_Quartz._--During the year 1887 about half a ton of rock crystal, in
pieces weighing from a few pounds up to one hundred pounds each, was
found in decomposing granite in Chestnut Hill township, Ashe County,
North Carolina. One mass of twenty and one-half pounds was absolutely
pellucid, and more or less of the material was used for art purposes.
This lot of crystal was valued at $1,000.
In Arkansas, especially in Garland and Montgomery Counties, rock
crystals are found lining cavities of variable size, and in one
instance thirty tons of crystals were found in a single cavity. These
crystals are mined by the farmers in their spare time and sold in the
streets of Hot Springs, their value amounting to some $10,000
annually. Several thousand dollars' worth are cut from quartz into
charms and faceted stones, although ten times that amount of paste or
imitation diamonds are sold as Arkansas crystals.
Rose quartz is found in the granitic veins of Oxford County, Maine,
and in 1887, 1888, and 1889 probably $500 worth of this material was
procured and worked into small spheres, dishes, charms, and other
ornamental objects.
The well-known agatized and jasperized wood of Arizona is so much
richer in color than that obtained from any other known locality that,
since the problem of cutting and polishing the large sections used for
table tops and other ornamental purposes was solved, fully $50,000
worth of the rough material has been gathered and over $100,000 worth
of it has been cut and polished.
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