Almandine

specimen number:
2062392

location:
Stikine River, Wrangell, Alaska, USA

description:
Classic Alaskan specimen with a deep red glassy and lustrous crystal of almandine 2.6 cm in diameter set perfectly up on a schist matrix. This is in terrific condition all around.

The Stikine River near Wrangell, Alaska, flows through a rugged landscape carved by glaciers along the western flank of the Coast Range batholith. The famous local almandine garnet deposits, located at Garnet Ledge about seven miles north of town, formed via regional and contact metamorphism when a quartz diorite pluton intruded into regional pelitic schists during the Cretaceous period. While gold prospectors likely noticed the stones as early as 1862, commercial mining for abrasive and mineral specimens began around 1910 under operations like the Alaska Garnet Mining and Manufacturing Company. Commercial extraction wound down by the mid-20th century, and in the early 1960s, the property was deeded to the Boy Scouts and the local church, granting exclusive collection rights to the children of Wrangell.

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