Post by Sabre52 on Jun 26, 2014 9:32:19 GMT -5
Howdy folks,
Don't know how much of this tale I've ever told you folks but I'm waiting for my wife this morning so I've got some time so here goes.
About 20 years ago my wife and I really got into horses and so were looking for a horse ranch for a part time residence. We always liked the California Mother Lode country and land prices were not high there so we took off to look at a parcel of land a farmer friend of mine had for sale. That land turned out to have an illegal Marijuana grove on it so we instead went to a realtor and asked to be shown some really remote land parcels because we wanted to be way out there.
Next day, while waiting for the realtor, we stopped by the only rockshop in the town of Mariposa. While browsing the shelves, I noticed this truly beautiful hunk of poppy jasper of a variety I'd never seen. I asked where it was from and the shop owner vaguely responded, " Oh down by Hornitos somewhere." Cool, but unlikely I thought. Poppy jasper is Franciscan Formation chert and what would that being doing in the Sierras far from California's interior Coast ranges? Highly unlikely, I thought, and filed the info away for future investigation But when the realtor came, I asked her, " Hey, got any ranches for sale down Hornitos way.?" She replied , " Nope, nothing closer than Hunters Valley."
So, I put Sierra Poppy jasper out of my mind as a possible myth created by a rockshop owner and off the Hunters Valley we go. There we looked at the weirdest selection of homes I've ever seen, including one with an underground bunker for drying marijuana. Finally we settled on a small ranch with a run down home, corrals a nice creek and the most beautiful wild flower covered hills and got moved in. All thoughts of beautiful poppy jasper where at that time, gone from m little brain as the whole farmhouse had to be remodeled and the former owner had been a Native American hoarder so many cubic yards of junk had to be hauled off ( including vehicles, appliances, tires etc wow!)
Then, fast forward a few months till the vegetation has gone down and I'm out walking the horse pasture mending fence and guess what I find? A little chip of poppy jasper in the pasture. I follow the float and look around uphill and it turns out the whole hillside across from the house is full of andesite boulders which are in turn, full of poppy jasper nodules in situ. Not the type from the rockshop, but this stuff I named Sierra Primrose Jasper:
Turns out it was everywhere, in the roads, in the creek bed, even in the old 49's Chinese built rock walls. In addition, the deposit was on the neighbors ranches too so of course I made contacts to hunt them too and so began my quest. Now where did that other fancy jasper come from? Hmmmmm?.....Mel
Don't know how much of this tale I've ever told you folks but I'm waiting for my wife this morning so I've got some time so here goes.
About 20 years ago my wife and I really got into horses and so were looking for a horse ranch for a part time residence. We always liked the California Mother Lode country and land prices were not high there so we took off to look at a parcel of land a farmer friend of mine had for sale. That land turned out to have an illegal Marijuana grove on it so we instead went to a realtor and asked to be shown some really remote land parcels because we wanted to be way out there.
Next day, while waiting for the realtor, we stopped by the only rockshop in the town of Mariposa. While browsing the shelves, I noticed this truly beautiful hunk of poppy jasper of a variety I'd never seen. I asked where it was from and the shop owner vaguely responded, " Oh down by Hornitos somewhere." Cool, but unlikely I thought. Poppy jasper is Franciscan Formation chert and what would that being doing in the Sierras far from California's interior Coast ranges? Highly unlikely, I thought, and filed the info away for future investigation But when the realtor came, I asked her, " Hey, got any ranches for sale down Hornitos way.?" She replied , " Nope, nothing closer than Hunters Valley."
So, I put Sierra Poppy jasper out of my mind as a possible myth created by a rockshop owner and off the Hunters Valley we go. There we looked at the weirdest selection of homes I've ever seen, including one with an underground bunker for drying marijuana. Finally we settled on a small ranch with a run down home, corrals a nice creek and the most beautiful wild flower covered hills and got moved in. All thoughts of beautiful poppy jasper where at that time, gone from m little brain as the whole farmhouse had to be remodeled and the former owner had been a Native American hoarder so many cubic yards of junk had to be hauled off ( including vehicles, appliances, tires etc wow!)
Then, fast forward a few months till the vegetation has gone down and I'm out walking the horse pasture mending fence and guess what I find? A little chip of poppy jasper in the pasture. I follow the float and look around uphill and it turns out the whole hillside across from the house is full of andesite boulders which are in turn, full of poppy jasper nodules in situ. Not the type from the rockshop, but this stuff I named Sierra Primrose Jasper:
Turns out it was everywhere, in the roads, in the creek bed, even in the old 49's Chinese built rock walls. In addition, the deposit was on the neighbors ranches too so of course I made contacts to hunt them too and so began my quest. Now where did that other fancy jasper come from? Hmmmmm?.....Mel