Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1894-03-23
HUNDREDS OF oPALs.

said that the children of Boer, i'm
the Transvaal, playing with tiia-
mond in the rough, caused the dis.
covery of the great diamond pro-
ducing field Of south Africa.
Near Glen Ford, eight miles
from Abingdon, Va, on railroad
i'll the river hills of the Holston, in
a county so rough that horses can.
not be used and steers are the
beasts of draught; where the peo.
pie are so poor that shoes and
stockings are luXuries, and women
consider glass beads the summum
bonnm of personal decoration, the
children of men who cannot read
nor write, have been playing with
opals for toys.
The story is strange and roman.
tic. George Mccormick is a print.
er holding "ad" cases in tho com
posing room of the Journal. He
makes money and saves it. He is
a native of Virginia, and last sum.
mer while visiting there bought
LOG acres of wild lands in the hills,
for which he paid 5000. People
laughed at him for his investment,
for, while well wooded, it was so
far from the railroad and so rough
that lumber could not he shipped
from it even if q saw mill was
there.
Mccormick, through his father,
who lives near Glen Ford, made a
bargain with hill man to clear
part of the land for tobacco. Last
week the hired man while at work
saw a few glittering stones in a
hole where a tree had been uproot.
ed by the wind. He thought lie
had discovered some snake eggs
and thinking to amuse his children
with them, stopped to pick them
up. or course, he discovered his
mistake, but he became curions
and began to dig with a hoe. rs he
had never seen anything like them.
Soon more were upturned, and
when he left Off he had collected
about two hundred and fifty of tho
precious pebbles. These he took
home and his children and the
of the ueighbors, who
were given some, used them in
childish play.
SOME SENT TO KNOXVILLE.
McCornick's father happened
along some days after and he was
gwen lot, numbering s:Xty-tw0,
to he sent to George at Knoxville.
Still no one suspected their value,
and when Mccormick received the
package he paid little attention to
them, but showing them to a friend
who is something Of an amateur
mineralOgist, was somewhat eXcit-
ed when they were declared to be
Mexican opals.
Through a friend two jewellers
of Knoxville were shown the find
and they both declared them to be
Mexican opals and some of them
worth from $50 to s75 each.
Mccormick then made haste to
secure the balance, and today re-
ceIved notice from his father that
another lot of them had been sent
to him. In the meantime, howev-
er, fifty of them had been sent by
express to a brothcr.in-!aw in Chi
cago to he disposed of.
The stones were exhibited to
your correspondent this afternoon.
They are all beautifully polished
and have evidently been through
expert lapidary hands. Some Of
them are small and worth but lit.
tie, but % large number are bcauti-
full specimens, of q reddish color
and remarkable lustre. OF the
siXty-twO first sent Mccormick, a
few of the best will pay the pur.
chase price of the farm several
times over.
HOW DID THEY GET THERE?
How the stones got there can
can only be conjectured. IL is on
q beaten road Of travel in q wild
and rough country, far from q
place where any man lives that
might safely be believed to he
wealthy enough TO possess such
playthings. The criminal history
of this section. discIoses no cline to
the affair. The only possible ex-
planation is that in some way or
other they were stolen and hid
there by the thief. Yet this hardly
seems probable.
This only your correspondent
knows: The printer, the farm, the
jewelers. and the stones, which he
has himself examined, and that
fifty of them have been sent to
Chicago for sale.
GUARANTEED CURE.
We authorize our advertised drug
gist to sell DIR. Kings New Discov