Jewels of Our Own

1895

MAY BE MANY MILLIONS OF AMERICAN PRECIOUS STONES.

We May Have a South African Diamond Field at Our Doors — Rare Gems Have Been Mined For Years In This Country, but the Work Is to Be Enlarged.

The next great mining industry in this country will be for precious stones instead of gold, silver or iron ore if the prognostications of several large diamond merchants and mineralogical professors are fulfilled. The census bulletin giving the statistics of the precious stones found in this country opened the eyes of a number of millionaire dealers in valuable gems, and after consulting with learned professors in our leading colleges they satisfied themselves that there were unknown possibilities in the mines of the western, southern and even eastern states. Exports were immediately engaged to examine the rich metallic fields of the Appalachian mountains, the most favorable portions of The Rocky mountains and the diamond districts of California.

So many wildcat stories have been reported and published about finding precious stones in different parts of the country that it has been a difficult matter to sift the genuine accounts from the fictitious. It was for the purpose of finding out the real status of the industry and its possibilities that trustworthy agents were sent exploring every part of the country, and their reports can be relied upon as not containing any exaggeration of the truth. Diamond merchants of the great American cities are not "castle builders," and they generally strike rock bottom before they invest their millions in any business, but ever since the report was published that the diamond fields of South Africa were giving out the leading dealers in precious stones have been on the lookout for new mines that would supply the world with valuable gems. Some looked to South America as the future source of these stones, and even today the rocky ranges of the Andes are being examined and sounded by experts. But a consensus of opinion indicates that great faith is placed in the unexplored regions of this country. Parts of the south, in particular, have revealed unexpected treasures of valuable gems.

One of the leading dealers in precious stones who is interested in the present movement to develop the industry of mining for American gems consented to give the following facts out in an interview:

"Americans, as a rule, are very fond of precious stones, and I should say that there are more in this country according to the population than anywhere in the world. The importation of diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other gems has consequently been a very lucrative business for many years. The value of these stones in the country today, mostly imported, I should roughly estimate to be not less than $500,000,000. We have so long depended upon other countries to supply us with precious minerals that little attention has been given to the home mines. Then miners here have been wrapped up in their explorations for gold, silver, iron, coal, oil and such products that they have not had time to think of other things. But the promise of a future shortening of the supply of all the leading gems has made dealers look around for other sources.

"Another thing that attracted our attention was the wonderful supply of rare minerals found in the Appalachian system of mountains. Not only gold, but genuine sapphires and scores of other stones have been found in those mountains. At the Corundum hill over 100 beautiful sapphires have been discovered accidentally while mining for other products. Those stones have sold from $50 to $100 and upward. In the same state, in Alexandria county, beautiful specimens of the emerald have been found, both the aquamarine and yellow beryl. There are now several emerald and hiddenite mines worked in that place, but only on a small scale and chiefly to supply institutions with rough specimens. Nevertheless from $10,000 to $20,000 worth of these stones have been sold from these mines in the past few years. Splendid garnets and a few diamonds have also been excavated in these North Carolina mineral fields, and after an exhaustive examination of the ground the conclusion has been reached that before long startling disclosures of precious stones will be made in the Appalachian mountains. We may yet have a South African diamond field at our door.

"Other parts of the south have also been found to contain precious stones. True beryls and garnets of considerable value have been located in Virginia, and there are several well defined districts where small specimens of diamonds have been found in Georgia.

"In the west and southwest the mineral fields are even more extensive. California diamond mines are the largest and so far the richest in this country. Some fine specimens have been brought to us to cut, and others are constantly being brought in by prospectors and mine owners to test. Many stories have been circulated about diamond fields and mines in California, and adventurers have gone there expecting to pick them up as they did gold 40 years ago. Their disappointment spread counter reports, and most people concluded that diamonds in California were fictitious. The fact is that mining for diamonds must be conducted on scientific principles and with plenty of capital. We do not expect to find diamonds lying around loose waiting to be picked up. Even in the richest diamond fields of South Africa they have to work hard for the precious stones. More recently diamonds have been found in Wisconsin. Around Lake Superior also the finest specimens of chlorastrolite, thomsonite and agates have been picked up on the beaches. Evidently the action of the water has worn them from the rocks.

"Colorado is another well defined region for precious stone hunting. Many thousands of dollars' worth of cut beryl have been taken from the mines of that state. This valuable gem appears to be quite general in several parts of the country." — Philadelphia Times.

"Lost" Gems Are Recovered

1916

Package of Valuables Turns Up in St. Paul Postoffice.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — A few days ago a St. Paul woman gave a Chicago hotel clerk an envelope containing jewels valued at $1,500, $200 in currency and a $50 draft to be placed in the hotel safe over night. The contents of the envelope have now been returned to the woman by Otto Raths, St. Paul postmaster.

When the valuables were called for at the Chicago hotel they could not be found. The clerk to whom they had been given had started on a two-weeks vacation. The woman stormed at the hotel management but didn't get any trace of her valuables. When she asked for her bill she found on it an item for "postage 4 cents."

The clerk had affixed the stamps and the valuables had been sent to St. Paul. The envelope was badly torn on its arrival here and postal clerks puzzled over the strange manner of shipping valuables until the woman appeared, claimed the shipment and explained its cause. Why they were sent here has not been explained.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Gems of 1900 B.C. Exhibited in U.S.

1919

ARE BRIGHT AS NEW, THO 3800 YEARS OF AGE.

Were Worn by Egyptian Princess and Found in 1914 by English Scientist.

NEW YORK, N. Y. — Jewelry worn by an Egyptian princess of the twelfth dynasty, nineteen hundred years before the Christian era, was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It is declared to be the finest collection of personal adornment ever brought out of Egypt.

When marauders entered the tomb of Princess Sathathoriunut at some odd moment in the last 3,800 years they took away her mummy and even the elaborate funeral trappings, but overlooked a niche containing the wonderfully wrought ornaments she wore when attending the ancient equivalent for a first night at the opera.

Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, head of an English archaeological society, dug the collection out in 1914, and today it looks as bright as if it had just come from the makers.

It consists of a gold necklace inlaid with carnelian lapis lazuli and green feldspar and another pectoral similarly made of King Senusert II., father of the princess.

There is also a gold collar of double lion heads, a girdle of gold with rhombic jeweled heads, a necklace of amethyst with gold lion claw pendants, armlets and bracelets with gold bars and beads of gold, carnelian and turquoise; and parts of the princess' jewel box, made of ebony with gold and carved ivory panels.

The jewels are identified as belonging to the princess by her name and the name of her father in cartouches on the larger pieces. According to custom, the Cairo museum retained the choice of the collection, a diadem.

Since its purchase by the museum the collection has been in a vault in London, stipulation having been made that it should remain there until six months after hostilities closed.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 12.

Burma — Home of the Ruby

1910

Practically All the Valuable Stones Are the Product of That Country's Mines

All the world's great rubies come from the mines of the Mogok valley, India. There are four principal mines in the valley, in each of which modern tools and machinery are used, which facilitate the proper examination of a large amount of byon or ruby-bearing clay each day.

In the nearby valleys the Burmans still prosecute their searches in the old way, digging and washing by hand labor, but often with astonishing results. In the large workings the system has been reduced to a science with corresponding results. The work goes on day and night. The ruby-bearing clay is extracted by the open quarry method of removing all the surface down to the valuable clay, which is then dug up, carried on trolleys to the steam cleansing mill, washed, passed through the sieves, and then examined for rubies and spinels.

The byon stretches almost everywhere along the Mogok valley, and wherever this clay exists rubies are to be found. Besides the pure ruby, spinel or balas rubies are found in large quantities in the same neighborhood. Wherever the ruby is found the spinel is sure to crop up close beside it. They are both crystals of alumina, but of different shapes. Except in a few rare cases the expert can easily distinguish between the two stones, although they are very much alike to the naked eye.

The Burman is inclined to invent his savings in rubies and diamonds, which may be readily realized upon in times of financial stress. Rubies are more precious than diamonds, and are practically indestructible except by fire. During the season as many as 2,000 Burmans are employed in the mines.

Save Lots of Money by Not Shaving

1911

Wise Cracks in the News

A Massachusetts octogenarian who has never shaved in his life, claims to have saved $24,000 in that way, but most men would rather not have the money than the whiskers.

A lady smuggler arrested with $8,000 worth of jewels in her stocking claims that that's where she always wears 'em. Evidently we've been overlooking a good thing.

A few phlegmatic men who never become excited about anything are not going to buy a fruit farm next and get rich in one season by raising apples.

The fashionable dressmakers are still quarreling over the location of the waist line, and women will have to go along a while without knowing where it will finally be located for the season.

There are many ways of getting in bad, only one of which is to travel on a train which is about to be wrecked.

We are told that the day of the novel is ended. When we consider the alleged literature that has been perpetrated recently, we cannot squeeze out even the semblance of a tear.

A Recipe for Diamonds

1906

If Anyone Wants to Make a Few, Here Is the Way to Go About It

Would you like to know how to manufacture diamonds — real diamonds? The process is somewhat difficult, requiring time, patience and some outlay of money, but then consider the possible results! The diamond, we know, says the New York Herald, is simply carbon in a transparent crystalline form. It comes of humble parentage and is brother to the lump of coal.

Unlike easily crystallizable bodies, carbon is insoluble in all ordinary solvents, but molten metals will combine with it. Let the diamond maker choose iron for a solvent for charcoal, melting it in an electric furnace, allowing it to take up as much carbon as it can — in other words, saturate itself with carbon. The crucible containing the white hot metal should then be plunged into a bath of molten lead. The result will be that globules of iron will rise to the surface of the lead and are quickly cooled on the outer surface. Inside the hard crust the iron remains for some time in a molten condition, and, as iron expands in solidifying, the contents of these little globules receive a pressure unattainable by any other means. When the lead becomes solidified some bullets of iron will be found bound up in the mass. Dissolve with some powerful acid first the lead and then the iron, and a residue of carbonaceous matter will be found to contain tiny crystals — real diamonds. Any chemist with a well equipped laboratory can make diamonds in this way, but the largest of them will not be more than a fiftieth an inch in diameter.

$75,000 In Gems Lost During Fire

1920

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. — Details of police guarded all day the ruins of the Codding block, which was destroyed by fire, at a loss of $75,000, and employees of the water department made vain efforts to thaw out the ice in the surrounding streets, trying to locate thousands of dollars worth of diamonds and precious stones which were literally swept away by the force of water which the hosemen played on the flames.


Taken After 6-year Search

Trailed Across Country, Man Charged With $20,000 Theft

After a six year search during which the trail led across a dozen states, Joseph E. Meredith, former freight agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad at Libertyville was arrested in Westchester, Pa., and brought back to Waukegan, near Chicago, for trial.

Meredith was indicted in 1914 by the Lake County grand jury on the charge of embezzling $20,000 from the St. Paul railroad.

Although he was being sought by railroad detectives, Meredith got a job in Westchester as yardmaster for the Delaware & Lackawanna. He is 42 years old, and has a wife and two children living in Buffalo.