The dozer would push out the eggs, and the hydraulic ram would open them up. I witnessed a mining operation in the late 1980s when mining was done with a D-8’ dozer and an excavator with a hydraulic ram. Unfortunately, not all eggs have jasper interiors therefore, many such efforts went without reward. It takes considerable effort to remove a three-foot-diameter egg weighing several hundred pounds by hand. A thunderegg two feet in diameter from this deposit is considered small. Many miners have worked in the area - a thunderegg deposit - where eggs exist next to perlite. Willow Creek jasper is mined in a small canyon northeast of Eagle, Idaho. No new commercial production has occurred since 1996. Between the late 1970s and 1986, no mining took place, but then it resumed for 10 years. Mining with equipment did not start here until the early 1970s. The first mineral claim here was filed in 1964, and there are currently five adjoining claims. Today, it is a two-and-a-half-hour drive on a dirt road to the canyon rim. Back then, the 27-mile trek to Morrson’s cabin took a whole day. Morrison collected rocks and Indian artifacts on his ranch in the canyon and would show them to anyone who expressed the slightest interest. Jasper was detected in this locality in the 1940s when rancher Jim Morrison (no relation to The Doors’ lead singer) invited friends to his cabin on the Owyhee River to go goose hunting. Accounts of Discovery These two examples of morrisonite from the Christine Marie claim carry the common trails of Bruneau jasper in that the item that is most striking is the shape of the egg pattern. Various names are used among Morrison Ranch jasper, or morrisonite is found in Oregon on the east slope of the 2,000-foot-deep Owyhee River Canyon, located a few miles south of the beginning of the Owyhee Reservoir. The pattern resulting from this form, so well known in the famous Bruneau jasper, does not have a generally accepted name. These edges are the continuous boundary between the liquid wax and the solid wax as it solidifies. If you cut through the solidified wax, you will see the same curved edges that form the overlapping shapes. This process results in the same type of forms as in Bruneau jasper. As the wax cools and solidifies in an oval drip shape, more melted wax flows over it and hardens on the top. Another example is melted candle wax running down the side of a candle. The liquid’s surface tension holds the form for only a short time before the liquid becomes homogeneous again. If you pour a very heavy fluid-like thick honey or oil onto a surface, it folds over itself as it lands. This form is evident in other natural events. If the form could be visualized in three dimensions, it would look something like a soft pillow folded over on itself many times. If you can imagine moving three-dimensionally through a piece of Bruneau-pattern jasper, it is possible to go from the center of the rock to the outside and never cross one of the visual lines or edges. Unlike the concentric “shells,” one inside the other, that characterize the bands in a banded nodular agate, the edges that form the receding oval shapes in these jaspers are part of one continuous edge through the rock. It is important to point out that these shapes are not concentric like the bands in a nodular banded agate but are part of one continuous formation through the rock. Morrison Ranch jasper, or morrisonite, is found in Oregon on the east slope of the 2,000-foot-deep Owyhee River Canyon. This illusion of visual depth contributes significantly to the beauty of the generally opaque jasper material. Inside each resulting shape, the jasper changes gradually in hue and value, creating a visual sense of surface. The overlapping oval shapes are an illusion resulting from the repetition of the curved edge. This element gives the appearance of an oval shape behind the curved line that it crosses. An edge or line curves back on itself until it intersects with another line. The Bruneau jasper pattern is characterized by a series of overlapping oval shapes arranged in a circular format. The jaspers that share this pattern are considered by most to be the best of all jaspers. They also share a formational characteristic, a unique visual pattern not seen in agates. These jaspers are popular with lapidaries and collectors alike for their fine consistency, intricate patterns, and ease of workability. Major rock collections - both private and in museums - will often have fine examples of Bruneau jasper from Idaho or Morrison Ranch jasper from Oregon. The northwestern United States is rich in collectible jaspers. This example of Bruneau jasper shows the typical coloration and form associated with the jasper from Bruneau Canyon, Idaho.Įditor’s Note: This feature by Eugene Mueller, founder and co-owner of The Gem Shop in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, first appeared in Rock & Gem in March 2008.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |