PAGE FOUR
THE PIEDMONITOR
NOVEMBER, 1960
Rock Sleuth Finds Lovely Gems
LOOKING UP AT A LOVELY LADY, Harold Warner, Dis
trict Sales Manager, greets Ann Herring, Miss North Carolina, as she
arrives at RDU. Miss Herring was enroute to Roanoke Rapids for a day
of festivities in her honor. Traveling v^'ith her Vi'ere her mother and her
business manager. Bill Venable. Photograph by Bob Allen, News and
Observer, Raleigh, N. C.
And Awaaay We Go!
Take The Scenic Route ---
Utah By Way Of Alaska
Jack Brandon to John Web
ster; “Wanna go to Utah?”
Webster to Brandon: “Yeah.”
Brandon to Webster (several
hours later): “Wanna go by way
of Alaska?”
Webster to Brandon: “Whyyy
not?”
It may or may not have hap
pened just this way, but Jack
Brandon, INT Station Manager,
and John Webster, Dispatcher,
did start on a weekend trip to
Brandon’s hometown of Provo,
Utah, and wind up in Anchorage,
Alaska, instead.
The pair left Winston-Salem,
flew to Washington, then to Se
attle, changed planes and flew
1,450 miles to Anchorage,
They got there about 2 a.m. on
a Sunday morning, though ac
cording to Brandon, it was a
little difficult to tell what day it
was since all the stores, bars,
and many other businesses were
still going strong.
Webster and Brandon found
a hotel room, slept for a few
hours, had breakfast, gasped at
the prices (two eggs, toast and
coffee cost $1.35), and did a bit
of sightseeing and souvenir shop
ping.
Brandon’s work as a cartoon
ist is familiar to all Piedmonitor
readers, and he brought back a
number of sketches from his
Alaskan jaunt.
The two finally made it to
Provo, Utah, but a few days
later and in a considerably more
round-about way than they had
originally planned.
Said Brandon of the trip, “You
might say it was a junket that
covered about 10,000 miles and
had no itinerary.”
Robert Highsmith is a Rock
Hound.
That means he has a hobby of
mining and collecting precious
and semi-precious stones. He’s
been at it for nearly five years,
with some beautiful results.
Robert’s favorite mining
grounds of late are in and
around the Holbrook and Gibson
mines, abandoned by Tiffany
Jewelers, N. Y., in the 20’s. His
latest find there is a ruby which
was cut and placed in a ring for
his wife.
The mines are located in the
large Cowee Valley near Frank
lin, N. C. Highsmith makes
several trips up each year to
hunt for gems to add to his col
lection.
“It’s hard work,” said Robert.
“The mines there are ‘strip
mines’ — that is — they’re mined
from the surface. We sift the
dirt just like the old goldminers
used to do out west, and we’ve
come up with blue, brown, and
black sapphires, rubies, quartz,
the ‘North Carolina diamond,’
and rhodolite (a variety of gar
net).”
“Rock Hounding” seems to be
a family affair with the High-
smith’s. Robert’s brother is also
a gem collector, and through the
years the two have gathered an
extensive collection of North
Carolina stones and a library of
books on minerals and gems.
“You have to study to know
what you’re looking for,” High
smith remarked. “I’ve probably
thrown away several valuable
stones because I didn’t recog
nize them in their rough state.
The most valuable find at Hol
brook mine last year was a ruby
worth $3,000.”
“North Carolina is the show-
place of the nation when it comes
to mineral deposits, particularly
in the western part,” he went
on. “We meet geologists and fel
low Rock Hounds there from all
over the country.”
f
S'
ROUGH AND POLISHED STONES in part of his collection
are pointed out by Robert Highsmith, That's a ruby ring he's holding,
and in the foreground, left to right are: quartz crystal, opals, ruby, a
large topaz, and several sapphires in different colors.
When asked what he con
sidered to be one of the most ex
citing parts of his hobby, he
said, “I get the biggest thrill out
of seeing the stones I find after
they’ve been cut and polished.
It’s hard to tell what they’ll look
like in their rough state, and it’s
amazing to see how beautiful
they are when they’re finished.
My brother and I hope soon to
get equipment to do our own
cutting and polishing.”
Highsmith, a Mechanic Special
ist, has been with Piedmont eight
years. He and his wife, June,
and their four children live in
Winston-Salem at 2406 Westover
Drive.
The photograph shows Robert
with some of the jewelry made
up from the results of his and
his brother’s expeditions. That’s
an idea for you ladies — if you
want a ruby ring, get your hus
band to mine for it!
Aviation manufacturing is the
largest industrial employer in
the U. S. In 1958, 757,600 were
employed in aircraft or parts
manufacturing. Second biggest;
motor vehicle manufacturing
with 627,300 employees.
* * *
Three out of every four travel
ers between the United States
and foreign countries (exclusive
of travel over land borders) go
by air. Ten years ago, only every
other traveler went by air.
* * *
Airline service is now avail
able to every U. S. city of more
than 100,000 population, more
than 75 p^r cent of the cities
over 10,000, 'and fifty per cent of
the cities over 1,000.
11,300,000 visitors went to
Florida last year. 20 per cent
went by car. The most popular
public transportation medium
was the airlines, who carried 14
per cent. The trains carried three
per cent and the busses, three
per cent.
Russian airline officials are
coming over to study our meth
ods. Tight security measures are
called for to keep them from
learning the secret of where the
luggage spends all that time be
tween the plane and the check
room.
Here is one way of showing
the high airline tax bill. Last
year, for every passenger ticket
sold, the airlines made $1.35
while the Government made
$4.88. The airlines, of course, pay
all the normal business taxes. In
addition, there is a ten per cent
tax on domestic transportation.
* * *
In a recent issue of Railway
Age, the editor said the follow
ing: “Despite all their imperfec
tions, the fact remains that when
you ring up an airline for infor
mation you usually get a prompt
reply, and the employee who an
swers is, most of the time, cour
teous and helpful.”
* * *
The trend in air freight is up
ward: Air freight ton-miles for
domestic and international opera
tions totalled 353,434,000 through
323,788,000 ton-miles for the first
seven months of 1959. '