Dudley Stewart panning Star Garnets 1950
My father Dudley Stewart, discovered the specific way in which to cut the rough garnet from the Emerald Creek area in
order to reveal the star or rays within the stone. He pioneered the Idaho Star Garnet and introduced it into the
market in 1951. In that same year
Dudley hauled his finished Star
Garnets to the 1951 Sacramento CA.
Gem and Mineral show in his1937
Chevy panel truck pulling a trailer
behind, the truck broke down in the
middle of downtown Sacramento during
rush hour! Anyway, the Stars
were a hit and in 1954-55
copyrighted books officially
acknowledged the fact that the Idaho
Star garnet rough coming out of the
Emerald Creek area could produce an
excellent good quality star. The Stewart's Gem Shop's specialty is Idaho Star Garnets and we stand
by all our Star Garnet rough as the best you can get anywhere in the world.
Garnets are fairly common and can be
found just about anywhere, but not the quality that came out of the 281 Gulch. The 281 Gulch Creek
is where the "best of the best" rough star garnet cutting material the Emerald creek area produced, with a 100% chance
you'll get at least a 4 ray star and 50% chance of a 6 ray star outcome. The left fork of 281 produces the best
"silk" in the star garnet which causes the the star. The stars are much brighter and the stones are much cleaner with
less iron inclusions or blemishes. The left fork has been worked hard
(similar to dredging) at least 3 times and has been depleted.
Some of the 281 material has been washed down into the Emerald creek area and some pieces have been found. Digging
for garnets is no longer allowed and visitors now will take garnet-bearing gravels from a stockpile
provided by the USFS to one of the two
sluices where they can wash and screen the gravels for garnets.
Unless you were
digging back in the 60's or happen
to buy some from some old diggers,
you can't get 281 in large
quantities. The bulk of the proven
star garnet rough on the market
today is found in India and northern
Idaho.
Gene Stewart
Stewart's Gem Shop Inc.
Boise, Idaho
5/05/06 |
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