682 MINERAL KESOUKCES, 1913—PART II.
and
tourmaline. Although the spodumene has heretofore been called kunzite,
as a compliment to Dr. George F. Kunz, the ownen of the mine have given
their permission to European jewelry firms in sell it under the
name of "California iris" as being appropriately descriptive of its
native home and its remarkable coloring. Mr.H Fenton, secretary of the
Pala Chief Gem Mining Co., states that the mineral is being well
received under this name m many countries of Europe. Much of this
spodumene will be sold as "California iris" in the United States also,
especially in the West, where the name is considered especially
appropriate.
TOPAZ.
GEORGIA.
Two
gems, cut from crystals found in the Williams mica mine near Two Run,
Ga., were loaned for examination by Mr. L. M. Richard, of Stamford,
Tex. One of these was ordinary quartz with a slight brownish tint. The
other was colorless topaz, a crystal of which was found inclosed in a
cavity in a large crystal of mica. This is a new locality for topaz and
an unusual mode of occurrence.
MAINE.
No
new work has been done at the topaz prospects on Harndon Hill, in the
southwest corner of the town of Stoneham, Me. This locality has been
described by George F. K«nz 1 and E. S. Bastin.' At
the time of examination by the writer, in Juno, 1913, there were three
pits within about 75 feet of one another on three sides of a
f
irojecting point of
the hill. These pits were 6 to 10 feet deep and rom 10 to 35 feet long.
They were made in the edge of a body of Eegmatite capping the summit of
the hill. The rock outcropping elow on the hillside is quartz-mica
schist or gneiss injected by pegmatite. The pegmatite exposed in the
openings is coarse and of uneven grain. Orthoclase or microcline is the
principal feldspar, but .some albite is present, especially as
clevelandite. Quartz occurs in large white masses and muscovite in
greenish crystals and bunches of crystals measuring several inches
across were seen. Numerous fragments of pale-green, white, and
colorless beryl were left on the dumps and scattered over the hill top.
Kunz states that some of the beryl crystals found were about a yard
long and over a foot across. The only topaz observed was a fragment of
an opaque white crystal, an inch and a half thick, attached to a mass
of clevelandite and greenish scaley muscovite. According to Kunz, most
of the topaz crystals were found in one pocket with clevelandite. The
crystals ranged from those small in size to large rough opaque ones,
weighing 10 to 20 kilograms. The better crystals measured 10 to 60
millimeters across and were colorless or faintly tinted with green or
blue. Some were transparent only in parts. A few reddish garnets and
blocks of bluish-green triplite were observed on the dumps. Among other
minerals found during operations on Harndon Hill, Kunz mentions
apatite, columbite, fluorite, montmorillonite (a variety of kaolin),
herderite, and bertrandite.
1 Topaz and associated minerals at Stoneham, Me.: Am. Jour. Sei., 3d ser., vol. 27, pp. 212-216,1S84. 1 Geology of the pegmatites and associated rooks or Maine: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 445, pp.100-102,1811.
