of
the mineral from that State is rather pale colored. Rose quartz of
varying quality has been found in Connecticut and New York. Several
deposits have been located in California in widely separated areas;
among these are the Parson claim, described below, several deposits
near Lemon Cove and Badger, in Tulare and Fresno counties, in Hemet
Valley, Riverside County, and in San Diego County.
CALIFORNIA.
The
Summer Rose quartz claim of W. D. and George W. Parson is about 8 miles
south of east of California Hot Springs, probably in Tulare County near
the Kern County line. It is en the west side of Bull Run Ridge in the
roughly dissected plateau-like country east of the first high ridge of
the Sierra Nevada, a few miles west cf Kern River. The elevation at the
mine, determined barometrically, is about 7,000 feet above sea level,
or nearly 4,000 feet higher than California Hot Springs. The region
around the prospect is well timbered with pines, spruce, fir, and arbor
vitse.
The
rose quartz ledge was discovered some 15 years ago by George W. Parson,
but little attention was paid to it until 1908, when specimens were
taken and submitted to dealers. The Summer Rose claim was located in
October, 1910. Only assessment work has been done at the prospect,
consisting of openings in the hard rock in search of gem material. Much
care is required in this process in order that valuable mineral may not
be destroyed.
The
country over a large area surrounding the prospect is granitic in
nature and in the field might be called hornblende-biotite granite. A
specimen from adjoining the rose quartz deposit, examined under the
microscope, contained andesine and a little orthoclase feldspar,
dark-brown biotite, dark-green hornblende, considerable quartz, a
little iron ore, and apatite. Such a rock is intermediate between
monzonite and quartz diorite, and here might be called coarse quartz
diorite. It has disintegrated to a gravelly sandy soil, through which
occur spheroidal bowlders of harder rock. The rose quartz outcrops on
the steep slope near the crest of a ridge. It is associated with fine
graphic granite in a mass of pegmatite. The quartz mass stands about 25
feet above the outcrop on the lower side and is but little higher than
the surface of the ground on the upper side. The width exposed between
the base of the outcrop and the contact with graphic
g
ranite at the top is
about 35 feet, but the true thickness could not be determined. About 80
feet of the quartz is exposed in a direction N. 10° W. It is probable
the ledge strikes west of north and dips to the west about with the
slope of the hill. At the south end of the outcrop the quartz ledge is
covered by soil and brush, and at the north it ends rather abruptly on
the hillside.
The
quartz has been broken by joints into columns and blocks ranging from
over 1 foot thick to sheets as thin as one-sixteenth of an inch. Some
of it has been crushed into coarse granular masses. Part of the quartz
is white, but most of it is rose colored. In places patches of dark
rose quartz occur in white or pale colored material. In the same way
translucent and nearly clear rose quartz are inclosed in opaque quartz.
The gem mineral ranges in color from nearly colorless to very pale
delicate pink to deep pink, and some of it has a magenta tint. Much of
it is translucent and somewhat opalescent, and
