August brings our annual club picnic, this year on Saturday, August 21st.  It's a great time to get together with everyone, stuff grab bags, and have some good eats.  Be sure to sign up before the deadline.

Also this month are more field trips and the Jr. Geologist program for club children. The newsletter provides information on these.

The club show planning is in full swing.  This year's show promises to be even better than last year.  We have two outstanding grand prizes.  Be sure to check them out at the picnic.  We still need more help getting ready for the show; give Alex Cook a call to volunteer to help.

Happing rockhounding to everyone!

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Annual Picnic - Saturday, August 21

North Boulder Park Shelter, 4 PM

There will be no regularly scheduled club meeting in August.  The club picnic is the only meeting for the month of August.  This year's picnic will be held at the main pavilion of the North Boulder Park, 9th Street and Balsam Avenue, starting at 4:00pm. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and veggie burgers will be available. Please bring a side dish.  Last names of A-M please bring salads; last names of N-Z please bring a dessert or watermelon. 

The purpose of the picnic (besides fun and good food) is to stuff the grab bags that will be sold at the Denver Show in September, and our own fall show in November. The proceeds from the sale of these grab bags goes to our scholarship fund for two students at the Colorado School of Mines.  This year we will also have a torch bead-making demo!

If you would like to attend this year's picnic and have not already signed up on the picnic list at a recent club meeting, please contact Gerry Naugle to RSVP by 5:00pm on Friday, August 20th.  Open to all paid FMC members and their immediate family.  And if you prefer a veggie burger(s) only, please let Gerry know.

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Jr. Geologists Study Boulder's Rock Formations

In July, the Jr. Geologist began studying the rock formations that surround Boulder. We started our trip looking at the Fountain formation, those rocks responsible for the Flatirons we enjoy each day.  Pennsylvanian in age, these rocks are over 300 million years old.  One can easily see how these rocks were once streambeds.  Next we visited the Precambrian granites, schists, gneisses, and pegmatites, which are much older at 1.5 billion years old.  We were able to collect some great rocks and minerals.

The next two meetings we will continue to visit the different rock formations around Boulder.  All club kids and their parents are invited to join us on Thursday, Sept. 2 for the next get together.  We'll meet at the Sol Azteca restaurant at 28th and Iris at 7 p.m.  Bring a rock hammer (if you have one), something to put your rocks in, and good walking shoes.  Be sure to sign up with Dennis Gertenbach if you are coming, so we have enough supplies for everyone.

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Still More Field Trips!

Paul Boni

Here is the latest trip schedule. Check your newsletter and the club's web page each month for changes and additions. I want to thank every one who has volunteered to lead a trip this summer. Your participation has greatly increased the number and quality of field trips. Thank you.

Phoenix Gold Mine (Fee)

August 6th and/or August 7th 2:00 p.m.

Flatirons Mineral Club, Grace Evangelical Free Church, And Invited Guests

Meet at the Idaho Springs Visitor Center between 1:00 and 1:45 p.m. Please call Ray Horton at 303-442-7886 by Wednesday, August 4th, if you intend to go on this field trip. Please leave a message if you don't get me, let me know how many will be in your party. I need to know this so I can arrange for sufficient help in the other operations.

The price is $10 adult, $8 senior, and $5 child. We will get a group discount by having 15 or more people. I'm sure we'll have enough people. The ones taking the tour will get a 15% discount on pizzas at Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs, and a 10% discount on ice cream at the Ice Cream Store.

"Legend of the Silver Senator", and other books authored by Al Mosch,  owner of the Phoenix Mine, will be on sale at the mine. Al will autograph the books for anyone purchasing one. There will be gold ore specimens and other things available to buy.

 Instructions:

1. Meet at the Idaho Springs Visitor Center between 1:00 and 1:45 p.m. Visit the museum and use the rest rooms. Will be leaving here for the mine at 1:45 p.m.

2. Mark your car with a ribbon so other tour members know you are one of the group.

3. Because of recent rains, the Trail Creek Road might be a little slick. You should have good tires. Any vehicle in good condition should have no problem.

4. Hard-hats and gold pans will be provided.

5. The temperature will be around 45 degrees, so bring some warm clothing. You might want your own flashlight; however, there is electricity in the mine.

6. We encourage picture taking, both outside and inside. Bring plenty of film. There will be chipmunks, birds, etc.

7. After the tour we will show you how to pan for gold. Bring wading boots if you want to pan. Also, bring a little bottle or plastic zip-lock bag to put your treasures in. Recent rains have brought new gold into the panning area.

The Contin-Tail show

August 12-15

Mt Antero (Aug 14), Aquamarine, smoky quartz, microcline, topaz, phenakite. Trip leader; Paul Boni

The Contin-Tail Show is one of the highlights of the year. If you have never been, you should try to make it. It is a rock and mineral show, similar to all the other shows one can attend ... except that is held out of doors and includes a lot of rockhounds who dig and sell their own stuff. It's a lot of fun, a gorgeous mountain setting, with everything a rockhound could want. The show is held at the Buena Vista rodeo grounds. Camping at the rodeo grounds is free and
there are porta-potties in good numbers. Motels and restaurants are available in town and the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs is just down the road. Nearby collecting sites include Ruby Mountain, calumet iron mine, a brachiopod site south of Salida, and others.

Mt Antero: We will have a collecting trip up Mt. Antero on Saturday, Aug 14. Meet in front of the concession stand at the rodeo grounds at 7 am sharp. It's early but there is no other way. The weather can close in very quickly and afternoon thunderstorms are not to be ignored up there. Low range 4-wheel drive is required. The road is a moderate and technical 4-wheel drive road.

If you have problems with altitude and narrow roads with steep drop-offs, this trip is not for you. Good hiking boots (absolutely no sneakers!), hardhats, eye protection, rain gear, proper clothing, jacket or parka, food and water are required. Children must stay with parents at all times. Participants must be in good physical condition.

Hahn's Peak Quartz Crystals

August 28, 2004

Trip Leader: Melinda Thompson

Contact Paul Boni for information.

 Time: 9:AM (allow 5 hours driving time from Boulder to meeting place)

Meeting Place: Steamboat Lake State Park visitor center.  Four Wheel drive is required to access the collecting site.  We will car pool from the meeting place.  If you will need a ride to the collecting site, mention this when you pre-register.

 This site produces some very nice quartz specimens. Crystals range in size from itsy bitsy cute little things to finger sized. They occur singly or as clusters, on a quartzite matrix or loose. The site is right at timberline and the scenery is breathtaking. Camping is available at Steamboat Lake, a state run campground. The campground is very popular so reserve your site early! There is also plenty of national forest for those who prefer more primitive
accommodations. Due to the long drive and the meeting time of 9 am it is suggested that one camp in the area or book a motel room in Steamboat Springs. You will need: Hard hats for the slide area, sturdy hiking boots, pick, shovel, hammers, pry bars, chisels, screwdrivers, spray bottle, etc OR you may surface collect. Special Instructions: Everyone must contact Paul or Melinda to register for this trip.  Children under 12 must be in the constant supervision of an adult.  We don't want anyone to fall off the mountain. You will get more information and directions to the meeting place when you call or e-mail.

McCoy, CO

Sept 11 and 12

Trip leader: Dennis Gertenbach

Fossils, including crinoids, brachiopods, horn corals, and others

McCoy is famous for Pennsylvanian marine fossils.  The area abounds with crinoids, brachiopods, and horn corals.  Also found are shark teeth, bivalves, and other sea creatures from 300 million years ago.  This is a great trip for kids. We plan to visit several locations in the area, each with different fossils to find. The fossils are mostly loose on the ground and will require little or no digging. Plan to bring water, protection from the sun or inclement weather, hiking shoes, rock pick, food, and collecting stuff.  McCoy can be hot this time of year, so plan accordingly.  (It can also rain or even snow in September, too.)  Parents are responsible for their children.

Participants can plan on joining us just on Saturday or stay overnight and continue hunting on Sunday.  We will visit different areas each day.  There is primitive camping in the area (no water or other facilities) or you can stay in a motel in Eagle.  The distance from Boulder is about 150 miles.

Please contact Dennis Gertenbach to sign up for the trip.  He will provide information about the trip, the meeting times, and detailed directions to the meeting place.

Trips unscheduled as of this writing:

The following are trips that will happen this summer, but have not yet been scheduled. We are working on other field trip ideas and will announce them when the details are worked out.

Lien Quarry

Trip Leader; Connie Hauser

Calcite Crystals.

The reason that this trip is yet unscheduled is that the quarry operators have not hit a seam of calcite crystals lately. The plan is that when they do, they will call Connie and Connie will call all who are interested. The field trip will then be on. Please leave your name and phone number with Connie if you are interested. Lien Quarry calcite crystals are often UV fluorescent.

Caribou Silver Mine

Trip Leader; Ray Horton

Ray has spoken with Tom Hendricks who has graciously agreed to allow us to pick over the mine dumps at the famous Caribou Mine. The main attraction here is the chance to find wire silver specimens. Other mine dumps attractions are always things like quartz and pyrite crystals and specimens of ore minerals. This is a beautiful site and well worth the trip, even if just for a pick nick lunch! At this time we do not have a firm date with Mr. Hendricks.

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Skunks visit the FMC shed in Niwot

The property owner where the FMC shed is located in Niwot reported last month that it looked like a family of skunks had taken up residence in the space under the shed, using a gap just under the door for access.  Gerry Naugle investigated a week or so later, and couldn't find any skunks, so he sealed up the gaps with concrete plugs.  We believe it is now safe, and skunk-free.  Thanks Gerry!

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Wednesdays at Charlotte's House

Remember that club members are invited to gather at Charlotte Morrison's house each Wednesday evening (except for the Wednesday before the Thursday club meeting) to avail themselves of the Club's collection of lapidary equipment.  Call Charlotte to make arrangements.

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Thanks to Grab Bag Volunteers

FMC would like to thank Mary Jolly very much for donating cloth for the grab bags program.  And, we would also like to thank Jane Sinnwell very much for sewing 151 additional cloth grab bags.  Many thanks to both!

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Club Show Case At Boulder Public Library

Gerry Naugle

We have made arrangements with the Boulder Public Library to place a display case in the bridge walkway over the creek.  It will be there starting on Monday, Oct. 31 through the end of November.

This is a major publicity coup for our club.  Club members are strongly encouraged to bring favorite and interesting specimens to the Library for display in this case on the afternoon of Monday, Oct 31. If possible, make your own display labels, but we may be able to have Microsoft Word on a diskette so that we can do some labeling on site.

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FMC Fall Show Committee Meeting

The next meeting of the Flatirons Mineral Club Show Committee meeting (for our November show) will be held Tuesday, August 17 at 7 PM at Alex Cook's
house.  Please attend if you would like to be involved with this exciting project-volunteers are needed for many tasks!  Contact Alex Cook for directions.

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"Flatirons Mineral Club Welcomes Children" Poster

With this newsletter there is a poster with information about our club suitable for posting in schools, or wherever parents of budding geologists and rockhounds might see it.  Please make copies and post where appropriate.

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Denver Show Publicity Volunteers Needed

Once again this year, the Denver Council/Show Committee will  participate in two events that provide an opportunity to tell people about the  show, our  clubs, and the hobby.  We need your help!!!  We can also use more giveaway rocks.

Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-6 - Taste of Colorado.  We will again have  a table in the Mining Foundation tent.  This is really a lot of fun.  Again, we'll have rocks to give away.  Tent is open from 11 a.m. to 6 or 7  p.m. (These would also be good opportunities to pass out FMC Fall Show flyers!)

Volunteers, contact Regina Aumente.

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August Birthstones

From Quarry Quips (Wichita Gem and Mineral Society) Volume 52, Issue No. 8 August 2003

The modern birthstone for August is the peridot. Peridot is the gem form of the mineral olivine. Because the iron, which creates the color, is an integral part of its structure, it is found only in green, ranging from an olive green to a lime green.

Peridot was mined in ancient Egypt on an island called Zeberget. Mining was done at night because legend said that since its green color did not darken at night it was still visible by lamplight, and it could not be easily seen during the day. It was for this reason that the Romans called it "evening emerald".

Peridot is among the oldest known gemstones. The "topaz" on the breastplate of Aaron, High Priest of the Hebrews in the Old Testament, was believed to actually be Peridot. Ancient Egyptians created beads from peridot. For Greeks and Romans, peridot was in popular use as intaglios, rings, inlays, and pendants.

Turkish Sultans collected what is believed to be the world's largest collection. The gold throne in Istanbul's Topkapi museum is decorated with 955 peridot cabochons (gems or beads cut in convex form and highly polished) up to 1 inch across, and there are also peridots used as turban ornaments and on jeweled boxes. The largest stone is believed to be a 310-carat gem that belongs to the Smithsonian. A 192-carat stone of fine clear olive-green is part of the Russian crown jewels, in the Kremlin.

The peridot was regarded since ancient times as the symbol of the sun. The Greeks believed that it brought royal dignity upon its wearer. The Crusaders thought that peridot were emeralds, and brought them back to Europe where they were featured as ornaments in churches. Peridot was considered to have the power to drive away evil spirits and that power was even more intense when the stone was set in gold. It was also said to strengthen the power of any medicine drunk from goblets carved from the gemstone.

Other acceptable birthstones are: Traditional - sardonyx, Mystical - diamond, Ayurvedic - sapphire, as well as jade.

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Upcoming Events, Nearby & Elsewhere

Aug 10 (Tuesday) -  The "Making Colorado's Mountains" lecture series at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science has one presentation left: Ice at the Equator: Late Paleozoic Glaciation in the  Ancestral Rocky Mountains by Dr. G.S. (Lynn) Soreghan, associate professor of geology, University of Oklahoma. Soreghan shares the latest evidence coming from the mysterious Unaweep Canyon, a long-time geomorphological enigma that may actually be a 300 million-year-old exhumed landscape. Please confirm date at the museum's "lectures" web page, http://www.dmns.org/main/en/General/Education/AdultProgram/Lectures/

Aug. 12-15 - 21st Annual Contin-Tail, sponsored by Colorado Federation of Gem & Mineral Societies. Rodeo Grounds, Buena Vista, CO. Colorado's largest outdoor gem & mineral show. 200,000 square feet of Rocks, Minerals, Beads, and Jewelry.  Free to the public.  Fluorescent display demonstrations.  Food concession sponsored by the Buena Vista American Legion. Info:  303-709-4212 or e-mail the Federation. Aug 20-22 -- Lake George Gem & Mineral Show, Lake George, CO, and outdoor "camping and tailgating" rock show similar to the Contin-Tail. For information contact Ruth Cook, 719-632-9686;  for dealer information contact Richard Parsons, 303-838-8859.

Aug 28-29 - Crest-Stone Gem & Mineral Show. "Join us in beautiful Crestone, Colorado where we merge the energies of the earth with those of the spirit for a unique gem & mineral show."  Rocks, Gems, Minerals, Crystals, Spiritual & Crystal Healers, Stone Massage, Colorado Specimens, Rough and Cut Stones, Carvings, Jewelry.  Lecture, slide show, exhibits.   Food & beverages, lodging, free parking.  White Eagle Inn and Conference Center, Crestone, CO.  For information call 800-707-3707 or 719-395-3884.

Sep 3-6 -- Volunteers are being sought to help at the education tent at Taste of Colorado, Labor Day weekend Sep. 3-6, sponsored by the Colorado Mining Exhibit Foundation: "The 40 ft x 40 ft walk-through public education tent will be on Cheyenne Place, just north of Colfax again this Labor Day weekend.  We need people for four-hour shifts Friday through Monday during the day light hours. Thousands of voters and teachers visit our exhibit, so we need 8 to 10 people per shift to help.  Call Guy Johnson (303-969-0365) if you can help with this pro-active outreach event with the theme: "The Importance of Mining and Minerals to a Strong America". Exhibits and exhibitors at this tent include free gold panning, the Colorado Geological Survey, etc.

Sep. 17-19 -- Denver Gem and Mineral Show at the Denver Merchandise Mart, 58th Ave. at I-25.  See http://www.denvermineralshow.com/

Oct 30-31 - Tulsa (Oklahoma) Rock & Mineral Society Gem & Mineral Show, featuring Working Demonstrations, Continuous silent auction, Hourly door prizes, Adult & children's programs, Competitive and exceptional special exhibits, Children's games and scientific experiments, Select national dealers. Tulsa Event Center, 2625 South Memorial Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Contact Peggy Stewart.

Check our own web site for additional events, and further details: http://bcn.boulder.co.us/community/fmc/fmctk.htm

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Karl Wilhelm Scheele: Rockhound With A Taste For Science

By Gary Raham  (From Fort Collins Lodestone Volume 37, Number 5, June 2004)

Some people seem to be born curious. Rockhounds must possess a heavy dose of this trait as they are constantly turning over tons of dirt to find the most unique examples of nature's treasures. In Sweden in 1742, Karl Scheele faced a world where many of nature's minerals and basic elements lay undiscovered. The nature of chemical transformations took on an aura of mystery. As the seventh of eleven children in a family with modest income, Scheele looked for work that would satisfy his passion for mineralogy and chemistry. He found that work when he became apprenticed to an apothecary at the age of fourteen. In the eighteenth century an apothecary was essentially an experimental chemist. They collected minerals, turning them into drugs and potions of various sorts, learning much about how the world was put together. Scheele became so good at what he did that he was offered university professorships and court appointments as chemist  in England and Prussia, but he turned them all down. He just had too much fun mixing, burning, boiling, heating, and tasting all varieties of rocks and minerals, trying to divine their secrets. "As an apothecary, he was the greatest the world had seen." Consider these achievements: 

1. Scheele discovered a wealth of acids, including tartaric, citric, benzoic, malic, oxalic, gallic, lactic, and uric acids.

2. He prepared and studied hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen cyanide-and did so without killing himself, even though he described the taste of hydrogen cyanide.

3. He was involved with the discovery of the elements chlorine, manganese, barium, molybdenum, tungsten, nitrogen, and oxygen.

But for Scheele, the excitement of discovery and his willingness to freely share that passion, took precedence over following through with the details that might have lead to a more prominent place in chemical history. A friend and fellow chemist, Johann Gahn, officially discovered manganese, although Scheele had done much of the preliminary work. Scheele urged another chemist, Peter Hjelm, to use Gahn's technique to isolate molybdenum. Scheele did discover oxygen in 1771 by heating mercuric oxide and other minerals where oxygen is loosely bound. (He called it "fire air" and didn't understand its role in combustion.) He wrote up his studies in detail for publication. Unfortunately, through no fault of Scheele's, publication was delayed until 1777. In the meantime, Joseph Priestly made the same discovery and published sooner. Both Priestly and Scheele guessed wrong on oxygen's role in combustion. That interpretation was left to Antoine LaVoisier in France who also gave oxygen its formal name. Scheele also lost out on the discovery of tungsten (tungsten is Swedish for "heavy stone"), although his name was used to identify the tungsten ore called scheelite (CaWO4). Tungsten was isolated by Juan Jose and Fausto D'Elhuyars from wolframite ([Fe,Mn]WO4) in 1783. They had visited Scheele in 1782 and realized that Wolframite was probably the same mineral as Scheele's tungsten--although it wasn't). At any rate, they took the next step and heated wolframite with charcoal to get pure tungsten (which was originally called wolframium and is why it's chemical symbol is W).

Scheele's "taste for science" may have contributed to an early death at age 43. The symptoms he suffered on his deathbed greatly resembled mercury poisoning. Nevertheless, in his short lifetime he probably discovered, or helped discover, more new substances than any other chemist before or since. And every rockhound can relate to that desire to turn over just one more pretty stone to find out what its all about.

1 Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. New York: Avon Books, 1972, pg 195.

2 Sacks, Oliver. Uncle Tungsten, Memories of a Chemical Boyhood. New York: Vintage Books, 2001, page 42.

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Updated 8/9/04