Waterbury Democrat., 1903-01-02
2 NORTH CAROLINA GEMS.
Many Kinds of Precious Stones i'll the
 ':Old North State."|

Many Kinds of Precious Stones in the
 ''Old North State."1
 Washington people are familiar with l the fact that large portion of the home supply of precious stones comes from the west; garnets and beryls from Montana; turquoises from New Mexico and Colorado etc, but. there are few, doubtless who realize that east of the Rockies, western North Carolina is practically the only center for precious stones in America. To-day this section yields emeralds, hiddenite, sapphires, topazes, garnets, rose quartz and other jewels, which are mined and gathered by a corporation.
 Fifteen years ago the existence of these precious stones in North Carolina was unknown, and the subsequent de-
 velopment of the section was due en- eirely to the efforts of an enterprising farmer. Although an uneducated man, he had visited New York on several oc- casions, and, having something. of a taste for jewelry, had noticed that many of the pebbles and small stones which he had picked up in his home section were Of much the same color and appeared to be the same as those he had seen in the cases of the big jewelry firms of Gotham. Relying solely on his own judgment, he called several meetings and entered into an understanding with his neighbors and the farmers of tho section, whereby they agreed to utilize their spare time : in looking for colored stones. which they were to send to him as fast as found. He gave them all to understand that in case anything came of the ven- ture they would share in the profits realized.
 It was not long after this before he had quite a stock of stones of this character, which he forwarded to Tiff fany, in New York. The arrival of the stones produced a sensation, and the upshot was that those who followed the advice of this enterprising farmer, as well as he himself, realized hand somely on the venture. Later 8 com
 pany of eastern capitalists was formed to work the jewel mines of the North State, a concern whose works are still
 in operation and paying fat dividends. The elneralds from this section are somewhat peculiar Large stones are
 found but the color is entirely too light to render them of much value.
 Numbers of them are cut, but they meet with a very poor sale at exceed ingly low prices. If such is the case with emeralds, the hiddenite from this section is the very opposite. This gem is a near relative of the emerald, and of the most intense and beautiful Y grass green color It is a stone pc culiar to North Carolina, having never Ibeen found elsewhere, and brings al- most as high a price as the diamond. It has been very much in demand of late years, and is frequently seen in the best jewelry stores of this city in rings, sunbursts, etc. Tn color it is somewhat different shade of green from that of the emerald.
 | Before the above mentioned farmer prevailed on his neighbors to search their fields for colored stones the val iue of these gems was not even sus- 'pected. Unlike other localities, the precious stones of North Carolina are to be found scattered about over the surface of the ground, in fields, brooks, meadows, and rocky hillsides, although there are places where they are also' taken from underneath the soil, and in the days before their worth became known the farmers used to call the emeralds and hiddenite which they picked up over their fields green rocks or green bolts,''s there being superstition in the neighborhood that they were the fragments of meteors, or lightning strokes" i The Indians. who formerly inhabit- ed this section were also sensible of the value of these precious stones, for in the search for them that has now been in progress for several years a great many beautifully fash toned arrowheads of topaz and rose quartz have been found that once served as weapons in the hands of the faborigin gines.-Washington Post.