Trip Report - Nevada Annivers@ry / Ore C@r Mines (pic heavy)
Jun 26, 2019 16:31:33 GMT -5
captbob, QuailRiver, and 12 more like this
Post by NevadaBill on Jun 26, 2019 16:31:33 GMT -5
It has been so long since I have actually gone out looking for rocks ( more fun for me that tumbling rocks actually ), that the fact it was 100+ (F) degrees outside again today did not seem to dissuade me. I needed to get outside and find rocks!
The destination (Anniver@ry Mine, Narrows, and Ore C@r Mine) location is going to be more of a pictorial with some background, history, and stuff and less of a polished slabs article. Just be forewarned that I did not get stunning material (again).
Also, excuse the Jeep pictured in front of beautiful landscape, parked on top of no less than 2 handicapped spots. Sorry. Love the Jeep though. I wanted to draw attention to the landscape.
The Lake Mead National Forest (should be called National Desert) is right in my back yard. So close that I don't have a single street light to go through in order to get there. I am spoiled with this location. It is just outside the National Desert boundary, and at this time of year, nobody is ever out there. It is 100+ (F).
Some times when you are out there, it is easy to take the stunning geology and backdrop for granted. It is very picturesque in this location (the Horse Spr|ng Formation). Mainly because of how the place was formed a couple hundred million years ago.
The area used to be a completely flat marsh and lake area, which was surrounded by volcanoes. And then, there was a lot of faulting that happened. In particular, the Frenchm@n Mountain which now frames the East side of the Las Vega$ valley, had bulldozed its way 40 miles from its original location on the other side of Lake Mead, to where it sits today.
Running right by this site. And what it did was take a dry mud and volcanic soot filled flats, and turned them up at 45 degrees on their sides. All over the place. So, millions of years worth of layers of sedimentary activity is now jutting upwards in tilted, random directions.
This is great for Geologists, because it makes the ground easy to study. It is also great for rock hounds because it exposes all kinds of Chert, Agate, Fossils, and other types of stone too. In this next shot you will see large, wide slats of Chert, stuck in 6" chunks, baked to the side of the host rock, uptilted, exposed now.
Again, it can feel like you are on the surface of Mars at times. Especially since nobody is out here during the heat (only crazy people, really). Here is a look back towards the Lake Mead from the top of one of the hills in the area where I was today.
Today is a dry, arid day with 20 MPH winds. It is harsh. I can't imagine life out here. But honestly the Native Americans lived in this very area, and close vicinity (Valley of Fire) for quite some time. I saw lots of large lizards today when hiking around. That was a treat. All different kinds too! No pictures, sorry, they run fast.
You said "Mine!". Where are these Mines?? OK, well here is one of them. It was founded as a Gypsum / Borate mine in the early 1910's. You can see the main adit in this shot. And also some of the holes they dug so people could access the entrance. There are miles of tunnels. This is still occationally active. But not like it was in the early 1910's. Here is what it looked like:
This picture (large photo blown up) is stapled to the last standing (and only) structure left at the original mine site. This was a very successful mine for many years. But now, it just looks like this:
Notice the uptilted landscape in the backdrop? That is some pretty interesting terrain that they found the Borax (a couple other things too) buried within. Take a look at the walls of the canyon:
Everything (once flat) tilting up at 45 degree angles towards the sky. All layers of this once thriving mud flat, and later volcano desimated desert flat, all viewable. If you look at the very end of this wash (Love|| Wash), you will see a slot canyon.
This is one of the premier hiking destination in the Southern Nevada, which nobody really knows about. Well, the locals know it. This little slot goes almost a quarter of a mile, back, and it opens up to the Muddy Mountains. For many years, the forces from the Muddy Mountains have blasted all forms of silt, float, mud, and the like through this slot, creating what is here today.
Thanks for entertaining the history lesson there. Back to the rock hounding. Today, I am looking for some rocks (some call it Agate, but I think that it is Chert, but then again I just know they are rocks). Found in a small offshoot from the main wash, looking like this:
Now there are all kinds of Agates and rocks found in the float that runs through this little creek offshoot, but that is not what I am most interested in. I am looking for some dark red Chert (some would call Jasper, but I won't), which has some other colors running through it (whites, yellows, and even greens). Do you see the Chert wall which appears in this picture?
The gemstone is a little more obvious here. It is between 1 and 4 inches thick in general. But is genarally poor quality and I have yet to make anything of note using it. But about 200 yards back, there is some clear white Agate. And if you are lucky (this area has been picked over for more than 100 years), you can find some. Here is a closer look at the common stuff, native:
See it? Well this vein extends about 300 feet or more. And it appears at about 4 or 5 different elevation levels. Here are some chunks that someone set to the side. I think they meant to bring them home but forgot them. I won't be taking these ones. But I want something similar.
The locals call it Christm@s Agate. And, I have seen some amazing pictures of stuff that are still rarely found by only the most skilled and experienced rockhounds. Well, I am not one, but I want a derivative of this which has clear, white, yellow, or if I am lucky, green mixed in with it. Spoiler alert (I don't find any really good stuff today).
When you are hiking around in 100+ heat and gusting 30 MPH winds, you can kind of have visions sometimes! I ran out of water about a mile from the jeep today, and thought at one point that the lizards were trying to talk to me or make contact. Take a look at this stuff?
Only nature could come up with something like this. It looks like molten lava pudding, extruded, and dried as it was bubbling hot. This piece is about 5 inches thick. And it has that Basalt look I guess. (I am not a geologist and only try my best here).
One of the highlights of this area (Called Ore C@r Mine, after a very large claim that the local rock club (for which I am a member of) mostly held many years ago. They still have 2 claims, but the other 18 which comprise the bulk of the property are now held by a gentleman (Geologist, Cave exper and long time employee of the Utah Forest Service). I have contacted him, and let him know that I walk his claims and pick up rocks. If you would like, I can provide his contact information. But Ore C@r is mainly just an area of float, sediment which contains a large variety of interesting rocks.
One of the highlights of this are are the wide, fantastic variety of Stromatolites. Here is a version that I ran across today.
But there are about a dozen varieties or so that can be found. Some are very primative, and still whole (read: Not smashed to bits by rock hounds looking for treasures). Here is one:
These are all over the property in different locations. And in some places, if you know where to look, you can find some very Agatized (if that is a word) versions of Stromatolites. They look like this:
Predominantly in reds, oranges, pinks, and colored by the Iron Oxides which have branded this countryside so heavily. These samples will cab or tumble nicely. You can see that sedimentary layers of the formerly alive tribe of little fungae, which build upwards, layer after layer, in the muck of the water and mud.
Now, there are also some very beautiful and unique wildflowers and plants on the land. Here is a picture that I snapped of one.
There are also "Bear Poppies" in the region, which I have found on some of the higher hillsides, but I saw none today or I would have taken a picture of them too. They are very rare, and require unique environment to really thrive.
I had been walking on a small hillside a ways from the Jeep, and did not expect to see this rock. This is my find of the day. Every once in a while, when you are stumbling around, half baked, out of water, seeing visions, you look at a regular rock, and think ... "am I hallucinating?"
I don't know what this is. But I do know that it is a ROCK. I hit one of the sides with a hammer when I cleaned it off and got it home, and it is hard. Here is another look:
Look at this thing! This almost looks like wood. But this does not look like any petrified wood from the area. I know that because I have found a good deal of petrified wood. It almost looks like a Palm tree? Like bones. Here is another look:
This is about the size of a softball. And, even though I swear that I have almost walked 75% of the property by now, I have never seen anything like it. Well, I think I will post it as a mystery rock later. But I am excited about this little guy (about the size of a large softball).
I know what you might be thinking .."OK, Bill! Enough of the ugly rocks. Did you actually find anything out there worth taking a picture of??"..
This is the group of the larger rocks that I took home. They are not as good as I had hoped. But I think that there are a couple winners in the group. The think you have to watch out with these, is if the vein of white Chert is not thick enough, then it will not be adhered sufficiently to the red Chert, and if you hit the rock with a hammer on that seam, it will break the rock in two, right on that white seam.
Here is what it looks like if you get a good piece. I had this piece and cut this open when i first got my little Trim saw, and then finished it off using my new grinder (cabbing machine). You can see the layers of color:
This would make descent cabbing material or tumbling too. I don't have any of this tumbled or cabbed yet. And I don't have much. It is not common (or my untrained eyes)
Here are some of the smaller rocks that I picked up. I will trim off the crust on the outside and toss them in the tumbler.
They are a nice red color, and should do better in the tumbler, now that I know how to tumble rock, and handle imperfections on the outside. But I have tumbled some of this stuff in the past, and done very badly with it I might add. Here are my very first attempts at tumbling this material:
Pretty horrible. But I would like to think that the material was substandard, and that I really just used to throw rocks in the barrel to see what would come out. Plus I never let them take shape properly. OK, excuses. You can see the cracks, fractures, pits, inclusions, etc. Hopefully the stuff I brought home today will do better.
Well, I could probably go on and on about this little piece of land, but perhaps that is best saved for another day.
Thanks for coming along with me today. And as usual, just send a PM if you want detailed maps, instructions on how to get sunstroke, or contact information for the current claim owner.
Thank you!
The destination (Anniver@ry Mine, Narrows, and Ore C@r Mine) location is going to be more of a pictorial with some background, history, and stuff and less of a polished slabs article. Just be forewarned that I did not get stunning material (again).
Also, excuse the Jeep pictured in front of beautiful landscape, parked on top of no less than 2 handicapped spots. Sorry. Love the Jeep though. I wanted to draw attention to the landscape.
The Lake Mead National Forest (should be called National Desert) is right in my back yard. So close that I don't have a single street light to go through in order to get there. I am spoiled with this location. It is just outside the National Desert boundary, and at this time of year, nobody is ever out there. It is 100+ (F).
Some times when you are out there, it is easy to take the stunning geology and backdrop for granted. It is very picturesque in this location (the Horse Spr|ng Formation). Mainly because of how the place was formed a couple hundred million years ago.
The area used to be a completely flat marsh and lake area, which was surrounded by volcanoes. And then, there was a lot of faulting that happened. In particular, the Frenchm@n Mountain which now frames the East side of the Las Vega$ valley, had bulldozed its way 40 miles from its original location on the other side of Lake Mead, to where it sits today.
Running right by this site. And what it did was take a dry mud and volcanic soot filled flats, and turned them up at 45 degrees on their sides. All over the place. So, millions of years worth of layers of sedimentary activity is now jutting upwards in tilted, random directions.
This is great for Geologists, because it makes the ground easy to study. It is also great for rock hounds because it exposes all kinds of Chert, Agate, Fossils, and other types of stone too. In this next shot you will see large, wide slats of Chert, stuck in 6" chunks, baked to the side of the host rock, uptilted, exposed now.
Again, it can feel like you are on the surface of Mars at times. Especially since nobody is out here during the heat (only crazy people, really). Here is a look back towards the Lake Mead from the top of one of the hills in the area where I was today.
Today is a dry, arid day with 20 MPH winds. It is harsh. I can't imagine life out here. But honestly the Native Americans lived in this very area, and close vicinity (Valley of Fire) for quite some time. I saw lots of large lizards today when hiking around. That was a treat. All different kinds too! No pictures, sorry, they run fast.
You said "Mine!". Where are these Mines?? OK, well here is one of them. It was founded as a Gypsum / Borate mine in the early 1910's. You can see the main adit in this shot. And also some of the holes they dug so people could access the entrance. There are miles of tunnels. This is still occationally active. But not like it was in the early 1910's. Here is what it looked like:
This picture (large photo blown up) is stapled to the last standing (and only) structure left at the original mine site. This was a very successful mine for many years. But now, it just looks like this:
Notice the uptilted landscape in the backdrop? That is some pretty interesting terrain that they found the Borax (a couple other things too) buried within. Take a look at the walls of the canyon:
Everything (once flat) tilting up at 45 degree angles towards the sky. All layers of this once thriving mud flat, and later volcano desimated desert flat, all viewable. If you look at the very end of this wash (Love|| Wash), you will see a slot canyon.
This is one of the premier hiking destination in the Southern Nevada, which nobody really knows about. Well, the locals know it. This little slot goes almost a quarter of a mile, back, and it opens up to the Muddy Mountains. For many years, the forces from the Muddy Mountains have blasted all forms of silt, float, mud, and the like through this slot, creating what is here today.
Thanks for entertaining the history lesson there. Back to the rock hounding. Today, I am looking for some rocks (some call it Agate, but I think that it is Chert, but then again I just know they are rocks). Found in a small offshoot from the main wash, looking like this:
Now there are all kinds of Agates and rocks found in the float that runs through this little creek offshoot, but that is not what I am most interested in. I am looking for some dark red Chert (some would call Jasper, but I won't), which has some other colors running through it (whites, yellows, and even greens). Do you see the Chert wall which appears in this picture?
The gemstone is a little more obvious here. It is between 1 and 4 inches thick in general. But is genarally poor quality and I have yet to make anything of note using it. But about 200 yards back, there is some clear white Agate. And if you are lucky (this area has been picked over for more than 100 years), you can find some. Here is a closer look at the common stuff, native:
See it? Well this vein extends about 300 feet or more. And it appears at about 4 or 5 different elevation levels. Here are some chunks that someone set to the side. I think they meant to bring them home but forgot them. I won't be taking these ones. But I want something similar.
The locals call it Christm@s Agate. And, I have seen some amazing pictures of stuff that are still rarely found by only the most skilled and experienced rockhounds. Well, I am not one, but I want a derivative of this which has clear, white, yellow, or if I am lucky, green mixed in with it. Spoiler alert (I don't find any really good stuff today).
When you are hiking around in 100+ heat and gusting 30 MPH winds, you can kind of have visions sometimes! I ran out of water about a mile from the jeep today, and thought at one point that the lizards were trying to talk to me or make contact. Take a look at this stuff?
Only nature could come up with something like this. It looks like molten lava pudding, extruded, and dried as it was bubbling hot. This piece is about 5 inches thick. And it has that Basalt look I guess. (I am not a geologist and only try my best here).
One of the highlights of this area (Called Ore C@r Mine, after a very large claim that the local rock club (for which I am a member of) mostly held many years ago. They still have 2 claims, but the other 18 which comprise the bulk of the property are now held by a gentleman (Geologist, Cave exper and long time employee of the Utah Forest Service). I have contacted him, and let him know that I walk his claims and pick up rocks. If you would like, I can provide his contact information. But Ore C@r is mainly just an area of float, sediment which contains a large variety of interesting rocks.
One of the highlights of this are are the wide, fantastic variety of Stromatolites. Here is a version that I ran across today.
But there are about a dozen varieties or so that can be found. Some are very primative, and still whole (read: Not smashed to bits by rock hounds looking for treasures). Here is one:
These are all over the property in different locations. And in some places, if you know where to look, you can find some very Agatized (if that is a word) versions of Stromatolites. They look like this:
Predominantly in reds, oranges, pinks, and colored by the Iron Oxides which have branded this countryside so heavily. These samples will cab or tumble nicely. You can see that sedimentary layers of the formerly alive tribe of little fungae, which build upwards, layer after layer, in the muck of the water and mud.
Now, there are also some very beautiful and unique wildflowers and plants on the land. Here is a picture that I snapped of one.
There are also "Bear Poppies" in the region, which I have found on some of the higher hillsides, but I saw none today or I would have taken a picture of them too. They are very rare, and require unique environment to really thrive.
I had been walking on a small hillside a ways from the Jeep, and did not expect to see this rock. This is my find of the day. Every once in a while, when you are stumbling around, half baked, out of water, seeing visions, you look at a regular rock, and think ... "am I hallucinating?"
I don't know what this is. But I do know that it is a ROCK. I hit one of the sides with a hammer when I cleaned it off and got it home, and it is hard. Here is another look:
Look at this thing! This almost looks like wood. But this does not look like any petrified wood from the area. I know that because I have found a good deal of petrified wood. It almost looks like a Palm tree? Like bones. Here is another look:
This is about the size of a softball. And, even though I swear that I have almost walked 75% of the property by now, I have never seen anything like it. Well, I think I will post it as a mystery rock later. But I am excited about this little guy (about the size of a large softball).
I know what you might be thinking .."OK, Bill! Enough of the ugly rocks. Did you actually find anything out there worth taking a picture of??"..
This is the group of the larger rocks that I took home. They are not as good as I had hoped. But I think that there are a couple winners in the group. The think you have to watch out with these, is if the vein of white Chert is not thick enough, then it will not be adhered sufficiently to the red Chert, and if you hit the rock with a hammer on that seam, it will break the rock in two, right on that white seam.
Here is what it looks like if you get a good piece. I had this piece and cut this open when i first got my little Trim saw, and then finished it off using my new grinder (cabbing machine). You can see the layers of color:
This would make descent cabbing material or tumbling too. I don't have any of this tumbled or cabbed yet. And I don't have much. It is not common (or my untrained eyes)
Here are some of the smaller rocks that I picked up. I will trim off the crust on the outside and toss them in the tumbler.
They are a nice red color, and should do better in the tumbler, now that I know how to tumble rock, and handle imperfections on the outside. But I have tumbled some of this stuff in the past, and done very badly with it I might add. Here are my very first attempts at tumbling this material:
Pretty horrible. But I would like to think that the material was substandard, and that I really just used to throw rocks in the barrel to see what would come out. Plus I never let them take shape properly. OK, excuses. You can see the cracks, fractures, pits, inclusions, etc. Hopefully the stuff I brought home today will do better.
Well, I could probably go on and on about this little piece of land, but perhaps that is best saved for another day.
Thanks for coming along with me today. And as usual, just send a PM if you want detailed maps, instructions on how to get sunstroke, or contact information for the current claim owner.
Thank you!