[Rockhounds] Boodle Lane

[Pmodreski at aol.com]

Ah, that's a classic photo--I'm sure I've seen it many times in magazines  
and books over the years, probably always the same photo reproduced.
 
I suspect that a few of those big crystals were saved and repose in a few  
museums, many probably were not.  One museum that I think is most likely to  
have some, is the Tri-State Mineral Museum in Joplin, Missouri.  I think I  
visited that museum once, ages and ages and ages ago (it was on my first driving  
trip ever, out west across the country--I won't even say how long ago that was, 
 though yes, they did have cars with gasoline engines then).  I just tried  
to look at their website to see if anything is posted about giant calcite  
crystals on exhibit, but alas, the website seems not to be functioning; it is  
supposed to be,  
_www.joplinmuseum.org_ (http://www.joplinmuseum.org) 
The mineral museum is part of the Joplin Museum Complex, and I even just  
called their phone number; the receptionist said, yes, the mineral museum is  
open, but she offered that their website has not been updated in a very long  
time, and very well might just not be functioning at this time,  sorry.  Perhaps 
one of you from that area has visited the museum recently  and recalls whether 
you've seen big humungous calcite crystals there.
 
I also recall that one of the other eastern museums--either the Carnegie  
Museum in Pittsburgh, or the Cranbrook Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., I  
forget which--has a very large (though just partial, I think), crystal on  display 
from the Tri-State area, probably from Joplin, which has an interesting  
story behind it.  The crystal as on display now has a pale violet tint, but  that 
color developed during the decades it has been on display, exposed to  light; 
as the former curator told me, it did not originally have this color  (I 
assume it was either pale yellow or colorless), which is a very interesting  
example of color-change in minerals.  Again, perhaps someone (Kreigh?) who  has 
visited one or both of these museums more recently, can confirm this story  and 
which museum this calcite specimen indeed is in.
 
Pete Modreski
 
 
In a message dated 3/21/2009 9:08:17 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
larryrush at worldnet.att.net writes:

http://www.connroxminerals.com/BoodleLane.html

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