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Post by vegasjames on Jan 10, 2018 16:34:28 GMT -5
Pretty sure the old man's store is no longer there? Seems he died a couple years back. Apparently a relative took it over for a while but it didn't last long. I don't know all the history of it but there's an old broken down outdoor shop on the west outskirts of town. Looks abandoned but if you knock on the door of the trailer the old dude is eager to sell stuff. From experience just don't call anything a "garden rock" I meant "Silver Springs" not soda. The area north of there towards Fernley is worth exploring - there's a lot of crappy "desert varnish agate" as I call it but if you're really patient and do a lot of windowing there are colors to be had. Just off pipeline road I found a chunk of plume agate that rivaled Oregon graveyard point material. Most of the decent surface material around Fernley and the racetrack is gone but I am told that there is plenty more to be found by digging. Have not been to that rock shop in over 30 years. The prices used to be great. When I went by last week there was still lots of stuff outside but looked closed at the time. I heard there is supposed to be some really good stuff around Dayton somewhere, but I have not found anything worthwhile there. Probably further back in the mountains. Have not looked around Silver Springs. Lahontan is OK. Found a lot of jasper but mostly bland colors. Lots of brown chalcedony and some banded agates. Never rock hounded Fallon. Only went there to visit relatives and to to scuba dive Big Soda Lake where all the mining equipment is still submerged. Goldfield and Tonopah areas have some nice agate, jasper, opal, bornite, etc. Supposed to be some good areas in the Mina and Luning areas. Spotted a few places to check out when the days get longer so I have more time. Found a few cool rocks by Columbus, which is just South of Candelaria, which is another place I really want to check out. Gabbs has some interesting stuff from what I have heard. Have not been there either in decades. Up there visiting more family a few times. Among other things though they have a blue-gray opal with cinnabar stringers.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 10, 2018 16:40:05 GMT -5
I visited some relatives in Hawthorne, and I thought, "This is surely an out-of-the-way place." Hawthorne show up big on the map, but they pretty much have a library, a post office, and of course a Dollar General. (There is probably one on the moon by now.) They have to drive 70 miles to Fallon to get groceries. Then I saw the rocks in their yard. Hmm, maybe not so bad after all... And they're not even 'collectors'. The biggest thing to happen to Hawthorne since I was a kid was the addition of a McDonalds. Other than that is about the same size. My mom and her husband were born in Hawthorne and my grandparents and great grandfather were all from Hawthorne. My great grandfather used to travel all over the desert there collecting arrowheads and old cavalry artifacts. He was also in to rockhounding and mining. Somewhere up there he found a lapis mine but passed away without telling anyone the location. Not much around Walker Lake, but have found a few pieces of what looks like epidote. There are some other areas around there that look really interesting that I plan to explore on my next trip up.
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Post by TheRock on Jan 16, 2018 1:24:48 GMT -5
to RTH Forum arghvark from ~Duke in SW Michigan
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,681
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Post by Fossilman on Feb 8, 2018 10:45:55 GMT -5
Welcome!!
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