The Anaconda standard., 1899-03-14
FINDS A NINE OF CRYSTALS.
Dying Man Tells a Valuable secret to a
Miiwaukeean.

|
Since balls turned from quartz crys-
| tails have obtained ronsidera BILE
amount of popularity, chiefly fol. deco
rative purposes, a new mining field has
| been opened up for those who have suf-
| ficient confidence in the permanence of
| the present fancy. Thus far the largest
| and finest balls have come from japan.
one notable specimen being now in the
possession of Miss Helen Gould. IT is
! about seven and one-half inches in di-
ameter and. together with its gold and
silver mountings. is said tn have cost
| Miss Gould $4,000. But Within the last
year several tons of valuable CRYSTALS
have been produced in this country. and
it is hoped that from some Of these
masses, or from others stiil waiting to
be eXcavated in the same ncighbJrhootl
balls may be turned which will equal
the foreign ones in size and beauty.
This immense deposit of quartz crystals
is being worked by Milwaukee min
ing expert. John E. Burton. and the
story of how he came to undertake the
project reads somewhat lik~ the Captain
Kidd tales Of caves of buried treasure
Several years ago SAID Mr.. Bur
ton, who has just spent couple of
weeks in this city, "a friend of mine,
mneralogist. who was very i'll and be-
lieved he could not recover, told me a
secret which he had long guarded care
fully. Although his story sounded
much like many other Improbable yarns
OF the kind, was someW hat impressed
with the idea that it was true Briefly, it
was that in an old cave, the exact loca-
ton of which he described carefully, in
the Sierra Nevada mountains in Calav-
eras county, California, there We're tons
upon tons of pure quartz crystals. many
of them huge size. H gave me the
name of the owner of the property in
which the cave was-urgtng me to be-
lieve what he told me, and TO investi-
gate the contents of the wonderful
cave. After spending many months in
studying the subject of quartz crystals
and in making inquiries regarding the
demand for them and their market
value. | decided to try to discover the
deposit. Having located the cave, it
was bought by friend Of mine and I
called on Tiffany & Co. which firm I
knew to be interested in quartz crys-
tails. Naturally they We're a little in
credulOus about the existence of the
cave, but they said that if my state
ments We're true they would handle all
the crystals / would send them.
Well it took me seven months to
open the cave. but when | saw the as
founding mass Of crystal it contained I
considered myself well paid fer my time
and labor Last February | shipped II
tOns-an entire carlOad-of the spark
ling stones to Tiffany & Co. Among
these were some magnificent specimens
but ! hope to discover still finer onGs
in the course of the present winters
work.
There is now to be seen at Tiffany &
Co.. crystal ball five and one-half
inches in diameter, which was turned
from one of the Calaveras county speci-
mems It is fawless and as clear as
distilled water, and is valued at $4,000
The machinery for turning the balls is
very expensive, and this fact. together
with the rarity Of crystals that will
yield perfect balls OF large size. ac
counts for the high prices charged for
them. 1t would be possible to produce
much larger balls if occasional flaws
were admitted. but when a perfect one
is desired there is often a great deal
of waste in the cutting. The five and
one-half-inch ball nov at Tiffanys was
originally seven and onehalf inches in
diameter but owing to the discovery
of a small flaw, it had to be cut down
and turned to its present size. The
value of the balls increases far more
rapidly when the diameter is more
than seven inches. Mr.. Burton declares
that if he could secure crystal which
would turn a perfect 10-inch ball such
a sphere would sell for SIS, 900 without
any difficulty. Besides the use CT the
crystals for balls there is a certain. al
though limited, market for them in an
other way. AT present buttons of pura
crystal, cut in facets, are seen upon
fashiona BILE and q silly garments. and
many of the smaller specimens can be
sold for this purpose.