The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-22
RARE JEWELS FOUND IN AMERICA.
Valuable Mines Exist In Various Sec
lions of the Country.


From the Brooklyn Eagle.
The United States have never taken
their proper place among the gem-produc-
ing countries, principally, il would ap-
pear, because of the superior gains Of
fered in the metal mines. Every strike
of gold, silver. tin, lead, copper or iron
holds such a promise that there is a rush
of Adventures to the place, and minor in
dustries and promises are neglected Pa
tent and skillful working of the gem
mines. however. would appear to promise
as well as many of the metal industries.
There are in Montana, for instance, sap
phres of beauty and value, but they have
never been as systematically worked as
have been the sapphres of the orient.
True, they are light in color, but they
have more brilliancy than the Asian sap
phres and often exhibit dichroism, or
double color, under different lights. The
suppostion that a sapphire should be dark
blue is possibly responsible for the slow
ness of their acceptance in the market.
but as a matter of fact sapphires are not
of necessity blue; they are green, yellow,
purple, white. and when they are red We
call them rubies, for the ruby and sap
phire are identically the same, save for
a fraction of per cent of coloring mat
ter.
Every gem known to lapidary has been
found within our borders except that
form of chrysoberyl known as elexan"
drite, a stone most commonly found in
abe Urals, and showing green by day and
red by artificial light We have also found
but few of the varicoored garnets of
which Russia furnishes such remarkable
and beautiful examples, and none that has
their brilliancy, though the red garnets
of Arizona and contiguous territory are
unsurpassed in richness We have sew
eral gems, moreover that are almost pc
culiar 90 this country and that should be
used more extensively because of their in
trinsic beauty. Such are the golden beryls
of Connecticut. that are of a brilliant yell
low, full of light and sparkle and the
curious chlorastrolites are thomsonites of
Lake Superior. that are useful as green
or mottled grounds in the making of de-
signs.
Among the lesser known, but Interesting
and often beautiful minerals that are
found in this country and that lend them
selves to purposes of ornaments are the
grass green hiddenite, the superior of
emerald In Vivaccity; the duller green
diopside the utahllte which is q rival of
turquoise, If it can be made to keep its
color and texture; the ziroon, of red and
brown and especially the tourmalinc.
from jet black to almost water white and
including pink, brown, blue and almost ev-
cry shade of green These tourmalines ire
more appreciated abroad than they are 1t
home, and whereas we buy sapphires and
rubies from Burmah and diamonds from
Africa and topazes from Japan and Bra
I'll and turquoises from Persia, we remain
seemingly Indifferent to the gems that
come from Maine and Connecticut. Col
lectors have known them for years, how
ever, and have priced them a their value.
Many of the crystals show two and even
three colors, being red at one end and
green at the other, or green without and
deep pink within. OF these tourmalines
81, 600 worth were mined last year at Mount
Mica, Me.
Turquoise has been known to the IN
dams of the southwest for centuries, and
there is good reason to believe that il
was mined by the Aztecs. Brooklyn cap
ital has been invested in one OF the New
Mexican mines, and 1t is said that a SUI
perior quality has been produced. There
is probably no ornamental stone that is
so extensively initiated. Hundreds of peo-
pie are wearing what they suppose to be
turquoise. but is in reality glass of enamel
or composition that closely copies it's
color and apparent texture and does not
fade as the stone itself is apt to do.
There has been an addition to the semi
precious stones of new variety OF garnet
known as rhodolite, of a pale rose red.
but not many specimens have been
brought to the cities, and It has not ap-
peared 40 any extent in jewelry. 1t would
seem to be worth the while TO work our
gem deposits more thoroughly, for ac~
cording 90 the report for 1898 by George
f. Kunz, the expert there continues TO he
a profitable activity in the making of
jewelry. This country has imported as
mn % a
gem material in single year, while the
home production has always been rel5-
lively slight. albeit there is a gain. In
1898, for instance, the production of pre-
clous stones in the United States repre-
sented about 1851 900, as against $4,000 in
the year before and $4,000 in the year be-
fore that. The indications are that We
have mineral veins and deposits that will.
when adeque tely worked, offer rewards
far in excess of these figures.