Garnet stone and necklace

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Garnet stone and necklace

Brown, Judy

Necklace: 9.5 inches long (pendant with chain); 1 inch x 1/2 inch (pendant), circa 1993 Subject: Garnet is a blood-red, semiprecious gem. Under its ancient name, carbuncle, the gem was often believed to possess magical properties, and figures into stories of both the Bible and Koran. In 1877 at Gore Mountain near North Creek, Warren County, NY, Henry Hudson Barton (1830-1905) began the modern industrial use of garnet as an abrasive in sandpaper for woodworking. Adirondack garnet became world renowned with its unique 12-sided crystal with “self-sharpening” edges. Soon Barton had competition from mines on nearby Ruby, Casey, and Balm of Gilead Mountains. Frank C. Hooper (1867-1954), at one time Barton’s largest competitor, had a mine on Ruby Mountain and later on 13th Lake where he built a small village of 55 buildings call Hooper’s Mines (1908-1928). Permanent employees lived in small homes within easy walking distance of the mine. The tightly knit community boasted a store, school, blacksmith sop and a huge boarding house. The meadows were farmed around Hooper’s home, “Big Shanty”. Today Adirondack garnet is still used to make sandpaper, but it also has high-tech uses like polishing computer screens, telescope lenses, and the windows of the space shuttle. Gem-quality garnet continues to be cut and polished for jewelry. Artist: Judy Brown has worked with garnet for 21 years as a jewelry maker, including time spent with the late John Cornwall, renowned garnet gem cutter, managing the Gore Mountain Gem & Mineral Shop at Barton Mines, North Creek, and as co-owner of J&J Jewelers. Judy’s explorations of abandoned garnet mines were brought to life by her husband’s grandmother, the late Zora Brown, who had worked as the cook at Hooper Mines. She told Judy stories of griddle cakes, washpans of meat, potatoes for breakfast, and the daily ration of 38 homemade pies and 40 loaves of fresh-baked bread eaten by 2 shifts of hungry miners at the 4 daily meals. Judy Brown participated in several Adirondack folklife festivals, and the traveling children’s workshop series, Growing Up in the North Country: Celebrating Living Cultural Traditions in Upstate New York produced by the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library’s the late 1980s and 1990s.

Garnet

Jewelry

Necklaces

Mining

J & J Brown

Empire State Digital Network

http://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/crandall/id/61

Empire State Digital Network

Garnet

Jewelry

Necklaces

Mining

J & J Brown