The British Columbia ROCKHOUNDER #6 - 2401 Ord Road Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 Published Quarterly by the British Columbia Lapidary Society
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The British Columbia ROCKHOUNDER #6 - 2401 Ord Road Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 Published quarterly by the British Columbia Lapidary Society President’s Report Executive of the Society It will be nice when the rain and cold finally lets up so President John Bowman we can do some serious rockhounding. The Bowman Past President Rudy Zimmerman family have a few trips planned including Rendezvous in 1st Vice President Harley Waterson Penticton, summer camp in Winlaw, the Madras, Oregon 2nd Vice President Randall DeFuhr Pow-Wow, Gemboree on Vancouver Island and the So- 3rd Vice President Walt Pinder ciety field trip to Hill 60. I hope to see many of you at Treasurer Diane Bowman one or more of these events. Executive Secretary Donnamae Chionis The proposed changes to our Society By-laws have Recording Secretary Terry Bacon been completed by the sub-committee after many hours of meetings. Club Presidents will have already received Address of the Society a copy of the proposals and any input given to the com- 11600 Sealord Road mittee will be appreciated. There will be a mail-out to all Richmond, BC V7A 3L2 clubs regarding the proposed changes prior to Rendez- PH. 604-277-3222, Fax 604-279-3444 vous in Penticton, where the proposed changes will be E mail: [email protected] voted on at the annual general meeting of the Society. Many changes to the existing by-laws have been pro- Contents posed, however, most of these “changes” are not really Golden Hopes & Broken Dreams-Bowen Island ............. 1 changes but reflect how the Society has been operating Putting it on the Map ........................................................ 3 for many years. What is a Pegmatite? ...................................................... 4 We are also entering show season for many different Tuscon-50 Years On ....................................................... 5 clubs including Maple Ridge, Hastings and Victoria. I Precious Gems: The History of a Concept ...................... 10 hope to be able to make it to all of these shows. It will Maps, Compasses & Common Sense ............................ 12 also not be long before the big show in Abbotsford. I Early Bead Trade in North America ................................. 13 know that Cam Bacon and the show committee are mak- Almost Everything You Need to Know ........................... 14 ing steady progress in preparing for this year’s show and Tick Season is Here ........................................................ 15 we are all looking forward to a successful event. Is it an Original or a Knockoff? ........................................ 16 Clubs should receive in the next month or so a ques- Chert ................................................................................ 18 tionnaire from the Society Executive. The purpose of the On False Creek ............................................................... 18 questionnaire is to gather information from the clubs and Society General Meeting ................................................. 19 to find out how we can do a better job of supporting the Around the Clubs ............................................................. 20 member clubs and our hobby in general. Please take Club Shows ..................................................................... 28 the time to fill it out and provide the requested informa- Wagonmaster’s Field Trip ................................................ 29 tion as soon as possible. Rendezvous 2004 ............................................................ 30 Interested in looking for field trip sites in the state of Summer Camp-Winlaw .................................................... 31 Washington? You might want to check out the web-site: Classified Ads .................................................................. 31 www.stonetrails.com, which has lots of maps to all the Book List .......................................................................... 3S major collecting sites along with useful tips on what to bring to the site and what you can find. *************************************** Thanks to all those rockhounds from many different clubs who are helping to make the Abbotsford show a Share your trips and knowledge by sending an article success by volunteering their time and participating in to the Rockhounder the show. I look forward too seeing all of you at the Submit articles for the next issue by June 1, 04 to: show. Win Robertson John Bowman, 6 -2401 Ord Road, Kamloops. BC V2B 7V8 Society President E mail: [email protected] My thanks to all that have submitted articles & club Front Cover news for publication. They are greatly appreciated and Free-form rhodonite sculpture from the Anoraq Mine, YT enjoyed by our readers. Carved by Sid McKeown Photo courtesy Rick Hudson ****************************************** 1 GOLDEN HOPES and BROKEN Gardner. Exploration of the new prospects began with hand- DREAMS - BOWEN ISLAND clearing the dense bush around the showings, followed by Lost and Forgotten Mines of Southwest B.C. Part 1 open-cut trenching with explosives on the most promising By James Laird, copyright 2003 surface areas. Depending on the topographic expression of the various deposits, adit tunnels were driven and One of the earliest areas of BC to receive attention shafts sunk to further test the potential size and grade of from hard-rock miners and prospectors was the shore- the mines. Very little information about the people in- lines and mountains of the Lower Mainland area near the volved or the events surrounding this small mining boom city of Vancouver. Green malachite coatings on copper is found today in public records, and the exact location deposits, red stains of iron minerals and the white streaks and mineral content of some reported prospect workings of quartz veins show up clearly along the shorelines from is in doubt today. a small boat. As early as 1865, copper mineralization had Geologically, Bowen Island is underlain by Bowen Is- been discovered at the entrance of Howe Sound, beside land Group greenish volcanic rocks and related sedi- Whytecliff Park near Horseshoe Bay. ments which were During the deposited on the sea 1870's and 80's, floor during the Ju- the area around rassic era, perhaps Howe Sound pro- 175 million years vided prospectors ago. Several "belts" with sufficient en- of intrusive granitic couragement to rocks (diorite, grano- keep exploring for diorite) of the Coast the "motherload", Plutonic Complex soon to be discov- cross the island and ered near the top are late Jurassic to of Britannia Moun- Lower Cretaceous tain. The im- (150 - 100 my) in mense size of the age, but may include Britannia copper/ some younger Terti- gold orebodies ary (50 my) intrusions brought mining and dikes. speculators from The Albion Gold far and wide, and Mining Company was many a small cop- incorporated in the per prospect on 1890's to explore the Howe Sound was Albion Mine, a cop- touted as "the next per/gold property Britannia". near the shoreline Bowen Island south of Cates Bay, had it's share of on the northeast mining ventures coast of the island. Mines of Bowen Island evolve out of this The proprietors, John early boom era, James Moore and mostly copper-rich but often containing some gold, silver, Benjamin Springer, supervised the drifting of an adit and lead and zinc. A few settlers called Bowen Island their surface open-cuts, which provided an occasional small home in the early years, tending small farms and or- shipment of copper/gold ore. Apparently the values and chards, fishing, logging the giant trees by hand or with size of the mineral deposit did not merit further financing horses and oxen, even starting a small brickworks using and development, and the company ceased operations in local glacial clay beds. 1909. Slate was reported to have been quarried in the 1880's The Islander Mine, owned by the Bowen Island Cop- near Cape Roger Curtis on the southwest corner of the per Company, was located on the shoreline of Galbraith island, this was shipped to San Francisco for use as roof- Bay on the northwest part of the island. The main copper ing material. The location of this quarry is now unknown, -bearing outcrop is on the beach below the high-tide but it is probably the first mineral deposit to be developed mark. The outcrop contained variable amounts of bornite and mined on Bowen Island. across a width of about 2 metres; the zone was followed During the late 1800's, prospectors had discovered intermittently on surface to the southeast for about 150 four separate mineralized zones on Bowen Island, notably metres. Prior to 1907 and near the high tide line, the #1 the Bowena copper mine located south of Snug Cove, the shaft was sunk to a depth of about 18 metres. 25 metres Albion copper mine south of Cates Bay, the Islander cop- to the southeast of this shaft, the #2 shaft was sunk to a per mine at Galbraith Bay, and the Bonanza gold, silver, depth of 53 metres. lead, zinc, copper mine on the west slope of Mount At a depth of 15 metres in the #1 shaft, a 36 metre 2 long drift on the ore zone (#1 level) was driven to the The first claim was called the Neptune, and was southeast past the #2 shaft. At a depth of 48 metres in staked and Grown-Granted in 1897 by the Bowen Island the #2 shaft, a lower crosscut (#2 level) was driven 12 Gold Mining Company. In 1913, a new company called metres to intersect the ore zone. In the #1 level drift, a Bowena Copper Mines was incorporated by Vancouver section about 10 metres long was stoped out (mined) mining broker C. M. Oliver and Charles M. Buscombe to over a width of about 1.5 metres, which provided some acquire and develop the mine. From 1913 to 1921, two small test shipments subsequently sent to the Tyee Cop- adits, a shaft, and many opencut surface workings ex- per Company's smelter on Vancouver Island. No record plored three vein systems, resulting in a few small test of the value or content of these shipments has been shipments of copper/gold/silver ore. found to date, and the company was officially dissolved in The ore consisted primarily of chalcopyrite and pyrite, 1924.