The morning call., 1890-09-29
PRECIOUS STONES.
A Wonderful Story That Was Told
to a Reporter in New York.

One day last week upon falling in with
Colonel Manuel GoRez OF Parita. a Mexic.sl
mining engineer, who has lately been trav-
cling extensively in Arizona and Old Mex
leo, investigating the mineral resources of
that part of the country in the interest of
some Eastern and European capitalists, I
asked him, writes reporter for the New
York Star, what truth there was in the re-
port that precious stones in paying quanti-
ties could be found in Arizona. He said
81 was not looking for precious stones,
but picked up some Information about them,
for | go on the principle that no sort of gen.
eral information can do a man harm. My
experience in Brazil, however, taught me
that wherever there were precious stones to
be found there was much larger number
of fairy stories afloat as to the value of the
finds You know that precious stones are
simply crystallHations, and with the eXcep-
tion of the diamond, which Is pure carbon,
they are water formations. colored with
some mineral or vegetable appropriations.
Those found in Arizona are spinal rubies,
sapphires. emeralds, turquoises, an excellent
garnet. amethysts and small pearls. The
ruby has been found in large sizes up to
fourteen carats, but much inferior to the
Burmah rubieS.
80 The sapphires, emeralds and pearls are
very small, and the amethyst crystals very
large. They are often found in ants nests
in the deserts, as those industrious insects
have a habit of carrying shiuing stones to
their nests. Larger turQuoises are found
there than anywhere else, but very light in
color. The majority Of them are greenish,
but many are light blue. The rubies, sap
phircs and emeraldS are corundums and are
generally found in a granite country.
The pearls are found along with pet
rihed clans and oysters, showing
that the country has been at some
remote period under water. | have been
told by biologists that Arizona was the first
land appearing above the waters in pre-
historic ages. The turquoise Is found in
seams of an eighth OF an inch to four inches
in width. The Spaniards mined them at
depth Of about thirty feet: There are tur.,
quoise mines in both New Mexico and
Arizona, which have been long abandoned,
and in which are found Indian hammers,
showing that the Indians worked them.
1.-The large turquoise set in the Spanish
crown. and which is as large as pigeons
egg, is supposed to have come from Arizona.
Turquoses are very popular among the
Indians and good-sized perfect stone can
generally br traded for a pony to some of
the Chiefs About twelve years ago some
unscrupulous Eastern man, finding that
corundums are in the desert, got up dia-
mond excitement, scattered some small
rough diamonds at certain points, and on the
strength OF the finds organized diamond
mining company. He is said to have made
money out Of it, but the company didn't
The emeralds found in Arizona are of very
good quality and very clear, but they are
small.
''Jn the eastern part of the Territory. near
where most of the gems are found, there is a
petrifed forest some 1900 acres in extent, the
major part of which seems to have been like
the redwood Of California. There are a
number of petrffied trees lying about that
locality that are 100 feet long, and some are
four feet thick at the butt. Where these
trees are hollow the inside is often coated
with crystals--amethyst, topaz, or black and
trees take very high polish and have been
used for table-tops and other ornamental
purposes, but on account of their hardness
and the necessarily great expense Of trans
portation and working they are not used so
much as their beauty would warrant"