Rarer,Than,Diamonds,Yogo,Sapph education Rarer Than Diamonds - Yogo Sapphires Of Montana

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Brilliant, beautiful and highly prized, the Yogo sapphire is themost precious gemstone mined in the United States and is an officialgemstone of Montana. Breathtaking to behold, the Yogo sapphire is foundonly in Montana.Yogos are unique among the sapphires of the world. Whereas most ofthe sapphires found around the world vary greatly in color and quality,the Yogo sapphire’s unusual “corn-flower” blue color is natural (ratherthan heat treated) and color and clarity are uniformly high. Yogos arenearly flawless. Another unusual quality of Yogo sapphires is that theyretain their magnificent brilliance under artificial light. Themajority of Yogo sapphires are the signature blue; however,exceptionally beautiful shades of purple are occasionally found.Rough stones are generally quite small, flat and wafer-like inshape. The majority of the crystals or pieces of crystal discovered todate are too small to be cut. Most stones are less than 1 carat andanything over 2 carats is extremely rare. The largest crystal everfound was a 19 carat stone that in 1910 was crafted into an 8 caratgemstone. The largest cut Yogo is 10.2 carats and resides in theSmithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Rarer than diamonds, Yogosapphires are coveted, exquisite, expensive jewels.Fifty million years ago the cataclysmic geological events thatcrafted our great state caused rocks, buried deep beneath the earth’scrust, to melt into masses of molten magmas. One of these magmas,located on the northeastern side of the Little Belt Mountains ofCentral Montana, rose into the Madison Limestone deposit where itslowly cooled to form a lamproite dike. This gigantic dike intruded afissure in the earth to form the world’s largest deposit of gemstonequality sapphires, the Yogo Dike.Located near the historic town of Utica, Montana, in Judith BasinCounty, the Yoga Dike varies from 8 feet to 100 feet wide and stretchesover five miles in length. Although recent geological surveys indicatesapphire reserves in the Yogo Dike at depths in excess of 7000 feet,mining to date has not gone beyond approximately 250 feet. Geologistsestimate that as much as 28 million carats lie beneath this hugeoverburden. It is impossible to fathom the size, clarity and value ofthe treasure still buried.When the magma in the Yogo Dike crystallized, atoms of oxygen andaluminum merged to form corundum, the mineralized form of aluminumoxide. The word corundum is derived from the Sanskrit, kuruvinda(Ruby). The corundum formed exquisite, perfectly shaped transparentcrystals. Traces of titanium and iron within the molten magmas providethe naturally occurring rich cornflower blue colorization.The Yogo Dike is Montana’s only primary corundum source. In miningterminology  “primary” means that the gemstone being mined remainsembedded in the rock where it was formed and that rock has not migratedfrom its original location. When the host rock has eroded and the gemshave been transported by rock slides or water to another area, the newsite is called a secondary source or a placer deposit.History of Sapphires in MontanaThe discovery of sapphires in Montana was a result of the gold rushof the 1860’s. Thousands of prospectors, seeking the elusive mineral,converged upon the area to pan the gravel bars and stream beds. Thoseprospectors, with experience gained in the great California gold rush,quickly constructed wooden sluice boxes to separate the gold from thegravel. Sapphires, being heavier than the gravel, collected in thebottom of their concentrates and clogged the sluice boxes. Thesetranslucent pebbles were simply a nuisance and were quickly cast asidein their frantic search for gold.Gem quality corundum that is not red in color is called sapphire.Sapphires are white, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet and sometimespink. The small multi-colored stones that angered early placer minersby clogging gold sluices in such places as El Dorado Bar east of Helenawere considered worthless.An old-timer named "Sapphire Collins" wandered the streets of Helenain the 1860's with a pocket full of pretty pebbles. Try as he might toconvince bankers, bartenders and local merchants of the stones' value,he was rudely told that gold was the only thing from the creek theywould trade for, anything else was of no merit.In 1865 Ed Collins, a savvy trapper and prospector, took a secondlook at the pebbles the miners were discarding and correctly identifiedthe stones as sapphires. Believing he had “struck it rich”, Collinsexcitedly gathered up a packet of the stones and shipped them to bothFox and Tiffany Jewelers in New York City. His hopes were dashed whenthe jewelers responded that the stones were of inferior quality andworthless. The stones found by Ed Collins were from the gravels of theMissouri River in Lewis and Clark County, Montana and did not have theclarity and color of jewelry grade stones. Subsequent discoveries wererecorded in 1889 on Dry Cottonwood Creek in Deer Lodge County and onRock Creek in Granite County in 1982.Farsighted financiers soon learned of Montana sapphires andsubstantial companies from as far away as England invested in sapphiremines throughout the state. On Rock and Quartz Creeks west ofPhilipsburg, at Brown’s Gulch and Dry Cottonwood Creek east of Anacondaand along the Missouri River at French Bar, El Dorado Bar, MetropolitanBar and Magpie Gulch, the rush was on! However, the “glory hole” wassoon to be found in the lush green drainage called Yogo Gulch.Almost thirty years after the original “discovery” of sapphires inMontana, history repeated itself. In 1894, mountain man, trapper,friend of artist Charles Russell and sometimes prospector, Jake Hooverwas working a gravel bar on Yogo Creek located 45 miles southwest ofLewiston, Montana. Ironically,Yogo is a beautiful word in the PieganBlackfoot Indian language which means “blue sky”.Although he had seen sapphires many times before, the blue stones,“sparkling clear and the color of a Montana Sky”, that appeared in thebottom of his gold pan were uniquely different. Jake continued to workhis claim, finding some gold and patiently saving the “little bluerocks” until he had filled a cigar box.Believing he had found a worthy deposit, Jake Hoover shipped hisfind to George Kunz of Tiffany and Company Jewelers in New York. He waselated when he received a check for $3750 for “sapphires of unusualquality”. Hoover quickly formed the New Mine Sapphire Syndicate.A London jewelry conglomerate soon purchased all the shares in themine and changed the name to the English Mine. Commercial mining forthe valued sapphires at Yogo commenced in 1896. Charles T. Gadsden, anEnglish mining engineer, oversaw the operation at Yogo. Shortages ofwater and workers all but halted production of the mine during WorldWar I. Double taxation by both the British and United Statesgovernments curtailed profits and in 1923 a devastating storm causedconsiderable damage. The Yogo Mine was closed in 1929 and not workedagain until 1956.By the time the mine was closed in 1929, Yogo had produced 2.5million carats of gem quality sapphires, valued at over 25 milliondollars. The mines of Yogo Gulch are currently being worked bycommercial companies. The accumulated value of these precious blue gemsis now in excess of 40 million dollars. The demand for Yogo sapphires,particularly for the larger carat sizes, far exceeds production.The Yogo sapphire, named one of our state's gemstones in 1969, is atreasured part of history of which Montanans can be justifiably proud.