Alibates Flint Quarries

Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument is located near the town of Fritch, Texas and near Lake Meredith National Recreational Area.   Archeological traces of prehistoric Indian campsites, workshops and homes dot this area  of the Texas Panhandle and the Canadian River region.  Natives worked the area for flint for their personal use and for trade to other Native tribes for 12,000 years. The flint was of vital importance in their everyday life. Even before the Great Lakes were formed, Indains of the Ice Age Clovis  Culture used Alibates flint for spear points to hunt Imperial Mammoth.

Alibates flint is of excellent quality and beautiful in color. Colors range from maroon, cream, chocolate and gold look like candy or slabs of bacon. Flakes mottled with indigo and emerald resemble jewels. The flint lies below the surface at the ridge level, in a layer up to six feet thick.  Indians dug flint by hand or with sticks or bone tools.

  If you visit this site be sure to call the visitor center the day before to arrange a tour of the site as visits are by appointment only. On the day we took our hike up the ridge we were the only ones with the Ranger led hike.

Miller Mountain Mine

  Here is a mine worth going to if you are in the area.  If you visit the Ron Coleman mine there is a rock shop along Highway 7 next to the road you turn to go to the Ron Coleman mine. Just so you know there are two bothers named Coleman, both are in the crystal business and are bit at odds with each other. The Miller Mountain Crystal Mine is owned my Jim Coleman. The store near Ron's place is owned by Jim.  Here is another kicker, the Miller Mtn. mine is owned by Jim, but he has very little to do with the day to day operations, Bill and Faith are the care takers of the mine and pay some sort of fee to Jim to operate it. Now remember that rock shop I mentioned before? Well this is were you can pay for your digging fee for the Miller Mtn. mine, but if you do this, Bill and Faith LOOSE their commission fee. So if you want the money to go directly to those operating the mine you can pay the $10.00 at the mine.  You can get the directions to the mine at this store, just tell them you are going there to see what it looks like. By the way, DO NOT buy anything at this store, the prices are OUTRAGOUS.  You can but crystal at the mine site for 50% less.
  Anyway, after 4 hours of digging at Ron's place we went to Miller Mtn. We felt we struck gold, within 4 hours we took home some beautiful tabbies and many other specimens. We called it a day and told Bill and Faith we would be back in the morning. We showed up at 8am. Bill had turned over the previous days pile of dirt and brought two more front end loads of new material. For about 40 minutes we had the entire place to ourselves and we started hitting the jackpot. Even after three more people showed up, those folks did not want to deal with the red clay and thick Arkansas mud. That was ok with us, as we continued to pile up beautiful crystal specimens.  After 4 hours, our back started hurting, our hands were cut up so bad from getting cut by the crystals we decided to call it a day.
  It will take some time to do the clean up of these plates of crystals but when we do they will look like a million bucks. We must have found at least 100 plates and single crystals in 2 four hour days of digging.  Here are some pictures of the mine and ONLY  few of our finds.

Ron Coleman Crystal Mine

     We had two and half days in the Hot Springs, Arkansas area. For several miles around this area you can find many crystal mines. Last year we visited the Sweet Surrender mine near Mount Ida, AR, which yielded a few nice crystals. This year we decided we would try a few different ones.  Since the Ron Coleman mine also has a very nice RV park we decided to make base camp here. For $12.50 a night you get electric and water hook ups, showers and a laundry room. The facilities are a bit old but they are clean and that's all that matters. The big attraction for us was it was only about 500 yards from the digging area and there are only 26 RV spots. So at night the camp is REALLY quiet.
  Only our first full day of digging we started at Ron Coleman's. Since it was Mother's Day, Sandee slept in while I went to the mine for awhile. After about hour of looking around the site and only finding a few broken crystals I went back to camp. Sandee was up and ready to go so back to the di site we went. To say we were disappointed at this dig site would be a huge understatement. After 4 hours of digging I only found ONE crystal worth bringing home. It was a nice one, but two people digging and only one keeper is not a good investment for the $40.00 we paid.
 We had talked to others at the mine who have been coming to the site for 20 years and they said it was the worst they have ever seen it. The did recommended we visit another site at Miller Mountain about 15 miles away, more on that in my next blog.
  Anyway, here are some pictures of the site and my one and only find at the mine.

Scufflin Acres Farm Amethyst

This weekend I had a chance to participate in a MAGMA (Mountain Area Gem and Mineral Association) dig in Prospect, Virginia for amethyst.  Prospect, VA is located a few miles from Appomattox, Virginia and the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park in the rolling hills of central Virginia. The dig site is located on a dairy farm known as Scufflin Acres just off highway 460.

  I arrived Thursday afternoon around 1pm after setting up camp at Holiday Lake State Park about 30 miles away.  I wanted to get a lay of the land and see if there might be a chance to get an extra day of digging, I was in luck.  After paying my fee, I headed down into the new trench the MAGMA members had opened up with the backhoe.  This was the first time I had been to a site that was freshly opened and was anticipating huge plates of amethyst. I one of my dreams I had visions of a 1500 pound plate of pure purple.  Of course it was only a dream but a rockhound is entitled to those dreams so one might as well dream big.

   There was plenty of digging room and the choices to pick a spot to dig was a bit overwhelming. So I grabbed a spot and started digging. After three hours I packed up my goodies and headed back to camp for a little clean up. My finds did not reveal any purple, but there were a few points that promised better pickings ahead.

    I woke up the next day, about 3am, to the sound of rain hitting my camper. When I opened the door I discovered it was not rain, but SNOW. And not just snow, the icy type of snow that when it hits you in the face it stings. So I went back to bed hoping that it would let up, which was not the case.  After arriving at the dig site around 7:30am the snow had changed to those soft flaky type.  With temps around 20 degree's  I had to start digging to stay warm.   It snowed all day and did not let up until around 3pm. The ground was covered in the white stuff, but the digging was good. I found some nice plates that that had some points and just might show some purple.

  Over the next two days I dug allot more and finally came away after four days of digging with five, 35 gallon cat litter containers of material. All of which looked very promising. Oh and did I mention after all the snow, we had two days of 70 degree temps. Which caused the red clay  to turn into a nice gooey mess. In the end several of us at the dig had to be towed out of the dig site, me included. But I had loads of fun, the highlight being with like minded rock hounds.

 Once I got home and started the cleaning process of my finds I was very surprised to finds loads of the purple.  The one thing about this site is you can find amethyst but most of the stuff I found crumbs in your hands which leaves you with small pieces, but I did find a few nice ones that held up to cleaning.  Once I get these cleaned up a little better I will add some pictures.

 Here is some pictures of the dig site that will give you an idea how cold the site was for a few days.

 

 

 

                   

 

                      Me in the middle with my back to camera near the red and yellow bucket        

 

 

                                                      To the victor goes the spoils

 

 

 

Jackson Crossroads Amethyst Mine-25-26 Jan. 2014

We have been wanting to go amethyst hunting for awhile now and when our club decided to do a dig at Jackson Crossroads Amethyst (JXR) mine we jumped at the chance.  While the temperatures were a bit less than desirable for January dig in Georgia we said what the, loaded up the truck, hooked up the R-Pod and down the road for nine hours we went.

  JXR is located just outside Tignall, GA about 6 miles. It is not hard to find, but then if you do not know where you are going you will get lost out in the middle of nowhere. And with little to no cell phone service you cannot call anyone for help or directions.  But with some friends we met at Elijah Clark State Park the night before we had no problems getting to the dig on time.

  Are plan was to arrive on time to find a good spot to park the truck.  It was about 25 degrees outside with a slight breeze and we thought we would be the only one at the mine or at the very least one of the very few. Boy were we wrong. We had to squeeze the truck into a tight parking spot and when we looked out over the mine site there must have been about 30-40 other folks. But that was ok because the more the merrier.

   Once at the mine there  are certain restrictions, the main one being you cannot go beyond the roped off area. Which was ok with me because it was cold and the mine pit was full of water, cold water I might add and I did not want to get frost bite.

  Not having been to an amethyst dig before we did not know what to expect or do to find them. We walked around a bit, then jumped right in and started digging into the tailings piles.  We did not have much luck the first day. I found a huge rock that first day and I busted it open but could not tell what was inside due to all the mug on it. So I packed all the pieces up into the truck and figured I would look it over once we got home.

 It was a long first day at the mine, we were hungry and tired so we packed it up and headed on over to our base camp at Elijah Clark, Sunday would be another day and maybe our luck would be better. But not having the proper rock busting tools we would have to confine our hunting to the surface or scraping away the top layer of the tailings piles.

  Sunday found us back at the dig site for another fun filled day. The sun was out today, and we even managed to removed our coats a few times and there was no wind. We spent all day surface collecting and found a few nice but small pieces of amethyst. One young man busted open a huge boulder and found a real beauty.  At the end of the day, we met some new friends, sold some of our agates and swapped rock stories. All in all we had a great time and know we would go back again. Oh and those busted up pieces from the boulder I put in the truck on Saturday? Well they cleaned up real nice and I found some really nice small clusters of amethyst.

 

 

 

Petoskey Stone Hunting

No rockhounding trip to Michigan is complete unless you stop at Petoskey State Park to hunt for Petoskey stones.  On our return trip to Virginia we had one day to look for those fossilized corals. Never having hunted for these we found our self's unprepared for the adventure.  Those folks around us hunting for these stones used some sort of sieve. They would scoop up sand from the lake and shake out the small sand particles and then look through whatever was left over.

 Since we did not have a sieve I used my hands to scoop up the sand and used the wave action to sort out the smaller sand particles. This worked out pretty well for the most part. We did not find any of the large Petoskey stones, but we did find a number of small ones. As with hunting for those Lake Superior agates it is all about timing. After a storm or after the winter ice melts we were told was the best time to find the larger ones. Of course like all places where something special can be found created by mother nature you can find local stores which sell the stones. And like any other rock shop be prepared to pay a premium.

But we are happy with our small finds and the camp site within the park where we stayed for the night. Even if you do not hunt for Petoskey stones, this is a great place to take the family, relax on the shores of Lake Superior, camp or take a dip in those cool waters of the lake.

 

 

 

Keweenaw Peninsula Museums

There are a number of museums in the Upper/Keweenaw Peninsula and having spent about three weeks in the area I think Sandee and I visited all of them. While most of these museums are dedicated to the local history of their little part of the area, rest assured for the rockhound in us all you will see plenty of Lake Superior Agates, datolite, copper and a whole host of other specimens.

Starting in Ontonagon, MI you have the Ontonagon Museum located on the main street, which is about two blocks from the Gitche Gumee Landing rock shop.  This museum is loaded with local artifacts and rocks, Lake Superior agates to be precise and Petoskey Stones.  There is a small admission price, but that is what they use to keep the place going. It is well worth the price just to see those Lakes.

Next up is Coppertown Mining Museum in the town of Calumet, MI.  This museum combined with the National Park museum about a half a block way will give you all the history of Copper Mining in the Keweenaw area.  While there are not many specimens to view, anyone interested in mining these two sites are a must visit. The story told at these two sites cover not only the mining details of the miner, but the everyday life of the families of those miners.

Eagle Harbor museum in Eagle Harbor is a small museum dedicated to those who maintained the lighthouses in the area.  This may not be all that interesting to some, for those so inclined there are Lake Superior agates to stare at and buy.

But the one museum that MUST be on the rockhound list to visit is by far the best of the entire Keweenaw Peninsula, the A.E. Seaman's Museum on the campus of Michigan Tech. University in Houghton, MI.  You name a mineral/rock and you will find it here.  The number of copper specimens here is overwhelming, these babies come in all shapes and sizes. This is also where my rockhounding blood began to take root. They have a fluorescent mineral collections that got me started collecting.    Sandee and I spent the entire day in this museum and we would go again if we are every in the area.

  There are many other museums in the area not dedicated to minerals such as the U.P. Fireman's Memorial where there is a collection of old fire trucks, the Calumet Theater and Saint Ann's Church all located in Calumet, MI.  It is easy to see how one can get lost in the history, culture and mining of this area. The three weeks we spent here gave us a small taste and we could have easily spent the entire month but we had those lakers to pursue.

                                                             Ontonagon Museum Lakers 

 

                                                                Petoskey Stone

                                                            Datolite Catalonia Mine

 

                                                      Float Copper, Coppertown Museum

                                                      9130 lb Float Copper, Calumet, MI

                                                 Datolite, National Park Museum, Calumet, MI

 

                                                  Eagle Harbor Museum, Lake Superior Agate

                                            

 

                                             Float Copper, A. E. Seaman's

                                                         Float Copper, A.E. Seaman's

                                                                 Calumet Theater, Calumet, MI

                                                     Fireman's Memorial Museum, Calumet, MI

 

 

 

Michgan Copper Mines

If you know anything about the Keweenaw Peninsula you know it's fame for Copper. Even before the white man showed up in the area Native American's valued it's properties for making tools, and for trading.  If you listen closely to the locals they are convinced that there were ancient visitors to the area mining the copper ore long before he Native Americans and Europeans showed up.  I will leave this part of the copper story to others, but it is interesting to hear all the talk.

  If you like going deep underground to visit mines and like bats, as I know some do, then visiting the mines up and down the Keweenaw Peninsula is the ticket for you. There are four mines you can visit, three of which offer tours into the belly of the lion.

The Adventure Mine is operated near the town of Ontonagon, MI. By the way, there is a copper museum here as well.  There is also a rock shop, Gitche Gumee Landing Gift Shop to buy specimens. They also operate a mineral collecting operation for a price you can search the tailings pile at the Caledonia Mine for native copper, silver, datolite, quartz, feldspar, calcite and epidote!  Check out their website at : http://www.caledoniamine.com/

Anyway, the Adventure mine is pretty cool, you take a 4 x 4 vehicle to the mine site. Once inside the mine you are surrounded by bats. They fly so close to you at times you feel their wings touch you. If you are really adventurous you can take the repealling tour down a shaft. We did not have time for this but I think we might be going back just for that one.

 Two other mines which operate tours are the Delaware and Quincy Mines. Both these have their own special niches with regards to tours.  The Delaware is owned and operated by one family and is a self guided tour. The neat thing about this place is the lady (part owner) has a pair of pet skunks behind the counter who will come out and play. There is also a tailings pile where you can go though for copper. The lady showed us a copper coated piece of silver she found in the very same tailings pile. Its free to go though the tailings but you CANNOT use a metal detector.

  The lady at the Delaware mine said the county operates a tailings pile and folks are more than welcome to go through this as well. The gate here is always locked so you have to park in front of the gate. You can use metal detectors here. We spent a couple hours over two days going through this tailings and had some luck.

 The Central Mine has no tours into a mine. It is a small operation and has a small museum about the mine and the geology of the area. It will take you about an hour to look it over.

 The Quincy Mine is by far the largest of all the mine tours and operates a nice museum and gift shop as well. You start your tour on a old small gauge railroad at the top of a large hill to the mine below. At one point no matter where you sit in the rail car you are looking straight down to the bottom of the hill. Once at the bottom of the hill you get off for a guided tour of the mine.  Lots of old equipment and plenty of  HUGE copper specimens to look over.

  The entire Keweenaw Peninsular from the south starting at Ontonagon to Fort Wilkins State Park is covered in mines and places to visit and opportunities to dig.  And of course if you like to eat there are any number of places that treat you to the miner's favorite, the pasty. A pastry meat filled wonder that is sure to please anyone. 

And if you like museums filled with specimens from the area, the US and the world, you will find them here as well. More on the most famous of these in the area the A. E. Museum in another blog.

 

                                                         Adventure Mine Office

 

 

                                             Adventure Mine Copper Specimen about 1000lbs

                                                           Adventure Mine Bat

 

                                           Delaware Mine copper specimen,  2140 lbs

                                        Quincy Mine copper specimen, 34,000 lbs

                                                    Quincy Mine train to mine

                                          Nice view of the ride to mine entrance at Quincy

 

Float Copper