October 2010
Published monthly by the Ginkgo Mineral Society, Inc. PO Box 303, Wenatchee, Washington 98807 MEETINGS 3rd Saturday of the month, 2:00 PM Douglas County Fire Station, 377 Eastmont Ave, East Wenatchee OFFICERS President Larry Shaw 884-0882 Vice President Liz Forrer 662-1146 Secretary Carol Smith 884-3349 Treasurer Pam Alexander 886-5375 Past President, member Executive Board Bob Spurrier 881-8096 COORDINATORS Field Trips Shop & Equipment Program/Education Publicity Social Chelan County Fair Booth Museum Nason Creek Fundraisers Newsletter Web Site Ron Gray 669-3106 / Larry Shaw 884-0882 Bob Witt 669-0819 / Ron Gray 669-3106 Liz Forrer 662-1146 Charleen Prevett 670-2325 Maxine Anderson 662-7446 Bob Spurrier 881-8096 Lori Ludeman 745-8608 Dennis & Ellen Osier 662-3227 Valerie Hampton 884-3578 Newsletter email address: ginkgonews@yahoo.com Jill Timm 663-2961 jtimm@aol.com The Ginkgo Mineral Society was formed to promote the education of mineralogy and geology; to encourage the collecting of rocks and minerals; to provide field excursions to mineral collecting areas; and to promote interest in lapidary work. DUES: Individual - $20.00 Senior - $15.00 Family - $30.00 Lifetime (20+ yrs) - Free Exchange bulletins are welcome and appreciated. Club Calendar October November December 6 4 13 11 16 Annual Rock Auction, 20 Wenatchee Library Regular Meeting 18 Potluck Christmas Party 23 25 Christmas Holiday 30 27 ROCK SHOP HOURS: 10 am 3 pm Saturdays, except meeting and field trip days. Safety glasses required - dust mask recommended - paper towels requested Bob Witt opens the workshop at 10 am, and if no one is there at 1 pm he closes up but give him a call at 669-0819 if you need to arrange later hours.**winter is coming it's time to get started on Christmas gifts and other projects before it is too cold to work in the shop. Some of the equipment won't work properly when it is below freezing. **
VOL 32, ISSUE 10 THE PETRIFIED DIGEST OCTOBER 2010 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Hello Rock hounds! It looks like we will have plenty of good material for the upcoming rock sale. A dozen or more club volunteers worked two days one weekend washing and prepping material. We will begin the sale and silent auctions at 2:00 p.m. and continue to 4:00 p.m. in the basement of the Wenatchee Public Library. We will be looking for volunteers to help set up Saturday morning at 10:00 and to help with the sale. Bob Witt, Bob Spurrier, and Christy Price have agreed to join me on the Officer Nominating Committee. We will begin canvassing our membership next month for interest in running for next year's club officer positions. My thanks to Richard and Charlene Prevett for offering to guide other club members on their rock trip to Oregon last month. The trip visited sites in the Vale area to collect Owyhee; Warm Springs Reservoir for some really nice jasper and quartz; Glass Butte; and the Hampton Butte areas. I m looking forward to talking to Greg Peek as he left Hampton Butte in the middle of a heavy rain storm, totally wet, but with a big grin on his face and apparently very happy with what he had found. Larry Shaw, President ******* September Meeting Highlights Guest speaker Rich Sink brought samples of fossils he has collected and described the formations in which they are found. He explained how to clean the specimens to bring out the best images, showed the tools he uses and noted where to get them. Rich also described how to seal them for display. After entertaining questions from the club, he donated a trilobyte for the raffle. The meeting discussion included the schedule for washing and packing the rocks for the upcoming sale, as well as the time and location of the event. At left: Cheri McMillan, Bob Spurrier and Carol Smith pack rocks for the club sale. At right: Larry Shaw and Christy Price power washing their way through the rock pile. Check out Page 3 for more photos. IMPORTANT: OCTOBER MEETING LOCATION CHANGE Don't forget that in October the regular meeting will be replaced by the Annual Rock Sale and Auction. Be sure to go the the Wenatchee Public Library meeting room in the lower floor at 310 Douglas Street, Wenatchee. There is an outside door down a flight of stairs to the right of the main building entrance. There is also an elevator that you can access from the main library floor. There will be lots of items in the silent auction. The fun will begin at 2:00 p.m. October 16.
OCTOBER 2010 Page 2 ROGER, THE ROCKHOUND SEZ: Fall is in the air! Time to round up your finds from the summer field trips and head to the shop. Check out the rock auction for more project materials. ******* UPCOMING EVENTS AROUND THE REGION Pacific Northwest Rock and Gem Shows From the NFMS Website http://www.amfed.org/nfms/index.html October 23-24 Sat. 10-5, Sun. 10-5 Bellevue Rock Club Rock, Gem & Jewelry Show Vasa Park, 3560 W. Lake Sammamish Blvd SE, Bellevue, WA (I-90 exit 13) November 6-7 Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-4 Maplewood Rock & Gem Club Annual Fall Show MRGC Clubhouse 8802 196th St, Edmonds, WA November 13-14 Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-5 Skagit Rock & Gem Club Treasures of the Earth Sedro Wooley Community Center 720 State St, Sedro Wooley, WA November 12-14 Fri./Sat. 10-5, Sun. 10-4 NW Opal Assoc. & Boeing Employees Mineralogical Society 6th Annual South Sound Gem, Opal & Mineral Show WA State Fairgrounds Expo Hall Meridian St S & 9th Ave SW, Puyallup, WA November 20-21 Sat. 10-5, Sun. 10-5 Kitsap Mineral and Gem Society Fall Festival of Gems Free Admission Kitsap County Fairgrounds Presidents Hall 1200 Fairgrounds Rd, Bremerton, WA ******* ARIZONA DREAMING Bill Williams At the July meeting Liz had the members tell of DREAM TRIPS they would like to take. While I would love to return to Poober Canyon myself, I'm afraid all we can offer members of the club is a place in Arizona (also on the wish list of several members). For those interested parties, free power, water, sewer and a passable access road are available. It includes hookups for two vehicles, and one acre of parking space for self-contained and true brave at heart tent campers. There are hunting grounds all over the Mojave desert and along the Colorado River, and it's only 30 miles to the January rock and gem show at AVI Resort in Nevada. Burro Creek and several old mines are in the area also. Please remember Arizona back roads are not paved, and often not graded and are sometimes only two-trackers. Ruth and I still know of a few accessible places, and a nice lake. Maury and Pat Smith, and Bobby Allen have spent time with us and can supply additional information on the area. The BLM offices in Kingman, Lake Havasu, and Needles do supply very accurate area maps showing even most of the remote two-track roads for a reasonable price. Good to pick up a couple. We have lots of desert rocks and slabs here at the house. For any club member that might be interested, our place is at Yucca, 27 miles west of Kingman on US Interstate 40 and 200 miles west of the Grand Canyon. Call us here (in Washington) at 548-5865 to see specimens, get driving instructions, and talk about the desert. We usually go south around the middle of October. It's a three day trip, 700 miles a day. Visitors are always welcome both here and there. Bring your road atlas and come on by. Dream trips can come true! Thank you, Bill and Ruth, for this generous offer. Hopefully some can take you up on it; the rest of us will look forward to our snowbirds' return in the spring. -Editor-
OCTOBER 2010 Page 3 Rock cleaning for the Club's Annual Sale and Auction Cheri McMillan, Wanda Shaw, & Carol Smith scrubbing rocks The cleaning crew: Ron Gray, Paul & Jeff Hampton, Jim Mayer, Cheri McMillan, Christy Price, Larry & Wanda Shaw, Carol Smith, and Bob Spurrier. Glenn Ludemann and Shirley Mayer joined the fun for the packing the next day. It was a beautiful day, and one of the last warm ones of the year. Just right for getting soaked while cleaning rocks. Above: Christy Price putting rocks out to dry. Above left: Wanda Shaw hard at work Jim Mayer, Jeff Hampton and Ron Gray sort stacks of stones Above left: Glenn Ludemann. At right, Wanda Shaw, Christy Price, Jim Mayer, Larry Shaw, Jeff Hampton and Ron Gray with boxes of rocks for the club sale & auction Packing it In: Getting the rocks ready to roll
Annual Rock Auction and Sale Saturday, October 16 2:00 p.m. Wenatchee Public Library 310 Douglas Street, Wenatchee The entrance is down a flight of stairs east of the main doors. An elevator can be accessed from the main floor of the library. CLASSIFIED ADS OPEN TO MEMBERS OF THE GINKGO MINERAL SOCIETY FOR SALE: Prismatic faceting machine with disks, index set, and other accessories, $900 or best offer. Contact Carol Smith, 884-3349 WANTED: Lost wax tools, equipment and supplies. Call Sam, 663-5429 Valerie Hampton, Editor PO Box 303 Wenatchee WA 98807