Panorama Gem
Rock Hounding in Northeast Washington
Auction day agenda Nov 19, 2019
Club Business
Officer Elections
1st Auction – Club Equipment
Refreshment Break
2nd Auction – Rocks & etc.
Club’s Equipment, for sale?
This is a list of club equipment that is at Gene Fisher’s shop. We need to vote on whether we should sell it or not. Then at which meeting should we auction these items? Remember, the money that purchased them came from the General Fund.
- Combination: Lortone 6″ saw with two grinding wheels and polishing pad.
- Large(heavy) grinding/polishing unit with four, 8″ diamond wheels: 80 grit, 180, 360, and 600.
- 10″ Raytech saw in fair shape.
- 18″ Lortone saw with good blade but needs a new motor or wiring. The present motor is 1/2 HP.
- New-in-box Elite water pump that spits water up on the grinding wheels.
- Rock Rascal for melting wax for dopping.
- Set of Dop Sticks.
- Box of Templates for designing cabochons.
- First Aid Kit.









Sherry’s Big Sale

Latest Newsletters
The latest newsletters are now online. November 2018 has a list of items in our Annual Auction, which starts at 6 PM on Tuesday November 20th at our regular meeting place, the Arden Community Hall.
DNR Story Maps
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has a new “story map” series online that shows places to rockhound in Washington.
https://www.dnr.wa.gov/rockhounding
It also spells out the rules you should take into consideration for State, Federal and private land. Click on the Mineral and Fossil map option. The little spots on the map show collecting sites. You can zoom in to get a better idea of the locations but there are not always driving instructions or exact coordinates. What surprised me was that it shows many more collection sites for things like trilobites, fossils, petrified wood and gemstones than I knew about.
Field Trips and Newsletters
The newsletters for May and June are now online. Check the 2018 newsletter page for links. Use the search function to find topics in previous newsletters.
There is a field trip scheduled to the LeFarge Quarry for Trilobites on Saturday July 28th. Meet at the Tiger Store at the intersection of Hwy 20 and Hwy 31, 10 AM. (New Place due to events in Ione.) This is one of the most popular trips of the year. Be prepared for hot weather and splitting layers of rocks safely.
Saturday the 23rd of June There is a trip to the Flagstaff Mine near Northport. Meet at the gas station at the north end of Northport at 10 AM to collect Barite Crystals. Bring rock breaking tools.
We are going to the Railway Dike on July 7th to collect Beryl Crystals. Meet at the Safeway parking lot in Chewelah at 10 AM. Bring rock breaking tools.
You don’t need to be a member to go on trips with us. Check out previous trips using the mine names or rock types in the search box on this website.
Coming Events
Our next Rock Show is coming up in 2020 on March 7th and 8th. More events to be posted when they are scheduled.
This is a list of club equipment that is at Gene Fisher’s shop and might be for sale at the August 2019 BBQ picnic.
- Combination: Lortone 6″ trim saw with two grinding wheels and polishing pad.
- Large(heavy) grinding/polishing unit with four, 8″ diamond wheels: 80 grit, 180, 360, and 600.
- 10″ Raytech saw in fair shape.
- 18″ Loritone saw with good blade but needs a new motor or wiring. The present motor is 1/2 HP.
- New-in-box Lortone Elite water pump that spits water up on the grinding wheels.
- Rock Rascal for melting wax for dopping.
- Set of Dop Sticks.
- Box of Templates for designing cabochons.
- First Aid Kit.
Act Now to Save Fossil Collecting
New over-restrictive regulations are threatening the rights of anyone to collect fossils and limiting research which has been mainly driven by discovories by amatures over the past 100 years. Please comment here: https://www.savefossilcollecting.org/
Field Trip to Horseshoe Mountain
- There were 27 people waiting to go in the Harvest Foods parking Lot
- Some folks opened up a couple new holes to dig crystals in.
- It was a family affair
- Jerry Novak brought his big hammer
- There were lots of crystals
- Some had clay and iron stains that had to be removed.
- The old rocks had plenty of vugs left in them
- Another happy camper
- Field Trips Are Fun For Everyone!