The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-08-03
SOLD
TOTAL, So 100000, 600
MONTANA'S BLUE GEMS SURPASS
THOSE FOUND ANYWHERE
ON THE GLOBE
At First They Did Not Bring Prices
Equal to that Received for Orien-
tai Stones, but During Past Few
Years they Have Doubled in Price
and Now Are in Lead.

By far the most important preciou
stone found in the United States o
America is the beautiful blue sap
phire mined in Montana. To describe
a sapphire of the finest quality thu
expression used is "cornflower blue
and the resemblance of the stone t.
the familiar flower is Immediately
apparent when a fine specimen Of
this beautiful gem is compared with
the common cornflower of the gar
den and prairie.
The Montana sapphire ranges in
color from the palest steel through
all the shades of steel-blue until il
reaches in very fine specimens the
lovely hue used in the description OF
sapphires as "cornflower blue" I'm
til the discovery of the sapphire
claims in Montana in 1895 this shade
was associated only with the sapphire
of Siam, Burma, Kashmir, and Cey-
Ion. The Montana sapphire has,
however, two characteristics which
the gems from other sources do not
possess-the color is always evenly
distributed throughout the stone and
it is bright and effective by artificial
light, a charm not possessed by any
other sapphire at present on the mar
ket. Thus Montana sapphires match
easily, and for this a they now
surpass in value those emanating
from other countries on account of
their being commercially more econ
omical to handle from the manu-
featuring jewelers. point of view.
The claims from which the gems
are obtained are situated in Judith
Basin county, 81 miles from Hobson,
and extend from the canyon of Yogo
creek to the Judith river, covering
a distance of five miles. The sap
phires occur in a dyke of trap rock
o~utcropping through the limestone
rock. The material in which sap
phires occur varies in appearance and
character from hard rock down
soft yellow oxidized clay into which
it finally decomposes.
A shaft has been sunk and at the
present time pay dirt is being stopped
from above drifts running $50 feet
below the surface. The pay dirt
after being brought to the surface is
exposed on extensive washing floors
to the disintegrating effects of the
atmosphere which causes it after a
short time to slack. A stream of
water is then turned upon the floors
and the pay dirt carried into a series
of sluice boxes. Across the bottoms
of these boxes iron rifles are placed
catch the sapphires owing to
their high specific gravity, while the
mud and gravel and non-dis-
integrated pay dirt are carried into
dams to undergo further weathering
preparatory to re~-washing. Mining
Is carried on throughout the year but
washing operations are limited to the
of May to November.
Gems have been continuously pro-
1uced by the New Mine Sapphire Syn
1icate for the past "a years. They
we're in the original instance mar
xeted at prices far below those OBJ
.ained for eastern gems, but they
lave gradually taken first place, and
have doubled in value within the
past few years. The number of carats
extracted in 1921 was 416 5000, and
the mine has been in operation
to the estimated value of Sal
$1,000 have been placed on the mar
zet exclusive of stones sold in the
'ough for industrial purposes, which
realized a further sun estimated
It 100000.
The property is capable of great
and as the older sources
# supply for sapphires become ex-
lausted, the deposits in Montana are
of being exploited to the
xtent of supplying the needs of the