The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-05
FOUND IN ONLY ONE NINE.
Mineral Used in Making Rare Chaliees,
Vases and Slabs.

To the average man the name OF Blue
John" Ia as meaningless as the sound OF
tinkling brass. But, strange though 1t
may seem, il is the name OF stone, says
the London Leader, a precious stone, sold
at prices varying from f25 to Gl,0O0 ton
to size and quality-found
nowhere in the world save in little Derby
shire hill OF q surface measurement OF 700
yards or thereabouts.
Small though the hill, it is honeycombed
by three miles OF the most wonderful cav
ems and mines The centre Of the great
range Of carerns-and they branch out for
upward of a mile in each direction-is known
as Lord Mulgrave's dining room. 1t Is
90 feet wide and 100 feet high, and 1t was
given its present name because 1t was here
that Lord Mulgrave, on exploring the cav
ems when first they were found, entertained
at dinner the miners who had lowered him
into these great Businesses.
Blue John is employed in the rich vest
ments OF the priest, in the making OF rare
chalices, vases, dishes, slabs, the ornamen-
tation OF the rnantelpieces of the rich, and
in such beautiful embossing as that to be
seen on the pulpit and in other portions of
st. Georges Chapel. 1t is a topazlike
auor Of exceeding beauty and the Blue
IL
some Of the weirdest and most striking
OF the worlds caverns. There are many
coal mines in the world: more than one
country can boast Of its salt mines, its
lead mines, its tin workings, its gold fields.
Yet the whole world contains but one Blue
John mine, mine situated hard by the
hamlet OF Castleton, in Derbyshire.
Thirty steps carry one through the mine
workings into the caverns, the most wonder
full Of natures handiwork. In remote ages,
IL. LII htx,ss
In Titanic rage In these comparatively con-
fined spaces, formed rooms and grottoes
such as no human being could conceive.
The crystallzed cavern is 90 feet high,
with glorious dome Of stalactite forms
glistening like rich gems These are the
finest stalactites extant.
1t is computed that it has taken nature
100 years to fashion every eighth part OF an
inch Of these stalactites. and now there Is
sufficient to form frozen cascade. There
is, too stalagmite, the product OF an
eternity Of time, which portrays beehive.
known as the Waterfall Cavern, where
the Blue John spar is found, and which
is singularly like a waterfall, number OF
intensely beautiful stalactitea Joined a
large stalagmite and conveyed wondrous
were broken by some wanton visitors.
Foss II forms are in various parts Of the
caves pointed out to the visitor and here
and there the candle light will reveal the
Blue John coloring or the sparkle OF the
manganese of iron.
The Great Cave" was explored by Mr.
John Royse, the proprietor OF the mine in
1897. From the entrance to the mine to
the deepest abyss (Which is rallied Oh from
Lord Mulgrave's dining halD the distance
is 800 yards and the depth SOC feet ~, H.
coveries at the Blue John mine, and since
1887 Ave or six fresh caverns have been
explored.
Chemically, Blue John is composed Of an
amalgamation Of lime and acid and oxide
OF manganese and iron 30 dexterously
blended that not even an American COM
bine could initiate it. Indeed, the pestle
and mortar which have served to produce
80 beautiful a mineral are believed by the
greatest OF biologists to have consisted
deposits. and the mighty upheaval OF rocks.
In the raw" Blue John is study in
gray and purple, tho gray where the lime
stone and manganese Of iron preponderate,
and the purple where the pure Blue John
enters. When cut and polished 1t becomes
transparent, ranging in color from lovely
amber streaked with blue to a brilliant
purple and crimson dotted with yellow;
or blush black with blood-red markings.
A little goblet Of this precious stone will
cost you anything up to Y guineas de-
Indeed, the mineral is discovered in such
small quantities and little blocks that you
must be prepared to pay stiff figure for
an ornament Of any modest proportion.
To the Romans must be given the credit
OF discovering Blue John. That they
realized its beauty la patent from the fact
that some ten years ago. two Blue John
vases were found among the ruins Of Pom
pei. Those Fombeiians, who boosted Il
civilization the essence of which we mortals
OF the twenisth century. have not yet
grasped and who ransaoked the world
for its treasures had obtained thoso vases
from the very mines we are now exploring,
For hundreds OF years the 1oman work
ipRs and tho Roman shaft were lost sight
OF. Two hundred and twenty years ago
the Blue John miners reopened the shaft
and began 10 mine the spar and create
market for it. They were utterly ignorant
Of the presence Of the caverns, and 1t was
not until 100 years later that the Blue John
miners accidentally struck into an opening
which proved the entrance to a range OF
caverns, the extent Of which has not been
fully realized even to this day.