El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-21
A NINE OF SAPPHIRES.
Preciots Stones Found in a Vein in
Montana. and Washed From Their
Dry Clay Beds BY Hundreds.

Fergus county. Montana. possesses
one of them ost remarkable mines in
the world-the Yogo sapphire proper
ties-in that the precious stones are
found in regularly formed veins like
gold. silver and other valuable metals.
whereas in other communities dia-
mond. sapphires. opals and other bur-
led treasures are found in pockets or
clusters.
The sapphires are found scattered all
along the lead or vein, and. as in any
kind og mining. there is much dead
work as well as frequent rich strikes.
Last month for instance five blocks OF
ground were worked; from one to TO-
600 karats were extracted. while from
another of equal dimensios anly "A kar-
ats were taken. and the cost OF work
ing the block from which the ten thou
sand karats were secured was only
about one-tenth of that OF working the
other four blocks. from which eight
thousand karats were realized. The
sapphires are found in perpendicular
lead of dry clay. with wall rock on
either side. and as this clayey forma-
ton 81 mined IL is thoroughly washed
and the gems extracted and picked ov-
err They are of all sizes and various
degrees of excellence. but the anne
thystine gems continue very rare.
80 lar the company nave
down 30 or so feet. but prospecting has
bee done to depth three time as great
and there are sapphires all the way
down. The deeper they go the harder
the formation becomes requiring great
er exposure to cause disintegration-
All dirt that is worked over this year
will be exposed through the late fall
and winter to the action of the ele-
ments causing disintegration and next
rlNa.
sluice boxes and there may be ex-
tracted as many gems as were found
this years.
Through the summer many gems are
thrown aside as culls but men are left
at the mines all through the winter.
and they devote their spart time to
sorting over the culls. There would
however. be no danger in leaving the
mines unSuarded through the winter. |
for nature protects them. After the |
water freezes no one can extract the |
sapphires from their hard. clayey bed. |
The company secures its water from a |
point twelve miles distant from the |
mines. conveying it by bitches and |
fumes. The supply of water this sea- |
son has been smallr than usual. owing |
to n light snow fall last winter. but |
it was not necessary at any time to |
suspend operations. About forty men |
are employed constantly at the Yogo |
mines.
The out put for this section will be |
very large. and some particularly fine |
stones have been secured. The largest |
stone yet found at the mines was dis
covered early in June of this year, and /
it weighed 10 karats. The demand for !
the sapphires is constantly increasing /
and the supply is insufficient, despite |
the fact that many individuals are also |
engaged in mining them at various /
spots along the Missouri river, in adj /
dition to the Yogo mines.
All the stones are shipped direct to |
London. where many of them are cut. |
while others are sent to Antwerp for |
that purpose. But about half of the |
product finds its way back to the Unit
ed States. several large American COM
panies having contracts with the Eng
lish firm to which the mining company
sells its product The duty on the cut
glass gems is only about 10 per cent.
The actual mining season is from
April 10 to October 81. or until the
water freezes.
There is no indications that the
mines are playing out: on the contrary. |
they seem to be getting richer. AS
byproduct. considerable corundrum is
being mined. but this will be valueless
until a railroad shall have been built
TO the mines. Fergus county being the
,nly one acquainted with the iron horse
IN the state. Corundrum is worth
c 10 per ton in London. and is used in
he making of emery wheels. etc.
Thousands of tons of this mineral are
low laying on the dumps" awaiting
heap transportation. and even should
he sapphires become exhausted the
abroad would make the mining of the |
after a most profitable undertaking-IN
Leader.