Precious Gem stones production in 1907 Page 48



	814	MINERAL RESOURCES.

	Mr. Samuel Scott reports rose quartz in a number of localities in Custer and Pennington counties, S. Dak., though the deposits are not worked. Mr. J. D. Endicott reports the discovery of a ledge of unusually dark-colored transparent rose quartz 6 miles north of Texas Creek, Fremont County, Colo. The ledge is said to outcrop prominently on a mountain side for a length of 125 feet through a height of 30 feet. It occurs in the midst of pegmatite. This deposit is being operated by C. A. Beghtol & Co., and it is expected will yield much fine material. Mr. Frank H. Jackson, of Los Angeles, reports the occurrence of a vein of fine rose quartz in Hemet Valley, 20 miles southeast of Hemet, Riverside County, Cal. The vein is said to be from 6 inches to 3 feet thick, and the material could be obtained by the ton. Rose quartz occurs in numerous pegmatite bodies associated with the gem minerals of southern California. RUBY. NORTH CAROLINA. Interest in the ruby deposits along Caler Fork of Cowee Valley, Macon County, N. C, has been revived through operations of the United States Ruby Mining Company. This company has undertaken to develop the ruby in the matrix lead previously located at "In Situ Hill" m the valley, and expects to wash the ruby-bearing gravels left unworked during former mining operations. For a distance of over 2 miles rubies have been found in the creek gravels, much of which has been worked. The gem-bearing gravels lie both above and below the company's headquarters at the mouth of Dalton Branch. Good rubies have been found in the creek gravels about a mile above the mouth of Dalton Branch as far as "In Situ Hill." This hill is merely the end of a ridge or spur which extends from the mountains on the south side of the valley down close to the creek. In the report of Mr. C. Barrington Brown, in 1896, to the American Prospecting and Mining Company on the ruby mine of Cowee Valley, the rubies are described as generally of good color, many resembling the true pigeon-blood ruby of Burma. Some of them have bluish borders, which give them a magenta tint. Pratt and Lewis ^a state that some large gems—3 or 4 carats in weight—of good color and transparency and free from inclusions, have been found. Though found in less quantity, the color and quality of these stones equal the Burma rubies. Some of the Cowee Valley rubies contain inclusions of rutile, ilmenite, garnet, etc., or are silky or badly flawed. Much pink and red corundum, some of it approaching the ruby in color and quality, is associated with the ruby. The concentrates obtained in washing for ruby contain red, pink, bluish, gray, and yellowish corundum, ilmenite, rutile, cyanite, red and pink or rhodolite garnet, small zircon crystals, quartz, feldspar, etc. In the New York office of the United States Ruby Mining Company an admirable display of ruby and ruby corundum, as well as specimens of ruby matrix material, has been arranged bv Mr. Alfred H. Smith. During 1907, Mr. N. E. Isbell, of the United States Ruby Mining Company, constructed a new ditch to carry the creek from above "In Situ Hill" along the opposite hillside, where it could be tapped for a Pratt, J. H., and Lewis, V. L., Corundum and the peridotites of western North Carolina: Geol. Survey North Carolina, vol. 1, 1905, pp. 180-186.