Missouri River, sixteen miles east of Helena, Montana. Here sapphires
are found in glacial auriferous gravels while sluicing for gold, and
until now have been considered only a by-product. Up to the present
time they have never been systematically mined. In 1889 one company
took the option on four thousand acres of the river banks, and several
smaller companies have since been formed with a view of mining for
these gems alone or in connection with gold. The colors of the gems
obtained, although beautiful and interesting, are not the standard
blue or red shades generally demanded by the public.

At Corundum Hill, Macon County, North Carolina, about one hundred gems
have been found during the last twenty years, some of good blue color
and some of good red color, but none exceeding $100 in value, and none
within the past ten years.

_Beryl Gems._--Of the beryl gems (emerald, aquamarine, and yellow
beryl) the emerald has been mined to some extent at Stony Point in
Alexander County, North Carolina, and has also been obtained at two
other places in the county. Nearly everything found has come from the
Emerald and Hiddenite mines, where during the past decade emeralds
have been mined and cut into gems to the value of $1,000, and also
sold as mineralogical specimens to the value of $3,000; lithia
emerald, or hiddenite, to be cut into gems, $8,500, and for
mineralogical specimens, $1,500; rutile, cut and sold as gems, $150,
and as specimens, $50; and beryl, cut and sold as gems, $50.

At an altitude of 14,000 feet, on Mount Antero, Colorado, during the
last three years, material has been found which has afforded $1,000
worth of cut beryls. At Stoneham, Maine, about $1,500 worth of fine
aquamarine has been found, which was cut into gems.