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PRECIOUS STONES.
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Much
of the chalcedony and jasper lying on the surface near the moss agate
mine has black dendritic markings. This material occurs in varying
shades of red, vellow, and green, and some would furnish attractive
stones for watch charms and similar uses if cut.
CALIFORNIA.
J.
A. Edman, of Meadow Valley, Cal., reports the occurrence of abundant
agates of different varieties on the shore of the southern end of Goose
Lake in Modoc County.
COLORADO.
Willis T. Lee a mentions
the occurrence of a seam of nodular silica, resembling imperfectly
formed agates, as a remarkably persistent feature of the Morrison
formation of the nonmarine Jura rocks of Colorado. The silica is
evidently a deposit from solution and often occurs in concentric bands
of different colors. The seams bearing this agate-like material are
usually only a few inches thick and have a clay filling in the
internodular spaces.
J.
D. Endicott has obtained some agate from Garden Park, 8 miles north of
Canon City, Colo., similar to the above, but he states that it came
from the inside of fossil dinosaur bones. Some of it has a peculiar
structure that may be the original bone structure. This agate has
bright red, yellow, and gray colors, and makes a beautiful curio gem
for watch charms when polished. Mr. Endicott also obtains agates with
peculiar structure from the Curio Hill locality, 8 miles southeast of
Canon City. These agates are translucent, with blood-red spots through
them either in layers or bands or more or less regularly distributed
through the mass. The latter pattern has been called St. Stephen stone.
Mr. Endicott has cut a small quantity of translucent bluish chalcedony
found at Thirty-one Mile Mountain, 7 miles west of Guffy, Colo. This
chalcedony has an agate structure showing faint banding. The blue color
is of a light shade, though pronounced. It is not the bright blue
found in the blue chrysoprase or copper-stained chalcedony of Globe,
Ariz. The effect of the cut gem is very pleasing. Another variety of
chalcedony found in Colorado by Mr. Endicott has an amethystine color.
This cuts to a pretty cabochon gem. These fancy agates and chalcedony
gems are delicately marked and have beautiful colors. They should be
in large demand for the tourist trade and also for wider sale when
people become acquainted with them.
AMBER.
INDIA.
Burma.—The production of amber from the Myitkyina district of Burma in 1907 was 44 hundredweight, with a local value of £385,b a decrease of 173 hundredweight from 1906. The output in 1908 was 49 hundredweight, valued at £364.c
a The Morrison shales of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico: Jour. Geology, vol. 10, No. 1, 1902, p. 44.
b Rec. Geol. Survey India, vol. 37, pt. 1, 1908.
c Advance statement of production of minerals in India in 1908 by the Director of the Geological Survey of India, June 10, 1909.
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