Yogo sapphires are a variety of corundum found only in Yogo Gulch, Montana, part of the Little Belt Mountains in Judith Basin County, on land once inhabited by the Piegan Blackfeet people. Yogos are typically cornflower blue in color, a result of trace amounts of iron and titanium. Many gemologists consider them among the finest sapphires in the world. They have high uniform clarity and maintain their brilliance under artificial light. Because Yogo sapphires occur within a vertically dipping resistive igneous dike, mining efforts have been sporadic and rarely profitable. It is estimated that at least 28,000,000 carats (5,600 kg) of Yogos are still in the ground. The Smithsonian Institution first reported on Yogos in the museum's annual report on June 30, 1899. Jewelry containing Yogos was given to First Ladies Florence Harding and Bess Truman; in addition, many gems were sold in Europe. Today, several Yogo sapphires are part of the Smithsonian Institution's gem collection. In 1969, the sapphire was co-designated along with the agate as Montana's state gemstones.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogo_sapphire
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
French acrobat Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Gorge on a tightrope, turning him into one of the world's most famous tightrope walkers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin
1908:
A massive explosion occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, knocking over 80 million trees (sample pictured) over 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event
1922:
The United States and the Dominican Republic signed an agreement that ended the former's occupation of the latter two years later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_the_Dominican_Republic_(1916%E2%80%931924)
1972:
The International Time Bureau added the first leap second to the Coordinated Universal Time time scale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second
2009 - Schoolgirl Bahia Bakari was the sole survivor when Yemenia Flight 626 crashed into the Indian Ocean killing 152 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenia_Flight_626
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
miserabilist: One who is unhappy, or extols being miserable as a virtue; a philosopher of pessimism. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miserabilist
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then — whoosh, and I'm gone... and they'll never see anything like it ever again ... and they won't be able to forget me — ever. --Jim Morrison https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jim_Morrison
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