[Rockhounds] Virgin Valley Nevada Collecting

[steve travis]

I visited VV last spring after a training class in LV.  I bought a bucket at 
Rainbow ridge the first day It is alot maybe too much for one person.  I got 
lots of advice and sone good help from several Old timers Well the results 
were fabulous Much better than I could have dreamed I was vbery lucky and 
found a limb cast about 7-8" long and from 13/4 diam to about 1"  The colr 
was the best I have ever seen and so bright you would gasp if you saw it! 
Several others found nice pieces in their buckets too Glen limits 5 buckets 
a day and yoou have from 8 to 4:30 to go through 4 cu yards  alot. The next 
two days I went through the dumps and found 5 nice stable blacks with color 
I moved a lot of dirt so if you dream of riches be ready to move alot of 
dirt in hot conditions.  if you go from June to aug.  But Cold at night the 
camp ground is nice and fairly comfortable if you are prepared.  MAKE 
Reaervations if you want a bucket of dirt and Google virgin valley and opal 
digging and you can compare schedules and costs ant what ever the only 
motell is in Denio and reservations are highly recommended if you want a 
room  All the best I plan on going back this season.  By the way Glenn said 
as soon as he gets set up to process the dirt he will be closing to digging 
so this season may be the last for Rainbow ridge and the folks at the royal 
peacock are getting old you never know don't put it off till next year. 
Steve
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dean Welder" <wdeanwelder at yahoo.com>
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Virgin Valley Nevada Collecting


> Hi Clyde,
>
> My family has visited Virgin Valley a couple of times. Sometimes with
> good luck and other times with only a tiny bit of luck. We have mostly
> visited the Rainbow Ridge mine (http://www.nevadaopal.com/) and
> ocassionally the Royal Peacock (http://www.royalpeacock.com/) mine.
> Each mine has different aspects that can be viewed as pluses or
> minuses. A couple of samples of material we have collected can be seen
> at (http://www.peregrine-rocks.com/rocksmin/vvopal.shtml).
>
> We are planning another visit this spring, early June. We like to camp
> in the CCC camp. We are typically walkers and explorers rather than
> hard-rock-mining type collectors, which is why we have mostly visited
> Rainbow ridge and either done (tractor) buckets or tailings diggings.
>
> I suggest bringing a long handled garden rake or a "treasure scoop" for
> tailings digging. Also a rock hammer to break up "mud balls" that can
> actually be surrounding nice pieces. One of my wife's nicest black opal
> pieces is about the size of 1/2 a baseball - it started out as a
> very-large-grapegruit size that was totally crusted with mud. Also, a
> resealable container (heavy duty zip lock bags, plastic peanut butter
> jars, or ?) to place your finds into with damp paper towels for a
> slow-dry.
>
> Good luck! When are you going?
>
> Dean
>
>
> --- Clyde Phillips <getclyde at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,   I'm planning an excursion to Nevada (Reno) and would
>> appreciate
>> any tips, tales, or successful collection stories about either the
>> Virgin
>> Valley area or the route to it from Reno. I'm not going there for a
>> few
>> months yet, but am planning ahead.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks in advance..
>>
>>
>>
>> Clyde
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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