The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-20

tory Of the Montana gems, shows them 10
J be pure aluninA. with a trace Of iron tos
confirms my previous optical sxaminatioi
and the tests of hardness, specihc gravity
fracture and crystalline form. They Ars
certainly true sapphirea and nothing else.
Another opinion 10 from +. w. RuddeH
81 g. s. curator Of the Museum q fr ..!Sn
stones submitted TO me for examinations
and described a. having been found IN
Montana, are principally true sapphirea'
their crystalline form. specific gravity,
hardness, eto,., demonstrating this beyond
question. The gems exhibit . great variety
Of shades OF green, light blue. yellow VIC.
let, etc, including many beautiful
delicate tints. orue OF the stones exhlblt
shades Of pink and red, and may be scien-
titically designated rubies. The Montana
their brillianoy, whilst their hardness,
which is second only to that Of diamonds.
is a guarantee shat they will sustain wear
without loss OF lustre. note the. pres
ence of many garnets and q few chryso--
lites, together with the corundums, but !
attace NO importance to them"
These opinions como from the most emi-
nent men in their profession in England, and
generally carried with them great weight.
But to convince the skeptics, the opinion
of jewellers wers also necessary. One OF the
celebrated jewelers. In London and o. the
40 w v NSpA0OS1A -
to being a large dealer he is also authority
on precious stones. In his report he says in
part: The stones have q wide range of
color, and / note tho frequent occurrence
Of tints rarely obtainable in this valuable
gem. l unhesitatingly say Of these differ
ent oolored sapphires and rnbies that in
hardness and brilliancy they excel any
others known to the trade, and many OF
them are even moro brilliant by artificial
light than BY daylight, which increases
their value for jewelry. The rubies are
more Of the Ceylon color than Burmese,
but there is a sure sale for the best Of these
at from IS to $40 per carat. / find q few
spinels mixed with the other stoles. also
some Rarnsts Of fine quality, but of COM
paratively little value. think a fair esti-
mate of these gems and their value would
be as follows: Taking . hundred carats in
the rough, twenty-five carats would be cut
able gems, and the remaining Is
per cent. are only valuable for
mechanical uses and watch work. OF
course, some few Of the rare crystals are
worth none for cabinet collections, al
though unsuitable for cutting. OF tho
twenty Eve oarsts. rough. of outable stones,
there would be returned from the lapidary
certainly not less than a third, OF, say
eight and three-fourths earats of cut gems.
For purposes of estimate l think you are
quite safe in reckoning upon an average
valuation Of 20 shillings per carat for the
cut stones. exclusive of the specimen gems,
and then in Wholesale lots and to the deal
ers only"
Mr.. Streeter concludes his report as fol-
lowf: ''To find these stones in the unpre-
cedsnted quantities indicated by your en-
gineers' reports is a discovery of the great
est Importance to the gem trade.
j.. d. Yerington, the New York jeweler,
reported on the gems to about the same
effect as Mr.. Streeter. Armed with these re-
ports the promoter set about forming the
and Ruby company of Montana.
The first thing to be done was to secure a
representative lot of men to subscribe to
the founders shares. These were selected
the nobility, the professions, from
among fnanciers, the stock exchange, and
from political life. This accomplished,
the work of placing the matter before
the public began. The prospectus of the
company was published in all the leading
financial papers Of the country, as we'll as
the more prominent regular newspapers. A
page was used, and the cost in a ma
iority Of cases was $500 for each insertion.
to the publication of the Rdver-
tisements, however, the deal had become
pretty generally known, and many and
various were tine devices resorted to to break
it up. But the foundation had been laid
very solidly. and despite the fact that the
effects of the Barring collapse had not
passed away. when the subscription books
Nov. 2 the stock offered had all been