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Emeralds for Invisibility
By ASHTON CHAPMAN
Only in North Carolina have sig¬
nificant quantities of emeralds, the
birthstone for May, been produced in
the United States. The Tar Heel de¬
posits, in three widely separated areas,
have each been mined commercially.
For several years two have been open,
for nominal fees, to "rockhounds" on
a dig-and-keep basis.
The first emerald discovered in Tar-
hcclia was in Alexander County in
1875 by the late J. Adlai 1). Stephen¬
son. prominent Statesville merchant
and mineral collector.
Next discovery was in Mitchell, by
the late Alf Chrisawn. a farmer. He
found on Crabtree Mountain a gray¬
ish-white rock with greenish streaks,
which he showed to a Bakersville mica-
buyer. J. I.. Rorison. Rorison added it
to his growing collection of mineral
"curiosities" of the region, where it re¬
mained unidentified for nearly two
years.
Third discovery was a fragment of
broken emerald crystal near Earl.
Cleveland County, in 1897.
"Emerald" is a word the Greeks ap¬
plied to several different green-colored
gemstones. Even today a number of
gems are called "emeralds," such as
the Oriental emerald (green corun¬
dum), lithia emerald (hiddenite).
Uralian emerald (peridot), pyro-emer-
ald (flourspar) and mother of emer¬
ald (green quartz).
True emerald is a form of beryl, the
green color being due to a small
amount of oxide of chromium. The
deeper the color the more valuable
the stone.
The Greeks believed an emerald
could render the wearer invisible,
would ward off evil spirits, protect the
health and relieve eyestrain.
As early as I f>50 B.C. emeralds were
obtained from mines in upper Egypt
later called "Cleopatra's Mines."
Emeralds, one of the Egyptians’ sym¬
bols of immortality, have been found
on mummies.
Synthetic emeralds closely resem¬
bling the real thing have been de¬
veloped but they can easily be detected
because they fluoresce a deep red un¬
der ultra-violet rays, while natural
emeralds do not.
Today the only active emerald mines
are high in the Andes in Colombia,
unless the Russians have secretly re¬
opened the Ural Mountain mines
which, discovered in 1830, produced
emeralds for several czars.
The Crabtree Emerald Mine in
Mitchell County is at an altitude of
5.000 feet. Those in Alexander and
Cleveland are less than 1.000 feet
above sea level.
The 1875 discovery in Alexander
was followed by the finding in 1880
of six emerald crystals on the old War¬
ren farm. After several weeks of dig¬
ging the late W. E. Hidden found not
only emeralds but a hitherto unknown
form of yellow-green spodumene.
which was named hiddenite in his
honor.
The Emerald and Hiddenite Mining
Co. was formed. They mined the larg¬
est number of crystals in 1885. in¬
cluding one 8.5 inches long weighing
nine ounces. This magnificent speci¬
men was added to the collection of the
American Museum of Natural His¬
tory in New York, but was later stolen.
One pocket at the mine yielded 75
emeralds ranging from two to five
inches long.
In 1926 the late W. B. Colburn of
Statesville reopened this mine, after
it had been closed for a number of
years. Again some fine emeralds and
hiddenite were found.
Hidden’s extensive prospecting led
to finding other emeralds in the vi¬
cinity. The Osborne-Lackey place pro¬
duced 50 crystals, from three-quarters
of an inch to more than two inches
long and one-eighth to one-third inch
thick. Two nearby prospects were de¬
veloped in 1907 by the American Gem
Mining Syndicate of New York.
Among others, one dark-green emer¬
ald of 276 carats was found.
Loose emeralds in topsoil, first re¬
ported in 1897. led to discovery of the
Cleveland County emerald deposit in
1908. on land of W. B. Turner. First
operated by George English. New York
mineral dealer, the Turner Mine was
later sold to the Emerald Mining Co.
of New York and the name changed
to "Old Plantation Mine." It was esti¬
mated that by 1913 some 3,000 carats
of rough emeralds, valued at more
than S 1 5.000. had been mined. The
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