ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 



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deposit runs north-east and south-west, and for many miles 

 zircons can be found, but only at the Freeman and Jones 

 mines in sufficient quantities to work. These are situated 

 on a high ridge. The zircons seem as plentiful on the sur- 

 face as lower down. The mines have been worked to 

 about the depth of fifteen feet. Before i860 the zircons 

 were collected from the surface and sold to collectors for 

 about ten dollars a quart. From sixty-five to seventy 

 thousand pounds have since been raised and sold at prices 

 varying from fifteen cents to one dollar per pound. The 

 principal consumers of zircons assure me that there is at 

 present no demand for them, they themselves having a 

 number of tons in stock, all they will need for some years. 

 They are worth about $250 a ton in large lots. 



At the Green River mines the dirt is placed in rockers 

 and washed, the zircons and grains of magnetic ore sorting- 

 out easily. The latter is separated by means of large mag- 

 nets. The zircons are from the smallest sand to a quarter 

 of a pound in weight. They are somewhat smaller than 

 the zircons from Anderson, S. C. , and easily distinguished 

 from the latter by their form. 



When zirconium began to be used a few years ago in 

 incandescent lamps, it was thought to be a comparatively 

 rare mineral. The new application and consequent demand 

 caused a search to be instituted which has shown that in 

 realit}' it is widely distributed and in places very abundant. 



It is to be found in many cases along with titanium, which 

 was to be expected from the chemical relationship existing 

 between the two. Sandberger has observed transparent 

 crystals of zircon in granite of many places; also in gneiss 

 and mica, in diorite and porphyry. Microscopic crystals 

 are widely distributed in the sedimentary rocks, the mate- 

 rial of which has been mainly derived from the older rocks; 

 for example, in the variegated sandstones of the Black For- 

 est, in carboniferous limestones and in the sands of the 

 valley of the Maine. 



