this property, and G. F. Kunz,1 quoting J. A. Stephenson, describes two of them as emeralds "of good color and
quite transparent, but very rough on the surface." Since these crystals
were found, several prospects have been opened and beryl found in two
veins. Quantities of quartz and some fine rutile crystals were
obtained from the other openings. In one prospect on a steep hillside
above Davis Creek good deep aquamarine-colored beryl crystals are
reported to have been found in pegmatite. This pegmatite is composed of
ortho-clase feldspar, greenish muscovite, smoky quartz, and black
tourmaline. The other beryl prospect is about 200 yards northwest of
the one mentioned and consists of two sets of openings about 100 feet
apart. The beryl occurs in pegmatite cutting a decomposed gneiss,
probably biotite gneiss, with an easterly strike. Little could be
learned of the results of the prospecting.
Some
of the beryl prospects northwest of Taylorsville and to the north of
All Healing Springs were examined in November, 1912. All Healing
Springs are 5 miles N. 83° W. of Taylorsville, or about 6-1/2 miles by
road. No work was in progress at the time of examination, and the
prospects seen had been made from one to several years before. The
following month a little further work was done on some of the prospects
and very fine gem material was obtained. Good specimen and gem beryls
are reported to have been found in the earlier work, but through
misplaced confidence in a tramp miner, nothing was realized on them by
the owners, who therefore became discouraged and stopped prospecting.
The prospectors are now receiving good prices for their gem beryl, and
it is hoped interest in mining for them will be revived.
Especially
fine beryl has been obtained from a prospect on Eh Barnes's place, 11
miles N. 20° W. of All Healing Springs. This prospect is in a field on
the west slope of a small hill about 200 yards northwest of the house.
At the time of visit the work consisted of a trench about 20 feet long
and 2 to 5 feet deep on a pegmatite vein striking about N. 15° W. The
vein is about 4 feet thick and was exposed at both ends and in the
bottom of the trench. The country rock is a gneiss, granitic in
character, and has decomposed to a granular reddish earth covered by
light sandy soil. The pegmatite is composed chiefly of orthoclase or
microcline feldspar and quartz, with a, little mica, black
tourmaline, beryl, and garnet. The best beryl is reported to have been
found along a quartz streak or vein from a few inches to 1 foot thick
in the pegmatite. This quartz vein pinched out in the bottom of the
trench but was exposed in the north end. The feldspar occurs in masses
and rough crystals several inches thick, inclosing rough gray crystals
and masses of quartz and other minerals. Some of the quartz is slightly
cloudy or translucent dark gray. The black tourmaline occurs in the
common rounded triangular crystals measuring up to an inch in
thickness. Fragments of dark-red semi-gem garnet crystals more than an
inch thick were observed. The beryl crystals occur in both the feldspar
and the quartz, and some are closely associated with black tourmaline.
Only inferior specimens of colorless, white, yellow, and
greenish-yellow beryl crystals were found around the prospect, but a
few better specimens were held by
' History of gems found in North Carolina: Bull. North Carolina Geol. and Econ. Survey No. 12,1907, p. 38.
