parent.
Fine smoky quartz has been found at Goshen, Mass. In 1884, a fine,
clear mass, weighing over 6 pounds, with clear spaces several inches
across, was found on Blueberry Hill, Stoneham, Me., and a broken
crystal that weighed over 100 pounds and a crystal over 4 inches long
and 2 across, very clear in parts, were found near Mount Pleasant,
Oxford County, Me., and a fine crystal at Minot, Me. Professor Genth *
mentioned the occurrence of smoky quartz near Philadelphia; on the
Schuylkill, near Reading, Berks County; near Hummelstown, Dauphin
County; in Upper Darby, near Garret's road toll-gate, and near the
Kellyville school-house, all in Delaware County; at the tunnel near
Phcenixville, in East Nottingham and Birmingham Townships, Chester
County. In certain parts of Delaware and Chester Counties the amethyst
and smoky quartz gradually shade into each other, a characteristic
peculiar also to many specimens from North Carolina. Some fine crystals
have been found at Iron Mountain, Mo., and Magnet Cove, Ark. Citrine
is mentioned by Hoffmann3 as occurring at Tuscarora, Gold
Mountain, and in Palmetto Canon, Nev. At Taylorsville and Stony Point,
N. C, a number of clear pieces of this material were found that cut
fair stones weighing over an ounce each. In Alexander, Burke, Catawba,
and adjacent counties, N. C, smoky quartz crystals which would afford
fine gems are frequently met with. They are generally from 1 to 5
inches in diameter, and often of a citron or light yellow color.
When
clear, compact, white quartz contains veins, or streaks, or spots of
fine gold, it is worked into jewelry and souvenirs on a considerable
scale in San Francisco, and to a less extent in many of the large towns
in the mining regions. Some of the mines in California, Oregon, Idaho,
and Montana have furnished very fine specimens, especially when the
quartz is clear and the gold penetrates in compact stringers. Gold
miners, however, often have a prejudice against what are known as "
specimen mines," that is, mines furnishing ore of this kind. The gold
found in California quartz is worth about $16.50 an ounce, but jewelers
willingly give from $20 to $30 for each ounce of gold contained in
material that they can use. The price of specimens
' Preliminary Report on the Mineralogy of Pennsylvania, p. 58. 2 Mineralogy of Nevada.
