[Rockhounds] Elmwood Mine, Tennessee

[Mr EMan]

Flea markets... sigh.  Long closed and long flooded--I've not even been able to find much along road sides.

Miners used to truck stuff home in lunch boxes, occasionally and as those older guys pass their families have been selling off their collections.

Nashville is really good for Ordovician Fossils. Not much on minerals. Sorry

Eman

--- On Sat, 6/21/08, Mark <marksigouin at verizon.net> wrote:

> From: Mark <marksigouin at verizon.net>
> Subject: [Rockhounds] Elmwood Mine, Tennessee
> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008, 4:10 AM
> I am visiting the Nashville Area soon, and I was wondering
> if there were any 
> locations for the Elmwood Mine that are open to the public
> for collecting?
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "jbacko" <jabac at hal-pc.org>
> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock
> and gem collectors" 
> <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 3:11 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Question
> 
> 
> > Kreigh Tomaszewski wrote:
> >> John,
> >>
> >> If it is not grown, it must be mined. Plants are
> at the bottom of the 
> >> food chain; plants do their own mining. People
> need knowledge of 
> >> minerals, and technology, to survive, given our
> number on planet earth. 
> >> Knowledge needs to be shared to survive; knowledge
> makes technology 
> >> possible. Mineralogy and geology are the key
> sciences; rockhounding is 
> >> the associated hobby. We help the future by
> actively supporting 
> >> rockhounding.
> >>
> > Some people do need knowledge of "minerals and
> technology" to survive; but 
> > only those who actively exploit them and make them
> available to the rest 
> > of us. We, the users, do not particularly care where
> they came from or how 
> > the manufactured articles came to be, only that they
> are there. And even 
> > that is opportunism to a degree. If they weren't
> there, would we really 
> > miss them? Living in the gulag proved to many that all
> one really needed 
> > was a spoon and a bowl as utensils, and some clothing
> to protect against 
> > the cold and rain.  Therefore we should know about how
> to make pottery 
> > with clay and how to carve a wooden spoon, how to spin
> lint into thread 
> > and tan a hide.  Farming in Egypt has been a
> subsistence activity that has 
> > followed the natural patterns of the Nile for 6000
> years or more. The 
> > cultures of Atlantis, the Dynasties, the West, and who
> knows what others 
> > have come and gone, yet the methods persist. ( I
> exaggerate of course but 
> > not much).  We are probably prudent to be cautious of
> what is true for us 
> > who live in an industrial and technological society as
> being universal to 
> > the needs of all of humanity. Especially as it applies
> to "survival".
> >
> > I suppose there are some that would disagree with you
> about Mineralogy and 
> > Geology as being the "key" sciences in favor
> perhaps of Physics. Just as 
> > Theology was the "Queen of Sciences" in the
> Middle Ages and Alchemy 
> > occupied a somewhat more lowly place. We build
> skyscrapers and libraries; 
> > they built cathedrals and monasteries.  But you point
> about knowledge that 
> > it must be shared and extended is well-taken. We
> believe in the education 
> > of Everyman, perhaps the first persistent culture to
> try such a thing. And 
> > it is a relatively recent thing, dating in force only
> from the last 
> > quarter of the Nineteenth Century. One of the tenets
> of the philosophy of 
> > science, and education,  is that these truths gained
> through observation 
> > of reality are for everyone, to be shared and shared-
> alike. We have a 
> > responsibility as those who have benefited and
> partaken of these things to 
> > pass them on intact to all succeeding generations,
> lest they have the pain 
> > of re-discovering them all over again! I am not sure
> how one does this 
> > other than always making the information permanent and
> indelible ( in as 
> > much as we can) and making it freely available to all
> who are curious 
> > about it. The rub comes in finding the ways that make
> people curious about 
> > it. To you and I, it was never a problem because we
> were always into 
> > discovering these things for ourselves; it is our
> natural inclination and 
> > talent. But to most it is not.  Unless there is a
> demonstrable benefit --  
> > hence the great and almost mystical reverence for
> technology.
> >
> > As near as I can tell, The explosive rise in the
> standard of living since 
> > the Industrial Revolution has been caused by the
> availability of abundant 
> > cheap energy, mostly in the form of fossil fuels.
> There  are really only 
> > two sources of wealth -- land and labor. The land
> provides raw material 
> > and labor, i. e. someone's invested time, develops
> that material into 
> > something attractive or useful, including food,
> clothing and shelter. 
> > Abundant energy transferred that labor function to
> machines and multiplied 
> > the effect to the point where we now have a
> considerable amount of idle 
> > time in a large portion of the world.  Which we use in
> various ways, some 
> > of which are  extending our own intellectual
> curiosities into areas we 
> > might not do otherwise. Like rockhounding and radio
> and playing in a band 
> > and volunteering at the hospital. Removing the source
> of that energy would 
> > force us all back into the mold of using our labor to
> produce the same 
> > effect; that is an improbable supposition. It is
> patently impossible to 
> > produce the same standard of living for as much of the
> world as it now 
> > enjoys by human labor alone.  But it would be
> relatively easy for a few to 
> > direct that labor to their own benefit, a clear
> danger, and history shows 
> > this to be the common mode.  We are in the uncommon
> era. Because we have 
> > abundant energy. Not because we have a  corner on
> technology or science or 
> > anything else.
> >
> >> Our planet needs to support an ever growing human
> population, with an 
> >> improving standard of life, without significantly
> damaging the total 
> >> environment (locally or globally). We need to be
> thinking about how to 
> >> expand beyond our planet (Earth First, mine the
> other planets later). We 
> >> mostly have the technology "off the
> shelf".
> >>
> > There are two factors that cannot be ignored here. One
> is entropy. 
> > Inevitably it becomes more and more expensive for any
> closed system to 
> > extract useful work from it as useful work is being
> done by it.  Though 
> > the Earth in the solar system is an open system, the
> pass-through of 
> > energy is on a much much longer time scale  than is
> our present use. We 
> > are using it as a closed system to support our
> standard of living. We have 
> > to present to everyone the idea of geological time.
> That is, the 
> > accumulation of "fossil energy" takes an
> incredible amount of time which 
> > is totally unrelated to real ordinary time, and
> however slowly we use it 
> > up we cannot reach a sustainable level that is
> consistent with present 
> > standards, much less those extended throughout the
> whole of the world. And 
> > there is no way that the streaming of energy in
> geological time can 
> > support it either. When we speak of the building of
> mountains or the 
> > movement of continents,  or the creation of a crystal,
>  or how old a given 
> > shell really is, we should convey that awesome
> numerology of time. We have 
> > to teach that free energy is limited, and that we
> should use it as wisely 
> > as possible. I believe that alone would bring us into
> a more sane and 
> > rational approach to living life. After all, we
> don't really need much 
> > more than a bowl and a spoon and a safe place to take
> shelter. :)
> >
> > The second factor is your supposition of expansion. To
> other planets and 
> > beyond. It is an easy one for we Americans to come by.
> It is precisely 
> > what we have been doing for the last century or so. We
> have moved the 
> > exploitation of resources further and further away
> from us while 
> > collecting the benefits.  Now we worry about the
> Amazon rain forest. 
> > Because we use their wood and not our own. We refuse
> to mine our own 
> > mineral needs, Because we mine and use the minerals of
> others. Never mind 
> > the environmental costs to the others. We, at least,
> can gain comfort that 
> > we are protecting our own nest. All the while having
> all the toys and 
> > benefits that go along with it.  It seems to me that
> it does no good to 
> > push the basic activity out of the picture and onto
> others. We have to 
> > learn how to use the Earth when and where She is, with
> minimal disruption 
> > to be sure, but with true use to support our own needs
> (and desires). 
> > Also, along with that exploitation of other planets
> and such is the 
> > greater cost of doing it, the entropy factor at work.
> Unless of course, we 
> > migrated en masse to the new place. Think of what that
> would cost!
> >
> >
> >> Think globally, act locally. Resist movements that
> prevent making life 
> >> better for everyone.
> >>
> >> Kreigh
> >>
> >>
> >
> > I am not quite sure what movements you have in mind
> here. The things that 
> > ultimately prevent making life "better for
> everyone" are hard-wired into 
> > the physics of the universe.  We can make life better
> for everyone but not 
> > at a very high level for a very long time unless we
> can come up with a 
> > truly cheap and universal energy source. But as far as
> I know every energy 
> > source has side effects. Even too much waste heat is
> an unpleasant side 
> > effect, and I can not see how we would not fall to
> temptation and overuse 
> > any other energy source as we have those now in use!
> > The cheaper it is, the more we would (potentially)
> abuse it. Do I sound 
> > too pessimistic? I hope not. What we do have is an
> incredible capacity to 
> > learn how to do things right. Maybe not always the
> first time. But we do 
> > find a way to make things work in pretty short order.
> Maybe because we are 
> > naturally inclined to the better way. Maybe because we
> are basically lazy. 
> > Who knows? I do know that our children and their
> children will find a way 
> > to make the whole thing work. We may not recognize the
> result, just as a 
> > medieval scholastic would be totally amazed at the
> modern world, but it 
> > will satisfy them.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you Kreigh.
> >
> >
> > (I think maybe we have flogged this subject enough).
> >
> > john
> >
> >
> > -- 
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