President’s Message

 

Well, another year is coming to an end. I'd like to tell you all that I appreciate the support I have had from everyone in the club. It's time now to think of next year. I hope that we can have more field trips next year. Please bring your field trip ideas and any other suggestions that you have to our January meeting. Our December meeting will be at our Christmas party on Saturday, December 10th. I am looking forward to another good year for our club.

 

Thanks again for all your support. 

Bob Titus, President 

 

Tooele Gem & Mineral

Tooele Senior Citizens Center

Nov. 8, 2005

 

The meeting was called to order by President Bob Titus every one was welcomed, the minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The treasurer’s report was read and approved. The first order of business is the election of officers there were no nominations from the floor it was then moved and seconded that all nominees be voted in by acclimation, all officers were elected as nominated. It was decided that we should fill the various club positions so that they will be in our new phone book, Eldon Shinkle will be Show Chairman, Robyn and John Hastings will take the Wheel, Erla Woods will take Saw Dust Panning, Jay Woods will take Grab Bags & Silent Auction he will also take the Schools, Henry Chavez will be in charge of Club Property, Field Trip chairman will be Duane Gren, Sunshine Chairman Ruth Smith, Federation Representative Phil Salm, Librarian Don Smith, Door Shauna Bauer, Publicity Donna Chavez, Electrician Don Smith and Arnold West, Cooks Don Smith, Bob Titus, Directory Dennis Chapman, Editor Dennis Chapman.

Mary Helen West will bring the treats for January, the door prize was won by Pamela Haag.  The meeting was adjourned.

 

Minutes submitted by

Larry Wilson, Secretary

 

Letter From The Editor

 

It has been a while since I have written anything. I hope to get the Birthday list updated soon, I have let it kind of slip through the cracks. If you haven’t seen your birthday listed in the past you can call me on my toll free number (877) 386-1941.

Last month offered to email the newsletter to the exchange editors, if any club members would also like to receive the newsletter via email please let me know dennischap at ureach.com. As far as I am concerned the members can get it both the printed & email version, emails don’t cost anything. The advantage would be getting the newsletter sooner & it is in color.

I did find 2 mistakes in the phone book so far, please change Bob Titus as electrician to Arnold West &  Janes Higley should be Jane. Sorry Jane, Bob & Arnold.

 

With any luck this year I can do a better job.

Dennis Chapman, Editor

 

Club Christmas Party

Did You Get Your Reservations In?

 

 

Our Christmas Dinner will be December 10^th at the Elks Lodge (North Door) 61 N Main St., behind the post office in Tooele. Happy hour will be from 5-6 PM, Dinner at 6 PM. Chooses will be sirloin steak or shrimp, served with baked potato, salad & cake. Members are free for all others their will be an $11 fee.

You can call to make reservations before Dec. 5^th

 

Devil's Tower

By Chuck Deflorin, Minnesota Mineral Club

Most of the area around the Devils Tower consists of sedimentary rocks. The dark red sandstone, siltstone, and shale were laid down during the Triassic age (225 million years ago) in a shallow sea. Seas cane and disappeared many times adding layer upon layer of sedimentary rock. During the Tertiary period (around 65 million years ago) near the end of the dinosaur age the earth started to change. The Rocky Mountains were lifted up and the Badlands were formed. Magma started pushing its way through the sedimentary layers creating a dome. The molten magma started to solidify and as it did so, it started to shrink as it cooled down, splintering into vertical columns. It actually came to a complete stop about 3000 feet below the surface. Millions of years later the Belle Fourche River had washed away the surrounding landscape, gravity and erosion stripped the soft layers of sedimentary stone, bringing the once subterranean volcano plug to the surface. It is a volcano that never made it to the surface.

There is still an ongoing debate about Devils Tower. All of the geologists agree that the tower was formed by the intrusion of igneous material. The rock is called Phonolite Porphyry, based on its mineral composition which includes Anorthoclase, Aegirine-Augite and Sphene. What the geologists can't agree on is how the process took place. Some believe it is an eroded remnant of a laccolith. A laccolith is a mass of igneous rock that got through the sedimentary rock beds, but never made it to the surface. Another theory is that the tower is a huge volcano plug, perhaps the neck of an extinct volcano. Today the ancient monolith has a base of almost 800 feet and then rises vertically 1267 feet into the sky. All around the base of Devils Tower are huge slabs of stone, which have broken from the sides and toppled down. It is a testament on what erosion and gravity are capable of doing. One of the many park trails loops around the tower's base and is only 1.3 miles long. There are three other trails and five miles f park roads. The hiking is great!

Since prehistoric time the Native Americans felt that the tower was a holy place. They think of this sacred rock as a cathedral in nature. This place of power was used as burial grounds for the northern plain tribes. Today, as before, the tower is the site where vision quests begin. These Native Americans call the tower "Mateo Tepee", Bear Lodge. The name Devils Tower came about, when in 1875, the Indians called it "Bad God Place". It was translated into Devils Tower because "devil" is considered a bad god, in Kiowa Indian mythology. It is said that once upon a time seven girls were playing in the woods. While in the woods they came upon some bears that chased after them. They found refuge on a great rock that rose into the sky with them on it. The bears tried to pursue them, but no matter how they struggled, they could not get at the girls. The bears' claw marks are still seen in the tower's sides, henceforth, Mateo Tepee, Bear Lodge.

One legend of the Kiowa doesn't tell about the creation of the tower but what is below it. A man from Wyoming was visiting in Yankton, South Dakota. While there, he showed a picture of Devils Tower to an elderly Sioux Indian who became very excited. The Indian wanted to know if the passage at the base of the tower had been found yet. The man said that a passage had not been found. The Indian then passed on to him the Sioux legend regarding the tower. Many years before there were three braves hunting near the base of the tower. While exploring the base they discovered a passageway underneath it. They made torches and followed the tunnel until it opened up into a cavern. In the cavern was an underground lake 25 yards long by 15 yards wide and all around it there was gold. Large quantities of gold lay all over the ground and the cave walls were all golden. The braves couldn't take the gold with them, so they left the tunnel and hid the entrance. They were going to return later, but never made it back to the golen cavern. One of the braves on his deathbed told the story to members of his tribe. If there is a cave under Devils Tower, no one has found it yet. Maybe the lost cavern is not under the tower but nearby. It would be impossible to have a cavern in a laccolith. There are caves in the area, but none under the tower. Usually there is some truth in legends: could the golden cavern still be there waiting to be rediscovered?

 

-Quarry Quips 12/02 et al.

via Skagit Gems January and February 2004

via Hy Grader 6/05

Rockhound Christmas Carol

 

On the twelfth day of Christmas,

My true love gave to me,

Twelve tumblers tumbling,

Eleven perfect spear points,

Ten diamond saw blades,

Nine crystal clusters,

Eight agate nodules,

Seven sheets of silver,

Six sapphire “star” stones,

Five Golden Rings,

Four fluorescent lamps,

Three gem books,

Two trilobites,

And a branch from a petrified tree!

 

Author unknown, source Gneiss Times, Wickenburg G&M Society, Wickenburg Arizona, Dec 2003

 

Via Rocky Mountain Federation News 12/04

 

Silicon, Silica, Silicates and Silicone

by -Dr. Bill Cordua, U. Wisconsin- River Falls

 

People get confused about the differences between silicon, silicate, silica and even silicone. What is it exactly that we collect, cut and polish??

Silicon is a chemical element, one of the 97 natural building blocks from which our minerals are formed. A chemical element is a substance that can’t be subdivided into simple substances without splitting atoms. Silicon is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust, making up about 27% of the average rock. Silicon links up with oxygen (which makes up 55% of the earth’s crust) to form the most common suite of minerals, called the silicates. Quartz, feldspars, olivine, micas, thomsonite, jadeite, and prehnite are all silicates. There is so much oxygen around that pure native silicon is almost never found naturally.

Silica is a bit trickier concept. It refers the combination of silicon plus oxygen. The mineral quartz is silica. But so are the minerals tridymite, coesite, cristobalite and stishovite which are mineral forms of silica that are stable at high temperatures and pressures. All these minerals are also silicates. In other words, quartz is a silicate made of pure silica. But feldspars contain sodium, aluminum, potassium and calcium in addition to silicon and oxygen. Thus feldspars are silicates but they aren’t pure silica.

Geochemists also use the term “silica” to refer to the overall silicon and oxygen content of rocks. This is confusing, but stems from the fact that in rock analysis and sample is dissolved, the solution treated, and the amount of silicon present is determined by precipitating it as silica. So a geologist may say “This rock is 48% silica”. A rockhound will look at the rock and say “How can that be? I don’t see any quartz in it!” Both are right. The rock will not have the mineral quartz because the silicon and oxygen are tied up with other elements to make silicate minerals like feldspar. Its a bit like looking at a cake and saying “I don’t see any eggs in there!” The eggs are cake ingredients but are present now in different forms.

Now, what is silicone? It’s a synthetic polymer of silicon with carbon and oxygen that could be in solid, liquid or gel form. It has all kinds of medical uses, such as in antacids, artificial joints, pacemakers and implants of various notoriety, but is not, as far as anyone knows, found in rocks.

Can pure silicon be found in Nature? Yes, rarely. Recently Russian geologists were sampling gasses from Kudriavy volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Here they drove quartz tubes into vents jetting out gases of over 900 degrees C. Their tubes filled with minerals precipitating from this gas. Among them were pure silicon metal embedded in masses of salts such as halite. The silicon formed crystals up to 0.3 mm across. It was associated with pure aluminum metal, Si-Al alloys and other rare minerals. This find was unusual enough to warrant a note in the prestigious science journal, Nature.

So unless you are in Russia sampling hot volcanic gases, you can be sure that what you are finding are silica and silicates, but not silicon or silicone.

 

Reference:

Korzhinsky, M.A., et. al., 1995, “Native Al and Si

Formation”, Nature, vol. 375, p. 544.

 

Source: Leaverite News, http://www.uwrf.edu/~wc01/ leaverite.html

via Quarry Quips, 10/05

Via The Rockcollector 11/05

 

How To Find The Fire In Fire Agate

 

Fire Agate is a quartz-based rock with layers of iron oxide in chalcedony which results in iridescence. It occurs in nodules of milky or grayish translucent roses. Fire agate appears as a dull, reddish-brown layer but when the surface layers are removed the rainbow colors, or iridescence, are exposed. The fire is brought out by tumbling, trimming and grinding off the outer layers to expose the iridescence. Polishing magnifies the fire.

To find the tire, remove the matrix, then tumble polish the stones. Tumbling removes the excess chalcedony. When polished, remove excess stone around the edges, then polish and set. Allow the stone to retain its irregular shape and polish slowly so you don't go through the fire layers. The graceful natural shapes are superior to those cut to calibrated sizes, as the best fire doesn't always fit a mold. To set it off, mount the fire agate in a custom-made gold or silver setting.

 

(From Chips & Tips 10/04 via Dusty Rocks via The Petrified Log-The Agitizer, via Gneiss Times, 12/04.)

 

via The Burro Express 12/04

Costa Rica's Mysterious Spheres

 

Christopher Columbus landed in Costa Rica on his fourth voyage to the New World in 1502. Prior to that time there was no recorded history of the people who lived there. Archaeologists have since learned much about Costa Rica's pre-Colombian residents, but many mysteries remain. One of the most puzzling is the mystery of Costa Rica's strange "spheres".

The spheres are stone balls made of granite. They vary in size from about the size of an orange to giant balls measuring more than six feet in diameter and weighing almost 16 tons. All are perfectly round to within two centimeters.

Thousands of these balls have been found along riverbeds and in ancient cemetery sites in the valley of the Rio Terraba, located in the southwest portion of Costa Rica and on Cano Island. nine miles off the Pacific coast. Some of them are found at locations more than fifty miles from the nearest site from which they could have been quarried. They have not been found anywhere else in the world.

Who created these strange spheres? What was their significance to their creators? How did they make them so perfectly round and transport them so far from the source of the stone?

Some archaeologists think they were created by the Chibcha, an ancient war-like people who used prisoners as slaves and human sacrifices and built fortified towns in the region of Costa Rica where the spheres have been found. If so, why and how they were created and transported is still anybody's guess.

Visitors to Costa Rica can see these spheres displayed at the National Museum, outside of public buildings. and decorating gardens of Costa Rican homes.

 

Author unknown, Source The Tumbler Feb 2003

Via Quarry Quips 7/03

 

STEALTH

A Rock Hunter's Technique

by Bob Biven, Wichita G&M 4/03

 

While in the field, there are several rock hunting techniques that can be employed to find the specimens you seek. The one I like to utilize is "STEALTH!" In utilizing this technique, you literally "sneak-up" on the rock specimen you are trying to find. I have found that "stealth" does not work well when there are any small children around. They have better eyes than mine, and they have them located closer to the ground. While I'm busy trying to use stealth, the children simply "swoop through" and gather up every available specimen that can be found.

An experience I had in an Arkansas "fee paying" quartz mine was that I spied a particularly nice specimen and had sneaked up on it. The problem was that by the time I had gotten to it, another fellow came up and started to talk to me. And he was standing on "my" 4-inch long crystal. We each talked quite a while. Finally he asked me if he could have the crystal I was standing on. I told him ^"yes, if I could have the crystal he was standing on." Neither of us had seen the crystal under our own feet, but had both seen the crystal the other person had stepped upon.

Some of you may remember Coleman's Miller Mountain Mine. The operator's wife asked if I had had any luck. I told her that I had, but hadn't found any big crystals. She reached down and picked up a crystal that was about 7 or 8 inches long and gave it to me. I was amazed! That crystal must have "sneaked up on me!" I don't think it had been there when I stopped to talk!

Another method I have used, I like to call my "GRAB & BAG" technique. The problem with this method of rock hunting is that it tends to result in a collection with an abnormally large quantity of leaverite. But using this method will assure you have a large number of specimens (unless you leave a long trail of lost specimens behind you when your bag rears). The quality of these specimens is often questionable, but if you collect enough, there are bound to be some keepers in the bunch. When I use this method, I tell my wife that while in the field, as much time as possible needs to be spent in accumulating samples. High grading can be done at night, or after you get back home. The problem with this system is that as I'm busily driving down the road on the return trip home, my wife feels it is her duty to do my high-grading for me, and starts throwing what she considers to be leaverite out the window. My problem with this is how does she know what is leaverite? My personal viewpoint is that "I never saw a rock hat I didn't like!" Some are better than others, but if I picked them up, they must have some kind of value.

A third method I like to call "ESP" (Extra Sensory Perception). I don't use this method because, although I think I have "E" (i.e., "Extra," at least around my waist), I don't have any "SP." ESP is the method used by my wife. She likes to be alone, and get away from any husbands, sons, or grandsons when she uses this method. She simply walks across the field or gravel pit or wherever she happens to be, and sends out her ESP waves. The rocks make themselves known and She picks them up. It doesn't work for me. If they know I'm in the area, they hide. That's the reason I have to use the "stealth" (or sneaky) approach.

My favorite method of rock hunting, when I don't feel like walking around and "sneaking" up on the good rocks that might be in a particular area, is simply to sit down, preferably on a rock pile in a gravel pit, such as the one near Rapid City, SD, and move the rocks from one side to the other. When using this method, you have to first make a seat for yourself, out of rocks, and you should have something to drink near at hand. I can spend hours doing this. It isn't very tiring, but the rocks you're sitting upon do get to feeling pretty hard after a couple of hours. One precaution that you have to make is that when you see a rock that you want, don't take your eyes off of it. It can hide unbelievably well if you happen to drop it and/or don't throw it directly into a bucket or sack.

I suppose the "direct approach" to rock hunting would be to simply walk across the field or around the rock pile or along the shore or through the specimen area and "look" for rocks (fossils, rocks, gems, petrified material, etc., are all considered "rocks" when you're hunting them). Most people probably use this method, but I'm too lazy to try this. I'd rather use one of my other rock hunting techniques. I will say that this method worked pretty well for me when we were in the South Dakota gravel pit. We had been looking all day for Fairburn agates. No Luck! So as we were leaving, we noticed that the gravel pit personnel had hauled off a pile of gravel that had been near the entrance for at least 6 or 7 years. It was just a small heap of rocks. Anyway, my wife wanted to use her ESP on the rocks still embedded in the soil. She got out and started her scanning. After a while, I got out and kicked at a ridge of gravel about 6 inches higher than the surrounding ground. One of the rocks I kicked had a cavity in t, so I picked it up. It was a Fairburn! My wife would have still been there searching if I hadn't told her she could have it if we could just leave! We had been searching all day, and after awhile, no specimen seems worth the effort. I guess this method isn't really a direct approach. It might be more properly called the "football" method.

I should be noted that some people may even "give" you rocks. But if you depend on this method for creating a rock collection, you may not get very far (especially if you're depending upon me to be the "giver"). My wife still hasn't figured out how I'm going to be able to take my rocks with me!!! And she has told me that she will use them to cover up my burial plot area if I leave them for her to have to handle.

Other methods of collecting rocks are those that require "bidding," such as in rock auctions. When using this method, the object is to outbid everyone else. After the bidding starts, it will generally get down to only two bidders. At that point, if you get the bid, you're never sure if you bid one time too many and spend too much for that particular rock specimen, or if you really got a good buy. At least you can always tell your wife that someone else bid almost as much as you did, so the purchase must have been a good deal. Or, if you didn't get it, you can always say that some "fool" doesn't really know how much the rock was really worth!

Another method, written up in Lapidary Journal, Rock & Gem, or some other such magazine, is called ^"silver picking." The advantage of silver picking is that you can select a particular rock and buy it or not. If you buy it you can always tell your wife that you only paid what the current market required, so it must have been a good buy. If you don't buy it you get to save your silver and can then use it for a trip to the field that will probably cost you more money than if you had bought the item in the local rock shop. But hunting your own rocks in the field can be a most enjoyable way to spend your time. The only problem is that you need to select or develop your own system for rock hunting!

 

(From The Post Rock 7/03)

Via T-Town Rockhound 10/03

 

Tech Talk

By Val Carver, MMC Member

 

This Months Article: TYPES OF SAWS

 

There are 3 basic classifications of lapidary saws, these are:

A.Faceter's Saw

B.Trim Saw

C.Slab Saw

 

Faceter's saws are primarily used to prep small chunks of rocks for faceting. Faceter's saws can sometimes be used for VERY LIGHT trim saw work. Usually they have blade sizes in the 4" to 5" diameter range and are usually manually feed. These types of saws are tabletop mounted units. Prices for faceter's saws are normally in the $200.00 to $300.00 range. Most faceter's saws are designed to be used with water and water based lubricants.

Trim Saws are used to reduce the size of a chunk of rock. This type of saw is normally used to cut cabochon performs from materials that have been slabbed. They can also sometime be used for light slab work or to cut a rock in half. Most trim saws are manually feed, some have vices to chuck up a rock. Trim saws usually come in blade diameters (sizes) of 6", 8" and 10". These saws are tabletop mounted units. Prices for trim saws range from $400.00 for the 6" size to $975.00 for a 10" sized unit. Depending on the construction of the saw they will require either water-based lubricants or oil lubricants. Into this classification of saw can be included saws like ring saws, diamond band saws and scroll saws.

Slab saws are the big boys of the saw world. They are used to take large chunks of rocks and normally make slabs out of them. A slab is defined as a piece of rock cut with parallel surfaces. Slabs are typically cut 1/8" thick to several inches thick. Normally slabs are cut ¹/4" to 3/8" thick for cabbing. Slab saws come in blade diameter sizes of 10", 12^", 14^", 16^", 18^", 20", 24", 30" and 36". The 10" through 14" units are normally tabletop units while the 18" and larger are stand-alone units. Price ranges for new slab saws are from $900.00 for a 10" unit to $15,000.00 for the 36" size. The function that makes a slab saw a slab saw is that the rock is chucked up in a vice and is fed into the rotating blade by some type of a feed drive mechanism. The slab saw also has a transverse table feed so that after you have cut a slab you back the rock out and without un-chucking the rock move it over with a crank on the table to cut another slab. ALL slab saws should ONLY be used with oil lubricant.

 

Via The Rock Rustler's News 4/05

 

Best Gift Of All!

by Marjorie Thompson Sims Dec. 11, 2004

 

As Christmas approaches,

we think of our friends,

As a search for their

perfect gift never ends!

 

Should we give candy,

or something to wear?

We'd best make up our minds

'ere Christmas is there!

 

We must find a gift,

and do it TODAY,

Wrap it and send it

on Santa's sleigh!

 

Santa will see that it

gets under their tree,

A special Christmas greeting

to YOU from ME!

 

Of course, a true friend

is the best gift of all,

So, to wish you "Merry Christmas,"

I'll give you a call!

 

via The Burro Express 12/04

 

Mining Interest

 

A rapid rise in gold prices has led to a doubling of mining claims in the past year in Oregon and Washington.

The price of gold is now close to $450.00 an ounce after seesawing between $280 to $450 an ounce. The last major gold rush in the Northwest dates back to 1980 when prices spiked to more than $800 an ounce.

Cold and snow have driven most miners away from the mountains of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, except 56-year-old Tommy Parte, who is in the process of buying the historic Buffalo Mine near Granite. He believes the Buffalo's old tailing, piles of gravel dating back 50 to 100 years are extraordinarily rich. Chemical analysis indicates they contain 1/3 of an ounce to 12 ounces of gold per ton. When the spring thaw comes, many more miners are expected to join Parte. Active gold mines number about 220 in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest.

 

Tri-City herald 1/05 via Rock Licker 5/05

Via Hy Grader 6/05

Victoria Stone

By Greg Weisbrod - WGMS Member

 

Some years ago my wife Joyce and I were at a gem and mineral show looking at the material the dealers offered. One dealer carried only the rough, slabs, and cabs of material I’d never seen before. It had patches of blue that would billow with light or darken to shadow as one’s viewpoint shifted. Made bold by ignorance I began to explain to the Mrs. that this could not be “real” and was produced in a laboratory. The vendor clouded up and educated me real quick. The material was an expensive pectolite mined only in the Dominican Republic and called Larimar. What I had mistaken it for was Victoria Stone.

Late in the 60’s Iimori Laboratory Ltd. of Tokyo Japan began to market a variety of imitation gem materials. Dr. S. Iimori produced some paste (lead glass) in different colors for faceting, also a cat’s eye, “jade,” and finally his masterpiece: The chatoyant Victoria stone in 16 different colors. This material was advertised to be a melt of various natural minerals that had reconstructed into a new mineral and cooled for months under 2000 pounds pressure. The melt mass then partially devitrified forming chatoyant fan-like sprays of crystal fibers. Ideally the fibers would interlock, similar to those that give nephrite jade its toughness. Unfortunately, this did not occur. The glass matrix of the “boules” developed severe internal strains much similar to unannealed glass.

The mass looked like a fat carrot, weighed about five pounds and sold for $20.00/lb. Instructions cautioned you to carefully grind the white rind from the “boule” so as to relieve the strain. You must also take extreme care not to overheat the material in cutting, doping, or polishing. You could also purchase a ready-made cabochon from the company.

To protect his market, the 84-year-old Dr. Iimori did not patent his process, instead preferring to keep it a secret even from his family. When he passed away they did not continue the operation and the company went bankrupt in 1985. Ideally, a gem has “wear ability” and is supposed to be durable, but Victoria stone or Immure stone is not, and so cannot be considered a gem. It is beautiful though.

We might be tempted to make an exception for it as we have for opal, turquoise, and pearls. Even though it is glass, in the relaxed oriental view it could be considered “treasure ornament.” Indeed, now that it is no longer made, it acquires another aspect of gems-it is rare. May the good doctor rest peace; he has a jewel for a monument.

 

From Quarry Quips, 10/05

Via The Rockcollector 11/05

Some Interesting Things You Might Not Know

 

Coal is found in many parts of the world. It is found in large seams and what they call beading's, they can be many miles long and very wide and thick. Some times they have soil, brush, and small trees on top of the coal, which is called overburden. Which has to be removed before they can mine it. There are different names and kinds of coal.

Other names: although some coal strata (i.e. seams or beds) have been given formal stratigraphy names, most are considered only members of larger units in two ways: the word coal is not capitalized and the names are frequently indicated to be (informal)".

Furthermore, member, seam, or bed frequently follows the coal part of the term. Two examples are the Freeport coal (informal) of Pennsylvania and Black Butte coal bed (informal) of the Green River Basin in Wyoming.

Coal with the ellipsis usually preceded by an adjective such as anthracite or bituminous on the basis of the just mentioned definition of aspects. Anthracite (=hard coal)-black, typically with a high, almost metallic, luster and a concordat fracture. In addition, some fracture surfaces exhibit a peacock - like play of colors that resembles those exhibited by films of oil on water.

Black amber-rarely used trade name, though dating back to at least the 16^th Century, for "polished black coal." Cannel coal (sometimes called Carmelite or candle coal; rarely referred to as parrot coal)-massive, black, rarely grayish, dull waxy luster and conchoids fracture. Cannel coal appears homogeneous macroscopically despite the fact that it consists largely of spores that can be seen by using even a low-powered microscope. It ignites easily even with a match, bums like a candle, and emits a smoky flame.

Coal - trade name used for high - luster semiautomatic, sub bituminous coal used as a gem rock.

Uses: anthracite and bituminous coal have been fashioned into several articles including such diverse things as cups and saucers, stones for jewelry, paperweights and replicas of miners boots and also the so - called "traditional coal sculptures" (animals, eagles, ect.) Made by Vietnamese artisans. Cannel coal has been carved into such things as snuff bottles and wall plaques. "Coal" articles, such as those shown in figure A, are sold as souvenirs in West Virginia. Some closeness consists largely of compressed and indurate coal (dust?). I suspect that some of the jets pieces - e.g., the mourning jewelry of the Victorian era - were made from some coal rather than jet, which is lignite, a precursor of coal.

Some of the machinery they use can pick up a load of coal as big as your home, it is estimated there is over 300 years of coal left in the ground. It is used to make gas to heat your home. Miners that work in the mines under ground can breathe the dust and it will cause them to get Black Lung and they will die from it unless they treat the dust from coming into the air, they must put powered rock on it or keep it damp with water. The rock dust will keep it from exploding. My father told me that he had seen straw driven into a piece of lumber, the pressure was great from the blast. Also that a man running out of the tunnel the blast blew all of his clothing off except his shoes but did not kill him. There have been many strange stories about explosions in the mines.

There is much more to tell about coal and what it does but that is enough for this time.

 

Homer Whitlock

 

From News & Views 2/05

 

The Statue of Liberty

 

Some statistics

The total weight of copper in the Statue is 62,000 pounds (31 tons). The total weight of steel in the Statue is 250,000 pounds (125 ton). The total weight of steel in the Statue's concrete foundation is 54 million pounds (27,000 tons). The copper sheeting of the statue is 3/32 of an inch thick or 2.37 mm.

 

From USA TODAY via The Southwest Gem, 8/04

Via The Glacial Drifter 4/05