32 HISTORY OF THE GEMS FOUND IN NORTH CAROLINA.
In Haywood County a number of crystals of amethyst have been secured, some of which were cut into very fine gems.
In
1894 Mr. T. K. Brunner, of Raleigh, reported a yield of amethysts from
Catawba, Macon, Wake, Lincoln, and other counties in the State; and in
1898 he stated that large amethysts of good color were still found in
Lincoln County, together with smoky and lighter colored varieties.
In
1901 there was a decidedly promising effort to prosecute mining for
amethysts on a commercial scale at Tessentee, on the creek of that
name, in Smith Bridge Township, Macon County. Here a large vein of
crystalline quartz occurs in an altered pegmatite. The development
during the year was entirely in a kaolinized rock, in which the
amethyst crystals, ranging from -J inch to 3 inches in length, were
found loose with the quartz and mica in the kaolin. The entire vein was
exposed to the depth of 20 feet by a landslide. It would appear that
further working should disclose the amethysts in the rock. The crystals
are light and dark in color, and the dark spots are often of the
deepest purple. No finer amethysts have been discovered in this
country, and several thousand dollars worth of crystals were sold as
the proceeds of the first development work.
Amethyst
crystals, often of great beauty and of much crystallographic interest,
have been found in various parts of the State, sometimes in remarkable
quartz groupings, such as the so-called capped crystals, with purple
tops raised upon slender stilt-like white crystals; others with rare
faces, and then again enclosing water, especially from Lincoln County
(see Pis. V, VI, B, and VII, B).
Smoky Quartz.—At
Taylorsville and Stony Point, North Carolina, a number of clear pieces
of this material have been found that cut fair stones weighing over an
ounce each. In Alexander, Burke, Catawba, and adjacent counties, smoky
quartz crystals which would afford fine gems are frequently met with.
They are generally from 1 to 5 inches in diameter, sometimes of a
citron or light yellow color, and often in groups weighing up to 100
pounds and over, quaintly grouped and often very clear. Crystals
weighing as much as 40 pounds have been taken from the vicinity of
Elkin, in Surrey County. Smoky and citrine quartz abound also in
Iredell and Mitchell Counties.
At
Stony Point, near Hiddenite post-office, Alexander County, N.C., have
been found from time to time in the gneissoid rocks, pockets of quartz
crystals varying from absolute pellucid and transparent to a dark smoky
color. These are of wonderful brilliancy and purity, and range from an
inch in length to a large size; but they are particularly remarkable
from the fact that the faces of the crystals are highly and peculiarly
developed,
