10-02-98

Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum News

Hello, Foundationers!

The following article is a quick biography of A. L. Flagg, written by the Chairman of the organization that was our precursor. I hope you find it as interesting as I did!

ARTHUR L. FLAGG

By Floyd R. Getsinger Chairman,Board of Trustees, A. L. Flagg Foundation

Arthur L. Flagg was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island in 1883. At an early age he became interested in minerals through contacts made in his father's jewelry store. While still quite young he decided he wanted to make minerals, in one form or another, his life's work. During his term as a student at Brown University, the building housing the mineral collection was twice destroyed by fire. Young Flagg was selected as one of the students to examine, clean, and reidentify the specimens so damaged. This gave him a chance to handle a large variety of specimens as well as to begin to recognize and identify minerals. He was also selected to do some undergraduate work on certain geologic quadrangle surveys being done by the U. S. Government. It happened that these quadrangles were in the Bradshaw Mountains of Central Arizona. This work aroused his interest in Arizona: its geology, mines, and minerals; so soon after graduation in 1906 he headed for the Arizona hills. Thus he began a career in mining, geology and mineralogy that lasted for more than 55 years. With the exception of a short period as a mining engineer in Old Mexico, all of this time was spent in Arizona. Arthur Flagg possessed a connoisseur's eye for the beauty of minerals and a missionary's zeal for interesting others in the fun of mineral collecting. His special interest was in teaching children and young people the economic importance of minerals as well as the fun of mineral collecting. He gave away many thousands of specimens to rockhounds, both young and old, and in all parts of the world. At every meeting of the Mineralogical Society of Arizona, he could be seen handing out carefully wrapped specimens to members, especially juniors. These were passed out almost surreptitiously, as he neither asked nor wanted public recognition for his gifts. The presents were of a size and quality to fit the collector's interests and advancement. Few mineralogists have lived who could identify minerals by sight as rapidly and accurately as could Mr. Flagg. We had the privilege of watching him on one occasion when he was identifying a box of mineral specimens from one of the nearby colleges. An assistant was unwrapping the minerals as he removed them from the box, then taking a couple of steps and handing them to Flagg. In one instance while the assistant was taking those steps, Mr. Flagg told us the name of the mineral, the name of the discoverer, the name and location of the mine that first reported it, the year of its identification, the principal chemical contents and the technical paper reporting its discovery. He never touched the mineral and had named it while it was still several feet away. During Mr. Flagg's association with the Arizona Department of Mineral Resources, he had hundreds of rockhounds and prospectors bringing in specimens and ore samples for identification. He must have heard "WHATISTHISSTUFF" many thousands of times. He knew Arizona minerals, mines, and Locations so well that he was seldom stumped and could usually tell the mining district and sometimes the mine where the sample was obtained. Arthur Flagg was well known to most of the Arizona mining men of his time and rendered assistance of one kind or another to many of them. He was never selfish with his time or knowledge. He was a founder and active member of several mining and mineralogical groups, among them the following: The Mineralogical Society of Arizona, The Small Mine Operators Association, The American Federation of Mineralogical Societies, and The Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies. He served as president of each of them, and several terms in some of them. During his 24 years as a member of the Mineralogical Society of Arizona, he missed only one or two meetings. Flagg was known through the nation as Mr. Rockhound--a title he well deserved. Mr. Flagg often expressed a desire to establish an Earth Sciences Museum in Arizona. He was the first curator of the Arizona Mineral Museum, but this was as close as he came to seeing this dream fulfilled.

September Meeting Date Changed!

Our September meeting was moved to September 24, to accommodate our Guest Speaker, Jeff Scovil (and others). Jeff will be showing slides of his trip to Europe, I think....Hope you can make it!

JOIN THE FOUNDATION BRAGGING ROCK CLUB BLACK CANYON CITY SHOW COLLECTION COMMITTEE WORK DAYS

Three Days in Utah in July

By Steve Decker

Friday July 31 Stopped in Orderville, at Joe's Rock shop, a cool building shaped like a rock. Ken Caruso, the proprietor, was on duty, and one of the friendliest people I met in the friendly state of Utah! I picked out some little cut Septarians, unpolished, and got to talking about polishing techniques (vibralap and Cerium oxide). Utah Septarian Nodules were formed in an ancient sea floor, during the Cretaceous Period, 50 million years ago. Having a siltstone exterior, aragonite veining and calcite centers, they range in size from less than and inch up to four feet in diameter. Ken offered me a map to his Septarian claims, but it was time to go home, so I had to decline (reluctantly). If you get up north of Kanab in Southern Utah, be sure to stop in and see the beautiful things that Ken makes from this ordinary looking (on the outside) stone, and ask permission to dig your own.

Thursday, July 30, 1998 Up early this morning to collect in a road cut on Hwy 21, 30 miles west of Milford. We passed an old ghost town, Frisco, and just two miles short of the collecting area at mile post 46, we were stopped for road work. After a short wait, we were able to ditch the pilot truck at the road cut, and me and the girls went prospecting. We didn't find any trace of the Pyrite cubes mentioned in Gem Trails of Utah, but did find some yellow green Garnets, tiny ones, and some larger brown ones in the limestone matrix. On the way back we stopped at Frisco, and collected some Selenite and copper ore. The mines here produced horn Silver ore. Some of the old buildings still have roofs, and many lower floors or basements remain, often built into the hillsides. The old cemetery is a commentary on the brave families that civilized that hard country near the end of the last century. Most of the dear departed were children under the age of two years, and many families lost several of their little darlings, May they rest in peace...one can only believe that other cherished little ones survived to enrich the lives of these miners.

Wednesday, July 29 Zion Canyon is seeded directly from the garden of Eden, with hundreds of plant and animal species in an ecosystem of desert cliffs and pine forests. We saw a young Desert Bighorn Sheep just after entering the park, and he was quite tolerant, allowing us to videotape and photograph him from less than a hundred feet...almost 1/2 curl on the little rebel. We were gonna hike up the trail into the narrow canyon where the Virgin River enters the park, but recovery was in process for two unfortunate hikers who didn't survive the flash flood that followed Monday's big storms...may they also rest in peace.

Today, as it was a hundred years ago, life and loved ones must be cherished each moment, for such time as they are ours to hold, for they are ever changing treasures.

Diamond Point Collecting Trip

On June 6, a bunch of our members met near Tonto Village to dig "Payson Diamonds". The meeting place was the Forest Service cabins at the Diamond Point Lookout turn-off, where we found Lavone discussing the value of Locksmith insurance with some of our other members. After a short delay, we were on the road to the collecting area, happily busting giant limestone boulders into road gravel, in hopes of finding clear, double terminated crystals with a hint of Amethyst. Darrell and I did pretty well, right at the start we were opening pockets with every couple of smacks of the 10 pound hammer, but soon the handle yeilded to our enthusiam, and we were down to the eight pounder, then, when that hammer head flew off its shaft, the 3 pounder. Funny how I wouldn’t spend $20 bucks for one of the lovely specimens that Les had for sale, but don’t have a problem with buying two new hammer handles and nursing three impressive blisters just to say I collected the less fancy crystals that I found....Makes good sense to me! Above the workings, we found fossil coral in nice plates, some even had little Quartz crystals on them! I will bring some to the next meeting for you guys who couldn’t make it out with us! I am going back tomarrow, maybe I will crack open the big one and really have something to show you!

Lets go to the Purple Passion Prospect!

Our Friends Ed Davis and Bill Gardner have graciously consented to allow our Foundation members to visit the Purple Passion Mine north of Wickenburg on Saturday, September 26. They will be showing us their Wulfenite, Cerussite, and Fluorescent mineral prospect, and I am sure we will all be able to find something to bring home or sell at our upcoming shows. We also hope to visit some of the other locations that our members know about in the area, and there are a bunch of them! Hope you can join us. We will meet at the McDonalds in Wickenburg, and leave to collect at 8:00 a.m. sharp, so if you want to eat breakfast, get there early!

Call For Donations

I Propose We accept Donations of Mineral Specimens from the Members of this Foundation, to be sold October 24th at the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum Family Day. You will set the price on your donation, and you will be given cash credit toward your Foundation dues if your donation sells at this sale. If not sold, you may reclaim specimens immediately after the sale, or donate them to the Foundation for future sales. Please bring donations to the Museum the day of the sale, and reclaim unsold specimens (if you wish) at 5:00p.m.A Note

A Note

Thanks to Darrell Dodd, Steve Decker, Jan & Gene Walls, et al, for delaying your own collecting time to assist me in retrieving the truck keys from inside the locked vehicle. Your pleasant attitudes helped preserve a wonderful day. You are very special people. Lavone

Rocks and Minerals

By A. L. Flagg

Our Earth is composed principally of rock. We find rock in the very deepest part of the ocean as well as on the tops of the highest mountain peaks. Just a little more than a quarter of the earth's surface as we see it is made up of land which is rock and soil. The other nearly three-quarters is water. Underneath these the rest of the earth is a huge mass of rock. Everything we use, eat and wear comes directly or indirectly from rocks. Stones, brick and concrete with which we build come from the rocks. Iron, copper, aluminum, zinc, lead, tin and many other metals used to manufacture railroad ears, engines, ships, automobiles, tools for peace and weapons for war all come from rocks. The gold, silver, copper and nickel which we use for money come from rocks. Rocks containing valuable metals are called ores, and are dug from mines, some of them deep, others just huge open pits on the surface. The metals are taken out of the ores by different methods then go to the factories to be made into things we use. Machinery made from metals, driven by engines made of metal, operated by men make these things in different kinds of factories. The way we get what we eat and what we wear from the earth is not quite so simple. What we eat comes to us from plants. They do their own mining. The roots take up the minerals and water they need and, with the help of sunlight which is the power, make fruit, vegetables, and grains. Some of the things we eat go through more than one of nature's factories. For example milk: one factory makes the food the cows eat, then the cow makes milk and beef. There are two factories to make sugar: one is the plant called sugar cane--the cane is harvested and taken to a mill where the juice is all squeezed out and made into snow-white sugar. One of the greatest mysteries of all Nature is how various plants take from the soil just the special minerals they need to make each different kind of fruit, vegetable, etc. Different parts of the same field may bear citrus fruits, cotton, a variety of vegetables, grains and alfalfa. In addition the field may have a border of trees all around it. All of these plants grow in the same soil, have the same water and get the power to make their different products from the sun. We too need the light and heat from the sun to live. In the minds of most people all stones are rocks. If we wish to be correct we should know and understand the difference between a mineral and a rock. The difference is not in color, shape or where the stone is found. It all depends on what the stone is made of. Every mineral is made up of several chemical elements, always combined in the same proportions. They are always the same in many other ways. Some are always heavy, some are always light; some are soft and never hard; others very hard and never soft. They may be rough or have a very regular shape. The regular shapes are called crystals. A few always break in a certain way leaving a smooth surface at each break. All these and more are characteristics which are always the same for any one material. When two or more minerals occur to- gether, all mixed up, we have a rock. If each mineral could be taken out of the rock away from the rest it would have its own proper characteristics. A good way to get the idea of the difference between a rock and a mineral is to make believe that a carrot, an onion, a potato and a piece of leftover meat are all minerals. If we take these make-believe minerals, chop them up and mix them, we have hash. That would be a rock, only a rock is a natural mixture of minerals. But if we mix sand, rock, cement and water to make concrete, that is not a rock for it is not done by Nature. For every mineral there is a story-- what it is made of, the form it takes, why it is colored, why it breaks either rough or smooth, why it is heavyor light, why it is hard or soft and what it can be used for. There are over three thousand different minerals of which perhaps one hundred are The rest are rare. All of them are interesting and collecting minerals is an entertaining and educational hobby. There are about three hundred different minerals known in Arizona. The most valuable mineral in all the world is water. Of all the rest, those minerals in which copper occurs are the next most valuable and abundant. Arizona for more than fifty years has produced more copper than any other State from more than sixty different copper minerals. Gold, silver, lead, zinc, mercury and uranium are also mined in Arizona besides many stones which do not contain metals but do have something else of value in them.

This Pamphlet was originally published by the Arizona Department of Mineral Resources

Collection Committe Report

By Genie Howell

The Collections Committee met May 16, 1998, in the Flagg Gallery to discuss priorities, and review and update collection goals. The completion, correction, and use of the collection database were detailed. The need for upgrading the computer system with a Window's license (for compatability with Museum's hardware) was acknowledged. Thanks to Lois Splendoria, who accepted a very low offer for her computer, the Foundation now has a much better computer. And Steve Decker now may include a picture of each specimen with its database file. Ray Grant's memo of 5/1/94 to the Museum Staff, posted on the Gallery door, has been updated and will be available for discussion by the Board at the September meeting. This memo names authorized entrants, movement of specimens, viewing rules for the Peralta Stones, etc. The Mission Statement and Operating Guidelines will be redrafted by Les Presmyk with proposed changes highlighted. A second database will be created for specimens that are part of the collection but designated for sale or trade. Les also is creating a Deaccession Form to track specimen movement. These also will be reviewed by the Board at the September Meeting. Through the summer, the committee and other Foundation members have been meeting evenings to glue Foundation numbers on specimens and to verify specimen locations in the database. About 1/4 of the Gallery collection has been labelled. The collection appraisal has been completed. Thanks to the dedication and many talents of this small group, much has been accomplished this summer. Many important issues, such as those cited above, will be presented for Board approval in September. Your input is needed. Please be there!

Foundation Collection Database Project

by Steven Decker

The Collection Committee has been hard at work this past summer. The things we have accomplished, such as permanently marking many of our specimens, creating labels, and appraising our collection, have been made easier by our new computer. Lois Splendoria helped us to acquire her old machine by donating more than half of it’s value to the Foundation. It is a 486DX33 with a 15” SVGA monitor, and has software compatible with the Museum’s. We also have purchased an inexpensive Video Capture device that allows us to easily digitize images of the specimens in our collection and pictures for our Newsletter. The pictures on page 3 were created with this new tool. It can also digitize images made with the Microscope/Video camera setup. I am scanning newspaper clippings and other documents pertinent to the History of this organization to be stored in our computer, so they may be easily viewed while the originals are protected from extra handling. The computer belongs to you Foundation Members, and I will be glad to help you learn to use it. The Collection Committee would welcome assistance from any interested members with our tasks, and it really is a lot of fun, as well as a great learning experience! You’d like it, try it! By the way, we could use those 3.5” disks that the on line companies keep sending you, so please save them for us, and bring them to the meetings. Thanks!

Reporters Needed!~ Your Newsletter needs some fresh, original content! I know you creative, interesting people have been all over the country this past summer, meeting new friends, collecting beautiful minerals, and learning all kinds of interesting things that we would all be very happy to hear about. Put down a few lines on paper, or email, or computer disk, or scratch them into a piece of sandstone with a sharp stick and send them to me! Deadline for next issue will be September 20, so get scratching! Foundation Trustees Ron Blackstone 1999 Darrell Dodd 1999 Doug Duffy 1999 Genie Howell 1999 Lois Splendoria 1999 Marc Watson 1999 Harvey Smith 2000 John Lucking 2000 Jim Warne 2000 Tom Edwards 2000 Robert Jones 2000 Doug Lindsay 2001 M. J. Benham 2001 Raymond Grant 2001 Les Presmyk 2001 Sam Nasser 2001 Jan Walls 2001 Lavone Archer 2001 Paul Harter 2001