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Post by NatureNut on Aug 3, 2010 21:36:11 GMT -5
When in Missoula, do as the MontanaMuskrats do. We met up with Tom and Deb to go for a day of FUN and PRETTY STONES. Gem Mountain, the place for Montana Sapphires- first thing in the morning, before they even opened up! As we get out of our cars, Tom and his baby girl Penny meet Angie. The Ginormous Sluice Box- looks big now, but later in the day we were standing elbow to elbow with fellow gem hunters. Gem Mtn staff members getting the buckets ready for us morning gem hunters. Tom's an expert panner. Here he is panning sapphires out of the sediment in the bottom of the sluice box while talking to Billy. Here's the drill... git yer bucket o' gravel and scoop some into yer screen. Rinse it in that there sluice trough and this is whatcha git! Sapphires are more dense than other rocks (they're Corundum- Mohs 9) and usually fall to the bottom as you work the rocks around in the screen. So, when you turn the screen box over on the table with one smooth swift motion (hopefully)... most will usually be on the top of the pile and in the middle (at least if you know what you're doing, they should). Then you can carefully pick through your pile. Here's Bill and Debby searching the gravel and Tom is at the Sluice Box. (Penny is helping) There's one in there... Can you see it? Gotcha ya little feller! Here are a few of our finds. Tom and Debby are wonderful and helped many fledgling gem hunters, so they wouldn't get discouraged and they soon were finding gems left and right. I'm having trouble uploading to Photobucket at the moment, I have a couple more pics to post and a little more story to tell, so I'll post them later. As you can see... we had a heck of a fun day and it was wonderful being with Tom and Debby, and I want to thank them for being willing to spend the day with us.
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Post by Roller on Aug 3, 2010 22:05:58 GMT -5
looks exciting!!!good luck on the future endeavors
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Post by NatureNut on Aug 4, 2010 0:26:04 GMT -5
Hehe Greg, wish you were here, it's wonderful! Pics uploaded... So I'm gonna continue the story-- The doggies were happily napping in the shade as we did our thing... Penny is a Labradoodle and she is a very special doggie... she is gonna have a batch of pups any day now, probably 6 to 8 of them. They are special dogs because Deb isn't allergic to them. Penny is so sweet and mannerly and well behaved. She's Tom's little girl and Deb's baby! Here's Bill finding a sapphire. As we got ready to leave, Tom brought me one last gift. Tom, can't remember the name of this thing! Okay, so we hit the road again away from magical Gem Mountain. Tom and Debby pulled over to point out a herd... correction, a gang... of elk crossing a hay field. That was such a thrill! Then, we headed for Phillipsburg to the Doe Brothers Restaurant & Soda Fountain and had Huckleberry shakes-- YUM! Here was the ambiance while we downed our shakes. We crossed the street to the Montana Sapphire Gallery, where we took our flawless cuttable sapphires (sorry, no pics) to be heat treated and set in a ring to be sent to us in 9 weeks (I'm so thrilled!) Then, we hit the Sweet Shoppe! The whole day was fun and Billy felt like a kid in a candy store. Well, that's our day, one of the most wonderful days I can remember! Thanks for coming with us! Jo
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Post by Toad on Aug 4, 2010 7:50:32 GMT -5
What a great little trip. I don't know if the sapphires or the sweet shop would have been my favorite.
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Aug 4, 2010 13:29:28 GMT -5
Awesome story and pix Jo. It sure is nice getting to "come along" on your adventure. Seems like you're really enjoying yourselves.
Nate
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Post by frane on Aug 4, 2010 18:27:58 GMT -5
There is just something so wonderfully satisfying about sluicing! I was wondering why Penny looked a bit chunky. I sure hope you get some pictures sent once the pups arrive so you can share. Looks like a great trip Jo! Fran
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Post by NatureNut on Aug 4, 2010 18:49:51 GMT -5
Fran, you're right, sluicing rocks! I hope that Tom and Deb post pics once Penny's litter comes into the world too! (hint, hint)
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Post by rockrookie on Aug 5, 2010 7:17:08 GMT -5
great pictures , Jo !! thanks for taking us along ! --paul
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Post by montanamuskrat on Aug 6, 2010 0:35:55 GMT -5
Jo and Bill joined up with us, for a day at our favorite playtime, Sapphire panning at the Gem Mountain site. Jo had come in the night before and we exchanged some awesome rock. So we were excited bout taking them to hunt the sapphires in the dirt. Yes, there were crowds when we left, dirty and happy with what we found. (big horn beatle) The milkshakes perked Bill up (he was a little down in the mouth)and We even talked (the Dentist) into the Sweet Palace...hundreds of candies. This was for us truly a wonderful day! Many Thanks, Jo and Bill,your visit has made good summer time fun and good friends. Tom and Debby
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Post by Bejewelme on Aug 6, 2010 7:34:43 GMT -5
Jo: That looks so fun, I am anxious to see the sapphires faceted and set in the ring. Looks like beautiful weather, how hot is it there? You are missing tons of heat and humidity back here, LOL The sky and mountains look so clear, I am so sick of this lingering haze of humidity.
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Post by NatureNut on Aug 6, 2010 9:43:14 GMT -5
Amber, it's alot like the rest of the upper midwest. Gets hot enough for A/C mid and late afternoon, but cools down nicely at night. Not like PA where it heats up in the morning and doesn't cool down enough at night. There was a heat wave a couple of weeks ago that took the temps into the high 90s a couple of weeks ago. Well, I'll definitely show the ring when we get it. What a thrill! I was trying to be super careful to get every sapphire out of the gravel, didn't want to miss any. But Bill was worried that we still had buckets left and was hurrying through his. I bagged up what we had left to take back with us before he could say no. We sent some to the kids and Bill's sisters with a postcard and one sapphire taped to it so they knew what they were looking for... and I may have salted the bags with one or two of our non-cuttable finds. Amber, if your ears were ringing, it's because some of the bigger rocks in the gravel were purple, and we said that if you were there with us, it would be taking you forever to get through the gravel because you'd be picking out all the purple rocks too! LOL. So, we filled an empty water bottle with purple rocks for ya!
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dbrealityrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2010
Posts: 1,084
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Post by dbrealityrocks on Aug 6, 2010 11:24:31 GMT -5
cool, if anyone else is headed that way they don't advertise the 100 bucket deal which was $700 last time I went. Ended up w/104 heat treated faceted sapphires from that time
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,787
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Post by adrian65 on Aug 6, 2010 15:38:57 GMT -5
What a fantastic time you had! Enjoy your trip!
Adrian
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on Aug 6, 2010 17:31:04 GMT -5
My brother has a place in P-burg, I've been meaning to get up for a visit some time- which of course must include a trip to Gem Mountain! looks like your trip was an unqualified success!
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Post by drocknut on Aug 9, 2010 0:46:14 GMT -5
Great pictures Jo, Phillipsburg is such a cool little town and great for the sweet tooth too...lol. I've only been to Gem Mountain once but it was fun getting wet, dirty, and finding sapphires.
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