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President’s Message - David Alvord Welcome to a new season of exploring, learning, sharing, laughing, and being Rock-Hounds! It is really fun to be a Sun City Rock-hound. Cheryl and I enjoy all the opportunities that come from being members.

Monthly meetings

On the Second Thursday, we meet at Fairway Recreation Center in Arizona Rooms 1 and 2, 6:00 food and conversation, 6:30 meeting, 7:00 Speaker. We enjoy food and conversation, watch slide shows of previous events, hear about field trip plans, special events, listen to speakers, who always have good information, and have an opportunity to get some neat samples when we have a Silent Auction.

Museum Telephone 623-428-6442

Email: scrockmuseum@gmail.com

President: David Alvord 207-756-1784

First Vice President Cheryl Alvord 207-797-0619

Secretary Mary Brown-Martilik 623-972-4854

Treasurer Deb Carlone 607-423-1390

Field Trips Bill&Vicky Kronenberg 623-399-8217

Membership Eileen Moberg 623-972-1304

Monitors Bill Allison 623-337-2656

Refreshments Beth Mead 307-262-6715

Rockdust Editor Diane Hillis 623-693-0951

October 2019 Edition

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Field Trips

Field Trips send us out into the Arizona Desert, or a trip to a mine or special geological area (aren’t they all?). We find rocks for lapidary, rock gardens and sharing. We have hunted for geodes, mushroom rhyolite, quartz crystals, fossils, gold, Jasper of many colors (red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and more). Some of us (like Cheryl and I) love getting out into the desert, something, as folks from the East coast, we find amazing every time.

Show and Tell

Show and Tell is a monthly 4th Thursday gathering at a Ramada at Lake View Rec. Center. Most bring samples to share and talk about, others come with knowledge to help discover the composition of the wonderful rocks they find. It is from 12-1:00 or longer. Bring your own lunch and drink.

The Sun City Mineral Museum

Our museum is a wonderful collection of Rocks, Minerals and Fossils from around the world, with 8 cases of those found in Arizona. We have one of the best Fluorescent rooms in the state. All members take turns volunteering at the museum. Of course, we will train you to be museum guides. Hanging out at the museum is a great way to learn. There is a nice collection of books for identifying our desert discoveries.

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An unexpected benefit of being Rock Hounds we discovered is the fascination our grandchildren have as they look at the specimens in our house and yard. They love to talk about and give tours of our very small collection. When we go for walks in Arizona or Maine, someone will bring us a sample to talk about. What is it? After saying that it is very pretty or unique, we will most often say “it is quartz, which is a very beautiful rock”

See you in October! -David and Cheryl Alvord (President and Vice President)

Summer Museum Activities by Mike Blachut and Carol

The museum was able to remain open every Saturday with enough sunbird

club members volunteering.

The museum was somewhat quiet when it came to visitors but picked up

around the Holidays. We had a few new members join the club and a few

interested in trying out the club and are planning to attend our October

meeting.

During the slow times at the museum monitors were able to accomplish

cleaning and even some organizing tasks.

Three significant things happened this summer at the Museum.

A museum visitor donated new LED lights which Mike Blachut installed in

cabinets 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21 & 22. LED light last longer than fluorescent

lights and will not require bulb changes for many years. In past years, the

museum has had to replace the fluorescent fixtures as well as fluorescent

bulbs, our Museum is 29-years-old and so are the fluorescent fixtures.

Anyone who has worked the museum will confirm that sometimes it’s

next to impossible to find anything in our storage areas. The storage

cabinets in the back room were overflowing with supplies for the store.

Over the summer museum volunteers moved several items to different

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locations. For example, if you are looking for additional hematite for the

store, it is stored under the Lentz cabinet, (by the front door).

A glass shelf in the Lentz cabinet broke due to the weight and number of

specimens on display. The glass has been replaced and to ensure we

didn’t have another accident, some of the specimens were removed and

stored in the locked storage area in the cabinets below. The Lentz’s

request was for their collection to be re-donated to the Arizona Mining

and Natural Resources and Educational Museum (formerly known as

Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum) when it reopens. Keeping the

collection together in one cabinet will ensure the collection stays intact.

Speaking of the Arizona Mining and Natural Resources and Educational

Museum, in their latest newsletter, August 2019, they announced their

first public event (yes, they are planning on reopening). Mark your

calendars for October 26th. The museum is planning an outdoor event

with a demonstration of a stamp mill run. Our club will plan a Fun Trip for

those interested in attending. More details as they become available.

Many thanks to all the volunteers who were in town and kept the Museum

open: Karin Schardt, Carol Bankert, Kevin Cole, Gale Willett, Gerry Jensen,

Mary Brown, Roz Shafer, Deb Kloehn, Janet Farnsworth, Jane Ewer, Cliff

DeVleig, Eileen Moberg, Bill Allison, Armeda Diaz, Rebecca Knowland,

Dave Balzer, Bunny Zappala & Mike Blachut

Cabinet & Specimens on loan from

Mr. & Mrs. Lentz

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October Field Trip for Giraffelite

Our October trip will be to Antelope Valley area around Chino, AZ for

giraffelite. Ken Dunham, one of the owners of the claim has given his

permission for our club to rockhound the lower part of his site. All the

mining is done at the top with chisels, gads, and pry bars. It is then carried

down the mountain. There’s plenty of float at the bottom and around the

road for us to collect. Betty Kalllesser, one of our members went on the

one and only field trip up there and found concretions, also. We will have

samples of what you will be looking for at the October meeting. This will

be a nice trip where we can pick-up some nice polishable rocks, possibly

see some antelope (hence the name Antelope Valley) and visit a nice

farmers’ market called Mortimer Farms, that sells specialty jams and

jellies, and fruits and vegetables you don’t see in markets around us. We

will ONLY stop if time allows. One of our members on the Kingman trip

said I grossly understated Lucias in Wikieup. I’m probably doing that

again. I think you will enjoy it.

We will meet at the south end of the Bell Rec parking lot like we usually

do. Be there at 7:30 ready to leave at 8:00 with plenty of water, a jacket,

lunch, rockhounding tools, and the other things on our trip list. This is an

easy dirt road that can be easily navigated with a regular car. Be sure to

check your tires and make sure there is the right amount of air in them.

This is the first trip of our season. Reread the rules and regulations i.e.

amount of rock you can take off Forestry Service land or BLM land. It’s

also a time we need to welcome our members that are snowbirds back to

Arizona. Any questions see Bill or Vicky at the October meeting.

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2019/2020 Guest Speaker Series by Carol Bankert

This season the club will host returning favorite speakers and some new

ones as well. We have one month open, so if you know of a speaker, or

would like to give a presentation, please let me know.

Here is a break down my month of the speakers and topics, if know.

October Colin Morley, club member, explorer and master

rock hound

Topic: Secrets of the Grand Canyon

November Steve Ruff PHD, ASU Associate Research Professor

Topic: Annual update on his involvement in the

NASA mars exploration

December Holiday party

January Calvin Webb, local adventurer, explorer and rock

hound enthusiast

Topic: TBD

February New Speaker: Zach Kovach, Estrella Mountain

Community College, Geology professor,

Topic: TBD

March or April New Speaker: Jeff Scovil, professional mineral

specimen photographer, associate photographer for

Mineralogical Record magazine.

Date TBD Topic: Photographing rocks and minerals

May “Farewell to snow birds” pot luck.

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2019/2020 Suggested Fun Trips

Here are some ideas for fun trips. Please let us know at our October or

November meeting if you have any interest.

October 12th West Valley Rock & Mineral club Helzarockin’ Gem &

Mineral show, Buckeye

October 26th Arizona Mining and Natural Resources and

Educational Museum, downtown Phoenix, outdoor

Stamp Mill event.

November 2nd Rock-a-Rama Gem & Mineral Show, Black Canyon

City

January 4th Flagg Mineral Foundation Gem & Mineral Show,

Mesa, AZ

January 11th Quartzsite Rock & Gem shows, Quartzsite

February Tucson Rock & Gem show, Tucson

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Fun Trip Idea Four Peaks Mining Store http://fourpeaksminingco.com/

Most Arizonans are familiar with the Four Peaks. A quick look some 40

miles east of the valley shows the highest points of the Mazatzal

Mountains, standing tall at an elevation of more than 7,000 feet.

What most Arizonans don’t know, however, is that nestled inside this

prominent landmark sits North America’s last commercial amethyst mine.

The mine, which is privately owned by Kurt Cavano, is also incredibly

inaccessible – the only way to get the precious gem out is via helicopter.

Those who work in the mine have to hike 9 miles roundtrip to get to the

location.

The Four Peaks Mining Co. Store offers a variety of the pieces that rivals

the most exclusive jewelers. But, the store isn’t just there to offer

beautiful jewels; it’s also there to educate the Valley about the mine.

They have recreated the mine in their store, it’s a carbon copy scaled to

size so guest can experience what their hardworking miners go through to

get the amethyst extracted. Also, for a limited time Odysea just across

from them is offering senior discounts. So, you could hit both places and

the butterfly exhibit is nearby too. Sounds like fun to me. – Diane Hillis

P.S. Another company does offer helicopter rides to the mine: https://www.samifinejewelry.com

to see prices and availability. This trip is quite expensive and does involve hiking.

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Membership

We had several new members sign up over the summer, so please welcome Paul Eickhoff, Mary Joseph, Cheryl Etten, Betty and Jon Hart, and Karen Krumme. Happy rockhounding! We hope to be offering Rockhound t-shirts, bags and hats soon, so be thinking about what you would like to order and we can talk about it at the October Member Meeting. Renewing members, you have until the end of January to pay your yearly dues. You can pay at any time until then for 2020. Eileen Moberg, Membership

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Sun City Rockhounds Club Membership Dues for Oct 2019 - Sept 2020 Renewal New Member Name(s) ________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ Zip Code _____________ Phone No. ________________________ Email ________________________________________ RCSC No(s) _____________________ Expiration Date (Month/Year) ________ Dues

Single $10 Couple $20

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Editor’s note: If you have any articles you would like published in our newsletter please let us know.