jason12x12
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Post by jason12x12 on Jan 20, 2013 0:41:15 GMT -5
cant read the name of the town on the paper here are the rubys got these at an auction tried to look them up but couldnt find any info... anyone from SD
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Post by helens on Jan 20, 2013 0:54:14 GMT -5
Don't normally read the ID things, but it doesn't appear to say SD. To ME, it's this: mrdata.usgs.gov/ardf/show-ardf.php?ardf_num=CY026Geologic setting of the deposit Geologic description The bedrock of Ruby Creek is composed of Cretaceous to Tertiary conglomerate and other sedimentary rocks (Dover and Miyaoka, 1988). The placer gold is found in the 20 inches of gravel above bedrock; bedrock was 12 to 15 feet from the surface in 1912 (Prindle and Mertie, 1912).The creek was first mined in the early 1900s. Mining was by open-cut methods because the bedrock was less than 15 feet below the surface. Values of $50 to $75 per 12-foot by 12-foot sluice box were reported in the early 1900s (1901-1910 dollars). Mining operations were frequently constrained by a lack of water. In 1926, production was 5 ounces of gold and one ounce of silver (National Park Service, 1990). Ruby Creek in Alaska. Reads to me like: Rubie Mine AK and the Prindle and Mertie reference fits.
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jason12x12
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2011
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Post by jason12x12 on Jan 20, 2013 1:08:24 GMT -5
really.... Helen.... rotflmao
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Post by helens on Jan 20, 2013 1:36:14 GMT -5
It says Prindle S20 (not SD), and given her by Mertie in 1914.
Since the mine was discovered in 1912, and the piece gifted in 1914, that fits too. It's the only thing online that fits most of the elements in the note. Doesn't mean that's it, just found that the closest possible.
Keep in mind in 1914, spelling was often imprecise, they didn't have the organized education system we have today, many people were educated in 'little red schoolhouses' taught by people with a comparative 6th grade education. If the person who wrote that was an adult and not a child (based on the handwriting being smooth and not shaky), they were probably over 20 years old, and learned at least 10 years before (1904), more likely longer. I have several over 100 year old letters, you can see tons of spelling, script writing issues.
I know that the linked report was for Gold/Silver, but it's got to be called RUBY creek for a reason, and the names and date fits. Alaska is abbreviated AK. K was often written like that (unfinished 'h').
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jason12x12
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2011
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Post by jason12x12 on Jan 20, 2013 1:45:01 GMT -5
god bless you helen.. i just cant buy your line of thinking on this one.i need more convincing
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Geoff
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Post by Geoff on Jan 20, 2013 2:18:37 GMT -5
That says Myra...
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Post by helens on Jan 20, 2013 3:40:38 GMT -5
or Myna, or Mejra or Mejrei or Mejrei, or Mejra or Myrei, and Mertie is a huge stretch, unless she heard the name wrong. NOR did I say that was correct, just that the search fit multiple elements and dating proximity, and nothing else I found did. There was a Ruby Creek Mine in Alaska founded by a Prindle and Mertie in 1912, 2 years before she was given the rubies (Prindle may not be right either, since it looks like Prindel) Is this it? How would I know? But it's darn close to the elements in the letter, that's all:).
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Post by helens on Jan 20, 2013 3:58:32 GMT -5
god bless you helen.. i just cant buy your line of thinking on this one.i need more convincing Jason, not trying to convince you... I have no clue if it's right:P. I just saw the post, punched in all the elements, and then tried a few alternatives, and that was the closest 'fit' to multiple elements:). It may be COMPLETELY off the wall. I just pointed out what elements I was looking for, and why, maybe help you refine the search. Drives me nuts not to be able to figure where a rock comes from too, but least you have a clue for yours:P.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 20, 2013 10:11:05 GMT -5
Very cool crystals. I checked all three volumes of Sinkankas' Gemstones of North America and there was one mention of rubies from North Dakota but no further info at all. Is there a possibility that those are garnets of some sort? In the old days, miners often identified the red varieties of garnet as rubies. Several areas in Nevada I've visited are called ruby this or ruby that and the gems in question that the places were named for were actually garnets. Red pyrope garnet is frequently associated with alluvial gold mines. The big crystal center left in your pic appears to be a dodecahedron in shape which would indicate garnet.
If as Helen says, we're actually talking Alaska, Star ruby has been reported from the Copper River in the Juneau Indian Reservation of SE Alaska and rubies crystalize in a hexagonal system so should be easy to tell from garnets. Hard to tell from your pics which crystal system we're looking at because at the top of your pic there is one crystal that definitely looks hexagonal too...Mel
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The Dad_Ohs
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Jan 20, 2013 12:01:37 GMT -5
after enlarging the screen ... a lot... to see the writing better I can say it looks more like Proindel, SD than anything else, but I cannot find anything on that either. Might have been a c ity at one time and a ghost town now, or not even that, just a smudge in history.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 20, 2013 13:07:01 GMT -5
That would be Pringle, South Dakota. Lots of gemstones in the area. Most not of gem quality. The largest emerald crystal ever found is still located at an old mine in that area.
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Jan 20, 2013 13:28:37 GMT -5
My I see Helen's point about it being S20, and I ran with that for a while, but now I'm thinking against it. Now - not claiming to be an expert - but I have compared handwriting on a great many notes to writing samples of students looking to see if I could find matches. What I see in this note - specifically s20 vs SD. 1) The 'D' in SD is done in one stroke. If it was '20', most likely it would have been two separate - as is every other number in this limited sample. Yes - the note is in cursive so no proof - just observation. 2) The O in october is written with a larger curl, and if the other writing is a 20, I would think the 0 would mimic it - but I might be wrong. I also like Mel's thought regarding these possibly being garnets. Just thoughts - no proof of anything. Lowell
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Post by Pat on Jan 20, 2013 13:46:11 GMT -5
:2cents:
Looks to me like "Rubies from the Rubie Mine at Prindel S. D. given me by Myra 3 of ?ot 1914."
the rs and ts are clearly from a cursive writing style popular long ago. My mother used that style.
Neat discovery nevertheless!
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 20, 2013 14:36:37 GMT -5
Once again, the town name is Pringle. There is no Prindle in South Dakota. Pringle is located in the heart of South Dakota's mining district. While mining for gold, many types of gemstones were unearthed, but were considered to be of little economic value, and were overlooked. Emeralds and color variants were very common. Most were not gem grade, but some were collected as specimens. Occasionally a few gem grade stones were, and still are found.
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Geoff
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Post by Geoff on Jan 20, 2013 14:49:27 GMT -5
Pretty sure the last line is 3 oct 1914
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Post by helens on Jan 20, 2013 14:58:17 GMT -5
Pringle SD makes more sense... last nite, I punched in Pringel SD first, and came up with nothing... found a reference to Prindel Creek in Oregon and I think Mn, and Prindel families in NY and a woman in Sioux Falls SD with that maiden name. Since Prindel comes up as a name a lot, and generally locations are named after people, I looked at SD (Prindel could refer to a large homestead owned by a family named Prindel), and there is at least 1 person named Prindel in SD. What got me on the Alaska is that the AK was possible (or it's exactly as it says: at), and that it was a working mine discovered in 1912 by Prindle and Mertie, which had more 'elements' in the notes than the other options, where there was no reference. Also, I have no idea geographically where rubies are found in the US, so AK made more sense than SD (again, no idea). The S20 didn't fit, SD would be a better fit for sure, because we actually have an O... the date at the bottom seems to say Oct. 1914, and the O in S20 does not have a downward stroke on the O, so not like her O's. But the c in Oct looks really odd... which indicates she has a different way of writing certain lower case letters (lending credence to the AK vs AT). And as 'rubie mine' was clearly misspelled, it indicated that she probably spelled phonetically if she wasn't sure (thus the mertie possibility instead of myrna). Anyway, the simplest solution may be the best... maybe there was a part of SD back then owned by a family named Prindel, whom mined rubies, if they are found there. Or, she misspelled Pringle, SD (are rubies found in Pringle or were they ever?). I just took it as a guessing/mystery game, and wanted to see what others thought too:P. Here's a site that lists 436 mines in SD by GPS, including some defunct ones: www.expertgps.com/data/sd/mines.aspThere's no Ruby or Rubie mine (maybe that's an intentional misspelling too) in SD. And I couldn't find any reference for rubies originating in SD - that's why I went with the AK idea.
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Post by helens on Jan 20, 2013 15:04:37 GMT -5
Actually, the only reference to rubies in the entire USA is North Carolina... so ARE they rubies (check for hardness, rubies are a 9 MOH, so absolutely nothing but diamonds would scratch them- this one should be easy to test)?
They named a town in Alaska 'Ruby, Alaska' because they thought it had rubies... but when I looked more, the rubies were misnamed, they weren't rubies. So maybe there's no rubies in Alaska either.
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Post by helens on Jan 20, 2013 15:14:21 GMT -5
Anyway, rubies make my ears perk, I like rubies:). You can buy rough rubies pretty cheap, but given that you have a very old uncut batch, if they are actually rubies, there's a possibility you have a nice gem quality one in that batch. The GEM ones (vs the tons of not so great ones) can be worth a lot: www.ruby-sapphire.com/r-s-bk-quality5.htm
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Geoff
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Post by Geoff on Jan 20, 2013 16:19:25 GMT -5
A search for corundum in USA yields 17 pages, including localities in SOUTH DAKOTA.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 20, 2013 16:47:52 GMT -5
Pringle, S.D. is just a few miles south of Custer. The hills are loaded with old mines in that area.
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