Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1892-02-05
PRECIOUS STONES.
Enormous Capital is Invested in
Their Production.
Little Mining for Gems in the
United States.

Ll1tiS miIlllB lot OenS IN the
United States.
From the customs import list, after
deducting the approximate value of
cut stones, other than diamonds, we
find, says George f. Kunz in the En-
gincering and Mining journal, that
import duty was paid on about $780,
600, 900 worth of cut diamonds in the
last "a years, Of which 100000, 600
worth were imported during the last
u years. In 1868 81, 900, 600 worth
were imported and about 81, 200. 900
in 1867, but about S11, ,0OO,0 900 worth
in 1888, and in 1889, about sl3.00O,-
600, or 10 to 12 times as many as 90
years previous, showing the increase
of wealth and the great popularity of
the diamond among Americans, the
previous figures representing the i'm.
port prices, exclusive of mounting or
dealers profits, and no account taken
of those smuggled.
The probable value of all the dia-
monds in the world is estimated at
over one billion dollars. The entire
diamond trade is carried on by 5000
dealers, with total stock of not far
from $3.50, 900, 900. These stones are
prepared for market by perhaps $500
cutters and polishers, principally in
Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris, the Jura
Mountains and the United States. A
limited amount of cutting is also done
in England. About 200 men cut dia-
monds in the United States. The
diamond-cutting industry is develop
ing rapidly i'll this country. In New
York there are sixteen firms engaged
in cutting and recutting diamonds,
and in Massachusetts there arc three.
Cutting has also been carried on at
times in Pennsylvania and Illinois,
but has been discontinued.
Forty million carats of diamonds.
weighing over nine tons, have been
found in South Africa. In the rough
fhair a4s....~---4 ,ros @o5o ooo |
diamond yield of the N"Aa 7s7iiSeYetYnGf4i,- 7siieY mir
the past two centuries. world '-..-~e
production perhaps 8 per cent. are 'odif
first water, u per cent. of the second,
and % per cent. of the third, willie
the remaining 45 per cent is known as
bort.
Up to the present time there has
been very little miIing for preciou,
stones in the United States, and this
only at irregular intervals. II has
been carried on during the past few
years at Paris, Me. near Los Ger
rillos, n. NJ; in Alexander county,
n. c., from 1881 until 1888, and on
the Missouri river, near Helena, Mont,
since the beginning Of 1890. True
beryls and garnets have been found
frequently as a by-product in the min
ing of mica, especially in Virginia
and North Carolina. A very limited
number of diamonds have been found |
in the United States They arc met
with in wcll-defned districts of
California, North Carolina, Georgia,
and recently in Wisconsin, but up |
to the present time the discoveries
have been rare and purely accidental.
.,,NMs 9f ssDs>as..s j s.ess.sa ss.a.
color have been found. The same fact
is true of rubies of fine red color. |
The only locality which has been at all
prolific is the placer ground between
Ruby and Eldorado bars, on the Mis-
souri, river, 16 miles cast of Helena,
Mon. Here sapphires are found in
glacial auriforous gravels while sluic-
ing for gold, and until now have been
considered only a by-product. The |
colors of the gems obtained, although |
beautiful and interesting, are not the
standard blue or red shades popular
with the public. The emerald has
been mined to some extent ut Stony
Point, in Alexander county, N. G.,
and has also been obtained at two
other places in the country Tur-
quoise, which was worked by the Az
tees before the advent of the Spaniards,
and since then by the Pueblo Indians,
and largely use by them for orna-
ment and as an article of exchange, is
now Systematically mined near Los
Ccrillos, n. NJ.