A ROCKHOUND”S PHOTOGRAPHY by Dick Stata

from left to right DR GORMAN, BILL CHRISTIANSON, BUZZ SANGER, KEN BINSKIN

I have heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words,.This famous quote’s meaning has increased exponentially for me as I have been converting my old 35 MM slides and negatives into a digital format and placing them on my computer. Most of those old slides are memories frozen in time. There are pictures of my daughter as a baby. I had not set eyes on those pictures in over 40 years. It brought tears to my eyes to see photo after photo of a beautiful young woman who has been my adorable wife since 1965. I must have taken photos of every Christmas and Birthday back then. I now have the dilemma: should I save years worth of decorated trees and parties. I also found I had photos of long deceased friends and relatives and their fond memories. I had  other pictures taken so long ago that you can barely recognize those aunts, uncles and cousins, that you only met at weddings and funerals. I have also discarded many useless pictures, headless people, out of focus shots, under exposed, over exposed. I guess I wasn’t as good a photographer as I thought. I also found I had taken scads of scenery pictures that while interesting I could no longer remember where I had taken them. I even had photos of parades and so many buildings that have changed or no longer exist. Time marches on.

I never took very many pictures on my rock collecting trips back then. The old 35 MM was bulky and heavy and I was always afraid I would break it, so it got left in the car most of the time. I did find some pictures of field trips; I laughed at the old collecting photos, picture a herd of bent over behinds and now your trying to remember who the behind belongs to! It is amazing how one glimpse of a 40 year old photo takes you back, and you find you can’t help exclaiming. “ Hey there’s a picture of Bill, remember when we went collecting and he had all that car trouble!”

SUDBURY OUR HONEYMOON 1965

I have no excuse today: I have a digital camera that fits in your pocket, weighs next to nothing.It will take hundreds of photos and even movies. I guess I do have one excuse, I get so involved in collecting I forget all about the camera. It so easy today to take pictures, you can even do it with a phone, e-mail the picture home and have it on your computer before you even get out of the quarry. Then you can print the pictures, watch a video, or put it into a slideshow, or make a presentation display out of your favourite images. Today is the age of instant information so I expect anybody can take  descent pictures.

DONNA AT SUDBURY OUR HONEYMOON 1965

If your an Author or an Editor you can spice up an article with a good photo; it can show the Who, Why, Where, What, and if your outside the weather. I would like to say to all the Rock Collecting community, history is being made every day, and you can record it. Take pictures of the big pocket you have found, the prize winning display, your favourite crystal, all your club members, and friends on your field trips. The list of items to photograph is endless. I do think all of us can hold up a bit on the field trip butt shots, but take that camera with you and make history come alive.

If you are an old Hound like myself who took slides back in the day, get them converted and you will be amazed at your own past so long overlooked. I had to wait over 40 years to see those photos of my daughter, thank heavens for modern photography. It now only takes a minute. Just think 40 years from now it might be your picture being viewed and someone is exclaiming, “ Here’s a picture of old Dick, remember when?”

MY DAUGHTER SHERRI 40+ YEARS AGO

Dick Stata rock swapper and author

The ST LAWRENCE COUNTY GEM AND MINERAL SHOW

 This show is held on the last weekend of August, and is now held in Madrid NY. We attended it once when it was held in the Pierrepont NY firehall. This show has some dealers indoors but rockhounds can tailgate or park their RV’s and set up their own table to sell or swap. I went down to do some swapping, but you’re always leery about crossing the border with a truck load of labeled and priced specimens, so I only took a few flats of local Canadian minerals. When we crossed at Prescott, I had trouble at the border, but not the usual kind. When the customs agent came around to look in our trailer he discovered our awning had unravelled and was hanging down the side of the trailer, he had us move off to the side and I managed to get it rewound back up,  later the agent came over and saw I had it fixed, he wished us luck on our trip, he never did inspect anything.

I parked my trailer beside a ball field behind the fire hall where there were about 20 or so RV’s and around a dozen dealers in the fire Hall. I don’t think I did very well trading: they seemed to be only interested in local minerals, but I bought a few things. The main attraction for me at that show was the field trips. They had trips into Bowers Powers Farm for Uvite Tourmaline and several other local farms for Tremolite. It was a fun two days and when it was over we moved the trailer down the road a few miles to a State Park called Higgley Flow and camped there for a few more days just to relax and take in the scenery.

This show has moved around a few times since I last visited, but the show is now located at the community centre in the town of Madrid NY. I hear, from all accounts the show  has gotten bigger and has far superior facilities and best of all, they are still running the field trips. It is my suggestion if you have time to spare in August, it just might be a worthwhile drive to go to northern NY and do some swapping, buying and collecting.

customers

This is the end of my journey into outdoor Mineral shows, I have just mentioned the few where I have participated. If you go on the computer for information and read the Rock and Mineral magazines you will find there are many shows of this type during the year. They spring up from mineral clubs, that can’t afford to rent big buildings. They allow the collectors a place to dispose of their excess minerals, and as a sideline it is always exciting to meet new collectors and talk about this hobby we love. I am sure if your holidaying in the USA and want to take in a mineral show, with a bit of research and you will be on your way to a days worth of mineral delights.

After all the years of traveling around I have come to the conclusion, that throughout the USA and Canada there is regionalized trading of minerals and the highest prices seem to be found nearest the collecting location. I don’t know if that is a bad thing, I just think local collectors love the minerals that they have access to and prize them highly, especially if they are a bit on the rare side.

I would like to conclude by saying, when you see Donna and a bald headed old guy sitting out at a table at the Bancroft Gemboree, say hello, buy something please, I need to get rid of a ton or so of crystals.

LARGEST FAIRBURN UNTIL 2007

NORTHWEST NEBRASKA SWAP MEET       In the small Nebraska cattle town of Crawford they have a 4 day swap meet, the locals call Fairburn Days. We attended the show in 2007 which is held in September on Labor Day weekend. The entire swap is dedicated to the collecting and trading of  the Fairburn Agate. They are crazy about that Agate. I tried to trade Herkimer Diamonds with them for their Fairburns; they didn’t know what a Herkimer was and didn’t care.

 When talking to them I got the feeling I was the first Canadian they had ever seen. This town of 900 hardy souls is about an hours drive south of South Dakota and the rolling grass lands contain beds of Agate washed down from the Black Hills over millions of years. The government grass lands are leased by ranchers to graze their cattle and are fenced into sections. We were allowed to go out and collect in different fields. It’s quite interesting to see people wearing kneepads, down on their knees turning over every rock, hoping to find the Holly Leaf pattern of the Fairburn Agate. The Agate beds are like a big rocky beach and every rock there is an Agate. I myself spent 3 days looking, a total of 16 hours of back breaking bending to find 2 small Fairburns. The trouble is they won’t let you dig holes, so the agates on the surface have been peered and pawed at for a 100 years. We were all warned to watch out for Rattle Snakes but I don’t think any were spotted by the diehard collectors. The Shortridge Agate weighed 17 pounds and was the largest one found until April 2007 when a young fellow on an ATV found one in South Dakota that weighed 63 pounds.

NEBRASKA FAIRBURN COLLECTING LOCATION

This is a bone dry country : the town hadn’t seen any amount rain for years, even in September the temperature was in the low 90’s. Our Colorado friends Doc and Helen talked us into going there, so we dry camped beside them in the town park, the only green place for miles. This lovely town park has a stream running through it and used to have a fish hatchery. There were about 30 swappers camping there.  We had a prime shady spot under some trees at the edge of the park, and used a town picnic table to set some flats of Herkimers on, but we found out there were a few unforeseen problems.

I mentioned that Crawford was a cattle town.On the other side of the trees, a hundred feet or so away, was a multi tracked railway siding used for the loading of cattle and big cattle pens. So every night lights came on, brighter than a ball diamond; we heard the bawling of cattle, men yelling at them while herding them into cars, gates slamming and cattle cars being shunted around.It sounded like the sound track of a western movie. The main train line went through the shipping yard, and past 5 level crossings in town. This line carried trains pulling coal cars, a train every 20 minutes or so  it seemed, and they heartily blew their whistles at every crossing and if there were trains in the sidings, their whistles would accompany the passing train. It took several days, to get used to the racket and get some sleep. Our Colorado friends both in their 80’s didn’t complain , they just pulled out their hearing aids and didn’t hear a thing. Then on the 3rd night the wind changed direction and we all found out that confined cattle, do not have the sweetest odor in the world.

TRADING AT CRAWFORD

The show had a potluck dinner at the local arena along with an auction. I put in a big Herkimer on Matrix, my friend Doc bought it, he was the only one to bid on it. On Saturday night they had a woman singing and playing guitar, she was a very accomplished performer, and asked the crowd if we had any favorite songs. I made a suggestion: she sang Unchained Melody, up close and personal to a very embarrassed me. Donna said she had never seen my face so red.

MASTODON AT FORT ROBINSON FOSSIL MUSEUM

The area around Crawford has several good attractions Toadstool Park and the Fort Robinson Fossil Museum, that has the skeletons of two Mastodons that fought to the death and died locked together. In closing I would like to say, that the collectors out there in Nebraska and South Dakota, friendly as they are, are just attuned to one type of collecting, their beloved Fairburn Agates. So, if you ever go to Crawford Nebraska don’t expect to get rich selling Herkimer Quartz crystals.

Once a gain, a wonderful wireworking workshop was held. In this one, 13 members learned how to make an Art Nouveau Bangle. We are fortunate to have such a great teacher. Thanks Dianne!

LK GEORGE SWAP

To Rockhounds that collect Smokey Quartz and Amethyst and Topaz, there is no place in Colorado more famous than the Pikes Peak, Lake George, Crystal Peak area. We were out in Colorado in 1997 when the local Mineral club just started a small show in a town park at Lake George, population 100 or so. The small community is located on Hwy 24 about halfway between Colorado Springs and Buena Vista. This was a 3 day show a week after Buena Vista. They had about 25 swappers set up in RV’s and tents; no big dealers in this lot, just good old collectors and miners. The venue might have been small but the entertainment wasn’t. On Friday night they had square dancing on their tennis court with a live band. I even got dragged up to dance by a Peruvian mineral dealer and I hadn’t done any square dancing since grade school. The next night they arranged a bus trip into the casinos at Cripple Creek. It cost $15.00 each, but you got a scenic bus ride through the mountains and when you got to the Casino they gave you $15 to gamble with and meals were dirt cheap. One of our group won $ 750.00 in a slot machine while waiting in line for the meal. The one drawback, when we were given rolls of quarters, Donna grabbed them and proclaimed, “ This is my laundry money”. I played nickel slot machines all evening and broke even. Even the trip back to Lake George was interesting. I didn’t know that drunken Rockhounds could sing so loud and off key. The driver wanted to stop and kick them out, and I would have cheered him on.

LK GEORGE SWAPPERS

During the day we left for Cripple Creek. I had made a deal to buy a 25 pound box of small Quartz crystals off an Apache Indian from San Carlos Reservation in Arizona who had the dubious name of Fast Eddie. I asked the short stocky man if he was a runner, he laughed and told me he  got his nickname because he liked to gamble. He made money fast and he lost it fast. I wanted to pay him then for the Quartz but he said wait until tomorrow. The next day he was Casino broke and my cash ended up paying for his trip home. He had started out sleeping in a motel but ended up sleeping on the floor of a small equipment shed in the park. One young miner had a large pile of the most ugly looking rock, several tons, that came from his claim in Utah. No one was interested, until he told everyone to come over that night to look at his rock pile. It turned out to be the brightest fleurescent minerals I had ever seen. Went to bed intending to get a few pieces the next morning but the pile was gone ; he had sold out during the night. Just proves the old saying, “He who hesitates is lost.”

This is a fun show with Field trips, and scads of local minerals to peruse and purchase. Inthe first photo, there is a hill in the background. I collected up there for Smokey Quartz and Amazonite. The area had a hill side covered in pits , sort of like a small Bear Lk Rd., but I didn’t find anything but a battered Swiss Army Knife that was buried about 2 feet down. I even saw a herd of mountain goats; they ran along beside the truck then up a hill, don’t see that every day.

If you are out in Colorado and have the time to collect Quartz and Amazonite, try to be there the 3rd weekend in August.The Rockhounds at the show are super friendly and who knows, one of them might be your next trip leader, to Cripple Creek.

MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

The CONTIN-TAIL ROCK AND GEM SHOW in Buena Vista Colorado is one of Colorado’s largest outdoor shows and I have had the privilege to attend it 4 times. The show is set up in the parking lot of the local rodeo grounds; spaces about 50 by 25 feet are marked out, with allowances for roads in between.They usually get around 150 dealers. The dealer or swapper can park his RV and vehicle on the site, set up his own tables, tents, shelters and sell for 4 days, on the 2nd weekend in August.

I don’t want to sound like some hack from the tourist bureau, but the show is situated in a long beautiful valley, surrounded by mountains,  at about 9,000 feet, the air is dry, warm in the daytime, cool at night. Many California, Arizona and Texas people camp there in the summer, to avoid the heat. The town is a short drive south of Leadville and the mining district. The first year we went there was in 1990, and not knowing any better I  set up and sold Ontario minerals and Herkimers I brought with us. I learned a few things that year; don’t spend all your cash the first few hours your there. Don’t set the tongue of your trailer up in a fire ant hill! Don’t step on the tiny Cactus, they can be nasty.

TABLES OF PETRIFIED WOOD

It was the best trading I had ever done, as most of the other swappers were retired rockhounds that went from show to show selling what they collected and there were also many local miners. I did well on the Loonies; they were new then and those Americans wanted to buy them, so I sold them for $ 2.00 US each, with the difference on the dollar I was getting around $ 2.80, unfortunately I only had 1 roll. I found if I grabbed a box of rocks and walked around I usually found someone willing to trade. I got around 25 pounds of slabbed cutting material for about 20 small Apatite crystals. The highlight of the trip for me was a field trip from the show, to Mt Antero. For a person that lives a scant 300 feet above sea level to have the opportunity to collect at 14,259 feet doesn’t come along every day. Never mind that it gave me the worst headache in my life from the altitude and the switchback drive up Antero scared the heck out of me, but that’s another story. To my great surprise Donna had sold all the remaining minerals, while I was up on the mountain.

In 1991 we went again but I only brought a few things with me because they changed how they ran the show: they wanted us to pay multiple taxes. So we just parked our trailer by the grandstand and bought some minerals, I learned one thing, don’t spend all your cash the first few minutes of the show. I again went up Mt Antero and this time I found an Aquamarine crystal. It seemed strange to be 80 degrees at the show, but 15 miles away and 1 mile higher, it was 32 degrees up on Antero.  If you go to Colorado in the summer and want to climb mountains take a warm winter coat with you.

BUENA VISTA VIEW TO THE SOUTH

We went again in 1997 and 2007, the show has changed from the earlier years. It had changed from being run by the Colorado Mineral Federation,instead, several mineral people from Grand Junction bought the rights to the show.  There are now more professional dealers, and with over 150 vendors, there is an excellent mix of finished products, slabbing material, and minerals, but still there are many rockhounds selling their excess minerals and cutting rough. We joined our old friends Doc and Helen from Colorado, who we had first met at the Bancroft Gemboree and had a wonderful time. We ended up camping with them for 4 weeks, but that is also another story. If you are intending to vacation in Colorado in August, take the time to go to scenic Buena Vista and visit a truly excellent mineral show.

It’s not too early to plan to come to our live auction at the Knox United Church, 2569 Midland Ave. Scarborough ,beginning at 8 pm. Viewing begins at 7  pm . Listed below are some of the items up for auction. To get more details of the items, click on the picture,  To see the next slide press the  N key.  

Fluorite

Highway 17 Roadcut, Rossport, Ontario

Vesuviannite

Jeffery Mine, Asbestos, Quebec
small hand size

Calcite

Xanghualing Mine, Chenzhou Prefecture , Hunan Province ,China
large cabinet specimen

Agate Slice

Mexico

Azurite

Wannis Glacier , Scherbadung , Binn Valley , Valais ,Switzerland

Schalenblende

Olkusz District , Malopolskie, Poland - alternating layers of galena and sphalerite .possibly wurtzite
3``X 1``

Malachite Lot 3

Katanga Copper Belt, Katanga
Democratic Republic of the Congo

Agate Pot

Minas Gerais ,Brazil
one half crystal filled geode

Tiger Iron Slice Lot 4

Ord Region, Port Hedland, Western Australia
Jaspelite with alternating layers of hematite, magnetite, red jasper and golden tigereye

Wulfenite Lot31

Defiance Mine , Gleeson , Dragoon Mts. , Cochise Co. ,Arizona
small hand sized

Tigereye Lot 5

Nambia: A variety of Quartz

Selenite Lot 33

Naica, Mun. de Saucillo , Chihuahua , Mexico
large cabinet size

Smoky Quartz Lot 6

near the Terry Fox Monument, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Keokuk Geode Lot 7

Warsaw formation, Keokuk, Iowa
Quartz and Calcite from a famous location

Calcite on Fluorite

Hunan Province ,China
large cabinet specimen

Chalcedony Nodules Lot 8

Camp Verde Salt Mine, Rodeo Flats Yavapi Co, Arizona
"Arizona Snowballs"

Petrified Wood Lot 9

Late Triassic, Chinle formation, Apache Co, Arizona
Araucarioxylon arizonicum: an extinct conifer whose closest relative is the Norfolk Island Pine

Malachite Lot 32

Mashamba West Mine , Kowezi , Katanga Copper Crescent ,Katanga Prov.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
hand size

Picture Jasper Lot 1

Utah

Fluorite and Barite

Rogers Mine , Madoc ,On
small hand size

Molybdenite Lot 11

Dryden, Kenora District, Ontario

Pyrite Lot 12

Michipicoten Harbour, Algoma District, Ontario

sterling silver ring ,Turquoise and Mother of Pearl

size 11

Quartz Lot 14

Brazil

Azurite Lot 13

Ray Mine, Dripping Mts. Pinal Co. Arizona

Amethyst with Cat Lot 15

Carved Cat and CrystalBall on Amethyst Crystals

Paperweight Lot 16

Dyed Druzy Quartz

Frog Carving Lot 17

Dolomite, Barite, Chalcopyrite,Quartz

Minas Gerais

Calcite on Dolomite

San Luis, Mexico

Rhodochrosite after Calcite Lot 21

Sacarimb. Hunedoara Co, Romania

Brown Calcite Lot 23

Chihuahua, Mexico
clusters of dogtooth calcite crystals

Hemimorphite & Malachite Lot 25

Durango, Mexico

Chalcedony Lot 26

Bou Azer District, Quarzazete Prov. Morocco

Tennatite, Tetrahedrite, Pyrite & Sphalerite Lot 27

San Martin Mine, Mun.de Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico

Fluorite Lot 22

Cave- in- Rock, Harding Co., Illinois

Jasper Carving Lot 28

Malachite and Cerussite Lot 36

Tsumeb Mine, Tsumeb, Otijkoto Region, Namibia

Thumbnails Lot 30

a flat of 24 thumbnails from various locations

Rhodochrosite Lot 37

Sichuan Province, China

Ammonite Necklace Lot 38

The Ammonite is a Cleoniceras cleon from Madagascar

Four Thumbnails Lot 39

Gemmy crystals of Topaz, Tourmaline, Beryl and Peridot
from Burma(Myanmar)

Ultrasonic Cleaner Lot 40

Very useful for cleaning minerals and jewellery

Machine Arbour Lot 41

used for polishing jewellery and stones

Tray of Assorted Minerals Lot 42

Some nice agate slabs

Herkimer Diamond, Middleville, Herkimer Co, New York Lot 44

doubly terminated quartz crystal in a matrix of dolostone

Assorted Cutting Material Lot 45

Brazilian Rutilated Quartz and more

Rocks Fossils and Dinosaurs Lot 46

A good reference for beginners

Disply Case Lot 47

A four tier system

Display Case Lot 48

Wulfenite Chihuahua, Mexico Lot 51

This specimen is likely from the Santa Eulalia district, a classic locality of

Calcite and Quartz Geode Lot 52

Hancock Co, Illinois

Calcite Clusters Lot 50

Viburnum Trend district, Reynolds Co, Missouri

Three specimens Lot 56

Amethyst and Bornite

Snowflake Obsidian Lot 58

Galena Lot 53

Viburnum Trend District , Reynolds Co, Missouri

Gypsum Two Samples Lot 54

Amethyst with Quartz and Calcite Lot 55

Agate Slab Lot 57

Minas Gerais, Brazil

DONNA AT ELECTRIC PARK

OUTDOOR ROCK and MINERAL SHOWS part 4

 ELECTRIC PARK TUCSON AZ the outdoor Mineral show. Of all the 40 + shows in Tucson I probable enjoy Electric Park the most . A tent city set up by the Keno Sports Complex, 20 acres including parking. It is arranged like a big square, large commercial dealers have huge tents several hundred feet long, maybe 50 ft. wide, set up around the outside. In the center are smaller individual tents, over 150 dealers selling, the largest variety of rock related items and a some items that are beyond description.In one big tent, Kent tools sell every kind of lapidary supplies you can think of, in the same tent there are literally tons of beads and jewellery. Diamond Pacific has a huge tent, large mineral dealers selling tons of Brazilian Amethyst, other big tents around the outside selling minerals and cutting materials from various countries, Peru, China, Mexico, India.  It is truly mind boggling; you wander through that park, wishing you were rich, with no upper limit on your spending. If you want to buy something for a gift, the Peruvian tent sells carvings of birds, assembled from minerals like Lapis, Rhodocrosite, Sodalite, Calcite, mounted on good mineral specimens. They vary in size from tiny 2 inch ones to complex carvings several feet high. These colourful creations are there by the hundreds.                                         

DONNA WITH BIG CARVINGS AT ELECTRIC PARK

 

 Or if your interested in jewellery there are dealers there that can sell you  any type of pin, pendant, earring, necklace, ring, and for those with royal ambitions I even saw Tiaras.I still get glared at by Donna when I take too long looking at cutting material, but then in the same boat I get a bit bored when she is trying to decide what strand of beads to buy when there’s tables covered with them. We might end up bickering a bit over this and that, but usually we go back to the trailer with tired aching feet and happy with our purchases.        

A TABLE OF BEADS ELECTRIC PARK

  The February weather in Arizona in  is usually quite pleasant, 70 + but this past winter when we were there at Electric park they set record lows, everything froze up. I felt sorry for the Mexicans, Moroccans and all the southern US dealers, sitting outside in 30 mile an hour wind, freezing their butts off. They are not used to it at all, and some didn’t even have a winter coat. It was strange having to wear a down filled coat to look at rocks; the only thing good about it was it didn’t snow.In a field next door to the Electric Park show, they have just started an RV Park show, where about 50 Dealers  set up tents beside their rigs and sell. These dealers are mostly selling cutting material, but if you have been to Quartzsite you will remember many of them from the PowWow. The Electric Park show probably has the highest attendance outside of the big Tucson club show. I repeat, there are 40 plus Mineral, Jewellery and Bead shows that run during the first 2 weeks of February. I find it sort of ironic that when you are so far from home and  during those two weeks, you see more of your mineral minded friends from Ontario than when your back at home. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at seeing them, for during those two weeks, Tucson is the mineral capital of the world, and their minds are just as boggled as mine.

 Members and Friends of the The Canadian Gemmological Association are cordially invited to attend information sessions featuring upcoming Winter-term general interest and professional gemmology courses in Toronto.  Please pass this invitation along to friends and acquaintances interested in gems, and take the opportunity to drop by and chat.

Further information is available at learning@ canadiangemmological.com.  or at 647-466-24346. 

  Dates are:

 Tuesday, January 10, 2012   6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Saturday, January 14, 2012   1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Lower Concourse, 55 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON  M5C 1R6

Visitors will try out the instruments used by professional gemmologists for gem identification and get a glimpse of the internal world of gemstones as viewed through a microscope. We enjoy sharing our passion for the world of gems and jewellery, and look forward to having you join us.

 www.canadiangemmological.com