WEST SEATTLE PETROGLYPHS

Transcription

1 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 1 Volume 49, Number 6 Monthly Bulletin of the West Seattle Rock Club, Inc. Seattle, Washington Website: Our Club: Practices the Rockhound Code of Ethics Meetings: Visitors are always welcome! WEST SEATTLE PETROGLYPHS Mike Wall, Editor P.O. Box Seattle, WA mike_wall@yahoo.com June/July 2014

2 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 2 WEST SEATTLE ROCK CLUB, INC. Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 16145, Seattle, WA The purpose of this Club is to promote the study and enjoyment of the Lapidary Arts with good Rockhounding and good fellowship; and to further education and lapidary skills for all; to conduct field trips for exploration and collection of minerals, gems, rocks and fossils; to promote shows and displays; to publish a monthly periodical known as West Seattle PETROGLYPHS relating to club activities. **************************************************************************************** OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS (2014): President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Federation Director Director at Large Mineral Council Reps Seattle Regional Reps Newsletter - Editor Current Past President Bo Jeffers Merryl Jeffers Diane Christensen Audrey Vogelpohl Audrey Vogelpohl Ken Schmidt Leroy Christensen Lyle Vogelpohl Mike Wall Michael O Clair (206) (206) (206) (206) (206) (206) (206) (206) (206) (206) **************************************************************************************** COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS (2014): 2014 Show Co-Chairpersons Programs Refreshments/Hospitality Historian Field Trips Webmaster Ken Schmidt Diane Christensen <Vice President> Janet Francisco <Open> <Open> Donn Ullery (206) (206) <Vice President> (206) <Open> <Open> (206) **************************************************************************************** AFFILIATED WITH: Northwest Federation & American Federation of Mineralogical Societies Seattle Regional Gem and Mineral Show Committee Washington State Mineral Council ALAA American Lands Access Association **************************************************************************************** Meetings are held on the Fourth Wednesday of each month, except for November which is the THIRD Wednesday and no meetings in July and December The meetings are held in Adams Hall of the Tibbetts United Methodist Church st S.W. (corner of 41st S.W. and S.W. Andover Street) Seattle, WA 6:00 PM Junior Meeting 7:00 PM Adult Meeting Dues are: $20.00 first year (including name badge), then: $10.00 per adult member per year or $15.00 for 2 adults in same family, $3.00 per junior member per year VISITORS ARE INVITED AND ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO ALL MEETINGS All material in this Bulletin may be reprinted if properly credited - Exchange Bulletins are most welcome.

3 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 3 CLUB CALENDAR June 25, 2014 Junior Meeting (6:00 pm) Program: Field Trip Badge, and Bring your Special Find General Meeting (7:00 pm) Program: Field Trips: Tips & Tales Show & Tell: Material you found on a field trip July??, 2014 WSRC Picnic Date/Time/Location TBD PRESIDENT S MESSAGE Not Available At Press Time FIELD TRIP PICTURES Walker Valley Saddle Mountain (Pictures via Everett Rock & Gem Club Website, WHAT S INSIDE Club Calendar 3 President s Message 3 Field Trip Pictures 3 What s Inside 3 General Meeting Minutes May 4 WSRC Member News 5 WSRC New Members 5 WSRC Kid s Corner Ice Spikes 6 Junior Program 7 Congratulations to Mike Wall 7 Refreshments June 7 Plush Oregon Sunstone Field Trip Report 7 WSRC July Picnic 9 Shop Tips 9 Field Trips 10 Rock Shows 10

4 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 4 WEST SEATTLE ROCK CLUB GENERAL MEETING MINUTES May 28, 2014 Business President Bo Jeffers called the meeting to order. Janet Francisco reported there were 16 adult members, 6 junior members and 16 guests present. Margie Bradley, Maceo Tinsley and guests, Lori Riggs, Jerry Shipler and Noah Lefkowicz won the door prizes. Audrey Vogelpohl invited guests to join the club and informed the guests that applications were available. Audrey announced we have one new member, Mark Bradley. Audrey said that there were 5 junior cases and one joint-junior case at our show in April. The following Juniors earned b lue ribbons; Ian Atkinson and Maceo T insley (fossil category), Oz and Keir Hichens (education category), Eliot Forrest (self-collected category) and Sophia Simpson-Khan (mineral division). Sophia also won the people's choice award. Audrey then reported that the Northwest Federation show is August 15th through the 17th. She has packets available with show information, along with an application. The show is in Hermiston, Oregon. Bo said there's a possibility that he may be able to attend this meeting. Audrey then announced that Mike Wall was named rockhound of the year. There is an article in the Northwest Federation newsletter. Mike has been editor of the Petroglyphs for 15 years. He is always looking for original articles and any input on what type of information you would like to see in the Petroglyphs. Bo then read the list of upcoming shows and field trips. Audrey, the Club s treasurer, reported that our show in April was a success and the profit was about the same as it was in Mike Blanton then talked about the AFMS endowment fund. He is selling tickets for $5 each or 5 tickets for $20. There was a motion to buy $20 worth of tickets made by Diane Christensen and seconded by JoAnn Churchman. The motion was passed. Diane Christensen then pulled tickets from the raffle. Tickets were 25 cents and the raffle made about $65. Program Bo then talked about obsidian. Obsidian is glass and can have very sharp edges. He passed around several different types of obsidian that he collected in Burns, Oregon. The obsidian has a curved fracture on the edge. Obsidian is formed by volcanic rock that is quickly cooled, so it doesn't have chance to crystalize. The black obsidian is the most common type, other types include snowflake, mahogany and rainbow. You can collect obsidian from the Central Cascades in Oregon to California. Obsidian is used to make arrow points and surgical instruments because they have a fine cutting edge. When small nuggets fall out of the obsidian they are called apache tears. Some obsidian collected at Davis Creek, CA are six sided and are called Pink Lady obsidian. Show and Tell Lyle Vogelpohl brought some obsidian from central Oregon and a fire agate Christina Gilman brought some obsidian with a silver sheen Caitlyn Gilman brought a rock with a white line around it, which was a crystal vein Lucie O Clair brought some tourmaline from Pakistan she received from Friends of Mineralogy (Continued on page 5)

5 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 5 (Continued from page 4) Janet Francisco brought a granite rock that she got at the silent auction JoAnn Churchman brought some apache tears and some Smokey quartz Jesse Weiland brought 3 rocks he found at Coal Creek Ian Atkinson brought some mahogany obsidian that look like the fur of a tiger Maceo Tinsley brought some obsidian Diane Christensen brought some lapis from Afghanistan and a pink sphere Mike Blanton brought some rainbow sheen obsidian and an arrowhead Ken Schmidt brought some tumbled rocks. Mike Blanton won the drawing. Respectfully Submitted, Diane Christensen, WSRC Secretary WSRC MEMBER NEWS June Birthdays Alexandrite - an exceptionally rare precious gemstone that promotes self-esteem, joy and luck to its wearer... "go with the flow".? - Cheri Overman 6 - Misty Tinsley 19 - Caitlyn Gilman July Birthdays Ruby - known as a gemstone of nobles, possessing properties of devotion, love, strength, honor, determination and leadership. 1 - Carole Jennings 2 - Mike Blanton 7 - Arthur Ortiz 17 - Mark Hichens 20 - Merryl Jeffers 20 - Maceo Tinsley 25 - Kathy Newman 31 - Mike Wall August Birthdays Peridot - known as the stone of compassion, for its inherent properties of balancing your emotions and mind, inspiring eloquence, creativity and renewal of all things. Wearing peridot will help you find lost things LeRoy Christensen 16 - Mary Rider 29 - Dean Bradley Audrey WSRC NEW MEMBERS Please welcome the following individuals to the WSRC and add them to your rosters. Ewins, Jim & Sylvia 418 W Raye St Seattle, WA jimewins@comcast.net wylviaewins@comcast.net Jennings, Peter & Carole 5201 SW Stevens St Seattle, WA jenningscap@msn.com Lefkowicz, Rosa & Noah (Jr) 1729 S Hinds St Seattle, WA lefkowicz@hotmail.com Newman, Kathy th Ave SW Seattle, WA luunattic@gmail.com

6 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 6 WSRC KID S CORNER Ice Spikes A Great Ice Experiment from scientist Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht at the California Institute of Technology. When water freezes, it gets bigger! Fill a plastic bottle with water and put it in your freezer. When the water is frozen solid, you will see that the bottle has split open. When the water froze, it expanded, that is, it got larger. This physical feature of ice helps create ice spikes in an ice tray. What You Need: Plastic Ice Tray Distilled Water (water from the faucet does not always work very well for this experiment) Freezer What To Do: Preparation for this experiment is very easy. Fill each section in the plastic ice tray with distilled water. Only fill each section about 2/3 full. Don t fill them to the point that they flow into each other. Now, put the tray in your kitchen freezer. Place the tray so that there is at least two inches of space above the ice tray. When the water is frozen, you should have some ice spikes. How Do Ice Spikes Form? Ice spikes are the result of the special feature of ice mentioned above: water expands (gets larger) when it freezes. This is what happens. At first, the ice in the ice cube tray freezes at the edges of each section. Then, it freezes toward the center of the section. This will continue until there is a small hole in the middle of the top of the ice cube. While this is happening, the water is also freezing below the surface of the ice cube. Remember that water expands or gets larger as it freezes. So, as the water freezes at all the sides of the ice cube section in the tray, it pushes the unfrozen water up and out of the little hole on the top. The water that is pushed through the hole freezes in the shape of a small straw. More water is pushed through the straw and it freezes. This continues until all the water has frozen or the straw itself freezes solid. This straw is the ice spike! (via Mini Miners Monthly, 3/14)

7 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 7 Hello, Rockers! JUNIOR PROGRAM REFRESHMENTS JUNE Summer is upon us, as is the opportunity to go on some field trips, exploring our locale and beyond! Garnets, jasper, fossils, agates, petrified wood - all these wonderful works of art from nature can be found in our general vicinity and without too much difficulty. Our club s general meeting will feature members sharing their experiences on various field trips, so we ll work from that perspective and talk about possible field trips for the juniors, record keeping, code of ethics and planning. Please take note if you are on the hook for refreshments this month. Snacks: Christina Gilman Drinks: Mike Wall PLUSH OREGON SUNSTONE FIELD TRIP REPORT By Dave and Sue Wester You can bring a special find of your own to share at either the Juniors meeting or at the general meeting. Bring your badge book so we can identify some of the requirements you ve already completed and which might apply to this new badge, Field Trips. Be there or be square - 6 pm, June 25th at Tibbett s Church, West Seattle! ~Your trusty Aide d Camps, April Hichens, Junior Rockhound Facilitator CONGRATULATIONS TO MIKE WALL As announced in the May/June 2014 Nothwest Newsletter, Mike Wall was selected as West Seattle Rock Club's 2014 Rockhound of the Year. The selection was presented by the Board as follows: "West Seattle Rock Club names Mike Wall as their Rockhound of the Year. Joining the club in February of 1999, within a couple of months he volunteered to be the editor of our club newsletter, the Petroglyphs. That is 15 years of putting out an award winning newsletter and keeping the club membership informed of activities at all levels of our rockhounding hobby. Mike and his family find time for field trips (near and far), volunteers at our annual show - setting-up, taking down, putting in an 8 foot display case, puts together our club membership directory, and is a silent volunteer in many other areas. Our membership is honored by Mike Wall's commitment to the West Seattle Rock Club." Mineral Myths will not be offered this month so we can provide the following field trip report. As we spoke about sunstones a couple months ago, thought you d enjoy hearing about our trip into the outer reaches of Oregon. Oregon has officially named it The Oregon Outback because there simply isn t anything between point A and point B. Trying to think of a title, the best we could come up with was An Oregon Sunstone adventure or Field Trips into foreign lands claims another rock hound s vehicle Chapter 2. You will remember, or at least heard, that these long, multi-day trips take you into unknown lands with unknown (if even available) services and roads that have been known to eat cars. Of all the members who expressed an interest to go on this trip, we had one brave club member decide to join Sue and me to Plush and beyond. For the purposes of this article, that member will be referred to as member X. They have their own story to tell. The day after our last club meeting, Sue and I were up at the crack of dawn (4 AM) pulling our trailer some 575 miles south, destined to make Plush in one day. We d been there twice before but we went armed anyway with printouts from MapQuest, Google maps, our (Continued on page 8)

8 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 8 (Continued from page 7) Oregon Gazetteer, and state roadmaps. Our trailer was packed and ready to head out as the sun came up. The GPS had predicted our arrival in Plush at 3:10 but we kept adding to the time. Boy was it wrong! Pulling a trailer over Mt. Hood is always a slow process. Hey Rick, how does your camper do? But open camping in the desert we were not on a time schedule and no one to call to say we re going to be late! X said they d take it from there when the store opened. I said goodnight and back to camp arriving at midnight. On the way back to camp, I had to stop and shut off the truck. Moonless night no clouds wind had died down and the stars looked like someone had taken white/silver spray paint to the sky. These are side benefits to these trips. We arrived at the camping area in the Public Sunstone Collection Area about 5 PM 12.5 hours from door to sagebrush! This is a 20-square mile site set aside by the BLM for us rockhounds to collect sunstones. There are a few private mines either nearby or one patented mine within the area our destination for collecting. A nice 20 MPH wind was blowing as we got our camp set up and awaited the arrival of member X who we figured should be rolling in anytime. Dinner and some low-angle stone picking yielded us our first sunstones one a nice 20 Ct. cutter (big enough to facet!). Sunstones on the desert floor simply flare up as brilliant points of light as the sun angle gets low perfect time to pick! By 9PM however we were shot long day and still no member X. We figured member X may have stopped and we d see them in the morning. About 10PM, we heard a truck and peeking out of the trailer window, saw someone get out of a pickup, flash their light at our trailer (I flashed my light back like yeah this is the place ) and the truck drove off. I opened the door to a disheveled member X who had broken down and being the diehard rock hound, had hiked across the desert to make their appointment. Wow dedication! And they found some jasper along the way! Member X asked to borrow my pickup to go back to their car and when asked where it was, was told I m not sure. Where member X s vehicle had broken down, they could see the mine (and then the light after the sun when down) and hiked cross country. Upon arriving at the mine, were able to hitch a ride the last 2 miles. Midnight auto rescue! Got dressed and we were off. We found the abandoned car some 22 miles from camp and needing oil. Not having any oil and the closest town being Plush, figured best to get the broken down rig into town. Let s say member X now knows what close-up tailgating is all about. 40 MPH hooked to the back of a 10 foot tow rope on a dirt road got them into town about 11:30 where member Following morning Sue and I were at the mine by 9:30 and ready to go shortly thereafter. The Spectrum mine is a free dig/fee dig mine. You can dig in their pits and find some nice material for free but we paid them to use their front end loader to bring ore up from the mine. We then proceeded to process the ore. Seven hours later we had collected some very nice reds (sunstones with red hearts), some Shillers (sunstone that reflects a copper color when oriented along its plane), a couple light greens, some clears, and many honey-colored stones. Not bad for a day s work. Being concerned about member X who we had spoken to once (standing on the water tower was the only (Continued on page 9)

9 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 9 (Continued from page 8) place to get cell reception), we decided to drive into Plush to see what the prognosis was. Upon arriving in town, the broken down rig was gone. We spoke to Dave, the store owner, who told us the rig had been towed to Lakeview where it was to be repaired. We d left our number with member X so figured they d call when they got cell coverage so back out to the desert again. We got real good at driving washboard roads, power sliding around gravel corners and no flat tires this year! Friday we were at the mine working by 9 AM and we worked until 2 PM. We found a couple more nice reds and a little of everything else and figured we d had enough faceting material to last about 162 years so we headed back to camp (about 2 miles away) and then decided to head to Lakeview to find member X. We did and the rest of the story may be told by member X. That s their story! Overall, Sue and I had a great trip and wish more members had come down. It s a long drive, a major time commitment but the Spectrum Mine is the place to go. This is the oldest sunstone mine in Oregon, being patented in 1973 so it s privately owned. The mine owners are there and very helpful. And when they get excited by what you find, you know you ve found something special. As our fearless leader Lanny says, Plush is not on the way to anything which pretty much sums it up. It s about 2.5 hours south of Glass Buttes and if you like wide open spaces, we highly recommend putting this one on your list of places that you must go one day. The sunsets alone are worth the trip! SHOP TIPS Editor s Note: Shop tips featured in this bulletin have not been evaluated for safety or reliability. Please use caution and common sense when trying out any new idea. Tumbler Maintenance Clean rubber rollers on your tumbler with lacquer thinner. It will also prolong the life of windshield wiper blades; it keeps them pliable and eliminates drying. (via The Tumbler 3/14; via Roc Toc, 7/10; via Clackamette Gem, 4/10; via Stoney Statements, 3/09) Cleaning Selenite Selenite specimens can be cleaned by brushing gently with household ammonia and rinsing quickly with cold water. Hot water can destroy them. (via The Tumbler 3/14; via Owyhee Gem, 8/11; via Ozark Earth Science News) Cab Making WSRC JULY PICNIC Date/Time/Location TBD at time of Printing If you are having trouble keeping the outline of a cab visible while working on it, try outlining your scribe mark with clear fingernail polish. It is easy to remove the polish with nail polish remover and a soap & water rinse. (via The Tumbler 3/14; Mineralog) via Owyhee Gem, 8/11; via Working with Soft Stones When working with a soft stone like alabaster, marble or onyx, soak it in water a day or so before cutting in oil. The oil won t soak in and, when polished, a better finish will result. (via Rocky Trails, 7/12) (via The Tumbler 2/14; via Roc Toc, 7/10; from Gem Cutters News, 2/09)

10 June/July 2014 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page FIELD TRIPS June Pow Wow Field Trip Madras, OR Fairgrounds Petrified wood, agate, jasper, T- Eggs $1 per # - contact Ed wsmced@hotmail.com, or home (425) , cell (425) July 13 Spokane Rock Rollers Field Trip Lolo Pass Lolo Hot Springs Smokey Quartz Dig and Light Hard Rock Tools - contact Mike Shaw (509) , mikeshawmoose@yahoo.com July 19 Marysville Rock & Gem Club Field Trip Darrington Darrington Rock Show Travertine Hard Rock Tools - contact Ed wsmced@hotmail.com, or home (425) , cell (425) Aug 2 Shelton Field Trip Salmon Creek I-5 Park & Ride in Toledo Agate, petrified wood, pseudo coprolites Wading - contact Ed wsmced@hotmail.com, or home (425) , cell (425) Aug 16 Northwest Opal Society Field Trip Greenwater Enumclaw Ranger Station Agate, Jasper Dig and Light Hard Rock - contact Tony Johnson (253) See WSMC for additional field trips and details 2014 SHOWS Jul 18 10am-5pm Lower Umpqua Gem & Lapidary Society Annual Show Jul 19 10am-5pm Reedsport Community Building Jul 20 10am-4pm 415 Winchester Avenue, Reedsport, OR Aug 8 10am-9pm Port Townsend Rock Club Annual Show Aug 9 10am-9pm Jefferson County Fairgrounds Aug 10 10am-6pm 4907 Landers Street, Port Townsend, WA See the Northwest Newsletter for additional show listings and times. Available online at: HOW CAN YOU HELP Your Federation: Save stamps and give to our club treasurer. Your Hobby: Join ALAA. - Contact Lyle Vogelpohl Other: Volunteer to teach beginners what you are good at. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT... Cabbing contact Lyle Vogelpohl (206)