The official bulletin of the Dothan Gem & Mineral Club, Inc.

Rockhounds Herald

920 Yorktown Road, Dothan, AL 36301-4372

www.wiregrassrockhounds.com

April 2018

Words from…

The President

Well the show was great! We had steady foot traffic and the rain held off until the show was just about

over. Got wet packing things up, but a little rain—or in our case a lot of rain—didn’t hurt us too bad. Many

thanks to Jeff for an eclectic selection of vendors and all the work he put in getting the show organized.

He has done a bang up job again.

Several of us (5) went on a dig to the Hogg mine in Lagrange GA on the 31st. What a blast! We had a

fabulous Italian dinner on Friday evening and the Saturday dig was great. Garry couldn’t have picked a

better day for the trip. We had terrific weather and a bunch of really nice diggers to visit with. There were

people from MI, VA, GA, FL, and AL all enjoying the day. They had several vendors at the dig and the

rock shop was definitely worth a look.

Don’t forget we have an invited speaker, Dan Harriger, at our April meeting on the 22nd. He will be

discussing new laws prohibiting some forms of mineral collection in Alabama. As Dan is President of the

North Alabama Chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America, we also hope to get some good

info on gold prospecting in north Alabama. Garry is currently planning a club trip to the gold camp so any

info that Dan can give us would be appreciated. After the talk, I would like to discuss the possibility of

adding some classes to our schedule. Perhaps a substitute for the summer socials? Hope to see

everyone at the April meeting and bring your recent finds/purchases for show and tell.

Pat

Upcoming Shows

April 28 – 29 Memphis Archaeological and Geological Society Memphis, TN April 29 Huntsville Gem & Mineral Society Huntsville, AL May 11 – 13 Gem & Mineral Society of Franklin Franklin, NC

Source: http://www.amfed.org/sfms/club-shows-456.html and http://www.the-vug.com/educate-and-inform/mineral-shows/

Know your stone?

The birthstone for April is Diamond, a metastable allotrope of carbon. Pictured in the banner above are various natural forms and shapes of this mineral in some of the color varieties available.

Source: http://www.minerals.net/mineral/diamond.aspx

3380688

Show Recap – March 2018 – by Secretary

The 2018 Rockhounds Show was a success for the Club. More importantly, the majority of our vendors reported strong sales again this year. The Farm Center has proven to be a good spot for the show and each year Jeff DeRoche and Arnie Lambert refine how the show is organized and run. Both the set-up and tear-down went well in spite of the heavy rain that hit at closing time on Sunday. Sharing the grounds with the Highland Games is proving to be beneficial as well. Many of those folks are pleased when they find out there is no fee to enter and browse the tables. We went to a two table layout at the entry of the show – one side to greet visitors, hand out door prize tickets and tell folks about the raffle prize and silent auction. The other table was a display for the prizes and a place to promote and process raffle ticket sales. This reduced crowding at the entry and allowed us to really feature the raffle prize. As fate would have it, we did not arrive at the show with a grand prize, and that was one of the best things that could have happened. We had several pieces under consideration and the group consensus was that we go with a dramatic amethyst tower/cathedral that was easily twice the cost we normally would budget for. Our visionary show chair and experienced Front of the House Team reasoned that our visitors would love a chance at winning a big purple crystal tower. Sometimes you have to “Risk it, to get the Biscuit”. The lesson here is that a great prize gets attention and makes tickets practically sell themselves! An exciting prize is more fun to talk about and that leads to more ticket sales. As one of the greeters, I believe that having a large prize – something with a real physical presence – is key to getting the attention and interest of our visitors. BIG gets noticed. And even though a few people said they probably did not have space for the amethyst, that did not stop them from buying tickets. The happy winner was Betty Jo Cherry, of Dothan. Congrats Betty Jo! The Silent Auction continues to be a great feature of the show. There are people who will stay specifically to bid on items they are interested in. John and Ellen Webber deserve special recognition – Thank you for your hard work in organizing and running the auctions. A special Thanks to Ellen for all the home-made desserts she prepared for our “Show Family” of Wiregrass Rockhounds and our loyal vendors. Ellen also deserves recognition for taking care of the kitchen clean-up on Sunday. She stepped in, stepped up and hit some home runs!

Betty Jo Cherry, proprietor of

Rainbow Kennels in Dothan,

was the lucky winner of the 47

lb., 29” tall Amethyst crystal

tower raffled off as the grand

prize at our annual gem and

mineral show in March. She is

interested in the healing

powers of crystals and already

had some small pieces given

to her by family, but she says

the tower is definitely the

showpiece of her collection

now.

Some Show Factoids: Gate Traffic

Saturday: 486 Sunday: 271

Weekend Total: 773

Raffle Tickets Sold

Saturday: @457 Sunday: @420

Weekend Total: @877

Educator Handbook: Fossil ID Sheets

Learning Series: Tools for the Rockhound

Source: http://www.fallsoftheohio.org/FossilIDSheets.html

From “Investigating the Falls of the Ohio – An Educator’s Handbook – Resources and Activities for Before, During

and After Your Visit” – compiled by Dr. Fran Squires, Alan Goldstein and Bett Etenohan.

Geologic Time Scale

Reprinted with permission from Randle McDaniel - Rockhound Roundup, Volume 56, Issue 12, December 2016 Source: https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/RPQQN1oaP42wmvbVBOvX8A--/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9MTMyNDtxPTk1O3c9MTI4MA--/http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a3MarOc3cPU/UTcx6GJwntI/AAAAAAAABhc/78-LGrK5_40/s1600/Geological+Time-scale.bmp

Annual Show – March 2018 Photos by Pat & Bruce

Hogg Mine Dig – April 2018 Photos by Pat & Bruce

Igneous Rocks 1

2 3

4 5

6 7 8

9 10

11

12

www.rocksandminerals4u.com

ACROSS

2 the name given to molten rock from volcanos

6 a vent for extrusive igneous rocks 8 the common name for magma

flowing from a volcano 9 igneous rocks that form from magma

that reaches the surface of the earth 11 a light colored igneous rock with

high silica content, explosive eruptions

12 igneous rocks that form below the surface of the earth and cool slowly

DOWN

1 rocks that come from the mantle 3 a common intrusive igneous rock 4 one of the eight basic rock forming

minerals 5 an igneous rock with a low silica

content that flows easily 7 volcanic glass with no crystaline

structure, breaks with very sharp edges

10 a very light igneous rock, honeycomed volcanic glass

Igneous Rocks Solution:

I G M A G M A N R E A O B

V O L C A N O O L A V A U I B I S S E X T R U S I V E A P

E I I L U D N T M

R H Y O L I T E I A C

I N T R U S I V E

Annual Dues

Single $15 Family $20

Objectives

To stimulate interest in lapidary, earth science and, when necessary, other related fields. To sponsor an educational program within the membership to increase the knowledge of its members in the properties, identifications and evaluations of rocks, minerals, fossils and other related subjects. To cooperate and aid in the solution of its members’ problems encountered in the Club’s objectives. To cooperate with other mineralogical and geological clubs and societies. To arrange and conduct field trips to facilitate the collection of minerals. To provide opportunity for exchange and exhibition of specimens and materials. To conduct its affairs without profit and to refrain from using its assets for pecuniary benefit of any individual or group.

Meeting Information

Time: 2:00 PM Date: Fourth Sunday of each month (except June, July and August) Place: Fellowship Hall – Tabernacle United Methodist Church 4205 S. Brannon Stand Road

Dothan, AL

Classified Ads

Looking for an item to round out your rock collection? Got a specimen, tool or handicraft for sale or trade? Submit the pertinent details to me by the 10th of each month and your inclinations will be made known to the membership in the next bulletin. N. J. Blackwell 28 Lakeview Trail, Apt. C Daleville, AL 36322 Phone: 334-503-0308

Email: Tsavorite7@aol.com

Website: www.wiregrassrockhounds.com

April Birthdays

APR 7 Joe Schings APR 10 Kurt Pensinger APR 13 Diane Rodenhizer APR 14 Jane Whitton APR 23 Neil Pollan APR 25 Ken Johnson APR 27 Bruce Fizzell

APR 29 Elliott Whitton

Random Rock Facts

Although SG measurements can be made on either rough or cut gems, the gems must be unmounted, and composed of a single material. You cannot do a SG measurement on a gem that is set in a piece of jewelry, or on an assembled stone, like a doublet. Porous gems cannot be measured with at least two of the techniques, as the liquid they absorb affects the SG measurement, and, in some cases, can harm the stone. There are several ways in which SG is measured, e.g., hefting, heavy liquids and hydrostatic weighing. They differ in precision as well as suitability to different gems and circumstances. Reprinted with permission from Dr. Barbara Smigel Source: www.bwsmigel.info/Lesson3/DEPhysical.Properties.html

Refreshments APR 22 – Potluck Refreshments

Officers

President – Pat LeDuc 334-806-5626

Vice President – Garry Shirah 334-671-4192

Secretary – Bruce Fizzell 334-577-4353

Treasurer – Diane Rodenhizer 334-447-3610

Bulletin Editor – Joan Blackwell 334-503-0308 Tsavorite7@aol.com

Webmaster – Pat LeDuc 334-806-5626

Membership Chair – Diane Rodenhizer 334-447-3610

Show Chair – Jeff DeRoche 334-673-3554

Field Trips Chair – Garry Shirah

334-671-4192

Hospitality Chair – Vacant

Club Hostess – Vacant

Club Liaison – Garry Shirah

334-671-4192

Where you might hear…

A crystal form is a set of planar faces which are geometrically equivalent and whose spatial positions are related to one another by a specified set of symmetry operations. If one face of a crystal form is defined, the specified set of point symmetry operations will determine all of the other faces of the crystal form. Source: http://dave.ucsc.edu/myrtreia/crystal.html

Member of Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies, Inc.

American Federation of Mineralogical Societies

Rockhounds Herald

Editor – N. J. Blackwell

28 Lakeview Trail, Apt. C Daleville, AL 36322

www.wiregrassrockhounds.com