Georgia has had a fascinating history of mining fabulous gem stones ever since the early placer gold miners discovered diamonds. This is because Georgia is noted for a wide variety of gem containing rocks and minerals within its borders. The reason for this diversity of rocks and minerals is apparent when we consider that the state embraces portions of five of the main physiographic provinces in the United States and the rocks included in these provinces were formed during different geologic ages and under different conditions. The rocks of every geologic period except the Permian are represented at the surface in Georgia. Also, there is a wide distribution of the three great groups of rocks: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.
The State is divided into three great geological districts. In northwest Georgia we have rocks of the Paleozoic Age which contain an assortment of very ancient sedimentary rocks which are the abode of a variety of brightly colored jaspers, cherts, black flint, travertine and banded agates. Our youngest rocks are found in the South Georgia coastal plain below the fall line. Here are found the colorful chalcedonies, jaspers and agatized coral. Most gemstones of Georgia are found in crystalline rocks of the Piedmont Plateau and Highland region which is the third and oldest of the three geological provinces. This area is floored with very ancient igneous and metamorphic rocks that are of complex composition, because they have been subjected to many periods of intrusions, folding and metamorphism which produce a great variety of new minerals. The crystalline rocks of the Piedmont are shot through with thousands of pegmatite dykes that were squeezed out of the cooling granite magma into the overlaying gneiss and schists that once covered the granite intrusions. Pegmatites are Nature’s treasure chest of gems and minerals and are a rockhound’s best friend because they provide him with a happy hunting ground for many beautiful gems and minerals. Some pegmatites contain an unusual assemblage of sometimes as many as 150 different minerals. Not all of Georgia’s pegmatites are well blessed with a great variety of gems and minerals like those of the complex pegmatites of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Over half are simple pegmatites that contain the granite minerals of feldspar, quartz and mica in large crystals. The Georgia pegmatites are poor in the four-gem making chemical elements that creates the beautiful gemstones such as: The element Lithium, makes kunzite or gem spodumene, the element Beryllium makes emerald, beryl, chrysoberyl and aquamarine, the elements Boron and Fluorine make tourmaline, and the element Fluorine makes topaz, fluorite and apatite. During World War II, many Georgia pegmatites were opened and mined for strategic mica and beryl. Some of these were also rich in gem quality aquamarine, rose quartz, smoky quartz, black tourmaline and green microcline feldspar. In addition to the important colored gemstone deposits of the State, there are various other locations within the State that are well known to professional geologists, mineral collectors, and rockhounds as a reliable source of magnificent study, display and lapidary material. Outstanding Georgia material includes amethyst from Charlie’s Creek in Towns County, aquamarine from the LaGrange area and sapphires from the Hiawassee area. Also of interest to gemstone collectors and rockhounds are the world famous unsurpassed rutile crystals of Graves Mountain and the highly prized barite crystals from the Cartersville area, which are found in many important museums and private collections throughout the world. The rarest of Georgia gems are diamond, ruby, sapphire and aquamarine. Gems include all minerals that are prized for personal ornament on account of their beauty, color, luster, transparency and hardness. The following is a list of gems that occur in Georgia:
DIAMONDS: The occurrence of diamonds in Georgia has been known since they were found in the early placer gold mines. Dr. M.F. Stephenson, Director of the Dahlonega Mint, who became famous for being the first to declare: “There’s gold in them thar hills” was also famous for being the first to discover a diamond in the State in 1843 while panning for gold at Williams Ferry. It weighed over six carats and was displayed for several years in a bank in Gainesville. There is a legend in Dahlonega that a large diamond was used for years by boys as a “middle man” in playing marbles. There is an intriguing though possibly unrealistic report of several pounds of diamonds being recovered in the sluice boxes of the Glade Gold Mine on Stockeneter Creek northeast of Gainesville by Dr. Lloyd. Many of the reported finds lack satisfactory verification. Deception, fraud and honest misidentification must be regarded as distinct possibilities with respect to several of the reported finds. All those diamonds found in Hall County weighed from two to six carats, some few less, and three were of large size. One large diamond was tested by placing it on a blacksmith’s anvil and smashing it with a heavy sledge hammer by ignorant miners who had heard that the diamond was the hardest substance known and could not be broken. The great Roman Naturalist, Pliny the Elder, is responsible for this notion. He wrote 37 volumes of Natural History. In one volume he devoted to gemstones, he stated that since diamond was the hardest stone known, the only true test for one was to place the specimen on a blacksmith’s anvil and hit it a mighty blow with a sledge hammer. If it did not break, it was a diamond! Pliny died in 79 A.D. in the destruction of Pompeii by the eruption of Vesuvius, but his nonsense about diamonds lived on and was no doubt responsible for the smashing of many fine stones.
QUARTZ: Quartz is one of Georgia’s most abundant minerals which it has more than any other State. Quartz is also the official State gemstone, which includes amethyst, clear, smoky and rose quartz. There is no mineral so popular among the five million rockhounds and the thousands of amateur gem cutters as the quartz family because of the endless variety, beauty of specimens and the great profusion in which they occur. The agate is the prime favorite in the home lapidary shops because it is plentiful and easy to cut. It takes a high polish that is durable and will stand abuse when worn as jewelry as it has a hardness of 7. It has a wide variety of colors and many interesting patterns. The humble quartz family has been touched by Nature’s magic wand and transformed into an endless number of varieties of beautiful colored semiprecious gemstones and crystals. The quartz family is divided into two large groups: The crystalline group and the cryptocrystalline group. The crystalline group includes clear quartz, smoky quartz, blue quartz, rose quartz, milky quartz, amethyst and citrine. Opal which is almost pure silica does not belong to the two quartz family groups because it is amorphous and has no crystalline structure. It could be termed a mineraloid and is an orphan of the quartz family. All the crystalline varieties except citrine have been found in reasonable supply in many localities of the State. Some of the pale smoky quartz, when transparent can be easily confused with citrine. Some very good specimens of smoky quartz have been found in Dekalb County, near Emory University, and in the mica mines at Barnesville. Excellent clear quartz crystals up to 6 inches in diameter have been found loose in the soil near Swinton. Large colorless transparent quartz crystals up to 8 inches in diameter have been found near Ball Ground. Probably the rarest type of quartz has been found near Statham by Mr. Aubrey Bottoms, “The Dean of Georgia Rockhounds”. It has been named Temple quartz because the pyramidal faces are shaped like a Mayan six tiered pyramid.
AMETHYST: The finest gem quality amethyst have come from the Charlie’s Creek area in Towns County, near Hiawassee. Large quantities of superb crystals of clear purple quality have been found there. This area was discovered and developed by the world famous gem dealer, Mr. Gilbert W. Withers of Atlanta. “Gil” says he located the deposit while fishing one day. He noticed a large tree blowed over and could see something glistening, so he got out of the boat to investigate and found a bushel of sparkling amethyst crystals in the roots. He sank a deep shaft there and $50,000 worth of unsurpassed purple amethyst was mined from this place. One of the most beautiful amethyst crystals ever found in North America was also discovered by Mr. Withers at Charlie’s Creek. It is a fabulous 219 carat egg shaped, deep purple with red reflections. It was faceted on one side and polished at Idar Oberstein, Germany and named “The purple Heart of Georgia”. It was sold for $1,400 to Mr. Jim Stoinoff of Hiawassee who still owns this spectacular gem. Experienced rockhounds advise anyone who wishes to visit Charlie’s Creek to go in someone else’s car, because the roads are awful!
ROSE QUARTZ: Rose quartz is always found in the center of a pegmatite as the eye or core and is always surrounded by a large mass of milky quartz. This large quartz mass is the last material to crystallize or solidify from the fluid mass of a pegmatite. The entire mass of quartz is surrounded by a much greater zone of feldspar which weathers into white primary kaolinite clay. The color of rose quartz is attributed to microcrystals of rutile orientated along crystallographic directions. The star effect of rose quartz is caused by scattering of light from the orientated microscopic rutile needles. Good rose quartz looks like clear pale pink jelly turned to stone. After rose quartz has been exposed to strong sunlight, the pink fades, but for some unexplained reason the color comes back if it is buried in a dark damp place. The finest rose quartz ever found in Georgia came from the Hogg Mine near LaGrange. This mine also produced some of the finest asterated smoky quartz. Asterated quartz when cut into high cabochons gives a beautiful six-rayed star, and if a blue, red or green mirror is placed beneath the cabochon a simulated star sapphire, star ruby or star emerald is formed. Rose quartz has been found in lesser quantities from many other pegmatites. Gem quality quartz varying in color from pale blue to smoky has been found in pegmatites on the Barron Fullerton property east of Hillsboro in Jasper County. Rutilated rose quartz has been found near Watkinsville, in Oconee County.
CRYPTOCRYSTALLINE QUARTZ: The second division of the quartz is the cryptocrystalline and chalcedony group. Cryptocrystalline group includes chalcedony, agate, jasper, chert, flint, carnelian, sard and etc., and are found in the sedimentary rocks of the coastal plain and northwest Georgia. One of the most popular field trips is to Girard, near Shell Bluff to collect the colorful Savannah River agate. A blood red jasper in dark green chert is found north of Ringgold east of the Ootewah road. A pink and gray banded agate of good quality has been found at Wimot’s Ravine, in Upson County. A good chalcedony of translucent to tan color is found in large quantities near Hawkinsville and the Ocmulgee River. It readily takes dyes and cuts into beautiful cabochons. The supply is unlimited. Every Thanksgiving, may rock clubs in the southeast gather for a happy three day get-together near Valdosta and hunt for the highly prized agatized coral geodes in nearby Withlacoochee River. These geodes are really pseudomorphs of chalcedony after coral in which the coralline structure is preserved. When these agatized coral geodes are sawed open a spectacular interior is revealed. The inside walls are lined with small wax-like red carnelian stalactites that resemble tubes of melted red candle wax that has run down and hardened. It is a breathtaking thrill to open one of these goodies and know that you are the first to see or behold the hidden beauty that has been sealed in darkness for millions of years. Agatized coral is one of the few materials which is perfectly adapted to the tumbling method of polishing. The irregularities of form make tumbled pieces real “three D” productions, bringing out highlights hand polishing cannot reach. Highly prized are the rare enhydros, translucent chalcedony geodes enclosing fossil water. On one occasion some of the rockhounds who were accompanied by Jack Daniel’s as a traveling companion to protect against snake bites, served cocktails made from the 35 million year old fossil water as a toddy for the body.
AQUAMARINE: Aquamarine is generally found in pegmatite dykes related to granite rocks that also contain beryl crystals. There are 25 Counties in Georgia that report sixty beryl bearing pegmatites. Aquamarine is found in many of these. The most famous aquamarine deposit in the State was in the great series of zoned pegmatites south of LaGrange, known as the Hogg Beryl Mine or the Minerals Processing Company. This was the most successful beryl operation in Georgia, producing 284,000 pounds of beryl crystals between 1952 and 1957. Many of these were as large as pulpwood logs and 18 inches in diameter. At least 3,000 pounds of fine gem quality aquamarine crystals were recovered. This aquamarine deposit was also secretly worked at night and 1500 pounds of blue faceting grade aquamarine crystals were removed under the cover of darkness and sold in California.
GARNET: Garnets are exceedingly widespread in the Piedmont section of the State and are found in large abundance in both metamorphic and crystalline rocks. In fact, each of 25 counties boast of several garnet locations. Various members of the garnet group species are common and occur as large crystals in metamorphized mafic rocks. Some of them are very well formed dodecahedrons with sharp angles and a number of them are of gem quality. In the gem section of the Field Museum in Chicago is a 12 mm beautifully clear pinkish-red garnet from near Covington in Newton County. Large garnets occur in locations of the Piedmont in Georgia. A 5 pound anhedral garnet was found near Fayetteville. The best known garnet specimen location is on a ridge known as Garnet Hill, approximately 4 miles northwest of Hiram and South of the Little Bob Pyrite Mine. I visited Garnet Hill in 1932 and found the entire surface of the hill covered by thousands of loose orange sized crystals, some up to 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Since the rockhound hobby began, Garnet Hill has been very popular for field trips, visited by many different clubs every year. Today the surface of Garnet Hill has been picked clean and none can be found on the surface. No doubt, millions of garnets still lie there below the ground surface in the chlorite and amphibole schist and in the saprolite above. Several years ago, prospectors for the New Jersey Zinc Company were searching the Garnet Hill area for sphalerite. They sunk a shaft by the side of a country road and then tunneled a room under the road large enough for an elephant and found a bushel of very dark red almandine crystals of facet grade. Fannin County is also famed for its exceptional dodecahedron gem quality garnets that reach 2 inches in diameter. Most of these crystals contain enhedral inclusions of transparent staurolite. Gem quality garnets occur in saprolite overlying schists near Dahlonega. Some well formed deep red gem quality crystals have been found plentifully in the Amphlett Mine pegmatite in the Conn Creek district of Cherokee County.
STAUROLITE: Staurolite crystals are a very popular rockhound “gem”, and is the State mineral of Georgia. It is a widespread rock forming mineral found principally in the metamorphic rock of north Georgia. Fannin and Cherokee Counties are famed for their large number of almost perfect cruciform crystals, or “fairy crosses”. Unusually large staurolite crystals are found in schists near Ducktown. In Upson County on the Dolly Cherry property, are found translucent blood red gem grade staurolite crystals. The crystals are sickle bladed and not cruciform. The country people of Fannin County called staurolites “cross rocks” and also “money stones” because they were accepted in exchange for food at local stores. Mr. Gilbert Withers came around regularly and redeemed them for resale to dealers. The name “fairy crosses” have been applied to staurolites for many years and dates back to an invented story distributed in printed form by dealers and salesmen to promote the sale of the attractive little stone crosses to tourists. According to this legend, tears of grief shed by the fairies at the time of the Crucifixion of Christ turned into little stone crosses. This is a very touching and beautiful story, but it fails to explain the presence of so many fairies in Cherokee and Fannin Counties at the time of the Crucifixion. Also, this account does not explain how tears could change their composition into so complex a silicate as staurolite or work their way so deeply into sold schist rock.
KYANITE: Azure blue kyanite is also found on the Dolly Cherry farm near Thomaston. It can be cut into long oval cabochons which are very attractive. Kyanite is a mineral which possesses two degrees of hardness: across its width of the crystal the hardness is 7, and along the length of the crystal the hardness is 5.
RUTILE: The finest rutile crystals in the world come from Graves Mountain in Lincoln County. The crystals are usually black, but some are red. They are beautifully twinned and are of large size. Some of the specimens have mirror-bright crystal faces. The crystals are also cut for gems. The Smithsonian paid $2,000 each for two of these magnificent specimens. Tiffany’s of New York once owned Graves Mountain and mined its lazulite and rutile crystals. Dr. George F. Kunz, their Vice President and a world authority on gems and minerals, stated that $20,000 worth of rutile crystals had been sold from this locality prior to 1900. Graves Mountain also contains the world’s largest deposit of industrial kyanite. It has been mined heavily for the production of mullite and the mountain is now nearly gone.
TOPAZ: Topaz being a mineral of 8 in hardness has been found in the gravels of the Etowah, Chestatee and Chattahoochee Rivers by gold miners. A clear topaz crystal was found on Kennesaw Mountain in 1952. Another very perfect topaz crystal was found in a vug at the Williams Mica Mine, near Dahlonega. It was cut and placed in the Museum of the Georgia State Capitol. About 1870, a little boy found a two pound goose-egg size topaz crystal of beautiful color in a gold placer on the Etowah River above Palmer’s Mill. It was sold for ten cents. The stone was sent to Philadelphia and sawed in half. One half being cut into a fabulous brilliant jewel and the other half by Judge A. Rudolph of Gainesville. The specimen was once on loan to Hiram College in Ohio as an example of topaz.
RUBY: Although Georgia led the nation in the production of abrasive corundum in the late 19th century, from the many corundum deposits in 21 counties, almost no gem quality ruby or sapphire has been found. Never the less, in the gem section of the Field Museum in Chicago, there is a 5 mm lovely pigeon-blood faceted ruby from Morgan County. Near the Hogg Creek Corundum Mine, in Towns County, is found pink corundum in smaragdite. On the shores of Lake Chatuge near Hiawassee around Penland Point an abundance of almost gem grade ruby corundum crystals can be found. It is rumored that truck loads of this rich ruby containing soil is hauled off to “salt” commercial ruby mines for tourists.
MOONSTONE: Moonstone is the celestial companion of the sunstone, both are members of the feldspar family. It may well be either a variety of albite specimens of moonstone are found at Hillsboro in Jasper County, near Buford in Gwinnett County, around Thomaston in Upson County, and in Stephens County.
TOURMALINE: There are only a few reports of gem quality tourmaline. Bright green straw sized prisms of tourmaline have been found in a railroad cut near Athens. Small blue crystals have been panned in the Laurel Creek Corundum Mine in Rabun County.
SCHORL: Schorl, the lustrous black tourmaline is not suited for faceting, but can be cut into attractive cabochons. Black schorl tourmaline is common in many pegmatites. The largest black tourmaline crystal reported in the State are the many log-sized crystals one foot in diameter and several feet long, found in the mica-beryl Cochran Mine, near Ballground in Cherokee County. I have seen what is believed to be the longest tourmaline crystal in the world, located in the flat floor of the granite quarry next to Arabia Mountain, located in Dekalb County. This jet black crystal is about 3 inches wide and lies flush in the exposed face of the granite. It is between 1200 and 1500 feet long. Extremely well formed crystals of black tourmaline are found on the George Felker farm south of the town between, in Walton County.
APATITE: Apatite, in bright sparkling greenish-yellow crystals occur in the green talc at Holly Spring Verde Antique quarry. It makes a fine addition to a collection of gemstones and is best cut in a brilliant shape.
SPINEL: The spinel family is represented only in Georgia by gem quality gahnite which occurs in bright green octahedrons at Magruder Copper Mine near Washington, in Wilkes County. The spinels as a group make beautiful gemstones. They possess many colors and lend themselves readily to cutting and polishing.
EPIDOTE: Epidote has a pistachio green color and has limited use in jewelry. It is found mixed with red feldspar as unakite in some granite quarries.
AZURITE AND MALACHITE: Azurite and malachite, carbonates of copper, generally occur together, frequently alternately banded. The azurite is deep blue and malachite is dull green. A few specimens suitable for polishing in slabs and cabochons are found in the mine dumps near Hiram and Bremen.
LAZULITE: Exceptional azure blue lazulite crystals occur in profusion at Graves Mountain, near Lincolnton. Many crystals reach a length of 2.5 inches and are pyramidal to tabular. When polished lazulite resembles turquoise and is best cut into cabochons.
JADE: Nephrite jade has been discovered in the Earnest Brothers Talc Mine in Fort Mountain, east of Chatsworth. It occurs in large masses of schistose actinolite as knots of nephrite six to eight inches across. It is uniformly dark green, unmottled and takes a good polish.
PEARLS: Pearls are always associated with gems, even though they are of organic origin. They are probably the oldest and one of the most valuable gems, and rank in value with most precious stones. Pearls and staurolite are nature’s only two ready to wear, as found, jewels. Just bore a hole in them; string them up, and they’re ready to wear. No cutting-no polishing. The rivers and streams of Georgia, before pollution, produced vast quantities of fresh water pearls of unusual beauty and value. These were produced by the fresh water pearl-mussel, Unio Naiades. The Spaniards reported that the Indians living near the rivers subsisted largely on mussels as an easy and reliable source of food. The large piles of shells along the river and creek banks are still evident today. From the river mussels they collected bushels of pearls. The Spaniards said the Indians bored the pearls with red hot pointed copper tools. Old newspapers of early Georgia are full of odd stories about pearls, such as: “A workman finds a pearl of ‘great price’ in the cuff of his Sunday suit after being baptized in the Savannah River”. A remarkable fresh water pearl was recovered from Bull Town Swamp in Liberty County and sold to Tiffany’s for $5,000. In the summer of 1540, Hernando DeSoto and his small Spanish army reached the Savannah River, near what is now Augusta, in their search for gold. The Indian tribes of Georgia had very little gold but were rich in pearls. They found the Indians there wearing an incredible number of pearls. The women wore long strands of fine pearls and the men wore wide dog-collars of strung pearls. The Spaniards were welcomed by a beautiful young Indian Queen, to the hospitalities of her tribe, the Cutifachigui. She drew from over head a long rope of pearls that encircled her neck three times and fell to her thighs, and threw them around DeSoto’s neck and exchanged with him gracious words of friendship and courtesy. She offered him both provisions and passage for his army. DeSoto gallantly accepted her kind offers of hospitality and the pearls. In turn he removed a gold ring set with a ruby from his hand and placed it on the Queen’s finger. The Queen, whom the Spaniards called La Senora Cacio, led DeSoto to a great temple of pearls, where the remains of her ancestors and other deceased tribal notables were contained in wooden box sepulchers and covered with loose unbored pearls and see pearls. Hanging from the ceiling were hundreds of long ropes of spectacular pearls. Many of DeSoto’s soldiers had previously fought with Pizarro in Peru and with Cortez in Mexico and had seen the golden treasures of both countries but they all agreed that the splendor and wealth of the pearl temple far surpassed anything they had witnessed before. Carcilaso de la Vega, the historian of DeSoto’s expedition states in the third volume of his history, “The Florida of the Inca”, on page 313: “All rejoiced to find so much wealth in one place for it was agreed that here there were more than twenty-five thousand pounds of pearls and seed pearls”. DeSoto gave each of his soldiers a double handful of pearls and took 3500 pounds for himself. After looting the village of its gold and eating all the dogs (the Spaniards were fond of dog meat – they cooked the first hot dogs), DeSoto, forced the Queen to accompany him as a hostage to Guaxule which was the furthest limit of her territory. She later succeeded in making her escape and carried back with her a cane box filled with unbored pearls, the most precious of all her possessions. Abusing the Queen’s hospitality and taking her pearls and provisions stirred no guilt in DeSoto’s cold dry heart – a heart that beat only for gold and pearls. DeSoto’s expedition passed on down into lower Alabama to Mabila (Mobile) where he fought a terrible all-day battle with a ferocious tribe of Indians under the leadership of their seven and a half foot tall giant, Chief Tascaluza who sought to massacre these cruel and greedy strangers. This was the largest Indian battle ever fought in the area of the United States. Over eleven thousand Indians and forty two Spaniards were killed. DeSoto lost his hoard of pearls, other loot and supplies.
In Georgia, practically all ground-surface-exposed gems and gold have been found, and many accessible deposits are being mined out. However, great riches of gold, diamonds and gemstones still lie buried in the vast Central Piedmont section of the State for all future rockhounds and collectors to find and enjoy.
Frank Mayo
Atlanta, Georgia
REFERENCES
Furcron, A. S. , 1948, Diamonds in Georgia, Georgia Mineral Society Newsletter, Volume I, Number 2, page 3.
Furcron, A. S., 1948, Gem Apatite, Georgia Mineral Society Newsletter, Volume I, Number 10, page 7.
Furcron, A. S. , 1960, Corundum in Ga., Georgia Mineral Society Newsletter, Volume 13, Number 4, page 167-177.
Ingram, W. F., 1950, The Kyanite, Staurolite and Garnet Association in Upson County, Georgia, Geol. Survey Bulletin 56, Page 85-97.
Furcron, A. A., 1961, The Common Rocks & Minerals of Georgia Circular No. 5.
McCallie, S. W., Mineral Resources of Georgia, Geo. Survey Bulletin 23.
Sinkandas, Gemstones of North America
Max Bauer, Precious Stones
Garcilaso del la Vega, The Florida of the Inca, Page 313, Antiquities of Southern Indians N.Y., 1873, Page 483.
Artificial Shell Deposits in the U.S.A, Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1866, Page 357.
Cook, Robert B., Minerals of Georgia – Their Properties and Occurrences, Georgia Geological Survey, Bulletin 92, 1978.