[Rockhounds] Fwd: 2007 KY Fluorite Fieldtrip Reports - Part 2 (was: Got Fluorite?)

[Nathan Martin]

Here is the second installment of my 2007 KY fluorite fieldtrip log.

---------------10/9/07--------------
Well, the best laid plans of mice & BMC fieldtrip leaders often go astray.
The scheduled part of the trip is now over and I am in a motel in southern
Indiana, finally with a high speed Internet connection and can finally give
you an update.  On Saturday morning at 7:30 AM we met our host, Bill Frazer,
in the parking lot of the Ben Clement Mineral museum, signed the club and
museum release forms and followed Bill out to the Eureka and Columbia mine
sites in the gently rolling terrain of Western Kentucky.

Based on past experience there our primary objective was the Eureka Mine.
Two years ago Bill had excavated material out of the Eureka shaft and had
dug down to the fluorite vein at about 20 yards upstream.  Since that time
we and others had successfully harvested dark purple fluorite from the
excavated material.  With the increased pace of collecting this year we
expected to work harder but hoped that our knowledge of the site and the
signs of unexposed vein material down near the creek that we uncovered last
year would lead to even better finds this year.

Unfortunately, we found that a large group of ~40 collectors from NC had
visited just two weeks prior and had worked hard to excavate the material we
were after (timing is everything).  We did find some good material that they
did not get.  Don Swenson and I both found some exceptional pieces, and a
team led by Ed Norton, Steve Towne and Bob Lancaster set about the task of
cleaning out "the pit" to look for additional vein material to exploit.  The
only problem was that the level of the material was now below the level of
Hurricane Creek.  We built a mud and rock cofferdam to separate the pit from
the creek but even the tenacious Kentucky clay could not completely keep
water from seeping back in.  The process was straightforward: stir up the
water to entrain as much mud as possible, bail out the muddy water using 5
gal buckets, dig out the mud clay mixture in the bottom of the pit - all
while trying to keep from getting submerged up to your knees in the mud/clay
mixture.

The objective of course was to find some seams with good crystals to expose
and salvage.  Some good material was found but not the killer pieces we were
hoping for.  It was a hard days work, especially when the temperature was in
the high 80s (and I even scheduled this trip for October to avoid the summer
heat).

We had dinner at the Marion Country Club Saturday night and over dinner we
resolved to attack "the pit" again on Monday, working as a team to see if we
could expand the pit sufficiently to finally get to the "good stuff".  By
the way a typical meal at the Country Club was around $10 (including tip).

After dinner we went back to the Clement museum for a private tour by Ed
Clement.  The fluorite specimens in this museum are breathtaking.  Every
time I visit I see something I missed before plus I get a chance to visit
some old friends, like the amazing curved plate of fluorite crystals with
crystals on both sides that is appropriately called the "bird in flight".
It is also a neat thing to hear Ed talk about his dad, Ben Clement, whose
amazing collection is housed in the museum.

On Sunday, we met again at 7:30 AM and headed out on state road 91 to the
ferry landing on the banks of the Ohio River.  This time we were early
enough that we did not get stuck behind the horse-drawn Amish carriages on
their way to church.  Once across the river, we headed off to two locations
that I had hurriedly found on Friday afternoon after learning that we were
no longer permitted to collect at the site that had been so good to us last
year.  The localities we did visit were two well-known former fluorite mines
in Hardin County, IL.  Both lay within 8 miles of Cave-in-Rock and are
reached via State Road 1.  Since it was another hot day with a forecast of
temperatures near 90 degrees we started off at the more exposed location and
went to the shadier one in the afternoon.  Both sites have been extensively
picked over and it was difficult to find good crystals anywhere.  Rob Sawyer
found some decent yellow fluorite crystals at the second site by splitting a
fluorite seam in a boulder and I broke open a seam with calcite that I may
be able to etch out to expose some purple fluorite cubes underneath. Yellow
fluorite was reasonably available at both locations, just not in good
crystals.  John Chapman and I also found some good fluorescent specimens at
these locations but the high 80 temperatures mad working under a black tarp
with a fluorescent UV light a decidedly unpleasant experience.

The second locality we visited that day also has the last remaining
headframe in the district and has some of the other mine buildings and
equipment still in place.  We got some great pictures of all of these
buildings that unfortunately now stand as silent memorial to the mining
industry that used to flourish in the district.  Unfortunately, late in the
day we were told to leave by a local landowner who claimed to be the
caretaker of the property.  I apologized for being there without permission
and asked him for his name and phone number so that we could ask for
permission if we were to come back.  The property was not posted and the
gate into it was not locked so I had assumed that it was OK to collect
there.  I was mistaken and I think that permission is unlikely to be granted
in the future.

On Sunday evening we got together at the Marion Inn for a group dinner and a
mineral swap.  We dined on classic Kentucky pulled pork BBQ from the Marion
Pit BBQ and had desserts made by the owner of the Marion Inn.  It was a good
chance to get together and talk minerals and plan for the next day.

The Monday report will have to wait another day as I've got to get some
sleep if I'm going to drive my planned 600 miles tomorrow.
stay tuned,
Nate Martin


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nathan Martin <rocknate at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Subject: 2007 KY Fluorite Fieldtrip Reports - Part 1 (was: Got Fluorite?)
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" <
rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>


Kreigh,
Thanks for the kind words.  As for a trip report, I sent a series of email
messages back to the Boston Mineral Club email list last year.  I'll dig
them up and send them out over the next few days just to give people a
better idea as to what the trip is like.  Here is the first installment:

------------message from 10/5/2007-------------
Hello BMC,
I thought I'd send out periodic reports on the progress of the KY fluorite
fieldtrip.  Its Thursday night and I'm staying in Jasper, Indiana.  I took
the long way to Marion so that I could collect at the famous geode locality
on State Road 37 just north of the turnoff to Harrodsburg, IN.  This
locality has 3 benches and geode layers are evident on various levels up the
face.  For a collector born in Indiana this is a must visit locality and I
had never before been there so this had to be the day.

This morning I was visiting my son, his wife and my 5 month old grandson in
Columbus, OH so I didn't exactly get an early start.  I didn't get to the
roadcut until about an hour before sunset.  There is plenty of room to park
right by the cut on the southbound side and I pulled up to a promising spot
where geodes were clearly visible in the wall above.

Many parts of the roadcut have been severely undercut by generations of
previous collectors but I was able to climb up about 10 ft to get to a geode
layer.  I mainly salvaged geode halves left in the wall by previous
collectors but I did also work a few small geodes out of the productive
layer.  I was a little cautious because my car was right below me and I
really didn't want to bring any major rocks crashing down on my wheels.  By
the time I had figured out how to efficiently work the rock the light was
gone and I gingerly worked my way back down to the car.  At least I now have
some specimens from this classic locality.  Next time I'll bring a ladder!!

Tomorrow its on to Marion, KY and then across the Ohio River to Cave-in-Rock
to scout out localities for our Sunday and Tuesday collecting.

If you are bored by these reports just delete them and accept my apology.
If you find them interesting....stay tuned.

best regards,
Nate Martin

On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 10:25 PM, Kreigh Tomaszewski <Kreigh at tomaszewski.net
> wrote:

> Hey List,
>
> A year ago I drove 18 hours (one way) to be able to join Nate and the
> Boston Mineral Club for a collecting trip that was one of the big the
> highlights of the ten day camping journey/family reunion. I would not have
> gone without the collecting opportunity.
>
> I'm sorry that previous family commitments will prevent me from seriously
> considering this trip. I sure would like to go. The Boston club rocks!
>
> Thank you Nate for remembering the List. I'll be looking for your trip
> report.         ;-}
>
> Kreigh
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008, at 08:52 America/Detroit, Nathan Martin wrote:
>
>  This is an invitation to anyone on the Rockhounds mailing list to join a
>> Boston Mineral Club fieldtrip to Marion, KY over the Columbus Day weekend
>> (Oct 11th to 13th).  We will be collecting at the Eureka, Columbia and
>> Mary
>> Belle mines near Marion, KY with the permission of the Ben Clement Mineral
>> Museum.  This is different from the museum's monthly schedule of trips in
>> that they will be doing some special excavating for us at a location near
>> the Eureka Mine that we identified as promising during our trip their last
>> year (I took out 20 decent fluorite specimens within 6" of the surface).
>> There will be a fee to help cover the costs of the excavation in addition
>> to
>> the museums normal $20/day/bucket collecting fee.  All proceeds from this
>> special fieldtrip will go to support the museum - a very worthwhile cause!
>>
>> This will be my 5th trip to Marion, KY and I will be driving 1200 miles
>> one
>> way to get there.  That alone should be enough to tell you that I think
>> the
>> collecting will be worthwhile.  Trip attendees will also be given
>> directions
>> to some Indiana geode localities as well as KY and IN fossil localities
>> that
>> can be visited either on the way out or on the way home.
>>
>> Some of our members will be flying out for this.  Southwest Airlines (2
>> checked bags free) flys into Nashville, TN which is about 2.5 hours drive
>> south of Marion, KY.  I have done this twice and it is a reasonable way to
>> go.  Those of us who drive will have heavy tools to share with those who
>> have luggage constraints.
>>
>> If you have any interest in this trip please email me off list and I will
>> provide you with the complete details.
>>
>> best regards,
>> Nate Martin
>> Lexington, MA
>>
>>
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