A lot can happen in five summers.  Five years ago, a good friend suggested we catch a rock and gem show.  While there, I saw an opal from the Rainbow Ridge mine (a fee dig in the Virgin Valley, NV) and decided, “I need a piece of that.”  What ensued was a path that led me to the high desert of south-central Oregon and the sunstone beds near Plush, Oregon.  That path also narrowed and focused my rock hounding interests.  Right now, most of my efforts are in acquiring, tumbling, and faceting the Oregon Sunstone.

The crystals are a plagioclase feldspar and is a form  of Labradorite.  What makes the Oregon form unique is the presence of elemental copper platelets, resulting in an effect that’s known as “schiller.”  You’ll find the gems in decayed basalt deposits left by volcanic eruptions 17 million years ago.  The stone is softer than most gemstones, between 6 and 7 on the Mohs scale, but they can be faceted, and, they also tumble nicely.  You will find crystals with colors ranging from pale straw – yellow, pinks and reds, and rarer still, hues of green and blue.  There is a great introduction to these beauties here: http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/learnmore/sunstones2.htm

The crystals were designated as the official Oregon state gem in the 1980s, and there are several ways to collect examples of your own.  There is a free public collecting area, a patch of ground 2 miles by 2 miles where anyone can scratch around and acquire a good pile for their own enjoyment.  The picture above shows a small part of area.  The BLM has a nice informational flyer here:  https://www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/files/brochures/sunstone_rec_brochure.pdf  My wife and I, and also rock buddy Rick and I, have been out here many times over the last five years.  Two years ago my wife also found a nice arrow head — a small game point — in the public area.  There are a few campsites in the public area and a pit toilet but there is no water in the area.  Plan on bringing your own if you make the trek.

If you believe, as I do, that man has need of solitude, this might be a spot you’ll enjoy.  While it may look a little barren on its surface, this area has some of the grandest sunsets and at night, if not overcast, the view of the milky way and the rest of the visible cosmos is breathtaking.  It’s also very quiet!  The photo at right is a rainbow the appeared on the heels of a short but hard rain squall a couple of years ago.

Below, one of the sunsets that change nightly in an array of never ending combinations of clouds, sunlight and angle.

There are also several fee digs in the area.  These are private claims where, for a fee, the mine operators will point you to a pit to dig, set you up in front of a screenings table with graded ore, or to a moving belt where you pick off the passing gems.  The pricing for this varies and there are a couple of business models.  The Spectrum mine has the most options and their prices are reasonable.  The stones pictured below all came from the Spectrum.  You can find out about their operation here: http://www.highdesertgemsandminerals.com/html/spectrum_sunstone_mines.html.  You can also stop by the Dust Devil mine. They have a different business model and while digging and belt run fees are nominal, any high-grade stone is additional and negotiated starting from the wholesale value.  You can get particulars on the Dust Devil at: http://www.dustdevilmining.com/.  There is one other fee dig in the area, the Double Eagle mine.  I do not have much experience at this mine but there’s more information on the mine at: http://www.doubleeaglemine.com/.  You can set up camp anywhere in the public area if the improved campsites are full and hit all of these locations from there as they are within a few miles of each other.  Just remember to bring water, provisions, and the clothing and other means required to remain comfortable over a wide range of climate conditions.  It can be wet or dry, well below freezing or well over 100 degrees.  Also make sure your gas tank is full as the nearest fill up is 30 miles away in Plush.  Cell reception, depending on your carrier is non-existent or fleeting at best.

So far, my pursuits and efforts with the sunstone have had an adverse effect on my power bills due to a tumbler going for months at time and it was also the catalyst for a major purchase.  The stars fell into place in late 2016 when I scored a near-new Facetron faceting machine (with lots of extra goodies) from a seller on Craigslist.  My rock buddy Rick had up to that point been teaching me how to cut stones on his own Facetron.

The picture below shows a sample of my “hoard.”  In the gem holder, two round brilliant stones cut on my Facetron.  The jewel on the left is 7mm, weighing 1.5ct, the gem on the right is a little over 8mm and weighs 1.85ct.  Surrounding the gem holder is some rough that I’m holding on to until I’m a little more confident in my skills.  There are some very nice and potentially valuable gems hiding inside these pieces.  Below the rough, some examples of what comes out of the tumbler.  It’s a long process — about a month, but the results are stunning when displayed in a clear glass bottle with the sunlight hitting it at the right angle.

These gems have captured my imagination.  The of history and lore of these crystals is fascinating and there is beauty and possibility limited only by one’s vision, or the wife’s! 

When I got to the publicized site, I was amazed to see the traffic.  The first time I ever went to the location mine was the only rig there.  And so it was all that year.  This time I just shook my head and passed by all those people at the main site and traveled out further where the rock is colorful, but not the pink and yellow of the one I would go back to later that afternoon.  I was out to get some of all of it.  And I did.

With just a few days left until I head out for Oregon, and a few strength limitations, I was cautious about picking up the boulders I wanted.  If I’d had a jackhammer with me, I could have taken half a hill of beautiful stone.  As things were – I picked up only one actually too big to carry stones. The rest were of varying sizes.  From 3 fist sized to a few just small stones with nice banding.

At my first stop the stones were pretty vivid.

The second site I visited had the pink and yellow stone that the place is known for.

And of course the boulder. I had fun getting this thing back to the rig. Trust me on that one. I’ve carried heavier, but this was a struggle. It’s pretty thick and I’m turning into a little bit of a whimp.  Still – this is the one I HAD to have.

Looking forward to showing a few of these rocks after they’re cut.

What comes to mind when you think of spring but green? With that in my head the other day, I decided to wander off just down the road and hunt a green jasper area I hadn’t browsed for years in the Fernley area.

Winter seems to have washed out the roads and trails in a few spots just a bit more than my rig wanted to handle easily, but it was sunny and warm so I just got out and hiked the hills.  Despite the fact that the outcrops that I had expected to chip some nice chunks of this jasper out of were no longer there, I was able to pick up some nice chunks that winter deposited in a few of the creek beds and washes. I had to work for them, though. It took a lot of climbing around to get a respectable load of them.

As you can see, this area offers several shades of greens and patterns. The rock is pretty tenacious and takes well to cutting. Some pieces have brown or red colored patterns in them, and others small seams of drusy.

That was my spring solstice celebration this year. Next hunt will take me back to the wonderstone area for some lively pinks and yellows.

Happy spring, everyone!

 
Life’s short –  Rock hard

I haven’t gotten an answer to my question of why the Sage Grouse, which I’ve seen neither more or fewer of in recent decades, only seem to be in trouble where the land is highly mineralized and should be rightfully protected for our use by current law.

Here is a link to the article in the region’s local paper:

http://freerangereport.com/index.php/2017/03/06/blm-idaho-management-plan-to-prohibit-hobby-rock-collecting/

This “environmental” action is actually a threat to the people and towns in the effected area – as are such areas in other states fighting the same BLM land grabs. These little towns thrive on the tourism from these mineral rich lands. When the BLM decides to shut down whole towns, we need to start taking a lot closer look at what they are actually doing.

The letter below, written by Gerald Gibeault, President of the Idaho Falls Gem and Mineral society will give you more information about the situation, and

Gerald Gibeault President                                                                                                         Idaho Falls Gem and Mineral Society                                                                                           2246 Brandon Dr.                                                                                                                             Idaho Falls, Idaho 83402 March 2, 2017

Subject: BLM to Ban Rockhounding with Hand Tools in Areas Targeted by the Draft Environmental Statement (EIS) for the proposed Sagebrush Focal Area Withdrawal.

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is written to local jurisdictions on behalf of the Idaho Falls Gem and Mineral Society and recreational rockhounds everywhere. As president of the Idaho Falls Gem and Mineral Society, I am concerned that the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Sagebrush Focal Area Withdrawal could be bad news for recreational rockhounding in our Gem State. Specifically, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intends to ban recreation rockhounding using hand tools in withdrawn areas. Only surface collection will be allowed.

I attended BLM’s EIS Public Meetings on February 16, 2017 in Idaho Falls and in Boise on February 24, 2017. I also discussed my concerns in a follow-up telephone call with Mr. Adam Merrill (BLM Geologist, Washington D.C. Office) on March 3, 2017. Mr. Merrill said that he had spent some time with the BLM’s lawyers discussing the rockhounding concerns that I had raised with him previously. I’ve summarized my understanding of the conversation with Mr. Merrill below:

As the BLM lawyers see it, the problem boils downs to whether or not the 1872 Mining Act (mining act) is in force. According to the lawyers, the mining act authorizes public right to locatable minerals on Federal land. While the rules that apply to rockhounding may be different from those that apply to hard rock mining operations, both get their authority to access locatable minerals from the mining act. Withdrawing land from the mining act also withdraws the public’s authorization to collect locatable minerals. It must be noted that the public will still be allowed to pick up rocks off the surface; but materials collected on the surface are typically very weather, fractured and therefore of little use to rockhounds.

The text shown below was taken from a BLM website:

https://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Programs/minerals/locatable/locatable_minerals.print.html

“The federal law governing locatable minerals is the General Mining Law of 1872 (May 10, 1872), which declared all valuable mineral deposits belonging to the United States … to be free and open to citizens of the United States to explore for, discover, and purchase.”

“Mineral deposits subject to acquisition in this manner are generally referred to as “locatable minerals.” Locatable minerals include metallic minerals (gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, etc.), nonmetallic minerals (fluorspar, mica, certain limestones and gypsum, tantalum, heavy minerals in placer form and gemstones) and certain uncommon variety minerals. It is very difficult to prepare a complete list of locatable minerals because the history of the law has resulted in a definition of minerals that includes economics.”

What every Idahoan should know!

Approximately 3 million acres are targeted for withdrawal in Idaho. Affected areas include much of the land in and around the Lost River basin between Challis and Arco, much of the Lost River mountain range, as well as huge swaths of land around Carey. Some of these areas are prime rockhounding country. If the proposal proceeds as currently planned, the public will no longer have access to the locatable minerals in the withdrawn areas for the next 20 years. For example, I will not be allowed to collect a piece of tube agate near the Doyle Creek road for the rest of my life!

How are local jurisdictions affected?

Idaho is called the Gem State for a reason. We live in a mineral paradise. Rockhounding is a tourist attraction. Because of our fortunate geology visitors are drawn to Idaho from around the world. The minerals of interest to rockhounds typically include jaspers, agates, and other minerals and rocks that have little or no commercial value. Rockhounds start with rough materials and create beauty. The activity provides an opportunity for both the young and the old to enjoy areas of our backcountry that are seldom visited by others.

Rockhounds stay in hotels and campgrounds, eat at restaurants, and buy gas and supplies. Revenue flows into communities with no more investment or effort than allowing access to minerals in nearby Federal lands.

What to do?

Help rockhounding survive in your area. PLEASE write a comment and send it to the BLM. Send a note to your congressman too. We are the Gem State! We live in a mineral paradise! Rockhounds are not a threat to sage-grouse habitat! There has to be a reasonable solution.

A sample comment form is attached at the end of this letter. A comment may also be submitted by email.

The last day to submit comments to the BLM is March 30, 2017. The BLM has to receive comments by that date. So, allow time for delivery if you use postal services.

Thank you for considering our concerns.

Gerry Gibeault (contact redacted to prevent spam)

HERE IS THE ONLINE COMMENT FORM for the Sage Brush Focal Area:

Sage Brush Focal Area Withdrawal Comment Form

Here is the map of that land that they are set to grab:

http://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=45b2d7896c36467aac3990b739d75a26

Other Links:

Contact information for BLM:

https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/Dear_Reader_Final.pdf

BLM information about sage grouse:

https://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/sagegrouse.html

Of course, summer is usually a rockhound’s biggest hunting season, but there’s a lot nature does to help us celebrate that night the spooks and goblins break through their vortex and invade us here on earth. If you don’t believe it – I have the proof right here.

There are some pretty spooky places attached to where people go to hunt rocks — and they aren’t all  ghost mining towns and eerie graveyards.

Where else will  you find as spooky a place to be close to dark than this location in Succor Creek, a favorite rockhound hangout. You can’t look at Screaming rock in the near dark without a chill or two running down your spine.

And exactly who is this that has been sent from the netherworld to protect a great crystal hunting area in California? If you’re in the area near dark, you can almost hear the banjo playing.

It’s not just places that are ripe for the halloween loving crowds – it’s the rocks themselves that lend us such a willing hand at decorating for fright night.

Bat cave, in Oregon, isn’t just an apartment complex for the local bats. It’s also full of jasper just screaming to be cut and included in the season’s decorations.

Where there is someone celebrating Halloween, there’s need for a Jack 0′ lantern.  This agate nodule takes on that job for Halloween rockhounds very finely.

Along with ghosts and goblins, and spooky places – Halloween isn’t complete without some form of zombified remains.  What could be more apropo for the savvy Halloween celebration than a diseased, leaky, lesioned brain?

It’s so great that nature is so willing to help chill and thrill us on the night we unleash reality and run with the demons.  If you have any natural spookers – please feel free to post them in the comments!

Happy Halloween from all of us at Rockhoundstation1.com

Life’s short –  Rock hard

In the Wells area, the wind was formidable. It surprised me, as I would not have expected it to be that windy, especially not in late summer. Along with the wind was incredible dust.  I like to travel with windows down, but after just a few minutes of back roads I decided to roll the windows up. Too late. The inside of the rig was dusted – thickly, and closing the windows just sent the dust into the air in choking clouds. So I figured out which windows to open and how far to keep the dust out of my face and things went a little better.

I headed toward back roads to do some exploring.  There were a few that were pretty well maintained.  The offshoot 4WD roads were not as well kept. Many were washed or pitted enough that I couldn’t drive them. There was a lot of jasper (a NV usual no matter where ya go).  I’ll spare the usual pic of a red and yellow jasper and show you a few of the lively greens from the area.

The one in the middle is actually blue rather than green. It’s also got a strange texture to it. It’s almost as opalite like as jaspery. In the long run, though – it’s jasper.  The big green chunk to the right of it really excited me for a minute.  It looks like wood. It’s not, though.  It’s just the way it layered in the mountain that gives it that look.  Still a nice chunk of jasper, though, so I was pleased with it.

There was a lot of opalite up there.  One location had a lot of this pink opalite. This piece is about 6 inches across. Some of the opalite is very brittle and will shatter easily. Some is rather hard – this piece has a fracture or two but it basically a hard piece.

There was a lot of obsidian up there.  There were also a lot of Apache tears – many were the size I’m holding. And yeah – I do know my hands are dirty.  Playing with rocks does that.  I’m thinking anyone interested in this article probably spends as much for soap and emery boards as I do. One of the hazards of the field.

While I did spare you all another pic of the red and yellow jasper which seems to appear almost every place you go in NV……at least Northern NV – I did feel it proper to add a picture of the Nevada agate from there, which also seems to be scattered across the upper part of this state. This was a pretty common find, but had some patterning that seemed might be pretty when cut.

After leaving Wells, I descended south to the Ruby Mountains.  When you get back up into those mountains, you’ll find some absolutely beautiful scenery.  Even during the late summer, these mountains were very green and, in spots, actually lush. There’s a lot of lakes in the upper regions.  There’s also a lot of pegmatite.  I was hoping to find a little beryl when I was up there, but that didn’t happen.  I did go to two locations where beryl has been found, but one would have taken digging, and the other was just expansive. I did hike around and found a few rocks with garnet type crystals in them, but didn’t see any beryl.  I’m pretty sure a few more days in the area might have turned up some, though.

The rock in one of the areas was almost more granite than pegmatite.  It was a blue green, though, that would be perfect coloration for beryl. This is from the location that I thought digging might reveal some crystal.  As you can see, the smaller sample actually looks more like massive beryl than quartz. Haven’t really tested it yet, but don’t need to test to see that it will make a nice cab.

The pegmatite from the other area a few miles north of this one is laced liberally with mica. I picked up a few small mica books around an inch across or so. Not huge, but nice chunks for decorating gardens.  Not sure if you can see the little crystals in the following pic or not, but they seem to be low grade garnet. I could be wrong.  I would think anyone in that area that puts in the time might come up with some nice crystals of some sort or other.

The next day found me in Ely at Garnet Hill. I proceeded to the park area at the top of the hill where I was incensed by what I found. I’m amazed that this area is still open to the public. The top of the hill is covered with digging holes. Many, many trees have been rooted and people have left the holes without filling them back in.  Really – people that careless should not be allowed off of sidewalks.  What they think they’re doing is way beyond anything I can fathom.

Anyway – I walked around for a few minutes, shaking my head at the mess. The whole top of the hill is  nothing but rock fragment, and underneath just rocks to chip at. I stopped at one beautiful little tree that had been rooted and filled the hole back in.  I did find one fairly nice garnet while filling the hole up, so got a little reward for trying to save the little tree.  Then I proceeded downhill and hunted via my usual method for finding garnet. I got a relatively nice score. While the pic doesn’t show the color, these are an intensely deep wine red.  I might be able to get the color to show after cleaning off matrix rock and cleaning them up a bit. As you can see, they’re generally nice sized garnets even if the beautiful color doesn’t show up.

As I was leaving a family with two little girls had parked and were just starting the hunt. These little girls were extremely excited and there was no way they were going to be digging in that hard rock above, so I showed them how to hunt for the stones on my way out.  I hope they got a few nice ones.

I left Ely to continue my trip via hwy 50.  My next stop was Eureka, and I found I hadn’t brought my information on the area.  I wanted to hunt for the trilobite fossils in the region.  So, I stopped in town to ask around. I talked to several people but nobody seemed to know what the heck I was talking about. For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on I found the place a little eerie and opted out of staying for the night and continuing my hunt there in the morning.  Someday I might go back when I am not traveling on my own and have my information about the area with me. At any rate, I headed for Austin.

It was almost dark when I reached Austin and there was only one room left in town.  I was considering taking it, when someone had heard me say I’d camped all nights but one on my trip.  She asked me if I knew there were hot springs there.  Hot springs? Oh yeah – I’d rather do that!  She gave me the directions and I spent most of the night sleeping on top of my rig where I fell asleep watching that spectacular sky out there in the middle of nowhere, parked by a nice hot tub of running water.

The next morning found me in a little cafe in Austin having a chat about blue agates with an interesting man with sharp intelligent eyes, and a long silver pony tail. He reminded me of Gandolf and I immediately liked him. After lunch and some stimulating conversation, I headed out to look for Airy Mt agates……….which are not on Mt Airy. Go figure.  I’d never have found them with just the information I had.  The man at the cafe had over-estimated my eyesight when he gave me a landmark to look for, but at least I was on the right road.

Not seeing the landmark, I doubled back and saw something out in the distance that I thought might be what I was told to look for. So I headed down a 4WD path.  I got up even with the marker, but saw I was on the wrong path. Still – I wasn’t planning on staying on the road anyway, so got out of the car.  I immediately picked up two blue agates off the path and decided that whether I was in the exact location or not, I was close enough and did a little hiking……….and a little picking up rock.  I had pulled these out of a bucket of water take the pic so the cement is a little wet, but the agates are basically dry in the pic.

When I had had enough hunting, I made my way back to the rig, and as I got ready to leave, I suddenly saw the landmark that I’d been told to begin my search at.  The next time I go out to the Austin area I will know where to start my hunting. And I will go back there.  I will also be studying up to see what else can be found in the vicinity.  With a hot springs and blue agates, I’ve got at least one night and one day covered.

So all in all, I had a pretty great trip.  There were a few disappointments and a lot of very great views and great rocks and hot springs to offset them. I’m hoping the weather holds long enough for the next trip I want to take to explore the Black Rock Desert.

Until next time;

Life’s short –  Rock hard

This year’s hunt was led once more by Tony Funk (member catmandewe), and he’s proven once again to be the ultimate in rock tour guides. I thank you, Tony for yet one more spectacular meetup!

So – without further discussion — here’s the rocks!

The pile of green in the center of this pic are Garry Green wood.  The one with the visible green ripple leaning on the wall in back is from the green jasper stop.  Sorry – I can’t remember what the heck the name of that jasper is.  It’s green. That much I can tell ya.  I got lucky when I was hauling those two big hunks of Garry green out of the canyon when a few members of the party drove by in Trucks and gave me a boost with them the rest of the way up the hill.  They were a lot heavier than they looked and it would have taken me all day to get them up on my own……….but I really wanted em.

Here’s a few close-ups of this beautifully banded wood.

While this next one is not the color you expect to see when you’re hunting Garry Green, it was my favorite find from that location.  I was surprised that there’s actually a lot of blue up there mingled with the green.

This next shot is a little blurry, but I just wanted to show the color of this agate so tried for a close up. OOPS.  It’s called purple cow and it’s not a real translucent agate, but it is purple. I also got a piece that is much the same shade of lavender as the lavender quartz I got last year, but a little more translucent. The piece in the pic below isn’t the most purple of the agates found by the group that day, but it’s an example of the color.  Despite it’s blur, I think it gives you the idea of what purple cow is.  Hopefully, someone else will have a more clear pic of  a little more lively colored piece of this stuff to offer.  

This next shot is from another wood location Tony took us back to.  This is a highly opalized wood – and I was delighted to find some actual tiffany fire in it.  At first I thought it was just flash from a fracture, but later inspection proved it was not fracture. While there was only about an inch long area of color in this one – I’m hoping, if I get back to that area again to find more of it. A lot of the color (on the right side) doesn’t show up the way the sun hit it – but you can see a little of it.  That blue area all the way to the right end contains color.  On the left, some of the beautiful banding in this piece is visible, too. As you can see, I haven’t mastered close up shots at all.

This last pic of wood from the McDermitt area I found at the mouth of a canyon that I very much wanted to get into.  There was a herd of range cows with some very young babies that had other ideas about me traipsing around their water hole, though.  I liked the colors, none the less,  and will go back to this area whenever I return to the McDermitt area in the future and try again. I have a feeling there’s some nice wood hiding down that canyon.

Okay – that’s my favorite of my McDermitt finds.  Now here’s a few miscellaneous pics of stuff I’ve wanted pics of for awhile now.

Above the rock pick are a few of my finds from my hunt in Central Washington a year and half ago.  I’ve got a few close ups of this wood just below this pic.

The top of this one isn’t going to slice, but I have a use for it anyway.  The rock about 4 inches from the top is pretty solid and I have plans for other uses for that once I get it sliced from the top. Gonna have to find someone with a big saw for this one. It’s a foot across and a little over that deep.

The next one is a little more solid, but I have other uses besides lapidary for this piece, as well.

As you can see, this Washington opalized wood is a multitude of earth tones.  All this wood made me fall in love with opalized wood.  Still love agatized wood, too – but this stuff is just really special in my book.

The next two pictures are also opalized wood – but,  are from Nevada.  These are from the hunt I went on with John (member Orygone) and his side kick, Patti when our 2015 meetup was canceled due to weather.  It wasn’t the best weather that day, either – but at least we were close enough to solid road that we were able to hunt despite the rain. The pictures don’t do a couple of these boldly banded pieces much justice.

While I didn’t see anything opalized in Washington that wasn’t earth-tone – there was a little more variety in Nevada.

This next rock I got in the same area on that hunt with John and Patti.  I’m not sure what it is – rhyolite, jasper, opal?  I sure do like it, though.

Next pic is some banded wood that Bob (coldwatergold) and I found not too far out of Dayton last spring when he came out to see a friend of his who lives there.  Some of this stuff has more color to it, but it is predominantly white with darker banding.

Okay – the last two pics are of rock from my local area out here in NV.  The first one is just an example of the jasper out here. There are other colors, too, here and there fairly local – but there’s tons of this red and tan stuff everywhere.

And this last pic is because we have several members who live out around here or visit sometimes and I get sooooo many questions about Lahotan blue lace agate.  This is the blue that is here. I guess some of it works into some really neat cabs, but the color of the blue is not that bright blue found elsewhere in the state.  It’s blue, but it’s a muted blue, and is not a highly translucent rock, either.

So – that’s all I got, today folks.  Hope you enjoyed the virtual tour.

Until next time;

Life’s short –  Rock hard

Public response to urge renewal of the claim is critical. The Crapo family has always supported the rock hound community and made sure that anyone who collected on their claim came away with lots of good geodes. Now it’s our turn to support them so please get the word out to anyone interested in preserving this important collection area.

Please send your emails in support of renewing this important claim to the following email addresses at the BLM and bcc the bughouse at their address below, so they can see who is supporting their efforts.

Deputy State Director Lands & Minerals: Kent Hoffman E-mail: khoffman@blm.gov

Minerals Support Supervisor: Robert L Bankert E-mail: rbankert@blm.gov

Bureau of Land Management Fillmore Field Office E-mail: utfmmail@blm.gov

The Bug House E-mail: bughouse@xmission.com

Thank you,

Golden Spike Gem & Mineral Society

November 29, 2015

So……………..grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy this little picture tour of 2015 RHS1 style.

Member: Coldwatergold

Anyone who’s hung around the RHS1 forum for any length of time knows real well that if you stick a rock in front of coldwatergold it’s going to end up slabbed, cabbed, and wire wrapped. Whenever weather won’t permit him to be out playing  Jacques Cousteau in the stream on his claim or wandering aimlessly across any area he can get to in search of more rock to play with, he’s in his shop working like an elf in December, slabbing, cabbing and wrapping anything he can get his hands on.   Below is a small sample of some of his work.

I think you’ll agree that he does some pretty nice work. Of course, when you’re bringing home rock like the one below, I presume it makes it a lot easier to make great cabs, too.

Member Lizziebird

Being from North Carolina, Lizziebird really enjoys seeing  and trading for what those of us out in the west are picking up and bringing home.  We  kinda feel sorry for her – being stuck out there on the other side of the US from so many of us where she only has….um…..hundreds of minerals to hunt for must be a real trial for her.  She sent the picture below to me describing these as some of the more “everyday” finds in NC.  If these are everyday rocks for her, you can imagine what she considers a “great find”.   Below the pic I’ve posted her description of these beauties that she cabbed.

Top row, L to R, agate from a creek in central NC, pink corundum from NC mountains, blue feldspar (amazonite) from abandoned mica mine in NC mountains, pink feldspar from same abandoned mica mine in NC mountains, and white feldspar (with moonstone-like flashes) from same abandoned mica mine in NC mountains.  Bottom row is minerals from a quarry in central NC, including quartz, feldspar, jasper, epidote, and a touch of pyrite.

Member: Cobbledstone

Cobbledstone might be fairly new to the forums, but he isn’t  a newcomer to rock hunting or crafting.  He’s been at it long enough to be a little bit savvy about seeing value in rocks that others pass up.  I’m thinkin’ from the pics below he might be a little more foaming at the mouth crazy about rocks than we realized. Here he tells a little bit about his following pics:

This is my favorite creation of 2015, a necklace made out of beads that I crafted.  The material is white chalcedony that I collected out of the Willamette River.  In this area, there is some carnelian, but most of the time, the color in these rocks is only on the surface.  Lots of folks consider these white in the center rocks junk, but I went out searching for them, and selected only one ones with the nicest creamy center.  Then I made beads out of them.  It took a 5 gallon bucket of rough to produce this necklace.

Cobbledstone also makes Christmas ornaments with this beautiful, milky stone.

Member: Oxenkiller

For some members who are lucky enough to live close to the rocks or have the fortune of having time to get to them, finding the stones still remains their favorite pass time.  Member Oxenkiller isn’t one to pass up an opportunity to be out there looking. Little does he realize that hanging around RHS1 as much as he does, it won’t be long before he starts getting an unquenchable craving to start making things out of stone, too. With finds like the ones in his pics below, none of us are going to be surprised when it happens.

Member: Markphoto3

On RHS1, Markphoto3 is our go-to guy for spheres. He does beautiful work, and a few other members are fortunate enough to have one that was done by him.  I’ve hunted with him, and can tell you that this guy covers territory in the field like a bloodhound on the trail of a deer. You never realize how far he gets in just a little time until you pick him up on his way back and go rescue his backpack where he had to drop his too-heavy-to-carry-all-that-way load. The method in his addiction works for him though as you can see by these beautiful works below.

The first of these pics is my favorite because it’s made from the wood from a site I discovered earlier. Yes – that green rock is wood!

While Markphoto3’s specialty is spheres, he also does other things with his rocks – such as this set of bookends made from a Richardson’s Ranch thunderegg.

Member:  Hotrocks

I spend  more time talking to, and visiting and hunting with, Hotrocks than any other member of RHS1.  She’s my niece.  She was accidentally addicted to rock hunting one thanksgiving when I was at her mom’s house and was going hunting She was  interested in doing that in preference to the usual family thing that year so I invited her to a crystal hunt and she’s been off and running, hunting, cabbing, etc. ever since.  Not too long ago she and her sweetie started up a side business in custom leather craft and the rocks they cab now adorn leather items such as bracelets, journals, purses and so on.  Below are some pics of some of their latest creations with cabs from some of their Nevada finds:

Member: HeySal – um, that’s me.

While I did get out hunting this year, life was throwing me some curves and I didn’t get the crafting done that I wanted to.  I did manage to make one wire tree as a gift for my niece. I had a pic of it posted somewhere, but it wasn’t that great a pic and  Jess just sent me a decent shot of it so you can actually see what the tree looks like.  The base is black agate from Washington, the rock the tree sits on is blue opal I found at our 2014 meet-up at Succor Creek in Oregon, and the pink “buds” are pink garnets I found in Idaho, so the tree is about as all over the place as I tend to be myself sometimes.

So – as you see, throughout 2015, RHS1 members were pretty busy rockhounds no matter what life,work, and weather were throwing at them.  We don’t expect to be slowing down any in 2016, so come on in and join us.  The more the merrier.

Life’s short – Rock hard.