State

Page Sixteen THE STATE December 16, 1933 North Carolina’s Jewelry Box ONCE upon a time in McDowell County, up in tho western section of North Carolina, a little barefoot boy was sent to the spring for a bucket of water. It was a hot, sunny day, so lie hung the bucket on a hickory limb and paddled up and down in the cooling freshness of the spring brunch. Suddenly a bright and shining pebble caught his eye — it was round, smooth and sparkling as a glass liead. He picked it up, brushed off the sand and grit and put it in his pocket to ad-1 to his store of jack- rocks. But this glassy stone turned out not to belong to the homely jack-rock fam¬ ily, but a real diamond of 4 1-3 carats; a beautiful sun-tinted gem of an allur¬ ing grayish-green. Today the model of this diamond is in the Tiffany- Morgan collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Mony Jewels Hove Been Found This is just one of the many jewels that have been found pinned to the dark breast of Mother Earth up in the Carolina hills. The discovery of North Carolina gems began with the corundum indus¬ try and mica mining that was carried on in Madison, Lincoln, and Gaston counties. It was in the corundum mine at Franklin, Macon County, that the famous green sapphire was discov¬ ered. This stone is classed as the finest green sapphire in the world; it is the rurcst of all colors of sapphire, and is known as the Oriental Emerald. It is now in the Morgau-Bemcnt collection in New York. It was in 1 87 1 that the first sys¬ tematic gem mining was done by open¬ ing the Cullusaja Mine on Corundum Hill. This mine is situated on the Cullasuja or Sugar Fork of the Little Tennessee River, and is a few miles southeast of Franklin. The largest crystal ever known came from this mine. It is three times larger than any other known crystal. It weighs 3J2 pounds, is 22 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 12 inches thick. The color is a deep, hazy, smoky blue. This crystal is now in the .Shepard collcc- DID you know that diamonds, emeralds, rubies, opals ond other rare jewels hove been found in this state? They hove — ond in quite an appre¬ ciable number. Indications are thot many others also will be brought to light. By TRAVIS TUCK JORDAN lion at Amherst College, Mass. There are crystals that hold the dark blue of midnight, those with the pale deli¬ cate violet of tho waking dawn, others that catch the flame of the setting sun, then we find those as thinly blue as the Juno sky at noontime, and others of the soft tawny amber of maple syrup. Another prolific mine is the Buck Creek or Cullakocncc Mine in Clay County, This mine has given masses of emeralds, grass-green amphibolite, and pink and ruby corundum. Rubies From Cowee Volley Rubies, the gem of love and passion, come from the Cowee Valley in Macon County. It1 was also left to Cowce Valley to bring to light a new variety of garnet to which was given the name of Rhodolite. This gem is a distinc¬ tive variety of garnet, as it is found in North Carolina only, and lias proven to be the most valuable- gem commercially in the state. The name comes from “rhodon,” meaning rose color. The stone is brilliant and spark¬ ling of a very light red that catches the sun and creeps and crawls like a live thing. Emeralds, the cool, deep green of the sea, come from Mitchell and Alex¬ ander counties, as do aquamarines as blue as an old seaman’s eyes, and weighing from I to 30 carats. Of the diamonds, most of them have been discovered in discarded gold wash¬ ings. There is a diamond of 1 1-3 carats, clear and flawless as a moonlit Jake that comes from Rutherford County. From Lincoln County comes n half carat stone as transparently green ns a dew drop on a morning glory leaf. Mecklenburg gives tho white and black diamond, and Cleve¬ land the glittering octahedron weigh¬ ing % carat and as citron yellow as the wing of a rice bird. Rubies, small but of good color, have been found scat¬ tered loosely among the sand and pebbles of the mountain streams of Jack- son and Transylvania coun¬ ties. From Haywood come the finest specimens of corundum of blue, grey-blue and red. Yancey gives the white blue mottled crystals. In Lin¬ coln. Macon and Haywood counties is found the amethyst varying from the deep royal purple of a petunia to the faint orchid of a Japanese cherry tree in its last blooming. McDowell lias the brown sapphire, and Jackson the asteriated sapphire. Rock crystal is found in many parts of the state. A rock crystal from Ashe County weighing SI pounds is in the Morgan collection in New York. The most important crystal from this county was carved into a special de¬ sign and exhibited as the finest piece of American lapidary ever executed in rock crystal. This work of art is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Species of quartz of the soft candy tint of a wild rose seen through the opalescence of a mirror come from Iredell and Cabarrus counties. Ruti¬ lated quartz of gorgeous red, crumb¬ ling gold, brown and black first saw the light in Randolph, Catawba, Burke, Iredell, Jackson and Alexander coun¬ ties. The Hiddcnite or Lithia Emerald is found only in Alexander County. In color this gcin is of a rich emerald as transparent as a drop of green wa¬ ter; it is the finest emerald ever found and is now in the Morgan-Bcment col¬ lection. Alexander County gives us the amethyst, smoky quartz and crys¬ tals, but it is Ashe County that gives quartz in its choicest- form and rock crystal in magnificent masses. Beryl in Rainbow Colors Cleveland, Mitchell and Yancey counties have yielded beryl in rain¬ bow colors. There is a watermelon- green, a honey yellow, a jay bird blue, and the burning gold of a hickory autumn leaf. Rutherford, Gaston and Buncombe have the cyanite, Haywood (Continued on page twenly-fotvr)