So, Saturday after lunch we got on the road, drove up to Franklin, NC and stopped in at
Ruby City Gems. It's in the historic downtown part of Franklin, and has a wonderful museum of gems and fossils downstairs. We bought a little tumbling rough and one of the kiddie mystery grab bags, and toured the museum. We also checked out their inventory of lapidary equipment and tumblers. The salespeople were very nice, and the museum had lots of amazing specimens.
The store had a nice inventory, but they didn't have a used cab machine in stock, though. After that we went over to the
Crabtree General Store for some ice cream. They make your waffle cone while you wait, and it was really good!
After that, it was time to go check in at the campsite, so we could get set up before dark. We went up to
Mason's Sapphire Mine, pictured is their flume area.
And across the creek is the mining area, where people can dig native dirt to look for corundum. There's a footbridge, just out of the frame to the right.
If you just want to sluice, and not dig, they sell both native buckets or enriched buckets of dirt. Several folks on our hunt later found items from the enriched buckets.
We got checked in, paid for our camping and the UV hunt, and set up our tent. We got the tent set up just in time, because then came the rain. After a short shower, it was time to build a fire (kept the wood dry, but kindling got pretty soaked). With the application of enough dry paper, I was able to get the fire started - my Boy Scout skills may have gotten a little rusty. We cooked hotdogs, and roasted marshmallows for dessert.
The mine has about 10 nice campsites, one small cabin, and a new, very clean and comfortable bathroom with hot showers.
After dinner and dessert, we had nothing to do but explore a little bit, and wait around until 9PM for the night hunt. Time to do some reading! There's no cell phone service at the mine, which is a blessing, and a curse. It's nice to disconnect for a while.
Around 8:30 people began showing up for the hunt - a total of 11 people, although it's usually limited to 10. They made an exception for a nice couple who had been mining there that day.
At 9:00 sharp, they distribute UV flashlights, pill bottles to store your finds, and turn everyone loose. The corundum glows neon orange/pink under the blacklights, but you have to get right on top of it to see it, pretty much. From standing, it's hard to get it to show. I worked doubled over the whole time. Kids have it easier, being closer to the ground, and with young backs.
Basically, you just stay in the cleared/graded areas - around the flumes, in the parking area and paths. The staff rakes up during the day, and sprays some water down to reveal any of the gems, so that there's new material for each night.
We ended the hunt with two large corundum, referred to as "bell ringers" and got on the board twice! I let Addie have the bigger one, even though I'd picked both of them up. The larger one was 13.45 carats and the smaller one was 10.25 carats. I'll need to find someone to cut them for me. Addie ended up with 18.2 carats, not including the bell ringer, and I ended up with 59.5 carats, including the two large stones.
As impressive as our stones were, two folks on the trip found even larger ones - 19 and 15 carats, as you can see behind us on the board. Several folks also found very large non-native corundum, ones people had dropped from their seeded buckets. These stones fluoresce, but not the same as the Cowee Valley corundum does, so easy to tell apart. After the trip, everyone else departed - we were the only ones camping. It then proceeded to pour rain all night, but we were (relatively) dry in the tent.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. The mountains around Franklin are gorgeous, and the people were very friendly. Addie's ready to go back and do it again, and she's already asked if she can have her birthday party there! We'll see about that. Once I clean the stones, I'll post a separate reply with pictures of those. Thanks for looking!