D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
February
2009
Rocks in Their Heads
Rolling Stones Gem & Mineral Society provides camaraderie and outings for those who get satisfaction from geological goodies.
Story and photos by Donna Clayton
Robert Waidler says don't lick your rocks. He's not kidding.
 |
Field trip leader Josh Reeves checks
the quality of a chalcedony rose by holding it to the light. |
"This is Pandora's box," Waidler says, indicating the big wooden crate he's brought along with him. He opens the lid with a mysterious flourish. "According to that story, we know that there's knowledge and hope in here. . . ," he says, letting his words trail off ominously, then pulls out a smaller box and holds it up to his audience. "And there's bad things in here, too!"
A professional geologist with Freeport-McMoRan's Chino Mine operations, Waidler is a member of Grant County's Rolling Stones Gem & Mineral Society, some 50 members of which are gathered tonight for the club's monthly potluck supper and meeting. It's a pretty good turnout for the middle of winter; the club totals about 200 members.
The group has already downed dinner — a feast consisting of everything from homemade pasta salads and Swedish meatballs to chips and salsa and Domino's pizza — and held a raffle for prizes of, well, rocks. Two members have given a show-and-tell account of a recent trip and the mineral treasures they procured. The group has sung happy birthday to one of its senior members. A field trip leader has given the rundown on the club's next outing, a trip to Round Mountain to look for chalcedony (pronounced cal-SED-a-nee), a type of mineral quartz that comes in many forms and colors. The club oohs and ahhs over the promise of fields littered with the attractive stone.
Now the group has settled in for the evening's presentation. Each month, a member of the club or some invited expert gives a talk on some area of rockhounding. Waidler's topic tonight is "Toxic Minerals."
The human body itself naturally contains minerals, Waidler says. He pulls out a small box containing a sample of iron, an essential element in hemoglobin, as an example. Some minerals are especially beneficial, like silver and copper, which are oligiodynamic — having useful antibacterial properties. But too much of a good thing can be deadly. He discusses ingestion, solubility and dust.
"Wear protective equipment when you're cutting and polishing your stones," he warns. "You don't want to be inhaling these things."
And some elements are just bad news in any amount. Waidler pulls out more small boxes and goes on to listing and detailing the dangers of minerals known as "heavy metals," toxic because the body accumulates them.
"You see this? It looks like salt, doesn't it?" he asks, holding up another specimen. "Native arsenic! A half-gram of this and you'd be dead! All forms of arsenic are poisonous. How many of you lick your rocks?" he asks. At least a dozen folks in the room smile sheepishly and raise their hands.
One woman calls out, "I just spit on mine and wipe 'em!"
Evidently it's a common practice among rockhounds to lick their finds in the field in order to get a better look at the deeper colors in the rock, revealing striations and minerals beneath the surface.
"I see it every day," Waidler says. "We're out there, gathering our specimens, handling them, and then what do we do? We eat lunch! Who knows what's on your hands?"
He reaches into his "Pandora's Box" again for another mineral, this time holding the rock in a tiny box, taking care not to even touch the small specimen within.
"This is cinnabar, one of the more deadly items," Waidler says, and shares the sad story of Chinese lapidaries who died early deaths from their work of cutting and handling the deadly substance. He pulls out another small box, this one containing cadmium. This mineral was used to murder nine people in Pennsylvania a number of years back, he says. The perpetrator never was caught.
Another box holds a rock containing uranium.
"Even this is releasing a deadly gas right now," Waidler says. Noting the alarmed expressions on the faces closest to him, he quickly adds with a lighthearted laugh, "Don't worry. Your exposure here tonight is minimal, so you'll be okay."
Waidler goes on, pulling out minerals and detailing the nature of their toxicity. Antimony was used as a "reusable laxative," he says. The mineral, made into a small pill and swallowed, would irritate the bowel and the toxic effect would, er, get things moving.
"The pill was then retrieved from the excrement. . . to be reused," he says with humorously gross emphasis. "Sometimes this precious item would be handed down from generation to generation!"
The audience groans and giggles in response.
In closing, Waidler goes down a list of caveats for the rockhounders: wear latex gloves, avoid dust, don't lick your rocks, make sure to wash hands before eating after handling rocks, keep children away from your collection.
Afterward, Waidler answers specific mineral questions. Club members mill about, comparing the prizes they won in the rock drawing, talking about their plans to attend the club's next outing to Round Mountain. It seems as if no one's in a hurry to leave, but as a few people begin to filter out of the Senior Center, Waidler calls out humorously, "Remember people, don't lick your rocks!"
A couple of weekends later, the rockhounds have a chance to put Waidler's good advice into practice. On a clear, warm winter morning, 26 club members meet up at the town center parking lot in the little mining town of Tyrone, just outside Silver City.
Kyle Meredith and John Reeves, the trip's leaders, greet everyone and have them sign release waivers. Meredith says this is his third year leading trips for the club.
"This is a designated rockhound site," he says of Round Mountain, an area just over the Arizona line. "It's rich in finds and very scenic. It's great for camping! We're going in the camper and we're not coming back tonight," he adds, slapping his vehicle on the fender. "It'll be warmer there today, so it's a good destination for this time of year, too. Once people find out about it (the Round Mountain site), they usually come back again and again."
Meredith pulls out a plastic bucket filled with white rocks, all different shapes and sizes, some with orange and pink striations running through them. This is chalcedony, our quarry for the day.
"This is a particularly beautiful and unique example of a rosette," he says, pulling out a milky-white stone that resembles a flower. "You'll find it (chalcedony) in geode form, some with crystals, some like eggs. There's a lot of variety and it's a particularly beautiful mineral." Rockhounds love to make jewelry out of certain forms of chalcedony, he says, and to decorate with it. One of the club's members has created mineral-lined pillars with which she has decorated her yard.
Today's trip will be about two hours in each direction, Meredith says, and though the road will be "reasonable," he adds, high-clearance vehicles are a good idea. At that assessment, the members milling about begin choosing up the best vehicles in which to carpool to the site.
Meredith then makes some "official announcements."
"I've had several requests for a pee stop," he says with a laugh. "We'll pull over on the shoulder just past C-Bar. There are a lot of trees and bushes there."
Trip co-leader Josh Reeves humorously puts in, "Very luxurious! Everybody gets their own tree!"
Meredith continues, "Put your lights on so people can tell we're a caravan. We'll pass through a gate. If you leave the site early, please leave the gate as you found it. If it's open, leave it open. If it's closed when you leave, please shut it behind you.
"There's good camping, for anyone who wants to stay. It's easy walking to the finds. They're all over and you'll find stuff immediately. For those who are willing to walk a bit for the better finds, you go about a mile into the foothills, and we'll direct you to where that is."
The rockhounds pile into an assortment of trucks, campers and SUVs, and the 11 vehicles begin the two-hour drive. Bruce Springsteen's "Magic" CD — classic rock and roll seems fitting for a rockhound trip — helps to pass the time. The Boss' lyrics are uncannily in sync with the long drive ahead, especially in light of the anticipated rougher roads ahead and our location here in New Mexico: "We took the highway 'til the road went black; we marked Truth or Consequences on our map."
About 20 miles up Hwy. 90, it's evidently time to pass water. The caravan pulls to the shoulder and a number of the members run to relieve themselves under the cover of bushes and trees.
Others walk around and chat. A new member, Bill, says he just joined the club at the last meeting.
"I usually go (rockhounding) around the Caballo Mountains," he says. "I joined up so I can go on these trips, to see where these people go. It's fun to find new places to hunt."
After a few minutes, all are back in their vehicles and the caravan snakes out from the shoulder back onto the roadway. Again the wisdom of Springsteen floods from the speakers: "We're just countin' the miles, you and me. . ."
Farther up, we turn west on Hwy. 70 and follow it just over 20 miles to that gate Meredith mentioned, entering the Lazy-B Ranch property. We pass over dusty, packed-gravel roads, over some railroad tracks and through a few arroyos, the last of which really tests our vehicles' clearances. At the point where we must bear left, Reeves stops the caravan to wait for stragglers to catch up.
"I want to make sure no one misses this turn," he says. "Otherwise, they might just be going and going and wonder where the heck we all went!"
All 11 vehicles now accounted for, the caravan continues the few more miles of dusty road to the Round Mountain site. No sooner do the rockhounds pile out of their trucks and campers than shouts go up about chalcedony finds right at their feet.
Robert Waidler, the geologist who gave the presentation on toxic minerals, exclaims over a beautiful piece he finds as soon as he steps out of his truck.
The members gather in a spot between their vehicles. Meredith gives directions for those looking to traverse the foothills for those "better finds" — maybe even a chalcedony rosette to rival the prize in Meredith's bucket.
Rockhounds fan out, some stopping every few feet to pick up a rock and throw it in his or her sack or backpack, or to stuff into a pocket.
Meredith and Reeves set up some folding tables at the back of their camper.
"We're going to camp here tonight and this is where folks'll come to have lunch," Reeves says. "We'll compare our finds then, too."
He points out a waterpik dental instrument and spray bottle full of water, sitting on the camper's bumper.
"That'll be for washing them off," he says. Bringing to mind the wisdom and caveats of Waidler's presentation on toxic minerals, he adds with a laugh, "No licking rocks!"
Only a few feet from the parking area, rockhounds continue to fan out, picking up specimens. A woman named Shannon says this is her third time out with the Rolling Stones club.
"I'm from Oregon," she says with humorously deprecating emphasis on her home state's name. "So, New Mexico is just amazing! You walk 50 feet and you're in a new geological area. Even these drab lava rocks are exciting to me," she adds with a laugh.
"I love these trips. It's like going to a garage sale — for free! It's the funnest thing I've ever done!" She tosses another rock into her canvas bag. "Do you see this? It's just crazy the stuff that's out here, just lying in plain sight!"
Not 30 feet away, Silver City bead artist Dagny Sellorin is finding useful and beautiful rocks of her own.
"I do use them in my beadwork. I'm always looking for things for that," Sellorin says. She pulls out a tiny egg-shaped piece of chalcedony. "I need a flat side for what I do, so I can affix it to the piece (of bead art). This one's just perfect," she says, rolling the small stone between her fingers.
She pulls another specimen out of her bag.
"Look at this one! Do you see that movement?" she asks, pointing out the colored striations through the rock.
"For me, this is a chance to get out with other people, different people with different kinds of knowledge, and go to different places I'd never get to otherwise," she says.
Other rockhounds are eager to show off their finds. One holds up a tiny egg-shaped rock with a little chip in the top, as if a stone chick were beginning to chip its way out of its milky crystal shell. Another shows off a tiny rosette; another a jagged chunk that exactly resembles Cooke's Peak, a well-known crag and landmark visible from Silver City.
Back at "base camp," Josh Reeves is running from rockhound to rockhound, dampening their finds with his spray bottle.
"This will help us see what you really found," he says, washing the grime off one woman's small chalcedony rosette. He holds it up to the light. "Ooh, this is a nice one. Look at that pink!"
He pores over another batch of finds, spread out on a rockhound's tailgate.
"Oh my God! Look at that! Yellow and green," Reeves says about a piece of fire agate he turns over and over in his palm. "Okay, you tumble this for just one day on 80 grit," he advises the fire agate's new owner. "That'll reveal what you've got. It'll bring out that green."
Geologist Waidler has what Reeves deems "the find of the day." It is a "textbook" chunk of dark lava rock, out of which protrudes a pure white chalcedony egg.
Waidler explains, "This is how these minerals form. They seem to ooze out like this."
Reeves says that, traditionally, a number of the rockhounds tend to leave right after the lunch break. He points out a couple of the diehards he thinks will stick around after lunch for a couple more hours of exploring what can be found on the other side of the arroyo. And then there are the campers, who'll stay overnight.
"But a half-day outing is enough for most people," he allows. "They've got enough rocks and they're happy."
As if to prove him right, most do get into their vehicles and leave. As one SUV roars to life and hits the dirt road home, the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen once again fit the bill as his song, "Long Walk Home" serves as a segue into the dusty trip ahead.
A happy rockhound glances at her treasures on the car seat next to her and taps out the beat on her steering wheel.
Hey, rock on!
The Rolling Stones Gem & Mineral Society meets monthly and makes rockhounding field trips every month except September and December. For information or to become a member, call 388-9312 or email kyyote@msn.com Dues are $10/year for an individual, $15 for a family.