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Pilchuck Creek Spring '09 (JG Page 6)
| Jade Gallery Page 6 Pilchuck Creek Spring '09 |
See Other Rocks for the odd interesting non-jade related finds from this spring and erstwhile. Previous pages have material from Pilchuck scouting collecting this spring as well.
Here is the Group Collage and shots of my favorite spot on Pilchuck:
Always Under Construction
but done until I run more tests and cuts
but done until I run more tests and cuts
Pictures link to slide-show album of the stones on Photobucket See note on pg 1
 WHITE BOTRYOIDAL JADE | My son helped find this one, so he gets rock hound points. He found it first just under a boulder on a big gravel bar (one of those depressions from the water falling around the boulder). I was up-creek, so, since it doesn't look like what he is use to being jade, he put it down and I wasn't there to tell him different. When I got back I noticed it because it was wet whereas the other rocks were not. This one should be worth some money, but not enough to sell my son's first jade. |
 Little Botryoidal Jade | I found this one later by splashing water over the gravel bars. It pops out when you do that. |
 IsBot | Botryoidal something or another process going on here? The weathering of the bubbles seems to me to suggest they are not jade, but perhaps the ground mass is jade as well instead of serpentinite. Compare with "MetaBot" on Deer Creek Page 7 |
 OddBot | what do you make of this? The greens are a bit transparent and soft...serpentinite. So then this is maybe a globby (globular) botryoidal jade? Experience now tells me that this is a botryoidal jade. |
 RonBot | Are those botryoidal bubbles? Whats with the colors? Is this an example of botryoidalism in a rodingite? I suppose I should test the magnetism of the black as well as the hardness....any magnet attraction is imperceptible. Contrary to expectations, the black is very hard. The knob in the brown definitely appears to be botryoidal, with translucent green on the inside (seen via a very small window). I believe this is a jade, with maybe a little brownish serpentinite. I found more of this on Deer Creek, "BBB1" and "BBB2", (or look on page 10). |
 RonJade | I see the possibility of jade like botryoidalism in this piece that appears to be a rodingite properly. Must everything on this is soft, so even rodingite might be a wrong guess, though some of the white knobs are hard. |
 BearBoulder | 26-27 pounds of nephrite from Bear Creek with acceptable color for Washington. So many of the boulders in Pilchuck and Bear creek look to be jade by the weathering patterns, color (from afar), hammer ring or bounce, coloration patterns, and even patterns caused by algae growths and the way silt rests on the rocks, that its a crap-shoot when you pick one to investigate closely. Most are nothing but some form of greenish or blueish(grey)-green stone. This one was found almost randomly, I was just chipping rocks out of the creek as I waded up Bear. I think many folks assume after finding a stone like this that most of the big boulders on Bear creek are jade...but it isn't so. |
 BlueDragon | 22-23 pounds of blueish and green and vulcan jade layered with serpentinite, which makes this piece possibly unsuitable for wholesale cutting, but would be none-the-less good for a subtle carving...of a serpent or dragon's head. There is already an eye (of a different coloring) and brow ridge present, with the overall shape of a lizard's head. |
 RedAndBlack | This would appear to be very poor quality jade...blackish with red inclusions. Or its just a schist with an odd coloration and strangely compact. I keep anything I think might be cuttable and take a good polish if I like the colors. My plans for stone working don't focus on jewelry. |
 P31Group | aBitBlue Good1 Good2 Good3 GreenestBut GreyBreccia and WithQuartz |
 aBitBlue | a neat colored jade |
 aLittleBumpy | a creamy mottled jade Cuts have been added to the top of the slide-show nice, bumps evident inside |
 aRock | Just a rock I think, but its sub-translucent surface is curious...maybe a basically opaque brown jade or just a rock. |
 aRock2JorJ | Not just a rock, jasper likely, red jade maybe. Nice patterns on this, but not a very jaspery red, more a dull jade red if that makes any sense. I'm swaying toward jade on this one as it seems to be a mix of red and green (hard to see, but there) and the fracture doesn't appear to have conchoidal tendencies. |
 BooldOrange | Not really a blood orange, but that's what I named it. Obviously just the rind, maybe. As chert weathers similarly, this piece is up in the air. Soft on the outside with very slight attraction to the magnet...likely just serpentinite, but I hold a little hope. |
 BrownBeauty | Internal color? Shiny area very hard, but an almost imperceptible attraction to a magnet....hmmm The rindy area is soft, so this is probably both serpentinite and jade. You can even see where the serpentinite is internally through the translucency of the jade area. |
 Bumpy | The apparent habit of this one is odd. This seems to be a product of its inclusion in a serpentinite mass, the serpentinite being inclusions in the jade really, and weathering out. Most of the ridges are as hard as a jade but some are a bit softer. In the ridges there is still obvious blackish serpentinite, but the rock as a whole doesn't appear to have much as it only very weakly attracts a magnet (compared to a solid chunk of serpentinite). |
 Crystally | Crystally is a misnomer, this piece is simply heavily mottled. |
 Good1 | jade |
 Good2 | jade |
 Good3 | jade |
 GreenestBut | The "but" here is that it is soft, so unless there is jade on the inside, this one is pretty serpentinite. One of the pictures on the slideshow shows a scratch I etched in it. It isn't as soft as most serpentinites though, and very weakly attracts a magnet (so weakly I might be imagining it). It a very pretty translucent green, so there is a good chance for this one in the end, to be at the very least, a gorgeous rock. |
 GreyBreccia | I interpret this as a grey jade breccia, cement being serpentinite |
 H.O.R.J. | Hard Opaque Red Jasper or Jade. Very similar appearance to H.O.G. on Page 1 of the Galleries. |
 JadeBlock | A rather large chunk of apparent jade. |
 LightGreen | This, and those below, are all jade. Apparently the easiest variety to find on pilchuck. The color when cut is brighter. But the pieces tend to be small. |
 LiteGroup | Dry group shots of the light colored jades below, Lite1-Lite8. Everyone who has gone with me to Pilchuck manages to find a piece of this jade. |
 Lite1 | There should be a small cut on some of the pictures in the slide-show to see what the jade would look like carved. Cuts have been added to the top of the slide-show very nice color I think |
 Lite2 | Cuts added to top of slide-show |
 Lite3 | Notice the weathering on this piece. |
 Lite4 | |
 Lite5 | More grey than light green |
 Lite6 | |
 Lite7 | |
 Lite8 | |
 LittleBeauty | This one is creamy white with a blueish tint and other areas of subtle pinkish coloration and translucency. Pity its size. |
 LittleGrey | Little grey thing, not jade (too soft) |
 OrangeRind | The orange rind stands out on the creek. you want these. The green is nice and translucent. Compare this with the more brown rinds that are poor quality jade or not jade at all. Of course i could be terribly wrong here, and maybe its all just chert...but then where are the conchoidal fractures? here and here One of the veins running through this seems to be Stilpnomelane. I have to say though, its not the best overall. |
 P1 | I'll have to make a cut into this one for you to appreciate it...or laugh at me. Cut added to top of slide-show kind of icky, patterning the outside colors |
 P2 | a jade or a Hydrogrossular garnet. Nice material anyway it goes. |
 P13 | Just looking at this picture tells me this is a serpentinite, I take pictures and ask questions later!...and I'm a fool. its not attracted to the magnet at all and is extremely hard...its a jade with decent translucency. |
 P14 | Hard, kind of ugly schisty jade. Cuts added to top of slide-show |
 PoorPyrite | Here we go into a whole new realm of WTF. There's another piece I collected below. I actually don't know if this one has the pyrite inclusions, I just inferred it from the other one which in broke in the field. This one appears to more solid, and doesn't have the "vulcan' finish of the other. the black is serpentinite of course. See "WithPyrite" below. |
 RedDotsRock | Your guess s as good as mine. If it takes a good polish though I'll be happy. |
 RedNot | See above. There is a cut I made on this one that wasn't inspiring, but who knows? I don't. |
 RedRindSerp | This is going to be just a serpentinite...very similar to the serpentinite that is found all over Finney Creek. I kept this one because of its red coloration. A magnet practically jumps onto this stuff! |
 RonJade2 | Seems to just a HGG rodingite |
 Talon | A loose jade knob or not...not very pretty, but maybe so once ground down. |
 VulcanKnob | Another loose knob of jade with "vulcan" coloring and a bit of layered serpentinite. |
 White1 | Once we found the WHITE BOTRYOIDAL JADE, I started taking close note of other whites. It looks more white when dry, here you see it wet, showing an orangy brown coloring. The proof of the possibility can more readily be seen in the piece below. Cuts added to top of slide-show white on the inside, a bit translucent(sub), likely jade. |
 White2 | See above. Creamy white jade...internal color unknown. It is uncertain weather the whites are a product of weathering, and/or are representative of the jade as a whole. From the outside they certainly don't seem like the so called "mutton-fat" jades. |
 White3 | See above Cuts added to top of slide-show didn't reveal much...I'll just cut it in half next time |
 WithPyrite | See "poorPyrite" above. this one has been broken in the field. It is riddled with Black serpentinite that makes this a poor candidate for cutting (it breaks apart around the serpentinite veins, that is it's junky). The jade has pyrite inclusions (or something), which makes it a curiosity, but reminds me of chert from Blanchard Hill. This one has what I believe is termed a "vulcan" coloration or finish. The jade is a bit translucent unlike chert. There's probably more of this than any other jade on Pilchuck, looking very similar to all the boulder there about. Notice on the two pieces the globby (globular-like) habit and layering. You'll need to view the slide-show to see the inclusions on the break. |
 WithQuartz | Jade with a side of a quartz(?) dike. |
gamaliel114 |
Latest page update: made by gamaliel114
, Jul 19 2009, 12:36 AM EDT
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