several
emeralds from Topsham, Maine, of a lively beautiful green color,
scarcely, if any, inferior to the finest Peruvian emeralds; also two
(a) rose-colored beryls as having been found at Goshen, Massachusetts.
The finding of an emerald at Haddam, Connecticut, of a deep green
color, an inch in diameter and several inches in length, is mentioned
in Bruce's Mineralogical Journal, Vol. V., 1, as belonging to Colonel Gibbs' cabinet.
As no true emeralds are in existence from Haddam or Topsham, these may really refer to very dark green beryls.
Of
emerald specimens some of the finest in color, though of little gem
value, were found during the summer of 1883 at the Stony Point mine, in
.North Carolina. The finding of fine beryls and emeralds of pale color
collected by Mr. J. A. D. Stephenson on the property of J. O. Lackey, 1
mile southwest of the Stony Point deposit, and a short distance from
the Lyons property, on which the same mineral was found by Mr.
Smeaton, of New York, shows that the deposit is evidently not
accidental, and that there is encouragement for future work in this
region. Beryl is found in greenish-yellow and deep green crystals,
resembling the Siberian, in the South mountains 9 miles southwest of
Morganton, Burke county; in the Sugar mountains at Shoup's ford,
Dietz's, Huffman's, and Hildebrand's, and in smaller crystals in
Jackson county. One fine blue-green crystal in quartz was found at
Mills's gold mine, Burke county, and one fine transparent green crystal
from near here is now in the cabinet of Mr. M. T. Lynde, of Brooklyn.
Fine blue-green aquamarine occurs at Ray's mine on Hurricane mountain,
Yancey county, North Carolina. Clear green beryls have been found at
Balsam Gap, Buncombe county ; Carter's mine, Madison county ; Thorn
mountain, Macon county ; E. Balch's, Catawba county ; Fort Defiance,
Caldwell county, and at Weils, Gaston county. Some crystals 2 feet
long and 7 inches in diameter, that would cut into gems with small
clear spots, occur 4 miles south of Bakersville creek, and still
others, larger, at Grassy creek, North Carolina.
The Stoneham, Maine, beryls have flocculent centers, with fibrous appearance, and some of these may cut into beryl cat's-eyes.
Beautiful
transparent beryls have been found at Streaked mountain, Norway,
Lovell, Bethel, and Franklin plantation, Maine, and very good ones also
at Mount Mica and Grafton, Maine. The best locality, however, is the
one at Stoneham, mentioned in the last report.(b) Here some perfect
gems over 1 inch long were cut from the material, and the work during
the last year has yielded aquamarines of a good blue color, the
aggregate values of which amount to over $700.
At
Albany, Maine, Mr. N. H. Perry has recently found beautiful
transparent golden yellow beryls that would cut into perfect gems of
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