Journal of Discovery

The world in which we share with animal, plant & mineral is amazing. A friend, John Cornish is a miner of gem mineral specimens. John sends me emails on a fairly regular basis of his explorations and discoveries. I wanted to share an opportunity with you to see "the other side". I think you'll find it fascinating, after all most just browse the stores and see finished products, never knowing how & where it all began. John's specimens are for collection, he doesn't facet, cab or cut his discoveries into gemstones. He shares these raw natural beauties with Museums and collectors, however the concept is parallel, and just as amazing.

John's account of finding Minerals from the Gopher Valley Quarry, Yamhill County, Oregon.

The Gopher Valley Quarry is an Oregon locality which has enjoyed well deserved acclaim during the last several years. Large productive pockets were found and many beautiful specimens have been recovered. The following is my Journal of what transpired during one of my trips.

With me on this trip was my friend and collecting partner Wes Gannaway. We entered the quarry property via an approximately one-half mile long access road. Off-shooting from this is a right hand spur which enters the quarry between two small hills. The walls are all under one hundred feet in height, except for where they near the western end. The wall here is presently over one hundred and fifty feet high and continues to grow taller as work advances into the hillside.

Mineralized pockets were found exclusively in the fist fifty feet of the quarry's west wall. As we scanned the walls we were fortunate to find two areas which appeared to have potential. The first was an open pocket about thirty feet above us which was approximately ten feet long and three feet high. From below it looked as if the majority of the pocket's crystals had been destroyed during blasting. Crystals could clearly be seen upon the walls and ceiling of the pocket, but it was obvious that the majority of the pocket's crystals were gone.

The other spot was just across from the open pocket about eighteen feet over to the right and five feet higher, at about thirty-five feet. Here a small dark black hole about four inches wide lay gapping. No crystals were in evidence in the mouth of this hole, but beneath and around it the rock appeared brecciated and re-cemented by small stringers and concentrations of calcite. As we'd looked at this small hole our thoughts were dominated by visions of a "monster pocket". What would this small black hole hold for us? This would be a real challenge, but we felt we had the right tools for the job.

Back in the quarry, we decided to work the left hand open pocket first. Once there, I was let down as I noticed chisel and pick marks in the pocket almost immediately. However, abundant material was still available, and without further ado, I started collecting crystals. While I was collecting I had ample time to study the pocket and it's position on the wall. The right side was virtually untouched. Our finest calcite crystal plates were up to approximately six by three inches and were comprised of opaque butterscotch colored crystals. We finished collecting from this pocket around dusk, left our tools in the quarry and would come back the next morning to attempt to collect from the "black hole".

Our day began at five-thirty a.m. After a bit of preparation we made our way over and up to the "black hole". Upon arrival, I looked into the hole and saw several nice calcite specimens which had formed upon basalt chunks and were covered in dirty natrolite and analcime crystals laying just within the pocket. It was an incredible experience to look deeper into the pocket and see all those wonderful specimens just waiting to be liberated from their rock bound treasure room! With just my hands I pealed away the enclosing rock opening the pocket with very little effort. I stopped once I'd reached a more comfortable working diameter of about two and a half feet and again gazed within. It was choked full of basalt rubble. For the next several hours my primary activity involved reaching into the pocket and lifting out crystal covered irregularly shaped blocks of basalt while trying to hold back the fall of a dozen more. It was disappointing and unfortunate to find that the majority of the specimens were partially damaged, as clean specimens were very rare. Moving beyond the initial material and immediately before me were several large blocks which had exceptional calcites upon them. I told Wes and we both got very excited. Looking into the back of the pocket, my hard hat reflected the sunlight just right and shot a beam into the pocket's interior. If I'd been excited before, it was paled in comparison to what I was feeling now. The back wall, only six feet away glowed an incredible golden-amber brown color, as the light from my hard hat shined into a monstrous calcite group over a foot and a half long. I was dumb-struck and amazed at this incredible sight.

Continuing deeper into the pocket, my body mostly inside, I'd been slowly collecting specimens carefully away from the big amber colored calcite group against the back wall, and for the most part this had been an easy and very enjoyable chore.

As I approached the back wall, this last big specimen was truly a sight to behold. It was so incredibly immense looking. At a foot and a half long and a foot wide and tall this piece would require my complete and undivided attention. With a slight yank, I pulled the specimen away from the wall and swung it down to my arm as pretty as you please. Nice and smooth, no problems, and now all I had to do was slide out. I couldn't get the leverage to pull myself and the specimen from the pocket. I remember being so excited and pumped up with adrenaline as I lay there panting with that beautiful monster resting on my arm. I wanted to laugh out loud because it seemed like such a silly predicament to be in, but instead, I only grunted and hunkered down for another attempt. This time my luck held and slowly, I was able to slither backward out of the pocket with my treasure in hand.

I felt giddy and overwhelmed as I reached the ground tightly clutching my prize of the day. It was awesome. I was sweating, shaking and laughing at the same time. I hadn't eaten, drunk, or even gone to the bathroom in the last eleven hours and I was exhausted; but we'd found a treasure! I was dirty and tired and had this goofy smile on my face. I felt like the great hunter holding the one that didn't get away.

We'd collected forty flats of material, the majority of which would be fluorescent materials that would be given away to children during mineral talks. Though rare, we did manage to find a few things which we've added to our collections and which we are justifiably proud-just ask us!

If you'd like to follow John's adventures, just email him at cornish@tfon.com> he enjoys sharing.