Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1904-03-19
The Queen
Of Gems.

Il y
different shades of color that the gem
displays. Connected Herewith two
events occurred over ten years ago, one
on the shores of the Atlantic ocean, and
one on the shores of the Pacific, in this
wise: DIR. Kunz, of New York, while
examining some opaque white spodu-
meme from Branchville, Conn.,, discov-
cred that some small transparent por-
tions of the crystals were colored a rich
lilac color; being lover of gems, he
had the gift of seeing in these frag-
ments vision of a new variety of
spodumene which would rival all other
gems. His prophecy has been fulfilled
in the discovery of the stone which has
been named Kunzite in his honor.
About the same time that DR.. Kunz
made this investigation and prophecy,
two California lads, Fred and Allen
Siclller, were hunting mineral speci-
mems on Heriart mountain, at Pala.
They found quartz crystals, lepodolite,
pink and blue tourmaline and a bit of
lilac spodumene about three inches
long. The children knew nothing of
the identity of the stone, nor of the
prophecy of Dr.. Kunz concerning it.
They named it "The Queen" little
knowing that ten years later it would
be known as the queen of gems"
The elder brother, Fred, subsequent
ly went to San Diego to pursue his
studies at the Russ High school; his
favorite studies were minerology and
chemistry, and several amateur miner
ologists, noting the eagerness of the
young student to advance in these
sciences, kindly assisted him.
On his return to Pala Mr.. Fred Sick
Ter obtained position on a diamond
drill outfit that was prospecting the
Alvarado lepidolite mine; here he be-
came acquainted with the various lithia
minerals. Remembering the piece of
lepidolite he had found years before, he
prospected Heriart mountain and locat-
ed the White Queen mine. Mr.. Sickler,
his father, located the Vanderberg, and
two Frenchmen, Bernardo Heriart and
Pedro Pelitch, located the Sempe and
Anita claims. Shortly afterwards M.
M. Sickler and Mr.. Heriart located the
Catarina claim. These claims were
located for the purpose of mining lepi-
dolite, but the finding of beryl and gem
tourmalines caused the prospectors to
keep keen lookout for precious stones.
Being unable, financially, to fully de-
velop the mines, only enough work was
done to satisfy the requirements of
law for each year; in the interval Fred
Sickler travelled through Mexico and
the southwest. He held at various
times responsible positions in manufac-
turing plants, mines and smelters.
In May, 1902, M. M. Sickler and Fred
Sicl1ler began their annual assessment
work on the Caterina mine. A new
drift was run at an angle to one COM
menced some time before. A bank of
chalky pink substance, which DR.. Kunz
has since pronounced as morillonite,
was first encountered; next came a
deposit of decomposed quartz, and be-
yond this a wall of amblygonite. Upon
breaking into the amblygonite great
transparent crystals of orthoclase and
quartz were encountered. While Mr..
Sickler and his son Fred were examin-
ing the quartz crystals, they found, i'm
bedded in a peculiar red clay, some
beautiful crystals of a lilac color, some
of straw color and others colorless
needless to say, the quartz crystals they
had found and admired few moments
before were forgotten in the quest for
these new gems, to the discovery of
which they often allude as the most ex-
citing moment of their lives. They
worked until darkness compelled them
to desist, and reluctantly they left the
search so fraught with fascination.
A careful examination of the CRYSTALS
showed that none were of the same
system of capitalization as the tourma-
line. There were other differences
which led the Messrs. Sicl1ler to believe
they had discovered an entirely new
gem. In order to definitely confirm
their suspicious, the great tourmaline
deposits of Mesa Grande and other To-
calities wece visited. The gem was
brought before all local mining engi-
neers, lapidists and minerologists. The
stone was variously identified as tour
amethyst, quartz, fibrolite,