38 HISTORY OF THE GNEIS FOUND IN NORTH CAROLINA.
developer of the first emerald mine in this country, William E. Hidden/ in 1881, and we cannot do better than quote his words. He writes:
Sixteen years ago, the site of the mine now being worked was covered with a dense primitive forest. Less than 10 years ago (1871), this country was mineralogically a blank; nothing was known to exist here having any special value or interest. Whatever we know of it to-day is due directly or indirectly to the earnest field work done here in the past 7 years by J. A. D. Stephenson, a native of the county, now a well-to-do and respected merchant of Statesville, N. C. Under a promise of reward for success, he engaged the farmers for miles around to search carefully over the soil for minerals, Indian relics, etc., and for several years he enjoyed surprising success in thus gathering specimens. The amount and the variety of the material gathered in this way was simply astonishing, and his sanguine expectations were more than realized. To be brief .... I will state that from a few localities in the county Mr. Stephenson would occasionally procure crystals of beryl of the ordinary kind, but now and then a semi-transparent prism of beryl, having a decided grass-green tint would be brought to him. These the farmers named " green rocks " or " bolts," and became the principal object of the people's searchings. Mr. Stephenson had told them that a dark green beryl would be valuable if clear and perfect, would in fact be the emerald and for them to search more carefully than ever to find one. Surely, he had informed the people aright and had given them a rara avis to look for. It is sufficient to say that within a period of about 6 years there was found on 3 plantations in this county, loose in the soil, a number, say 10, of veritable emeralds, none of which, however, were dark-colored or transparent enough for use as gems. All of these specimens went into Mr. Stephenson's collection, with the single exception of one very choice crystal obtained at that locality by the late John T. Humphreys, which crystal is now in the New York State Museum at Albany, after first being in the collection of the late Dr. Eddy, of Providence.
The following historical account is from unpublished notes on North Carolina gems, prepared for the author by Mr. Stephenson himself in 1888:
The first beryl I collected suitable for cutting, was found early in 1875, at the locality now known as the Emerald and Hiddenite mine. It was a beautiful aquamarine, but only partly suitable for cutting. A few weeks later, I obtained at this locality my first emerald; it was small and rather opaque, but of fine color, and the file-like markings on its planes were very distinct. During 1876, I collected two others at the same locality. . . . During 1877, Mr. I. W. Miller brought me 2 emeralds found on his mother's farm, 2 miles northeast of the Emerald and Hiddenite mine. They were of good color and quite transparent, but very rough on the surface. This promising locality is still undeveloped.
