greenville, as he rode his horse over property from Glassy Mountain Baptist Church up to the top of Glassy, which he wanted to buy for its virgin timber.

The Saluda Land and Lumber Company had already bought virtually all the land on top and in back of Glassy Mountain for its timber back in 1904.

Colonel Johnston was dealing with a shrewd landowner who kept him interested in the property but had refused so far to actually sell him the tract. The colonel made a number of visits, bringing several friends and acquaintances with him.

The amateur geologist became very interested in the bank of the bladed road up the side of the mountain. He stopped, dismounted and began to inspect little brown and black rocks that protruded from the red soil of the bank.

He asked Colonel Johnston to dismount and inspect the small rocks with him. “These are excellent specimens of iron ore,” he said. He gathered a number of them into a bandana and took them back to Greenville for assaying.

The rocks were assayed as 63 to 69 percent pure iron, higher than ore found in the Birmingham area. On a subsequent trip, Colonel Johnston learned the vein of ore extended along the lower side of the mountain for some 14 miles. The ore found along the route was of the magnetic type, which was quite heavy. There was also a lot of light reddish brown ore, known as hermitite.

Colonel Johnston immediately began sales negotiations with several landowners and entered into negotiations with Pennsylvania interests who indicated they would be willing to invest as much as $5 million in his proposed iron ore endeavor.

Enthusiasm for the project began to wane when it was discovered that the nearest source of lime, a necessary substance used in smelting ore, was well over 100 miles away (there are limestone deposits in the Gaffney area, but deposits large enough for use in iron ore smelting are located in coastal counties of the state).

The closest rail point to Glassy Mountain was Landrum, some five miles away. Coal, another necessary material, would require a rail spur to be brought to the mountain.

When Pennsylvania interests learned of the difficulty in bringing lime and coal to the Glassy Mountain site, they withdrew their offer of assistance.

Colonel Johnston bought the original tract and harvested the timber. The trees were replanted and harvested at least once more while he owned the property.

When one drives the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway as it passes by Glassy Rock on the face of Glassy Mountain, past the entrance to the Cliffs at Glassy and the Oak Grove Road turnoff to the Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve, one cannot help but marvel at the scenic beauty of the mountain at that point.

The entire mountainside could have been another Birmingham iron ore smelting area, if limestone and Landrum’s railroad had been closer in 1906.