The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-21
RICH In PRECIOUS STONES
American Gems as Valuable as
Those of Other Countries.
Diamonds. Rubies. and Gnrnets in
Many Sections of the United states
Wealth in Mountain Ranges
The Famous "Cowee District"

Many gems are formed IN what is
J known as goods" that is, small pockets
I or cavities in rock. The substance form
/ ing the gem was at one time held in solu-
ton in water. which seeped into these
| pockets, and. as it evaporated, left the
( deposit OF gem material. which crystal
! lied or solidified into the gem which we
| find today. The diamond is first formed
! in this way. Gems from quartz are not
J always formed in a good. They are mass
I es of .iehydrated silicates. which have
1 crystallized, and may form in large mass
! es in veins, or strata between layers OF
| rock.
The ordinary American citizen has so
long considered South Africa, Brazil, and,
/ in short any country but his own, as
| the source from which all gems and pre-
| cious stones come, that when he realizes
| that his own United States produces
many of the most valuable stones of the
| first water it will come to him, doubtless,
! as a pleasant surprise. The fact that our
own home States are rich in diamonds,
| rubies emeralds. sapphires, etc, is new
| ertheless true. The gem industry in this
country amounts to many hundreds of
thousands of dollars every year.
Diamonds are found in the United
| States but in small quantities. They have
been found in Ohio, near Milford and Gin
cinnati, in Kentucky, North Carolina,
| California, and Wisconsin. In every case
they have been found in loose gravelly
earth, mostly broken crystalline rock
| fragments The most famous diamond
| found in this country has been named
the Dewey" 1t was picked up in Man
chester Va, just opposite Richmond. in
| 1855 A workman. while engaged in dig
| ging in the street, picked II up out of the
| dirt When found it weighed 2324 carats,
| and after it was cut it's weight was II Ills
| carats. 1t was an imperfect stone, and
| a little "off color" II was valued at
| $1,000 at the time it was found, and the
! expense of cutting it was 81 500 The fin
| ished gem was estimated TO be worth be-
tween three and four hundred dollars.
1t was cut by Henry d. Morse, Of Boston,
| who was the first American diamond cut
ter. This diamond finally passed into the
possession of John A Morrisey, the prize
| fighter, who was at one time represen-
| tative in Congress from New York 1t
| was given to him as security for loan
| of $500, and is still owned by his estate.
| Diamonds in the United States are
! found in two regions geographically re
| mote. The first region is at the eastern
| base of the southern Alieghanies from
| Virginia to Georgia, and the western side
| of the range from Wisconsin to Georgia.
|
| part of California and the southern dis
f, tricts of Oregon along the western bases
| OF the Coast and Cascade ranges. The
| diamonds are found usually in loose ma
terial among deposits OF gravel and earth,
! associated with gold. quartz, and other
| material, this material in all cases being
merely debris of crystalline rock from
! adjacent elevations The region Of Wis
| consin southwark through Ohio is in the
| line of the moraines of the ancient ice
| sheet and the diamonds in every case
InNT
| rise to the opinion that the source of the
| diamond is in the older rocks somewhere
| in upper Canada, from which they We're
| gradually transported by the moving gla-
| ciers in ptvious geological period.
CoRUNDUM GEMS
Corundum includes the ruby and sap
phire, which mineralogically and chem
ically are identical. The term ruby is
| applied to the red sapphire only. The
term sapphire is applied to all other
colored or colorless corundums except the
red. The colors of the corundums in
clude the reds of several shades, blue,
purple, green. yellow, amethystine. to
| white, these colors being IN several inter
| mediate shades. In the United States the
| great corundum region is in the crystal
line rocks of the Southern Appalachian
| range, especially in North Carolina,
South Carolina, and north Georgia. The
| greatest width OF the belt is estimated as
| 100 miles. Specimens sufficiently clear for
| gems are found only in North Carolina.
| The most famous locality recently de-
| veloped is what is known as the "COwee
district This locality is now producing
rubies as rich in color as those from the
famous mines in Burmah. In variety of
color the North Carolina gems excel all
others found elsewhere. They are grey.
| green, rose, red of several shades, blue,
violet, brown, yellow Of all intervening
shades, TO colorless. North Carolina also
| produces a brown variety of corundum,
! which. when cut carbuncie shape, or. as
1t is called. "cabachon, rounded sur
face, shows bronze play of light on the
arch characterized by well-defned stars.
Another famous locality for corundums
| in the United States is near Helena, Mon,
where ii occurs among gravel in the bars
of the upper Missouri River. These gems
are usually light green, greenish blue,
light blue to pale red color and usually
appearing of a different shade by arti-
ilcial light than in sunlight. The cOrun-
| dun industry. at present only in its in
fancy, amounts to over $4,000 yearly.
THE EMERALD AND AQUA MARINES.
Emeralds and aqua marines. like the
ruby and sapphire are chemically and
mineralogically the same. Both are Il va
riety of the beryI The term emerald Is
applied to the emerald and the grass green
beryl. The term aqua marine" refers to
the color which passes from "A sea green,
sky blue, and sea blue beryl In Alexan-
der, y. C., emeralds have been found at
five different localities the most impor-
tant of these being Stony Point about
sixteen miles northeast Of Statesville
/ Here the gem occurs IN pockets, which
| afford crystals somewhat light in color
The total output amounts to a little over
SEQ. one remarkable crystal weighed
over eight and three-quarter ounces. OF
| only one-quarter of an ounce less than
| the famous gem owned by the Duke OF
DevOnshre. This gem is estimated to be
worth 5000
North Carolina also produces fine aqua
marines. The most prolific localities are
in Mitchell and Yancey Counties, along
the county lines. Gems absolutely flaw
| less and valued at from 800 to $500 are
not uncommon. Fine aqua marines are
also found in the New England States
! Two localities are especially noteworthy
They are Litchiield, Mass. and Portland
Conn. Litchfield produces gems yellow
colored to white. In the United States
| National Museum IS a fifteen-carat stone
! from the Portland Comm quarries. which
in brilliancy the superb stones from Bra
I'll.
Probably the largest beryls in the world
are found at Grafton and Ackworth n II
Crystals six and half feet long and
weighing two and half tons a portion
| of which might afford gems, have been
taken from the quarries in these locali-
| ties In the National Museum there is an
immense beryl from there which weighs
| over 800 pounds. II is of a pale blue color
and in spots is SO transparent as to af-
ford gems up to one carat in weight.
TIE FAMILY OF GARNETs.
Garnets represent a group OF minerals
which, though chemically quite different
are mneralogically the same as the beryl
1t yields a number Of kinds of gems
such as the "almandine." which varies
| In tria Ia