The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent., 1922-08-11

BY far the most important precious
stone found in the United States of
America is the beautiful blue sap
phire mined in Montana. To describe
. sapphire Of the finest quality the
expression used is "cornflower blue"
and the resemblance Of the stone to
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 it
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-
lon. 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, charm not possessed by any
other sapphire at present on the mar
ket. Thus Montana sapphires match
easily, and for this reason 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, % miles from Hobson,
and extend from the canyon of Yogo
creek to the Judith river. covering
distance of five miles. The sap
phires occur in dyke of trap rock
outcropping through the limestone
rock. The material in which sap
phires occur varies in appearance and
character from hard rock down
through different gradations to the
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 q
short time to slack. A stream of
water is then turned upon the floors
and the pay dirt carried into q series
of sluice boxes. Across the bottoms
Of these boxes iron rifles are placed
which catch the sapphires owing to
thAfR hf01n 0NnA&ffA vy4t1y Va,1Hf1A thA
lighter 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
months of May to November.
Gems have been continuously pro-
duced by the New Mine Sapphire Syn
dicate for the past "a years. They
were In the original instance mar
keted at prices far below those OBJ
tained for eastern gems, but they
have gradually taken first place, and
have doubled In value within the
past few years. The number of carats
extracted In 1891 was 416,o00, and
since the mine has been In operation
gems to the estimated value Of $2,-
100000 have been placed on the mar
ket exclusive Of stones sold in the
rough for industrial purposes, which
have realised further sum estimated
at 100000.
The property IL capable Of great
development and az the older sources
OF supply for sapphires become ex-
hausted. the deposits in Montana are
capable Of being exploited to the
extent Of supplying the needs Of the