Fieldtrip Report:
Fieldtrip Report:
Mason
Mountain Mine,
Franklin, N.C.
August 19th, 2006
What a rainy nasty day!, I decided to work around the house today and thought I would go ahead and put together a report from our trip to the Mason Mountain Mine yesterday. I met with several of our members at the Silver Armadillo yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m. and headed to the mine, we arrived around 9:45 to meet up with numerous other MAGMA members who were already at the site, some had camped the night before to be there early. I went in the shop to meet with Brown Johnson (the mine owner) and sign in the members I had brought with me. The Mason Mountain Mine is basically a tourist mine, but it is also the site where rhodolite garnet was discovered in 1895. Rhodolite is the pink form of pyrope garnet, it got its name from the rhododendron bush found here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Mr. Johnson allowed our club to access the old digging area where they mine the native rhodolite. I had been to this mine years before and have quite a bit of the material at home, but I couldn't resist collecting at least one piece from this trip.
As usual we had a number of new members attend this trip, about 30 or so members from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, NC, SC, Georgia and more were ready for their first MAGMA trip.
Cameron Sexton and Kyle Wilson contemplate busting this big matrix specimen.
"Where do I begin?"
"I'll start right here"
Working the dirt and rock wall for rhodolite.
Brian
Ken and Cameron
Having fun!
Richard, "got me a garnet!"
New members from Florida.
