Cover of the book.

I have added a scanned copy of Mining in Eastern and Central Washington by L.K. Hodges, published in 1897 to this website.  Hodges travelled the mining camps of Eastern Washington at the request of the Seattle Times and sent back stories that were compiled in this book.  It includes diagrams of the workings of many mines, maps of their locations and descriptions of the mines.  WARNING:  This is a large file 100+ kb.  If you have a slow Internet Connection, you may want to avoid it.  I can print and bind a copy for you for $20.

There is a multi-day, multi-club field trip scheduled for June 20-24 to McDermitt Nevada and surrounding sites.  Mike Shaw has prepared a map for the expedition.  He writes: “Have people contact me by email so I can send them the following map and schedule: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z9fQPbYZJAUs.kLT_hmjI02Uw.”  This is a great map and there is an article about the proposed trip in the May, 2015 Newsletter.  You can email Mike at mikeshawmoose@yahoo.com.

Schedule:

6/20/2015 Saturday All Day Travel to McDermitt, NV
6/21/2015 Sunday 8am Meet at the Large Group Campground and collect on the McDermitt Loop
6/21/2015 Sunday 7:15am Meet at the Say When Casino in McDermitt and collect on the McDermitt Loop
6/22/2015 Monday until 2 pm Free time to return to your favorite areas on the Loop to collect more of your favorite materials
2 pm until dusk Explore and collect at the Cordero Open Pit Mine and the Orange Agate area
6/23/2015 Tuesday 8am at Camping area, or Thunderegg collecting north of McDermitt, And/or go to the Amethyst Sage Site ($3/lb)
8:30 at McDermitt Casino
6/24/2015 Wednesday 9am Camping area Head back for home, with a stop a Glass Butte for Fire Obsidian and others. A stop at Hampton
9:30 at McDermitt Casino
Hampton Butte for petrified wood is also possible that day. Camping is available free at both
locations.
McDermitt Loop material Gary Green Agate(AKA Larsonite), Fortification Agate, Purple Cow Agate, Carnival Agate, Pet. Wood
Cordero Mine Lots of beautiful Red Agate, other agates, wonderstone and jaspers of all descriptons.
There is a deposit of Orange Agate nearby, also

At our meeting April 20 we voted to buy copies of Discovering Washington’s Historical Mines by Woodhouse, Jacobson and Pisoni.  There is an ongoing Internet discussion by people who explore the mines written up in these books.  You can reach it at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/NWUNDERGROUND/info

You may need to join Yahoo to see the content.

As mentioned in our April newsletter, here is a list of minerals and jewelry stolen near Coeur d’Alene:  Contact CDA Police 208-769-2300 case #15C08004 if you have any information.

Page two stolen stuff

Page 1 stolen stuff

Rob Repin, a friend of all miners who operates a mine just south of Liberty and a Central Washington University professor with a ton of knowledge and personality has this video online.  It is about an hour long about the history and geology of the Liberty Mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBZfRJihdw&feature=em-subs_digest

Most of us think of crystals as a kind of rock. Actually, almost every kind of solid matter has a crystal structure. Here is a link to the fascinating world of crystallography: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29952311

Crystals forming in a cancer drug

This BBC video has fascinating electron microscope images of the crystals in igneous rocks: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27678862

Electron Microscope art

Kirk Johnson, author of Crusin’ the Fossil Freeway – reviewed in the April newsletter talked recently at the Burke Museum in Seattle.  The very informative talk is now available on YouTube: Kirk Johnson Video.  

I just got an email with pictures of these mountains.  Then I looked for them on the Internet and found several sites.  This site has the best pictures.  They even show up on Google Earth and are huge and amazing.  Check it out.