July
25, 2009 It was a sweltering hot day and because we didn't get started
exploring this area until noon it was pouring down sun.
Every time a cloud would cover the sun the temperature seemed to drop 5
degrees and
a cool breeze would spoil us until the cloud
passed and it was back into the sauna. On this day the sultry heat
quickly became
insignificant as we soon realized we were in a
very, very interesting spot. Good friend and rockhound Dave Hart
discovered this location in
Chatham County, NC. If it were not for
Dave's kind "Hart" I would not
have some of the best quartz specimens in my collection today.
Quartz
veins pervaded the area we were
exploring. They crisscrossed, intersected, and ran parallel.
After
an hour of surface collecting small crystals
we began to search for exposed veins
of quartz with crystallization so
that we could begin to dig.
It
wasn't long till we settled on a spot to dig and quickly saw signs of
crystallization sticking out of the thick red clay.
We
found mostly single crystals and a few crystals that were in clusters.
The
clustered crystals seemed to be more rare.
You can see the distinct
golden pocket clay mixed in with the red clay on this specimen.
Here
is another single crystal with the red and yellow clay covering it.
This
was a small cluster engulfed in the yellow clay.
Here
is another beautiful cluster.
This
was my best cluster before removing the clay.
In
some areas of this vein the crystals were all bunched and packed
together. Removing them quickly was not an option.
I had forgotten my
plastic
shovel for this trip so I had to proceed very slowly. Unfortunately, I
dinged a few specimens
with my
metal shovel, however, I had found
enough specimens to make up for it.
Here
is the point of a crystal exposed before extraction.
There
were phantoms present in many of the crystals found at this spot. We'll
definitely be back to look for more.
My
friend and rockhound Joe narrates as he shows off his finds.
Here
are some of the specimens after cleaning. There were some rarer
phantoms with two layers.
The outer coating is chlorite giving it a green color and the inner
layer is hematite (iron) giving it a reddish brown color.
Another
multicolored double phantom.
Possibly
the epitome of dorkdom but hopefully some people will be entertained
by
watching me clean some of the crystals from this spot.
