Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-02-26

safety pan. tho concentrating process
is repeated, but 1t is found that not
more than 1 per cent Of the precious
gems escape from the first washing
pans.
The material left in the washing
pans is thrown into covered trucks.
which are then locked until the
sorters are ready for them. Then the
mass of gravel. rubies and other
stones Is thrown into large bin.
from which It gradually escapes into
q revolving screen. arranged with
meshes of different sizes. First the
sand Is eliminated. and then the clean
stones and pebbles drop in five diff
cercnt sizes-the largest falling
directly upon sorting table, and the
other four into the "pulsator." The
.pulsator" is described as sort OF
perpetual motion jigger which passes
the light stuff into trucks. while the
heavy remainder falls into a locked
receptacle" From this 1t is taken by
the sortcrs.
A large sieve Is taken by the sorters.
3lled with the concentrate. placed in
tub of water and worked and
shaken until all the heavier
materials have sunk to the bottom.
Tho seive is then turned upside down
on Il table. so that the rubies (being
the heayiest) are on top. They are then
picked out by hand. Every afternoon
the sorters take the days f1nd to the
compJnys office. where It is graded
into about fourteen different qualities.
In addition to rubies. spinels. sap
phircS, garnets, corundum. itourmaline,
bcryl and fragments of rock crystal are
found. For most of this material there
is no market in Europe. so that 1t is
usually sold to the Burmese at any
.r-lo ..s.1l Lrlw LoI rrllh 10
sometimes being sold in q month for
perhaps $4,000 to $4,000.
Every two weeks, the company holds
sale, when all the inferior rubles and
other stones that are yet too valuable
to be sold as a job lot are auctioned
off to Burman, Shan and Chinese deal
| ers. These auction sales are often the
scenes of great excitement intense
| rivalry prevailing among the dealers.
Lumps of red corundum are often put
up. apparently of little value on ac-
| count of thcir poor color. and yet there
may be ruby of perfect coloring some
| where In the mass. The Burmese arc
| born gamblers. and aro eager TO take
| chance OF this kind. SO that as high
| as $4,000 has been paid for pieces of
corundum that turned out to be worth
less,
| Mogok. go miles from the Irrawaddy
| river. Is a very considerable town sup
|
| hundreds of men are employed by the
| English company and the native IL
censees. and buyers flock thither from
| all the martS OF Asia While the Brit
| iSh company sends all It's finest stones
| 10 London. there are no restrictions
| placed upon the Burmese licensees, who
| sell their finds wherever the best mar
ket offers. Then the tens OF thousands
OF carats OF small and inferior rubies.
spinels, sapphircs, garnets. tourmalIne
and other gems arc distributed all over
China, Siam and India. supplying the
major part OF the cheap jewelry of
the orient In nearly every other house
in the town may be seen q group of
dealers-Burmas. Shans, or natives OF
india. squattlng around q metal plate
on which the stones for sole arc
displayed. In addition to these private
sales. regular stone bazar is held
every afternoon in some sheds outside
the village. Mogok in fact Is one OF
the worlds greatest marts of precious
stones, the British company not by any
means enjoying a monopoly OF fine
gems. and preferring that inferior
stones be sold In Burma and thus be
kept off the European market.
When the drainage tunnel is COM
pletcd. 1t Is estimated that 1t will make
available III acres Of r1uby-bcaring
Sravcls, believed to contain rubics to
tho value of at least $50 900. In ad-
dition to tho Mogok valley, the Myinta-
da, Enjauk. Yaybu. Loodah. Kathay.
Pana, Kyatpyin. Bernardmyo and nu-
merous other valleys are known to
contain rich ruby-bearing deposits.
some of which arc being worked by ma.
tives, while others have hardly been
touched Then. in addition to the allu-
Vial deposits. there are vast hillside ex-
panscs in which rubies arc found, but