The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1959-09-01
Smithsonian Institute Obtains More
Exhibits From Mines In Amelia County
BY HELEN W. MASON

There are now around ten indi-
vidual exhibits from the Rutherford
mines, on the Keener property near
Amelia. on display in the Museum
Of Natural History at the Smith
sonian Institute. Wasfinoton, D. c.
Twelve mineral and gem speci-
mems have been added to the cell
lection from these mines in the last
three months, Warren Bill Baltz-
ley, operator of the mines. reports
Several specimens Of spessaltite-
garnet and clevelandite. gem micro
lite. manganotantalite. amazonite
and bavenite are the new ones
added. The Museum Of Ottawa also
recently added some specimens
from the Rutherford mines.
Amelia county has a larger va
rlety of minerals and gem materials
than all other counties in Virginia
put together. tables in bulletin
from VPI show The bulletin lists
the minerals and gem specimens
mentioned above as "a Spessar-
tltc-a variety Of garnet In the
Amelia area it is a light orange
brown color with brilliant lmster
Stones up to ice carats have been
cut from material from Amelia
county Stones of over seven carats
are common. but all Of it is rarely
free Of flaws
Variety OF Minerals
2 Clevelandl-e Is a scalv mass
Of Albite white or blue-gray. some
times reddish. grnemsh or brownish.
Vitreous or pcarlv 3 Microlite is
Of a beautiful red to yellow color.
and Of sufficient transparency to be
highly priced as gem material A.
Manganotantalite is a black metal
ic mineral with a reddish cast
5 hmazonite is a green or blush
green stone It got is name from
primitive tribes Of the Amazon River
in South America. who wore carved
ornaments made from it when the
white man first saw it s Bayenite
is a white. transparent to trans
lucent. gem material
Gem materials are now being
sent to Idar-Oberstein. Germany.
from the Rutherford mines. to be
prOcessed
Only two Of the three mines on
the Keener property are in opera
ton at this time The No. mine.
reopened in the last two years,
Yields a fair amount of good grade
mica which is being sent to the
government for stockpiling.
Two years ago this October, when
We visited the Rutherford mines
last. work had not been started on
the No 2 mine Looking at it then.
one was reminded of the BLACK and
lgrid tarn' in Poe's fall of the
House of Usher" The still black
water was 100 feet deep. outlined
on its edges with bushes. weeds.
and trees which nearly met over
head
A Different Picture.
What different picture it pre-
SCENTS today The water has been
pumped out. the bushes gone. some
ferns. a few sprigs of hardy grass,
and rocks cover the inner sides Of
the excavation Near the rim now
stands machinery for the hoist.
few large trees. and various small
huts housing other things needed in
the operation. and Of all things. two
connecting home made shower
stalls with two big oil drums on top
to provide the necessary water The
four men at work there can clean
up before leaving, Or they can cool
off on hot day
The No. 2 mine is now lis feet
deep, the depth Of an History
building On our visit we stayed
around while the men dynamited a
new section Of the old vein 1t was
SO deep down that except for hear
ing the boom and the tinkle Of
breaking electric light bulb. We
would never have known anything
had happened The noise of the
motor attached to the pump Kidding
the mine Of water is all one hears
most Of the time. Thirty gallons
Of water are pumped out every min
nte except for an hour or so day
when it is cut off.
Two days before we were there.