jasper

Hard, compact variety of chalcedony SiO2, usually coloured red, brown, or yellow. Jasper can be used as a gem.

Jasper

City and seat of Walker County, in northwestern Alabama, 56 km/35 mi northwest of Birmingham; population (2000) 14,100.

Settled in 1815, Jasper has an economy largely based on coalmining and the raising of poultry. Food processing and the manufacture of furniture, clothing, mattresses, and golf bags are also significant. The city is the site of Walker College (founded 1938).

Jasper

City and seat of Hamilton County, in northern Florida; population (1990) 2,100. Jasper is situated 116 km/72 mi northwest of Gainesville and 11 km/7 mi south of the Georgia state line.

Jasper was settled early in the 19th century, and is now a centre of agriculture, phosphate mining, and the lumber industry. It was the birthplace of the writer Lillian Smith, in 1897.

Jasper

City and seat of Pickens County, northwestern Georgia, 77 km/48 mi north of Atlanta; population (1990) 1,800. An industrial community located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it has been a centre for the quarrying and processing of marble since the 1830s.

Jasper

City and seat of Dubois County, southwestern Indiana; population (1990) 10,000. Jasper lies 72 km/45 mi northeast of Evansville, in a mainly agricultural district.

Jasper was founded in 1818, and for over a century (from 1838 onwards) was dominated by German Catholics who came to settle here. Strawberries and grain are the major local crops in the surrounding district. There are bituminous coalmines nearby, and timber is felled. Manufactures from here include wood products, veneer, and canned goods.