[Rockhounds] fluorspar district update

Sun Sep 9 18:44:54 PDT 2007

Having beaten the bushes over the years, finding additional good places to 
dig in the fluorspar district is possible, but not easy. There are a number 
of mine sites in the area with great potential. The problem is convincing 
land owners that turning rock piles and digging trenches is good for local 
tourism. All it takes is a couple of people to trespass and years of 
development can be undone instantly.

Moving Hastie mineral piles is the only practical approach to getting some 
nice crystal pockets from Cave in Rock into collectors hands. I see no 
indication from Don that they will change their access policy. Like any 
business, if they can make money off their ore they will sell it. It doesn't 
matter to them whether it goes to a chemical company or a geology club. The 
ferry at Cave in Rock has new weight restrictions that make transporting 
material from Cave in Rock to the Clement Museum a bit more challenging. No 
more dual or triaxle dump trucks going across the river!

If we could get the American Fluorite Museum interested (something I've 
tried to do for several years without success), it might be possible to turn 
the dumps at the Annabel Lee mine. They are so picked over it is hardly 
worth the effort these days - but who knows what lies beneath a couple feet 
of cemented aggregate. The Denton mine dumps are untouched, but according to 
Eric Livingston (the former Ozark-Mahoning geologist), the land owners are 
so suspicous, they don't want to sell the contents of the mine dump even to 
get it off their property. I suppose someone else could track them down to 
talk to them. Maybe the land owners don't like anyone associated with O-M 
company because they didn't want a mine on their property to begin with! Who 
knows? I know of other productive locations for fluorite collecting in 
Hardin and Pope Co., Illinois that I have visited in the past. However, I 
don't live in the area and tracking down / talking to land owners is not 
practical for me at this time. Perhaps there is someone else in the area 
willing to carry that banner.

Alan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nathan Martin" <rocknate at gmail.com>
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 8:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] fluorspar district update

> Alan,
> Thanks for the update on the KY fluorspar district and your continued
> efforts on behalf of the museum AND helping to create some wonderful new
> field collecting opportunities.  After the good experiences that I had on
> three of the trips that you organized, I soon will be leading my second 
> trip
> to Marion, KY over the Columbus Day weekend (first weekend in October).
>
> Rockhounds list members - I have space available for more people so if
> anyone on the list is interested in joining our group please contact me 
> off
> list and I will email you an outline of our plans.  All I require is that
> you be a member of a local mineral club that carries federation insurance.
> best regards,
> Nate Martin
> Lexington, MA
>
> On 9/6/07, Alan Goldstein <deepskyspy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>>
>> I've organized a few trips to the KY side of the IL-KY fluorspar district
>> via this list serve over the past  several years. The Clement Museum is 
>> now
>> handling all the arrangements and have groups several weekends per month
>> from late March ending with deer hunting season in early November. 
>> Because
>> of the success of this program, the museum is not having the financial
>> difficulties it was in several years ago. I want to thank everyone who 
>> has
>> supported those digs - and had fun in the process!  A group from 
>> Evansville
>> is scheduled to dig this weekend and towards the end of the month a very
>> large group from Georgia is coming up.
>>
>> Bill Frazer & I checked out another possible collecting area yesterday, 
>> on
>> the Big Four fault system. I'm not optimistic that it will pan out. I 
>> picked
>> up some 'gravel spar' (crystalline fluorite on the surface), but that
>> doesn't always mean ground crystals are just below.
>>
>> Bill showed me some work he has done at the Columbia mine. He had the
>> fluorescent mineral dump turned yesterday and I pointed out an overgrown
>> rock pile that has been very productive for me over the past five years 
>> at
>> the Eureka. (One miniature specimen can have goods crystals of fluorite,
>> quartz, calcite, sphalerite and smithsonite on it!) We also determined 
>> that
>> some dumps on the fault associated with the Mary Belle mine are on his
>> property and that he will dig into them. The Mary Belle is not on his 
>> land.
>> (He showed me an open shaft dug in the 1940's. Judging from the time it
>> takes the rock to hit the bottom of the shaft, it is about 50' deep. No
>> water. Needless to say, he doesn't want anyone wandering up the hill any
>> more!)
>>
>> I was down there to pick up a dump truck load of material from the old
>> Ozark-Mahoning dumps in Rosiclare. It is nice having access to a dual 
>> axle
>> dump truck! We now have 15 tons of material for the Fossil Festival at 
>> the
>> Falls of the Ohio State Park on the 15th & 16th of this month. For the
>> diehard mineral collector, it may not be worth looking at, but for our
>> typical festival attendee the yellow and purple fluorite, barite, calcite
>> and sphalerite will be very popular. I anticipate the pile will be as
>> popular as the fossil piles. We have water there so people can wash off 
>> the
>> material. In addition, the rock is generally small enough that the use of
>> rock hammers isn't necessary. For liability reasons, we do not let people
>> use rock hammers on the piles during the event. There are too many people
>> packed in!
>>
>> The best fluorite is at Hastie Quarry. Unfortunately it is still
>> OFF-LIMITS to collectors. However, I talked to them and they are willing 
>> to
>> sell a quantity of low grade ore (the bedding replaced limestone with
>> crystal vugs) which can be trucked over to the grounds of the museum for
>> collectors to split. It will prboably cost about as much as it did to 
>> rent
>> the track hoe. The material can be very nice because the purple and 
>> yellow
>> crystals are fresh, clean and often lustrous. They aren't big (typically
>> under 1 cm wide). I am working with Bill so that we can organize a dig at
>> the museum with Hastie fluorite.  Just a reminder for those visiting the
>> Illinois side of the district, don't bother asking at Hastie Quarry - 
>> that
>> just irritates them! Trespassing is worse and is the main reason why they
>> closed all access to their property.
>>
>> I'll be down there again in mid October to do more collecting.
>>
>> Alan G.
>>
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