January - Garnet
The January birthstone, Garnet, comes in a variety of colors due to mineral impurities. Colors vary from yellow, orange, brown, to purplish red. A green type is found in the Albion Basin area of Little Cottonwood Canyon. They are usually grouped by chemical composition, belonging to a group of aluminum silicate minerals having excellent crystal form. They have a hardness of about 7.5, streak white, conchoidal (shell-like) fracture, cleavage none, transparent to subtranslucent.
Garnets are mostly of metamorphic origin (changed by heat and pressure), forming outstanding crystals by crowding out surrounding minerals. Garnets are found world-wide. Sources of greatest importance are in Czechoslovakia, South Africa (in association with diamonds), Rhodesia, and Australia. They also occur in various areas of Utah, Arizona, and Colorado.
Garnet (or Carbuncle, as referred to in the scriptures) was one of the stones in the breast plate used by the High Priests of the Jews.