Ch. 6: Beryl Gems and Spodomene (Hiddenite)

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	BERYL GEMS AND SPODUMENE (HIDDEN1TE) .	43

	Thomas L. Clingman, who after serving as a brave officer in the Southern army, turned his energies to the cultivation of the arts of peace and the improvement of the natural resources of his State (see Pis. III, IX, and XI). Mr. Stephenson published accounts from time to time of his researches and discoveries, beginning soon after the war, and continuing for a number of years. A number of beryl localities are noted by Mr. Stephenson in the counties of Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Macon, Mitchell, and Yancey, some of them yielding choice material (PL IX). The remarkable discovery of emerald beryls at Stony Point, Alexander County, has been already described under emerald; but there are numerous occurrences of beryl in the State, closely resembling those of New England, both in size and variety. Mr. Stephenson called the attention of the author to a dark green beryl, weighing 25.4 ounces, part of which would furnish gems of some size, that was found in January, 1888, near Kussell Gap Eoad, Alexander County, by a farmer plowing. This locality, about 10 miles from Stony Point, is the largest beryl deposit affording gems that has been opened in North Carolina. It is noteworthy that the highly modified beryls of this region occur rarely, and only when associated with spodumene or albite, and also that the white or pale greenish beryls are found with the deepest green spodumene. It has before been noted that the quartz and beryl of Alexander County are more highly modified when implanted on the feldspathic layers of the walls of the pockets. We have here a green spodumene and a green beryl (emerald) ; we have the same minerals, rose or lilac colored (kunzite) and rose beryl, at Pala, California. Two emerald beryls found in 1881, at a depth of 34 feet, were in a little cavity, the walls of which were almost covered with crystals of albite twinned parallel to the base. Only four emeralds were found, averaging about 1 cm. in the three dimensions. The pocket was free from all decomposition whatever. The crystals were of good color, transparent, and had their commoner planes well polished, but they differed to some extent in habit. Some of the North Carolina beryls, especially the fibrous, green, opaque beryl from Alexander County, would furnish cat's-eyes, although not very fine. A rich yellow crystal was reported in 1888 by Mr. Stephenson, as found in a quartz boulder, with finely crystallized tourmaline, near Little Eiver Church, Alexander County. Beryl, resembling the Siberian, occurs in greenish-yellow and deep green crystals, in the South Mountains, 9 miles southwest of Morganton, Burke County; also in the Sugar Mountains at Shoup's Ford, Dietz's, Huffman's, and Hildebrand's. A rich

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