realrockhound
Cave Dweller 
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
Member is Online
|
Post by realrockhound on Feb 1, 2022 1:25:57 GMT -5
Here are some odds and ends of materials that i've found within the last year. Sorry for low photo quality on some as its all stuff I had to dig deep into my phone to find (not recent photos). So all of this material is stuff i've found that is from new deposits, or has the potential to have a deposit once more extensive digging is done. This is some plume agate I picked up last summer. There was a bunch of it pluming up out of the ground and I thought the outer matrix looked interesting, so I picked up maybe 5 pieces just to bring home. Funny enough, I almost just threw it in the junk pile until my dad urged me to cut it just to see whats inside. My dad made a good call that day haha.   This material forms in baseball sized agate nodules. I don't know if there would be an actual deposit of this material, however it was all in one area on a hillside and there was quite a bit of it. I'm certain if I started digging, more would turn up.   I actually stumbled across this material with a friend. In similar fashion, the material was pluming up all out of the ground. I'm certain if I were to get a cat in there and dig, i'd hit a vein.  This stuff is just crazy. Found this on a steep ridge with all kinds of other moss agate as well. Same deal, get a cat in and dig and more will turn up.  This material is actually very special to me. Looks insanely similar to the old Paiute plume, yet found waaayy far away from that location. This material was actually found 20+ years ago by me and grandfather. However... in the last year, I went back out and rediscovered the spot.  This material is pretty cool. i'm not sure if there is a specific deposit, as I would find golfball sized agate nodules sporadically spaced out across the land, but the plumes that form are pretty neat.  |
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Feb 1, 2022 3:03:09 GMT -5
 Those first two could easily pass for Graveyard Point. That's a pretty vibrant orange in the 3rd and 4th pics. In the 6th pic it looks like Sagenite Moss! Freaking amazing! And then there's the dendrites! Wowza!  |
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Feb 1, 2022 3:14:44 GMT -5
Plumes and moss and dendrites, oh my!
Beautiful. You are so lucky to have all that close by.
|
|
Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
|
Post by Brian on Feb 1, 2022 9:49:42 GMT -5
Wow! Those are some amazing finds. It makes you wonder how much is yet to be discovered.
|
|
|
|
Post by hummingbirdstones on Feb 1, 2022 10:03:26 GMT -5
I think I may hate you.  |
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Feb 1, 2022 10:23:59 GMT -5
You have the knack. Those are all pretty sweet. |
|
|
|
Post by MsAli on Feb 1, 2022 10:26:28 GMT -5
All of them are amazing but that dendritic stuff is my fav
|
|
NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
|
Post by NDK on Feb 1, 2022 16:33:24 GMT -5
What an amazing variety!
Those baseball size nodules would be cool to cut into spheres.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,494
|
Post by Sabre52 on Feb 1, 2022 16:59:14 GMT -5
Wow great finds! That dendritic agate really looks like what an old guy in Nampa, Idaho. Used to sell as Snake River Dendritic agate. MY favorite is the moss-plume in picture #6. Never seen material like before and it's very neat stuff.
|
|
realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
Member is Online
|
Post by realrockhound on Feb 1, 2022 17:59:55 GMT -5
Wow great finds! That dendritic agate really looks like what an old guy in Nampa, Idaho. Used to sell as Snake River Dendritic agate. MY favorite is the moss-plume in picture #6. Never seen material like before and it's very neat stuff. It actually does look very similar to the snake river dendritic agate. Heres a lil slab I have of that material I had on my phone. Truth be told, the stuff I posted up above actually comes out of Post, OR.  |
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Feb 1, 2022 21:29:55 GMT -5
Wow great finds! That dendritic agate really looks like what an old guy in Nampa, Idaho. Used to sell as Snake River Dendritic agate. MY favorite is the moss-plume in picture #6. Never seen material like before and it's very neat stuff. It actually does look very similar to the snake river dendritic agate. Heres a lil slab I have of that material I had on my phone. Truth be told, the stuff I posted up above actually comes out of Post, OR. The more I become familiar with dendrites...the more I love seeing them!  I showed all the pictures at the top of this thread to my wife...she kept talking about the "trees" and the clouds she was seeing in this piece: |
|
realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
Member is Online
|
Post by realrockhound on Feb 1, 2022 21:44:07 GMT -5
It actually does look very similar to the snake river dendritic agate. Heres a lil slab I have of that material I had on my phone. Truth be told, the stuff I posted up above actually comes out of Post, OR. The more I become familiar with dendrites...the more I love seeing them! I showed all the pictures at the top of this thread to my wife...she kept talking about the "trees" and the clouds she was seeing in this piece: I absolutely love dendritic agate. Like just look at this piece, looks like a forrest fire.  |
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Feb 1, 2022 21:48:33 GMT -5
The more I become familiar with dendrites...the more I love seeing them! I showed all the pictures at the top of this thread to my wife...she kept talking about the "trees" and the clouds she was seeing in this piece: I absolutely love dendritic agate. Like just look at this piece, looks like a forrest fire. Wow! That really does! There's a stretch of hills that kind of splits Rapid City into East and West. When I was a kid, there was a massive "forest" fire that was heading into town along that ridgeline. I mean a MASSIVE fire. I still remember driving out to see that fire one night...and that instantly came to mind when I saw this slab! |
|
realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
Member is Online
|
Post by realrockhound on Feb 1, 2022 21:56:28 GMT -5
That’s a slab of amethyst sage, backlit.
|
|
hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2021
Posts: 479
|
Post by hypodactylus on Feb 1, 2022 22:22:30 GMT -5
I've always wondered how people know where to dig for stuff.
It makes sense that people may stumble upon surface deposits or scattered specimens, but what about the stuff underground?
How do you know where to dig?
Seems like I could dig many holes in an area where I found an agate on the surface, only to end up with holes and dirt.
|
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Feb 1, 2022 22:31:16 GMT -5
I've always wondered how people know where to dig for stuff. It makes sense that people may stumble upon surface deposits or scattered specimens, but what about the stuff underground? How do you know where to dig? Seems like I could dig many holes in an area where I found an agate on the surface, only to end up with holes and dirt. Me, too. Good questions. |
|
realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
Member is Online
|
Post by realrockhound on Feb 1, 2022 22:44:46 GMT -5
I've always wondered how people know where to dig for stuff. It makes sense that people may stumble upon surface deposits or scattered specimens, but what about the stuff underground? How do you know where to dig? Seems like I could dig many holes in an area where I found an agate on the surface, only to end up with holes and dirt. In most cases, there are more signs than just the float. Like for thundereggs, you’ll find push out of rhyolite and eggs on the surface. Start digging down and you’ll find the material in its main deposit material. In my experience, it’s generally a really hard ash like material and you chisel/pry the eggs out of the wall. In other cases, I’ve found veins that were just exposed. Started digging deeper to reveal a bigger deposit through host material. Sometimes is just by dumb luck by digging in a spot where you find float. Sometimes you stumble across vugs and they are loaded with stuff. |
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,607
|
Post by jamesp on Feb 2, 2022 6:59:18 GMT -5
Amazing
|
|
realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
Member is Online
|
Post by realrockhound on Feb 2, 2022 13:37:13 GMT -5
Now that I have more time than my quick reply last night, I can give a little more specific info as to how stuff was found where there were no clear indication of material. I know for certain that back in the day in my area that a lot of the material was found when logging roads were being cut. As cats were pushing roads up in the ochocos and surrounding area, that’s how material was turned up. That’s actually how the Maury moss beds were found. I was watching a video here a while back about mining out at graveyard point. That guy was saying he took over an existing claim where people didn’t find much so they abandoned it. If I remember correctly, he either dug deeper or just moved over in the same area and ended up hitting a vein. So luck plays a big part. The vistaite beds are a great example of a place where material was found (can still be found) that never had any actual deposit so to speak. It was all just spread out in the adobe clay material. You literally just pick a spot, start digging and hope for the best. You could dig 100 holes before you get lucky enough and start collecting pieces. A lot of limbcast is found that same way out at congelton hollow, now that all the surface material has been picked clean. For me personally, I have a few spots I’ll be able to get heavy equipment into in the future and dig to see if there is more than what’s just on the surface. But for most areas where I’d need permits, etc… I just collect what I can pick up and doing minimal digging. But unless you find a vug that’s full of material, or an actual vein that’s coming up out of the ground, it’s not worth digging unless you have heavy equipment as far as I’m concerned.
|
|
|
|
Post by roy on Feb 3, 2022 10:57:55 GMT -5
holy chit
|
|
