OH what We will do to find some rocks!

[ynot]

Day 37

 

Another pleasant day, but none of the quartz we found had crystalz associated with it,

The lead We were following just petered out and the other 2 that We found also led to nothing.

[FossilNerd]

50 minutes ago, ynot said:

Day 37

 

Another pleasant day, but none of the quartz we found had crystalz associated with it,

The lead We were following just petered out and the other 2 that We found also led to nothing.

Keep up the detective work. You are bound to find something soon! 

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Hopefully, the next one you'll strike it rich!

[ynot]

4 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Keep up the detective work. You are bound to find something soon! 

 

1 hour ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

Hopefully, the next one you'll strike it rich!

 

On 10/24/2019 at 3:06 PM, Ludwigia said:

 

Thanks Guys.

I still have hope for the dig finding more nice stuff.

[Nimravis]

Tony I did not see this post of your's before- simply amazing and it looks like you have a lot of fun finding those great crystals.

[ynot]

4 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Tony I did not see this post of your's before- simply amazing and it looks like you have a lot of fun finding those great crystals.

Thank You Ralph.

It is a lot of fun when the crystals are coming out, but the last 6 days have been rather boring. I sit in the shade next to the digging and watch what comes out. I get up to take a closer look from time to time, but mostly just sit and watch. the dirt come out and go back in. The rest of the time We spread straw over the areas We are done with.

A few pictures of the current digging area.

 

And a shot of the parking area from the dig site.

Can You see the truck?

[Nimravis]

17 minutes ago, ynot said:

Can You see the truck?

Yes- after I zoomed up, lol.

[Troodon]

Wow also missed this thread, very cool and boy looks like lots of hard work but the rewards are there.  Congrat on the finds they look super.  For someone who knows zilch about crystals are the bigger ones typical and average or special?  Why are crystals just found and nothing else?

[ynot]

4 hours ago, Troodon said:

Wow also missed this thread, very cool and boy looks like lots of hard work but the rewards are there.  Congrat on the finds they look super.  For someone who knows zilch about crystals are the bigger ones typical and average or special?  Why are crystals just found and nothing else?

Thanks Frank.

For the alpine type quartz the larger crystals I find are near the top end of the typical size limit, but I have heard of/seen some that are much larger (not typical). 

Aside from the quartz there are at least 7 other types of crystals found in this location, mostly as micro inclusions in the quartz. (other alpine type formations can have different minerals because they consolidate the elements in the rock around the cracks that get filled with quartz).

At this site the bedrock is a mica schist with large areas of it altered to clay minerals (because the other elements are leached out and deposited into the openings /cracks caused by stress in the mica schist from deformation of the rock during the mountain building process). There are also thin veins of metal oxides (iron and manganese) which often cover the crystals too.

 

Hope that answers Your questions.

[Troodon]

Thank you.  One more question (s)  is the layer much deeper then you see in your dig holes?  Matrix soft or hard, looks reasonable to dig.

[ynot]

13 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Thank you.  One more question (s)  is the layer much deeper then you see in your dig holes?  Matrix soft or hard, looks reasonable to dig.

The formation is the whole mountain and does go deeper than the holes. But We are only looking for and digging surface exposures (I do not want to tunnel).

The unaltered mica schist is very hard to dig through even with the backhoe. Many areas of the bedrock have been "softened" by the removal of most of the elements that were in it. The leaching process removes all but the clay minerals.

There is also a lot of rock that is in between the hard (mica schist) and the soft (clay).

 

Also wanted to note that other types of quartz deposits (pegmatite, hydrothermal) can produce vastly larger quartz crystals.  I have seen 8 - 10 foot long quartz crystals from pegmatite formations.

[ynot]

Day 38

When I arrived at the access road I made it half way to the claim when I caught up with My partners. They were in the process of cutting the 10th dead fall tree out of the road. It took another hour to clear the half mile to the claim from there.

Once We reached the claim We filled the trench from the previous day and moved the backhoe down to the first pocket found on the claim.  (Just bellow the old logging road We cleared when We moved down the hill.)

Found some crystal pieces as float about halfway through cutting a trail to the pocket, but left it for later exploration.

Then We reached the old digging and opened it up to find the quartz did continue into the hillside. Found one crystal about an inch long. It is a start or the last of a pre-dug hole. That was the end of the day.

Have to wait for the next trip up to see if there is any more in the pocket or if We can find the pocket that dropped the float.

[FossilNerd]

18 minutes ago, ynot said:

Have to wait for the next trip up to see if there is any more in the pocket or if We can find the pocket that dropped the float.

Here’s hoping! 

[ynot]

11 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Here’s hoping! 

Thanks,.

[Pbassham]

Wow! Those are gorgeous! So are you taking reservations for us to come help find and clean them? 

[ynot]

2 hours ago, Pbassham said:

Wow! Those are gorgeous!

Thank You.

 

2 hours ago, Pbassham said:

So are you taking reservations for us to come help find and clean them? 

If I let everyone that wants to go to My claim and gave each one crystal I would not have any left for Me. 

There is an area in Arkansas that has an abundance of quartz and some pay to dig sites.

[ynot]

Day 39

The dry streak continues....

Hole one was dug out and nothing else was found by re-opening it.

After filling the hole again We continued to trench. found quite a lot of float (bull) quartz, but no vein. That is until the end of the day when We did hit another lead of quartz. So far no crystals on this and it is to deep to be where the float (previously mentioned) is coming from.

Time is getting short but the search continues (although hope is dwindling).

[ynot]

Day 40

Same as the previous days, no crystals found. Not much quartz either.

[Ludwigia]

Sounds like it's almost time to start thinking about negotiating a truce with mother nature

[ynot]

8 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Sounds like it's almost time to start thinking about negotiating a truce with mother nature

If mother nature gives Me what I want I will quit digging (for the winter).

 

Works for Me, but not sure how she will take to it.

[Ludwigia]

4 hours ago, ynot said:

If mother nature gives Me what I want I will quit digging (for the winter).

That's the spirit!

[ynot]

Day 41

Another day of digging with nothing but mica schist and clay coming out of the hole.

[ynot]

Day 42

Continued to do the exploratory trenching.

Found some nice quartz leads, but alas, none lead to crystals. The source of the float is proving to be quite elusive.

My partners informed Me that they are about ready to pull out (for the season), so there are precious few days left to turn the tide back to success.

Oh well, it is supposed to start raining in this part of the world soon anyways (which means snow at the claim).

[digit]

It's been an interesting ride so far--let's hope for some last-minute discoveries.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

It seems it’s been a fairly good run this year. I’m excited to see what next season will bring! For now, enjoy the beautiful sights of snow on the mountain tops.