CompuServe Messages

> I've been to Crystal Park too, really only spent more than a few hours there a couple times, hit > one nice scepter pocket, longest only about 2 inches–but nice stuff. There has been some good > stuff displayed at the Butte and Missoula shows showing the amethyst and smoky color in nice > scepters. Guess I should have worked harder at it!! You bet – that place is so rich it's not funny. When Anne and I go, we get up there early inthe morning, sometimes we take our little trailer up there the night before and sleep there. Then we dig all day… couple of subs from Subway (from a cooler) for lunch, and back to digging. You get bucketfuls if you're persistant. > The Montana barites–from the sceptarian nodules perhaps? They sound great. I'ave only looked > for them at the one place in my book and only found a few smaller ones–a little better than an > inch. These things are inside boulders that range from three feet to six feet in diameter. They take serious hammer work to get into, but oh man, is it worth it. You'll see. 🙂 The boulders are like miniture caves; they have stalactites and stalagmites, columns, flowstone, etc – all in miniature. The material is a glorious brown glistening color when first opened, though it fades rapidly once exposed to air. Inside a fair number of the boulders, you find either crystals the size of your index finger in clusters, or sprays of crystals that look like a bunch of needles stuck in a pad. It takes a great deal of care to get them out unbroken, and sometimes they break in the process of just getting into the boulders, as that is a big-impact operation… I have some large specimens here, complete with the cavelike growths and attached crystals. Maybe I should upload some more photos… easy enough to poloroid, scan, and upload. You want I should?