PRECIOUS STONES 337 



tools and similar objects are abundant, and at some points 

 remarkable rock carvings are to be seen, especially about the 

 California localities. The Toltec turquoise company has also 

 operated other mines near Manvel, Cal., over the line in Lin- 

 coln county, Nevada. 



Turquoise is now being regularly mined in New Mexico, 

 at perhaps a dozen places, by the Azure turquoise company, 

 the American turquoise company, the Gem turquoise com- 

 pany, and by Mr. A. C. Young; and in Arizona by six com- 

 panies, among them the Aztec turquoise company. In 1902 

 turquoise was discovered in Alabama, on property of the Otero 

 company, near Idaho, Clay county, about 95 miles east of 

 Birmingham, in the region of the Talladega mountains. This 

 mineral sometimes loses or changes its color, and for this rea- 

 son several of the above named companies engrave a trade 

 mark upon the back of every stone that they sell as a guaran- 

 tee that the company will replace it with another stone in case 

 of any failure of quality appearing within six months after 

 its sale to the retail purchaser. 



Several handsome and interesting minerals, related to or 

 resembling turquoise, have been identified in Utah during the 

 last decade. Some of these have been largely sold as speci- 

 mens, though as yet they have not been found in sufficient 

 quantity to be mined for use in the arts. They would, how- 

 ever, be beautiful ornamental or semiprecious stones. Two 

 of these minerals are utahite and prosopite. 



Utahite, so named by the writer in 1895, was discovered 

 in Cedar valley, in a spur of the Oquirrh mountains, near camp 

 Floyd, Utah, in the previous year, by Mr. Don Maguire. It 

 belongs to the mineral species variscite, but presents a new 

 and peculiar form. Variscite usually occurs in crystals or 

 incrustations; utahite forms compact nodular masses, ranging 

 from the size of a walnut to that of a cocoanut. These occur 

 in slaty layers in a crystalline limestone, and are generally sur- 

 rounded with a brown ferruginous crust. In color the interior 

 mass is of various shades of bright green, generally a very- vivid 

 golden green or light emerald; and the nodules, cut across and 

 polished, have been much admired and sought by collectors. 

 The mineral is not very abundant at the locality, and can onlv 



Vol. 6-23 •' 



