The Portland daily press., 1896-03-07
GEM FIELDS OF THE WORLD
Where Some of the Rarest Of jewels
Are Found.

That Proved Disastrous to the Eng
lishmen-The Fields of America-The
Methods of Mining in Various Coun-
tries
Little was known OF the ruby mines of
Burmah until England finally conquered
the Burmese kingdom in 1888. This was
accomplished by two expensive wars. and
concessions for working the mines were
exacted from the King as indemnity.
Such was the idea of their richness that
when the Burmah Ruby Mines Company,
Limited, was organized in London, the
spectacle was Witnessed of white haired
milliondires being clu bhed away from a
bankers office which they blocked in
their eagerness TO obtain q stock that
was subscribed for three times over be-
fore the books were opened for the public,
Immediately selling for three times par.
This stock, however, has not earned a
dividend up to this day, and is quoted
at less than 90 instead of 800. Last year
the oompany's payment to the Indian
government was reduced to eneourae
the enterprise, which has proved very ur-
profitable. The climate Is the greatest
enemy of he European. Of fifty English
officers who visited the mines forty eight
had the local fever; the other wo had
had it before.
The rubies. always associated with the
ruby red spinel, occur in layer of sand
and gravel in the valley bottoms, result
ing from the breaking down of crystal
line limestones, and are obtained by dig
ging pits as deep as is practicable before
they fill with water, and from open OUT
tlngs In the hill side: also from cavities
ana caves in the beds of granular lime
stone; rarely by quarrying into the rocf.
The limestone, the original matrix of
the ruby, is Identical with the rock in
which Opaque rubies and immense spi-
nels are found, in Orange county, New
York.
In Siam, the gem producing district
lies In the interior, not very far from
Bangkok. 1t produces many small, but
good, rubies, sappbir4s ETC., and is
worked by various persons ard compa-
MES holding concessions from 10 COVERT
ment. The gems ara found in LAYER
OF soft yellowsh sand, at depth of from
few inches to twenty feet The methods
OF working are of the most primitive Ori-
entail kind.
In Macon couaty, N. c.. in an allu
vial deposit from the breaking down of
crystalline rocks, some crystals of ruby
have been found in fiat, hexagonal taBu-
lsr forms. A number of small gems
nave been cut from these, all of good
color, and quite equal to the medium
rubies from Burah
The sapphire occurs associated with
the rnby, in similar situations. and is
also found when rubies have not been as
YET. Csylon furnishes many of the best.
but they also occur, of fine quality, in
Burmah, Siam and the HimaIayas, and
rarely in the Ural Mountains and the
United States. In Ceylon, the ruby, sap
phlre, spinel, alexandria. cat's-eye, and
other gems are all found as rolled psb
Dies In gravel in or near old river beds
IN the government of Handy.
Katnapura. the city of rubies at the
foot Of Adams Peak, at Ceylon. an alti
tude OF 6. 600 feet, is a great mining CEN
ire. FITS are sunk to the depth permit
ted by the pumping appliances In search
OF gem bearing gravel. and when this
bod is not reached within the limit of
possible water clearance the pit is aban-
doned and l.ial made elsewhere. 1t
seems as II, with the application of ma
chlnery adequate to keeping tine pits clear
OF water, this constant abandonment of
those sunk would no longer be necessary.
made by native workers would be largely
surpassed by the Europeans.
But the hopes entertained as to both
Burmah and Ceylon have been disap-
pointed hitherto; nor does there appear
any chance of future success, unless with
seme improved methods of machine
working. One who has BEEN active in
this gem-mining enterprise, says:
What we want is an honest machine.
one that will not only obtain for us the
geniferous stuff. but would securely
guard it from the piokers and steslers
until it can be raised to the surface and
treated under European supervision
This is impossible down III the pits Of
Ceylon, as no European could long en-
dHre their heat. AS rseultof the work
undertaken by European mechanical
agency in Ceylon, the bazaars of Colombo
were fuller than had been ever known
before of gems of various kinds; but few
Of these had passed through the hands
of the companies working the min es.
Nearly all the fine sapphires of the past
fifteen years are from a very remarkable
discovery made in 1882, in the Zenskar
range of the Himalayas, In northw estern
Kashmir, near the line of perpetual
snow. A landslide removed an abund-
ance of sapphires, which at first were
used as gunflint by the natives. One
writer speaks of having seen about a
hundred weight of them iii the possession
OF single native. Traders, however,
soon carried them to commercial centres.
where their value became known. The
Maharajah of Cashmere promptly sent
regiment of sapoys to seizs upon the
mines and to harry the natives who