420 G. F. Kunz — Sapphires from Montana. 



but little of high value. Those from the Missouri bars had a 

 wide range of color, — light blue, blue-green, green, and pink, 

 of great delicacy and brilliancy, but not the deep shades of 

 blue and red that are in demand for fine jewelry. As semi- 

 precious or " fancy " stones, they have value, however. 



The Yogo Gulch- Judith River region is more promising, the 

 colors varying from light blue to quite dark blue, including 

 some of the true "cornflower" tint so much prized in the 

 sapphires of Ceylon. Others incline to amethystine and almost 

 ruby shades. Some of them are " peacock blue " and some 

 dichroic, showing a deeper tint in one direction than in 

 another; and some of the "cornflower" gems are equal to 

 any of the Ceylonese, which they strongly resemble, — more 

 than they do those of Cashmere. Several thousand carats 

 were taken out in 1895, from a preliminary washing of one 

 hundred loads of the " earth ;" of these, two hundred carats 

 were of gem quality and yielded, when cut, sixty carats of 

 fine stones worth from $2 to $15 a carat. All, however, are 

 small, none having yet been obtained of more than 1-J- carats 

 in weight. 



Mineralogically, the Montana sapphires possess great interest. 

 The accompanying papers of Prof. Pirsson and Dr. Pratt pre- 

 sent the petrological and crystallographic aspects in detail, and 

 to these the reader is further referred. 



