The Bitterroot Conglomerate
Newsletter of the Bitterroot Gem & Mineral Society
Vol. XXVIII issue
Presidents Column
The President and the Club want to thank Betty & Bill Hodge for their gracious hospitality on our last club meeting night.
Jo Farley
Editors Notes
See you at the opal claim.
I will need reports from the Chairmen of the various Committees during the 1st week of each month to be included in the newsletter.
The Editor is not responsible for the accuracy of articles accepted, items for sale, nor are the opinions expressed therein necessarily those of the Club Officers, members and/or the Club Editor.
BGMS Minutes 06/22/09
The Program was presented by Wes Williams on Petrified Wood. It was wonderfully informative and had lots of examples to see, feel and enjoy. Wes also had a “Pop Quiz” which was harder than appeared. Very nice Program that was appreciated by all in attendance.
Following some refreshments of cookies and crackers with cheese, the group gave our Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. President, Jo Farley then called the meeting to order. We had 27 members and 2 guests. The guests were Alan Lubbert and Karen Griffen.
Wayne Farley gave his Treasurer’s Report (copy available at the next meeting).
Margaret Sharp gave a summary of the State Show. The actual final dollar amount will be at the next meeting.
Jo then asked everyone if we wanted a show next year. Discussion and finally decided to postpone this vote until the July meeting.
Programs are set for July – the Picnic at Jo’s in August – and Nola Edgar will present the program at the first meeting in September. Wayne Farley will do the second meeting. All others are asked to see WHO wants to follow with the Oct., Nov., Dec. meetings.
Field Trips: June 27th will be the Black Pine Mine with the Hellgate Club. And – the week-end of July 4th will be our Opal Claim out of Salmon, ID.
Scholarship: The $500 scholarship was given to Kari Ledford.
MT Council Meeting Report: Wayne and Dan attended the Butte show and went to the council meeting – no one was there…thus, no quorum – no meeting. Soooooo they went to an open house where a $50,000 Star Cluster of smokey quartz was being shown and plans to sell to the MT Tech. School of Mines. It was found at Delmo Lake.
Several members want to go back to the Eyebrow Hill area out of Phillipsburg. Wayne will look at squeezing it in.
Margaret Sharp won the door prize donated by Jackie Smart and Wes Williams won the 50-50 drawing of $10. He donated the money back to the Club. Motion,2nd & passed to close meeting.
Dianne Ayres, Secretary
Field Trip Report
Those going on the field trip to the Club’s opal claim should bring a large pry bar if you have one. Getting the large pieces of bed-rock moved does require a heavy duty pry bar. A screen with ½ inch squares would also be helpful in screening the dirt at the lower hole. Some nice “blue” was found in the dirt there last year. Chisels and a hammer are also useful and be sure you have protective glasses. Other items would be knee pads, small shovel, gloves, rock pick, rock sack and plenty of water.
R L
BGMS Field Trip Report - Butte Show and Bald Mountain Trip
On June 12, Daniel and Wayne Farley from the BGMS traveled to Butte to: 1. Attend the Butte Gem & Mineral Show, 2. Deliver another 20 LED Floodlights to the MT Council Trailer for use in display cases at rock-club shows, 3.Check out the Bald Mountain Mining site 15 West of Whitehall, MT for mineral collecting.
1.Butte Show:We arrived at the Butte show at 3:00 pm on Sat., June 13; and stayed until the closing at 5:00 pm. We noticed that only a few display cases of the approximately 20 cases set up used the 12 sets of LED floodlights that were available. We talked to a couple of members about this, and they said that some Butte members thought the LEDs were too dim and others thought that the LEDs were too blue. The 5 watt LEDs are equivalent to a 40 watt halogen light bulb. John Betts, in the reference below, says that 40 watts of halogen light are adequate for mineral specimens no farther than 3 feet from the light source.
John Betts has an excellent article on the net about display lighting of minerals at http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/lighting.htm. In an addendum to his article comparing various lights, he states: “I have seen the light! The new daylight-balanced light emitting diode (LED) light strips are now available. I had light strips made for my mineral displays at mineral shows. Last weekend was the first trial and they looked great! Many other dealers came up to examine the new lights. All agreed that it was the best illumination and true color rendition of minerals.” But the new lights are not cheap. Over time the prices will come down, the way prices for LCD monitors dropped in the years after their introduction. In the meantime, it might be wise to hold off on investing in new display cabinet lighting.
2. MT Council LED Lights: So far I have purchased enough bright white 5 watt LED lights for 24 show cases. These LED lights are said to be equivalent to a 40 watt halogen light. LEDs produce 100 lumens per watt used; versus incandescent lights which produce only 17 lumens per watt. Thus, the old 75 watt floodlights that we have used in our show cases produce 1200 lumens each, or 2400 lumens for the two lights in the case. The LEDs that the Council has purchased produce about 680 lumens each, or about 1360 lumens for two lights in the case. The difference is not as great as it seems, as the LEDs produce a full light spectrum, versus the limited spectrum of the incandescent lights. Still, the LEDs are a little bit dimmer than the old 75 watt incandescent lights, and have a slight blue tint; thus, I would only use them in cases with light-colored liners. I think a reddish liner would counteract some of the blue. For the future, I will see if I can purchase for the MT Council some of the color balanced strip lighting referenced by Betts. At this time, they are too expensive to supply all of our cases, but I will purchase one for the Council for a demonstration unit. I have found a 36” pure-white (4,800-5,500 Kelvin) strip-light that will cost about $100.00. They are more expensive, since they run on 12 volts, and require a 120 to 12 volt converter. This LED strip produces 2700 lumens, slightly more than two incandescent floodlights, and will have a better light distribution.
2.Bald Mountain Collecting: After the museum event, Daniel Farley and I (Wayne Farley) traveled to the Toll Mountain Campground, 15 miles west of Whitehall, to sleep overnight in our pickup camper shell. The campground is about five miles from the Bald Mountain collecting site; and is at Lat. 45* 50’ 02” N, Long. 112* 21’ 58” W. The next morning, at about 8:00 am on Sun., we went looking for the site. We drove back to the three-way fork about one mile north of highway 2 on the Radar Creek Road. The coordinates at the 3-way fork were Lat. 45* 50’ 52” N, Long. 112* 21’ 29” W. We took the right fork to go to Bald Mt. There were a lot of side roads going to homes for the next couple of miles, but we stayed on the best traveled road, and later flagged down a car approaching us to ask directions to Bald MT. The lady was from the area and said we had to go about another mile to a 2-way fork with a sign that read “Whisky Gulch Trailhead 2.6 mi.”. The coordinates at this point were Lat. 45* 52’ 43” N, Long. 112* 19’ 16” W. At the intersection, there is a cable gate on the fence west of the intersection, with a dirt road beyond. This dirt road goes to the diggings, which are about 2 hundred yards. There is one big pit about 50 feet deep and 100 feet across; and several glory holes on the end of the north ridge coming off of Bald Mt. The coordinates at the center of the diggings is Lat. 45* 53’ 07” N, 112* 19’ 17” W. We collected in the glory holes, but did not go into the pit, as we ran out of time. There was no equipment in the pit, and no signs of recent mining. In a Ron Ream article “The Skarns of Montana” at web site http://www.lrream.com/montanaskarns.html, the following information was published about Bald Mountain: “This skarn is well known and has produced specimens for many years, although it has not been as productive in recent years. The skarn is located to the northeast of Toll Mountain, southeast of Butte and is accessible by the Rader Creek road. The skarn forms a layer on the eastern and northeastern side of Bald Mountain. On the northern part of the east side, there are three small pits that have been dug by crystal collectors. The pits expose massive green diopside with cavities that are lined with coarse diopside crystals and filled with blue calcite. The diopside crystals are commonly up to about an inch long and uncommonly up to 2 inches or more. Many of them are twinned and they have a green color, often with dark green terminations. Very fine groups, sometimes with doubly terminated crystals have been collected, although they often are fractured and tend to fall apart. Some fine quality brown to orange-brown grossular crystals have also been collected, up to about an inch across. Apatite crystals have been found but are uncommon. These form white to cream colored crystals up to more than an inch long, occurring in groups with diopside. Epidote and tiny crystals of stilbite have also been reported in the Bald Mountain skarns.
”At the Chris Tucker web-site http://www.christuckerminerals.com/mine/bald_mountain.htm, which has pictures of the site, Chris states the following about the Bald Mountain collecting area:“Along the eastern slope of Bald Mountain and along the ridge to the north, a well-developed skarn layer is exposed. The skarn contains calcite, grossular, diopside, epidote, quartz, unidentified minerals in the apatite and tourmaline groups, stilbite, and actinolite. Occasional smears and stains of secondary copper minerals are also present. The length of the skarn has been repeatedly been explored for economic mineral deposits; numerous drill pads, prospect pits, and exploratory adits are present along its length. Over the years numerous mineral collectors have visited the site, mostly working the southern and northern ends. A popular collecting area on the northern end has largely been obliterated by a modern exploration effort known as the Pipestone Mine. The skarn is perhaps most famous for the numerous specimens of green diopside and brownish-red grossular. Locally fine groups of epidote have been recovered; quartz is often found with the epidote and is commonly a very pale amethyst color. While much of the skarn is on private property and valid mining claims, much of the area is still accessible to the casual collector.”
There is also an article in the Jan-Feb., 1976 Mineralogical Record magazine about the Bald Mountain Skarn, which I have ordered.
My son Daniel and I (Wayne Farley) collected at the Bald Mt. Site for a couple of hours, and found nice specimens of blue-calcite (which I think is dolomite), white calcite, massive and crystalline green diopside, orange-brown grossular garnet, and maybe micro yellow apatite. We also found a one inch greenish-black crystal that may be Hendenbergite, one of the Pyroxene Group of minerals that includes Diopside – Hendenbergite – Enstatite – Ferrosilite. I think a look under the microscope will discover additional micro minerals. That evening at home after dark, exposure to my short-wave black light revealed that a couple of the rocks collected had patches of green-white fluorescence. I think the fluorescent material is hyalite opal. I cleaned up several of the collected specimens with muriatic acid to dissolve away caliche and excess calcite. One specimen had a nice cluster of garnets in Diopside matrix with a portion of the garnet cluster covered by calcite. I decided to etch away the calcite with acid. It took three different soakings in acid water to get all of the calcite off, but it came out really gorgeous. I think this Bald MT. site is an excellent site for a future BGMS field trip.
Member Reports
.None.
Mining Committee Report
Look under field trips.
MT Council Report
MT Council Summer Meeting: The MT Council summer meeting was advertised in the MT Council newsletter that went out a week before the meeting. The dinner-business meeting was scheduled for Sat., June 13, evening at 6:00 for dinner and 7:00 pm for the business meeting, at the Perkins restaurant in Butte. At 6:00 pm only four people showed up: President Dana Anderson, VP Wayne Farley, Newspaper Editor Daniel Farley, and delegate Carol J. At 7:00 pm no one else showed up for the business meeting, probably because of the special event at the MT Tech Museum to introduce the spectacular Rheanna-Star Smokey Quartz cluster, dug out in the last few years by Zach Johnson from near the Delmoe Lake area. The museum has it on loan and display, and is trying to drum up enough money by donations to purchase the specimen for $50,000. Since there were not enough people at the MT Council meeting for a quorum to conduct business, we decided to cancel the meeting and go to the museum event. The next MT council meeting will be at Missoula on Sept. 26th, 2009.
N. W. Federation Report Nothing to report this month.
Programs
Where are those that said they could put on a program at our meetings? You don’t need to do it by yourself, get another person to help you that is interested in the subject you are presenting. Also the person that gives the program does not have to be a member. Try and find someone to put on a program in your stead. If we do not get volunteers I will be assigning you to put on a program.
Jo Farley, Chairman
For Sale. An ore car from the Betty O’Neil Mine near Battle Mountain, Nevada. In good shape. $500.00. Contact Posey at 961-4116
Mildred has a Trim Saw with a 6” blade plus an extra blade for $75.00 call her. 363-5224
Jim Rayner in Hamilton has a 12” Rock Sat for $500 and a Fram Tom Tock Grinder Set-up with 2 diamond wheels, and a 10” trim saw with new blade, new motor on a steel stand for $800. 375-0663
(continued from last month)
LR Ream Publishing
The Skarns of Montana
Scratchgravel & John G Mine Road
North of Helena a few miles, is a well known occurrence in a low cut alongside a railroad track. This location is on the east side of the Scratchgravel Hills. Access is by going north out of Helena on Green Meadow Drive to the road to the Scratchgravel landfill, parking at the railroad tracks and walking up the railroad tracks. The exposure is in a low cut in massive green diopside which has cavities with euhedral crystals to about an inch long, although most are much smaller. Most of the cavities are filled with blue calcite which must be etched away to expose the diopside. There also are small crystals of a greenish gray micaceous mineral, possibly clintonite, but this has not been identified. To the north of this, accessible via the John G Mine Road are small workings in more skarns. The prospects in this area are accessible by following the John G Mine road west off the Green Meadow road, and parking on the west side of the railroad tracks. The land is BLM, and the diggings are a short distance north and northwest of the parking area towards and in the foothills. These deposits have produced a few dark brown to black andradite(?), vesuvianite and diopside. The andradites are up to about an inch across and some have a fair luster.
Farlin - Birch Creek District
Farlin is the townsite that was the center of activity in the Birch Creek Mining District, a small mining district west of the Apex exit on I-15, north of Dillon. Access is easy via a well maintained county and forest road. The mines of the district are mostly located in one area on the north side of a narrow canyon near the site of the smelter. Several workings here have dumps with oxidized ores showing azurite and malachite.
A few outcrops near the workings show massive garnet with epidote, quartz and hematite. These have not been very productive, but a few good specimens of quartz, epidote and brown garnets have been collected.
There are a few workings in outlying areas and one of these is at a skarn that produced a few fine specimens of epidote and quartz Japan law twins. Apparently these were from one cavity and extensive prospecting by collectors has failed to produce any more good specimens.
Ivanhoe Mine
This skarn is another one exposed in a mine. The location is west of the Glen exit off I-15, north of the Apex exit. The pit sits on the side of the canyon a mile above Brownes Lake in a narrow canyon in the mountains. It is accessible by a walk up the old mine road. There is not much to collect at this mine. The skarn is mostly massive garnet and unidentified very fine grained rock, showing layers in limestone. It was mined in the 1950s during the tungsten boom years.
The brown garnet mass has small cavities with crystals that are typically less than 1/4 inch across. Most do not make attractive specimens, being tightly packed linings of the cavities. One area in one of the garnet masses shows malachite staining and some potential for tiny fuzzy malachite.
Some areas of massive diopside also have small cavities with crystals up to about 1/4 inch. There is potential here for small specimens. Quartz also occurs at the mine in small crystals.
The one mineral that is noteworthy here, but rare, is hematite as small floater roses. At least one piece of calcite was found that contained an abundance of hematite roses from microscopic to about 1/4 inch across. These were freed by dissolving the calcite in HCl. The small hematite specimens are lustrous and well formed.
Calvert Hill tungsten mine (Red Button claims)
This mine, located on Calvert Hill, southwest of Wise River, is accessible by a Forest Service road that is in fairly good condition. It consist of two pits, a small one, and a larger one that is nearly filled with water. Steep sides on the large pit prohibit collecting around most of it, but the smaller pit is accessible. There also is a large dump with boulders up to the size of a car.
The Calvert Hill skarn is an interesting deposit with several minerals available, including two that aren’t commonly seen in skarns. It is best known for the aquamarine that occurs there; this is unusual, beryl is rarely reported in skarns. Also, it has produced some very fine quality smoky quartz crystals.
Garnets are moderately common in sharp crystals that are various shades of brown and reddish brown. The dodecahedral crystals are often lustrous and up to more than an inch across. Epidote is a common mineral at the deposit, but most of it is frozen in quartz. Sometimes the epidote can be freed from the enclosing white or smoky quartz mass, and fine quality crystals are sometimes found in cavities. The epidote can be of large size, up to more than 6 inches in length and an inch across, but most good crystals are under 3 inches long. Some of it is lustrous dark green, and smaller crystals may be transparent.
The aquamarine occurs frozen in quartz, white calcite or brown siderite. Often it occurs in clusters of crystals varying from an inch or more in length and only 1 or 2 mm across, up to 2 inches or more in length and over 1/2 inch across. Crystals have been found that are 6 inches in length. Most of it is fractured, but a few very fine quality crystals have been recovered. Small clusters have been etched out of the siderite or calcite enclosing them.
Smoky quartz is commons as masses, often filling in the space around epidote crystals. There also are high quality smoky quartz crystals 1-3 inches in length, and a few have been found more than 6 inches in length. Sometimes they are gem quality, and a few have been found with epidote inclusions.
Tungsten occurs as scheelite which forms microscopic to large masses, and this mine was also mined during the tungsten boom years of the 1950s. Other minerals include tiny micaceous groups of an unidentified mineral. Hematite has been found as small roses up to around 1/4 inch across. Rutile has also been found as tiny prisms epitactic on the hematite roses. Other minerals include small flakes of molybdenite, pyrrhotite and actinolite.
Burnt Creek south of Norris
This occurrence is little known among collectors of Montana minerals. It is located on private land a few miles south of Norris at the intersection of sections 34 and 35, T. 3 S., R. 1 W. with sections 1 and 2, T. 4 S., R. 1 W. The deposit is exposed in low hills incised by small intermittent drainages. The skarns were prospected and are best exposed in the few small pits and shafts dug in the skarn.
This deposit shows good potential for lustrous brown garnet (andradite?) up to about an inch across. One outcrop consists of an abundance of these crystals, mostly around 1/2 inch intergrown with an unidentified green fibrous mineral. Some of the garnets are complete, but most show contacts where intergrown. At other workings, quartz is exposed, and the dumps show small quartz crystals, sometimes with rutile inclusions. A 11/2 inch goethite pseudomorph of pyrite was also found at this location.
Permission granted to reprint material from this bulletin if proper credit is given to the author.
A senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out of the dealership. Taking off down the road, he floored it to 80 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left. Amazing, he thought as he flew down I-25, pushing the pedal even more. Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a state trooper behind him, lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for this," and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival. Pulling in behind him, the trooper walked up to the Corvette, looked at his watch and said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a reason for speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go." The old gentleman paused. Then said, "Years ago, my wife ran off with a State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back."
