5-16-98
The Arizona Mineral and Mining Museum Foundation sponsored a field trip to the famous
Red Cloud Mine
How many times have you dreamed of finding a crystal like the one that Lavonne is measuring ? About once a week? I do now! (This is a picture of what Wulfenite looks like in my dreams! !:3)
Larrey, Darrel and I met Bruce and Becky Vick, new Foundation members from Illinois, at 5:30 a.m at the 27th Ave and McDowell AM/PM. With a large coffee in hand, we headed west to the mine, arriving at the Martinez Lake rendezvous point right on time at Nine. Across the Desert the caravan of Blazers, Broncos, and a Geo Metro traveled in lovely spring weather. Upon our arrival at the Red Cloud, Les Presmyk briefed us on the collecting rules, pointed out the promising and verbotten collecting spots, then got back out of the way (as a safety precaution). This is the most productive Wulfenite locality I have ever seen! The rejects from our collecting piles would have been the prize keepers at most other mines! Beautiful red-orange Wulfenite crystals were found in abundance. Ray Grant gave me a cool hunk of rock riddled with pockets containing Cerussite twin crystals of various shapes and sizes. Ed Schaffer and others shared a lot of the good material they were digging from the vein, and nice crystals could be found in the loose rock at their feet.
Looking around the back of hill , I found Wulfenite crystals growing right out of the vein as it surfaced! I haven’t seen that before. After Walt Johnson had enough digging for the day, I took over his spot and was able to get a couple of nice specimens right out of the earth for my own collection. We were allowed to collect till 4:00 PM, and the watchman let me pack up my specimens on overtime.
As we all gathered above the mine, showed off our finds, and admired our friends’ discoveries, I didn’t see anything but smiles! This was one of my most memorable collecting forays. Many thanks to Les Presmyk, Wayne Thompson, and the other owners of the Red Cloud Mine for this excellent adventure, and to you, my comrades in rocks.
We had a terrific time, and everyone got something worth dragging home. Even if you missed it, it is not too late to Join us!
If you would like to become a member of the Arizona Mineral and Mining Museum Foundation, Click Here for sign up form and other information!