88pathoffroad
spending too much on rocks
Oregon ROCKS!
Member since August 2008
Posts: 305
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Post by 88pathoffroad on Dec 6, 2008 23:42:42 GMT -5
My GF's mom lives out in the country near Scio, Oregon. I've found agate and petrified wood on her property before. The lady that owns the huge parcel of property across the road recently (last summer) had hundreds of evergreens logged off and brush completely cleared off 110+ acres. (She doesn't personally live there, she's in a nursing home. The property's empty.) The tractors tore up the ground pretty good, turning over rocks. I saw a guy working there one day and asked if it was OK to look for rocks there...he said: (and I quote) "I ain't no rock-looker, go ahead." Here's what I found on top of the ground in a half-hour or so... Mostly petrified wood. Lots of the pet wood from this area is either too porous to give a good polish or not entirely petrified already, so not all is worth polishing but it's still neat to have. The yellowish chunk of wood is almost soft enough to flake off bits at the rough end. There's a rough pinkish agate/opalite piece at the bottom...9 ounces, mwuahahaha. Then there's one piece of sard agate that looks to be a drusy layer covering either a limb cast or petrified wood INSIDE it. The jasper I found looks brecciated and re-healed with agate. It could also be described as conglomerate jasper, from the looks of it. Lots of little pebbles glued together with agate. Can't wait to see what it looks like after slabbing... Red/faded cream color jasper with several drusy pockets...1 pound, 12 ounces. Petrified palm wood, from the looks of the pores. Correct me if I'm wrong. One pound, 7 ounces. I'll be going back on Monday to finish a project I'm working on for her, then I'll be out in that hillside in the sunshine with a 5-gallon bucket! I've found pink agate here before and hyalite opal in small bits and pieces....
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SteveHolmes
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2009
Posts: 1,900
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Post by SteveHolmes on Dec 7, 2008 1:10:35 GMT -5
Sweet finds! You sure can't beat that kind of finding in only 30 or so minutes. I'll bet the little side project gets done fast so you can spend lots more time looking around. Good-luck with the hunt! Keep us posted on what you find. Steve
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Post by NatureNut on Dec 7, 2008 6:14:26 GMT -5
Love the red and cream colors. The wood is choice. Are you sure ONE 5 gallon bucket is enough? LOL. Jo
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,787
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Post by adrian65 on Dec 7, 2008 15:14:28 GMT -5
Nice haul, I like especially the wood.
Adrian
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Post by frane on Dec 7, 2008 21:47:15 GMT -5
Nice! I look forward to your posting after your next trip there! Fran
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MidNight~Rocksi3
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2008
Posts: 1,716
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Post by MidNight~Rocksi3 on Dec 7, 2008 21:53:57 GMT -5
No kidding! those rock! Great score! What's that yellow one .. wood? gotta say that one with the pink and slight hint of purple is Choice! wonder what that will look like sliced.. you cut too? or just hammer bash them?
*smiles*
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88pathoffroad
spending too much on rocks
Oregon ROCKS!
Member since August 2008
Posts: 305
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Post by 88pathoffroad on Dec 8, 2008 0:25:59 GMT -5
I can cut most anything up to 8" thick at a local Senior Center lapidary shop. My rock club gets to use the shop too. The yellowish bit is wood but it's not going to take a polish, not petrified enough yet.
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Post by Bejewelme on Dec 8, 2008 20:20:39 GMT -5
I like the pink opalite, that is cool.
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Post by beefjello on Dec 8, 2008 20:34:59 GMT -5
Great finds man!
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88pathoffroad
spending too much on rocks
Oregon ROCKS!
Member since August 2008
Posts: 305
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Post by 88pathoffroad on Dec 8, 2008 22:44:30 GMT -5
I made the trip, trudged through mud and dirt and brambles and made off with a 5-gallon bucket (+/-50 lbs) of petrified wood, red jasper, yellow jasper and 4 chunks of agate. Pics will be forthcoming tomorrow, I'm not at home right now. Gotta wash all these dirty rocks off! The biggest piece of wood I found weighs at least 5 pounds, measures about 12"x5". Oh, and I finished the project I was working on too. heh
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88pathoffroad
spending too much on rocks
Oregon ROCKS!
Member since August 2008
Posts: 305
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Post by 88pathoffroad on Dec 9, 2008 21:21:15 GMT -5
Here are the best/biggest pieces. I ended up with about 40% jasper, 59% pet wood and 1% agate. The biggest piece weighs 6.9 pounds. There's some highly agatized stuff in there, but I only found two or three pieces with nice agate. There's a piece of wood that's dark, DARK red, some other pieces have tinges of red to them. The piece just to the left of the quarter is petrified bark with an outer layer of white/clear agate. The round piece in the top-right corner is yellow jasper with some nasty banding around the middle that actually has some yellow/orange agate in it. Can't wait to cut that one open and see what's inside.
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rockwizz
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2007
Posts: 971
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Post by rockwizz on Dec 10, 2008 13:40:56 GMT -5
Those are some cool pieces. Would you consider setting up a trip to the area for RTH'ers?. I would definetely go there. During the prineville rock show would be even better.
Ozzy
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Post by sparkles on Dec 10, 2008 14:41:21 GMT -5
Oh Yeah! That's sweet pickings 88! Nice job!
It's great to collect stuff "in the wild" - wherever that may be. I love working up stuff that I've found - and it's often so much more interesting than the same varieties albeit fine examples or new twists. Your Petrified Wood finds are really super, there are some corking chunks in there, I'm sure you'll have a blast polishing up some of that.
I love Jaspers of all varieties, but my most treasured Jaspers have nearly all come from the local beaches. I've recently found a nice pebble of deep red jasper with pretty pyrite structures in certain areas, a one of a kind rock, and something you just can't buy. I'm certain that you will enjoy some of those Jaspers even more when you get cutting! I'm looking forward to seeing it! ;D
Thanks for sharing your haul, it was nice to see such a rich picking.
Cheers,
Sparkles.
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88pathoffroad
spending too much on rocks
Oregon ROCKS!
Member since August 2008
Posts: 305
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Post by 88pathoffroad on Dec 10, 2008 21:48:40 GMT -5
Those are some cool pieces. Would you consider setting up a trip to the area for RTH'ers?. I would definetely go there. During the prineville rock show would be even better. Ozzy Sure, if anyone wants to. This is not really even close to Prineville, though. The closest town is Lacomb, Oregon. Next closest is Scio. Access to the property is located on the south side of Peoples Drive. Here's a map I stole from Google Maps. The forested area in the pic is the land in question. The trees have all been logged off now. The first graveled driveway with a gate across it leads to the old mobile home that nobody lives in. Go past that up Peoples Drive and you'll find a second driveway at the top of the hill where they put a road in for the logging equipment. It's hard to miss. Anyone visiting this site should do it soon...by next summer all the churned up dirt will be absolutely covered in new plant growth. It's already got lots of stuff growing. Now is the time to go hounding on this piece of land. Not too far from here (Holley, Oregon) is the Holleywood Ranch where you can find TONS of petrified wood-EASY. I've never seen anything like it...every rock on the ground out there is petrified wood or agate. It's insane. They have their own website: www.holleywoodranch.com
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