JBMugu Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Tony, That seems like a lot of fun. I know how time consuming the backhoe experience can be from digging around STH. Let me know if you would be interested in reciprocal trips, I would be happy to have you come down to my site in Bakersfield when it cools down next winter. Jesse 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 1 hour ago, JBMugu said: I know how time consuming the backhoe experience can be Thanks. Still a lot faster than doing the digging by hand with shovels and picks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 16, 2019 Author Share Posted June 16, 2019 On 6/10/2019 at 5:54 PM, Wrangellian said: I'm surprised that there are still areas you can claim and dig in California. Any public lands not otherwise barred from claiming or under active claim already are open to claim. National monuments, nature preserves and other protected lands are closed to claiming. Wilderness areas can be claimed, but no machinery can be used (must be dug by hand tools only). There are some restrictions that must be dealt with depending on which government agency holds the land. In all My years of rock collecting I have only seen a couple dozen Brazilian rutilated quartz crystals that had a good clean (natural) face, The vast majority have been polished. I have 2 in My collection, both found in boxes of "facet rough". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 3 hours ago, ynot said: In all My years of rock collecting I have only seen a couple dozen Brazilian rutilated quartz crystals that had a good clean (natural) face, The vast majority have been polished. I have 2 in My collection, both found in boxes of "facet rough". I guess Brazilian rutilated qtz is sort of like Madagascan ammonites in that regard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepTimeIsotopes Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Very nice, Tony! The rutilated quartz is fantastic and it seems like the spot you chose is productive. It looks like a worthy use of time. 1 Each dot is 50,000,000 years: Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic........... Paleo......Meso....Ceno.. Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here Doesn't time just fly by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 6 hours ago, UtahFossilHunter said: Very nice, Tony! The rutilated quartz is fantastic and it seems like the spot you chose is productive. It looks like a worthy use of time. Thank You. Day 5. Dug another 20 feet on hole 4 and found nothing. Filled the hole and came home. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 Pictures from day 5. Notice the abundant blumes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 Today was day 6 on the claim. I am too tired to do much typing..... so here is a spoiler.... It was a good day I will fill in the blanks later. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Woohoo! 1 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Great thread Tony really interesting. Your last find looks like a beauty. It has made me wonder about the origins of my mineral collection. I have founds a few nice pieces myself , like a large vanadium cluster but they been on the top soil . Thank you Bobby 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 WOW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 It was bound to happen at some point. Perseverance pays off! 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTinNorthAB Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 Oh wow those quartz are to die for! Those rutilated quartz...omg! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 On 6/25/2019 at 4:38 AM, ynot said: Today was day 6 on the claim. I am too tired to do much typing..... so here is a spoiler.... It was a good day I will fill in the blanks later. Oh, my giddy aunt! Result and most deserved, my friend. 1 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagurus Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 That was easy. I'm glad all that hard work finally paid off. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your finds. Congratulations! 1 Start the day with a smile and get it over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 26, 2019 Author Share Posted June 26, 2019 OK, here is the story of day 6. I showed up at 9:30 and could see that Tom had started to trench along the access trail built last week. The trench was about 20 feet long and 7 feet deep. I had to get in and see what had been exposed (if anything). Found a seam that was 4 inches (on average) thick and ran the length of the trench. There were a couple of areas in the vein that showed crystallization, faces and broken bits (I call these "wanabees") within the quartz. We then removed about 3 feet of the wall in the uphill direction. Did this 2 or 3 times when I saw a larger chunk of quartz fall off the bucket. On closer examination, I saw that one side of the boulder was all faces. Got down into the hole and started examining the quartz vein. Took about five minutes to find where the boulder had come out of the wall and there was the first crystal of the day! We found a small vein with crystal vugs spread through it at random intervals. In Our haste to dig We forgot to take a collection box into the hole, had to improvise with Tom's hat. It was 4 hours later when the big one came out (spoiler above), but We were pulling crystals out all day and filled a 5 gallon buckets with good crystals. Here are some more pictures of the days digging. Much like when fossil hunting, it is hard to remember to take pictures. At the end of the day We headed home with really BIG smiles of Our sore selves When I showed up the next day Both of My partners were already in the hole digging..... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 More to come, I expect? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 4 hours ago, Wrangellian said: More to come, I expect? You guess right, just to worn out to update day 7. Soon.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 Ok, here is day 7 with a backhoe on My claim... I showed up at 9 and My partners were in the hole already pulling crystals out. We continued to dig crystals and remove overburden and dig crystals. The crystals kept coming out until We quit digging at 7. And the day 7 finds. Will be back up there tomorrow for more fun in the mud. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 A few of the crystals from day 7 after a brief rinse. (the long thin fully terminated one in the middle is 4 inches long.) The parts that still look like they are dirty is because of a frosted surface that holds the mineral encrustation and takes a little dental pick work to remove. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 On 6/24/2019 at 11:02 PM, JohnJ said: Woohoo! Indeed!!! On 6/25/2019 at 2:22 AM, Bobby Rico said: Great thread Tony really interesting. Your last find looks like a beauty. It has made me wonder about the origins of my mineral collection. I have founds a few nice pieces myself , like a large vanadium cluster but they been on the top soil . Thank you Bobby Thanks. Gotta dig deeper than topsoil to see if there is more. On 6/25/2019 at 7:11 PM, Wrangellian said: WOW Yeah, that is what I said when I first saw it. On 6/25/2019 at 7:30 PM, Ludwigia said: It was bound to happen at some point. Perseverance pays off! That was My thinking. (glad I stuck with it.) 23 hours ago, VTinNorthAB said: Oh wow those quartz are to die for! Those rutilated quartz...omg! Thanks. 21 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Oh, my giddy aunt! Result and most deserved, my friend. Thanks. 20 hours ago, Pagurus said: That was easy. I'm glad all that hard work finally paid off. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your finds. Congratulations! Easy as peas in a pod. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Lookin good. There’s bound to be some more vugs in there, eh? Keep followin your noses 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 5 minutes ago, Ludwigia said: Lookin good. There’s bound to be some more vugs in there, eh? Keep followin your noses Thank You Roger. There were crystals still showing when We left on Tuesday. (and the undug end of the hole has a large vein of bull quartz showing.) The thing I like most about this hole is it was not exposed at the surface. This is the first pocket that was found from a blind lead. It was also the first time We have dug without having found crystal before the digging started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 18 minutes ago, ynot said: Thank You Roger. There were crystals still showing when We left on Tuesday. (and the undug end of the hole has a large vein of bull quartz showing.) The thing I like most about this hole is it was not exposed at the surface. This is the first pocket that was found from a blind lead. It was also the first time We have dug without having found crystal before the digging started. Just keep following those veins. You’re pulling out some quality stuff now! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 33 minutes ago, ynot said: Thank You Roger. There were crystals still showing when We left on Tuesday. (and the undug end of the hole has a large vein of bull quartz showing.) The thing I like most about this hole is it was not exposed at the surface. This is the first pocket that was found from a blind lead. It was also the first time We have dug without having found crystal before the digging started. It sounds like maybe that whole mountainside is full of xls, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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