The Stone Chipper. President s Message. Hello Rock friends or should I say fiends,

Transcription

1 Vol Austin Gem & Mineral Society The Stone Chipper Each one teach one President s Message Hello Rock friends or should I say fiends, By the time you see this message we will hopefully had a great Board meeting, Mineral SIG meeting and a couple of workshops, and a working show meeting to help with the Exhibit Cases. I am wishing all of you a great Mother s Day. Which is just around the corner and I hope all of my friends here in this Club are in better health, or are at least in recovery. Again I need not stress the fact that we need to be watchful of where we walk, sit, or place our hands as we quest for that elusive sparkle of our eye called a rock! I know-- you re over thirty and still playing in the dirt, oh well, sure does feel good, LOL So are you ready for the next great trip we really are working to set one up!! Take care and cut rock, roll, tumble, or cab! Josie Middleton, President THE AUSTIN GEM AND MINERAL SOCIETY, INC. (AGMS) is a member in good standing of the South Central Federation of Mineral Societies and the American Federation of Mineral Societies. Its editors are also members of SCRIBE. The club address is 6719 Burnet Lane, Austin, Texas 78757, and phone (512) The AGMS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Visit our website at org Contact our webmaster for website updates at DiannH@ austingemandmineral.org. PURPOSE The purpose of the AGMS is to promote interest and education in the various Earth Sciences and other related subjects. MEETINGS The society meets at 7:00 p.m. the fourth Thursday of every month except October, which is show set up day, (except for 2014, when set-up day will be on the first Thursday of the month). The November meeting will be held on the THIRD Thursday. December is the Officers Induction Banquet held on a date to be determined. Board meetings are held the first Tuesday of every month. Show committee meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month. All meetings are open to anyone. Society officers are listed on the second page of this publication. Please feel free to contact any of them for information Dues for 2014 Annual membership dues are: Adult-$30.00 Couple-$40.00 Junior--$4.00 Table of Contents Board Meeting Minutes...Page 2 General Meeting Minutes...Page 3 Show Committee Minutes...Page 4 Rock & Equipment Sale...Page 5 AFMS Endowment Drawing...Page 6 Hunts & Events...Page 7 Regular Features...Page 8 AGMS Rock Swap...Page 8 The Rock Swap s Day...Page 10 May Meeting Topic...Page 10 AGMS List Signup...Page 10 Creeking...Page 10

2 Stone Chipper 2 Officers President Josie Middleton president@austingemandmineral.org 1 st VP Les Postlethwait vpresident1@austingemandmineral.org 2 nd VP Kathleen Howard president2@austingemandmineral.org Treasurer Charlotte Morriss treasurer@austingemandmineral.org Secretary Shawn McMahon secretary@austingemandmineral.org Building Chair - Glen Gilbreath Display Cases - Jackie Fisher Federation/Conservation - Josie Middleton Historian - Vacant Hospitality - Vacant Membership -Vacant Scholarship - Stretch Young School Programs - Wing Evans Sergeant-at-Arms - Jackie Fisher Board Members Lou Pulliam -- lloup@austingemandmineral.org Dee Fly flyd@austingemandmineral.org Sian Schilhab sians@austingemandmineral.org Cindy Murphy cindym@austingemandmineral.org Craig Brandt -- craigb@austingemandmineral.org Laird Fowler -- lairdf@austingemandmineral.org Committee Chairs Annual Show - Susan Postlethwait showchairman@austingemandmineral.org Education/Classes - Joyce Hrapsky classes@austingemandmineral.org Field Trips - Chip Burnette trip@austingemandmineral.org Junior Advisor - Jackie Fisher juniors@austingemandmineral.org Lead Librarian: Laird Fowler Co-Librarians - Terry Barry, Roger Waguespack(periodicals), Librarian@austingemandmineral.org Webmaster Diann Hill webmaster@austingemandmineral.org Sunshine - Fran Ellis Newsletter Editor Carolyn Perkins stonechipper@austingemandmineral.org Board Meeting Minutes Summary May 6, 2014 Attendees: Josie Middleton, Les Postlethwait, Dee Fly, Sian Schilhab, Lou Pulliam, Cindy Murphy, Shawn McMahon and three general members. Absent were: Charlotte Morris, Laird Fowler, and Craig Brandt. Meeting started at 7:07. Old Business Dee reported that the statement that Laird advised the laptop is not fixed and back in the library, needs to be corrected in the April Board Meeting Minutes. It should have said that the laptop is fixed and back in the library. The board voted to accept this correction.

3 Stone Chipper 3 New Business: Les Postlewait reported on the Club s Account balance. We have $20, in our bank account and $1, in our Money Market account. The board again discussed looking for a replacement Tax CPA. The one we have now charges a hefty price for not a lot of work. Basic duties are making sure we file the right forms at the right time to keep our 501 C-3 status, and pay our quarterly taxes on time. If anyone knows of someone who might fit the bill, please provide some information to us so that we can look into it. It would be good if they might also be able to give us some advice on investments. Richard Dorsey attended the meeting to report and discuss our current insurance company for the club Watkins Insurance. We discussed the issue of finding a company that will cover all of our special riders that we have in our policy, and that we need to have an independent agent. Richard said that he would arrange to have the agent attend our next board meeting in June so that we can all discuss the possible options. One concern is that we have the best policy for our needs at the best price, such as Would it be better to insure our gem and fossil collection separately or include it under our general policy? Also, in order to get an accurate cost of renewing a policy, we need an accurate appraisal of what we have in stock. Betsy is working on cataloging everything in our collection now. Les brought up that he will take on asset tagging all of our equipment with bar code scanable tags, so that they can be more easily cataloged too. Meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM Minutes submitted by, Shawn McMahon. General Meeting Minutes April 23, 2014 Josie Middleton presided over the meeting opening the meeting at 7:05 PM. She announced Kathleen Howard who introduced the guest speaker of the month Jeff Spencer who spoke about the history of the oil industry in Texas and the early oil barons. Mr. Spencer is the author of Texas Oil and Gas written about the most influential and colorful characters of their time portrayed in his book of photographers who captured the early days of oil exploration in Texas. During his presentation, Mr. Spencer provided photographs that were taken during the heydays of the early oil industry uniquely captured by 8x10 cameras used at the turn of the century in the 1900 s. The six photographers featured during the presentation that manned the cameras were as unique as the pictures they created. Frank Frost (circa 1901) from the Port Arthur area photographed his most wellknown pictures of the famous Spindletop strike when the well literally exploded into history. Frank J. Schuster who hailed from the Houston area lived from and was one of the first to cover off-shore drilling. His photographs also caught the eye of the oil companies themselves such as Humble Oil that took full advantage of his pictures in their advertising (often without his authorization). Frank Allen s ( ) best known photographs were taken in Shreveport, Goose Creek, and Caddo Lake where he experimented with a new technique using panoramic scenic views that became one of his signatures. Lester Allen ( ) expanded on a technique that was first

4 Stone Chipper 4 explored by Frank Allen (no relation) where he would write notes directly on his photographs, identifying and captioning events. Moving West to explore the Burkburnett field, Ben Loden (Harrison) ( ) settled in Electra portraying not only the wells but politics of the time. His photographs became more and more reflective of the workers themselves, their hardships, the water shortages, and the conditions under which they lived. Probably the most colorful of the group is Jack Nolan ( ) who was an adventurer even before taking a camera to the oil fields. It was known that he prospected gold in Alaska at the age of eighteen, moved to East Texas at twenty-five and followed the boomtowns as they opened up when new wells hits. He was best known for covering blowouts, fires, and being at the right place at the right time, such as when martial law was declared in East Texas in Mr. Spencer was available for autographing his book after the meeting and still has copies for sale, for those who are interested. Susan Postlewait asked for volunteers to work on Saturday at the clubhouse starting at 9 AM, to finish repairing display cases on April 24 th. She reported afterwards that the work went well and appreciates all those who pitched in to help complete the task. A reminder from Ron that the Mineral Section meets May 13 th, please bring any unknowns that you would like to identify. Josie donated a book to our library called Guide to Topaz Mountain in Utah, that she picked up on her last trip. Also, just as a reminder, when posting on the club s internet site, please identify your posting. What is it, and who is posting it? There were 45 members signed in attendance for the April General Meeting and three visitors. Visitors were Jack Pepper, Rita Gallegan, and Jeff Spencer (the speaker). Josie also brought specimens of tanzanite, topaz, turquoise, sunstone, barite, feldspar, labradorite, and smithsonite (blue) for show and tell after the meeting. Door prizes were donated from members. If you haven t paid your dues for the year, please see Charlotte. Meeting was adjourned at 7:55 PM. Minutes submitted by Shawn McMahon Show Committee Minutes Minutes: Minutes for February were reviewed and then submitted without any corrections. Treasurer: Brian provided the report for February and March. A check of $13, issued to AGMS. Advertising: Laura Dow provided a copy of her letter that goes out to magazine and such for advertising our show. There are a few changes to be made before they go out, Dealers: Stretch advised that another dealer had to drop out and Riverbend lapidary will be in the show. Les advised that there was a dealer at the San Antonio show that had a booth and they had a trailer with sluce boxes on both side of the trailer for people to mine for gems. They were set up on opposite side of the show but both were inside. We might want to see if they can be accommodated for our show. Display cases: Cases need to be fixed so we will have a workday on Saturday, April 26 at 9:00.

5 Stone Chipper 5 Flyers: Flyers need to be printed as soon as possible with dinosaur pictures. Grand Prizes: Susan bought 2 items for the Friday and Saturday door prizes. Postcards: Susan is going to be home for a while, she would be able to enter the names and address from the grand prize ticket which would get done faster for us to get them to Monarch Printing. Saturday May 24, 2014 Presales by Appointment 8 AM to 2 PM call Dolores Avram Beachcomber Drive, Morgan s Point Resort, Texas (8 Miles North of Belton) Show Pin: Susan advised that we would need to have the show pin designs at the next meeting so we can vote on the design and order the pins. The theme for the show is Dinosaurs, maybe a dinosaur shape. Other Business: Stretch has a friend who works for a company that goes out to raise money by getting sponsors. They would get 40% of what they raised. It is something to think about. Meeting was adjourned at 7:58. Minutes by Dee Fly Rock & Equipment Sale-- May 24, 2014 Slab & trim saws. Genie w/new motor Slab saw Trim Saw 18 flat lap--new, never used Gem drill used twice. Rock hammers and collecting kits. Gemstones from A to Z Work benches Tons of miscellaneous tools, books, etc. 60+ bins of rock slabs lots of rough cut pieces for cabbing fossils, corals, & loads of specimens All equipment in excellent working order. I m selling because I just can t see as well as I used to. Genie with 4 hours on new motor and all new wheels. In perfect working order.

6 Stone Chipper 6 Dear all SCFMS Editors, My name is Catherine Rouchon. I am your regional federation representative for the AFMS Endowment Fund. I am asking you to please promote the AFMS Endowment Fund Raffle in your club by including the attached file in your club s newsletter. Tickets can be purchased through me now through June 30. Tickets are sold one for $5 or five for $20. If anyone in your club is interested in purchasing tickets they can contact me at:. rouchonc@starband.net or 225/683/9264 If you or anyone in your club would like to donate a prize to the raffle please let me know. If you have any questions, please contact me. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MINERALOGICAL SOCIETIES AFMS ENDOWMENT DRAWING FOR 2014 Drawing to be Held during the AFMS Convention and Show July 12, 2014, Tulsa, OK Interest from AFMS Endowment Fund investments is used to support numerous programs that benefit our affiliated member clubs. In the past several years, interest money has: Purchased badges for the juniors program which are given at no charge to clubs with organized junior activities programs Digitized the old AFMS slide programs that have been distributed at no charge to the regional federations Purchased new commercially produced programs for the regional federation libraries Supported the Judges Training Program TICKETS ARE $5 EACH OR 5 FOR $20 See for partial list of prizes Deadline for return of tickets to Catherine Rouchon of Baton Rouge G&M is June 30

7 Stone Chipper 7 July 31-Aug. 4-- AFMS Multi-Federation Field Trip, Terry MT. Rock & fossil hunting trips, swaps, get-togethers, music. contact Doug True (406) ; dtruefossils@ yahoo.com Hunts & Events Aug Baton Rouge Gem & Mineral Society Show & SCFMS Regional Convention, 10-5 Sat. & Sun, Marriott Hotel, Hilton Ave., Baton Rouge, LA. Aug AGMS Annual Auction & Picnic, Sat Potluck picnic. Contact Les Postlethwait, texasagate@gmail.com Oct AGMS Annual Gem Capers Show. Move in on Thursday, Oct. 2. May 8-11 & May Alpine, TX area rock hunting featuring the Singleton ranch. There are four separate agate hunting sites on the ranch visited during each 4-day trip. Bouquet agate is one variety found there. You can contact the trip organizer, Teri Smith, at <agatehunter@sbcglobal.net> or check Teri s website-- terismithrockhunts. com Nov Dallas Gem & Mineral Show, Rodeo Center Exhibit Hall, 1800 Rodeo Drive, Mesquite, TX June th annual Ben E. Clement Gem, Mineral, Fossil, & Jewelry Show with digs. Fohs Hall, 205 North Walker Street, Marion KY. For more information, call (270) or at beclement@att.net July Tulsa Rock and Mineral Society/ AFMS Convention & Show. Central Park Hall Building at Tulsa Fair Grounds, 4145 E. 21st St., Tulsa OK. Contact Ben Thomas, (918) ; bthomas630@cox.net or Finis Riggs, (918) ; lriggs1331@ cox.net photo by J. Perkins Jim Stratton and Bryon Cronk discuss the next step in completing Jim s cabochon at the very successful 3-session April cabbing class series taught by Bryon.

8 Stone Chipper 8 t, fold and seal the Sto Cora Refreshments Reminder! Who wants refreshments at the May meeting? Not bad for beginners. Thanks, Bryon! THANK YOU! Each month Jim and JoAnn Wiersema & Cora Caffey of Horizon Environmental Services print, fold and seal the Stone Chipper for mailing to those club members who do not have computer access and for non-members interested in finding out more about the club. This is a real cost savings for AGMS and we appreciate their generosity. Stone Chipper Ads AGMS Meetings Schedule Metalsmith SIG-- 2nd & 4th Monday--6:30 pm Board Meeting-- 1st Tuesday--7pm Minerals SIG -- 2nd Tuesday--7pm Gem Capers Show-- 3rd Thursday General Meeting-- 4th Thursday--7 pm 2014 AGMS Rock Swap Hope you were at the AGMS Rock Swap on April 12 because if you were not, you missed a great time. The Texas Faceters Guild joined us at the clubhouse for a super sale with lots of bargains. And if you couldn t fit everything you wanted into your budget, you at least got an eyeful. Best of all, when you were not selling or buying you had access to plenty of interesting folks for conversation. r The Stone Chipper can now accept non-political AGMS Board-approved paid advertising. If you are interested in placing an ad or have questions about the process, please contact Stone Chipper editor Carolyn Perkins at stonechipper@austingemandmineral.org. l. You can choose from a variety of sizes for your printready ad: Full Page (7 x 8 ) ($100 per issue) Half Page (7 x 4 ) ($50 per issue) Quarter Page (3 1/2 x 4 ) ($25 p.i.) Business Card (3 1/4 x 2) ($12.50 p.i.) There is no extra charge for full color, but mail out copies will be black and white only. compliments of TX Faceters Guild

9 9 Stone Chipper J. Perkins photo Chip and Sondra take time out to see what the faceters are up to. J. Perkins photo Richard and Brian discuss prices. J. Perkins photo Robert has just the thing for the veteran rock hound who has everything. compliments of TX Faceters Guild Charles Covill with Diane Eames, past president of Texas Faceters Guild. compliments of TX Faceters Guild Charles again, with fellow faceting legend Robert Long. J. Perkins photo Paul and Jackie discuss fine prints and minerals.

10 Stone Chipper 10 6 On a nice spring day in April we attended the Austin Gem & Mineral Society s annual Rock Swap. There were vendors outside and inside the building---each enthused over their offerings and wanting to share. Inspired by an article on Ted Kooser, a Poet Laureate, I tried my hand at non-rhyming poetry---trying to capture the allure of rocks wherever you find them. This one s from a rock s point of view: THE ROCKS SWAP DAY Marilyn Gilbreath 4/13/2013 Inanimate though they be and solid, rocks---boulders, chunks, slabs, cabs made way to the clubhouse grounds. Hefted, carried, loaded and unloaded--- cardboard-cushioned, plastic-confined and pampered they came---limo-driven. Displayed, they beckoned new owners to heft, carry, load, unload new limos. Restless rocks---ready for a change of scene. MAY MEETING TOPIC May 23, 2014 Charles Woodruff will be the featured speaker at the General Meeting this month. His talk is titled Balcones Borderland. Thanks, Kathleen. AGMS List If you are currently not a member of the AGMSList and would like to be, please Diann Hill at general@austingemandmineral. org. It s the best way to keep up with the latest AGMS happenings. Creeking: How a Rockhound enjoys a hot summer s day down south by W.C. McDaniel Summer months pose a dilemma for southern rockhounds. How do you fulfill your yearning and need to go rock hunting without sacrificing your life to the heat and humidity of the days of July and August? One option is to stay home, do nothing, hold down the recliner, and enjoy the wonders of one the most important inventions of the 20th century, air conditioning. A second option is to go rock hunting at your home by checking out your displays, cleaning, and rearranging to find a place for your next acquisition. The third and last option (saved the best for the last) is to go creeking. I m not sure if the word creeking has been anointed by the Oxford English Dictionary. However, Bill Gates gave me the power to add it to my spell check, I did, and now it s the title of this article. Creeking simply means to go rock hunting in a creek. The primary components of creeking include a hot day, a creek suitable for wading, shade and eager rockhounds. Two of these four criteria were easily met on a hot day in August of Three rockhounds loaded up the Subaru Outback, packed a cooler with plenty of drinks and headed south to check out some creeks, find some shade and hopefully some petrified wood. On that day and subsequent days we successfully located two creeking sites and collected an estimated 800-1,000 pounds of petrified wood. Both sites are located in Mississippi. SITE ONE: Our first destination was selected based on an earlier tip and a quick roadside look during the

11 Stone Chipper 611 winter months. The site, about 160 miles from Memphis, is located off a main highway and accessed via a gravel road. About one mile from the turn off we passed over a bridge, stopped and checked both sides of the creek. Downstream from the bridge the creek appeared to be fairly accessible with a sloping bank and little vegetation. Upstream the creek looked more difficult. High clay and sandy banks, heavy growth of vegetation including several large trees with exposed root systems, and right in the middle, stretching from bank to bank, was a large pool of water, later to be measured at about 6-7 feet deep. So we took the easy route and headed downstream. We began our search by looking in the creek bed and along its banks. The water was clear, depth was about a foot and the width of the creek bed was about 25 feet. For several hundred yards we picked up a large number of small pieces of petrified wood, majority measured about 1 to 3 inches long. The largest piece was about 10 inches long. As we continued our journey and finds, lingering questions emerged. What is the source of the wood? Where are the big pieces? Looking back over our shoulders we concluded that we had to go up the creek, past the pool of water and down the high banks and cascading tree roots. So we headed that way. Our quest for a route down to the creek bed began by checking out our options on both sides of the creek. High sheer clay banks, heavy vegetation with thorns, multiple types of vines, and several tall trees dominated this section. One of those large trees root system had been exposed due to years of erosion and we decided to use that route to the creek. The journey through the tree s root system was slow and tedious but we all made it safely down. We began our walk up the creek. Water depth ranged from a few inches to a couple of feet. The first couple of hundred yards did not produce any wood and we began to wonder if someone else had collected before us. However, it did produce a couple of long, large and gorgeous snakes that swam up the creek, as if to tell us to follow them to the wood. We followed and they soon disappeared near an area where a large amount of rock and gravel type material had accumulated. We immediately found our first large piece, about 3 feet long, weighing about 25 pounds. That was the tip of the iceberg. Over the next half mile we found numerous pieces, several weighing between pounds. The majority of wood was found in the middle of the creek, some in a couple feet of water. A few were almost jet black due to years of organic deposits. We continued up the creek and located a piece of wood extending about 12 inches out from the sand and at the water surface, essentially in situ. A quick and tentative exploration revealed the piece was fairly large and we lacked the means to haul it out that day. One thing was certain, breaking up this large piece would have been a crime against geology and disrespectful of the petrification process. So we covered it back up, camouflaged it with some bushes, crossed our fingers and hoped it would still be there on our next return trip. It would take two more trips to get the Big One safely out and home. On our journey back to the car we searched and located another access/exit point, a high sheer bank with some toeholds formed by erosion and tree roots. This would make our additional trips a little easier. from MAGS Rockhound News, July 2005 (to be cont d in June Stone Chipper)

12 The Stone Chipper is the official publication of the Austin Gem and Mineral Society. It is published monthly in Austin, Texas. Expanded minutes of Board Meetings are available upon request. Note: Clip art images are under Copyright 2014 by the AGMS and its licensors. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted, text items in The Stone Chipper may be reproduced in other nonprofit publications as long as proper credit is given to the author and The StoneChipper. All authors who make submissions to this newsletter are presumed to agree with this policy. The Stone Chipper Carolyn Perkins, Editor 6719 Burnet Lane Austin, Texas Newsletter Address Correction Requested Austin Gem and Mineral Society Austin, Texas Please visit us at