GMS March Field Trips

**FIELD TRIP(S) FOR MARCH**
MARCH FIELD TRIP An Official Field Trip of the GEORGIA MINERAL SOCIETY Hall’s Valley, Rome GA. Saturday March 17^th. 2007 Free Site New Site, Actually an old site but one that GMS has not been to at least in the past several years. Led by Bob Madden, former member of GMS and now a member of the Rome Georgia Mineral Society. It should be noted that this is the weekend (16^th.17^th.and 18^th.) of the Valley and Ridge Gem and Mineral Show at the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, 1818 Kingston Rd. (at the Bypass) in Rome, Georgia Fee: This is a free site When: Saturday March 17^th2007. We meet at 9:00 AM Where: We will meet Bob at the Evens Store. This is a general store that will sell you breakfast and gasoline. They are on GA 20 next to the power plant approximately 11 miles west of the center of town This is the station after the CITCO station and is on the right side of the road. From there we will caravan together approximately 4 miles to the site. Collecting: Colorful nodules and agates. They have been found as large as a basketball but the more colorful with blues and reds are normally much smaller. I understand that while they may be golf ball size they are as colorful as Paint Rock pieces. If we have time, Bob may be able to bring us to a second site for blastoids but he will have to leave us about noon to attend to his commitments to the Rome Show. What to bring: besides scratching tools and buckets you might want to bring something to cut your way through the brush and brambles which may be covering the best collecting areas. They may be a few inches under the ground and covered with leaf litter and you might need something to get through that. Bring gloves. Perhaps a small pick. A rock hammer is always good to break a chip off to see what is inside the nodule. Protective clothing against cold and the thickets with boots for hiking as well as something to drink. Directions: Take I-75 to exit 290 in Cartersville. West on route 20. South on Hwy 41 to Hwy 41,411and go west. Continue West on 411 until the Rome Loop, Route 1. Go North, then West past Hwy 27 and continue south until the end at Shorter Ave. which is Route 9 and 20. Go west until the Evans store. Route 20 becomes Alabama Hwy. And the store is just short of Alabama and the collecting site is just over the line. Map Quest states it is about 70 miles from Atlanta and about 1 hour and 15 minuets drive time. Please take into account where you might be leaving and our destination is west of Rome. DMC Program of the SFMS Field Trip Committee An Official Field Trip of The KYANA Geological Society (Louisville, KY) (HOST) An Official Field Trip of the GEORGIA MINERAL SOCIETY Saturday and Sunday, March 17 & 18, 2007 Hickory Cane Mines, Marion, Kentucky FEE SITE WHERE: The Hickory Cane Mines outside of Marion, Kentucky WHEN: Sat. and Sun., March 17 & 18, 2007 TIME: Day and night digs. COLLECTING: Fluorite, smithsonite, sphalerite, cerussite, galena, hemimorphite, hydrozincite, quartz, & pyromorphite. Calcite is by far the most common mineral found, and all other minerals require some digging in the dump to locate. FEE: The day time digs will cost $20 and the night time digs will be $30 (this entitles you to one five gallon bucket of specimens). Admission to the Ben Clement Fluorite Museum is $ 5. All reservations for the digs will be handled though the Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum at www.MarionKentucky.us. Or call 270-965-9257, or write Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum, 205 North Walker Street, Marion, Kentucky 42064. Information on campgrounds, lodging, and bed and breakfasts can also be obtained from Clement Mineral Museum. In order to fill any vacancies in the scheduled digs, left by the SFMS, after March 1, 2007 these vacancies will be open to KYANA members and any other rock hound who wishes to join the dig. While the primary purpose of this trip is to accommodate SFMS members, the secondary purpose is to help the Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum fund its efforts in maintaining a world class fluorite collection and making it available to the public. WHAT TO BRING: Other than standard collecting equipment, bring plenty of water, snacks, camera, and you will need a portable ultraviolet light. Daytime collectors will need a way to check fluorescence too! Black light boxes or whatever suits you. Night time collectors will need a standard flashlight to travel to and from their cars. The time of the month was chosen because it is the dark of the moon! Short wave and broad spectrum ultraviolet lights are best. Most collectors will share their lights, but do not count on it, after all someone will need to bring a light. Although, the temperatures have been unseasonably warm thus far, March can occasionally be quite brisk in the Ohio Valley. So be prepared to dress warmly, multiple layers works best. MINE HISTORY: The mines where the dig is to be conducted are located on the Commodore fault system and date back to 1901. Mine shafts on the property have produced fluorite, smithsonite and sphalerite. Other minerals that have been found in the mine dumps include; cerussite, galena, hemimorphite, hydrozincite, quartz, & pyromorphite. Calcite is by far the most common mineral found, and all other minerals require some digging in the dump to locate. The Rock Shaft dump comprises most of the material at this mine site. The Rock shaft was completed to the depth of 240 feet. From 1924-25 some 8,000 tons of smithsonite was removed from the Rock Shaft. The Maddox shaft sunk in 1941-42 was completed to remove approximately 215 tons of "gravel spar" (fluorite). A crosscut was made from the Maddox shaft to the Commodore Fault and in 1945 a vertical raise was cut up though the Commodore Fault zone. This raise is known as the Yandell shaft. Mud, gouge, calcite, fragments of fluorite veins, sphalerite and galena were noted (R. Trace, 1954). There is an open shaft on the site which is surrounded by barbed wire. The most common fluorescent mineral is calcite which glows a soft to bright pearly white. There are other colors other than white, but they are fewer in number. Of particular note are specimens of sandstone which glow a coral pink to a bright red in either short wave or broad spectrum ultraviolet light. There are also specimens which glow various shades of pale yellow and bright blue. Please note: that included in the spoil are fragments of mortar and concrete which will also fluoresce. The concrete and mortar was made from rock from the mine. Charles Oldham a retired professional geologist from the Kentucky Department for Surface Mining with over 30 years of mining experience will be your KYANA host, along with his sidekick Betty Hansel and as many KYANA members as we can carry. Charles has been collecting minerals and fossils for over 50 years, starting at the age of five, when his father gave him a "gold ore" specimen from California. In later years his father (a retired naval engineering officer) asked Charles why he became a geologist and not an engineer. Charles replied you should have given me a micrometer and not a rock!

MARCH FIELD TRIP

An Official Field Trip of the GEORGIA MINERAL SOCIETY

Hall’s Valley, Rome GA.
Saturday March 17^th. 2007

Free Site

New Site, Actually an old site but one that GMS has not been to at least in the past several years. Led by Bob Madden, former member of GMS and now a member of the Rome Georgia Mineral Society. It should be noted that this is the weekend (16^th.17^th.and 18^th.) of the Valley and Ridge Gem and Mineral Show at the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, 1818 Kingston Rd. (at the Bypass) in Rome, Georgia

Fee: This is a free site

When: Saturday March 17^th2007. We meet at 9:00 AM

Where: We will meet Bob at the Evens Store. This is a general store that will sell you breakfast and gasoline. They are on GA 20 next to the power plant approximately 11 miles west of the center of town This is the station after the CITCO station and is on the right side of the road. From there we will caravan together approximately 4 miles to the site.

Collecting: Colorful nodules and agates. They have been found as large as a basketball but the more colorful with blues and reds are normally much smaller. I understand that while they may be golf ball size they are as colorful as Paint Rock pieces. If we have time, Bob may be able to bring us to a second site for blastoids but he will have to leave us about noon to attend to his commitments to the Rome Show.

What to bring: besides scratching tools and buckets you might want to bring something to cut your way through the brush and brambles which may be covering the best collecting areas. They may be a few inches under the ground and covered with leaf litter and you might need something to get through that. Bring gloves. Perhaps a small pick. A rock hammer is always good to break a chip off to see what is inside the nodule. Protective clothing against cold and the thickets with boots for hiking as well as something to drink.

Directions: Take I-75 to exit 290 in Cartersville. West on route 20. South on Hwy 41 to Hwy 41,411and go west. Continue West on 411 until the Rome Loop, Route 1. Go North, then West past Hwy 27 and continue south until the end at Shorter Ave. which is Route 9 and 20. Go west until the Evans store. Route 20 becomes Alabama Hwy. And the store is just short of Alabama and the collecting site is just over the line. Map Quest states it is about 70 miles from Atlanta and about 1 hour and 15 minuets drive time. Please take into account where you might be leaving and our destination is west of Rome.

DMC Program of the SFMS Field Trip Committee

An Official Field Trip of The KYANA Geological Society (Louisville, KY) (HOST)
An Official Field Trip of the GEORGIA MINERAL SOCIETY

Saturday and Sunday, March 17 & 18, 2007

Hickory Cane Mines, Marion, Kentucky

FEE SITE

WHERE: The Hickory Cane Mines outside of Marion, Kentucky

WHEN: Sat. and Sun., March 17 & 18, 2007

TIME: Day and night digs.

COLLECTING: Fluorite, smithsonite, sphalerite, cerussite, galena, hemimorphite, hydrozincite, quartz, & pyromorphite. Calcite is by far the most common mineral found, and all other minerals require some digging in the dump to locate.

FEE: The day time digs will cost $20 and the night time digs will be $30 (this entitles you to one five gallon bucket of specimens). Admission to the Ben Clement Fluorite Museum is $ 5.

All reservations for the digs will be handled though the Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum at www.MarionKentucky.us. Or call 270-965-9257, or write Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum, 205 North Walker Street, Marion, Kentucky 42064. Information on campgrounds, lodging, and bed and breakfasts can also be obtained from Clement Mineral Museum.

In order to fill any vacancies in the scheduled digs, left by the SFMS, after March 1, 2007 these vacancies will be open to KYANA members and any other rock hound who wishes to join the dig. While the primary purpose of this trip is to accommodate SFMS members, the secondary purpose is to help the Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum fund its efforts in maintaining a world class fluorite collection and making it available to the public.

WHAT TO BRING: Other than standard collecting equipment, bring plenty of water, snacks, camera, and you will need a portable ultraviolet light. Daytime collectors will need a way to check fluorescence too! Black light boxes or whatever suits you. Night time collectors will need a standard flashlight to travel to and from their cars. The time of the month was chosen because it is the dark of the moon! Short wave and broad spectrum ultraviolet lights are best. Most collectors will share their lights, but do not count on it, after all someone will need to bring a light.

Although, the temperatures have been unseasonably warm thus far, March can occasionally be quite brisk in the Ohio Valley. So be prepared to dress warmly, multiple layers works best.

MINE HISTORY: The mines where the dig is to be conducted are located on the Commodore fault system and date back to 1901. Mine shafts on the property have produced fluorite, smithsonite and sphalerite. Other minerals that have been found in the mine dumps include; cerussite, galena, hemimorphite, hydrozincite, quartz, & pyromorphite. Calcite is by far the most common mineral found, and all other minerals require some digging in the dump to locate.

The Rock Shaft dump comprises most of the material at this mine site. The Rock shaft was completed to the depth of 240 feet. From 1924-25 some
8,000 tons of smithsonite was removed from the Rock Shaft. The Maddox shaft sunk in 1941-42 was completed to remove approximately 215 tons of
"gravel spar" (fluorite). A crosscut was made from the Maddox shaft to the Commodore Fault and in 1945 a vertical raise was cut up though the
Commodore Fault zone. This raise is known as the Yandell shaft. Mud, gouge, calcite, fragments of fluorite veins, sphalerite and galena were noted (R. Trace, 1954). There is an open shaft on the site which is surrounded by barbed wire.

The most common fluorescent mineral is calcite which glows a soft to bright pearly white. There are other colors other than white, but they are fewer in number. Of particular note are specimens of sandstone which glow a coral pink to a bright red in either short wave or broad spectrum ultraviolet light. There are also specimens which glow various shades of pale yellow and bright blue. Please note: that included in the spoil are fragments of mortar and concrete which will also fluoresce. The concrete and mortar was made from rock from the mine.

Charles Oldham a retired professional geologist from the Kentucky Department for Surface Mining with over 30 years of mining experience will be your KYANA host, along with his sidekick Betty Hansel and as many KYANA members as we can carry. Charles has been collecting minerals and fossils for over 50 years, starting at the age of five, when his father gave him a "gold ore" specimen from California. In later years his father (a retired naval engineering officer) asked Charles why he became a geologist and not an engineer. Charles replied you should have given me a micrometer and not a rock!