May 23, 1934 - March 1st, 2014
Mitchell Lumber Company (owner/operator)
Spruce Pine, North Carolina
Last Updated: January 19th, 2020
 |
Bud Phillips; landowner, forester, miner, farmer, story teller, historian, friend, and supporter of Bo''s Mine Tours died March 1st in his beloved mountains of North Carolina. Bud, I will miss our sessions in your office. You taught me a lot about the mining, history, and culture of the Spruce Pine Mining District. |
I
met Bud Philllips in June, 2006. After attending
a Gem and
Mineral Show in Asheville, I had come to Spruce Pine
to learn about
mineral collecting sites associated with the
Spruce Pine
Pegmatite. I was traveling with Michael Hall,
another teacher. We
were staying at the Richmond Inn Bed &
Breakfast. We had
visited several mine sites using Richard Jacqot's
"Rock, Gem, and
Mineral Collecting Sites in Western North Carolina" as
a reference and
had learned about a marble mine which
was known as the Bud Phillips' Marble Mine. We were
interested in
getting permission to access to the land.
Maggie Haskins, the
Richmond Inn B&B owner, recommended that we
try to meet with Bud
personally. She said that he was a local legend
and we should not
underestimate him due to his appearance as he was one
of the largest
landowners in North Carolina. Maggie said that
Bud could usually
be found in his office at the Mitchell Lumber Company
on Altapass Road
only a few blocks from the inn. The following
day, a Saturday, we
went to the Mitchell Lumber Company to meet Bud.
The front office
spaces were crowded with several groups of men who
were waiting to talk
to him. Michael and I waited at couple of hours
for our
turn. Meanwhile, we were busy looking through
Bud's outer office.
Every horizontal surface was piled high with papers
and mineral
specimens. The papers were stacked a couple of
feet high in some
places; oldest on the bottom, most recent on the top.
There was a large
periodic table banner on one wall. Some of the
mineral specimens
were quite valuable, just sitting out in the
open. One was a
large emerald crystal we later learned was from a
pegmatite mine in New
England. We finally were invited in to his
office. He
looked pretty much like the picture above except he
had on bib
coveralls and a short sleeved polo shirt with a pocket
full of tree
seedlings. The first thing he wanted to know was
whether we were
veterans. We must have talked for a couple of
hours about a whole
range of topics; how to avoid cancer (proper
diet, don't use
aluminum
pots, sleep with a silver spoon in your mouth, drink Ginsing
tea), the
importance of supporting local bee-keepers, the
overreaching
regulations of the federal government; all subjects I
would hear often
over the next eight years of our relationship.
He gave us several
handouts about his favorite subjects and a few
trinkets such as the
first of many small folding pen knives I would
eventually have on
every key chain I own. After he had determined
that we were
trustworthy, I guess, he said he had no objection to
our checking out
the marble mine and in fact, he gave me a key to the
mine gate so we
could drive down to the mine. Bud cautioned us
to watch out for
"yellow jackets" in the gate lock and that if we had
any trouble to
give him a call. Michael and I visited Bud's Marble
Mine the next day!
 Marble Mine Gate (picture taken Oct 2010) |
 Marble Mine
outcrop (picture taken Oct 2010)
|
 Beautiful white marble found at Bud's Marble Mine |
I have used the key for seven years now in developing my tours of Bud's Marble Mine and the McBee Mica Mine that was nearby. That story is for later.
I made a trip to
Spruce Pine for about six weeks from the middle of June
to early August of 2007 to continue
to investigate mines in
the area and to attend
the Grassy Creek Gem and Mineral Show (outdoors) and
the North
Carolina Gem and Mineral Show in Spruce Pine (indoors).
I met with Bud upon arriving at the Richmond Inn in
June to discuss Mike Hall's and my visit to the
Marble Mine in 2006. I reported the poor condition
of the road from the gate to the mine and that it
would have to be regraded to get any vehicle down to
the Marble Mine.
In addition to Richard Jacqot's book, I was using Lowell Presnell's "Mines, Miners, and Minerals of Western North Carolina" as a reference. Lowell's book inspired me as to the importance of considering the Spruce Pine Pegmatite in the cultural context of not only the mines and the minerals but also of the miners and their families. I began to appreciate the importance as getting to know as many of the old miners and the miner's families as I could. Bud would prove to be invaluable by introducing me to people who could give me access to their mines and tell me mining stories first hand. He wasn't all that forthcoming with information early in our relationship. Mountain people tend to keep their information "close to their chest" until they know they can trust someone. That said, Bud did give me the mobile phone number (from his Rolodex file) for Ed Silver, the co-owner of the Sink Hole Mica Mine. He pointed out that he had my card in his file also; we were making progress.
I was unable to come to the mountains at all in the summer of 2008 as I was busy getting married to my wife, Diana. Diana and I made a road trip in the fall which resulted in our buying a cabin in eastern Yancey County where we spend the summer and fall and really get to know mining history and culture of the Spruce Pine Mining District.
In addition to Richard Jacqot's book, I was using Lowell Presnell's "Mines, Miners, and Minerals of Western North Carolina" as a reference. Lowell's book inspired me as to the importance of considering the Spruce Pine Pegmatite in the cultural context of not only the mines and the minerals but also of the miners and their families. I began to appreciate the importance as getting to know as many of the old miners and the miner's families as I could. Bud would prove to be invaluable by introducing me to people who could give me access to their mines and tell me mining stories first hand. He wasn't all that forthcoming with information early in our relationship. Mountain people tend to keep their information "close to their chest" until they know they can trust someone. That said, Bud did give me the mobile phone number (from his Rolodex file) for Ed Silver, the co-owner of the Sink Hole Mica Mine. He pointed out that he had my card in his file also; we were making progress.
I was unable to come to the mountains at all in the summer of 2008 as I was busy getting married to my wife, Diana. Diana and I made a road trip in the fall which resulted in our buying a cabin in eastern Yancey County where we spend the summer and fall and really get to know mining history and culture of the Spruce Pine Mining District.
 View of the cabin from the south |
 View of the Black Mountains (Mt. Celo on the left) from the back porch of the cabin |
In
June, 2009, Bud told me about the Goog Rock Feldspar
Mine which was
known for its high quality almost translucent
Feldspar. The
famous ceramic company, Wedgewood used Goog Rock
feldspar exclusively
at one time. I asked him how I could get access
to the mine and
Bud introduced me to Lud Leiner who owns land next to
the Goog Rock and
had access to the mine. Lud took me to the Goog
Rock which is a
large cave like opening due to the extensive feldspar
mining
there. I toured the mine and the tailings with
another new
friend, Don Wyatt whose father and uncle worked at the
mine. Lud and Don become a good friends. I've spent a
lot of time over the last few
years checking out several mines on Lud's beautiful
property.
 Don Wyatt (left) and Lud Leiner at Goog Rock tailings |
 Smaud Leiner's lll mine on Land |
 Beautiful S.Toe River flows next to most of Lud's land |
Lud has another feldspar mine site which is located next to the South Toe River. The mine is known as the Martin Mine. Lud has constructed a beautiful walking trail which connects the mine sites and has set up a small business, Rock Mine Tours, to offer tours to the public. Lud asked me to be a tour guide for Rock Mine Tours on several occasions in 2010 and 2011.
 Martin Mine
trail provides a fun family experience
|
 Student fascinated during school field trip |
 Young tour participant with nice mica sample |
 |
I enjoyed my experiences leading tours for Lud at the Martin Mine for Rock Mine Tours so much that I decided in the late summer of 2011 to start my own mine tours business. |
Here are a couple of Bud Phillip's stories
Molybednum ore deposits, the Russians, and Vodka: Molybdenum is an important element used in making steel alloys for use in high temperature applications such as jet engine turbine blades. One of the ore minerals of Molybdenum is Molybdenite (MoS2) which sometimes occurs in quartz veins. During one of my talks with Bud, I noticed a specimen of Molybdenite and milky quartz in a small pile of rocks and minerals on a shelf next to the guest chair (standard metal office chair with arms and lots of duct tape). He said that the sample came from a location in Mitchell County which he was keeping secret for the "right time". The "right time" for Bud meant when there was a demand so great that the "feds" wouldn't bother him with extreme environmental regulations which would prevent him from mining it. He said that he had once been contacted by a group of Russians who had noticed a similarity in the topography of a known Molybdenite loaction in the Ural Mountains and a location in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Spruce Pine. They wanted Bud to show them the location. They negotiated and Bud demanded ten cases of vodka. The Russians said that they couldn't do that. Thus ended the negotiations. Bud wanted to keep the location secret. He once told me that he wanted to pass along some of the information that only he knew. He did tell me a lot about mines and mining in the Spruce Pine Pegmatite but unfortunately not the secret location of the Molybdenite!
Bud Phillip's Gold Mine: Bud told me he had a gold mine on some of his land on Grandfather Mountain. He said that it consisted of high grade gold bearing pyrite that he had mined years ago. He thought that it was worth taking another look at since the price of gold had risen significantly since it was mined. He also told me that he had found some beautiful rock crystal quartz crystals with inclusions of galena (lead sulfide, PbS) near the mine. That really got me interested because I had some experience with the silver sulfide ore minerals near Wallace, Idaho which contained chalcopyrite (copper pyrite), galena, and Argentite (silver sulfide, AgS). I thought that the pyrite and galena bearing rocks near Bud's pyrite mine might contain some Argentite silver. I made two trips looking for Bud's Gold Mine but was never able to find it. I got close on one trip (within one ridge line) but was too tired to continue so decided to wait for the next trip. I wonder, with Bud gone now, whether there will be a next trip.