Shannon
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2015
Posts: 145
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Post by Shannon on Sept 24, 2016 1:57:55 GMT -5
Almost every year we drive up to Montana from the bay area. It takes a day and a half, but the route we take runs through some mineral rich areas so I don't mind it too much. Our first stop was just within the Idaho border, and a resounding success. Within 20 minutes I had a 5 gallon bucket full of thundereggs and botryoidal chalcedony. One of my favorites. Right next to it is a solid thunderegg. I'm going to saw some of the whole ones open today, so I'll let you know how that goes. Does anyone have any tips for cleaning some of these guys btw? A lot of green staining from plants and various white crusts that scrubbing couldn't take care of. We ended up staying at my Zayde/Grandfather's house and he's about 20 minutes away from Darby, so we inquired about the Darby Fluorite Mine with a park ranger. She said it was on private property, but then gave us advice on reaching it? Mixed signals, but trespassing in Montana can mean a gunshot so we turned back immediately. On the way to another family member we stopped in Philipsburg and a friendly rockhound drew me a map to the nearby Black Pine Mine. Collecting was actually very easy and the roads were quite nice compared to the other mountain roads we had been subjected to. Unsure what the green in the bottom picture is, but it's interesting. ..And I also brought home a giant quartz boulder with various copper minerals on it that I can take a picture of later. Once we got to said family member's house we visited the Koocanusa Reservoir and I got some nice tumbling material. My tumbler stopped rotating while I was away though, so I need to figure out what's wrong with it before I can even hope to start on it. :/ Thanks for reading!
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Post by adam on Sept 24, 2016 7:10:38 GMT -5
Wish I could been there collecting, nice thundereggs.
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Shannon
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2015
Posts: 145
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Post by Shannon on Sept 24, 2016 16:48:01 GMT -5
Hopefully they look ok for a first time saw user.. (before pic: i.imgur.com/AHyY77I.jpg) None of the ones I cut open were solid, so I guess the term would be thunderegg geode? Our club's lapidary shop doesn't open again until the 10th of October but I'll bring some more then.
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Shannon
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2015
Posts: 145
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Post by Shannon on Sept 24, 2016 16:51:36 GMT -5
Wish I could been there collecting, nice thundereggs. If you think you'll ever be around the Nevada/Idaho border I can shoot you the coordinates.
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Post by adam on Sept 24, 2016 18:46:10 GMT -5
Wish I could been there collecting, nice thundereggs. If you think you'll ever be around the Nevada/Idaho border I can shoot you the coordinates. I'll be in southern California in January, a while from now, but still. I love CA material.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,575
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Post by Mark K on Sept 24, 2016 20:51:12 GMT -5
Looks like you went to Rabbit Springs.
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Fritz
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2016
Posts: 77
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Post by Fritz on Oct 1, 2016 11:09:37 GMT -5
Great finds! I went through Montana a couple times last month, I wish I had had more time to poke around.
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Erich
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2015
Posts: 411
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Post by Erich on Oct 1, 2016 16:56:44 GMT -5
Some nice color in some and sounds like you had a good time!
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Post by catmandewe on Oct 1, 2016 17:32:50 GMT -5
Those are rabbit springs geodes, they fluoresce under a shortwave light so get a black light or a shortwave light and check them out. There is supposed to be some blue agate up the next canyon but I have found very little of it.
Looks like a good trip! Tony
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2016 20:07:07 GMT -5
Yay!! Shannon is back! L'chaim Shannon! You can call me re: tumbler issues if you like. I think u have my number. Polly something easy solved in the phone.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,681
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 2, 2016 9:40:20 GMT -5
Always treasures in Idaho and Montana......Nice score!!! What part of Montana did you go see Family?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2016 11:33:02 GMT -5
Nice haul and photos! Does anyone have any tips for cleaning some of these guys btw? A lot of green staining from plants and various white crusts that scrubbing couldn't take care of. I've had success with Oxy-clean type powdered oxygen bleach (different brands vary in their strength, tho). Takes care of green stains and at least loosens some of the white caliche and dirt crusts that will come off with a scrubbing after the soak.
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 3,775
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Post by gemfeller on Oct 3, 2016 14:31:20 GMT -5
Boy does Rabbit Springs bring back memories. The old road went right through the thunderegg bed and you could hammer out all you wanted from the road cut. Haven't been that way for a long, long time and I imagine things have changed. I was strongly into fluorescent minerals back then and those eggs gave off a nice green glow. Sounds like you found a lot of good stuff on your trip.
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Shannon
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2015
Posts: 145
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Post by Shannon on Oct 3, 2016 15:42:33 GMT -5
Yay!! Shannon is back! L'chaim Shannon! You can call me re: tumbler issues if you like. I think u have my number. Polly something easy solved in the phone. I'm attending classes Mon-Fri and working some nights so I don't think I'll be super consistent on my posting! Will try to visit my club's lapidary shop as much as possible though. And thanks for the offer Scott, but I opened it up and the problem was pretty apparent! Hopefully I can get back to tumbling as soon as the replacement belt gets here because I got some nice material on my trip.
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Shannon
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2015
Posts: 145
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Post by Shannon on Oct 3, 2016 15:44:23 GMT -5
Always treasures in Idaho and Montana......Nice score!!! What part of Montana did you go see Family? Hamilton and Eureka! Stayed at my parents' property for a day and that's an hour away from Bigfork.
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Shannon
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2015
Posts: 145
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Post by Shannon on Oct 3, 2016 15:47:00 GMT -5
Those are rabbit springs geodes, they fluoresce under a shortwave light so get a black light or a shortwave light and check them out. There is supposed to be some blue agate up the next canyon but I have found very little of it. Looks like a good trip! Tony There was a lot of blue chalcedony/agate at the thunderegg site itself! Lots of delicate banding, but nothing really apparent without looking close.
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Post by drocknut on Oct 3, 2016 20:03:27 GMT -5
Black Pine Mine brings back memories for me. I went there several times to collect. The green can be epidote or malachite if I remember correctly. That area is supposed to be known for Philipsburgite which is green but comes in very tiny crystals and I only saw a thumbnail specimen from a collector in Butte. That road into the area gave me my first flat tire in Montana back in 2006. I even still have some drill cores from that mine.
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Shannon
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2015
Posts: 145
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Post by Shannon on Oct 3, 2016 23:02:25 GMT -5
Black Pine Mine brings back memories for me. I went there several times to collect. The green can be epidote or malachite if I remember correctly. That area is supposed to be known for Philipsburgite which is green but comes in very tiny crystals and I only saw a thumbnail specimen from a collector in Butte. That road into the area gave me my first flat tire in Montana back in 2006. I even still have some drill cores from that mine. Are those drill cores as neat as I hope? It's a little too light to be malachite I think. Looks a couple shades greener than your generic opaque sulfur.
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Post by paulshiroma on Oct 6, 2016 22:09:54 GMT -5
APPLAUSE ... what an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing the photos. Looks like you all had a great time.
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Post by drocknut on Oct 12, 2016 18:22:54 GMT -5
Black Pine Mine brings back memories for me. I went there several times to collect. The green can be epidote or malachite if I remember correctly. That area is supposed to be known for Philipsburgite which is green but comes in very tiny crystals and I only saw a thumbnail specimen from a collector in Butte. That road into the area gave me my first flat tire in Montana back in 2006. I even still have some drill cores from that mine. Are those drill cores as neat as I hope? It's a little too light to be malachite I think. Looks a couple shades greener than your generic opaque sulfur. The drill cores aren't really that special just cast offs from when they were doing core samples I think but they might have some gold or metals in them, hard to tell. I'd say you might have some chrysocolla but not sure that is found there. It's hard to say without testing I believe.
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