as
remarked by one gentleman, believe if the box were to be filled with
the drift material from New York City the owner would not discover the
difference.
In
the latter part of 1883 a diamond was reported to have been found at
Nelson hill, near Blackfoot, Deer Lodge county, Montana. This stone is
described as being colorless, and in form dodecahedral, with triangular
markings, but is more likely a trigonal trisoctahedron with curved
faces. Its specific gravity is said to be about 3.5; its weight about
12 grains. It was pronounced by an old diamond dealer of New York as
really a diamond. The person now owning it came into its possession
through a Chinaman, who panned it out and handed it to him, and he
thinks he has seen many similar stones in the mine.
Mr.
J. D. Yerrington, of New York, informs me of a brown diamond weighing 1
carat, and yielding when cut a gem weighing one-half carat, which was
found near Philadelphus, Arizona. Two pieces of blue bottle glass that
had been rolled so as to lose all form, were naturally supposed by the
finder to be sapphires, being in the same locality with the diamond.
To
insure the finding of diamonds in a new district one of the best
methods is to familiarize the searchers with the luster principally,
which can be readily accomplished, as once partly carried out by Mr.
Dwight Whiting, of Boston. He suggested selling to the miners small
imperfect diamond crystals (bort), mounted in a very inexpensive
manner, so as that the entire ring or charm could be sold at from $5 to
$10. Several thousand searchers thus prepared would soon ascertain
whether diamonds really existed, and the crystal would also serve for
testing the bardnes's of the stone as well as the luster. One of the
minerals most likely to be mistaken for the diamond is a form of small
quartz crystal found principally at Santa Fe and Gallup, New Mexico;
Fort Defiance, Arizona; Deadwood, Dakota; and Shell creek, Nevada. They
range in size from 1 to 5 millimeters, and the prism is nearly or
entirely obliterated. In addition to this, as a rule, the surface is
slightly roughened, and by an inexperienced person is easily mistaken
for an octahedron, which is almost universally considered to be the
only diamond shape.
The
well-known "Arizona diamond swindle" was an adroit one, and the
locality could hardly have been better selected ; but it should not
have received so much credence, since gem minerals are so readily
recognized by means of their local characteristics by gem-collecting
mineralogists.
SAPPHIRE GEMS.
Corundum.(a)—In
North Carolina many corundum localities have been opened, and the
material found is often of a very fine color even if not of gem
quality. It was first found in the State by Gen. T. C. Clingman, who
came upon a large dark mass of the cleavable variety, 3 miles bea See
also page 714 et seq.
