BBC NEWS | UK | Anglo-Saxon treasures uncovered

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WOW!! That is about all I can say, except this gentleman was certainly lucky he didn't have a heart attack when he brought this up. What superb craftsmanship! Yet another reason why I'll have to visit England one of these days: as Property of the Queen this may never leave there.

Last weekend irismoonlight  and I went camping in the north section (north of Highway 26) of the Ochoco National Forest. The really cool thing about Federal land is that rock hounds are welcome to take rocks for personal use. The bad thing is that anyone can make a claim on a small parcel of Federal land which precludes other rock hounds from gathering stuff from that location. Fortunately the Ochoco Forest is FULL of unclaimed rocks! I managed to visit three public Thunder Egg beds (Harvey Gap, White Fir Springs and Whistler Springs) and one incredible quarry in three days of rock hounding bliss!

( Get the details here (and the pictures!) )

So I grew up on the banks of Ames Creek. No, it wasn't much like Plum Creek for those who get the allusion but it was a working farm of sorts born out of the necessities of too little money (for a time) and many mouths to feed. There were many summer days after working in the barn, the garden or, disgustingly, the chicken pen when my brother Mike and I would take off across the back acre for the swimming hole that was our property line. It was there that we discovered our first geological treasures. Ames Creek has a petrified forest beneath it and some of the finest petrified wood you can imagine. ( Read the rest! )

Well, it turns out that there is a fairly conclusive test for Alunite. I found it in a U.S. Geological Service Bulletin from 1912 found here. Unfortunately it requires the use of a somewhat toxic substance - Barium Chloride. It is a widely used substance to be sure but something I don't think I want to tackle. The bulletin also describes the reddish orange layer on the outside of the formation that we found. It is likely oxidized pyrite. Pyrite is FeS2 so that fits with a sulfur baring matrix.

Other sources are providing lots of good descriptions. For instance, we have the Mindat web site (here) that shows some very similar crystals to those Chris and I found and supports the morphology as well. There is a gallery of 29 pictures that is very good. It seems that there are lots of crystalline forms of the mineral but that is true of most minerals in general.

Anyway, probably enough on the subject of Alunite unless I want to tackle that Barium Chloride test. It is probably enough though that I have a neat crystal on a foul smelling rock.

So one of my long time passions is geology so of course that means I am a rock hound. I like rocks. Finding a new type of rock or mineral placates the treasure hunting gene in my DNA. It doesn't matter if its "valuable" or not, just finding something new and uncommon is a thrill for me.

( The rest of the story! )

My father enlisted in the Army in July 1948 shortly after graduating high school. He was assigned to the 24th Infantry Division Artillery then on occupation duty in Japan.



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