The
White Queen mine (at which the original discovery of kunzite was made
in 1902) has been further opened by a cut in the main ledge, which
revealed lepidolite and gem pockets. Salmon-pink lithium beryls were
the principal gems found, some being very blue specimens. Gem
tourmaline was also encountered to some extent, but nothing is reported
of kunzite.
In
the Catarina mine a large open cut has been made, and good material was
shown. The " pay streak," or central gem-bearing zone of the ledge,
varies from 2 to 4 feet in thickness and consists of quartz, albite,
and lepidolite. Several pockets were found, containing chiefly quartz
crystals and violet-colored kunzite. Another opening, one hundred yards
to the east, revealed similar pockets, with pink kunzite and some
indicolite, together with quartz crystals, often clear and fine. One
pocket yielded nearly a ton of crystallized quartz, some individual
crystals weighing as much as 40 pounds.
The Anita mine was tested by several cuts and yielded quartz crystals, lepidolite, and good pink kunzite.
The Sempe mine was opened on two ledges, and fine pink beryl was taken from one and white beryl from the other.
The
San Pedro mine is traversed by the same dike or vein as the Catarina
and the Xaylor-Vanderberg. In this a large open cut showed pink beryl,
pink kunzite, green tourmaline, and fine quartz crystals.
A
fine display of kunzite, both in the natural state and in cut forms,
was made in the mineral cases of the San Diego County exhibit at the
Lewis and Clark Exposition at Portland, Oreg. These came from the mine
on Pala Chief Mountain, and included large, well-colored crystals and
fine, violet-tinted cut stones, one weighing 150 carats and another 80
carats, besides other cut kunzites mounted in jewelry, with pearls, etc.
QUARTZ. TEXAS.
Beautiful,
small crystals from 2 to 3 mm. in diameter, doubly terminated and of
absolute purity, resembling those from Herkimer County, N. Y., have
been found near Mullen, Mills County, Tex., by Mrs. Ellen Oxley.
ROSK QUARTZ.
COLORADO.
A
magnificent vein of rose quartz has been located by Mr. W. C. Hart, of
Manitou, Colo., 25 miles west of Fort Collins, in'Larimer County, Colo.
The quartz vein crosses the road between Stove Prairie and Box Prairie
at an altitude of 8,000 feet. The country rock is granite, with quartz
veins running through the granite. Pieces weighing from 1 to 1,000
pounds could be taken out. There is a large bcly of the quartz, the
vein in places being 3 feet thick. Some 21,000 pounds were taken out
during 1905.
AMETHYST.
NORTH CAROLINA.
From
time to time amethysts are brought in from localities in North
Carolina, and especially from the region of Rabun Gap, Georgia, on the
North. Carolina border, although no quantity seems to exist to warrant
mining at present. Yet many of the stones afford such rich brilliant
gems that at no foreign locality have choicer gems been found.
m k 1905------85
