Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1879-09-04
I'M NERAL sWsALFao0E E4TllE~BEills'
\ RIDGE COUNTRY. i@@a

! RIDGE COUNTRY. '@o
One OF the wide awake men ofs o.isi the
dav is Col. Chas. W., jerks, Of th is.
city, whom first met day Or two
ago. He tells me that there is unsur-
passed mineral wealth in the b Blue
Ridge country. sit is genuine
terra iincognita," hesaid, and added:
:" the only scientific man who ever
made thorough exploration Of the
country was Prof. Gray, of Harvard,
who went there botanizing. Colorado,
NerAda, Montana and Idaho have all
been tramped over, and yet, within
three days of Boston, is country
almost unheard Of, certainly quite
unknown, and offering great induce
ments for the prospector. . 4
Col. Jenks gave me ONE new ideas
regarding the mineralogy of the Blue
! Ridge country, which contains gold'
silver, copper, iron, mica, marble
oorundum, porcelain clay, soapstone'
etc. Some of these minerals are be-
ing proftably worked. The discovery
of corundum in this region is quite
mineralogical romance. Col. Jenka,
while roaming and prospecting through
the mountains, discovered unmistaka-
Ihe indications of,..thisy remarkable
mineral in North Carolina mine,
where the corundum carrying
veins show the mineral in massive
and crystal forms. ,.-a..
ALL THE GEMS OF TIE ORIENT.
This mineral is remarkable for the
gems which it carries. Col. jerks
says that in this Blue Ridge mine
there have been found the oriental
sapphire, ruby, astoria, emerald to.
paz, amethyst, girasal, chatayant, and
white or colorless sapphire, this la t
often used in place..of the diamond.
Here" said the olonel, taking a
lump Of mineral as big as ones fist
from his table, here is embedded a
ruby, and at the other end is a sap
phire. If these could be got out per-
feet, they would be worth a good sum
of money" The corundum emerald
is the rarest ol all gems. The emer-
aid of commerce, from Peru and
.Bogota, is softer.
Prof. Warrington W. Smythe, OF
the London School of Mines, says OF
this North Carolina mine, that, were
it his property, he should confidently
expect to take out yaiuaole gems
One corundum gem, now IN Europe
is valaed at 100000.
VALUE OF THE DISCOVERY.
But, fascinating as is always any,
thing regarding gems, the real value
IF tLe rorun.,um in the Blue Ridge
country lic+ in its applicability to the
arts. 1t is next to the diamond in
hardness and cutting power. The
Egyptians, says Col. jerks, are sup
posed to have employed it in cutting
Licroglyphic Inscriptions on theil
obelisks. Napoleon I brought an
obelisk from the banks Of the Nile
and placed it in the Place de la Con-
corde In the endeavor to inscribf
the date of its removal upon its base
th. French workmen destroyed several
sets of the best steel tools, and even
then failed in their purpose. AND
vet this obelisk was lettered all over
5000 years ago by Egyptian work
men.
A Worcester man, F. B. Norton
has invented wheel, which is made
of rearly pure corundum. 1t cuts
cast.iron, scale steel, chilled iron, ano
any alloy easily.
The value of the metal in the art'
is inestimable. Hitherto, it has beer
brought in small quantities from
Ceylon and IIindoorsan, where l
, was gathered in river beds and noun
> tain ravines. l. has never been nlnet
. for much beneath the surface. Al
that has come to this country has beel
in the shape of small crystals. Eu
ropean scientists were astonlshe'
D when Col. jerks sh WED them II
; London and st. Petersburg the mas
= sive specimens from the Blue Ridge
Amherst College has crystal iror
Q the Blue Ridge mine FIVE times large
than any corundum crystal yet ur
e covered in the world. 1t weighs 81
u pounds; at one end is sapphire an
Il ruby at the other.
One of these days all America ma
y be getting its precious stones iro'
j. the Blue Ridge.
L The colonel is quite an enthusla
g on the Blue Ridge country, and r
20 garding proposed development the
ot of a new wool product.-Boston S~
Is c1oy Herald.
le If Mr.. Conkling is innocent, it w
t. unmanly and dishonorable of him
st follow Mrs. Sprague to her HON
i knowing, as he did, that the wor
l,I;o, bo1 avaruu hora he