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114 A Book of Precious Stones
variety,
Uvarovite, is found chiefly in Russia. Montana ruby is a trade term for
the fine gar-nets found in Montana and Arizona. The finest American
garnets are found in the territory of the Navajo nation in
north-western New Mexico and north-eastern Arizona, where they are
collected from ant-hills and scorpions' nests by Navajo Indians and
sometimes by United States soldiers from adjacent forts. According to
the most eminent authority on American gem stones, Dr. George Frederick
Kunz, these red stones, known locally as Arizona and New Mexico rubies,
are unsurpassed, equalling in value those from the Cape of Good Hope.
Fine gems weighing two and three carats, after cutting, are not rare.
By artificial light the American stones are superior to " Cape rubies."
These American garnets have evidently recently weathered out of a
peridotic rock.
Another
type of garnet is known as spessar-tite, a variety of essonite, in
which part of the alumina is replaced by manganous oxide. The finest
specimens of this variety known were discovered at Amelia Court House,
Virgina, which locality has yielded gems weighing from one to one
hundred carats.
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