www.cochisecountyrock.org
“Finding and Grinding Rocks in Cochise County, Arizona since 1962”
February 2007
This issue edited by Don Hammer
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Larry Strout has selected a video on The Making of a Continent – The Grand Canyon. The Club extends a hearty welcome to new members Regina Olson and Jurgen Ziegenhagan of Cochise, David & Alice Thomas of Bowie and Jack & Debi Breese of Pearce.
January Field Trip
On Sunday January 21 thirty three members and two guests assembled near the railroad tracks in Dragoon and Bob Fenner explained the collecting site and requested car pooling. We then proceeded west paralleling the railroad tracks to multiple mines/digging sites in the Dragoon Mining District. At the first stop we picked and dug in tailings finding plenty of smithite, chrysocolla, and a popcorn aragonite with nice fluorescence. A few even found a pretty blue quartz. We then went a bit farther NW to just south of Texas Canyon and found a big pile of chrysocolla. In fact the tailings pile consisted of a very hard chrysocolla that will polish nicely. We all got as much as we could carry and some vehicles were riding noticeably lower on the way out about noon. We thank Bob and Barbara Fenner for a very productive field trip.
Meet at the Sunsites Community Center at 8:15 am and plan to leave promptly at 8:30 so we can arrive at the Bisbee Mining Museum at 9:45 on Saturday, February 17 for a 10:00 tour. Car pooling is strongly encouraged. We have a $6 per person group rate.
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.16.2006
BISBEE — For 95 years, the purpose and prosperity of this town in the Mule Mountains of Southeastern Arizona could be smelted down to a single word: copper.
The community's copper-mining heyday — from 1880 to 1975 — is the focus of a new permanent exhibit at the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum.
Called "Digging In: Bisbee's Mineral Heritage," the exhibit was created by designers and artists from the prestigious Smithsonian Institution...
The 2,000-square-foot exhibit includes a re-creation of a crystal cave, life-size dioramas depicting miners at work underground, a display of open-pit-mining techniques and an interactive section focusing on the many uses of copper in everyday life. Text panels provide details of mining technology and the life of miners…
One attention-grabbing part of the exhibit lets visitors step into a scene featuring an operator at work in an enormous, full-scale shovel cab.
A mineral display of malachites, azurites and calcites was designed by Bob Gaethje, a mineral consultant and museum board member who did the work on a volunteer basis.
Help Wanted - Hospitality Coordinator(s). No experience necessary. Duties include passing around the refreshment sign-up sheet at meetings, notifying Newsletter Editor of who is signed up for the coming meeting, and calling those who have signed up to remind them a few days before the meeting. Optional duties: organizing the June picnic and the December Party. Notify the President, Vice-President, or the Newsletter Editor when you volunteer for this exciting opportunity.
Wanted: Rocks. Bring one or more of your favorite rocks to the meeting to be included in the rock raffle.
Gilbert D Orozco, Union City, CA is looking for fluorescent minerals or collections if anyone has some for sale – 510.461.0885, gdo55@aol.com
Anyone with suggestions for speakers or program topics please contact one of the officers.
January 8, 2007
President Paul McKnight called the meeting to order. New members and visitors introduced themselves. There were 37 people in attendance. Paul asked if everyone had seen a copy of the monthly minutes for our last meeting. No one needed a copy of the minutes. Irvin Pontious made a motion to accept the minutes as published. Larry Strout seconded the motion. Motion carried. Walter read the treasurer report as of January 1, 2007. Anyone can see a copy of this report. Larry made a motion to accept this report. Robert seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Jack Weller gave a report on the recent audit. There were no discrepancies, and everything balanced to the penny. Richard made a motion to approve the audit report. Beth seconded the motion. Motion carried.
We discussed the proposed budget that the board came up with. Paul explained the reasons for increases in lapidary expense and field trip expense. They would like to keep open the possibility of purchasing another slab saw. The ability to pay entry fees for some field trips would also be covered. The total proposed budget was $2600. Paul reminded us that we rarely use all we budget, but that the membership needs to vote on expenses not in the budget. We were also reminded that the raffle held each meeting helps pay for the expense for the use of this building.
Our January field trip will be held January 21. We will travel to the Dragoon mining area lead by the Fenners. Bob showed us samples of what could be found. A sign-up sheet will be passed around. We will meet on the north side of the RR tracks on Dragoon Rd. at 8:45 a.m. A trip to the Bisbee Mining Museum is scheduled for the February field trip. In April we will go to a ranch in the Swisshelm Mt. to a private mine where we can help ourselves to all the rocks we can carry.
At the March meeting, we will hear from Bill Burton who has 35 years experience at exploratory geography.
At the last Board meeting, the discussion of club dues came up. We have always been lax on when the dues were actually due. Dues must be paid by the March meeting or you will be dropped from the active rolls. We pay our federation dues based on our membership rolls, so we need to cut people who are not active. We will have the raffle for rocks donated at intermission. Sign-up sheets for refreshments were passed around. Fenners donated a first-aid kit for use on field trips. Many thanks for their donation. After intermission and refreshments, Paul introduced Debby Leschner from the Rocky Mountain Federation who came to speak to us about what the Federation can offer us, and show us a DVD made by and about rock hounds. Debby is the Arizona State Director and helps assist clubs connect with other clubs. She also is our delegate at the meeting in Oklahoma. The Federation puts out a Directory of clubs. We can request a program using video/DVD. The Federation also does political lobbying for anti-rock hound groups to protect our rights with BLM and Game & Fish on State and National Forest. Some clubs have taken claims to protect areas for rock hounding. Affordable liability insurance is also a perk from the Federation. There is a newsletter that goes out to the officers of the club. There are people in the Federation that can answer questions about fossil and florescent minerals. You can send a piece of the rock in question, but it will not be returned. Robert Miller then spoke up that he had experience in identifying minerals, and would be happy to do so for the club. We appreciate knowing that information. Debby said we also have a youth program that give out awards and badges to get kids excited about rock hounding. There are contests for youth that award prizes for rocks found by the youth themselves. We can also enter a poem or article for the newspaper and win prizes. This is no cost to us, and gives us good exposure. After this we watched the DVD on rock hounding.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol A Pontious, Secretary
Interested in lapidary? It appears we may have a Thursday afternoon and a Saturday afternoon session – call Irvin Pontious – 824-0110. Silver soldering meets at 2 pm Tuesday afternoons – call Larry Strout 826-3991. Silver smithing meets at 2 pm Monday afternoons – call Don Hammer 384-3105.
February
12 Regular Meeting – Hosts: Cindy Weller and Carol Pontius
17 Field Trip- Bisbee Mining Museum
March
8 Board Meeting
12 Regular Meeting – William Burton, mining geologist. Host: Karen Grassell
18 Field Trip – Whetstones for fossils
April
5 Board Meeting
9 Regular Meeting
14 Field Trip – Swisshelms for jasper and ?
May
10 Board Meeting
14 Regular Meeting
20 Field Trip
June
7 Board Meeting
Picnic
July
Field Trip
August
Field Trip
September
6 Board Meeting
10 Regular Meeting
15 Field Trip
October
4 Board Meeting
8 Regular Meeting
14 Field Trip
November
8 Board Meeting
12 Regular Meeting
17 Field Trip
December
6 Board Meeting
17 Christmas Party
Upcoming Regional Events
March 8 – 11, 2007 Deming Gem & Mineral Society Inc. 42nd Annual Rocks,Gems, Minerals, Geode Cutting, Auctions, Daily Door Prizes, Guided Field Trips, Breakfast & Lunch & More. Phone (505) 544-8643. dgms.bravehost.com
March 10, 2007 Minerals of Arizona, 15th Annual Symposium, Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum, 15th and Washington, Phoenix 602.255.3795
March 16-18, 2007, Albuquerque, NM. 38th Annual ABQ Gem & Mineral Club’s show. Contact Paul Hlava 505.255.5478 www.agmc.info
June 7-10, 2007. Rocky Mountain Federation Annual Convention & Show. Roswell, NM. Hosts: Chaparral Rockhounds. Chairman: Frank Whitney 505.623.3236 Fdw@direcway.com This is a joint convention with the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies and being this close, a real opportunity for us to see what these organizations are all about.
President Paul McKnight 520 824-4054
Vice-President Jack Weller 520-826-0625
Secretary Carol Pontious 520 824-0110
Treasurer Walt Sigel 520-826-1009
Delegate at Large Jack Light 520-384-4774
Dues are due. $10 for individual and $20 for family. Please mail your check to Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club, PO Box 87, Pearce, AZ 85625. Members with dues unpaid by the March meeting will be dropped from the membership rolls.