The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-10-22
Gems Dug in Montana.

The Sapphire and Ruby Company, of
Montana, proposes placing $2,250,G00 of
stock in London. the proceeds to be
used in purchasing 1900 acres of land
along the Missouri River, near Helena.
The scheme, the New York World says,
is creating a great fiutter, but London
roslembers how millionaires literally
c.::lbed over each other when stock in
: :.sBurmah ruby mines was sold, so
/ ley are more deliberate this time. 1t
l. said that the opinion of the Governor
uf Montana will be secured before sym
,iicate invests. Z. w. Streeter declares
ti,at with the exception of the South AT
rican diamond fields, this is the most i'm
l,,,rtant discovery of modern times.
Little is probnbly known, even in this
country, of these Montana deposits.
George Frederick Kunz, an expert with
Tiffany g. Co. in New York special
agent of the Census Bureau in the De-
pArtlnent of Precious Stones, made a
pers ,nal inspection of the Territory
Std he yesterday =
The only locality in this country
which has been at all prolific of sap
plires is the six or seven miles of placer
vi ,tind between Ruby and Eldorado
BARS on the Missouri river, sixteen miles
east of Helena, Mont. Here sapphires
are found in glacial auriferous gravels
while sluicing for gold, and until now
have been considered only a by-product.
tn 10 hnx hop
been systematically mined. In 1889 one
Company took the option on 1000 acres
of the river banks, and several smaller
Companies have since been formed with
a view of mining for these gems alone or
ia connection with gold. The colors of
the gems obtained, although beautiful
and interesting, are not the standard
blue or red shades generally demanded
by the public.
''The stones embrace great variety
of the lighter shades of red, yellow, blue,
and green. Nearly ali the stones, when
finely cut, have an apparent metallic
lustre which is strikingly peculiar to
those from this locality. Neither red
rubies nor true-blue sapphires have yet
been found.
'NThese gems were most abundant at
Eldorado Bar, where one to two pounds
II day were once collected Some of
these have been cut, and one very per-
feet stone of 81 carats and OF good green
color, almost equal to the best Oriental
emerald, has been obtained.
ceed one-quarter inch to one half inch
in length. They are brilliant, but us
TALLY OF pale tints. Two gems are in the
Amherst College collection which weigh
about one-eighth of :. carat each. One
is true ruby red and the other zap
phire blue, oolors rarely met with there.
The gems are usually of a light green,
greenish blue, blush red light red, and
the intermediate shades
Mr.. Kunz says that stones not of the
standard colors are called fancy color
ed" Fine stones are worth from $50
to 500 per carat, but he said he could
place no price on the fancy colored.
which are much cheaper. Tiffany u
Co." said he, s'have not sold or seen
true red ruby Or Il true blue sapphire
from Montana, but they have seen in
teresting fancy colors, the sale of which
is very limited. compared with the stan
dard."
Mr.. Kunz declined to estimate the val
ne of the Montana bars. II think such
men as Ex-Governor Hauser or N. b.
Hotter, who own several thousand acres
of these bars. would give the most val
liable opinion of them" he said. They
are not being worked to any extent now,
and there seems to be little enthusiasm
among the people of Helena about them.
The whole question is, How much gold
can be washed out of the deposits for
understand i'll the London proposition
gold is to be the paying product, while
the gems will be a profitable bypro>
duct The value of the $4,000 carats of
gems in London depends entirely on
their size and color 1t is impossible to
extiInate without seeing them"
Mrs A. NJ Willis, jr., of Washington,
a., on Wednesday last was bitten on Il
tiager by rattiesnake- she insisted
til at her husband shonId at once cut her
ringer off, but instead of following her
) .sgestion he applied his mouth to the
.,ound and sucked out most of the pois-
on. Her arm on Thursday was badly
s wollen up to the shoulder since which
ii ne it has gradually reduced. Owing
4, the fact that the snake was a small
o,e and to the prompt and dangerous
action of her husband she probably
owes her life; as it is very seldom that
persons recover from the bite of n rat
tlesnake. Had any of the poison gotten
in decayed tooth it would more than
likely proved fatal to Mr.. Willis, as it
would have been the same thing as be-
ing bitten by the snake.
Mother-When do you suppose that
young man that calls on you will make
known his intentions, Laura?
Laura think he will propose pretty
soon. Last evening he was very anxious
r., bnoxu xr,batbar oo,,16 Jrocc m, d40