Our programs for March and April are outstanding, with two great speakers and two great presentations.  In March, we have Ed Raines talking about the geology, mineralogy, and mining history of the Aspen district.  Waverly Persons will be speaking at our April meeting about earthquakes and their effects.  He works for the USGS Earthquake Center in Golden and we have all seen him on TV every time there is a major earthquake in the world.  Thanks to Terry O'Donnell and Ray Horton for arranging for these outstanding programs.

It is time to begin planning our club field trips for this year; please consider leading a field trip.  Paul Boni can help you prepare for the trip. Leading a trip last summer was one of the more enjoyable club activities I did this past year and I am planning another this summer. 

See you at the March meeting,

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Club Meeting
Thursday, March 10, 7:00 PM
West Boulder Senior Center, 9th & Arapahoe

For our March meeting, we are very fortunate to have the renowned mineralogist and mining historian Ed Raines come and talk to us on "The Geology, Mineralogy, and Mining History of the Aspen District."  This is one not to be missed!

And then coming up for our April meeting (April 14), we will have Waverly Persons of the USGS talking about earthquakes and the effects of earthquakes.  Our annual silent auction is tentatively scheduled for the June meeting.

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Jr. Geologist Update
Dennis Gertenbach

Three Jr. Geologists have completed the requirements for their Rocks and Minerals badge.  Andrew and Joel Hyde and Stefan Codrescu received their badges at February's Jr. Geologist meeting.  Congratulations to these three young men. 

Now the Jr. Geologists are working on their Lapidary Arts badge.  Paul Boni and Charlotte Morrison are teaching this badge.  First, the kids learned about the different rocks that can be used for lapidary work and workshop safety.  Each participant will choose a project - perhaps making a cab, rock carving, or wire wrapping - and complete their project on Wednesday nights at Charlotte Morrison's house.  Instead of having a Thursday night meeting in March, participants need to arrange with Paul Boni  to set a time to work on their projects.  If you are interested in working on this badge, but were not at the February meeting, please contact Dennis Gertenbach  for a time to review shop safety and to select your project.

The Jr. Geologist program is open to all families in the Flatiron Minerals Club. Children and youth meet monthly to learn more about the earth sciences and rockhounding. Participants can also earn badges on a variety of earth science subjects.  For more information about the program, please contact Dennis Gertenbach.

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N. Table Mountain Field Trip, Apr 16

Club President Dennis Gertenbach is in the process of making arrangements and acquiring the necessary permits for us to have a club field trip to the zeolite collecting areas on North Table Mountain in Jefferson County on Saturday, April 16, with a snow date of April 30.  Further details will be announced in the April newsletter, and at our April club meeting, April 14.

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Opal Discovery in Wyoming

The Associated Press is reporting the discovery of a large opal deposit in central Wyoming.  While most of the specimens recovered thus far are of the "common opal" variety, there are indications that precious opal may also be present. The precise location of the deposit, in a "desolate mountain area" southeast of Riverton in Fremont County, was to be announced on Friday, March 5, by the Wyoming State Geological Survey.  (Boulder Daily Camera, March 2, 2005)

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Gold Camp Road Project
Pete Modreski

The U. S. Forest Service's is devising a plan for reopening the closed section of the Gold Camp Road outside Colorado Springs. Below you will find the Forest Service's announcement soliciting comments, and one such comment, from Ray Berry.

Aside from being a scenic drive and a "back road" to Victor and Cripple Creek, the Gold Camp Road provides access to a number of popular or once-popular mineral collecting sites, including the Eureka Tunnel (zircon and other minerals), Stove Mountain (smoky quartz, zircon, topaz, fluorite, hematite, bastnaesite, genthelvite), and the St. Peters Dome area generally (quartz, microcline, astrophyllite, riebeckite, fluorite, etc.).  The section of the Gold Camp Road that provides access to these areas has been closed for some years due to partial collapse of one of the tunnels on the road, necessitating a several-miles walk now to reach those sites.  The Forest Service has offered several alternative plans for reopening the road, particularly differing in regard to whether one-way or two-way traffic is going to be provided for on the road. 

Ray Berry (member of Friends of Mineralogy and of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Soc.) has been particularly involved in keeping everyone updated on the issues about access to this road, and below, I am reproducing Ray's letter to the Forest Service about this.  Ray is concerned that although re-opening the road will be of considerable help to mineral collectors, those alternatives that only provide for one-way traffic, with very limited areas designated for parking, would mean that collectors might still have to walk several miles to reach many of the collecting sites.

I invite those of you who are interested to read Ray's letter and the material on the USFS web page, and communicate your own comments to the Forest Service if you so desire.

Gold Camp Road (Forest Service announcement)

The U. S. Forest Service has a project to re-open the presently closed portion of the Gold Camp Road near Colorado Springs. Currently the USFS is waiting to receive comments from the public on their Draft Plan/Environmental Impact Statement.

The final chosen plan will influence mineral collecting activities in that area. If you wish to make comments about their plan, you must send comments so that they will be received at the proper locations by March 15, 2005.  For information about the plan, please log on to:  www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/pp/  and click on "Gold Camp Road Issues."  For sending your comments, go to the same website, or mail them to Gold Camp Road Project, c/o Greystone, 5231 S. Quebec St., Greenwood Village, CO 80111, or give them verbally to Frank M. Landis, District Recreation Staff, 719-477-4203.

Ray's letter:

Dear Sirs,
I wish to comment on the EIS plan for the Gold Camp Road.  I am a resident of Colorado Springs since 1970 and have used the Gold Camp Road innumerable times during that period.  I am an amateur mineralogist and, as such, am a member of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society, the Friends of Mineralogy, and through them, of the Rocky Mountain Federation and American Federation of Mineralogical Societies.  As you know, the closed section of the road encompasses nearly all of the old St Peters Dome Mining District, which has a great attraction for mineralogists, both amateur and professional, worldwide because of the great profusion of rare and common minerals found there.  Consequently, my comments are swayed by my concern for continued collecting for myself and for others.

First, my preferred plan is Alternative G.  It is difficult for me to see a difference in the closed section of the road, and that portion which continues all the way to Victor.  There are many narrow one-way sections, curves, drop-offs and a tunnel in the presently open section.  I am not aware of any major problems with safety in that section.  There is no more need to "improve" the closed section with guard rails, berms and walls.  In fact, I believe doing so is really a violation of the spirit of the National Historic Place designation that the closed section enjoys. This trip should give visitors the feeling of traveling back in time to the "Old days" Exemption of this road from the modern standards of FS roads should be made for this reason.  If it is necessary to make such improvements to bring it into present FS Road Standards, then it should be done to the whole Gold Camp Road.  If money is not available for this, then it should be opened, and the "improvements" made when funds are available.

If Alternative E is approved, then I think there should be changes made to the present plan to accommodate better use of the access.  I can understand a desire of local residents to restrict stopping and parking along the 3 mile section from North Cheyenne Canon Park to Fairview.  But restricting parking to a couple of places (Fairview and Tunnel 5) is totally inadequate when there are already many pull-outs capable of holding one or more vehicles.

I have led several field trips to the closed section of the road by permit from the FS, and many of the collectors are from outside the local area, meaning they want to visit several places along the road.  The greatest demand is to go to the Eureka Tunnel prospect below the road at Tunnel 5, spending a morning there and then continue to Stove Mountain or Fairview for the afternoon.  This would be impossible to do with one-way traffic south, and certainly no one would be willing to go down to the city and back up through North Cheyenne Canon Park.  I believe two-way traffic should be allowed from Fairview to the intersection with Old Stage Road, even if Alternative E is approved.  Especially, with alternative trails for hikers and bikers to avoid the road, there really is no reason to stick with one-way traffic or to restrict parking unduly along this portion of the road.

Over the years I have seen many "flat-landers" freeze when confronted with driving on the Old Stage Road.  It is very steep, narrow and very crooked. To force visitors to go DOWN this road back to Colorado Springs seems to be "cruel and unusual punishment"!  The transmissions of most modern cars are incapable of holding back a vehicle on the steep areas and brakes sometimes fail.

I trust you will give fair consideration to these comments and come up with an improved plan that will allow the most people to enjoy the access with the least possible restrictions.

Thank you for hearing my plea.
Sincerely,
Raymond R. Berry

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Field Trip Chair and Secretary Still Needed
Paul Boni

We're still looking to fill two positions, field trip chair and secretary. Neither job is difficult and both are important to the vitality of our club. I've been the field trip chair for two years, program chair for two years before that, and fee it's time to let someone else have a go at it. Emily Epstein has been our secretary for several years but has moved to Aurora. She has continued as secretary, commuting all that distance, but honestly, the commute is too much for her.

Field trips are one of the main attractions, especially during the summer months There seems to be a pervasive impression that the field trip chair is expected to lead the majority, if not all, of field trips. This is simply not true. The field trip chair coordinates the field trips. This includes such simple tasks as scheduling trips, posting notices and schedules of upcoming trips in the newsletter, filing liability waivers, and soliciting club members to lead trips. Of course, you can lead as many trips as you like. Dennis Gertenbach, Trick Runions, Paul Boni, and others have already committed to leading one or two trips each for this coming summer. We just need someone to take responsibility for coordination the effort. One final point; There is a big advantage in being the field trip chair. You often get to go to the sites that YOU want to collect. Think about it, then contact Paul Boni or Dennis Gertenbach. We'd love to have you on board.

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Turquoise (CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)85H2O)

by Tom Prachar (from PESA Rock News, November 2004)

 Turquoise is a secondary mineral usually found in the form of small veins and stringers traversing more or less decomposing volcanic rocks in arid regions. Turquoise is valued chiefly for its color and is an ancient gem material. The oldest mines are at Sarabit Elk-hadem on the Sinai Peninsula and date as far back as 4000 B.C. Nishapur, Iran is the source of the finest turquoise today just as it has been since mining began there over 2000 years ago. The only other deposits of importance today are in China, Tibet, and in the Southwestern United States.

Turquoise came from many localities in the American Southwest, but the most famous is in the Los Cerillos Mountains of New Mexico where American Indians may have begun mining as early as 12000 years ago. Indian jewelry set with turquoise has become very popular in recent years. The result has been not only a large increase in price but the use of substitutes and the manufacture of synthetic turquoise. Natural turquoise may be impregnated with oil, paraffin or plastic to enhance its color and increase its hardness. These treatments can usually be detected by touching the material with a red-hot needle. An unaltered specimen will not show any evidence of melting.

Diagnostic Features:
Crystal habit: Triclinic,cryptocrystalline
Specific Gravity: 2.6 to 2.8
Hardness: 6.0 (Moh's scale)
Cleavage: good, rarely seen
Luster: wax like
Color: blue, blue-green, green
Streak: white

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Sand Calcite Crystals

by Steven W. Veatch and Ed Raines (from PICK & PACK, 11/2004) 

Large quantities of sand calcite crystals have been found at the Snake Butte locality in South Dakota. Snake Butte is situated on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation approximately 23 miles (35km) south of town of Interior, South Dakota, about 80 miles (130 km) east of Rapid City. Generally, the collecting method is to simply dig the sand crystals out of loose sand.

These interesting specimens are thought to have been formed by the action of ground water or by spring deposition and are composed of Calcite (CaCO3) and coarse windblown sand from an ancient dune deposit field. The absence of mud and silt and the well-rounded sand grains, along with wind etched surfaces, indicates dune origin. The crystals are composed of about 37% calcite and the rest is mainly sand inclusions. The sand is composed of quartz, orthoclase, microcline, albite, muscovite, biotite, hornblende, augite, tourmaline, zircon, garnet, staurolite, and magnetite (Wanless, 1922). Additionally, volcanic ash, fragments of volcanic glass, and schist can be found. Some of the minerals present in the sand are from Precambrian pegmatites (tourmaline) and schists (garnet, staurolite, and schist fragments) of the Black Hills (Warless, 1922).

The process forming these sand calcite crystals is likely a fluctuating water source that floods the unconsolidated sand on an annual basis. That water comes from a source that provides calcium carbonate in solution. This mechanism could be as simple as groundwater, natural springs, or a combination of snowmelt and/or spring rains flowing on and through limestone that then flows into the unconsolidated sand exposure.This process fills the pore space within the sand completely with water that is close to being saturated with calcium carbonate, having dissolved it at a relatively low temperature (taking advantage of the carbonates inverse solubility with respect to heat).

Then, as summer comes, solar energy heats the pore water while also causing some evaporation. Concentration of calcium carbonate follows and the pore water becomes super saturated. The surface tension of water would hold pores full of solution on some areas instead of allowing a partial emptying of pores. Also, the permeability factor is an important part of the mechanism of sand calcite crystal formation. High permeability would allow the pore water to easily flow through an unconsolidated and very loosely compacted sand. Once the well-sorted sand is saturated with water, subsequent evaporation will - at one point- set off precipitation.

Since there are many nucleation sites available around the sand grains, crystallization may proceed rapidly, and as it proceeds it will do so with many growths in parallel orientations. With calcite there are several chances of forming orientations that will lead to a single crystal. When chance creates a different orientation an intergrowth results, and through time-as the crystals grow outward-those orientations really begin to come into play so that intergrowths of interlocked crystals occur. The process stops for each crystal group when the water pockets run out. Then the process can begin again next year. This is likely a rapid process-hours rather than days, or at maximum a few days.

Today, the Snake Butte calcite sand crystal locality in South Dakota is a National Natural Landmark and is managed by Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority.

References cited:
Wanless, H.R., 1922. Notes on Sand Calcite From South Dakota, American Mineralogist, v. 7, p. 83-86

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Upcoming Events, Nearby & Elsewhere

Sunday, March 6,  2:00-3:30 p.m. at the Aurora History Museum, 15051 E. Alameda Parkway, there will be a special presentation, "Jurassic CSI--join Dr. Bob Bakker in a Jurassic crime scene investigation". This is part of the museum's special exhibit, "Hatching the Past - Dinosaur Eggs and Babies", continuing through June 19. Admission to the museum is free; the Bakker program is $4 ($3 for Aurora residents).  Call 303-739-6666 for more information.

Monday, March 7, The CU-Denver Fossil Track Museum, by Dr. Martin Lockley and Dr. Karen Houck, at the regular monthly meeting of the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS), 7 p.m. at the King Center (Room 108) on the Auraria  Campus, which is just across the circle drive from St. Cajetan's Center, where the Dinosaur Tracks Museum is located. Room 108 is in the southwest corner of the King Center, on the lower level. There are stairs outside the building. You just go down the stairs and into the building, then go straight ahead for a short distance and you will see room 108 on your left. The handicapped-accessible entrance is in the southeast corner of the building. You go in on the ground level, then take the elevator down to the lower level.  After the presentation, the group will cross the street to visit and tour the Fossil Tracks Museum in person.  Please see the WIPS website, http://www.wipsppc.com for more details and driving/light rail/parking information.

March 10, "The Cripple Creek Mining District", by Dave Vardiman. FFFB lecture, Tutt Science Center, Colorado Springs, 7 p.m.

March 10, "Mining History of Idaho Springs", by Beth Simmons.  Meeting of the Colorado Chapter of Friends of Mineralogy, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, VIP Room, 7:30 p.m.

March 10 - 13, 2005, Deming, NM, 40th Annual Deming Gem & Mineral Society Rockbound Roundup. S. W. New Mexico Fairgrounds. Buyers Market, Lapidary Equipment Displays & Demonstrations, Auctions, Guided Field Trips, Jewelry & Rock Related Items, Free Admission, Free Parking. Show Chairperson: Barbara Hamilton 505-544-8643. 

March 12-13, "Extinctions - Punctuations in time" will be a special two-day symposium sponsored by the Western Interior Paleontological Society. Early registration is $40 per day, $30 per day for students and teachers. CE credit available. For registration information call 303-795-0077.

Mar. 16, "Update on the Denver Basin and the Front Range Water Situation", by Bob Raynolds.  FFFB lecture, Tutt Science Center, Colorado Springs, 7 p.m.

March 18 - 20, 2005, Cottonwood, AZ. 29th annual Verde Valley Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show. Held at Mingus Union High School. Sponsored by Mingus Gem & Mineral Club. Show features 24 dealers, numerous exhibits, jewelry & lapidary dealers and supplies, raffles, silent auctions, fluorescent display, kid's activities and more. www.geocities.com/mingusgmc.

March 24 "The Gold Belt Byway", by Herb Meyer.  FFFB lecture, Tutt Science Center, Colorado Springs, 7 p.m.

March 29, "Fossils of Clear Creek County", by Beth Simmons.  Beth will give an interesting presentation about an area that is not exactly well known for its fossils.  Morrison Town Hall, 7:00 p.m.

Apr. 1-3, Fort Collins Gem and Mineral Show, sponsored by the Fort Collins Rockhound Club.  An always-fun-to-visit local mineral show; in Lincoln Center, 419 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins; 4-8 p.m. Fri., 10-6 Sat., 10-5 Sun.; adults $3, kids under 12 free; for more info call 970-493-6168 or email fcrockhounds@yahoo.com.

April 7, "Myths and Mystery at Red Rocks Park", by Sally White, of the Morrison Natural History Museum, 7:00 p.m., Morrison Town Hall.

April 21, "Cultural Connections of the Ute Indians at the Florissant Fossil Beds" by Celinda Reynolds Kaelin.   FFFB lecture, Tutt Science Center,  Colorado Springs, 7 p.m.

April 22-24, Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show - Spring at the Holiday Inn-Denver Central (4849 Bannock St., west side of I-25 and north of I -70) and Best Western - Central Denver (200 W. 48th Ave., just south of the Holiday Inn). Free admission and free parking, 10-6 Fri. and Sat., 10-5 Sun. For information see http://www.mzexpos.com.

April 22 - 24, 2005, Wichita, KS, 52nd annual "Gemstone Artistry", Cessna Activity Center, 2744 George Washington Blvd. Sponsored by The Wichita Gem & Mineral Society. Silent Auction, Spinning Wheel, Jr. Rock Pile, kids day on Friday. Numerous vendors, and displays. Show chairmen: Gene Maggard 316-742-3746. E-mail: wgms2001@yahoo.com or visit www.geocities.com/wgms2001.  

Saturday, April 23, retired USGS geologist Dr. Harald Drewes will lead a geology hike on North Table Mountain--officially being done for the Colorado Scientific Society, but other interested persons are welcome too. See the CSS web page for more info, http://www.coloscisoc.org/

April 28, "Global Climate Change", by David Atkins.  FFFB lecture series, Tutt Science Center, Colorado Springs, 7 p.m.

May 7 - 8, 2005, Grand Junction, CO. 58th Annual Gem, Mineral & Jewelry Show, "Mesa County Barite", Two Rivers Convention Center, 1st and Main, Grand Junction Gem & Mineral Club, Inc. Show Chairmen: Gary and Pat Briels, 301 Kava Way, Grand Junction, CO 81503, Phone 970-245-7925.

May 11, "The White River Formation", by Emmett Evanoff.   FFFB lecture series, Tutt Science Center, Colorado Springs, 7 p.m. 

May 14, geology field trip sponsored by the Colorado Scientific Society, to the Spanish Peaks area (south of La Veta, Colorado).  See the CSS web page (info to be posted in the future) for more info, http://www.coloscisoc.org/

June 11 - 12, 2005, Powell, WY, Wyoming State Mineral and Gem Show - "STONES and BONES", Park County Fairgrounds, 655 5th St. Hosted by Shoshone Rock Club (http://www.geocities.com/jacmac43/index.html). Show information: www.geocities.com/jacmac43hng-show05.htm .For further information contact: Mrs. Jane R Neal 1207 Rd 9 Powell WY 82435, 307-754-3285 or Mrs. Mary Ann Northrup, 736 Lane 13 Powell WY 82435, 307-754-4472. 

June 17 - 19, 2005, Colorado Springs, CO, The Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society will be hosting the Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies Show at its 41st annual Pikes Peak Gem & Mineral Show. The theme will be "Pikes Peak, A Rockhounds Paradise", featuring Colorado Gems, Minerals and Fossils. Five days of field trips will follow the show. CSMS will this year also be hosting The Rocky Mountain Micromineral Symposium. The symposium is co-sponsored by The Denver Museum of Nature and Science and The Friends of Mineralogy. For more information, call us at (719) 632-9686, e-mail us at csmsshow@cs.com or visit our website at www.csms.us.  Location: Phil Long Expo Center, 1515 Auto Mall Loop, Colorado Springs, CO.

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

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Large Emerald Found
(from The Rockhounder, Montgomery Co. MD)

According to an article in Mining Engineering (January, 2004), what is believed to be the largest emerald found in North America was unearthed in Hiddenite, NC late in 2003. Weighing 1,861.9 carats, the crystal was found on property owned by the North America Emerald Mines (NAEM) Company. The cavity in which the emerald was found also contained crystals of quartz, pyrite, muscovite, rutile, calcite and other minerals.

James K. Hill, president of NAEM, said this crystal was larger than the one previously considered the largest. At 1,686 carats, that emerald was uncovered on the same property in the 1980's before NAEM acquired it. On the same day that the 1,861.9-carat crystal was found, 3 matched pieces of a high quality emerald were also found. The pieces, weighing about 1,300, 100, and 400 carats indicate that emerald weighed approximately 1,800 carats.

The cavity, at least 5'x12', has not been fully uncovered and its depth is still unknown. This find was about a foot inside the entrance. In 1999, Hill found more than 3,000 carats of emeralds in a cavern smaller than the one recently uncovered. The largest stone, known as the Empress Caroline, from that discovery weighed 858 carats. Another stone, weighing 71 carats, yielded two finished gems. The Carolina Prince, 7.85 carats, sold for $500,000 and the Carolina Queen (18.8 carats) is currently for sale for $1 million.

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Malachite
(from The Ammonite, 5/03)

Malachite is one of our outstanding gemstones in color. However, great care must be exercised in working with it, as it is poisonous in raw state. Never lick malachite to see the color. If you wet your finger to apply it to the stone, do not put your finger back in your mouth for the second wetting. Grind it wet or wear a mask when grinding it dry and polishing. When cutting it on the saw, do not get the contaminated oil on your skin. If you do, cleanse the skin immediately.

If you smoke, you can tell very easily if you are getting malachite dust because your smoke will be sickeningly sweet. The reason for this sweet taste is copper oxide dust mixed with the moisture in the mouth, and this combination reacts on tar of the tobacco, turning it into saccharin, an artificial sweetener.

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Cave Ratings
(from Rocky Trails, Golden Spike News, Strata Gem 4/91 via Pueblo Rockhounds Chips from the Rock Pile Jan 2005)

One rating of caves is the depth. The deepest is in the U.S.S.R. at 4,397 feet. The next is only seven feet less, in Spain. The third deepest is in Mexico at 4,067 feet.

Another rating is the length of known corridors. The longest corridor by a considerable margin is in Mammoth Cave Kentucky with 236 miles. The second longest is in Switzerland with 87 miles. The third is Jewel Cave in South Dakota with 67 miles, and fourth is Greenbrier Organ in West Virginia.

Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico claims the largest volume of interior space. One of its chambers has a perimeter of 14 acres. The ceiling height at one place is 307 feet above the floor

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Minutes of the Board Meeting– Feb 28, 2005
by Charlotte Morrison

Meeting called to order at 7:30pm by Dennis Gertenbach. Present were Ray Gilbert, Ray Horton, Shirley Mehta, Charlotte Morrison, Alex Cook, Paul Ralston, Trick Runions and Gerry Naugle.

Dennis began with discussing field trips and the need for a field trip coordinator. The field trip season is coming up soon, and we need persons in the club to volunteer to lead a trip or two during the summer.  Dennis did start a trips sheet from board members present willing to lead a session.

Also, the club needs a volunteer to help coordinate the meeting snacks and do new member greetings, also.  Dennis will have the sheets for "FMC Rockhound of The Year" for the next two months for members to vote with at the club general meetings and the results will be announced at the club annual picnic, which will be held on Saturday, August 20th 4-9pm at the North Boulder Park Pavillion, as G. Naugle has made the reservations and paid the user fee already.

Dennis is having the Junior Geologists on three Wednesdays per month and many that attend are involved in the badge program. Paul Boni has agreed to assist on occasions with some instruction on trimming and grinding, thanks to Paul and especially to Dennis for getting a very robust program underway and on going.

Ray Horton, co-programs chair asked for feedback on the Feb. program and the responses were very good from all of the meeting attendees.  Thanks to the Codrescu family and all of the others in the Romanian troupe.

Ray and Paul Ralston will help judge the 50th Annual High School Science Fair that is sponsored by the Colo. State University in Ft. Collins.  Ray and others are working on nice gifts for all entrants into the fair. The board voted $90 towards this effort for this year.  

 Charlotte Morrison showed a bowl of postage stamps to present to Jim Armitage, when he and Doris return to Boulder later this spring and he gives them to stamp club at a school in Lafayette. Charlotte urges all FMC members to save their used postage stamps and give them to her to store for this good purpose.

Gerry Naugle introduced a motion, which was approved, for ads in our FMC March and April newsletters for the "Springtime in the Rockies, Fossil and Mineral" show in the Denver north I-25 area motel(s) on April 22nd-24th by Marty Zinn Productions. As of 03-02-05, the ads have been paid for and will be placed.

G. Naugle is going to submit our FMC member, Mike Trafton's video on the "Sweet Home Mine" to the Rocky Mountain Region Office / Denver office of the Motion Pictures Academy of Arts and Sciences (Academy Awards) under the "Technical Short Documentary" category.

Ray Horton will crosscheck Charlotte's club equipment list with that which he has. G. Naugle will scan the 'cut & paste' final version into MS Word to make it available by computer.

The board wishes to thank Jean Brownhill and Rick & Lynn Stinchfield for doing the snacks at the upcoming meeting on the 10th at the West Boulder Senior Center.

The next board meeting will be March 28 at the home of Alex Cook, 636 Linden Park Dr, Boulder.

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Updated 3/9/05