My dream of discovery... am I too late?

[Mark]

Nice Material guys.  Every year there is new lapidary material that comes out of Tucson.  Each year there are new mineral specimen discoveries and reopenings of old mines.  It just takes someone to get their butts out into the field.

I have my books on the local geology: "Roadside Geology of Massachusetts" and "Earth Treasures  Volume 1, The Northeastern Quadrant".  Great reading, actually haven't gotten into them much, they are a bit "dry" reading.  But i should be able to figure  out some areas to check out.

[legendarygranite]

Yes

[39don]

It's like the old fisherman said it you don't have the/your hook in the water you are not going to catch a fish.........

So, if you are not out in the Boony's looking down and around you are not going to find or Discover any good rock material.....

I believe there is a lot in South Carolina but it is heavily covered up by erosion and possibly on private land so I'm good to my neighbors........

Don

[john likes rocks!]

 I really do believe there are going to be some exciting new places found. I met a old fellow who found a deposit of beautiful green fluorite in AZ, and have a friend who discovered a place with amethyst center agates and some scepter crystals also in AZ. Just to be out there beyond the beaten path checking the rock can be pretty satisfying ... good luck searching.

[tkcaz]

I'm in AZ, and I still find new stuff (for me, anyway).  It's out there, you just have to have faith. :-)

[Mark]

With all my reading, i was surprised to find a small pamphlet type book amongst all my crap that i had totally forgotten.  It is basically someone's notes about the mining history of mainly western Massachusetts and small parts of VT, CT, and NH.  It is just photocopied typed pages with the author's name and dedication to her mother.  Its called "The Fabulous Mining Days of Old New England" by Cindy Lee Hancock.  I am guessing that i picked it up in a local gift/tourist type store or maybe at the local rock show, as i don't believe it was ever published, just photocopied and distributed locally.  It has some really great and interesting info and i can basically picture a few of the locations mentioned, as they are close to my house.  I guess there used to be a lot of iron mines in MA and a reasonable number of Mica, Gold, and Lead mines.  I also saw there were a few copper mines.  Some of the most incredible minerals have come out of the oxidation zone of copper mines.  I don't know that much about copper mines, but i wonder if they all have oxidation zones, i am guessing so.  I plan to go check out a few of these locations and look for garnets, copper minerals, quartz, graphite, babbingtonite, and prehenite, just to name a few.  I also read about a colored Jasper along a local river and Serpentine just a rocks throw from where my kids went to grade school.  So it seems i have some hope.  I may not find much if any lapidary stone, but i may find a few specimens to add to my collection.

I also found some more info online and may have located a fee dig or collect site owned my some artist group and you can pay either $20/person or $5/carload depending on which is true.  Supposedly lots of garnet and bigger ones.  I also read about a couple of more garnet mines which have yielded some decent specimens.

And last bu not least, there is a small rock show this weekend about 4 miles from my house and i am hoping to find someone from the local rock club there, to talk to and maybe find a few areas to rockhound at.

So see, if you persist enough, you can find rocks just about everywhere.  Can't believe i forgot about the booklet with all the info in it.  I think i forgot about it because i was considering metal detecting / gold panning and when i didn't take those hobbies up, forgot about the booklet i was using for guidance in finding local gold and never really considered the other stuff in there like garnets and copper mines.

Mark

[Breccia Guy]

I'm in AZ, and I still find new stuff (for me, anyway).  It's out there, you just have to have faith. :-)

there is no rocks left in AZ.

[zarguy]

You're not too late. Look at the new discoveries in the past few years:
Sonora Sunrise - Mexico
Yellow Feather or Avatar jasper - Utah
Ocean jasper - Madagascar
Royal Sahara jasper - Egypt

I could think of more, but the brain drain plug was left out.

I keep dreaming of finding something new & awesome, but mostly I just find things that are old & awesome.

Have hope!

Lynn

[lithicbeads]

I am from New Jersey and my family was in mining there so I was aware of mineral specimens when quite young and paid attention. Most everything back east is owned so collecting can be a real drag. Such is the case of the famous yellow serpentine found in New Jersey almost within sight of the Empire state building. It is famous because Tiffanys had it cut and sold as a gemstone. Maybe the finest serp ever. Another example is New Jersey sunstone which is not a single gem crystal as in Oregon but rather is an amalgam of many small sunstones that is solid and makes beautiful stones.You need the skills of Tom Cruise in "Mission Impossible" to get in the locality but , well , I got some. A wonderful new jasper was found in Mississippi two years ago. Lots of examples of rocks that are desirable in amounts large enough to sustain some recreational collecting.New Jersey chrysocholla? I have seen it and it is quite nice but you lose out on that one as they used 600 slaves to mine it out in the late 1700's. That mine was within sight of the Empire state building. Read masters and phd theses done about the geology in the area you want to collect. Read a little , skim a little and you may find some leads.