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Santa Rosa Mineral and Gem Society
SRGMS Newsletter June 2010

Spring Flings -You Don't Have To Spend a Fortune

By John Kolsrud

After just returning from the one day whirl-wind Friday shopping trip to the Snyder Ranch Pow Wow, I was at the shop observing some of the items our proud club members purchased. It took me back, way back, when I got first started in the club 15 years ago, when I got burned on a few deals. Personally, I was happy to spend a paltry $52 (getting 6 slabs for $10, some half dozen rare Bruneau pieces for $20, and a good 10 lbs of Graveyard Point agate for the same.) Hearing and seeing club members whom spent a hundred or more, well, I want to share some really inexpensive ideas during this time of tightening the belts.

First, my wife wanted a trip to Ashland and I knew that the Crater Museum, prospecting north of Medford, and seeing my friend Ken would be an inexpensive rockhounding adventure. So I would like to recommend the museum and it was interesting to find out their history.
Crater Museum, Central Point, Oregon

Founded in 1954 by Fried and Delmar Smith whom were collectors, the museum was established with the help of many other donors. Currently the Roxy Ann Gem and Mineral Society is the owner and operator. From museum quality mineral specimens, to a thunderegg collection, to amazing petrified wood specimens, this is the best collection in southern Oregon.
Located at 2002 Scenic Avenue, Central Point (just minutes north of Medford), the museum has a gift shop, lapidary shop, numerous rooms and cases of exceptional mineral displays (ie. See our club site for photos). Open Tuesday through Saturday $2. Seniors and students, $4 adults, it is a great deal.

*I also talk to lots of members when I go to museums. I ask about the clubs, prospecting in the area, and most knowledgeable persons involved. It never hurts to ask. (Once I was told that the gift shop actually made more than our shop rent in a month!!!) My friend Ken Oswald met me at the museum and after a tour, some lunch, he told me that he had the dendritic agate that really interested me in the displays. The best part was that the agate was at the bottom of his 20 foot long rock pile on the west side of his ranch house. It was a fun dig, we found 4 for me to work on. I also went out to the BLM land a few miles north and east of Eagle Point, but the gophers hadn't got active yet, so no 3 lb agates had been pushed up to the surface yet.

Santa Clara County Club show, San Jose, CA.
Being a Spartan alum it was the combination of San Jose State football scrimmage in the AM and the gem show in the PM that made me do the 2 hour drive on a Saturday morning a few weeks back. The most fun, in the past, was picking up some great deals at the silent auction.. This year, as last, no silent auction. So as to make the best of a bad situation I searched and searched for deals. One slab dealer had a great assortment and the average slab was $4-$7 each. I chatted up dealers about our club show this fall, renewed acquaintances with their club members (they have NO SHOP), and inquired about future field trips. I spent most of the afternoon and less than $75. (Even saw an old Santa Clara club member that sent me some Big Sur jade once).

Snyder Ranch Pow Wow, Valley Springs, CA.
Using a combination of Jim Hester's backroads route and my own knowledge of the area, I was at the Pow Wow by Friday noon. I noticed that there were not as many dealers of rock but more crafts folks on the south end. (I figured about 10-20% less dealers of rock). Marching methodically from row to row I found some good to mediocre Graveyard Point agate poundage quickly. Bought and left for later I met dealers, promoted our October show, and photographed a couple outstanding pieces (See Facebook club site).

It took me until about 4pm when I ran into Erica and we both viewed the Fresno dealers wears. I had bought lots of rough from "Zippy" in previous visits and had been quite happy with his $1 a lb Verde Antique, but none this year. Two pieces of orange mahogany obsidian for a whooping 50….cents was my buy.
I did get information about sunstone mines and am looking for club members to head up to Plush, Oregon and do some screening and camping. Also found former camping folks that offered our club a visit their jasper claim and amazing gem quality soapstone claim, both in the Hawthorne -Tonopah, Nevada area. So lets go and find the inexpensive stuff!!

*Check your Rock and Gem magazine for all the upcoming shows, if you need someone to restrain you from ill advised purchases just call me.


Membership Fees:

Individual $40
Family of 2 $60
Additional $20
Jr. no Parent $20

Membership is good for one year from day you joined. For more information call (707) 528-7610 Leave a Message.


Welcome New Members:
Tommye Fisher
Stan Wellman

SRMGS Meetings:

We love to have more active members. Attend one or more of the SRMGS Meetings to get the most out of your membership! Meetings are held at the SRMGS Workshop.

General Educational Meeting

Wednesday June 2, 2010
7:30pm
Guest Speaker: Kim Moiser
Topic: Rare Rock Museum Tour & Talk

Field Trip Meeting (for members only)3094 Coffey Ln in Santa Rosa.

SRMGS Board Meeting:
Thursday June 10, 2009
7:30


Announcements:
Don't miss out on the Annual Pot Luck BBQ June 27th. See the website for details.

Any interset in carpooling down to socal for the CFMS / AFMS show June 18-20th? If so contact Kendra.


SRMGS Websites
SRMGS has two websites www.SRMGS.org for resources & group information, as well as www.Gem-N-i.org for an archieve of our monthly newsletters.

Make submissions to the site by emailing news (AT) gem-n-i(dot)org by the 16th of the month or catch me at the next meeting at the shop.


Tips & Tricks:
  • Fluorite should never be cleaned in warm or hot water because it will wash off the luster and it will never come back. A better idea is to put in 'muriatic acid' which will remove the calcite and then rinse in cold water.
  • Super Shine After the polish stage in your tumbler, run the load with soap. Load as much volume of Ivory soap as you would grit. (i.e. 3tsp of grit = 3tsp of Soap) Use Ivory flakes non detergent, or shave a Ivory soap bath bar. Tumble with Plastic Pellets for 1-2 days. You will be surprised about the extra shine.

    Got a tip to share? Let me know!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    .: The Gem-N-I Revisited :.

    Black Rock Desert
    by Joe Minter 6/74

    Memorial Day weekend found us journeying to the Black Rock Desert, one of nature's beauty spots. I believe that the desert brings us in close touch with nature. I was raised on the desert and there is no place as beautiful, especially a desert sunset.

    Evie and I left Petaluma Thursday afternoon with loaded camper and our newly acquired Toyota in tow. That night we camped out in "no where land". The stars were so close that we could reach out and pluck them one by one!

    The next day we journeyed on to our camp site near Little Joe's Opal Mine, arriving there about noon. We were the first arrivals so we decided to do a little exploring on our own. The rest of the gang were to arrive Friday evening and Saturday.

    Claire, Andy and Ted ("Teddy Bear"), Andy's cousin, dug for opals all day Friday and Ted was real lucky. He found a real choice opal. Sooo, hard rock mining can pay off!

    Saturday morning we took off for Christmas Agate. It was hard work and we got some choice material Andy got himself a real beauty. Later that day Jerry and family and guests and the Hamiltons went for geodes and calcite, where they met the rest of our party. Saturday evening we sat around a camp fire really enjoying the quietness of the desert.

    Sunday morning someof the bunch had to head for home. The Burrises , Busbys and others decided to go out and do some exploring. Evie and I joined a party from the San Pablo club and went "through the slot" (Emigrant Gap) looking for black agate. What a trip that was! We went up, down and sideways, sometimes it seemed, all the same time! Evie hung on for dear life! Jack had drawn us a map to the black agate location - a letter perfect one. We had no trouble finding the spot. We found some real nice pieces, and of course, we will be back again next year. That day ended around a camp fire swapping yarns and enjoying the good clean air.

    Monday morning was spent breaking camp and getting ready to head for home - all except the Busbys and us. We were starting our vacation, so could stay.

    The turn-out was great. There were 28 members and guests, so what do you say we have another go at it in the near future? There are always some little extras that go with with these outings, like Jack Burris bagging himself a rattler! I found some arrowheads for my collection. We all got some really good material.

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    A lil Eye Candy

  • A Message From Jolene C.
    SRMGS President
    DEAR GEM-N-I READERS:
    I have just come back from playing 'ROCKO'. What a fun evening. We met at the pizza parlor, (one of my favorite foods), for a fun evening of that BINGO like game. There were fun people, great prizes and a feeling of camaraderie. For those of you that missed it, I hope you will be able to make it to the next gathering for ROCKO. It really was FUN!

    I am now trying to find a motel to stay at in Medford when I go on the 'Gold Mine/Blue Quartz' trip. I guess I have contracted gold fever! I am really looking forward to trying my hand at a different method of finding gold. Up until now, I have only looked for it along the river bed. I must say, I am a little nervous about the whole 'mine' thing. The instructions and equipment requirements list a hard hat, 2 flashlights with extra batteries, be careful of cave ins…what!! I am not a fan of small enclosed places, so…it just better not cave in while I am there. I am excited about meeting new people who like rocks. I think it was very nice of the Lake County Club to invite us.

    Up and coming is the AFMS/CFMS show June 18-20. The high light will be a (museum) quality display of PETRIFIED WOOD, collected from all over the earth. There will be 125 specimens that have been collected by one man. Following the show, there are a number of field trips planned. Two tourmaline mines in two days, Fossil hunters choice of two different trips, and a Lavic Siding trip or a trip to LA County Natural History Museum. I do so wish I could go, but life has other plans for me.

    I am beginning to prepare for our own show at this time. I will be taking sign ups for Displays. We currently have 10 display boxes, so if you want to display, please let me know right away. If we have more than 10 people interested, we will have to create some new boxes. Always looking for someone creative who could help us out with that.

    Be sure to mark your calendar for June 27!!! Our club picnic at Rodney's house. The eating will begin around 3:00. Bring something to share and your own drinks. There will be a grill available if you want to use it. We are planning on playing ROCKO!! I am looking forward to that. We hope that our resident geologist Nicole will join us, and answer some of our nagging questions about rocks.

    Please remember that our General Meeting will be at "The Rare Rock Museum" on Coffey Lane, Santa Rosa. We will do a little business, and then have a tour of the museum. See ya there!!
    Jolene

    Thank you!!
    Big thank you to:
    Jim H. Excellent Presentation / Talk
    Ben F. Working on Saw #1
    Erika March's Snacks
    Keith S. Show & Tell of local specimens
    Pot Luck BBQ!
    Sunday June 27th - it's our annual BBQ potluck to be held again at Rodney's place in Windsor. Directions are located on the Website. It's going to be an afternoon of FUN, FRIENDS and FOOD!

    Play some Rock-O, dominos, bring a rock or two to show off or bring a MYSTERY rock and let's see if anyone can identify it!

    Bring a dish, bring your own drinks - fun starts at 1pm! Or when Debbie gets there :D Parking is up on top. More information here

    Shop News
    Thanks to the hard work of Debbie and Mike, the sludge and "bad oil" has been recycled.
    Are you DUE?
    Friendly reminder that the following annual SRMGS memberships will expires this month. Please fill out the renewal application and mail your payment. The following are due this month:

    Luis Rene Celis
    Fran Sweeney
    Steve Breazeale


    Junior Program
    Hey Juniors - Get your rock gear together Kevin is planning Junior's Field Trips this summer!! Dates to follow!

    Check out the May 2010 Mini Miners Monthly perfect for pint size rockhounds!

    Sept 24-26 Oregon Trip
    Hey SRMGS'ers hold onto your rock picks we are planning a weekend of camping, rockhounding and lots of FUN! Mark your calendar for Sept's Oregon trip, where we are in pursuit of GIANT obsidan and some other stuff. Oh and the word "GIANT" might be a little of an exaggeration, but Kendra is optimistic!!

    In additon to "Kendra's obsidian wishes" we are looking into additional rockhouding locations and rock stops either in the area or on the way. Bring your suggestions and ideas to the BBQ! We will have a rockhounding map specifically for Oregon to help plan the trip and the material we are after.


    Years of Experience Shared...
    There is Coral - and then there is BLACK Coral
    via www.SFGMS.org 9/08
    There are actually more than 500 species of coral (antipatharians) but only 150 species of black corals. Hawaii has only 14 species of black coral but the rarest black coral comes from the Western Caribbean off Grand Caymen Island, from depths of over 200 feet. Black corals are colonial animals, related to sea anemones, and are found in all oceans of the world, most commonly in deep water habitats of tropical and subtropical seas. Colonies of black coral require swift currents which feed them animal plankton, as they are carnivores. The black coral colonies thrive in dark waters, usually near drop-offs and ledges but they can be found in water as shallow as 3 feet (in shaded areas with limited light) and as deep as 300 feet. They have actually been found growing in depths of down to 20,000 feet! The growth rate of this rare black coral is 1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter every 100 years, which is why it's a protected species by international law. Divers are only permitted to retrive pieces which have broken off a reef naturally.

    It is the skeleton of the coral we see in the lapidary. It has a hardness of 4.0 to 5.5 and a density of 2.43 to 2.70. The living coral that produces the skeleton is just a thin veneer of animal tissue called the cenosac, which secrets the tightly-layered central skeleton of horn-like protien. The living tissue may be red, orange, yellow, white, green, brown - or black. The gelatinous polyps located in this living "bark" are short, cylindrical, and have six non-retractable tentacles armed with stinging cells. Black corals have a life cycle that includes both asexual and sexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction (budding) builds the colonyby adding more living tissue to secret more skeleton. Growth rings formed as the skeleton thickens can be used to age-date the colony. Sexual reproduction involves production of eggs and sperm to release and disperse to form new colonies. The tools used in cutting and carving black coral are similar to those used by dentists.




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    In The News...
    Astronomers Identify the Mystery Meteor That Inspired Walt Whitman
    June 2, 2010
    www.discovermagazine.com

    It's not often that an English professor co-authors an article in Sky and Telescope, but it's not everyday that astronomers set out to uncover a poet's muse. Researchers believe they have found the astronomical inspiration for the "strange huge meteor procession" in the poem "Year of Meteors" (1859-60.) published in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

    The investigators have determined that Whitman was waxing poetic about a rare event called an Earth-grazing meteor procession. An Earth-grazing meteor never hits our planet; as its name implies, it just visits, slicing through our atmosphere on its path. On this voyage, pieces of the meteor crumble off and head generally in the same direction (the "procession"), burning as they go and making a show to awe and inspire.

    Texas State physics professors Donald Olson and Russell Doescher, English professor Marilynn Olson, and student Ava Pope have discounted previous suspects for the poem's inspiration: an 1833 Leonid meteor storm, the 1858 Leonids, and a fireball in 1859. The dates are wrong for the first two and the fireball happened during the day whereas Whitman described a night event.

    Instead, they found the answer in another creative work, a Fredric Church painting "The Meteor of 1860" that looked like the scene Whitman's poem portrays. With some more sleuthing, they discovered that the painting described a meteor procession that occurred on July, 20, 1860, and found reports from newspapers describing an event sounding very similar to Whitman's poem and Church's painting.

    As reported in a Texas State University press release:
    "From all the observations in towns up and down the Hudson River Valley, we're able to determine the meteor's appearance down to the hour and minute," Olson said. "Church observed it at 9:49 p.m. when the meteor passed overhead, and Walt Whitman would've seen it at the same time, give or take one minute."

    This is not the first time Donald Olson has tracked down a piece art using astronomy. Using similar detective work he believes he has also tracked down astronomical underpinnings in the works of Ansel Adams and Edvard Munch.

    SRGMS Newsletter Continued
    Class Schedule
    You do not need to be a SRMGS member to sign up for classes.
    Fees are based upon $10/hr instruction.
    30% of all class fees are turned over to SRMGS.

    Coming Soon! Opal Cutting Class! Class size is limited.


    Field Trip
    We have planned a variety of trips that range from hiking difficulty
    1 (low) to 5 (high).

    Next trip
    TBA
    I appologize, but it's slipped my mind if/when our trip this month would be. I will update the website with information ASAP.

    Difficulty level:

    We suggest the following:

    For insurance reasons - you MUST have your dues current to attend.






    SRMGS WORKSHOP LOCATION
    5690 C Old Redwood Hwy
    Santa Rosa, CA 95403
    (707) 528-7610


    Upcoming Gem and Mineral Shows
    Shows located within a 3 hour drive
    For a complete list see our website under FUN

    June 18-20 2010, Whittier, CA
    AFMS/CFMS Show and Convention
    Hosted by North Orange County Gem and Mineral Society
    So. CA University of Health Sciences Campus
    16200 E. Amber Valley Rd., Whittier CA
    Hours: 1-5 daily




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