BERYL GEMS AND SPODUMENE (HIDDENITE) . 45
Several
colors are found here; some are of fine aquamarine tint, and have
yielded very perfect gems of more than a carat; less frequently they
are honey-yellow, with portions clear enough to be cut; while rich blue
ones, equal to any of those from Brazil, have also been obtained in the
course of the past 15 years, first by desultory working and then by the
most systematic operations under the American Gem Company, of New York
City. Large quantities,—thousands even,—of magnificent blue gems
weighing from 1 to 20 carats, have been taken out here. (See PI. II.)
At
the Littlefield mine, on Tessentee Creek, Macon County, clear
aquamarines have been obtained which have cut into beautiful gems.
At
the Charleston Exposition of 1901,' Dr. J. H. Pratt exhibited, among
other choice minerals of North Carolina, a crystal of golden beryl
1-1/2 inches in diameter and 2-1/4 inches long, obtained from an Indian
mound near Tessentee Creek, not far from the Littlefield mine, and
hence presumably from that locality. This is the first instance
recorded of a beryl crystal found deposited in an Indian grave.
Another
important locality in Macon County is the McGee mine. Here the gems are
sea-green and occasionally yellow, and are found in quantity.
A
fine representation of the North Carolina beryl is to be seen in the
museum of the State University at Chapel Hill, together with the other
minerals of the State, collected by the late Mr. Stephenson, in the
course of his enthusiastic explorations, and whose cabinet was most
appropriately secured by the State.
HIDDENITE OR LITHIA EMERALD.
This
is a stone which is peculiar to North Carolina, and hence possesses
especial interest in any account of the minerals of that State. The
circumstances under which it first came into notice have already been
mentioned under Emerald, with which it was found, at Stony Point,
Alexander County, in about 1879. Mineralogically, it is a variety of
spodumene, a well-known silicate of alumina and lithia, usually found
in large rather coarse crystals, opaque and of no beauty. Occasionally,
however, it is transparent and richly colored (Pl. III). The first
occurrence of this form of it in the United States, was in these small
brilliant, green crystals in North Carolina; a second has lately
attracted much attention in San Diego County, California, where the
crystals are large and of a rose-lilac tint; this variety is the new
gem-stone called kunzite. The history of the North Carolina discovery
is as follows: About 1879, some crystals of a yellow and
yellowish-green mineral,
