| Show AMinicAN Tunouoisns le Oe i Wlihli AMs tgo f lIn1 by thou A it a Atthnn < h the United Stiles nnnot rlalm to tie eonildered one of the great gemprodiieing countries of the world almoal every known vnrltty ol precious none hu been round within Us limits Few gem however arc common com-mon enough 10 be of declrtril 1 commrr clal importance and f items tic mining la I ruely carried on The only exception to thil b I tttforded by the turqiiulM The last edition to the Mineral Ilesotirre of the ailed Blntw give the value of Ibe rough gem ot all kind prodiim here during l93ni amounting Tel 1 Oltot which I1UI3C ROC to the credit of the turquoise mine Almost all of the American turquoise tome from Santa Io Couul New MexIco Mex-Ico or Mohave county Arizona Ai In Ienla the turquoise both In New Mexico and Arizona on urn In vein pormoatlnR volcanic rocks n yellowish yel-lowish brown trachyta being the commonest com-monest matrix The 1ueblo Indians find them nn easy tray of making money na they contra obtained 1 with Ill He trouble and after being subjected I lo rough grinding can be readily sold In trnteller Formerly when the Indian In-dian was more unsophisticated choice clones could bo obtained from them at the outlay of a few cent but of home earn the Mllera have begun to realize the value of their Rood and now few real bargain can bo centred TCo ancient Inhabltantii of Itcxlrn mined tho lurquolio extensively and the InvadlnR SpaniArd found It 1 largely large-ly used to Incruit human skulli and alfo to Inlay mosalca anti to dccoralo obildlon ornament Traces or tho old mines can bo round to this day and rubbish luapi are common In the lur iiuolw dlitrlcl In the Arizona nilnei they tell how on n tunnel being run through a turquolid deposit Iho miners manic across Ibo remain nr A morn ancient tunnel ltd top and sides rent and caved In ai H by an earthquake while In n moll space threw or four feet each way was tho skeleton nr tho unfortunate Aztec who had been Imprisoned Im-prisoned there by tho falllnR In or tho roof In ono hand the ikclcton still clutched tho liandlo of hlo old Iiilno hnmmrr and at hlA sldo was a leather bog containing as oho dlicotcrtrn found several cholco stones It only shons that In Ibo old da > s mcn would take oa big risk In rcirch ot treasure ai they will now Another tale of turquolso drift up front Yucatan It tells ot nn Idol In nn ancient templo around whoso neck arme and anklca are hung strings of muunlllcent turquoltri whlla each ot It le eyra li n lingo large Mono Tim narrator n Mexican minor claimed I that these eye stone were about Ihrco Inchon In their largest diameter Thereto There-to I rnmcthlnz In thlij story Irriulillbly itisgesllvo of Slider lliggard Idols |
