Post by HankRocks on Nov 4, 2019 8:44:39 GMT -5
Ok, finally caught up with a few things around the, so I wanted to put something out. A lot of the collected Quartz is still in the 3 buckets waiting to be cleaned. I will post more pictures as I get material cleaned. Note that taking pictures in a muddy digging environment is not always a good idea.
Day 1 - Miller Mt - In the past this has been our goto place for good crystals, it has however fallen on un-productive times. 70% of the keeper quartz in my big cabinet is from past years at this location. It is strictly tailings brought up from the main pit. The clay here does not give up it's hidden points and clusters and a day here is a workout on hands and wrists breaking up the clay. We did find a few which would have made any tourist collectors happy, us not so much.
Day 2 - Wegner's - This is both tailings and hardrock collecting. They charge $20 for two hours, so we normally stay for 4. They drive you out to the digging area in their flatbed and return on two hour increments to drop off and pick up. When we arrived, we noticed our favorite pit was open. We went immediately to it and found a promising vein. Worked the vein for 4 hours. Several large point and several very nice clusters. The picture below shows us in this vein, me on the left and John, my good friend and digging partner for the past 10 years in the center. Another good friend from Wisconsin in town for the Contest also happened to be there. The veins run for literally 100's of feet in both directions. There is another vein just above this one just where my hat is and running and intersecting the larger vein in the red area just above John's hat. We were hoping to get down further into this intersection where there can be larger pockets and larger points. As it turned out, I was sitting on two decent clusters in the vein than ran underneath me, found them in the last 10 minutes. They were downward facing which usually indicates the top of the pocket.
wegner1 by Findrocks, on Flickr
Day 3 - Contest 1st day - Dark and threating morning as we gathered at the fairgrounds with over 100 other diggers. As we were pulling up to the mine, the rain started again(naturally). It continued for the next 4 to 5 hours. It turned out the overnight rain had turned the freshly graded parking area into a mess with 3 to 4 inches very sticky mud. The only way to the digging area and the veins was through this mess. Walking with 2 or 3 extra pounds stuck to your shoes is a character building exercise. We found a couple of small pockets, but they all pinched off instead of opening up. Found one nice large point in the tailings and it was my turn in point. Also had an Ok cluster.
Day 4 - Contest 2nd day. Back to the mine, this time it was clear and cold. The parking area was still somewhat muddy. I decided to work one vein which unfortunately required me to lay on my stomach at about a 15 degree angle downhill, reaching deeper and deeper into a 6 to 7 inch wide opening. found a few decent points, along with 3 or 4 double termed. Turned in one of the double-termed and headed back to the rockshow at the fairgrounds, and then on to the awards dinner. The house we stay in is about an hour away so we opted to stay and not clean up. Everyone else had washed up and changed and they still let us in!!! As it turns out I managed a 5th place finish in the Points division, my 3rd consecutive finish in the money. Not bad for a 68 year old digger. The next youngest winner was probably in their 40's
5th_Place by Findrocks, on Flickr
Day 5 - Back to Wegners, worked on the same vein from the 2nd day. We did get more points and clusters, although our hands, wrists and shoulders were screaming at us.
Day 6 - Decided to head to the Magnet Cove area and an abandoned Novaculite Quarry we had gotten permission to explore. There was an abundance of material laying around. I filled a 3 gallon bucket. The old Quarry was very senic;
Quarry by Findrocks, on Flickr
Some of the Novaculite;
IMG_1941 by Findrocks, on Flickr
Then we drove over to a park area just north oh I-30 on the Ouachita River. There were large gravel banks in the river, lots of the material was the Novaculite that ad weather out. Picked up about a gallon. If it tumbles well I will get more next year.
Ouachita_River by Findrocks, on Flickr
Leaving the river we headed back to Magnet Cove to look for Pyrite cubes in Cove Creek. Arriving at the suspected site, noticed a pile of light colored material on the opposite bank. The other two guys waded across and found lots of small, somewhat cubed pyrite. Some of it had a slight irredescence to it.
Cove_Creek by Findrocks, on Flickr
Day 7 - Ron Coleman's - Another tailings mine close to the house. It generally produces very large points with large areas of glassbout 10 minutes after we beagn digging, the rain started (of course it did). We found one promising pile that was literally all muck. Boots were sinking 5 to 8 inches, movement was a real chore. We did manage to find several nice large points.
IMG_1943 by Findrocks, on Flickr
It was great trip, digging with good friends is always the best. The house and the meals we fixed were all good. A couple of beers in the evenings after a tough day digging were always good. The soreness in my hands, wrists and shoulders did not go away for a week. Of course I have no intention of stopping and hope to keep digging for at least 10 more years. We shall see.
Henry
Day 1 - Miller Mt - In the past this has been our goto place for good crystals, it has however fallen on un-productive times. 70% of the keeper quartz in my big cabinet is from past years at this location. It is strictly tailings brought up from the main pit. The clay here does not give up it's hidden points and clusters and a day here is a workout on hands and wrists breaking up the clay. We did find a few which would have made any tourist collectors happy, us not so much.
Day 2 - Wegner's - This is both tailings and hardrock collecting. They charge $20 for two hours, so we normally stay for 4. They drive you out to the digging area in their flatbed and return on two hour increments to drop off and pick up. When we arrived, we noticed our favorite pit was open. We went immediately to it and found a promising vein. Worked the vein for 4 hours. Several large point and several very nice clusters. The picture below shows us in this vein, me on the left and John, my good friend and digging partner for the past 10 years in the center. Another good friend from Wisconsin in town for the Contest also happened to be there. The veins run for literally 100's of feet in both directions. There is another vein just above this one just where my hat is and running and intersecting the larger vein in the red area just above John's hat. We were hoping to get down further into this intersection where there can be larger pockets and larger points. As it turned out, I was sitting on two decent clusters in the vein than ran underneath me, found them in the last 10 minutes. They were downward facing which usually indicates the top of the pocket.
wegner1 by Findrocks, on Flickr
Day 3 - Contest 1st day - Dark and threating morning as we gathered at the fairgrounds with over 100 other diggers. As we were pulling up to the mine, the rain started again(naturally). It continued for the next 4 to 5 hours. It turned out the overnight rain had turned the freshly graded parking area into a mess with 3 to 4 inches very sticky mud. The only way to the digging area and the veins was through this mess. Walking with 2 or 3 extra pounds stuck to your shoes is a character building exercise. We found a couple of small pockets, but they all pinched off instead of opening up. Found one nice large point in the tailings and it was my turn in point. Also had an Ok cluster.
Day 4 - Contest 2nd day. Back to the mine, this time it was clear and cold. The parking area was still somewhat muddy. I decided to work one vein which unfortunately required me to lay on my stomach at about a 15 degree angle downhill, reaching deeper and deeper into a 6 to 7 inch wide opening. found a few decent points, along with 3 or 4 double termed. Turned in one of the double-termed and headed back to the rockshow at the fairgrounds, and then on to the awards dinner. The house we stay in is about an hour away so we opted to stay and not clean up. Everyone else had washed up and changed and they still let us in!!! As it turns out I managed a 5th place finish in the Points division, my 3rd consecutive finish in the money. Not bad for a 68 year old digger. The next youngest winner was probably in their 40's
5th_Place by Findrocks, on Flickr
Day 5 - Back to Wegners, worked on the same vein from the 2nd day. We did get more points and clusters, although our hands, wrists and shoulders were screaming at us.
Day 6 - Decided to head to the Magnet Cove area and an abandoned Novaculite Quarry we had gotten permission to explore. There was an abundance of material laying around. I filled a 3 gallon bucket. The old Quarry was very senic;
Quarry by Findrocks, on Flickr
Some of the Novaculite;
IMG_1941 by Findrocks, on Flickr
Then we drove over to a park area just north oh I-30 on the Ouachita River. There were large gravel banks in the river, lots of the material was the Novaculite that ad weather out. Picked up about a gallon. If it tumbles well I will get more next year.
Ouachita_River by Findrocks, on Flickr
Leaving the river we headed back to Magnet Cove to look for Pyrite cubes in Cove Creek. Arriving at the suspected site, noticed a pile of light colored material on the opposite bank. The other two guys waded across and found lots of small, somewhat cubed pyrite. Some of it had a slight irredescence to it.
Cove_Creek by Findrocks, on Flickr
Day 7 - Ron Coleman's - Another tailings mine close to the house. It generally produces very large points with large areas of glassbout 10 minutes after we beagn digging, the rain started (of course it did). We found one promising pile that was literally all muck. Boots were sinking 5 to 8 inches, movement was a real chore. We did manage to find several nice large points.
IMG_1943 by Findrocks, on Flickr
It was great trip, digging with good friends is always the best. The house and the meals we fixed were all good. A couple of beers in the evenings after a tough day digging were always good. The soreness in my hands, wrists and shoulders did not go away for a week. Of course I have no intention of stopping and hope to keep digging for at least 10 more years. We shall see.
Henry