Fieldtrip Report:
Marion Kentucky
Ben E. Clement Museum
September 14th-16th, 2007By Steve Barr
Photos by Mark Randle, Sandi Hill, Steve Bonney, Shirley Green, Becky Rodgers, and Linda Wooten
And here's Luther with one of his larger ones!
Fieldtrip Report:
Marion Kentucky
Ben E. Clement Museum
September 14th-16th, 2007By Steve Barr
Photos by Mark Randle, Sandi Hill, Steve Bonney, Shirley Green, Becky Rodgers, and Linda Wooten
And here's Luther with one of his larger ones!
And, for your viewing pleasure, here's a rare photo of me actually working! (Note the HUGE hunk of purple fluorite in my palm.)
Here's a rare photo of John Deney working while Tom Leary supervises. Someone has to keep an eye on John at all times, or the best specimens tend to "vanish" into his pockets. In reality, I'm not sure if John is actually digging in this picture, praying to the rock gods, or just making some sort of political statement to Tom.
Most of us stayed at the campground in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois during the fieldtrip. There's a free ferry that carts cars and trucks back and forth across the Ohio River each day until late at night. The ferry ride alone seemed to be worth the long ride out to Kentucky. The views of Cave-In-Rock from the boat were beautiful.
Romin and I used our time on the ferry to meet fascinating women, while John D studied our techniques and learned from the masters!
Tina, whose pleasant voice you hear on the other end of the line if you call the Clement Mineral Museum, was so impressed with what we were finding that she ended up using her day off to dig with us! Here she is rolling around in the pit, having the time of her life and finding fluorite. I think she took enough home with her to start her own museum if she decided to!
Some folks chose to explore the creekbed for anything interesting...
..while others gathered around the pit to see what all of the excitement was about. That's Bill, the owner of the property, on the left. Tina is in the middle, with her husband standing next to her. Bill told me that he was thrilled to finally see a group like ours come to dig. He said he knew there were some great things waiting to be found, and couldn't believe the amount of earth the MAGMA crew moved while we were there.
I know you've been wading through this report just waiting to see some specimen photos, so here are some of the things that were found:
