The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-29
EMERAIDS IN \. G..
This State Also Produces Only Amer.
lean RuhieS.

In the course Of one of the Frederic
Hasl<in articles there occurs the fol.
lowing in which there is much of in.
terest about precious stones in North
Carolina.
There is large market for the "a.
riegated sapphires in Switzerland
but these American sapphires come
into competition with those from
CeylOn, which at present are beiny
more cheaply produced. Thus the
American sapphire industry mus
work out improved methods of pro-
duction before it can grow very much.
There has. however, been a stead:
production Of sapphires from Mon
tana for many years, the product in
1913 being worth S238,635, which Is
considerably over half OF our total
gem production for that year.
Emeralds of the finest quality have
near Shelby, n. c. 1t is said that
| over twenty years ago a couple -
very fine emeralds were found uDor
plantation in that vicinity and were
kept by persons living there. but at
tracted almost no attention Some
years later man who knew their
cover where they had been obtained
but there was no one who remember
| ed the location. a systematic search
l
| value saw the stones and tried TO ais
! were known to have been found was
| made, however, and upon q single
nllISlde over dozen fine gems were
| found, lying upon the surface Of the
| ground. The largest of them was an
! inch by threefourths of an inch in
| size, while some Of the darker stones
| were worth as much as s25 carat.
| Subsequently some systematic mining
| was carried on at this point and !
| number Of fine gems have been pro-
| duced.
| Perhaps the only American gem in4
dustry which is known to thegenerat
public is that Of diamond mining ii
| Arkansas Here again the first dis
| covery was purely accidental. A far
nler who believed that there was min.
eral upon his farm set out to make =
| careful study Of his land. He found
covery caused considerable excite
ment for a time and several COM
panies have been formed to carry os
diamond mining operations. DIas
monds Of fine quality, including SONS
stones worth as much as $1,000, have
been obtained. but the industry can.
not be said to be firmly establishes.
Diamonds have also been reported
from time to time from a number Ok
l
I have been some mining operations.
) North Carolina also has the honot
| of having produced the only Ameri'
can rubies. In Macon county some
I gems Of fine quality and weighing
threee or four carats have been TAX
en- and some hydraulic mining opera
| tions have been carried on.
In 1909 opals were discovered IN
humboldt county, New. Several
Claims were staked out, and black.
blue, green and red opals Of excellen'
quality were taken.
Thus the story Of American gems
might be carried on to great length.
: There have been isolated discoveries
; of all sorts Of precious and semi-prec-
,, ious stones, despite the fact thak
!, there has been little systematic pros
pecting except in a few localities:
There is certainly an interesting Hel1
Of investigation in this line for ne
f mineralogist and geologist. and thef5
: is little doubt that the future will see
t important commercial developIne!il7 :
! in the production of gems ii tAA1
f | country.