Yogo: The Great American Sapphire

by Stephen M. Voynick

Here is a remarkable geological story backed by a century of rich Montana history--a fascinating tale that lay hidden in disjointed company files and correspondence, dusty geological reports, decades of yellowed newspaper clippings, and even in some of the works of Charles M. Russell.

215 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1987

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating history of the most beautiful _natural_ sapphire in the world.

[Kerry! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on yogos ever!

[joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! As an "under-the-rock" hound (not a geologist `er anything) this combines my love of history & geology. Not many folks know about the American Sapphire, the Yogo. These are great sapphires because they're never heat-treated, the stone's color is always natural & ranges from cornflower to deep blue. Usually small stones. The dike that the sapphires are mined from is interesting because the miners break down the matrix & let the sapphires weather-out. The book has lots of pictures of the Yogo mines in Montana from the end of the nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth century.

[Linda]

Yogo: The Great American Sapphire is a great book to have on hand as a reference. A good supplement is the August 2010 copy of Montana magazine which contains a wonderful article about what is going on in yogo country near Utica, Montana. Yogo sapphires are the only sapphires that do not have to undergo a heating process to enhance the beauty of the stone - lovely.

[Candy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Using this for a research paper in an Appraisal class, always fascinated with colored gemstones. I am a gemologist and retail jewelry is my gig now.