The times., 1899-01-04
A MINE OF PURE crsYTALs.
Romantic story of 81 Find In Gala
veras County. Cal.

From the New York Tribune)
Since balls turned from quarts crystals
have obtained a considerable amount OF
popularity, chiefly for decorative purposes,
a new mining field has been opened up for
those who have sufficient 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.
1t is about seven and one-haif inches in
diameter and, together with its gold and
silver mountings. is said TO have cost Miss
Gould SIS 600. 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 still waiting TO be excavated in the
same neighborhood, balls may be turned
which will equal the foreign ones in size
and beauty. This immense deposit OF
quartz crystals is being worked by Mil
waukee mining expert, John E. Burton, and
the story of how he came to undertake the
project reads somewhat like the Capt. Kidd
tales of caves OF buried treasure.
Several years ago. said Mr.. Burton,
who has just spent couple of weeks in
this city, "a friend OF mine, mineraio-
gist. who was very i'll and believed he
could not recover, told me a secret which
he had long guarded carefully. Although
his story sounded much like many 9th r
improbable yarns OF the kind, / was
somewhat impressed with the idea that
it was true. Briefly, IL was that in an I'd
cave, the exact location of which he de-
scribed carefully, in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains. in Calaveras County, Cal,
there were tons upon tons of pure quartz
crystals. many of them of huge size. lie
gave me the name of the owner of the
property in which the cave was-Capt.
lack McSorley of Mokelumme Hill
urging me TO believe what he told me,
and to investigate the contents OF the
wonderful cave. After spending many
months in studying the subject of quartz
CRYSTALS and in making inquiries regard
ing the demand for them and their mar
ket value ! decided to try to discover
the deposit Having located the cave, it
was bought by a friend of mine, and
called on Tiffany G. Co, which firm /
knew to be interested in quartz crystals.
Naturally. they were a little increduious
about the existence Of the cave, but they
said that if my statements were true they
would handle all the crystals could send
them.
We'll, it took me seven months to open
the cave. but when | saw the astounding
mass of crystal it contained ! considered
myself well paid for my time and labor.
Last February / shipped twelve tons-an
entire carload-of the sparkling stones to
Tiffany & Co. Among these were some
magnificent specimens. but / hope to dis
cover still finer ones in the course of the
present winters work.
There is now to be seen at Tiffany &
Co.'S a crystal ball 3 IL inches in dame
ter which was turned from one of the Ca
layeras County specimens. II is hawless
and as clear as distilled water, and is
valued at So. 600. The machinery for turn
ing the balls is very expensive. and this
fact, together with the rarity Of crystals
that will yield perfect balls Of large size,
accounts for the high prices charged for
them. II would be possible to produce
much larger balls if occasional flaws were
admitted, but when a perfect one is de-
sired there is often great deal of waste
in the cutting. The 1-2 inch ball now at
Tiffany's was originally Z i-2 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 Sc
cure crystal which would turn a perfect
ten-inoh bail, such sphere would sell IT
$4,000 without any difficulty Besides the
use of the crystals for balls, there is a
certain, although limited, market for them
in another way. AT present buttons of
pure crystal. cut in facets, are seen upon
fashionable and costly garments and many
of the smaller specimens can be sold for
this purpose.