By George F. Kunz.
INTRODUCTORY.
The
value of the rough gems produced in the United States during 1893
decreased, as will be seen by the table on the following page, from
$312,050 in 1892, to $264,041. This decrease is principally due to the
financial depression. A considerable proportion of the total sales of
rough gems found in the United States is to tourists who purchase these
as souvenirs of some locality visited, and but for the increase in
sales to tourists at the World's Columbian Exposition, it is probable
that the decrease in value would have been very much more considerable.
In
spite of the decline in production above noted, the year 1893 was
characterized by a number of interesting gem discoveries, including a
diamond weighing 3-14/16 carats, found in a new district, Oregon, Dane
county, Wisconsin. An interesting fact was proved, that the supposed
diamonds in the Canyon Diablo meteorites are really diamonds, and the
first instances are recorded of the polishing of a diamond by means of
the diamond dust obtained from meteoric iron. The finding of small
rubies of fairly good color in Macon county, North Carolina, gives
ground for the belief that larger and better stones may be found there
by more extended development.
It
is interesting to note further that, in spite of the financial
depression, $143,136 worth of American turquoise was sold—a greater
amount probably than has ever been sold from the Persian mines in a
single year. The finding of a remarkable 66-carat green tourmaline at
Paris, Maine, and the discovery of a new tourmaline locality in the San
Jacinto mountains, in California; the development of the opal industry
in Idaho, where the gems are quite equal to those of Hungary, and in
sufficient quantity to make the United States prominent even compared
with Hungary, Queensland and the more recent remarkable find in
Wil-cannia, New South Wales, and some new moss agate from Hartville,
Wyoming, with interesting possibilities for inlaid and ornamental
work, are among the notable developments of the year. 680
