p
its. The gems were
found in pockets, one of which is reported to ave yielded about 40
pounds. M. D. Kothschild, president of the American Gem & Pearl
Co., states that some of the amethysts obtained were very fine.
Rock
outcrops are scarce near the mine and the nature of the country rock
could not be definitely ascertained. A reddish, some- what sandy,
saprolite containing scattered fragments of bluish-opalescent quartz
and a few small bodies of kaolin were encountered in the pits. The
saprolite is suggestive of a granitic rock inclosing pegmatite. On the
surface of the ground along the ridge there is a little debris of a
pegmatitic rock composed of blue quartz, feldspar, and hornblende, with
a little apatite in some specimens. These observa-tions agree with the
conditions outlined in the report of Watson and Taber ' on the rutile
deposits in the adjoining region, in which the country rock is
described as a complex metamorphosed gneiss of igneous origin
corresponding to quartz monzonite. This gneiss is intruded by various
later igneous rocks, among which is pegmatite consisting essentially of
feldspar and blue quartz with hornblende, apatite, and rutile present
in many 'places. This rock forms the rutile ore in some of the mines
operated for that mineral.
Amherst County.—A
rather promising occurrence of amethyst is known on the W. P. Sutton
place at Fancy Hill, one-third of a mile north of Sandidges post office
and 7 miles N. 33° W. of Amherst, in' Amherst County. The crystals have
been found along a ridge at two places, one about 250 yards and another
about 100 yards northeast of C. H. Floyd's house. At the first place
amethystine quartz crystals have been picked up in some quantity from
an old woods road leading off of the ridge to the northwest. At the
second place only a few crystals have been found in the same road along
the summit of the ridge. No digging has been done at either place, but
it is possible that little work would be required to locate the veins.
The country rock of the region surrounding the amethyst deposits is a
gneiss of granitic composition, intruded by pegmatite and pegmatitic
granite with a porphyritic texture. The pegmatitic rocks contain
abundant blue opalescent quartz similar to those of the rutile region
in Nelson County already mentioned in the description of the American
Gem & Pearl Co.'s amethyst mine.
The
amethyst crystals found range from very pale purple to fairly dark
purple. In some specimens the purple inclines to a light reddish violet
of very pleasing tint. Segregations or patches of color are common in
the crystals, their positions generally being influenced by the crystal
structure. The majority of the crystals seen were short stout prisms
with one or both ends terminated by the rhombohedral faces. Most of the
crystals were less than an inch thick. Colorless quartz crystals occur
at other points on the Sutton place.
Charlotte County.—Amethyst
is found on the A. W. Donald plantation, about 2 J miles north of west
of Charlotte Court House, in Charlotte County. The occurrence of these
crystals has been known to members of the Donald family for more than
35 years. Many specimens have been picked up as curiosities, but no use
has been made of them as gems. The amethysts have been found rather
1 Watson, T. L., and Taber, Stephen, The Virginia rutile deposits: BuU. U. 8. Geol. Survey No. 430, 1910, pp. 200-213.
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