1882. 101 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 



Mr. Wm. Earl Hidden then read the following paper : 



THE DISCOVERY OF EMERALDS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



That emeralds have been found in the United States, has been 

 douDted. The press has stated " the discovery of emeralds needed 

 confirmation." It is my pleasure to show you this evening convincing 

 procf of the existence in our country of this rare and beautiful gem. 

 Since what the impetus was that started the search for emeralds in 

 North Carolina would be of interest, I will give you the story, gathered 

 as it is from a year's residence on the spot where the discovery was 

 made. 



Sixteen years ago, the site of the North Carolina emerald mine was 

 covered with a dense primitive forest. Less than ten years ago the 

 locality was mineralogically a blank, nothing was known to exist hav- 

 ing any special interest or value. Whatever we know of it to-day, is 

 due indirectly to Mr. J. A. Stephenson, a native of the country, whose 

 interest in mineralogy is a purely natural one. 



Under a promise of reward, if successful, he had engaged the farm- 

 ers to search the soil for crystals, Indian stone relics, etc., and for some 

 years enjoyed surprising success in thus gathering specimens. 



Every specimen found in this region proves to be a revelation to 

 science. In some respects they were of more interest than anything 

 heretofore found of their kind. 



Certain it is that this region, and I state this from my own experi- 

 ence in collecting, has produced some of the most remarkable and 

 beautiful specimens of Emerald, Spodumene, Beryl, Rutile and Monazite, 

 thus far discovered in the United States. 



To be brief and to the point, I will say, that in a few localities in 

 Alexander county, crystals would be brought of the common opaque 

 beryl; but now and then a semi-transparent prism, having a decided 

 grass-green color, much resembling the famous crystals from Siberia, so 

 familiar to mineralogists, would be found and offered for sale in the 

 neighbonng towns. Those came to have the name among the farmers 

 of " green rocks " and " green bolts." From the fact of their selling 

 for more than anything else they found, these green crystals became 

 the ultimatum of their searching. 



Among other curious local names for minerals were " Donicks " for 

 quartz crystals, " Black Bolts " for prisms of tourmaline, " Red Metal " 

 for rutile crystals, and " Needle Rock " for the beautiful sagenite, or Ar- 

 rows-of-love stone. 



Suffice it to say that in a period of about six years, there were found 

 loose in the surface soil, on three plantations in this county, a small 



