In three different areas on the mine property, it was observed that when pegmatites intersect the north-south faults they commonly thicken into lenses, and often produce pockets. This made a sort of amazonite sandwich with a clay lling. However, because of the terrain and vegetation, these marked claim boundaries are sometimes difficult to see. The upper is composed mainly of red mudstone, with lesser amounts of yellowish, often tabular sandstone. The thicker the lens, the larger the pocket opening. Graphic by Bill Tanaka. Every piece was stained with limonite. For each nice group, about 50 broken pieces were extracted. The broken root (left center) was followed directly into the pocket. Rockhounding and Mineral Collecting . A tree root followed the narrow seam of a pegmatite downwards into the pocket. Brilliant, gem-quality Rhodochrosite is one of Colorados most valuable minerals. Several single amazonite crystals were pulled out, most were damaged. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Any remaining open space is filled with iron-stained clay. Those using mechanized equipment not only have to file claims, but file reclamation plans and provide considerable monetary deposits to ensure that the land is put back they way it was found prior to the mining activities. 418 Main St., Fairplay, CO 80440. The specimens are finally finished; a table reveals the treasures of the Tree Root Pocket. Minerals found in the area include fluorite, quartz, calcite, zeolite, and aquamarine. The plates containing albite balls, amazonite and quartz created a beautiful array of color. Photo by Bernie Kowalski. Many beautiful groups were saved in this fashion and of the nal specimen total, about half were repaired. Overview Silica. If you would like to read some of the source material for yourself I have listed them below. You will find the area rich in geodes and quartz. Inside, the pocket may be open airspace or, if near surface, completely lled with clay. Though most weekend prospectors did not stake claims on the public land on which they found specimens, some did stake and file claims to prevent others from encroaching on their property. Unfortunately, US law doesnt let you take home vertebrate fossils from public land, youll have to report them instead if you do make a find. Jasper Overview. Mohawk Lake to Pacific Peak and Crystal Peak. Petrified wood comes in the usual varieties of amorphous silica, usually forming as a jasper or agate material. Its a little bit soft for rings, but it works well in most other types of jewelry. November 10, 2018. . Blog Introduction: Rockhounding is the hobby of collecting rocks and minerals. Unfortunately, none of the targets produced a pocket. It is up to the individual to identify these boundaries and seek permission before attempting to prospect on the claims. Fluorite One of the lesser known native Colorado gemstones, fluorite can display a wide variety of colors. Amazonite with smoky quartz, Two Point Mine, Teller County, Colorado. too fast for risk of injuring a good pocket. I'm new to the site. Modern mining has stringent reclamation standards, therefore some of the pits dug the previous year were lled in, recontoured and seeded. Box 1169 Golden, CO 80402, Phone: 303-278-9724 Fax: 303-278-9763 Send us an email, In June, 1997, a beautiful pocket of blue-green microcline (v. amazonite) specimens was discovered in the classic Lake George, Colorado amazonite mining area. The former would suggest the pegmatites postdate the magma cooling event. Crystal Peak Located on the Wah Wah Mountain Range, Crystal Peak is a result of a volcanic eruption from a nearby caldera around 35 million years ago. Close-up of material initially taken from the Tree Root pocket. The areas at, or near, the hilltops usually contain the best hunting ground for amazonite. For the Tree Root Pocket collectors, this was a one-in-a-million eld collecting experience. The Willow Creek district north of Creede is particularly famous for its prolific amethyst, but the area is largely privately owned and picked over by now. Plus, its a lot of fun! The state has thousands upon thousands of old mines and prospective rockhounding locations. Print/PDF map. [4] Hahns Peak was named after Joseph Hahn, a gold miner who, with companions William Doyle and George Wray came to the area in the 1860s. Always be alert of your speed. The many area pegmatites, old mining dumps, and area streams contain fantastic specimens of minerals such as agate, fluorite, zircon, and fluorite. Specimens from Crystal Peak are sometimes referred to as coming from Lake George or Florissant, but the actual collecting area is located near Crystal Peak. Services. And rocks are the preservers of fossils that once lived when Colorado was a vast sea. Its distinctive look makes it hard to miss when youre on the hunt for it in the wild. But the fun is still there if you know where there is public access. The Stateline Kimberlite District. Pit B, the original discovery pit of Two Point Mine, did not yield anything but broken quartz crystals. The ownership and status of land can and does change frequently, making it impossible to document accurate information on this page. Once the newbie hound is hooked, it helps to understand the terms rock and mineral, and how the two are related. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. From dilapidated abandoned mines to roadcuts along old travel routes, from remote mountain top collecting areas to pay-to-dig locations with modern facilities, there is something in Colorado for the amateur and experienced rockhound alike. Looking for suggestions on how to clean up these Amazonite pieces. While it was a little different this year with the [], Shortly after the 2020 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, the Collectors Edge acquired an impressive new batch of Amethyst quartz [], Collectors Edge Minerals, Inc. recognizes and thanks Rocks & Minerals for permission to use portions or all of their original [], Diamonds in Colorado! Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. They include limestone, granite, sandstone and shale, as well as gravel beds, clay and even can you believe? Crystal Peak lies within this area, though today most of the surrounding area is private property. Mineral County is certainly deserving of its name, and has long been a destination for hopeful rockhounds. These pockets all lay within a horizontally oriented pegmatite dike which is intersected by a narrow vertically oriented north-south fault (the fault is the smooth feature in the center near the pry bar). Topaz Mountain. Oregon-Washington Utah Wyoming Home Visit Topaz Mountain Rockhound Recreation Area Topaz Mountain Rockhound Recreation Area Phone: 435-743-3100 Email: utfmmail@blm.gov Address: Fillmore Field Office 95 East 500 North Fillmore, UT 84631 Latitude/Longitude: 39.6665, -113.11455 Directions: 55 miles west of Delta via US Hwy 6 and paved county road. Pit B after reclamation. Photo by Dave Roter. The St. Peters Dome district in particular is famously for its quality mineral specimens. Rocks are the history books of ancient geologic times. Amphibole, Chalcopyrite, Corundum, Epidote, Pyrite, Muscovite, Quartz crystals, Sagenitic Quartz, Sapphire, etc. I'm Mike Rhea, and I'm a professional Geologist with a passion for rocks, minerals, and everything related to Geology. The Two Point Mine is located on a small mining claim in Teller County, Colorado, approximately 65 km west of Colorado Springs, Colorado near Lake George. To get to Wolf Creek Pass, the driver must be wide-awake as the road can deceive you. Amazing smoky quartz, topaz and Amazonite have come from there. Four or ve of these faults will group in parallel forming a fault system having a total width of 3 meters. Careful pocket documentation and repair work will yield higher percentages of ne specimens than ever before. These were looked at during the 1998 mining season but are not reviewed in this article. However, I have compiled a list of resources here so that you may investigate and obtain permission for any locations (found here or elsewhere) for yourself. I encourage you to check them out if you are curious about the legalities of rock and mineral collecting. For activities that end up bringing you out to the remote reaches of the lands (like rockhounding) having a guidebook along has the potential to save you a lot of hassle. Gunnison and the surrounding area have long been noted for their rock and mineral specimens. Sometimes occurring alongside white albite, these gemstones are highly sought after by mineral collectors. The pocket discovery lay exactly at an intersection. Two distinctly different granite textures have been identied at the Two Point Mine. State Mineral. On a typical crystal, a slight etching covered a few of the faces while others showed a brilliant luster. Theres still gold in them hills! Despite early miners flocking to Colorado by the tens of thousands and pulling nearly their weight out in gold, they didnt get it all. Pit B was also revisited and it too was drilled and shot extensively. JEEPN4GOLD/Google. A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid, and has its own characteristic crystalline structure. Graphic by Bill Tanaka. Smoky Quartz is often found alongside Amazonite in Colorado. The granite within these types of north-south fault systems often takes on a pegmatite-looking appearance due to the increased feldspar grain size and abundance of mica. These are mostly comprised of old mining prospects, streams, and historically known rock and mineral collecting sites. The opening only reached 20 cm high. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Birdseye Marble Quarry. You can even order some shale from the location and crack it at home, in case making a trip out isnt in the cards. Many of the pieces consist of groups containing amazonite, quartz and (sometimes) white albite. For inveterate hikers and trekkers who explore Colorados mountains and forests regularly, these surprises add another dimension to the experience: That pretty, little green stone may be jade or amazonite; what looks like glass that washed out of a hillside might be a quartz crystal; the round, rough-hewn rock could be a geode. The areas on the east side of County Road two are the public access BLM-owned lands open to specimen collection. Once this happens, theres no turning back. Due to its location, its often found alongside other gemstones in Colorado. Thousands of years of erosion have reduced the colorful sandstone formations to rolling grassy hills. If it is a large pocket, thousands of quartz shards spill out mixed with some microcline fragments. There have been books written just on the unique geology of the area, and the many minerals that can be found in the mountains here. The formation has basically divided the area into a lower and upper unit. Actinolite, Almandine, Azurite, Beryle, Chrysocolla, Epidote, Kyanite, Pyrite, Quartz crystals, Tourmaline, etc. There were some surface pegs and some really cool phantom like smoky quartzes found by some members at the time. Hiding within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Crystal Mine can be found off of Long Valley Road and just before you reach Lookout Campground. Much damage was caused by this collapse. Photo by C. Baldwin. Over 1 billion years ago, magma pushed up into the Front Range of Colorado. It was . Dont miss it if you decide that youre going to go rockhounding in this state! Each produced a few high-quality small amazonite and smoky quartz plates. Though much of the good prospecting in this area is on private property or on current mining claims, the adjacent National Forests can be a spot for rockhounds to find Amazonite and Smoky Quartz. Even though a large number of specimens have been recovered over the years, the relative rarity of high end and world-class specimens has kept their value very high. Colorado is also host to a dizzying array of rocks and minerals. Colorado can certainly be considered a rockhound and gem hunters dream. If you are in the area and want to see more interesting stuff, try visiting the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument to see some even cooler finds. The Pikes Peak granite is a 1.03 billion year old Precambrian granite which extends for over 120 km along the front range of Colorado near Colorado Springs. Use this resource as a guide to get you started. Now that you have the supplies you need, its time to start looking for rocks and minerals. Rockhounding, Rockhounding end of March. This magma remained and cooled to form the Pikes Peak granite about 1.5 km below the surface. Every day for about 8 days, there was a collecting contest to see if the great piece pulled out today was better than the one collected yesterday. The mining area addressed here lays approximately 8 kilometers northeast of Lake George, Colorado inside Pike National Forest. For paid digs, the South Platte River runs through the town of Fairplay. In this area, the best bet is to simply walk around and look for surface-exposed pieces of petrified wood on chalky sandy soils. Jerry Hurianek with his hand on a large amazonite specimen. Another view inside the Tree Root Pocket. A few miles north on County Road 2 accessed via Highway 40. For those who wished to avoid prospecting, there was, in the 1970s and early 1980s, a place near Crystal Peak where one could dig for crystals for a fee. Given the improvement in digging and repair techniques during the l990s, the potential for future important large nds is very good. Colorado Springs . The area is remarkable for those searching for rocks. Rockhounding Colorado - Gary Warren 2023-04-01 Rockhounding Colorado takes you to 81 of the best rockhounding sites in the state. The terrain hosts abundant wildlife including deer, elk, beaver, bear, mountain lion, coyote, fox and bobcat. Much of the potential prospect area in recent years has been placed under claim. Pit B was where the ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey had shown favorable target areas. All of the space left over after the collapse has filled with clay. The pocket lies sandwiched between them and is mostly collapsed. This will help you avoid damaging the specimens. First, theres no such thing as just a rock. A rock is more than an aggregate of minerals. Agate and jasper, amazonite crystals, blue barite, feldspar, fluorite, garnet, geodes, opal, rhodochrosite, quartz crystal, topaz and tourmaline are just some of the specimens that rockhounds can add to their collections. In previous years, the remoteness of the mountain made it a wonderful spot for rockhounds. Remember! If youre prospecting on Devils Head Mountain (Douglas County) in August, youll join millions of ladybugs for their annual gathering on the summit. Youll also have to deal with the fact that a lot of public land is covered under mining claims. On approximately 250 million acres of public lands, visitors enjoy countless types of outdoor adventure - participating in activities as widely varied as camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, boating, whitewater rafting, hang gliding, off-highway vehicle driving, mountain biking, birding and wildlife . Crystal Park is located 2 miles south of Manitou Springs and 6 miles from the Pikes Peak summit. The lenses are often dome-like in appearance, and produce the crystal pockets. They also offer knowledgeable guided tours of the Round Mountain BLM Rockhound Area. : 117,147: Hi! My club visited an unclaimed section there a few years back. It was Mr. Whitmore who brought worldwide prominence to amazonite by debuting some of his fabulous nds at the Chicago Worlds Fair in the 1890s. But, even when putting the pieces side by side, it was very difcult to tell the difference between one which formed near the pockets edge and one formed near its center. The pocket opening within a lens of this size could be up to 2 meters in diameter and 10 to 20 cm high. A hammer and chisel will come in handy for breaking open rocks, while a magnifying glass will help you get a closer look at specimens. No signicant smoky quartz associations were recorded from that period. The area around Pikes Peak seems to be the hotspot to find the stone in Colorado, but its found in many places across the state. Not all Amazonite is jewelry-quality, but even the worst sample is going to make a vibrant, colorful part of your collection. CM Adventures 33 subscribers Subscribe 37 Share 4.6K views 3 years ago Join me in the search for Quartz and unique. Still, upon casual inspection of most specimens, the damage was usually minimal or unnoticeable. The pocket produced two other associations of note. The disease strikes when least expected. amzn_assoc_title = "Some of my favorite rockhounding gear from Amazon:"; Bryan Lees poses to show its total size: over 2 meters long. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Turns out Mother Nature made, and buried, some really impressive display pieces in the area! Thus, the Two Point Mine sits among some ne company within the amazonite district; its location being center stage to several historic discoveries.