three
veins, varying in width from 1 to 4 inches, about 100 yards apart,
running almost parallel and traceable for nearly half a mile. They show
evidences of having been worked by the Indians and Spaniards, and a
large number of stone hammers were found.
One
of the largest masses of the American turquois is in the possession of
Prof. W. P. Blake; it is 2-1/8 inches long, 1-3/4 inches wide, and
weighs 75.5 grams.
No
work is carried on at present at the Los Cerillos mines, the recent
investment to work that locality having proved unsuccessful. Some of
the specimens sent east showed a fine blue color, which, however, was
artificial, as proved by dipping for a moment in ammonia. Along the
line of the railroad turquois is sold to some extent by the Indians of
the San Domingo pueblo, New Mexico, the men, women, and children
coming some distance from the road to sell them. They are ground into
round or heart-shaped ornaments, which are drilled with a crude form of
bow-drill called by them "malakates." The drilling point is made of
either quartz or agate, and the wheel to give it velocity was in one
instance made of the bottom of a cup. The selling price of the
ornaments is now very low. Rev. E. T. Cross states that one string made
up of many hundreds of stones was valued at the price of a pony.
Turquois was used by the ancient Mexicans to inlay obsidian ornaments,
and also together with pyrite for making mosaic inlays and
incrustations, thus forming many rich and curious effects.
Hoffmann
(a) mentions turquois from the mountains 5 miles north of Columbus,
Nevada. The specimens are of a pale blue color, although some fine ones
have been obtained.
Very
little of the American turquois seems to find sale except as tourists'
souvenirs or mineralogical gems; yet for ornamental or inlaying work
it might have quite a sale, were it properly introduced, as the green
color would contrast favorably with many stones or wood.
Hematite.—See 1882 report.
Ilvaite.—Mr.
E. D. Eand (6) observed some small black crystals of ilvaite in a
narrow calcite vein in gneiss at Flat Eock tunnel on the Philadelphia
and Reading railroad, opposite Manayunk.
This
mineral forms a curious deep black gem and is one of the few that can
be used to represent the initial " I" in jewelry work made up of the
initial letters of gems. It would also represent the letter " Y"
although the name yenite has been rejected.
It
is reported as occurring with hornblende and magnetite, traversing
quartz, in slender brown-black or black crystals at Cumberland, Rhode
Island, and formerly also at Milk Row quarry, Somerville,
Massachusetts. No material for really fair gems has as yet been found
in the United States.
Pyrite.—The small groups of brilliant pyrite occurring with the slate
a "Mineralogy of Nevada."
b "Preliminary report on the Mineralogy of Pennsylvania," page 22.
