Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-01-04

,f;n;,v for Gems IN North Carolina.
Seven years ago, Mr.. j. A. Stephenson, now
| Of Statewide NC. commenced 10 urge the
| farmers of the vicinity of Stony Point, AieSah-
der county, NC. TO gather the specimens Oh
minerals Of that region. which he coiectca. III
period OF about six wears a number of emeFaids
were found loose in the soil, none OF "h'eh'
| however. We're dark-colored or transparent
enough for use as gems. Mr.. William Earl
| Hidden. whose attention was directed TO the
| matter began a series of explorations. which
have led TO the present mining for gems IN iiat
ioraiity the only one probably where such WORK
Is carried ont i'm this country Mr. Hidden gives
the following account of tie occurrence oil
! minerals at Stony Point aid the operations
,aeFe carried out:
'sThe locality is situated about thirty-lve
miles airline measure. southeast IRON the l'iue
Ridge mountains, sixteen miles northwest from
Statssyiile The contour Of the country is low
rolling: the altitude something over a thousand
feet. The soils are mostly red. efgseiiy Gays,
of not much fertility. The prevailing rock is
gneiss with more OF feldspathic than m'caceous
nature. The gems and crystals occur implanted.
and not Undecided in open pockets OF veins oil
VERY limited extent. that are cross-fractnreS
or assures in the crock. These assures are
usually situated nearly perpendicular. There
being no glacial drift here the soils are neces-
sariiy the result of decomposition ana disin-
tegtation on the spot 1t is. therefore. an easy
task to fluid the source of minerals found on the
surface.
Thus Tar the gems have been found in a mar
row belt running northeast and southwest, and
scattered over distance OF three miles. In
this belt signs of cross-hssures are very
abundant. and ii is very common thing to find
crystals of quartz. rutie. tourinaitne. etc. etc,
perfectly preserved. scattered over the surface.
"ihe location of the present mine was OBJ
tanned in the following manner: corps of men
was engaged TO dig series of deep bitches in
directions that would cut the strata at different
angles. The site chosen for work was on the
spot where at least hali-dozen pale emeralds
had been found. Not knowing then their man
nec of occurrence. Mr.. Hidden hoped i'm this way
to strike a vein bearing them. Five weeks were
spent lJu:y 20 August 1880. before any success
was met with. aud then at depth of eight feet,
blind vein bearing very small enera!ds was
discovered. In this vein. or pocket. as it proved
TO be later. and outnunibcring the emeraids hity
to one was found the new emerald-green mime
raj called 'Hiddenite 10y DR.. J. Lawrence Smith.
which was such surprise to the scientific world,
and which was destined to answer the same
purpose as does the gem sought. and become
in all probability the main object OF future
mining.
The search for emeralds at Stony Point is in
terwoyen with my discovery of emerad-,Ereea
spodumeEe The two minerals occur intimately
associated together. and while mining Tor the
one the other is constantly found. This blind
vein yielded very handsomely of the new min
era!, but very sparingly of emeralds. and the
few found were too small TO be useful as gems.
although their color was very good. tunnel
300 feet long. mostly through rock, was cut TO
this vein, and shaft eight feet square SINK
down upon it. Up to October the vein has been
worked down to depth OF thirty-three feet. at
which point it has proved its pocket nature by
showing signs of pinc.liag out-ciosing to-
gether. Titus far twelve of these pockets have
been found within area OF fort y-foot square.
carrying eInereIds. four of which pockets con-
tanned also the Riddenite. All these veins
maintained nearly the same character OF dip.
thickness, length horizontally and assecia-
tons: other pockets were found that yielded
quartz. rutile. monazite and mica crystals.
Others yet whose walls were covered with finely
cTystaized dolomite. calcite. apatite rutile.
pylite, quartz and mica. In instance a
small pocket that contained two beautiful small
esEeralus had its walls covered with lace crys-
tails Of aibte (twinned parallel TO the basal
p!ane1 Another pocket contained only mica
and one small pellucid coloTless beTyl that had
both ends terminated with many planes. The
largest emerald found thus far was 81 inches
long by throc-quarters OF al inch in diameter.
it vas one Of five fine crystals contained i'm one
pocket. Their color was excellent. and they
were transparent. though somewhat fawed."