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BERYL GEMS AND SPODUMENE ( HIDDENITE). 39
During .... 1883, Mr. J. O. Lackey brought me 36 small emeralds, .... found in a vein of dark mica on his farm a short distance southwest of the Emerald and Hiddenite mine. One or two other occurrences in the same region are also reported in these notes.
In July, 1880, Mr. Hidden undertook to follow up the field-work of Mr. Stephenson systematically, by engaging men to dig a series of ditches on a selected site, where at least half a dozen pale beryls had been uncovered by a farmer while plowing. These ditches were dug in different directions, so as to cut the strata of the prevailing country rock (gneiss) at various angles. After this work had been carried on for 5 weeks without success, a so-called " blind vein " or pocket was discovered at a depth of 8 feet. Only a few emeralds, and those of small size, were found in this pocket, but outnumbering the emeralds 50 to 1, emerald-green spodumene was brought to light, which later received the name of hiddenite from Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, Ky., who was the first to determine its true chemical nature (Pl. III). By further work, eleven other like pockets were opened during the year, within an area of 40 feet square, all carrying emeralds in small quantities, and three besides the first containing hiddenite or the spodumene emerald also. Other pockets were found that yielded quartz, rutile, monazite, and mica crystals of great beauty. In others the walls were covered with finely crystallized dolomite and calcite and transparent apatite, as well as the former minerals.
The gem-bearing "pockets" referred to are expansions of quartz veins that traverse the gneiss rock of the region, having generally an east and west course and a dip toward the north. They are usually quite narrow, but on being followed downward, are found to widen out occasionally and form these cavities, which may be several inches wide and a foot or more in length, or in rare cases much larger. There are other quartz veins also, of more irregular course, which do not appear to develop these cavities or yield any of the gems. The gneiss rock decomposes in place to a depth often of many feet; and then the quartz crystals and pieces, the mica and beryls or emeralds, and in short all the harder minerals of the veins and pockets, are left lying in the soil formed by the decayed and disintegrated gneiss. The presence of these minerals on or near the surface, therefore, serves to those who understand their source, as an indication or "sign" of the presence of such veins in the rock beneath. This was the principle, as has been shown, that guided Mr. Stephenson in his pioneer work.
In 1881, a corporation called the Emerald and Hiddenite Mining Company was organized to work the property at Stony Point, and prosecuted
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