Record #:

7938

Author(s):

Maske, Jane Pfann

Abstract:

Jewelry stores are not the only places you should look for emeralds and sapphires. Your might try your luck in the mountains of western North Carolina. You can dig on your own only two minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway on the side of Highway 226, or stop by Ledford's Rock and Mr. Ledford will give you two buckets of dirt from across the road for ten dollars. Shake your buckets into a screened box, which allows the dirt to fall through, leaving the rocks. The box is then dipped into ice water to clean the rocks. It is a lot of hard work, but persistence pays off - literally.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 54 Issue 12, May 1987, p18-19, il

Subject(s):

Precious stones--Collection and preservation--North Carolina, Western