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Location: Diamond Acres, Fonda, NY, WMC Club Claim

Dates & Time: Sat & Sun, June 7th & 8th, 2003
roughly 8:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday
and 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Sunday


Club Members working hard in the claim

Present: Ten club members

Weather: It was cloudy and overcast except for the last two hours or so on Sunday it showered off & on much of Saturday but not too heavy, damp to be sure the temperatures were a pleasant 60's most of the time although it did get a little warmer late Sunday after the sun came out low 70's.  Pretty good collecting weather

Physical conditions: It was a little muddy walking in on the path through the woods (the Fonda area has had as much or more rain then we have had around here, (the land locked claims, holes, were ponds) the Worcester Mineral Club claim itself had one shallow puddle in it

The Claim: The claim was clean almost broom clean (Larry Lamothe runs a tight ship to be sure but it pays off in the long run, much safer and easier to work) he had to clean out everything that had slid down into, branches that fell into and leaves that had blow into the claim area over the winter he did a wonderful job preparing the claim for the field trip Thank you Larry Lamothe! As I mentioned there was one puddle and some muddy areas especially on the way to the rock dumping area but no real problems the wall and adjacent area was tarped over with poles to prop the tarps up when working and lowering the poles when no one is working to allow the
water to run off away from the working wall the tarps are also weighted to keep them from lifting too much in the winds
(that is when they can really get damaged) Thank you Larry Lamothe!
There are two additional tarps to cover the working area and the clubs tools- two wheel wheel barrow, shovel and four prong rake which Larry Lamothe purchased Thank you Larry Lamothe! A big plus is that the claim goes into the side of the hill (i.e. not land
locked where the only way to get rid of the debris is to carry it out or
toss it up and out which is a lot of very hard work and needless energy spent if you don't have to) Thank you Larry Lamothe!


One of our digging areas

Wild life: Not much to report this time, one snake, (very small), a slug or two and birds

Flora: There were several different species of flowers blooming one of which was very interesting as it's flower grew off the side of the stem below the leaves (a somewhat unusual arrangement)

The Working Wall: The wall is approximately 9 to 10 feet high tall at its highest it consists of a layer of debris a foot or so then a foot of rock to a calcite seam of an inch or so then several feet of rock which is sitting on the table which is where toward the bottom of this layer your large pockets are usually found then below the table there is a couple to three feet or so in which you find the druzy pockets ideally you clear the top loose debris of loose rocks, soil, leaves and branches then proceed to take the rock apart in layers after the first few feet the rock can get pretty hard and below the table really hard in what is referred to as blue rock in some areas of the wall in the claim the upper level of rock has already been removed in the past and in some areas almost all the way down to the table

Commentary: This was a very heart warming and enthusiastic effort by everyone there everyone contributed as their abilities allowed and I am sure everyone had their share of aches and pains from their efforts and all the efforts paid off in results not only in terms of moving a lot of material but also in terms of herkimers recovered all topped off with the discovery and emptying of two pretty good size pockets resulting in lots of crystals of quartz and more than a few calcite crystals as well regarding the second large pocket of the trip (both were on Sunday) Larry Lamothe said it might be the best pocket he's hit there at Diamond Acres in any event it was a nice pocket indeed and hopefully the pictures will help convey some of the excitement in finding such a pocket (the material from this pocket will be available for viewing at the June 24, 2003 meeting) at that time lots will be drawn by those at the field trip for the division of the specimens the first large pocket of the two days was hit on Sunday morning and it was interesting to note how that rejuvenated everyone's efforts thereafter this pocket was pretty dry and pretty unweathered which translates to taking a more time to take the pocket apart hopefully without damaging the crystals this pocket was about the size of a volley ball once emptied this pocket I am cleaning and will reassemble and it will be displayed at the Worcester Mineral Club Show in November unfortunately for a few who had to leave early and they missed the discovery of the second pocket (it was within no more than 15 or so minutes of when they left) this pocket was significantly bigger about three feet in diameter it was a long reach from the front to the back and had to be opened up quite a bit before I could reach the back of the pocket this pocket in contrast to the first was much wetter and much more heavily etched with almost all the calcites destroyed and the entire ceiling haven fallen in so that the entire contents of the pocket were sitting in the bottom it is a great experience to be able to clean out a pocket of crystals not
without its tense moments i.e. what to do when you want to get it out and you don't want to damage the specimens you basically go from using brute strength removing rock to needing a lot of patience and a lot of finesse to safely empty the pocket of its contents in addition to these two special pockets there were a number of other pockets some druzy and others with crystals some up to several inches but
most of these pockets had the crystals locked in tight between calcite and rock which makes getting them out in good shape both time consuming and in many cases impossible but that did not stop us from trying a number of times and with some success I might add.


Success!

Saturday Night Dinner: Saturday night dinner was a real treat
Carol and Larry Lamothe invited everyone to their trailer to eat Sloppy Joe's the meal was great with beans, salads, chips, deserts and an assortment of beverages their hospitality was wonderful Thank you Carol Lamothe! In addition we had live entertainment provided by the Hummingbirds not a musical group but lots of hummingbirds visiting the feeders surrounding the screened porch at the trailer
we saw King Tut and generally saw hummingbirds up close and personal and one even very vocal all for our entertainment.  It was a very pleasant and enjoyable evening

Once again I and I am sure the rest of the group thank Larry Lamothe for his generous efforts including his tireless efforts on the hammer drill which really helped to make it a weekend to remember (he was like the Energizer Bunny he almost never stopped working with that hammer drill and with a big heart to boot)

--Larry Bull