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Post by 1dave on Sept 6, 2020 14:37:47 GMT -5
Nothing survives "Deep Time." All the posts, photos, etc of my visit of 50 years ago are gone, gone, gone. Sigh, so I'll start over. What is Wonderstone? To my mind layers of white, brown, purple, etc volcanic ash fell on the area, Bonneville Lake covered it, the Wasatch Fault cut loose, and the ash layers were both shaken and stirred. Silica cemented it all together. How to get there? It is just 40 miles west southwest from Provo. Just take the submarine across Utah Lake and walk the remaining 25 miles, or . . . Get on Utah 36 south of Vernon and take the only road that runs north east between town and the old railroad track.
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Post by stardiamond on Sept 6, 2020 15:03:33 GMT -5
The only wonderstone I am familiar with is from Fallon, NV. Some years ago I was in Reno and took a side trip to a lapidary shop in Fallon. They had a lot of wonderstone. I wasn't a big fan. altamont on etsy has a lot of Fallon wonderstone and it is much more interesting than I saw at the rock shop. I would like to rockhound but have bad feet so my rockhounding is on the internet.
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megalotis
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2009
Posts: 226
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Post by megalotis on Sept 13, 2020 22:35:09 GMT -5
Thanks for this, Dave! I live not too far west of the “wonderstone quarry”, which actually shows up as a named place on google maps. I wasn’t too impressed with the material available at the quarry, but I tried to select some of the nicer bits and brought a little bit home. I tumbled it, and got zero polish. The agates and jaspers that it was tumbled with came out really nice, so I’m pretty sure there was nothing wrong with my methodology. I appreciate that you pointed other nearby spots to try. I have collected the Fallon material, and most of it takes a pretty nice polish.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,594
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Post by Tommy on Sept 14, 2020 11:12:48 GMT -5
Nice post 1dave thanks! It also reminded me that I dropped the ball on something photo related I was supposed to be helping you with...
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crazysanman
starting to shine!
Member since December 2017
Posts: 37
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Post by crazysanman on Sept 24, 2020 15:24:21 GMT -5
I have a three pound barrel of Vernon Wonderstone tumbling right now. You can't miss it when you go there to collect. Just be sure to bring some hammers and chisels.
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hummingbirdstones2
fully equipped rock polisher
Vince A., 1958-2023
Member since August 2018
Posts: 1,461
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Sept 29, 2020 20:24:54 GMT -5
This is a timely (re)post for us.
We rescued a couple of pieces of Wonderstone that were red and gray from that landscape rock pile. Had no idea where it might have come from. The colors in the pieces in your video are a good match.
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,125
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Post by RWA3006 on Oct 1, 2020 17:52:53 GMT -5
I visited this location last week and was disappointed. Wish I would have been there decades ago, but now all I was able to find were shards and small pieces that weren't worth taking. There were four vehicles there and about a dozen people looking for rock, but the pickings are very slim.
Too bad that the glory days of this location are long gone.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Oct 2, 2020 9:57:29 GMT -5
Fascinating topic dave. And great pictorials.
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