Mystery Specimens
4 messages in this thread
ACK! And I thought *I* got myself into tight spots! Reminds me of Greenlaw
Quarry (?) in Maine. Vertical mud, 40 feet. At the top, main mine. GORGEOUS
wall of PURE white albite, studded with green tourmaline. (Visited again with
ropes and 1st aid kit. I'm learning…) (Vandals got the whole wall.
Blankety-blankers!)
Yeah, go for the hike. You get rocks, you get exercise. (G)
Good detective work tracking it down. I, umm, notice our forebears didn't
always leave maps…. JayDee
Just wish we had something like "green tourmaline" in feldspar to get the blood
boiling. The elbaites are a bit scarce in the Northwest. In fact, most
pegmatites are simple and don't offer the wonderful variety that those NE pegs
do.
Lanny
Lanny, the wall of green tourmaline in stark white cleavlandite was to kill for
a view of! I personally would love to know the identity of the vandals. I mean,
we're talking Aladdin's cave type of stuff! Boiling blood indeed. *Mine* did,
both times and for different reasons. The elbaites were all small, facetable
and *most* transparent. In the early morning sunrise, it would make *anyone's*
blood boil. An about-face produced a scene of almost all of Maine that was (and
is – no vandal could take that) breathtaking!
>the wonderful variety that those NE pegs do.<
You mean, *DID*. Most of the NE peg, all 14 kilotons of it, are in collections
by now. You can't even scarf up a decent quartz. Not worth the 14 hour drive
from my place… And BTW, Happy Holidays!!! (He says, busy typing at 12:30 Xmas
Eve. Waiting for Santa or somesuch? HOHOHO!)…JayDee
Jerry,
I thought we were supposed to go to be early to be sure Santa had a chance
visit.
As I understand, not all of those pegmatites are in collectors' cabinets yet,
although most are not accessible to the field collector. From what I hear, they
are either just sitting there untouchable to anyone or are being mined. Still
think a couple of them should be in Idaho.
Have a Happy Field Collecting New Year!
Lanny