St. Paul daily globe., 1892-12-27

OH Plum creek III Pierce county,
Wisconsin. While sluicing for gold one
of the workmeD saw a bright stone.
which he picked up, and which gave his
employers something of aStOniShment
To see. They took 1t to an expert. who
declared that il was diamond. They
had been prospecting for gold, and
there they found diamond. OF course
this made them very caretlil.and a little
while after, while panElng for gold III
the same stream, another diamond was
found. though it WAS off color. In the
summer of 1888 fonr diamonds were
found while s!uicing FOR gold i'll three
weeks time; the most perfect stone
was secreted by a workman. In 1889
three or four diamonds were found, but
very small ones. One of these. stones,
which | examined, could have been cut
into a diamond of value. 1t could have
neen made perfect brilliant Of about
3-l6thS OF a carat"
docs this indicate that there may be
diamond fields in wisconsin," Mr.kunz
was asked
With the hesitation of man of sci
ence. he replied: at IS certainly new
locality for diamonds, yet am inclined
to doubt that these sands viii be very
prolific, or that the discovery will be
likely to lie Of any commercial value.
1t is however, interesting, since it IS
now established that diamonds have
been found in the United States.
Vague reports have been circulated
in the newspapers that diamonds have
been found in meteorities; can that be
posSible?"
"Well, there was meteor discovered
in Arizona in which very hard spot
was found which resisted the chisel.
On treatment that spot produced DOW
der, and the cavity which contained
this powder, Prof. KOenig believer, was
lined with crvstaiiZed carbon. In this
meteor there certainly appeared to be
the diamond form of carbon"
Mr.. kunZ, as he was answering the
question about meteOric diamonds, took
from his drawer something which as he
held it in his hand had the color, al
though not exactly the shape, OF blue
birds egg. In shape 1t was more sug-
gestive of the form Of a pecan nut, eX-
cepting that it was not pointed at the
ends.
Look at that" said he, sis not that
an exquisite blue? 1t is the blue OF
the sky upon perfect June day. That
is a turquoise, far and away the finest III
America, and it came from these new
mines in New Mexico. 1t Is worth
81, eco. Very few as beautiful sDecl-
mems of this gem have been taken from
the Persian mines. and it is a matter OF
some cOlumercial interest as well as OF
consequence to the lovers OF gems that
the indications are that these new mines
are to Oe proiitably worked"
''W as the discovery OF them accl-
dental, or had there been suspicion that
turquoise existed thereT'
''Oh, there were old turquoise mines,
and the indications are plenty that they
were worked by the ab0rlgineS. In fact,
Indian graves have been opened there,
in which have been found 4 Jew pol
ished turQ doiSe beads. | think 1t was
little less than two years ago that
mine a few miles from Los CerrllloS,
n. NJ. was leased to Eastern capitalists.
Two or three others were also leased.
In the time Of the earlier civilization of
that region there must have been a
greet deal of work done. Prior to this
recent development Of the mine, the
value, and yet since this mine has been
skillfully worked several thousand
stones have been produced, and ii is
probable that gems to the value OF $780,
UOO a year may be obtained from this
mite. There are two varieties i'll these
New Mexico turquoiseS. Those found
near Los CerrillOS are very BEAUTIFUL
sky-blue, like this one, but those OBJ
tained in the mines in Grant county are
of gfeeniSh tlnge, more OF robins S
egg suggestion In color"
On the desk before Mr.. Kunz there
lay small but exquisite opal. 1t was a
stone Uf wondrous beauty, and he was
asked where it came from.
That" said he. "is from the Ural
mountains, but do you know that since
my book was published, very recently
in fact. there have been discoveries i'll
American opals which suggest that we
may have mines here that will furnish
gems equal to the Hungarian. It was
no longer ago than August, 1890, that
James Allen, who Is Jeweler, hap
pened to see in pile OF rock thrown
out by a workman vino was digging a
we'll in the state of Washington and
very near the Idaho line, ii gem which
proved 70 be genuine ire opal. This
stone was thrown out from depth of
twenty-five feet, and the rock from
witch it came on examination was
found TO be filled here and
there with cavities containing the
precious opal. Some OF them
were no larger than Il small pea, and
there were some as large as hens egg.
examined some of tile specimens, and
| tell you they were very line. l do not
know whether the gems are going to be
as plentiful as they tell me is likely to
be the case, but il they are and the
mines are properly worked, they are
sure to becoMe very successful from a
commercial point of view. Already
should say $20O,000 worth of gems have
been taken. There are, of course, some
white epalS found in Mexico, and saw,
on recent trip. on the figure OF saint
in the church OF Jurddo, an exquisite
celestial blue opal as large as a mans
thumb, suspended from the neck. 1t
was given by one OF the poems as vO-
tive Offering for the speedy recovery of
relative"
OF late number of paragraphs have
appeared in the newspapers about the
sapphires that have oeen found i'll Mon
tana, and it has even been said that an
Euglish company with many hundred
organized to work these Montana bars
for gems.
Mr.. hunZ says that three years ago
4.0JC acres were purchased or all option
obtained for the purpose OF working the
sands for sapphireS. Mining engineers
have estimated that this property will
yield 1900 ounces of sapphires to the
acre, but Mr. Kunz says that only a part
Of them will be of such quality as to
warrant cutting into gems.
Il should not feel justified in urging
any friends Of mine who had interest in
these sapphire mines to expect any very
rich return. One reason is owing TO the
high price of cutting sapphire gems and
the small demand existing for stones,
excepting those which have the true
ruby red or sapphire blue"
Her slipper at SIS.
Boston Globe.
Modern Cinderellas do not lose their
slippers coming down castle staircaseS ;
instead they give them away, deliver
ing them into the hands of him who
J.1o rf +hf nj