Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-08-07
PRECIOUS STONES OF THE WEST
5aDphires Found I'm Montana Are
Very Hard-OpaIs Brittle.

Very Hard-OpaIs Brittle.
Many precious stones found in the
:ar Western States come to a lapidary
Of Portland, Ore, to be cut, says a dis
patch to the indianapolis News. The
principal stones cut are sapphires, gar
nets, rubies, opals and agates. Besides
these, he polishes and trims large guam
titles Of gold quartz and any amount
Of pebbles from the seashore and noun
tains. Talking of his work one man
said:
"Sapphires are next to diamonds in
hardness. l get a large number Of
these to cut, most Of them coming from
Montana and Ceylon. Those from the
| Indian isle are the most expensive,
but 1 have known people to come into
my shop and pick out a Montana stone
| in preference to the other. These
| stones run from a white to deep blue.
Many have red and pink shades In
| them.
Following the sapphires in value
and hardness to work are the rubieS.
| These popular stones are simply red
! sapphires, SO far as I have been able
| to judge, after having handled hun
dreds Of both sorts of the gems. They
come from the same localities
tana and Ceylon-but nearly all are
mined in the copper State.
'Garnets are very often brought to
me for Transforming from rough, ugly
looking stones to pretty gems. Many Of
these are not worth the cutting, but
one does not know this until after the
deed is done Very often man will
come in and show me a stone in the
rough and ask my opinion of it. Now,
one cannot judge the true value Of
gem until 1t is cut, but make guess
as to what / think it will be. I am
about as often right as wrong. for
many times the stones that l did not
think were worth while, turn out to
be beautiful gems, while others that
bore promise Of being fine are not
worth the time spent on them. The
best garnets receive are from Arizona
and New Mexico, although many come
from eastern Oregon, Idaho and Mon
tana. They are not very hard to cut.
idaho and eastern Oregon send a
great number of opals to this city. 1
also get some stones from Austria and
Mexico. I often find some rare beau
leo, but the finest are found in Hun
gary.
"Opals are hard to cut on account of
their being so brittle. This is why the
stone became known as an unluclzy one.
Workmen hated to have to cut them,
for often Just as a job was about fin
ished the stone would break.
Amethyst, topaz and crystal quartz
are sent me from various parts of the
United States. Most of the first are
found in the Lake Superior region,
while the topaz is obtained in Rocky
Mountain States. There is very little
difference in the work Of preparing
these two gems for the market.
"Pink and green tourmaIines are sent
to me from southern California, as well
as the new gem, kunzite, which is of
lilac color.
"Jade is very hard to polish. This
stone is the toughest known, and takes
what we call greasy polish. The best
Of this stone is found in China and
New Zealand. There is light, dirty
looking jade found in southern Oregon,
and while it has the toughness of the
sort from over the seas, it does not
have the color, and so is valued at al
most NIL
"Gold quartz is fixed by cutting it
with fine saw into the desired shapes.
1 can tell the name of the mine from
which any gold quartz is obtained
from eastern Oregon or Idaho by sim
ply looking at sawed section of the
mineral.
Every little while some one cones
in with package under the arm. He
looks around to see if there is any one
about the shop other than himself.
Right then and there 1 put it down
that the visitor has what he thinks is
a collection of diamonds in the rough.
l always ask the location OF the claims,
for the reason that 1 get so much Of
this work that 1 may have examined
half the rocks in the neighborhood,
and could tell in minute whether
there was any likelihood of diamonds
being found In the collection.
"But none of these persons will tell
me where they found the rocks until [
have reported the result Of the investi-
CATION. They are afraid I want to
find the location Of the diamond mine
and steal 1t from them"
| Two hundred and ninefv-nina bio