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Montana
, but also on the Wiki: Discussion Threads on the Wiki for Montana Other Resources on the Wiki for Montana
Last updated:
Sep 12 2009, 9:46 PM EDT by
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Amethyst
below. If a new thread on amethyst is started, it should also be added to the table. If you can help it, and it doesn't have a better starting
Last updated:
Aug 30 2009, 7:44 PM EDT by
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My PERSONAL Montana Sapphire Success story to air Feb.28,2008
HOME MINING SAPPHIRES! ORDER INFORMATION BELOW!
I found SUCCESS!
Thanks to "Cash and Treasures" I was able to quit my job and start my own Ebay store. I will be appearing in a commercial on The Travel Channel most likely Feb.28,2008!
I have found the best place for MAIL ORDER home mining Montana Sapphires! I also have an Ebay store where it can be purchased directly from the mine.
This gravel is from the Season One EPISODE "Sapphires". The gravel comes from the same mine as the woman who was showcased last year. She even ships it personally to your door step! All gravel is from The Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine and The El Dorado, Helena Montana!
Here is the link!
http://stores.ebay.com/Gold-Fever-Rock-Shop
Happy Hunting and e-mail me anytime!
Tim Duttry
Ebay user ID is "gemsbytim"
duttry1969@hotmail.com
Posted:
Feb 19 2008, 1:13 PM EST by
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GemHunter Newsletter
"Hey Dan, I'll certainly sign up for that newsletter. You've always given us great and useful information, and we appreciate having you on the wiki.
Don" Thanks Don,
I've found the people on this site are some of the friendliest people on earth. I've always enjoyed spending time with rock hounds and enjoy sharing all these threads with you and everyone one else on this site. You will need to send me our email address to my address <diamondprospector@live.com> so I can put you on the mailing list.
Dan
Posted:
Sep 17 2009, 1:47 PM EDT by
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Hansen creek private claim
"That's a neat link. How up to date do they keep it?" In Montana they are over three months behind on assesment and affidavit of work materials. For my area none of the data have been converted to work with the geographic interface, so I am left with the report generator. I then have to request hard copys of claim info.
Don't assume that a claim staked in the field is not valid if it is not in the database. You are legally required to respect a properly marked claim. Paperwork can stay in the pipeline for a long time especially if a policy determination is required on whether or not the material is locatable.
I am watching that closed claim list very closely. If you jump right on a claim after it is closed you might trigger an appeal from the claim owner. In my experience most appeals are allowed.
And don't claim an old mine or buy a patented claim where there are environmental issues unless you are prepared to remediate them up front before removing any material.
And after you have a claim you still have an entire alphabet soup of agencies to deal with before you can remove material for commerciial purposes. You still need to have your operations formally approved by the federal agency managing the surface rights, or a letter stating that you do not need these permits on the letterhead of the appropriate agency. And if you are in a waterway or a riparian habitat, well, plan to be patient and have deep pockets. And good lawyers because it is the policy of some environmental groups to seek injuctions on any and all significant operations that require permits.
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Posted:
Oct 26 2009, 8:02 PM EDT by
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lucas
Glad you guys had a good trip and all made it out safe and sound. Mannn another lucas thread... lol Of course now we have to wait for rain to see pics. ;-) Hmmm that should be tomorrow right?
Was it more of a dig this time or a surface search?
Paul
Reply to thread:
lucas
(15 replies)
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Posted:
Jan 31 2009, 10:00 PM EST by
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Mid West
I tell ya, I would like to see Bills collection that he as found over his rockhounding years. I am sure it is amazing! I have been amazing that no one has posted on this thread before now. Maybe they are talking via PM.
Paul
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Posted:
Jul 27 2009, 1:27 AM EDT by
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adna report
"Hi Paul,
I am ready to try out the agate hunting very soon. Although, I don't think Adna or Lucas are in the cards in the next couple weeks. I need to find some spots here in King or Snohomish county. I've been contemplating Ellensburg blue near Cle Elum lately. That would be nice:)
Aaron" Hey Aaron, good luck with the E-burg blue. Now is the time or actually a bit later, after the snow melts and we get some good floods/flows in the creeks and canyons. As for Red Top I would guess that it will be some time before you can access the area. I am sure there is a lot of snow up there. It is winter over here. lol The Red Top trip may have to wait until spring. As for Red Top agate being E-burg blue. It is not. As far as I know the source has never been found. And there is so little of it out there and the rarity of agate it truly is is what makes it so valuable. If Red Top blue agate was Eburg blue, it wouldn't be worth much as there is so much blue agate that comes out of Red Top. Also the other problem with E-burg blue is that most of the good hunting land is private and most don't allow rock hunters on the land. Though there is one farm that does and I think there is a thread here that mentions the name - actually the WA state on the national directory may have it listed as well. There are some public lands that are in the area that has some E-burg blue on it as well but where exactly the good spots are I haven't a clue as I have never hunted for E-burg blue. Just many conversations with those who have. But exploration is a lot of the fun in rockin'. The first creek area I think is one of the E-burg blue spots and the surrounding area. I am sure there are people out there who know tons more than I do about it the stuff. If you make it over to our neck of the woods let us know maybe some of us easteners can meet up with you for some sort of hunt.
Paul
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Posted:
Jan 18 2009, 1:40 PM EST by
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A slab polishing Question(s)
Ok I have to get serious sometimes. After starting the Tumbling thread I thought it is time to start one about polishing slabs. OK here goes. How does one or you folks go about polishing slabs or cut geodes etc without the help of a flat lap? What types of equipment to you use and what types of media you use and where you get such media? If there are any suggestions of vendors for media that are not already on the list, I will add them to the Resource page. I ask this, not only that I couldn't find much information when I did a search, but I am one without a flat lap and have way to many saws and cut slabs laying around here that need polishing. Cutting and polishing a cab is no problem, it is the flat or larger pieces that I am have difficulty in grinding flat and polishing.
Thanks, Paul
Posted:
Aug 7 2009, 7:48 PM EDT by
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Looking for a rock hunting partner
THER ARE SOME PEOPLE IN WYOMING THAT HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO HUNT WITH. MAYBE YOU CAN LOOK IN THE BACK THREADS AND WRITE TO THEM. WE ARE HERE IN WASHINGTON ITS A GREAT PLACE TO HUNT ALSO.
SHARON
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Posted:
Jul 15 2009, 3:01 PM EDT by
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Wet in Washington
Hello Wet in Washington, pvjjh gave you alot of good areas to start looking. I will add that you need to pick up Gold and Gem Maps of every state you intend to rockhound in. Recerational map books are worth their weight in gold to. I'm in the SE corner of the state and have been unable to get to that corner of the state but if you do an inernet search for rockhounding in Washington state there are a couple good areas that come up. One of which is guided. The other is actually a gentelman out of Oregon that has a tech. DVD and CD out that you can purchase with hunders of areas w/maps that he has mined, the web address is www.OreRockOn.com. My wife just showed this to me and I ordered the DVD, and am waiting on pins and needles to get it and get out to the field. If you don't mind a road trip The Richardson Rock Ranch outside of Madras, OR. (web address www.richardsonrockranch.com) is an exellent place to dig for Thunder eggs, we have been there three times in the past year and have dug up over two hundered pounds of Thunder Eggs, and if you have the time a trip over to Montana to Gem Mountain outside of Phillipsburg, MT. (web address www.gemmtn.com) is worth the trip. Took the boys there during the summer and my wife's youngest found a 3 crt., total we walked away with right around 30 crt. cuttable gems. Both areas are summer time trips.
Good luck and be save.
Dave
Posted:
Jan 16 2008, 8:30 PM EST by
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Washington's Wonderous Agates...
We love rockhounding and live in Washington. It has been really hard to find places to hunt or dig rocks. There isn't much written on what and where you can find cool rocks & minerals in this state. We went to Montana & Oregon because there is a lot written about those areas and they tell places to go to find them.
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Posted:
Dec 5 2008, 12:18 AM EST by
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Tool recommendations
There are tool discussions going on in several threads, maybe would be a good stand-alone thread? Thought of posting a page, but would need photos for that, and I'm boycotting adding photos until Wetpaint gives us a delete option. Meanwhile, anyone have a favorite brand for collecting/cleaning tools? No offense lapidarists, but would prefer those tools be on another thread ... which I'm not qualified to post to.
Chisels: for general rock moving work (opening/enlarging cracks), buy a stout cold chisel, minimum 3/4 inch diameter, length does not matter, shorter is generally better. The tip should be no wider than the shank. Cold chisels are expensive, a good brand is worth the money. Buy north American made steel. Imports are generally worthless. Brands I like: Mayhew, Craftsman, Kelly. Brands to avoid: Dasco. Air hammer chisels (often available used, and very cheaply, at industrial tool rental places, work well. In Seattle, the going rate for used air chisels is $3.00/lb)
Chisels, for crystal pocket collecting: longer is better, minimum 1/2 inch diameter. Tip no wider than shank. The plastic hand guards which come on many long chisels are great for kids or inexperienced rock whackers, but once you've done this awhile, you'll develop the art of Zen hammering, and the guards get in the way in crystal pockets. Wood chisels are great for working along a 'spall' (fracture line behind crystal plates). Buy the cheapest ones you can, imports ok, as they'll be destroyed in the process. Antique wood chisels last a long time. A range of edge sizes, from 1/4 to 1 inch will serve you well. Discount tool places like Harbor Freight have sets of 4 or 5 sizes for cheap.
Chisels, for fossil collecting: Mason's chisels are good (tip 2 to 3 times as wide as shank). Wood chisels r good, keep sharp. My favorite shale splitting tool is a heavy chef's knife, w/ riveted tang, buy at Goodwill.
Bob
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we might lose our cars
Here is a link to the bill that Senate has passed.
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s22es.txt.pdf
It is PDF form. I am in the process of reading it, but what I have read so far is very vague with areas of discription belonging to USFS, BLM and other land managing offices. Not all states are listed, but if they give control to the above mentioned offices, The USA will easily become one big national park. You can go out to walk, look but don't touch. Any private or mining claim land with-in this zones that they are suggesting will become part of that wilderness area. There is talk of exchanging land but once again very vague. Virginia, Oregon, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Alaska are just a few that are listed, with Virginia and Oregon having the most areas listed as part of this act. The main jest I am reading is that they are adding on to already existing fedral land but being very vague as to what control the land agencies have as far as extending it to all fedral lands. No matter wich way you look at it this is not good for the an outdoor activities type people.
Dave
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Posted:
Feb 23 2009, 7:51 PM EST by
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Hellection 2008
Thank you; that's the way I believe and live. My kids were big into sports - football, wresting, baseball-you name it. David wrestled at Oklahoma State. We always had a house full of teenagers from the teams along with their friends, To that generation race was unimportant. David talked to me on the phone this morning and he had no real understanding of where the nation had come from. Last night Obama carried the capital of the old Confederacy ( Virginia) along with the deep Dixie states of North Carolina, and Florida. The race was close in Georgia. Where I live has as great a diversity as any where in the country. We had an 80% turn out in the county and the majority voted their views and not race. Where McCain had 20 point leads were in the far west (Montana, Idaho. Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska , and Wyoming which had 2 out of three votes for McCain. I do not think with that Westerners voted for race but more for their conservative values. Western Arkansas is as much western as it is southern. There are mountains ,cattle ranches, elk hunts, Texas style Bar B Que and the capital of the Cherokee nation in Oklahoma is forty mile from here. It a great place to live as is the Great State of Washington.
Bill
PS I love rocks!!!!!!
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Posted:
Nov 5 2008, 11:02 PM EST by
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Other Treasures
Excellent! We too hang on to our nusmismatic treasures... I thought I was the only $2 bill collector in the country... LOL
Garage sales are a treasure hunters "open claim" , My darling spouse likes to collect old silver serving plates, soup tourines, etc. She has an old WWII foot locker that she calls her treasure chest it all goes into. Been doing it for years hard to say how much silver she's collected.
bi-centennial quarters and half dollars are my favorites, but all that old change is fun to collect and sort into the collection!
I'd love to find the Lost Treasure of Virginia Dale... Jack Slade and his gang made off with $60,000 and hid the loot somewhere not far west from Virginia Dale stage stop. It was on the stage line to the fort in Laramie, WY. 3 years back pay in newly minted gold coins. The gang split up and were tracked down by the army... all killed, except for Jack Slade who died pennyless in Virginia City Montana. He was hung by vigilanties for horse theving less than 3 years later. So I guess he didn't come back for the money... therefore must still be out there in the badlands.
Anybody wanna come to Colorado and hunt with us?
Posted:
Feb 1 2009, 9:10 AM EST by
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