1 The British Columbia ROCKHOUNDER #6 - 2401 Ord Road Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 Published quarterly by The Lapidary Rock & Mineral Society of B.C. Executive of the Society To Advertise in the Rockhounder President Rudy Zimmerman Full page $50.00 per issue Past President Win Robertson Half page $25.00 per issue 1st Vice President John Bowman Quarter page $12.50 per issue 2nd Vice President Harley Waterson Business card $5.00 per issue 3rd Vice President Randall DeFuhr Treasurer Don Stebbing For more information contact: Executive Secretary Donnamae Chionis Win Robertson Recording Secretary Terry Bacon 6 - 2401 Ord Road Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 Tel. 250-376-4878. Address of the Society E mail: [email protected] 9911 - Ash Street Richmond, BC V7A 2V2 PH. 604-277-3222, Fax 604-821-4603 E mail: [email protected] Classified Ads Contents Club members of the Lapidary Society may place an Call of the Yukon ............................................................. 2 Curious Coral ................................................................ 3 ad in the Rockhounder FREE Garnets & Gemstones of the Slocan Valley .................... 5 Armchair Prospecting in B.C.-Part 1 ............................... 8 Whatever! Gemstones in Folklore .................................................... 10 Buy, Sell or Swap Rockhounding Plus ......................................................... 13 Advertise it in the Rockhounder Ankylosaur Tracks Discovered in Tumbler Ridge .......... 15 A Boulder Miracle Story ................................................... 16 Code of Conduct for Canadian Collectors ....................... 17 Non club members: 15 cents per word Field Safety Rules ........................................................... 17 The Magic Rock Club ...................................................... 18 Canada Day Field Trip - Buse Lake ................................ 19 Summer Camp - 2003 ..................................................... 20 Summer Camp - 2002 ..................................................... 21 Fountain Valley Field Trip ................................................ 24 B.C. Gem Show News Flash ........................................... 26 Zone and Club News ....................................................... 27 Club Shows ..................................................................... 40 Write about it! Share your adventures and knowledge by writing about it and sending it in to the Rockhounder Submit articles for the next issue by Dec. 1, 2002 to: Cover Picture Win Robertson 6 - 2401 Ord Road, Kamloops, BC V3B 7V8 Red Coral E mail: [email protected] Photo courtesy of NASA Thanks to all that have submitted articles & club news 2 Call of the Yukon ½ mile from a posted sign on the highway. Two geologists by Ken Dewerson from Vancouver recently explored the whole mountain area and discovered nodules everywhere, to 4 inches, Fred Dorward a member of the Whitehorse Gem they ranged from red jasper, moss agate as well as hol- & Mineral Club, saw a need to invigorate the activities of low to druzy quartz. 6.5 miles south of Carmacks is an his club, he identified a requirement for some hands on other claim marker on the west side of the highway, black training for the general membership, not only for the agate, white plume agate and smoky iris chalcedony have Whitehorse club but also for the native Yukon people of been found at this location. In the Carmacks Store is a Carmacks who live close to three claims that the club display of beautiful blue agate and botroidal chalcedony held. The local club members didn't feel that they were collected by a local native. qualified to teach the techniques of cabochon making so Fred made a request to the B.C. Society to assist them with the teaching. Unfortunately for the Federation and all rock- hounds Fred Dorward passed away in June of 2000. Early in 2002 Walter Bilawich, another driving force of the Whitehorse Club took on Fred's vision, and requested assistance with the teaching of the LittleSa- mon\Carmacks First Nation The request was passed down to a willing volun- teer, myself, Ken Dewerson, who took the request to the Gem & Mineral Federation annual meeting in Calgary. The objectives of the Federation are to Promote interest and education in the various Earth Sciences, to provide assistance and guidance to Regional and Provin- Blue agate from Carmacks. Yukon cial Federations and to sponsor various activities. With this in mind, it was decided to sponsor in part my trip to I left Kelowna and arrived in Whitehorse May 21st, I was the Yukon met by club members Walter and Bob Gates, who drove Most of the Yukon was heavily glaciated, and as me to Carmacks to meet Morris Skookum of the Car- a result all the gravel deposits are well sorted. This macks Little Salmon Band. For lapidary equipment, a Ge- means that you can find almost anything in gravel pits nie was borrowed from Sherrel and Rivest of Yukon Jew- and in river and steam gravels. Carmacks is 100 miles ellers, and a trim saw from Luke Lacasse, the mayor of north of Whitehorse, a promising rockhound area is north- Carmacks. Jewellery findings were donated by the B.C. west of Carmacks running for about 80 miles and cover- Lapidary Society and a Cabochon display was borrowed ing 1800 sq. miles or more. Carmacks is virtually sur- from Chester Miller of Delta B.C. rounded by Tertiary volcanics. They form prominent out- In the 2 days of the classes, 10 students completed at crops in the area, the striking cliffs west of the village be- least 1 piece of jewellery. I also managed to get in a field trip ing the most noticeable. Many of these flows character- north of Carmacks at the Tier Agate location, where I found a ized by amygdalodal lava and base are sometimes sepa- 12 inch vug full of red botroidal agate, however not having any rated by spaces. Both amygdaloids and spaces may be equipment with me, the agate is still there. filled with Many natives, including the Band Chief, were unavail- jasper, agate, chalcedony, quartz crystal, calcite, and\or able to attend the sessions and requested a future training date. zeolites. One claim held by the Club is 4.5 miles north of My next trip to the Yukon will be to assist the White- horse Club, and hopefully to retrieve that botryoidal agate. Photos courtesy of Ken Dewerson, 1120 Rock Club Rockhound Shop 777 - Cloverdale Avenue, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8X 2S6 Owner: V.I. Rockhound Shop Ltd. (Tom & Gerry Vaulkhard) E mail: [email protected] Tel. (250) 475-2080 (Tues - Sat.) Fax (250) 475-2083 Aaron Blancher busy at the Genie Carmacks, Yukon Territory 3 many forms of coral become apparent – antler, brain, sea Curious Coral fan, mushroom, finger and many other types. As new pol- Is it animal, vegetable or mineral? yps form, they smother those below, building layer upon Rick Hudson layer of limestone, in inexorable growth. A coral reef is a complex community, home to a quarter of Suitable conditions all marine life. Yet all these creatures are dependent on a Reef building takes place in many localities around the tiny creature a few millimetres long. How is this possible, world. We generally associate coral with tropical seas, and how did we first learn about the amazing life that and it is true that most major reefs are found between the pulses within the hard rock of a coral reef? Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, but corals are also At the heart of our story is a tiny animal called a polyp found off the New England coast, indeed, even in the (from the Greek, meaning “many-footed”). Originally ap- chilly waters of Scandinavia. But usually, clean water and th warm seas are the engines that drive coral reef growth. plied to octopi (which have many feet), 18 century 0 French scientists thought that the little coral creatures, The true stony corals need temperatures above 20 C, with their waving tentacles, were like tiny squid. and can easily be damaged by mud or sand, making them vulnerable to rivers swollen by upstream urbanisation or overgrazing. The heart of the coral reef Dead coral is nearly always white (limestone), but living is the tiny coral can be a rainbow of colours. The West Indies’ corals polyp, barely tend to be less interesting (green or rust), but the Pacific 3mm long. Ocean is another At night it’s thing altogether, with brilliant lavenders, pinks, yellows waving tenta- and reds cles sweep the pulsing A coral’s best friend seawater for Symbiosis (from the Greek “living together”) occurs often plankton in Nature, and nowhere is it more unusual than when pol- yps and algae co-exist. The latter live in the tissues of the polyp. The polyps, being animals, extract oxygen from the When young, they are free swimming, but later settle and water, and produce carbon dioxide as a by-product. Al- create a calcium carbonate home in which to live. Lime- gae, being plants, absorb carbon dioxide, which they use stone, marble and dolomite are other forms of calcium with starches to produce energy using photosynthesis. As carbonate, forming mountain ranges like the Rockies in a by-product, they give off oxygen as a waste. Canada. Far above sea level, weathered limestone breaks down into dissolved calcium oxide and is carried While it’s apparent that the algae benefit from this rela- away to the sea, where the polyps in turn use it as the tionship, getting a steady supply of carbon dioxide plus base for their coral reef constructions. shelter from the polyp, it’s not as clear why the opposite is true. Polyps easily get enough oxygen from the sea water Two polyps are better than one surrounding them. However, it may be that the algae give Polyps are spawned by the millions, through sexual repro- their oxygen uptake a small boost, which favours the duction. However, there are no males or females – in- polyp’s survival. Photosynthesis needs sunlight, so from stead, egg and sperm cells are both produced by the the algae’s point of view, clear water and sunshine are same polyp, at different times.