Beryl Gems and Spodomene Hiddenite Page 69



	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,