CompuServe Messages

>> Cooperstown and Lake George Almost due north of Cooperstown (maybe 25 miles) is the town of Herkimer, which the famous Herkimer "diamonds" are named for. There are two fee sites five miles or so north of Herkimer in the town of Middleville, both on route 28. This is not too far out of your way to Lake George, and is a great spot for kids. Look for the "Ace of Diamonds" and the "Herkimer Diamond Mine and Campground". If you are serious about a money-making strike, plan to spent a week and do some real hard-rock mining. Even then, you'll probably find that the children have picked up more off the ground <g>. Seriously, the easy way to get nice specimens is finding them loose or using a crack hammer on the rocks the pros have left behind. Kids are usually much better at spotting them than adults. There are fossils all over the state – any time you see a road cut in shale you're likely to find some, but I don't know much about fossils. One interesting spot is in a road cut near Central Bridge on I88. The cut is full of pyritized fossils. They weather out of the rock or can be dislodged with a pick. That's 30 or 40 miles east of Cooperstown. (It's technically illegal to park on an interstate, but you can get well off the road, and the troopers never say anything.) The only up-to-date book I know of is "Rock Collecting in New York 1993, with Maps" by David Mills, Rock Doc, RR 1 Box 127, Friendsville, PA 18818. Sorry, I don't have a telephone number, and I haven't seen the book for sale except at shows. You could probably find "Mineral and Gem Trails, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut" by Ed & Bert Sloan in a rock shop, but it's very dated (1975). I'm not really familiar with the Lake George area. You might call Vandall King, president of the Rochester Mineral Society at 716-288-0059. Van is a consulting minerologist and an avid collector. Have fun, Al