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

 

Michigan State Parks Agate Hunting

 If you are planning a trip to the UP ( UPER speak for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) the state parks are a good place to start.  At the time there were no restrictions to collect in these parks.  There are so many in the area we could not make it to all of them, but McLain and Porcupine are a couple we spent a few hours in.  Both have promising beach areas but neither gave up Nature's bounty on the day of our visit, but others may get lucky.  Both also have an abundant camping and hiking opportunities.

Fort Wilkins State Park is where we made base camp to visit the entire UP area state parks and National Park of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Keweenaw Peninsula was known for it rich copper deposits. There are many museums related to copper in the area and for a rockhound these are rich in many types of specimens, more on that in another blog.

  Fort Wilkins is located at the most northern part of  US 41 which goes through seven states all the way south  to almost the south tip of Florida.  But at the end of the most northern part of US 41 is Horseshoe Harbor where one can go off the beaten path a bit to hunt for those lakers.  And if you are really adventurous you can even travel past Horseshoe Harbor to the very most northern point of Michigan to a remote area to hunt. But be warned, to go beyond Horseshoe Harbor you need a pick-up, preferably a 4 x 4. If you do venture this far out the trail is hard, very hard on tires. It has been known for folks to get flat tires, sometimes all four of them at once. Needless to say we did not venture out beyond Horseshoe Harbor. I guess you could hike it, but then you might run into bears. We know they are there as the bear tracks on the beach of Horseshoe Harbor proved.

  If you know where to look you can also find a couple of Native American Petroglyphs.  It is no state secret to the location, but the locals will only tell you once they get to know you and since they are not preserved they would like to keep the traffic down in the area.  All I can remember is they are located near Horseshoe Harbor.

  One would think with the big beach area at Horseshoe Harbor we would have found those agates, but no luck for us this day. We did run into a group of High School students learning about geology from a Michigan Tech. University Student Teacher as part of a summer program.

  While we had no luck finding agates, the geology of the place was a dream for a geologist. Sandee had a good time climbing and looking over these formation. So it well worth the visit to this area for that alone. Of course I had one eye open for that bear.

   I have too many pictures to post so I will not back up the website, but please visit my blog at:

http://bartoncvn69.blogspot.com/

 

                                                         Where is that bear?

 

Whitefish Point, MI

Most  folks have heard the song by Gordon Lightfoot. "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald".  If you have then you might recall that Whitefish Bay was mentioned in the song. The Fitzgerald met is fate Whitefish Point, MI and still sits there today with the loss of all hands. There is a lighthouse, a museum and gift shop here that does a brisk business  built on the back of this tragedy.  The area is also a bird sanctuary.

  But what most folks do not know is this is a great place to hunt for agates. Sandee and I spent the entire day here and had our best luck of the entire three weeks we were in the area.  Of course Sandee was the better agate hunter than I was and she proved it once again by finding several small ones. She even helped a new agate hunter find her first Lake Superior agate.  This lady asked Sandee what to look for and how to go about it. Once Sandee explained what she knew about it, this lady took ONE step away from Sandee and found a VERY nice Candy Stripper Lake Superior Agate. OOOOO woo is me, I thought, but then the lady was a happy camper and we probably hooked for life being a rockhound.

  The beach area is very large and rocky, just what one would expect when hunting for those lakers.  There is rocks all over the place.  So many it is hard to figure out what is what and after awhile one rock looks the same as those Lakers, but to the trained eye ( mine was not trained) you can find them.

I would say if you had only enough time to hunt for Lakers in the UP ( UPER talk for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) this is the place to do it.   There is not much in the way of hotels, in fact I do not recall any. So the closest place to stay is at Tahquamenon State Park. This state park is a keeper, all the bells and whistles and beautiful water falls one can explore once you are done hunting for agates.

                                  

                                                      Whitefish Point Beach

                                                         Tahquamenon State Park

 

Grand Maris, Michigan

 

Michigan Lake Superior Agate Hunting

  If you have never been to the Lake Superior area you quickly understand that it is one HUGE lake.  So if you are going to the area to hunt for those lakers be sure to do your research as to where to hunt. You can find these lakers just about anywhere along the coast in three states, MN, WI and  MI.  There are many state parks and National Parks you can visit and/or camp in to give you more time in the area but one must remember that collecting in National Park is illegal but in most of the state parks it is ok, just be sure to check the rules before you hunt.

  On place we did some hunting was Grand Maris, MI, not to be confused with Grand Maris, MN.  This small town is located at the most northern point of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore which is a unit of the National Parks system.  But you can hunt for those lakers along the shore in Grand Maris. 

While  you are roaming the beaches in Grand Maris, MI be sure to visit the Agate Lady ( aka Karen Brzys) at the Gitche Gumee agate shop and museum.  Karen is very well known in the Lake Superior area and lakers collectors the world over. She has written a few books and is on the lecture circuit allot, but you might luck out and meet her. She was attending a lecture on the three days we were in the area.  If you get a chance visit her website at      http://www.agatelady.com/index.html

   Somehow I lost all my pictures of this town which is a shame because it is a small but busy place and a pretty cool place to visit.   But the pictures from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore will give you an idea of what to expect, this is also a great place to base camp your agate hunting adventures. While the camp sites are primitive and highly in demand during the summer, it is a great place.  Pictured Rocks is a cool place to see some neat rock formations and while you cannot collect in the park being rockhounds we always like to see mother nature's handy work.

                       

                                               Au Sable Lighthouse & Campground area

                                                           Miners Castle rock formation area