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PRECIOUS STONES. 581
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found
at the Stony Point emerald mine, 10 miles distant, and at the Miller
farm, 12 miles distant, and also that found in Alexander county. This
stone would furnish larger gems than any previously found in North
Carolina. During May, 1887, Mr. B. D. Andrews discovered a deposit of
crystals of topaz aud phenacite on Bald mountain, North Chatham, New
Hampshire. The crystals were transparent, light blue, and sherry
colored, the larger specimens measuring over 2 inches in length. None
of the phenacites were more than half an inch in diameter and all were
very primitive in habit. The find was worth about $700.
Garnet.—During
the past year considerable attention has been paid to the gathering of
the blood-red garnets, the so-called "Arizona and New Mexico rubies."
The Navajo Indians have collected and sent from their reservation
several hundred pounds of these, among which were some fine gems. Three
splendid ones were valued at $75, $50, and $35, respectively. Some of
these garnets are believed to have been pounded from what is evidently
a peridotite rock. This theory requires verification, as no Government
survey has been made of the locality. Of the variety of spessartite
garnet found in the Allen mica mines at Amelia Court House, Virginia,
mentioned in Mineral Eesources for 1887, page 459, a number of
irregular masses with a crystalline exterior were obtained, which on
cutting furnished fine gems very similar in color and luster to the
essonite or hyacinth of Ceylon. The cut stones varied from 1 to 100
carats in weight.
Epidote.—Specimens
of epidote in brilliant crystals, 1 inch in length and one-half inch in
diameter, apparently dark or black, but perfectly transparent, showing
a deep grass green and brownish yellow wheu viewed in different
directions, have been found by Rev. C. D. Smith, 1 mile from Rabun Gap,
Rabun county, Georgia. They occur in single simple crystals and twins,
identical in habit with those from Unter Sultz-bachthal, Tyrol. They
were found in veins of pink granite rock on the south slope of the Blue
Ridge mountains. The locality promises to afford crystals as fine as
the famous Tyrolese gems, although the size may be smaller.
Agatized wood.—Large
quantities of the agatized and jasperized wood from Arizona, for which
the name " shinarump" (the name used by the Indians) has been suggested
as appropriate by Maj. J. W. Powell, have been taken from the locality,
and have been cut into sections and polished for table tops, tiles, and
for other ornamental purposes. Some of these have been prepared for
exhibition at the Paris exposition. One monster stump, weighing 2-2/26
tons, was sent to New York City, and when polished had a surface of
40-1/2 by 36 inches—as large a polished surface of so hard a substance
as is known.
Fire opal.—A
specimen of fire opal, 1-1/2 by 1 by 1/2 inch, evidently a water-worn
fragment, was found near John Davis river, in Crook county, Oregon. It
is transparent, grayish white in color, with red, green, and yellow
flames. The play of colors equals in beauty that of any Mexican
material, and it is the first opal found in the United States
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