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FIELD TRIP FOR JULY 1999 
"Field Trips are open to all members of associated clubs of the DMC program of the SFMS Field Trip Committee and to all members of SFMS member clubs who have provided their membership with SFMS liability insurance. Because of insurance requirements, members of the GENERAL PUBLIC are NOT invited on this or any DMC program field trips!" |
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MINERAL FIELD TRIP SATURDAY, July 3rd, 1999 HACKNEY FARM, BLUE RIDGE, GA. (FEE AREA) Date:
Saturday, July 3, 1999
Children are welcome.
Location: This is a world class site for staurolite (fairy crosses and the Georgia state mineral)! Steve Hackney has made a few improvements on the farm to make it easier for us to collect here. The middle of last year, he cleared and bulldozed the old trenches by the creek and dug new trenches. Now you can either dig in the new trenches or make your own hole someplace else. So far, the foot of the hill seems to be the digging spot of choice. I, for one, like to sit in the shade of a tree on an overturned 5 gallon bucket and screen the creek for crystals. The crystals at Hackney Farm are small and almost perfect. Most of this material is in the form of single prismatic blades(over 60% found), twinned crystals inter-grown at 60º(over 30% found), twinned crystals inter-grown at 90º(3-4% found) and occasionally Maltese crosses(under 3% found) and "multi-twins" (rare). You may also find hornblende, diorite and gold ore. On our last trip here, Daniel Miller(field trip chair for the Knoxville club) found three small gold nuggets while panning in the stream! Minerals found: There is plenty of staurolite (Fairy crosses) here. (Single prismatic blades, twinned crystals inter-grown at 60º and 90º, and occasionally Maltese crosses) You may also occasionally find hornblende, diorite and gold ore. Tools: You will need to bring a shovel and pick for digging in the new trenches, a bucket or two to hold specimen dirt, wire screens of ½ inch and ¼ inch to take to the stream to wash your bucket material, and ziplocks™ for your specimen finds. You can forget the digging and just screen the stream material. I've had great luck with this method in the past. You may even want to take a few buckets of specimen dirt home to process later! Gold pan if you want to work the stream for gold. Don't forget your food and drinks. Also, bring plenty of water artillery (super soakers and water guns) for personal protection. You may need it!? Cost:
$10.00 fee
per carload. A Georgia Mineral Society host will
be collecting this fee and issuing a "parking pass" at the movie theater
meeting location. Please bring the exact dollar amount!
 Click
here for pictures of the HACKNEY FARM. |