River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-12-01
NORTH CAROLINA GEMS.
An Extraordinary Discovery of Pre-
eious Gems called Hiddenites.

An Extraordinary Discovery of Pre-
eious Gems called Hiddenites.
North Carolina is winning all the
honors in the meteorological world at
present Mr.. William Earle Hidden,
not content with merely discovering
the gem which DR.. j. Lawrence Smith
called hiddenite, has unearthed enough
Of them to pay for the land where the
find was made and all the expenses of
last years work. The last find is by
all odds the most extraordinary that
has rewarded his pluck and patience.
1t was learned to-day from private
source that in dropping the mine a
cavity sixteen feet deep, five feet wide,
and seven long was bored into what
proved very treasure-house. The
walls were frosted with brilliant erys-
tails, some of them that studied the
surfaces weighed as much as twenty
odd pounds, and decreased in size to
minute crystals not larger than hazel
nuts. In this gem-nest were found
nine of the finest emeralds ever discov-
cred in the United States. In color
they are q clear grass green, in form
dodecahedral or twelye-sided, with
smooth fiat terminals. The largest of
these emeralds was eight and half
inches long, and had an average diam
eter of one inch others were six
inches, three inches, and two inches
long. The largest emerald found in
the mine to this last discovery was less
than two inches in length and was not
quite three-quarters of an inch IN dl-
ameter. The color of the emeralds
found so far has not been quite salts
factory They are clear, but more or
less fawed and pittied, and have sue
cession of parallel lines drawn across
the prismatic faces close together, and
the basal plane is also often pitted with
minute depressions. But crystals are
rarely found pure with perfectly
smooth and brilliant faces. The emer-
aid color is often strongest on the sur
face, and fades gradually to color
less central core. 1t is the belief, based
upon experience of the output of the
mine, that the color of the emeralds
will improve as the mine is sunk deeper
and deeper, and the results of the deep
rock mining are looked forward to with
interest and high hopes by those inter-
ested in mineralogy.
The home of these pewly-discovered
gems lies in Alexander, one of the
northwestern counties of North Caro-
lima. 1t is about thirty-five miles, as
the crow flies, southeast of the Blue
Ridge mountains, and in the midst Of
low, rolling country of a red gravelly,
fairly fertile soil on plateau one
thousand feet above sea level. Mr.
Hidden had his attention directed tc
it about two years age, when, in the In
terest of Mr.. Edison, the electrician, he
visited North Carolina in search Of
platinum in suffiient quantities to an
sWer the purposes of this exhaustless
| inventor. He did not find platinum
DIR. Kerr, the state geologist, and Gen
Clingman, who is a practical geologist
told him that he would not. Mr.. Hid
den persisted, however, and in his Skin
mishes around the mineral lines of the
state first heard of the pale emerald
stones OF Alexander county. j. Ada
Stephenson, a mechanic, had preceded
him. His love of minerals and IndiaI
relics had led him to get in his service
the interest OF all the woodsmen anC
rock hunters the country round. They
brought him many quaint and curl
Gus and sometimes valuable relic of thu
ancient tribes, and sometimes valuable
minerals. When successful he paiC
them. The money rock, he told them
was dark green clear and perfec
stone. This they sought diligently bu
never found. They found light greer
beryls and brought them to him, ant
on these first specimens of emeralds h.
claims to be the discorerer of the spo
dumen emerald called hiddenite.
number of good people, no doubt
think that Mr.. Stephenson is a much
wronged man. Mr.. Hidden bought tn
land where the light-colored emerald
were found, and went to work upol
the common-sense principle that tn
deeper down he went and the neare
the matrix he found the emeralds tn
better gems they would be. The idei
of mining for them seems never tt
have occurred to the natives, who hev,
hunted them ''loose in the soil" III
mas been rewarded, and seems to hay
| just begun tasting the early fruits. 4
curious conjunction is that of the en-
| erald and hiddenite. When one j
looked for the other is apt to be found
One seems the alter ego of the other
A curious fact of the finds is that NOR
than nine EN- eralds have never BEEF
found in a pocket, and that the bes
find was exactly nine. The hidden gen
has aroused the spirit of getting gol'
and other precious metals from tn
ground. Lands have risen in valu
wherever they are supposed to hold i
their bosoms the longed-for treasures
and in many cases will prove Jarndyc
vs.. Jarndyce legacies to beggar father
and children. One great good it is dc
ing-it is making itself felt as a power
full worker in educating the people
The demand for books on popular &c
ology and mineralogy is increasing
The people are reading more.