OH what We will do to find some rocks!

[ynot]

Hay hi Folks,

As many of You may know, I have a gemstone mine claim. I have held this claim since 2002, but first discovered the site in June 1999. I have had a small backhoe at the claim 2 times in the past and have found a few small crystals while digging with the hoe. During those trips I was limited to where I could dig by the plan of operation approval I had to get from the forestry dept.

In 2017 I had approval to dig wherever I wanted on the claim. The road to the clam went down the hill during the winter that year. This prevented access to the claim or required twice as much time to reach the claim the long way around.. 

We decided to make a trip to the claim in June 2018. It took 2 hours to reach the turn off to the claim and 6.5 hours to manage the last 1 mile to the claim.

Clearing the road 2018...

They finally fixed the main road in October 2018.

I asked for an extension and it was granted. All set to get up to the claim and start digging when the rain started and kept coming, and coming, and coming. It kept raining for the first 4 months of 2019.  We finally had a window to get the backhoe up there in early May.

When We got to the turnoff to the claim We found the road was once again blocked by down trees, this time most of them were dropped by a wood cutter clearing dead trees that could fall on the main road. It looked like they aimed for the access road.

 

Continued

 

[ynot]

Clearing the entrance....

 

 

This time it only took 4 hours to clear the road.

 

more....

[ynot]

After We made it to the claim We had to cut a trail (for the backhoe) to the hole We dug in 2016 so We could see if there were more crystals in the pocket.

2016 dig here...

 

 

Here We start the cut off the access road.

 

Then cutting across the hill to the hole.

 

 

We reach the hole and start the fun!

 

We cleared the debris from the hole and dug in a few feet, found a couple of small crystals. Decided to remove some more overburden and went to climb out of the hole. That is when I noticed a seal on the hydraulic piston that operates the swing of the backhoe arm was blown and fluid was gushing out.

That ended the days activities.

The next day it started to rain again, and rain and rain and rain.

Could not return to the claim for 3 weeks.

[ynot]

Day 2 with the backhoe on My claim....

We finally got a couple days of clear weather and made it back up. Spent 4 hours replacing the seals.

Got back into the hole and started to dig further in.

[ynot]

We found that the seam of quartz did continue into the hillside. And there were crystals in the diggings.

Time was short and the digging was limited, so not much digging got done this day.

 

The crystals were small but clear and had great luster. 

Here are a couple of them...

 

That was the end of day 2.

[ynot]

Day 3 digging with a backhoe.

As We continued to dig into the hill the crystals kept coming out and got a little larger as We went deeper. We did not find a proper vug. Instead the crystals seemed to be sandwiched between blocks of the mica schist that makes up the bedrock of the formation. It is known as an alpine facies and the crystals I find there are alpine quartz which often have inclusions. There were few inclusions in this pocket, but some crystals do have a chlorite phantom.

[ynot]

The crystals did get up to 6 inches long....

At this point the quartz lead vanished and after digging a few more feet into the hill, decided to fill the hole.

It was getting late anyways.

 

 

[ynot]

 

Day 4.

We discussed the options and decided to reopen the 4th pocket that was found on the claim.

So We had to cut a trail to it.

 

And We did find a small area of quartz vein with a few dinky crystals. (at least We were not skunked on this day.). The vug was in the bright yellowish clay next to the backhoe bucket.

 

At this point it was getting late in the day, so We filled the hole. Well almost. After turning the hoe around to shove some dirt around, the backhoe suffered another injury. A stick jumped out and ripped the stem valve out on one of the big rear tires. After We loaded the tire into My truck We headed out for the comfort of a hot meal.

 

My digging partners are going on a week long (club) field trip  to Utah next week.

This story will be going on throughout the summer as We continue to search for the buried treasures that are hidden on My own little slice of heaven!

 

Please stay tuned as I search for the elusive rutilated quartz crystals that are the gemstone found at My claim.....

[TqB]

Wow! That is some dedicated collecting. 

[Manticocerasman]

That is a lot of work to get to those crystals 

But you are getting great result, and a realy impressive report

 

[Kane]

Great to see you back out there, Ynot, and especially after so many unforeseen delays (and it seems more delays were being thrown in your path with that backhoe). Great pics, too! I can imagine all your clothes get stained red with that dirt.

 

Here's to hoping 2019 is the big year at the claim, as it seems to be shaping up to be already! 

[Mike from North Queensland]

Now that's what I want a back hoe, to dig fossils out with.

Where I am looking is a disused quarry on private property and the fossils are either spread in the spoil heaps or under a 100 mm thick layer of limestone on the floor.

Nice quartz crystal terminations but sounds like a lot of effort to get at them.

 

Mike

[RuMert]

Wow! Impressive determination

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting trip report. 

Thanks for sharing and I will stay tuned.

 

[Fossildude19]

I thought fossil hunters were dedicated!  

Great report Tony!

Looking forward to more!

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for the detailed report,Tony. Whether you’re up in the Alps or out in the woods, it doesn’t make much difference. Finding and removing good quartz crystals is always coupled with enormous efforts. Here’s hoping that you’re paid off soon with some rutile quartz for your efforts. Good luck! Or “Glueckauf!!”, as the German miners used to say. 

[Wrangellian]

What the others have said!

How do you know where to dig, you were out hiking and came across loose xls weathering out on the ground?

Looking forward to seeing you find some rutilated ones, I'll be monitoring.

EDIT: Just looked at your other thread (which I had missed before). Now I see why you're going thru so much effort!

[RJB]

  Hey Tony, if it was easy everyone would be doing it.    Great report and lots of good pics.  Good luck on finding those killer pieces!

 

RB

[ynot]

6 hours ago, TqB said:

Wow! That is some dedicated collecting. 

Yes it is, but I get a little manic when it comes to great rocks.

 

5 hours ago, Manticocerasman said:

That is a lot of work to get to those crystals 

But you are getting great result, and a realy impressive report

 

Lot easier than doing the overburden removal by hand (how the five previous discoveries have been excavated).

Thanks.

 

4 hours ago, Kane said:

Great pics, too! I can imagine all your clothes get stained red with that dirt.

 

Here's to hoping 2019 is the big year at the claim, as it seems to be shaping up to be already! 

It do get dirty digging there.  Thanks, I got My hopes up.

 

3 hours ago, Mike from North Queensland said:

Nice quartz crystal terminations but sounds like a lot of effort to get at them.

Thanks, it is well worth all the effort it has taken to get to this point.

 

3 hours ago, RuMert said:

Wow! Impressive determination

Thanks.

 

3 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Very interesting trip report. 

Thanks for sharing and I will stay tuned.

 

Thanks.

 

2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

I thought fossil hunters were dedicated!  

Great report Tony!

Looking forward to more!

, but wait a minute, I am a fossil hunter too.

Thanks.

 

2 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Here’s hoping that you’re paid off soon with some rutile quartz for your efforts. Good luck! Or “Glueckauf!!”, as the German miners used to say. 

Dankashern.

 

2 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

What the others have said!

Thanks.

 

1 hour ago, RJB said:

  Hey Tony, if it was easy everyone would be doing it.    Great report and lots of good pics.  Good luck on finding those killer pieces!

 

RB

Thanks.

[ynot]

2 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

How do you know where to dig, you were out hiking and came across loose xls weathering out on the ground?

Looking forward to seeing you find some rutilated ones,

All 5 of the pockets that have been found were surface exposures.

 

A friend had asked Me to take him up country (into the mountains east of Me) to hike around and see some sites. When we got to this area, he saw a couple pieces of white quartz and said he was ready to stretch his legs. So we got out and hiked up the hill where it had recently been logged. When I reached the top of the logged area, there was a block of white quartz in the bulldozer track. I kicked it over and there was a 4 inch crystal sticking out of it. I looked at the hole where the rock had been and there was another 4 inch crystal sitting there.  I told My friend that we were done hiking and would be spending the rest of the day right there.

This "pocket" ran 30 feet into the hill and had 7 or 8 vugs. The largest vug was 8 by 4 by 2 feet in size and produced crystals up to 7 inches long - many with nice inclusions.

1 Month later the son of another friend wanted to find a crystal, so I took him up and We found the second pocket. This was a partial because most of it had already eroded down the hill. It was 30 by 6 by 4 feet and ran horizontally across the face of the hill. Most of the crystals were damaged but several very nice pieces came out. There was a lot of very fine copper to gold colored rutile in most of the quartz in this pocket. 

3 Years later a mine consultant I took up there talked Me into filing the claim. (and we found the 3rd pocket which had the largest crystals in it.)

Here are 2 of the crystals from the second pocket....

4 inches long. 

 

8 inches long.

 

[daves64]

Those rutilated quartz are gorgeous! You should have @Kane there.. he IS the Human Backhoe, isn't he? No seals to break, no tires to mess up. 

[ynot]

4 hours ago, daves64 said:

Those rutilated quartz are gorgeous! You should have @Kane there.. he IS the Human Backhoe, isn't he? No seals to break, no tires to mess up. 

Thanks.

Now You tell Me!

[Wrangellian]

Wow!

Big pockets, big crystals. Definitely sounds/looks to be worth the effort/expense. Only question I have now is, do you sell some of the xls to offset the cost of the backhoe? (not that I could afford them, probably, just curious)

I've got one rutilated qtz xl but it's from Brazil and it's a little beat up, surfaces slightly dull, but being able to find them yourself like that is great.

 

[ynot]

8 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

Only question I have now is, do you sell some of the xls to offset the cost of the backhoe?

Simple answer - Yes.

The owners of the backhoe will get a percentage of what we find with it. So the backhoe cost Me 40% of the take.

The five pockets already found have paid for all of the previous activities at the claim and I still have the best from each pocket and some others. And more than half of what has been found went to others that were digging with Me.

 

14 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

I've got one rutilated qtz xl but it's from Brazil and it's a little beat up, surfaces slightly dull, but being able to find them yourself like that is great.

Very few crystals of rutilated quartz from brazil are in good shape. Most have a frosted surface that needs polishing to show the rutile inclusions.  But they do produce quite a lot of it. (Yours looks pretty good.)

The crystals from My claim have a fantastic luster (most people ask how I got such a good polish on them) that looks like polished glass. There are also differences in the rutile and other mineral inclusions.

 

Yeah, I feel very lucky to be able to dig crystals with a backhoe, something few rockhounds get to experience. And finding the big (rutilated) crystals is very exhilarating!

 

I can only hope.....

[Wrangellian]

Yes, it's not a bad example - I picked it out of a box that was being sold as faceting rough (the rest of the chunks were definitely rough, not a nice crystal like this one). The other side has a clearer surface, but the edges are more beat up. I wonder if it was in better shape before being mistreated and thrown in with the faceting rough.

 

Like Mike in Queensland, I'd love to take a backhoe to my fossil sites... oh the stuff I might uncover! But around here it seems the land is all either owned/leased by the forest companies or is development land, or parks. I'm surprised that there are still areas you can claim and dig in California.