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The Ventura Gem & Mineral Society, Inc. (VGMS)
Rockhound Rambling
August 2001.
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.
Hope everyone enjoyed the fair (see inside this bulletin for Gem and Mineral fair entry winners). How fast it comes and goes.
The fall is always a busy time for everyone. Kids start back to school, at any given time in the year one of our county clubs are gearing up for a show, there's holidays and of course it's some of the finest conditions for field trips to the desert.
With all that, we have some important dates coming up so be sure and mark your calendars. Our annual club picnic has been scheduled for Sunday, September 23rd, 11:00 at Arroyo Verde park in Ventura. There will be a small fee per vehicle to enter but due to the fact we were unable to schedule our annual breakfast, it's important we all try and attend because they're always so much fun. This will be very relaxing with everyone bringing only what they care to. We'll secure a table, bring your own chairs and we'll display the club banner so we can't be missed. Plan on it. We'll see everyone there for that socializing that there's never enough time for at club meets. Perhaps a table will be set up for rock and fossil displays. Any other details will be announced at our August 22nd meeting.
The other important date to note is the Petrified Wood Identification Seminar set for October 19, 20 and 21. We'll need to move quickly on this due to the logistical coordination required, so by the time you read this I will have contacted members by phone for commitments. It's not often we get an opportunity like this. The basics are: it costs 35:00 per person, runs a half day Friday, full day Saturday and half day Sunday. It's an in depth training on identification of various kinds of wood that have been petrified. The seminar will be held at Ventura College with a maximum of 45 people (which I expect will be attained from the three clubs). Details will be forthcoming.
Next regular meeting will be August 22nd. See you there and invite a friend.
Greg Davis,
President.
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WORDS TO LIVE BY.
If a man speaks in a forest and no woman is around to hear him, is he still wrong?
Sign seen in a muffler shop. "No appointment necessary. We hear you coming."
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
No one is listening until you make a mistake.
Contributed by Wayne Ehlers.
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PROGRAM PREVIEW - AUGUST 22nd PROGRAM,
"Geothermal Energy from the Salton Trough."
The program for August will be "Geothermal Energy from the Salton Trough" by Steve Mulqueen.
Geothermal energy is heat energy that can be extracted from the Earth's interior. One of the hottest places in the world is California's Imperial Valley where vast deep reservoirs of superheated water exists at temperatures between 360 and 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
Today, 15 geothermal power plants are now producing over 500 megawatts of electricity in the Imperial Valley. California leads the nation in the amount of electricity generated by geothermal energy.
Steve's lecture will include a video presentation on geothermal energy including features such as hot springs and mud volcanoes.
Kathryn Davis, Program Chair person.
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PROGRAM REVIEW - JULY 25th PROGRAM.
The Show and Tell and Silent Auction program this year was one of the best I have been to. Everyone had some time to visit with each other and ask all the questions they wanted to! There was some great material (and good zucchini bread and apricot jam) in the silent auction with $95 proceeds going to the club. The bidding was fun and competitive!!
Some of the Show and tells included Jim & Nancy Brace Thompson about their trip to the San Diego area and they had some fantastic finds to share. It made everyone want to go find their own! Dave Mautz had a display of great "finds" that he secured at our March Show. He's a good shopper! Kathryn Davis shared her experiences on her Wyoming/Colorado vacation - fossilized Algae, Agate and need for a new tire! We will be putting some of her pictures on the web site so keep an eye out for them. Susan Mulqueen shared some pictures and an article regarding the "Fearsome Fossil" display at the California Oil Museum in Santa Paula. There was a great article in "The Star", July 17, 2001 about the display which she shared with the members. Susan also had pictures of carved abalone shells, tide pools etc. of the Pt. Lobos State Reserve along with some crab fossils Steve found in Monterey. Mel Hixson had some great rough and finished pieces of some Cosmos Jasper and agates.
The member participation and appreciation was most interesting and there was a lot to be learned. I would like to thank everyone for sharing and bidding! - Shirley Layton.
More from Kathryn Davis, Program Chairperson - Thank you to everyone who made the July meeting a success. Members donated some fine and different items for the silent auction. VGMS made some money and some bidders got some real bargains.
Thank you also to everyone who was willing to participate by sharing stories and samples from recent collecting trips. When members share samples of what they have found and information about finding it, we are all richer for the experience.
Again, thank you to everyone who made the program a success.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
8-18-01 - VGMS Workshop - Museum from 9:00 to Noon & Museum Clean Up Party from 9:00 til done!
8-22-01 - VGMS Regular Meeting - 7:30 pm The Lexington, Bijou Room - "Geothermal Energy from the Salton Trough" by Steve Mulqueen.
9-1 & 2-01 - Tri-County Field Trip - Gabbs, Nevada.
9-6-01 - VGMS Board Meeting - 7:30 pm - At the Museum. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.
9-9 thru 16-01 - CFMS Earth Science Studies - Camp Paradise - (Class is Full!)
9-10-01 - DEADLINE FOR SEPTEMBER BULLETIN - Articles to the Editor!
9-23-01 - VGMS Annual Picnic - 11:00 am meet and eat at 12:00. Tentative location Arroyo Verde Park.
9-26-01 - VGMS Regular Meeting - 7:30 pm The Lexington, Bijou Room
12-12-01 - VGMS Christmas Party - Mark your calendars!
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CHIPS & BOULDERS.
EXHIBITOR CHAIRPERSON NEEDED FOR OUR MARCH 2002 SHOW - If you are interested, contact Jim Brace-Thompson. If you think you might like to try, but not sure what it entails there are several in the club that can tell you about it and would also be willing to guide you. Some of the past Exhibitor Chairpersons are Steve & Susan Mulqueen, Greg Davis, Kathryn Davis and maybe Nancy Jioras. I think Florence Meisenheimer did it for several years as well (but what hasn't she done, thank God for Ray & Florence!).
Editors Note: In the June 2001 we published an article titled "Are you Tired of the 2000s?" which I couldn't remember who had given it to me. Wellll I now know. It was Wayne Ehlers and thank you very much Wayne, it was a good one.
Another Editors Note!!!: Last month we had a couple of articles about Trilobites from the Fossil News and I forgot to mention that those were referred to me by none other than our own Trilobite Specialist - Dave Mautz. Dave has one of the best Trilobite collections, I would venture to say in the Nation. He has won the Best In Show award at the Ventura County Fair. Also as we speak there is a display at the California Oil Museum of some of Dave's Trilobites. Need Trilobite advice, ask Dave!!! Thanks Dave for the reference.
Ventura County Fair is over for 2001. - There is an article further on in the bulletin outlining the winners, as we know them! Many thanks to all that volunteered at the Fair and to Ray and Florence Meisenheimer for their multitude of hours organizing and working hard. Also many thanks for all those that made entries. It was a great fair and the next one will be here before we know it!! Susan Mulqueen, with the help of Dave Mautz, put together our club case to enter. I understand it was a very nice one. Thanks Susan and Dave.
Correction on the July Hostess, it wasn't Jim & Nancy Brace-Thompson, it was Jean Wise with some very tasty home baked goodies, sorry for those that missed it! Thanks Jean.
August hostess will be Nancy Jioras (I hope). Be thinking about Sept., Oct. and Nov!! Give Sharon Cunningham a call with the month you choose. Thanks to those that have stepped up to the plate, so to speak!
Our Hostess with the Mostest says - to mark December 12 on your calendars for a GREAT Christmas Party. Good food, great friends, fun evening. Looking forward to everyone's company! - Sharon Cunningham.
VGMS Workshops will be held on August 18 and September 15, 9:00 to Noon. They will be held on the 3rd Saturday of the month unless notified otherwise. Shop Supervisors are: Ron Wise (805) 647-4393, Greg Davis (805) 647-9214 & Red Jioras (805) 646-7184. We need to thank these Supervisors for giving us this opportunity to work our material. It is there for your use, take advantage of it.
Museum Clean-Up Party August 18th - Several of our fossils are on loan to the California Oil Museum in Santa Paula for their "Fearsome Fossils" exhibit. These will be returned in October and in order to have a nice clean habitat for them when they come back there will be a Clean-Up party in conjunction with the workshop on August 18th. There will be more information about this at the next meeting, but keep the date free for a little sprucing up! Bring gloves, hefty bags and a vacuum (ours disappeared - may have been sold at the country store! Would I do that? - yes!)
Bulletin e-mail - It would be helpful when you e-mail information or articles for the bulletin if you could start the subject with "VGMS (space)". This will help Jim to sort them and hopefully not miss any! E-mails work great as we can just roll the information over and don't have to re-type it, so keep them coming!!
Check Your 2001 Show Donation Award Ticket - In the donation award drawing, the ticket for the number 2 ($50.00) prize did not have a name or phone number on. Please check your tickets for number 0670 and notify Inez Shakman at (805) 642-4957 if you have this number. We will hold it and try to find the winner until the 2002 show and then it will be turned back for the 2002 donation award drawings.
Pricing meeting in October for the Country Store. - We will have the first pricing for the 2002 country store in October. The success (and it has been our best money maker for a couple of years) of the Country Store is due to the great donations of our members and their friends and family. Any that you can get to us for the October pricing will be appreciated. Call Shirley Layton 642-2683 for pick up or bring it to a meeting or the museum. Don't forget the plant starts! Everyone loves the plants for sale at our show, so let's not disappoint them and get some lovely ones in the works - Many thanks!
New web site address has created more inquiries and e-mails. It prompted Gabe & Yvonne Horton to visit our board meeting and will hopefully become members. Gabe presently has a class on Wednesday nights so is not able to attend a meeting.
We plan to put more photos on the web site that members have shared with us, so be sure to go in and check it out. We will use just a few at a time so it doesn't take so long to load and then change them more frequently.
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COMMUNITY OUTREACH.
Besides working seven days a week at the Fairgrounds, Ray Meisenheimer sandwiched in trips to the Santa Paula museum to assist with groups of children who visit the "Fearsome Fossil" display.
Tuesday, July 23 Ray's group included 16 youngsters and 4 adults. They were 4th and 5th grade ages. There were other docents with groups of children as well.
Wednesday July 25 Ray spoke to a larger group of 7th and 8th graders. There were between 25 and 30 youths with one adult.
Thursday other large groups inspected the Fearsome Fossils. Ray's first group was 22 5th and 6th grade pupils with two adults. The second group was 19 3rd and 4th grade level with one adult.
Friday was another busy day at the museum. Ray had two groups of ten each accompanied by one adult.
It was reported to Ray that before the Fearsome Fossils visited the Santa Paula Museum, the average number of children visiting the museum in any given week was about 20. The second week in July more than 800 children visited the museum in a single week, and it could go higher. There has been as many as 200 children in a single day, along with numerous adults.
This is a wonderful learning opportunity for these young people and we sincerely thank Steve Mulqueen for initiating the project.
Contributed by Florence Meisenheimer.
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Moh's hardness scale, an easy way to remember it:
The Girl Could Flirt And Flirt Quickly Though Connie Didn't.
Talc Gypsum Calcite Fluorite Apatite Feldspar Quartz Topaz Corundum Diamond.
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VENTURA COUNTY FAIR WINNERS.
Dave Mautz was kind enough to tally up the VGMS ribbon winners. This was from the first day or so of the fair so there may be some that weren't identified as yet, if so we will catch them next month. First I would like to thank the many people who took the time to put these entries in as it does take time and effort. The winners are:
Chloe Baer - two firsts & a plaque for "Best Single Item Novice";
Anthony Beinar - one second place;
Mathew Beinar - two first places;
Jim Brace-Thompson - fourteen firsts, five seconds and one third - Wow!;
Greg Davis - one first place;
Wayne Ehlers - one first, one second and one fourth;
Marie Haake - five firsts, one second, two thirds and two fourths;
David Mautz - five firsts, eight seconds and seven thirds;
Emma Mayer - one second;
Susan Mulqueen - one first.
Congratulations to all of you and keep up the good work!!
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VENTURA COUNTY FAIR SPOTLIGHT VOLUNTEERS.
On July 14 more than 500 volunteers gathered for a program honoring volunteers. As Roger Gibbs, general manager said, there could not be a Fair without so many volunteers.
In the Gem and Mineral Department Wayne and Marie Ehlers were honored with a framed plaque for 10 years of service.
Ray Meisenheimer received a certificate and a nice clock for 25 years of service.
Lois Allman was honored with the volunteer of the year, or Spotlight award for many hours of dedicated service. We congratulate all of them.
Contributed by Florence Meisenheimer.
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SUPPORT AND PRACTICE
THE AFMS CODE OF ETHICS.
THANK YOU.
I want to thank you Shirley and Richard Bromser and Ron Wise for all of your help in setting up for the fair. It made a great difference and we really appreciated it.
And thank you Susan Mulqueen for setting up the club case. It looks nice. Florence and I did the club case for years and we know what a chore it can be sometimes. We all appreciate your doing it.
Ray Meisenheimer.
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Quote: "The only thing necessary for EVIL to triumph is for all good men to do nothing."
Written by: Unknown.
Contributed by Steve Mulqueen.
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SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS.
Happy Birthday to all those born in September. We all wish you good health and hope you have a Great Day! I'm still gathering information, so please let me know if I have missed your birthday. Please call Shirley Layton at 642-2683 and leave a message if I'm not there. Thanks!
September -Happy Birthday!!
- Ray Meisenheimer - 1st,
- Liz Brashears - 13th,
- Peter Drew - 19th,
- Clint Berkheiser - 23rd,
- Myrle Kirk - 27th,
- Susan Mulqueen - 27th,
- Allie Buck - 30th.
The September birthstone is the Sapphire and the flower is the Aster.
SAPPHIRE, the non-red variety of corundum.
VARIETY INFORMATION:
VARIETY OF: Corundum Al2O3.
USES: Gemstone.
BIRTHSTONE FOR: September.
COLOR: various colors, except for red.
INDEX OF REFRACTION: 1.76 - 1.78.
BIREFRINGENCE: 0.009.
HARDNESS: 9.
CLEAVAGE: none, although there is a rhombic parting.
CRYSTAL SYSTEM: trigonal.
PLEOCHROIC: strongly.
Sapphire is the non-red variety of corundum, the second hardest natural mineral known to mankind. The red variety of corundum is Ruby. Sapphires are well known among the general public as being blue, but it can be nearly any color. The blue color is by far the most popular color for sapphire but orange-pink, golden, white, and even black have generated much interest in the gem trade. Oriented rutile crystal inclusions cause a six-pointed-star light effect (called asterism) to form the popular Star Sapphire.
Copyright 1995 by Amethyst Galleries, Inc.
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Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Are part-time band leaders semi-conductors?
Contributed by Clay Brashears.
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WELCOME TO A NEW MEMBER.
We are happy to include the California Oil Museum as a new member to our club. Mike Nelson is the Director and they give a lot of support to VGMS. The "Fearsome Fossils" display that they have now until October 21st has a good many specimens from our Museum. Everyone needs to see it if at all possible. Please add the following to your Membership Directories:
California Oil Museum,
Mike Nelson, Director,
POB 48, 1001 E. Main Street,
Santa Paula, CA 93061,
Tele. (805) 933-0076.
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HOSPITALITY.
Our July meeting saw 26 members, 3 pebble pups and one guest in attendance. The guest was Darwin Base and the pebble pups were Aaron Base, Chloe Baer & Josh Glenn. Welcome to our guest and pebble pups and hope you all will come again. David Mautz had his usual good door prizes, one for guests, one for pebble pups, one for a member with their name tag on and several for general drawings. He has great prizes, but unfortunately I didn't win any of them! The Name Tag drawing was Alex Brace-Thompson, however since he wasn't there the lucky person will get $35 next month. Sharlyne Holloway is our hospitality person and does a great job.
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VGMS MINUTES.
Minutes of the VGMS Regular Meeting - July 25, 2001;
The regular monthly meeting of the Ventura Gem & Mineral Society was called to order by Pres. Greg Davis at 7:45 p.m. on Wed., July 25, 2001, in the Bijou Room of the Lexington, 5440 Ralston, Ventura, CA. The group was led in the salute to the flag.
June regular meeting and board meeting minutes were m/s/p as shown in the Bulletin.
One guest was introduced and welcomed to the meeting; 3 pebble pups were in attendance.
In lieu of a formal program, Kathryn Davis hosted what proved to be a well-received show-and-tell and silent auction. For show-and-tell, Jim and Nancy Brace-Thompson showed fossils from a collecting trip to San Diego and the desert around Ocotillo. Dave Mautz showed fossils he bought at the Culver City Show. Mel Hixson showed jasper he's collected and worked from the Sierras. Kathryn Davis shared specimens from adventures in Wyoming and Colorado, where she collected in the Green River formation, the Blue Forest petrified wood deposit, fossilized algae, and agate. She also hooked up with a dinosaur hunter near Canyon City and helped excavate part of a dinosaur that's being dug under permit and also viewed Indian ruins and artifacts. Susan Mulqueen shared field trip photos, a large fossil clam from her own back yard, and Monterey formation crabs that Steve found in Carmel Valley. We then moved to the silent auction and refreshments. The bidding proved brisk, and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to talk informally with one another.
Following the auction, David Mautz hosted the drawings, and we moved to business at 8:45 p.m.
Richard Bromser reported results from the auction and for the month. By-Laws have been mailed or hand-delivered to club members.
Ron Wise reported that 15 people went on the Greenhorn Mountain trip, where they found rose quartz. Rather than a field trip, we have the Ventura Co. Fair in August, where a number of members are exhibiting and volunteering in the Gem & Mineral Building. A trip to Gabbs, NV, is scheduled for 9/1-9/3.
Ray Meisenheimer encouraged participation in the County Fair 8/1-8/12. He also reported the Santa Paula Oil Museum is having great response to their "Fearsome Fossil" exhibit with specimens on loan from our club museum. They're having their best attendance ever; Ray encourages folks to see it.
Shirley Layton provided extra July Bulletins for anyone who needed one and announced an 8/10 deadline for the August Bulletin.
David Mautz spoke in memory of Helmut Ehrenspeck. His depth of geological knowledge and willingness to share what he knew will be sorely missed. There will be a memorial service at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, 7/27, at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum.
Greg Davis reminded everyone of our workshop and clean-up day at the club museum on Sat., 8/18. With many of our fossils on display at the Oil Museum, we want to take advantage of this time to give our museum a thorough cleaning.
Wayne Ehlers complimented Jim Brace-Thompson about his article on the Crawfordsville, IN, crinoid fossils of Dick and Doris Jones in the Sept. issue of Rock & Gem magazine.
The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.
The next meeting will be held Sept. 26, 2001, at 7:30 p.m., at the Lexington.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Brace-Thompson, Secretary.
Minutes of the VGMS Board Meeting - August 2, 2001;
The board meeting of the VGMS was called to order by President Greg Davis at 7:30 p.m. on Thur., Aug. 2, 2001 at the VGMS Museum, 5019 Crooked Palm Rd., Ventura, CA.
Present: Greg Davis, Florence Meisenheimer, Richard Bromser, David Mautz, Red Jioras, Jim Brace-Thompson, Shirley Layton, Steve Mulqueen, Ron & Jean Wise, Emma Mayer, Kathryn Davis, and two guests (Gabe & Yvonne), who "discovered" us via our Web site.
Red Jioras: The Tri-Club hopes to sponsor a petrified wood identification seminar by Walt Wright at Ventura College Oct. 19-21. The Tri-Club might incur about $100 printing costs for course materials and there would be a fee of about $500, but we should make this up with a $35 fee per person taking the course (we want 35-45 students). Kathryn and Steve say this course is worth attending. Greg will contact other club presidents and attempt to get the word out and gather commitments from potential attendees because we need to make a commitment to Walt by mid-August.
Richard Bromser: The treasurer's report was m/s/p. Ventura County charges tax on our show, but we're supposed to be exempt; Richard will work to get proper documents together. We discussed taking Pebble Pups and inactive members out of the badge raffle at monthly membership meetings and whether to cancel that raffle entirely. Florence noted it was instituted to encourage attendance, but we're not sure it's accomplishing this purpose. We decided to hold this discussion over until the next meeting and vote on it then.
David Mautz: Brought names of County Fair winners for Shirley to include in the Bulletin. The Gold Coast Science Network has asked if the club would have a booth on 9/29 and if Steve would do his oil seep talk.
Shirley Layton: Notes we're getting more emails since changing our web address. Bob LaPrad of Santa Barbara (he gave the Colored Stones program at our 4/25 meeting) emailed that he has agate nodules he'd like to have slabbed and has equipment he can trade for this service. Greg will investigate. We received a postcard from the BLM promoting their web site for "BLM Newsbites."
Kathryn Davis: Looking for ideas for speakers and programs. We don't have an August speaker, and Steve was asked if he might do his mud volcano presentation once again.
Steve Mulqueen: The California Oil Museum "Fearsome Fossils" exhibit is a real success with the VGMS' dinosaur bones. The popular reaction gives us an idea of what our own museum could look like if we had more space. The Oil Museum "Rock-of-the-Month" display of David's trilobites will change in October, and Steve welcomed new display ideas; Florence volunteered the "exploded crinoid" geodes she and Ray have from Indiana. Florence noted she has a shell display that can go in our museum. Steve reminded everyone of the workshop and museum clean-up starting 9:00 a.m., Sat., 8/18; bring work gloves, garbage bags, vacuum cleaners, dust rags, etc. Ray has asked for specimens to give kids who visit the museum, and Steve brought Apache tears; Kathryn can provide petrified wood; other donations from club members are welcomed and needed.
Emma Mayer: The Santa Paula Oil Museum has applied to be a member, and it was m/s/p to admit them after discussion of the status of an organizational member vs. an individual member. Emma has finished a scrap book for club history, which Greg will bring to the Sept. membership meeting for everyone to see; this is more than a photo album--it also includes news clippings, old Gem Show admission tickets and programs, etc.--and Emma asks that club members who have such materials or photos please donate them to continue expanding the book. Emma described a fantastic whitewater and rockhounding vacation trip in Moab, Utah.
Jim Brace-Thompson: We still need an Exhibitors Chair for our show, and a name was suggested; Jim will explore that option and if it falls through, we'll put a job description in the Bulletin with a "Wanted" poster. Shirley believes she saw an incorrect listing for the times of our Show in the CFMS Newsletter, and Jim will check into this (so far as he knows, no one has sent out Show announcements yet). Jim and Nancy will host a show-planning meeting this fall, date to be determined. In Sept., he'll send notice of our Show dates to Rock & Gem, Lapidary Journal, and other publications with show calendars.
Ron Wise: 15 attended the Tri-Club field trip to Greenhorn. Arnie Rudman will lead a Tri-Club trip to Monte Christo, NV, Labor Day weekend (9/1-9/3), but little info is available yet; interested parties may want to call Arnie, 497-3749. (Steve recently returned from a trip there and says it's a great locality.) Our last opportunity to collect at Trona may be 10/13-10/14; government regulators may be closing down Trona, but they'll still sponsor their annual trip this fall. Not sure when the next Tri-Club meeting is; there's been some concern about dates of Tri-Club trips conflicting with our club workshop dates and discussed the need to have flexibility in moving around dates for our workshops. Oxnard club members are requesting more one-day field trips to local sites.
Florence Meisenheimer: The CFMS Bulletin hasn't arrived yet, so nothing new to report on behalf of the Federation, and she's given Shirley what news she does have for the Bulletin.
Richard Bromser asked about plans for our annual fall club picnic, and Emma recommended Arroyo Verde Park. Greg will check into this as a possibility for Sunday, 9/23 (meet at 11:00 a.m. and lunch starting at noon); he'll announce this at the August membership meeting to finalize a place.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Brace-Thompson,
sitting in for Nancy Brace-Thompson.
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THE STORY OF MONTANA AGATE.
It has always been a mystery how the peculiar little scenes got inside a rock as hard as agate. It is the claim of geologists that the spots were caused by infinitely minute seams or fissures in the softer parts of the rock being filled with metallic oxides when the world was young. These oxides made four different colors that form various combinations of color when blended together, or appear in single colors in each rock.
The red color is oxide of iron. The black is oxide of manganese. The green is oxide of copper. The blue is oxide of nickel. This theory has been elaborated by the help of high-powered microscopes which show the tracings of little canals so close the naked eye could not detect it; but the oxides remained staining the rocks in wonderful designs. The fernlike and branch effects of the trees grass and shrubbery, come from the fact that the tiny canals branched out in various subdivisions forming smaller canals for a common center. In addition to these canals, the rock became flawed through shrink-age while passing through a period of evaporation which, according to scientists, has taken more than three million years to reduce the stone to the hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale.
These canals and flaws have been perfectly healed by soft silicate formations of which the stone is a part, and the evaporation has caused the oxides to take on such forms as seen on the window after a frosty night. Technically, Montana agate is known as "dendritic" agate, and the moss spots are called "dendrites".
It is the third hardest stone in the world, and is cut only with a diamond saw. There can never be two pieces alike even though cut from the same stone.
(From The Petrified Digest May 2001,
via Rock Writings & others,
via Rocket City Rocks & Gems, 3/2000),
via Stoney Statement 6/2001.
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KEEP UP TO DATE ON BLM ISSUES AND PROJECTS.
The very best way to keep up to date on issues and projects affecting the Bureau of Land Management in California - www.ca.blm.gov.
Just send us your e-mail address, and once a week they will send you News.bytes, their free e-mail newsletter containing point-and-click information on:
1. What's happening this week;
2. On-line news and press clips;
3. Upcoming events;
4. Highlights/accomplishments;
5. Legislative updates;
6. Recreation opportunities.
To sign-up for your weekly News.bytes newsletter, send your e-mail address to: CA_News.bytes@ca.blm.gov.
Editor's Note: We have signed up for one and will be glad to share it with anyone who doesn't have access to e-mail and would like a copy. Give me a call at (805) 642-2683, leave a message.
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IDENTIFYING OUR COLLECTING AREAS,
By Richard Pankey, Field Trips - North.
In his June Newsletter report Jim Strain talked about loss of collecting areas on BLM lands due to them becoming National Parks and Preserves and the impact on collecting due to Wilderness status and Areas of Critical Concern. The BLM states that it does not intend to further restrict our collecting areas, but they do not have records of all of the collecting areas. They have requested our help in identifying areas so that they can be protected.
Additionally, at the Directors' meeting in Paso Robles, Gregg Wilkerson from the Bakersfield BLM office reiterated Jim's call for identifying and mapping collecting areas on BLM lands. He offered to assist and serve as a focal point to map sites that we identify.
This is something that I have been interested in for a long time. As a field trip leader and as an avid collector I have longed for a listing of collecting sites, especially if it also includes GPS readings. Over the years I have acquired a number of field trip map/announcements and several old map books. I also have most of the commercial collecting guidebooks. These maps and books have a common flaw, they are too imprecise. The maps are often inaccurate and the "roads" indicated are confusing or open to interpretation. GPS readings for the collecting sites and parking areas would eliminate the confusion, precisely identify the site, and help find the site if the roads have changed.
Identifying all of our collecting is a very big, time consuming task, especially if we include GPS readings and updating maps and directions. But it would serve several purposes and have many benefits when completed. And it wouldn't have to be done all at once. As I see it, there are two main objectives to this project:
1. Precisely identify collecting sites so that they may be utilized and enjoyed by all rockhounds.
2. Identify and define collecting areas on public lands so that they may be preserved for our enjoyment and the enjoyment of future rockhounds.
To accomplish these objectives will take the input, planning, effort and cooperation of many people - Public Lands Advisory Committee, Field Trip Leaders and field collectors from around the State, BLM Forest Service and State liaison personnel and other interested participants. A major and potentially time consuming step is defining, clarifying and obtaining agreement to our objectives. While we are working on this step, I propose that we start collecting data on collecting sites and areas. To get the ball rolling, I propose the following:
1. Get GPS readings for current, known collecting sites. I would like everyone with a GPS to take readings of each collecting site and parking area they go to. Write the GPS reading directly on your maps or in your guidebooks.
2. Field Trip Leaders (or other interested persons) from each club, collect and compile the collecting site data. This data should include: name of location, size of area, material found, GPS readings for collecting sites and parking areas, available maps and directions, and any other pertinent, useful information.
This is just the start. There are significant issues and opportunities on how we might use and share this useful, precise collecting site information. I make no suggestions or proposals at this time. But whatever we eventually do, the data that each club collects will not be wasted. It will make it easier for their future field trips and field trip leaders. Let's get this program underway. Start gathering collecting site data on your next field trip.
CFMS NEWSLETTER, August 2001.
Table of Contents.
SUPPORT AND PRACTICE
THE AFMS CODE OF ETHICS.
TRI-CLUB FIELD TRIP TO GABBS, NEVADA,
SEPTEMBER 1 & 2, 2001.
I got this hand written note from Ron Wise, our field trip chairperson regarding this trip. It was sent from Mammoth Lakes Post Office. The internet was down, his computer had a cold (hopefully not a virus) and he had to resort to pen and paper and the U.S. Mail!
He writes - The field trip to Gabbs, Nevada on September 1-3 will meet at the rest area north of Luning, Nevada at 9:00 am on Saturday. Saturday they will go for petrified wood, Sunday open at this time. Bring Safety Glasses, gloves, tool, shovel, picks, etc.
The field trip chairmen are Arnie Rudman and Lew Mayron with the Conejo Club. Telephone - 492-2458 for any further questions you might have.
Rock & Gem - August 2000 issue has a very good article about Nevada opalized wood. Gem Trails of Nevada by Mitchel has maps of the Gabbs area.
Ron Wise, VGMS Fieldtrip Chairperson.
Table of Contents.
TRI-CLUB FIELD TRIP SCHEDULE - 2001.
This is the Tentative schedule for the remainder of 2001. Any changes that are made will be announced in the bulletin.
September 9-16 - Camp Paradise Workshop.
September 1-2 - Gabbs, NV - Petrified wood, etc., Leader: Arnie Rudman, Conejo Club.
October 13-14 - Trona - Onyx, halite, hanksite, Leaders: Don Asher, Conejo Club; Miriam Tetreault, Oxnard Club.
November 17-18 - Oxnard Club Show.
November 22-25 - Wiley Wells Area - Geodes, etc., Leader: Miriam Tetreault, Oxnard Club.
December - Open.
Table of Contents.
ROSE QUARTZ IN THE GREENHORN MOUNTAINS.
On July 21 and 22 fifteen Tri-Clubers and guests ventured high above Lake Isabella to Panorama Camp and beyond in the search for rose quartz. Contrary to pre-trip rumors, it was not hot in them-thaar hills. In fact, we were glad to have our sleeping bags with us.
Miriam Tetreault and Larry Knapp from the Oxnard Club guided us through miles of turns on dirt roads to a large and impressive wall of rose quartz. Splendid to see and most challenging to extract a large specimen. However, even those of us without the equipment and/or patience to work loose a large piece came home with beautiful specimens large enough for cabs and tumbling.
Some of us poked around other sites in the area, but came up with nothing that could hold a candle to that magnificent wall of rose quartz. A most satisfying trip!
Jean Wise.
Table of Contents.
CAMPING HINTS:
When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant.
Get even with a bear who raided your food bag by kicking his favorite stump apart and eating all the ants.
A hot rock placed in your sleeping bag will keep your feet warm. A hot enchilada works almost as well, but the cheese sticks between your toes.
The best backpacks are named for national parks or mountain ranges. Steer clear of those named for landfills.
While the Swiss Army Knife has been popular for years, the Swiss Navy Knife has remained largely unheralded. Its single blade functions as a tiny canoe paddle.
Lint from your navel makes a handy fire starter. Warning: Remove lint from navel before applying the match.
You can duplicate the warmth of a down-filled bedroll by climbing into a plastic garbage bag with several geese.
Take this simple test to see if you qualify for solo camping. Shine a flashlight into one ear. If the beam shines out the other ear, do not go into the woods alone.
A potato baked in the coals for one hour makes an excellent side dish. A potato baked in the coals for three hours makes an excellent hockey puck.
A two-man pup tent does not include two men or a pup.
In emergency situations, you can survive in the wilderness by shooting small game with a slingshot made from the elastic waistband of your underwear.
The guitar of the noisy teenager at the next campsite makes excellent kindling.
The sight of a bald eagle has thrilled campers for generations. The sight of a bald man, however, does absolutely nothing for the eagle.
In an emergency, a drawstring from a parka hood can be used to strangle a snoring tent mate.
From Petroglyphs: June 2001,
(Source not identified).
via CFMS Newsletter 8-01.
Table of Contents.
ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO |
There seems to be much confusion about the proper way to care for and clean opals. This is a simple guide that will let you preserve your beautiful opals and keep them looking their best.
To care for Opal correctly, two of the basic physical properties of this unique and beautiful gemstone must be understood.
Precious Opal contains around 6%-10% water (sometimes higher). Opal has a hardness of 5.5 - 6.5 on the "Mohs" scale of hardness. First and foremost you must determine if your opal is a natural occurring solid, doublet or triplet. The care instructions for each can differ significantly.
When purchasing Opal, buy quality stones only from knowledgeable dealers or jewelers, preferably someone who is a cutter. The reason for purchasing from a cutter is, many jewelers don't understand Opal, and therefore cannot offer you the right care advice for a particular Opal. If you know precisely the type of Opal you have purchased, you will know how to care for it.
What can I do if my stone loses its polish or becomes scratched?
This is the main reason for recommending you buy from people who cut Opal. For example, if you get an Opal from a cutter and after prolonged periods of wear and tear your Opal may need repolishing (in most cases it can be re-polished at a reasonable price). Or alternatively, if you have damaged the opal and it needs to be "reworked", then this is the person to do it for you, or at least give you the best advice.
Can I put Opals in water?
Yes! Solid Precious Opal should be placed in a dish of clean room temperature water for at least 10 - 15 minutes, every 12 months or so.
From personal experience (gained from over 27 years of cutting, collecting and handling opals) this allows the gemstone to absorb moisture it may require therefore preventing any crazing or cracking caused by drying out (especially if the opal has been subjected to harsh or dry conditions).
Basic Care Practices:
Always remove rings when "Washing Up". Even solid Opals can be adversely affected if subjected to sudden temperature changes (such as being placed in very hot water).
It the stone is an opal doublet or triplet, it is unwise to place it in water (particularly hot water with detergent, as in washing up) for any length of time as it may effect the cement that is used to bond the stone segments together (Doublet - 2, Triplet - 3).
Don't wear OPAL when gardening. Sand or soil is abrasive and will wear the polish off the stone over time. Also there is the chance, if you are doing any sort of work that could bring the stone in contact with hard surfaces, a flick of the wrist in the wrong direction could chip it.
How do oily substances affect an opal?
It is recommended you do not place Opal near oils or oily substances, however oily hand and face creams will usually not damage Opal (except that they may "build up" around a ring and make it look unsightly).
How do I store Opals for long periods of time?
De-humidified atmospheres, (such as bank vaults and safety deposit boxes) are to be treated with caution when storing Opals for long periods, as they can extract the water content from an Opal over time, causing the Opal to crack or craze.
If Opal must be stored in these conditions, it is strongly advised to put them in a sealed plastic bag with a little water to prevent drying out.
Also it is advisable to check your Opal every 6 - 12 months to ensure it has not "dried out". Otherwise, it is generally safe to store them away, as long as the area is not overheated.
Displaying Opal:
Don't store Opal for prolonged periods of time under hot lights, as this could crack the stones if the heat builds up and is magnified (as in a showcase).
If Opal is to be displayed under these conditions it is strongly advised to place the Opal in or near a source of moisture (ie; a bowl of clean water or wet sponge).
Cleaning Opal:
Opal can be cleaned in soft detergent (washing up detergent) in lukewarm water using a cloth or soft brush. After cleaning, Opal should be rinsed in clean room temperature water.
By following these few simple rules on basic Opal care, your Opals will last forever as a source of enjoyment and natural beauty.
Author - Ron Fulmer,
Director of Processing and Sourcing,
Gemstone Services Australia Pty Ltd,
via The Tumble Rumble 7/01,
via Rocky Review Aug/Sept 2001.
Table of Contents.
VACATION CORNER
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SPECIAL TRIPS SHARED BY MEMBERS.
Let us hear about yours! Thanks for sharing!
Emma Mayer, Anthony and Matthew Beinar.
Having been an avid white water adventurer before children (BC), I have looked forward to the day when they could join me in this passion. Several months ago I noted an article about Sherri Griffith Expeditions out of Moab, Utah which took children as young as five (my Anthony being five). I immediately researched the company and found they had an exceptional reputation.
Our five days on the Green River during the 4h of July holiday exceeded all my expectations. The trip began in a Cessna 207 6-seater flying from a tiny airstrip flying over gorges deeper than the Grand Canyon and noted for Butch Cassidy and much other Western folklore. We landed on gravel atop a mesa and then hiked 2 hours down to the river where paddle boats, duckies, and oar boats awaited. The region is completely "red rock", similar to Sedona but so much more striking. Six families came from five states and included eleven children, eight of which were young boys, so you can imagine the energy level. We traveled ninety miles of river and camped on its banks each night. At camp we always went searching for adventure and were never disappointed. The first stop had bear prints and so we moved on to find a new spot. The next stop had authentic Indian petroglyphs. At the next my other son Matthew just happened to notice a fish fossil; we later entered it in the County Fair and earned a blue ribbon! At another stop we stumbled on a dead horse's head; I gathered the kids and set out on a bone collecting expedition. The photo displays some of our findings of both a horse and several bighorn sheep. Incidentally, Moab hosts an incredible rock store where we spent three hours exploring prior to the trip.
The tales are endless but most noteworthy was our last night after the trip was over. We drove to nearby Arches National Park to witness one of the most spectacular sunsets. We then hung around to witness a typical hot Western summer lightning storm whose "fireworks" rivaled any 4th of July. As if that wasn't enough, a full moon, which seemed to fill the enormous western sky in a great ball of yellow, presented itself and could be viewed through many of the arches. It is at those moments in nature that I feel like an intruder on the beautiful earth we live on and feel so lucky to be alive.
I have always enjoyed the camaraderie of all my rafting experiences but Moab will always hold a special place in my heart, for it was there that my sons shared my joy for the first time. Whatever your expectation for a dream filled vacation, I know Moab will never disappoint you.
Trekking Fossils in California's "Deep South"
by Jim Brace-Thompson.
When plans for a two-week fossiling adventure to Colorado became impractical, Nancy, Hannah, Alex and I opted for a scaled-down week-long trek to San Diego and the deserts to the east over the Fourth of July. We had never been fossil collecting in California's "Deep South" before, and I was also looking forward to visiting the San Diego Natural History Museum. As for Hannah and Alex, well, they wanted to visit such mundane spots as Marine World, the San Diego Zoo, and San Diego's surfing beaches. Kids just can't seem to get a sense of perspective as to what's important in a vacation.
We started out bright and early (well, maybe not so early) Saturday morning, June 30, cutting through a dramatic gap in the Santa Monicas to Malibu and heading south while hugging the coastline as much as possible, including a beautiful circuit around the Palos Verdes Peninsula. We had decided we'd take it slow and easy, not that we had much choice: half of California seemed to be heading south along with us that weekend!
We eventually made it to Stop 1: near the intersection of El Camino Real and Carmel Valley Road (the San Diego equivalent--not the one in Monterey with fossil crabs). I had read of the Pleistocene Bay Point formation (100,000-120,000 years old), reportedly richly fossiliferous with Ice Age mollusks described by paleontologist Ulysses S. Grant, IV, grandson of President Grant. The fossils were supposed to be past a drainage ditch opposite a Shell gas station. Given that my source was a 30-year-old fieldtrip guidebook, I was thrilled to find a Shell station still there! However, not only was there a Shell station, newer buildings were everywhere, with bulldozers clearing still more land. We scoured the ground and did come up with a few small Venus shells, an oyster, scallop, keyhole limpet, and snails. But given the pace of development, I think it's safe to say we may well have conducted the last field trip to a site that's soon to be a time capsule capped by concrete and tarmac. We packed away our meager finds and hopped back onto Carmel Valley Road, but headed west to the ocean this time, past the Los Penasquitos Marsh and Lagoon and on to Stop 2: Torrey Pines State Beach, where a pair of dolphins frolicking offshore greeted us with arching leaps from the waves.
Collecting is not allowed at this state reserve, so we came for the education and photo opportunities this site offers. It's vividly described in Sharp and Glazner's Geology Underfoot in Southern California, in a chapter entitled "A Migrating Shoreline: The Story in the Bluffs at Torrey Pines State Reserve." Just as we see a shoreline with a lagoon and estuary here today, so it was 45-50 million years ago, during the Eocene Epoch. At that time, the ocean was advancing across the land. As it did so, a sandy barrier island slowly moved across and over lagoonal deposits, and the sequence is written in bluffs that now rise 300 feet above the ocean.
Here, you see pages of prehistory written in bold strokes. The bottom layers (the Delmar formation) are greenish and densely filled with fossil oysters, clams, and turritella snails. As you "read" up the cliff, the greenish layers alternate with yellow layers of coarse sand. The sand layers (the Torrey sandstone) grow ever thicker until they force out the lagoonal deposits altogether. About three-fourths of the way up the bluff, you see a strikingly different deposit: red-brown sands and silts rise from a sharp line and have been fluted into badland formations. This is the Bay Point formation of Stop 1, and the contact between the Torrey sandstone and the Bay Point records a major discontinuity in the rock record. A gap of some 45 million years exists along that pencil-thin line, a period wiped clean by erosion before the deposition of the Bay Point formation during the recent Ice Ages. (It tugs at the heartstrings to think of all the fossils deposited yet eroded into dust over the course of those 45 million years!) After snapping up a roll of film, we climbed into the Explorer and made our way through a tremendous traffic jam for a night's rest in a room on San Diego's "Hotel Circle" although food poisoning from dinner made it something less than a night of rest for me.
Bright and early Sunday morning (well, maybe not so early), we enjoyed a leisurely drive to Stop 3: LaJolla. Cypress trees and a fog-shrouded shoreline crowded with harbor seals reminded us of our past life on the Monterey Peninsula. But whereas waves crash on unfossiliferous (and thereby worthless) granite in Monterey, at LaJolla they crash on dinosaur-era Cretaceous sediments of the Point Loma formation, capped by our friend, the Bay Point formation. This time, the gap between formations records a missing period in the rock record of about 75 million years. This was another site for photos only, but the view of the deposits and the stories they tell is worth the trip. The stories are nicely written up in Patrick Abbott's book The Rise & Fall of San Diego: 150 Million Years of History Recorded in Sedimentary Rocks. Abbott reveals some fascinating tidbits. For instance, although these marine deposits hold mostly clams and ammonites, rare California dinosaurs have also been found (one of only six locations in California to report dinosaur remains). The first was a vertebra found in 1967 and the second was a jaw fragment protruding from a beach cobble in 1989. Both are from hadrosaurs (duckbilled dinosaurs) that apparently had been washed to sea after death.
In addition to the geologic history, we enjoyed a bit of human history. The waves have pounded coves, arches and caves into the soft sediments. These have colorful reputations as hideaways for pirates and bootleggers. The most famous is "Sunny Jim." From inside a souvenir shop and museum at the top of the sea cliffs, you can walk down a dark, damp staircase carved through the solid rock to the ocean cave itself. It's called Sunny Jim after a 1920s cartoon character whose profile matches that of the cave entrance when viewed from the staircase.
As the sun burned away the morning fog, we headed for Stop 4: Balboa Park and its many museums. One section is devoted to the local crafts community, with potters, sculptors, etc., along with the San Diego Mineral & Gem Society museum. It's a one-room affair with mostly minerals and a gift shop of lapidary arts created by club members, along with some fossils from around the world. I had been hoping to see and gather info about fossils of San Diego but came away a bit disappointed. They had only a single, rather small case of local fossils in a dark corner. I do admit, though, that a fossil whale skull on prominent display was pretty cool! My biggest disappointment, however, was just down the sidewalk. For years, I've wanted to visit the San Diego Natural History Museum. I had read about fantastic fossils on display, including California's only armored dinosaur-an ankylosaur discovered in Carlsbad in 1987. Much to my dismay, the museum has recently undergone a major expansion. The vast bulk of the building is shut down and will remain so for 7-8 more months. All that was open was their gift shop and a special exhibit on diseases. I picked up a couple geology books at the gift shop, but we decided to pass on the diseases, especially since they were charging full admission to get a somewhat less than full museum experience.
With Stop 4 more-or-less a bust, we headed for Stop 5 posthaste: Kate Sessions Park. Jim Parish of the San Diego Mineral & Gem Society had advised me of this site during a phone conversation. It's not far west of I-5, between La Jolla and Mission Bay. Soledad Road runs along the park's western border. While the southern tip is gussied up with manicured lawns and other manifestations of a civilized park, the rest is rugged canyonland that strikes a curious pose in an area that's otherwise completely developed. Within these canyons, you spot sections of white sandstone, and after you figure out how to make your way to such an outcrop down the steep embankments, an assortment of pecten (or scallop) fossils awaits you. The fossils are beautifully preserved, with both valves intact. They've been leached a mustard yellow and are a bit delicate, so you need to wrap them carefully and coat them with a preservative once you've had a chance to clean them. One species we found is 3 inches across. In addition, we found tiny Lingula brachiopods and sea urchin spines. I scooped up samples of the sediment and have been picking out intricately patterned microfossils back home ever since. According to Parish, some of the pecten here are up to 6-inches wide and shark teeth have been found. Although I'm not certain, I believe this is the San Diego formation, a Pliocene deposit 1.5-3 million years old. This is definitely a site I'd like to return to! (Field trip, anyone?)
It got hot at the bottom of that canyon, collecting on sandstone that reflected sun into your face, so to cool off before dinner, we headed for Stop 6: Tourmaline surfing beach and more of the San Diego formation. This beach was also recommended to me by Jim Parish and is described in Abbott's The Rise & Fall of San Diego. It's another great spot to see "textbook" geological features spread out in plain view. A short walk reveals different geological epochs, a variety of sedimentary structures (angular unconformities, small faults, etc.) and a host of fossils weathering from the sandstone. The layers in the cliffs represent the Cretaceous Period and the Eocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene Epochs. The Pliocene sediments drew us, for they hold profuse concentrations of a large fossil scallop, Patinopecten healeyi. We found the beds, but there were signs warning against climbing on the cliffs and the scallops were well embedded and delicate. I made a stab at getting a well-exposed 6-incher, but it began to crumble before I could make much progress, so I reluctantly left it. Still, we found several smaller species of pecten weathered free on the surface, as well as cream-colored shells of a large wenteltrap snail, Opalia varicostata. I also filled a bag with sediment and have found it to be rich in microfossils. We even had a bonus: for once, the kids didn't complain about being dragged to a fossil site! They frolicked in the beach, and Hannah seemed to enjoy (perhaps a bit too much?) watching young surfer dudes, commenting that this would be a nice place for her to vacation when she gets older.
The next two days, Monday and Tuesday, are a blur to me: Marine World and the San Diego Zoo. Didn't see a single fossil at either place. Enough said.
There was one saving grace to Tuesday. On the way to the hotel, we stopped in "Old Town" for dinner. Adobes and Victorian homes have been restored and turned into tourist traps that were fun to explore. You can buy homemade soap, blueberry candles, and any of 1,000 varieties of coffee in an old apothecary shop (Highlander Grog, with its hint of scotch, isn't so bad). But the best part was an overpriced rock shop (Stop 7). In addition to minerals and jewelry, it held an uncommonly large selection of fossils. Still, like I said, it was grossly overpriced, so I did more gawking than buying, although I did come away with a g-shaped ammonite from Montana. A whole courtyard of Mexican restaurants and ice cream shops blazed into life as the sun set, and that's where we had our dinner while I admired my new ammonite and Alex tried to set the table on fire.
Bright and early Wednesday morning (well, maybe not so early), we packed our bags and departed Hotel Circle not a moment too soon. Fourth-of-July traffic was already picking up on San Diego's freeways. Our plan was to head for the Anza-Borrego Desert after one quick stop at Crown Point, which juts southward into Mission Bay like a thumb. Abbott's book noted the Pleistocene Bay Point formation could be seen here at Stop 8: bluffs along Riviera Drive. Sure enough, walking the beach, where people were already claiming territory for the night's fireworks, we found rich layers including a coquina deposit made entirely of millions of tiny fossil clams. We also located a sand dollar deposit in dense, hard sandstone directly beneath the road. We didn't think the two traffic cops nearby would take kindly to our excavating directly under asphalt, so those sand dollars are still there for anyone with a sledgehammer and prybar.
After all this "urban collecting," I was chaffing to get to wide open desert spaces, and the drive there was beautifully scenic. I had expected to see a dry wasteland as soon as we got east of the city but was thrilled to find lush mountain country for a good bit of the drive through the Cleveland National Forest. We seemed to be the only folks lunatic enough to be heading east into the desert in July, so we encountered only a single delay when we found ourselves behind two buffalo being carted alongside a troop of cavalrymen in blue uniforms in a small-town Fourth-of-July parade.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park was easy to spot from our mountain entry point on Highway 22: it was that big flat spot with heat waves shimmering below us. The mountains host bighorn sheep, but we didn't see any, most likely because they had the good sense not to be climbing about in an area where the thermometer read 105 degrees in the shade that day! The desert literally hit us in the face like a blast furnace. Along with a German couple, we found respite in Stop 9: Anza-Borrego Visitor's Center, buried underground and air conditioned. They sell a huge assortment of maps and books on desert wildlife, history, and geology, and a small museum shows life as it existed here during the Ice Ages on back to the late Miocene, along with a couple of examples of local fossils. We leaned how this is one of the most geologically active areas of California, with the desert floor representing a great block between rising mountains.
We found the only cafe in Borrego Springs open that day for lunch and settled into a new hotel, cranking up the air conditioning and taking a swim. With evening, it cooled all the way down to 95 degrees, we headed for Stop 10: Font's Point. This dramatic drop-off to the Borrego Badlands looks like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon. The rangers at the visitor's center had told us that picture-taking was best here during sunrise and sunset, and I clicked my way through yet another roll of film. The striped sediments of the fluted badlands span a period from 120,000 to 4 million years ago. The sandstones, clays, and volcanic ash hold Ice Age horses, camels, mammoths, sloths, and bears that roamed a lusher Anza-Borrego of streams and meadows. Still older sediments tell of an ancestral Colorado River, with fossils of freshwater snails and clams amid pieces of petrified driftwood. With night falling, we enjoyed dinner at a local tavern where everyone seemed to know your name, the waitress was friendly, the food delicious, and the music of a Country Western band was loud and lively.
Bright and early Thursday morning (well, maybe not so early), we awoke to the smell of sulfur in the air and decided we'd taken enough photos of fossils and were itching to collect some more of our own, so we lit out southeast across the park. We were fortunate it had clouded up overnight, and it remained cloudy through much of the day, with occasional sprinkles, which made the desert downright comfortable. We followed old stagecoach routes and kept a lookout for those bighorn sheep, which continued to elude us. (The only wildlife we were to see would be lizards, a big roadrunner, some red velvet ants, and that Country Western band from the night before.) Before leaving the park, we pulled over for another photo op at Stop 11: an overlook of the Carrizo Badlands. Similar to the Borrego Badlands, these fluted hills hold fossils from half a million to five million years old. They tell of lakes and grasslands and scattered forests that supported mastodons, llamas, horses, and tapirs, as well as a period when the Gulf of California covered this land with tropical marine reefs.
Leaving the borders of the park, we finally found ourselves in BLM territory and followed directions from S2 to Shell Canyon Road in Mitchell's Gem Trails of Southern California to locate Stop 12: Fossil Canyon (or Shell Canyon, the Coyote Mountain Fossil Beds, or Alverson Canyon, depending on the source you consult). Bergen, Clifford, and Spear's book Geology of San Diego County also provides directions to this site and fills you in on the geologic history. Briefly, this is the Imperial formation. The yellow muds and sandstones tell of a tropical to subtropical sea from late Miocene to early Pliocene epochs when the Gulf of California covered this part of our state, leaving behind 300 species of marine invertebrates: corals, cone shells, scallops, oysters, turret snails, clams, sand dollars, barnacles, and more. Some layers are "coquina ledges," made up entirely of fossil oysters in a cement-hard matrix. The Bergen book says collecting isn't allowed (and the entrance to Fossil Canyon itself is gated to prevent vehicular traffic), but officials at the BLM office assured us collecting is legal here so long as you confine your activity to surface collecting and don't dig or dislodge boulders in the canyon walls. The prohibition against manual labor suited us just fine, and we managed to come home with a nicely representative assortment of Imperial formation fossils, both from Fossil Canyon itself and from the many canyons twisting up to Fossil Canyon.
After a morning collecting at Fossil Canyon, we headed to El Centro for lunch and to check at the local BLM office to confirm the collecting status of Fossil Canyon and to ask about directions to the Imperial Valley College Museum and Yuha Wells fossil oyster beds near Ocotillo. The ranger offered us "good luck" in locating the oyster beds since he could never find them himself, and he gave directions to the museum, which he assured us would be open. We started at the museum: closed for the summer...From what I've heard, they're supposed to have a nice collection of Imperial formation and other fossils from area badlands. I've also heard a new desert museum may be in the works. Guess I'll just have to make another visit to check back on all this hearsay.
Backtracking, we made our way to I-8 and headed west to the area of Plaster City and Ocotillo. All along the freeway, we could see poles topped with blue flags. At the base of each pole was a box of bottled water. With immigration officials cracking down on illegal border crossings in the San Diego/Tijuana area, more Mexicans are making a far riskier crossing here in the inhospitable desert, where individuals have become lost and have died from heat and dehydration. When an entire extended family was found dead, a local group spearheaded this blue-flag program as a humanitarian effort to prevent such tragedies from recurring.
Following "Yuha Basin" directions in the Mitchell guidebook, we entered this austere landscape, and its dangers became evident. Our cloud cover had dissolved, and the desert was shimmering with heat waves. Although the Mitchell map made it look like a straightforward jaunt to the oyster beds, but it was anything but straightforward, just as the BLM ranger warned. Unmarked roads shoot off in all directions, and it's easy to get disoriented. Still, by some miracle, we crossed a wash, wound our way through some hills, and suddenly entered a wide open plain with low ridges stretched out before us: Stop 13. The ridges looked as if they had been sprinkled with pepper, but up close we saw the specks were actually large, 6-inch oysters. Thousands of these fossils rested atop a muddy white matrix as if the tide had just receded from the desert floor. If you tried hard enough, you could almost hear a big sucking sound of an ocean draining away, leaving these fossils high and dry. It was an amazing sight!
Amazing as it was, we didn't stay long because there are only so many oysters you can collect (except for some barnacles attached to the oysters, no other fossils were apparent) and the air was heating quickly. We decided to swing by Fossil Canyon for just a little more collecting where the diversity of fauna was greater before hitting the road back to Borrego Springs and a beckoning hotel swimming pool.
On the way back, rolling along an empty stretch of the Yuha desert, we saw a stone obelisk rising from the side of the roadway. Curious, we pulled over to read the inscribed plaque: "This is the desert. There's nothing out here. Nothing. -N. Karavasiles." I shouldn't have stopped. Our kids kept repeating this and have adopted it as their mantra. Now, whenever I so much as think of a desert trip, I hear: "But Dad, there's nothing out there. Nothing." I no longer stop to let my kids read plaques.
Bright and early Friday morning (and this time, it really was early!), it was time to wind up our week-long adventure. We cut across Anza-Borrego and up the Imperial Valley, skirting the Salton Sea and passing groves of fig trees and rich green agricultural fields that gave way in startlingly stark contrast to barren desert mountains at the sharp edge of the valley. Our final destination: Stop 14, the San Bernardino County Museum, where we parked next to a car with a bumper sticker reading "I collect, therefore I am." (Whenever Hannah and Alex remind me that "there's noting out there. Nothing." I now have a ready reply.) The museum is a major research repository of the fabulously fossil-rich California desert, so I was surprised to find so few fossils actually on display. They have the biggest bird-egg collection on the planet (immortalized in an episode of California's Gold), plus great wall displays of local minerals, but the fossil displays are disappointingly few. What was on display was interesting, such as a complete Shasta ground sloth skeleton, Jurassic dinosaur trackways from Clark Mountain (the only dino tracksite in California), and an extremely well-done display of Mule Canyon fossil insect concretions, as well as a fairly extensive display of the disputed Calico Early Man Site.
Maybe I'm just picky, but the rest of the fossil displays left something to be desired, and I itched to know what they had tucked away in their research collections rather than on display to share with the general public. It's bad enough we amateurs can't collect in half the fossil localities of San Bernardino County anymore; the least you could ask is that they display what the scientists have found! But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. A stop in the museum gift shop set my wallet back when I found a couple specimens to add to my thumbnail mineral collection as well as a couple more books and a satellite photo of southern California that includes Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, Ventura, the Mojave, San Diego, and the deserts we had just traversed. It'll serve as a great reminder of a great trip that has left me itching to return at a time when the desert sun doesn't shine so hot. Here's an open invitation to anyone who wants to join us. After all, we collect, therefore we are!
Table of Contents.
HINTS & TIPS FOR ROCKHOUNDS
(Use at your own risk).
Field Trip Hint - Carry a small squeeze bottle (Sinex or nose spray bottle) filled with water on field trips. The bottles are small and light and handy for putting a drop of water or two on specimens you are checking. Never lick rocks; some are poisonous. Some may have other kinds of residues or deposits on them. - The Leaverite News via Moroks 8-01.
Picnic Safety Warning - Never use a limb from a tree whose fruit has a pit (stone) in it such as choke cherry, peach, apricot, or cherry to roast a hot dog or marshmallow. Apricot & choke cherry release cyanide when heated thus poisoning your food and you. Use a metal coat hanger or willow limb. It's much safer. - Psuedomorph & Breccia via Moroks 8-01.
Shield That Slab Saw - A good shield for a large slab saw is a bicycle fender. It is just the right size and shape to keep lubricant flying off the blade from spraying all over the shop. - The Rockcollector via Rocky Review June/July 1999.
If you have some favorite tips or secrets and are willing to share, please send them to me. - Editor.
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2001 CFMS CLUB SHOWS.
AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 1; FORT BRAGG, CA -Mendocino Coast Gem & Mineral Society, Town Hall; Main & Laurel. Hours: Fri. thru Sun. 10-6, Mon. 10-4. Don & Karen McDonell (707) 964-3116.
SEPTEMBER 29; LOS ALTOS, CA - Penninsula Gem & Mineral Society, Los Altos Rancho Shopping Center, Foothill Expressway & So. Springer Rd. Hours: 9:30 -4:45; (No Dealers). Frank Dina (650)967-3424.
SEPTEMBER 29-30, ANTIOCH, CA - Antioch Lapidary Club, Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, Tenth and "L" Streets, Antioch. Hours: 10-5 both days. David Zabaldano (925) 516-0651 davez@cctrap.com.
SEPTEMBER 29-30, DOWNEY, CA - The Delvers Gem and Mineral, Woman's Club of Downey, 9813 Paramount Blvd. Hours: Sat. 10-5, Sun. 10-4. Manfred Dexling (562) 425-0192.
SEPTEMBER 29-30, MONTEREY, CA - Carmel Valley Gem & Mineral Society, Monterey Fairgrounds, 2004 Fairgrounds Road. Hours: Sat.10-6, Sun. 10-5. Co-chairs: John Wills (831) 394-9099 jbmarsha@aol.com. Sky Paxton (831) 663-6978 paxtons@jps.net.
OCTOBER 3-7: JOSHUA TREE, CA - Sportsman's Club, Sportsman's Hall, 6225 Sunburst Avenue. Hours: Wed.-Sat. 8-5; Sun. 8-3. Gary Palmer (760) 366-3430.
OCTOBER 13-14; TRONA, CA - Searles Lake Gem & Mineral Society, 13337 Main Street. Hours: Sat. 8-5, Sun. 8-4. Bonnie Fairchild (760)372-5356. www1.iwvisp.com/tronagemclub/.
OCTOBER 13-14; TURLOCK, CA - Faceters Guild of Northern Calif., Inc. Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, 900 N. Broadway Street. Hours: Sat. 10-5, Sun. 10-4. Marion Roberts (209) 538-0197.
OCTOBER 20-21; PLACERVILLE, CA - El Dorado County Mineral & Gem, El Dorado County Fairgrounds, 100 Placerville Drive. Hours: 10-5 both days. Jackie Ceratto (530) 677-2975.
OCTOBER 20-21; ANDERSON, CA - Shasta Gem & Mineral Society of Redding, Shasta District Fairgrounds. Hours: 10-5 both days. Alex or Kelly Stoltz (530) 474-4400.
OCTOBER 20-21; SANTA ROSA, CA - Santa Rosa Mineral & Gem Society, Veteran's Memorial Auditorium, 1351 Maple Avenue. Hours: Sat 10-6, Sun. 10-5. Bonnie Wood (707)869-9385. E-mail: steekue@ap.net.
OCTOBER 20-21; WHITTIER, CA - Whittier Gem & Mineral Society, Whittier Masonic Temple, 7604 Greenleaf Ave. Hours: 10 to 5 both days. Jay Valle (626) 934-9764.
NOVEMBER 2-4; EUREKA, CA - Humbolt Gem & Mineral Society, Redwood Acres Fairgrounds, 3750 Harris Street. Hours: Fri.(kids day) 9-6, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5. Mike Martin (707) 839-5422.
NOVEMBER 3-4; CONCORD, CA - Contra Mineral & Gem Society Centre Concord, 5298 Clayton Road. Hours: 10-5 daily. Sam Woolsey (925) 837-3287.
NOVEMBER 3-4; FONTANA, CA - Kaiser Rock & Gem Club, California Steel Ind., 9400 Cherry Ave. Hours 9-5 both days. JoAnn Watson (909) 355-7455. Interstate 10 to Cherry exit then North about one mile on left.
NOVEMBER 3-4; OXNARD, CA - Oxnard Gem & Mineral Society, 800 Hobson Way. Hours: Sat. 9-5, Sun 9-4."Gems for the Holidays" (Jingle Bell Rocks). Laura Grayson (805) 482-3052. Website: http://www.ogms.net, e-mail: webmaster@ogms.net.
NOVEMBER 3-4, RIDGECREST, CA - Indian Wells Gem & Mineral Society, Desert Empire Fairgrounds, Mesquite Hall, 520 S. Richmond Rd. Hours: 9-5 both days. John De Rosa (760)375-7905.
NOVEMBER 17-18; LIVERMORE, CA - Livermore Valley Lithophiles, "The Barn", Pacific Ave. at So. Livermore Avenue. Hours: Sat. 10-5, Sun. 10-4. Bill Veiriger (925) 443-5769 zyzzx@zyzzx.com.
NOVEMBER 17-18; VICTORVILLE, CA - Victorville Gem & Mineral Club, 14800 7th Street. Hours: Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-4. Gil Gilbert (760) 868-6900.
NOVEMBER 24-25; BARSTOW, CA - Mojave Desert Gem & Mineral Society, Barstow Community Center, 841 S. Barstow Road. Hours: 10-5 both days. Bob Depue (760) 255-1030.
DECEMBER 1-2; SAN BERNARDINO, CA - Orange Belt Mineralogical Society, Corner of "E" Street & "31st" Street. Hours: Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5. Tony Gilham (909) 820-2122.
Table of Contents.
AMERICAN FEDERATION / REGIONAL
2001-2002 SHOW SCHEDULE.
2001:
NORTHWEST FEDERATION,
August 30-September 1 - Enumclaw, WA.
MIDWEST FEDERATION,
September 7-9 - Rice Lake, WI.
SOUTHEAST FEDERATION,
November 3-4 - Pascagoula, MS.
2002:
SOUTH CENTRAL FEDERATION,
February 8-9 - Tyler, TX.
CANADIAN FEDERATION CONVENTION,
May 4-5; 25th Anniversary,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Table of Contents.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Just for the record any unsigned articles are by the Editor. Thanks to all who help make the bulletin more interesting by contributing articles and information for events. It is a pleasure for me to put them in! Please don't be bashful about writing something up and sending it in, giving constructive criticism, suggestions for items you would like to have included etc. I appreciate it all. I would also like to thank my husband Jim for all his help and support (and nagging) in getting the bulletin out.
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Table of Contents.
SUPPORT AND PRACTICE
THE AFMS CODE OF ETHICS.
Gem-0-Rama 2001 Show Announcement.
Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Society, Inc.,
P.O. Box 966, Trona, CA 93592-0966,
Member of the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies,
On the Internet: http://www1.iwvisp.com/tronagemclub/,
E-mail to: fairchil@iwvisp.com.
Dear Mineral Collector; August 2001.
If you are on the Internet and wish to get show information by browsing our web page (www1.iwvisp.com/tronagemelub/, note: number 1 in www1) instead of through the U.S. Mail, let us know by e-mail and we will take you off our Gem-0-Rama mailing list.
Gem-0-Rama 2001 Show Announcement.
Again this year, IMC Chemicals Inc. is allowing the collection of rare Searles Lake minerals from its private lands, but only during the October 13-14 show of the Searles Lake Gem & Mineral Society. This is a once a year opportunity for mineral collectors to participate in field trips to a very large, recently deposited, saline mineral ore body. IMCC does ask that visitors remember that Searles Lake not only has rare minerals, it is also a working mine producing over 1.7 millions tons per year of inorganic chemical products.
FIELD TRIP TIMES - same as last year. Last year on the 9 a.m. Saturday mud tour, 788 people collected from gooey, black mud containing very large hanksite and borax crystals and clusters weighing up to 100 pounds. The mud minerals should be good again this year. These specimens can be washed at the site or bottles of brine are sold at the show. During the 2:30 p.m. Saturday blow hole tour to Searles Lake, collectors can watch IMCC technicians jet a well to bring tons of specimen grade hanksite, borax, sulfohalite, trona, and cubic halite onto the dry salt surface for visitors to collect. Last year this tour drew 1,065 people and is believed to be the largest mineral collecting tour in the country. The 9 a.m. Sunday brine pool tour will be to brine pools containing the beautiful naturally pink, Searles Lake halite. To collect pink halite students will need a heavy spud bar (rent at show) or a crowbar and heavy hammer, and they may get your feet wet with the salt brine. Geologists, technicians or engineers knowledgeable in Searles Lake guide each tour. Registration for all Searles Lake tours begins one hour before departure and requires a $5 donation per vehicle. The Saturday tours will be 2 1/2 hours long, and provide 2 hours at the site. There will be an option of 4 hours at the brine pool site on Sunday for an extra $5. Good collecting is possible without special equipment, but the best collecting requires sacrificial clothes, sturdy shoes (rubber boots are better), gloves, garden tools, a heavy spud bar and hammer, a pad to kneel on, and bags or trays for your "loot". If desired, all necessary tools can be purchased at the show.
The show will again provide bus tours of the chemical extraction plants of IMC Chemicals Inc. These tours have knowledgeable guides to explain the complex procedures needed to recover products. We will also provide information for self-guided tours of the Trona Pinnacles National Scenic Area (site of the new "Planet of the Apes" movie).
In addition to mineral collecting tours, a free indoor mineral show is open from 8 am to 5 pm on Saturday and 8 am to 4 pm Sunday. This includes: 20 mineral dealers, auction and counter sales of Searles Lake minerals, general store, 50 hobby and mineral displays, demonstrations of arrowhead and gemstone faceting, catered cafeteria with large eating area which will serve lunch 10-4 both days and dinner, Friday 5-8 and Saturday 5-7, free bus tours through two of IMCC's large chemical plants, and geode cutting and sales. Also open will be the Old Guest House Museum and the Trona History House with its historic caboose and fire engine. The Trona Community Church will have a pancake breakfast both mornings. And IMC Chemicals and the SLG&MS will allow supervised dry camping (RV and tent) at the Valley Wells Area five miles north of the show. For RV'ers wanting full hook-up, the Trona Trailer Park has limited spaces.
Table of Contents.
EDUCATIONAL CORNER.
Definition of the Month - Edited by Steve Mulqueen,
Mining Terminology:
Adit - A nearly horizontal passage from the surface by which a mine is entered.
Drift - A horizontal underground passage which parallels the general trend of a vein of ore.
Headframe - A structure built over a shaft used for the purpose of hoisting ore, waste rock, equipment, miners, etc. by means of a cable operated system.
Incline - Similar to a shaft, developed at an angle other than vertical, often parallel to the dip of a vein of ore.
Level - A horizontal passage or drift into or within a mine.
Portal - The surface entrance to a drift, tunnel or adit.
Raise - A mine shaft developed from the bottom upward.
Shaft - A vertical excavation often used for hoisting ore, waste rock, equipment, miners, etc.
Stope - An underground excavation from which ore has been extracted, above or below a level.
Tunnel - An underground passage open at both ends.
Winze - A vertical or incline opening or excavation connecting two levels in a mine.
Source: Fay, Albert H., "A Glossary of Mining and Mineral Industry",
Bulletin 95, U.S. Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Mines, 1920.
The "Definition of the Month" will feature key words which are related to geology, paleontology, mining and desert history. Anyone who wishes to submit a word and definition for the bulletin, please see me.
Steve Mulqueen.
Illustration of the Month - Edited by Steve Mulqueen,
Methods of Locating Mineral Deposits in the 16th Century.
A print from a "woodcut" engraving depicting 16th century methods of exploring for mineral deposits. The following letters can be seen in the drawing at the upper left (A) and in the middle just below the center (A and B).
A. "Twig" or divining rod method used by those gifted with such talent for the purpose of locating ore deposits.
B. "Trench" method in which an excavation is made at the site of a mineral discovery in order to determine the extent of the deposit at depth.
Source: Agricola, Georgius, "De Re Metallica", page 40. Originally printed in Latin in the year 1556. Translated in 1912 by Herbert C. Hoover and Lou H. Hoover, printed in English 1912, reprinted 1950, Dover Publications, Inc., New York.
"De Re Metallica" is a book on the development of mining methods, metallurgical processes, geology, mineralogy and mining law from the earliest times to the 16th century.
Herbert C. Hoover was educated in mining engineering at Stanford University. He became famous when he served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 - 1933. He and his wife Lou understood the Latin language and were the first to translate the entire book into English.
The "Illustration of the Month" will feature a drawing, sketch, pen & ink rendering or an engraving print found in old books, maps and manuscripts related to geology, paleontology, mining history and / or desert history. Anyone who wishes to submit an illustration for the bulletin, please see me.
Steve Mulqueen.
Table of Contents.
SUPPORT AND PRACTICE
THE AFMS CODE OF ETHICS.
VGMS PHOTO ALBUM.
Matthew Beinar proudly displaying the blue ribbon winning fish fossil he
found on their white water adventure.
Anthony and Matthew Beinar and friends with their set of "bones" found on
their white water adventure.
One of those field trip trophy's none of us want! These remains were owned
by Kathryn Davis after one and a half days into her trip to Wyoming and
Colorado! Fortunately she was only going 10 miles an hour. But the rest of
her trip was great!
A better experience on Kathryn's vacation! This is an abandoned
Travertine mine near Canyon City, CO. A chunk of Travertine anyone?
Looks very interesting.
Table of Contents.
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