Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-15
STATISTICS ON PRECIOUS STONES.
The Census Bureau Tells where Gems srs
Found I'm This Country.

Found I'm This Country.
The production Of precious stones iu this
country and the statistics Of diamond cutting
and lapidary are given in q bulletin prepared
by Mr.. George =. kunz, special agent, tnd
issued by the census Office. II is stated teas
this important field has never been covered BY
any preceding census
Up 20 the present time q IL stated In the bul-
letin there has been very little mining Tor
precious or semi-precious stones in the United
States, and then only AZ irregular periods 10
has been carried on during the past lev years
AZ Paris, Ne. near Los Cerrillos y. NJ. In
Alexander county. y. C.. from 1881 until .sss.
aud on the Missouri river near Helena. Mont,
since the beginning OF 1880. True beryls aud
garnets have been frequently found a by
prodnct in the mining OF MICA especially in
Virginia and North Carolina. Some gene euch
as the chlorastrohte. thomsonite and agases Of
Lake Superior. are gathered on beaches, whore
they have fallen from rock which has grEda-
ally disiutegrated by weathering and wave ae-
ton
WHERE THE oERNs ARR rorSp.
A very limited number Of diamonds have
been found in the United States. They are met
with in well-defined districts Of California.
North Carolina, Georgia and recently in Wis
consin, but up 20 the present time the discover
lee have been rare and purely accidental
VI the corundum gems Sapphire. ruby and
other colored varieties) no sapphires OF nne
blue color and no rubies Of fine red color have
been found, The only locality which has been
~ all prolific il the placer ground between
Ruby and Eldorado bars, ON the Missouri
river, sixteen miles east Of Helena. Mont. Here
sapphires are found while sluicing for gold
and until now have been considered only bv-
product Up 20 the present time they have
never been systematically mined In 1859 one
company took the option on ZOO acres OF the
river banks and several smaller companies have
since been formed with . view OF mining for
these gems alone or in connection with gold
The colors of the gems obtained. alth 5ugh
beautiful and interesting. are not the standard
blue or red shades generally demanded by the
public.
At Corundum hill. Macon county. North
Carolina, about one hundred gems have been
found during the last twenty wears some Of
good blue color and some of good red Color
but none exceeding SlO0 in value, aud none
within the past ten years.
of the beryl gems (emerald. aquamarine nd
yellow bHyl) the emerald has been mins-,i 20
some extent at Stony Point in Alexandria
county. North Carolina. and has also been OBJ
tained at two other places in the county. Marty
everything found has come from the Emerald md
Hlddenite mines, where during the past decade
emeralds have been mined and cut into germs
to the value of = 200. aud also sold AZ m ner-
illogical specimens TO the value Of So 900; lIthia
emerald or hiddenite. TO be cut into gems,
$500, and for meteorological specimens, q, 100;
rutile, cut and sold gems sl5O. and as
specimens. so, and beryl, cut and sola ss
gems. $50.
At an altitude Of IA 900 feet on Mount Antcrc,
Col, during the last three years, material has
been found which has afforded I'll 900 worth %
cut beryls. At Stoneham, Me-, about : 800
worth of fneaquamarine has been found, which
was cut into gems.
At New Milford. Conn. a property was ex-
tensively worked from October, 1885, TO HAY,
1856, for mica and beryL The beryls were vel-
low, green, blue and white in color. the former
being sold under the name OF golden beryl."
No work has been done at the mine since then
In lss6 and 1857 there were about 400 stones
cut and sold for some $4,000, the cutting Of
which cost about g. 600.
This mineral, which was worked by the Ar
tees before the advent of the Spaniardf md
since then by the Pueblo Indians and largely
used by them for ornament and as an article Of
exchange. Is now systematically mined near
Los Cerrillos. " Nj. Its color il blue and it's
hardness is fully equal to that Of the Persian,
or slightly greater, owing to impurities. but Il
lacks the softness Of color belonging TO the Per-
sian turquoise.
From time immemorial this material has
been rudely mined by the Indians. Their
method is TO pour cold water on the rocks after
previously heating them by fires built against
them. This process generally deteriorstes the
color OF the stone to some extent, tendiu 20
change II to a green. The Indians barter tur-
quoise with the Navajo. Apache, Zuni, san
Felipe and other New Mexican tribes for their
baskets, blankets, silver ornaments and ponies.
The finest garnets and nearly all the periioe
found IN the United States are obtained in the
Navajo nation. in the northwestern part of New
Mexico and the northeastern part of ARR ona,
where they collected from ant hills and scorpion
nests by Indians and by soldiers stationed at
adjacent forts
These garnets. which are locally know, a.
Arizona and New Mexico rubies, are the finest
in the world, rivaDag those from the Gaps u
Good Hope. Fine gems weighing from
two to three carats each and mp
ward when cut are not uncommon.
The peridots found associated with garnets are
generally four or five times as large and from
their pitted and irregular appearance have
been called Jobs tears" They can b. cut
into gems weighing three OF four carats each,
but do not approach those from the lie yaut
either In size or color.
VALUE OF THE GEMS.
The total value Of the production of PREF icus
stones, including quartz and ornamental MIN
erals, during the year 1889 was slss. sO7
In New York there are sixteen firms engaged
in cutting and recutting diamonds, and Ia
there three. Cutting has
also been carried on at times in Pennsylvana
and Illinois, but has been discontinued Ia
1889 seven of the New York firms ran on full
time, but the Others were unemployed for long
periods.
The industry employed 2Se persons. OF wsora
sixty-nine were under age, who received : .ss-
ia in wages. OF the nineteen establishments
sixteen used steam power.
The importation Of rough and uncut
in 1880 amounted to ELS. 2O7, in Issg
TO ESQ, lS7, and the total for the decade was
IS, lbs. 529. while in 1883 there were imported
S443, 996 worth, showing that there was "a per
cent more cutting done in 1859 than in 1850,
but markedly more in 1852 and less.
This large increase Of importation is due TO tho
fact that in the years 1882 TO 1855 a number OF
our jewelers. opened diamond-cutting estab-
lishments, but the cutting has not been profit
ably carried on in this country on q scale
large enough to justify branch houses
in London, the great market for rough
where advantage can be taken q
every huctuation in the market and parcels pur-
chased, which can be cut Immediately and con-
verted into cash. for nothing is bought aud
sold on a closer margin than rough diamonds
There has been a remarkable increase in the
importation Of precious stones in this country
IN the last ten years. The imports from 1870 90
1873. inclusive, amounted TO s26.69s 21s,
whereas from 1880 10 1889. inclusive. the iaa-
ports amounted to over Ss7, 1856, ia, more than
tbraa inn, fxA Ia