El Gambrisino 2009-02

Gemcrafters and Explorers Club "EL Gambrisino" Volume 51, Issue 2 February 2009 - 1 -

EL GAMBRISINO Gem Crafters & Explorer's Club Bulletin, Las Cruces, NM

Affiliated with the AFMS and a member of the RMFMS February 2009 - Volume 51, Issue 2

Notes from the Previous Meeting: New Business:

*Outgoing President Denney Keith reviewed the slate of officers for the 2009 year. New officers will assume their duties at the February 20 meeting. The new officers are: President: Dave Smith

Vice President: Kathy Fuller Treasurer: Lee Attaway Secretary: Susan Banning Programs: Eric Fuller

Historian: Don Saathoff Newsletter: Maxine Wyman Refreshments: Pat & Mitch Mauer * Guests tonight - Mark and Abby McDonald, Dawnee Logan, Marge Drew and Paul Melwood. * Don Saathoff announced that he will hold a “mineral meeting” next Wednesday, Jan. 21, 6:30 pm. He will also be selling mineral specimens for a widow friend to interested parties. * The next meeting will be on February 20, 2009

Old Business: * President Keith thanked Molly and Neal Wilkinson for hosting the December Christmas party. A good time was had by all who attended. * Elaine Franz announced that June Hughes had successful foot surgery. * President Keith reviewed the November discussion that ensued regarding a request for our club to support a specific person, Yonis Lone Eagle or Howell Whiting, to be our proxy representative to the Rocky Mountain Federation. An article by Stan Nowak published in the Jan. 2009 issue of the Federation newsletter explains the problem at the 2008 convention in Tulsa. The vote to seat delegates was null and void because there was not a quorum of delegates present for the vote due to irregularities with proxies. All clubs need to send delegates or fill out the proxy form. Our club has never done a proxy or sent a delegate as far as any of us know. It will be some thing for our new president to handle. *President Keith thanked all club members for their assistance during the past year. Treasurer’s Report: *Lee Attaway announced that the club currently has $1,094 in the checking account and $28 in Petty Cash. This past week $60 for dues were submitted. More dues, $64, were collected tonight. Insurance and dues, $247.50 have been paid to the Rocky Mountain Federation, along with the post office box fee, $58, and hostess monies $50 to Molly. * A reminder to all members that it is time to pay dues for 2009. Lee Attaway has e-mailed the paperwork to all members. Please complete and return along with your check to Lee at her home address. *Lee announced that the Omnibus Land Bill has passed the Senate (S-22) and is heading to the House. Passage is anticipated. Members are invited to express themselves to their state representatives. Lee also announced that California passed a bill requiring that 20% of the state’s energy will be renewable energy. Wind and solar projects are planned and environmental groups have announced they will not allow any transmission lines across wilderness areas.


Field Trips: *Eric Fuller announced that Saturday, January 24, they will be leading a field trip that requires 4X4 vehicle to Tuneco Mountain. The mountain has great petroglyphs, wear good traction shoes, the short hike up will be on slippery rock and has a 400-500 foot elevation increase. Meet at Ashley's at 8 AM to caravan. *The business meeting was adjourned and the raffle began with Don Saathoff calling out the winning ticket numbers. President-elect Smith joined Don later. The raffle tonight brought in $184 for the club.

*Denney and Judi are leaving Tuesday for MD Anderson, Huston, TX where he will start cancer treatment. Our prayers go with you Denny. Minutes submitted by Susan Banning & Lee Attaway, photos by Cookie Saathoff Mineral Meeting News:

On behalf of Charles’ widow, Bobbi, I want to thank all of those club members who attended the

Mineral Group meeting on Wednesday night to look over & purchase specimens from Charles’ collection. I was able to send her a check for $260.00 and still have about four flats of material left…..if anybody would like another look or a first look just give us a call at 382-3464 and we’ll arrange a showing. We had around thirteen members in attendance and, as usual, saw some interesting specimens…..Alan brought some very nice Epidote he’d found at Orogrande, Joe brought some items found at the Memphis Mine and Al brought some Chrysocolla from south of the Torpedo Mine of semi-precious quality (sometimes called “gem silica” by lapidarists). The next Mineral Group meeting will be Wednesday, February 25th and we’ll discuss metamorphism

and look at some metamorphic indicator minerals. Read up on it and bring some examples of metamorphism. Ed Leake, Kristine Kitchens and Valerie Peebles in the Lab. Photo by Cookie Saathoff. Submitted by Don Saathoff, Mineral Group Leader


Reminders & General Info: The next regular meeting will be on February 20th at Breland Hall on the NMSU campus. Faith

Hutson and Valerie Peebles have the refreshments. And remember, this will be the last Bulletin you will receive if your dues haven't been paid by the March publication date. Please remit to Lee if you haven't paid up yet.

A TREASURER’S DREAM Author unknown

I fell asleep the other night and while I had my snooze, I dreamed each member stepped right up and promptly paid his dues.

But when I found ‘twas but a dream I nearly threw a fit! It’s up to you to make it true: Suggestion --- Please remit!

(No folks, Lee didn't put me up to this; I did it on my own.)

Where Is This Located?

Congratulations to LeRoy Unglaub and Eric Fuller for identifying last month's site as being located at Apache Flats on the old Lazy E Ranch west of town. Seeing as this has been the site of numerous Field Trips throughout the years I thought more people would recognize it. Maybe we need another FT out there???

Now let's try another one, a really

easy one this time to get everyone in the swing of things. It's also been a popular Field Trip site and is close to town.

Send me an email or give me a

call with the location. If you have a favorite site for us to

ID please send a photo to me.


Trips & Such:

TUNECO PEAK FIELD TRIP - 1/24/2009

By Eric Fuller, Field Trip Leader

It was a cool morning with a light mist. 15 intrepid Explorers from the “Gemcrafters and Explorers Club” had gathered at Ashley’s parking lot in preparation for embarkation to points north for adventure. We were soon to learn why the group were only the Explorers and why the Gemcrafters had remained at home. Eight 4x4 vehicles headed north, all equipped with the latest in modern communications. After clearing immigration a few rain drops appeared on the wind screen reminding us that a heavy rain had come thru this area 2 days before and that we might have mud bogs on the first 4 miles of dirt road.

At the Upham interchange we exited, noting the sign boasting of the NM Space "Pork" soon to be built at a cost of $200 million, more then 10 times the cost of the 3 year old Oklahoma Space "Pork". There in our awe of the typical NM government waste, we were relieved to find our 9th vehicle and driver waiting for us. Crossing west under the interstate we turned south on our first dirt road. The earlier thoughts of mud bogs turned to a reality as we hit the long stretches of submerged road. We were wishing that we had engaged the front hubs and hoping that a deep bar ditch would not sink our forward progress. “Dios estaba con nosotros” we have all made it without incident, now onward for “Tessoro”.

Descending westerly into the long sandy canyon bottom we continued for about a mile and than turned south into the mouth of the Petroglyph Canyon. We disembarked from our trustworthy conveyances, gathered treasure bags and sustenance and the brave 16 headed up canyon. We stopped to admire the many petroglyphs and P-wood. We continued up the canyon, cresting the top and than descending to the jasper mesa.

We gathered many different colored jasper nodules and some beautiful P-Wood. Alan had pointed out a jasper dike on the way up which was evident on the jasper mesa side and the source of the jasper we found. Many gathered large bags full of the colored rocks before we headed off the steep side of the mesa on a more direct route to our transports and lunch.

The rock and boulder strewn path down was made more treacherous by a heavy cover of long

grass from last falls rains. Alan and others offered helping hands to several of the lovely ladies, which they readily accepted. We realized that with impending wilderness and road closures would come less access to these areas. Lack of access would be hardest on us as we got older and less agile. We talked about going to the sandstone concretion site (aka Golf Ball Canyon) which the university had closed off several years earlier. These access and closure issues will affect us more in the future. At our cars we refreshed and looked at the many bags of rocks which must have totaled close to 100 pounds. We bid farewell to four Explorers who needed to return to civilization. Three stayed at Petroglyph Canyon and the remainder headed to the RR ROW and private land to look for arrowheads. At the arrowhead area Brecken and Dorian both found points. A few sandstone concretions were also collected. We further explored the north face of the Jasper Mesa and found more old and present petroglyphs. Also found were various castle shaped concretions that will be worth a trip back to for collecting. Returning to the urban jungle the remaining Explorers were joined by two spouses who could not make the trip. Libations flowed and war stories were begun. It had been a grand adventure on a beautiful day with many good friends.


CREDITS: Don Bustamante: aka the unofficial club photographe r: Don’s Photo Web Pages:

http://home.comcast.net/~donbusta/photos Dorian Rudin: Biggest truck in the club: Dorian’s Photo and Web pages: http://dnar.us/ Brecken Uhl: His wife Julie has the second biggest truck in the club: Photo and Web:

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/swrecon Alan Gadberry: Gentleman Extraordinaire & Winner of the “I Collected most Rocks Today” Award Jan Hoffman: The winner of this trips “I survived t he Hike” Award Doug Hall: Finder of the hidden petroglyphs Russ Franz: Most improvement in 4x4 ownership (No m ore skunk-mobile!) Rose Marry LaPlante and September: Survived riding with Jan Lee Attaway and Brenda Gadberry: For proving even a smoker could make the hike Joe Sweeney: Who took the long way back to the car s Jannette Hale: For bringing Mandy to keep Ruby com pany

On the way UP to the Petroglyphs and Mesa Top.

Fluorite Mine at top of Tuneco Mt. Jasper collected on the mesa.

Photos by Eric Fuller

A thought for us to ponder : Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime com mitment for a pig.


Articles of Interest: Unsolved Mysteries of Our World’s Past Author unknown,

A cube of metal carefully machined, notched and rounded on one side was found in the center of a block of coal in Austria in 1885. It’s still in a museum in Salisbury and no one can explain it. Basing their conclusions on the age of the coal bed, various experts estimate it to be 300,000 years old.

Workmen found a piece of gold thread embedded in 8 feet of rock at a quarry in

Rutherford Mills, England. The London Times reported this discovery in June 1984, and the experts say it has to be 60 million years old. Who could have dropped a gold thread in England 60 million years ago?

Perhaps these items were the handiwork of the same people who made the strange

pieces of very ancient pottery which have been found in rock quarries and coal mines around the world along with steel nails, perfect glass lenses and even, believe it or not, bones of prehistoric animals with bullets in them. Giant chains have been found embedded in great rocks in both North and South America, not merely embedded, but actually passing through the rock!

Another enigma is the “Plain of Jars”. It came by its name because it is literally strewn

with huge stone jars, some over 6 feet high. Some are so huge they can hold six men. There are over a thousand of these particular artifacts scattered over the high plateau surrounded by mountains. Carved of limestone and granite, no one knows who carved them, when or why! One last mystery, though many battles have ravaged these plains, most devastating were the secret battles and air raids of the 2nd Indochina War. Hundreds of thousands of bombs rained down upon the plains, destroying, among other things, the beautiful town and temple of Xiang Kuang, while running battles were fought and lost among the jars. American bombers also jettisoned unused bombs over the plains as they returned from raids on Vietnam, yet the jars were virtually untouched.

Or how about Peter L. Lund and the Laser Stones of Portland, Maine? The Laser

Stones are supposedly a collection of stone artifacts made by laser or similar beam technology some thousands of years ago, According to a local geophysicist, “they appear deliberately shaped by a process involving intense heat.” Fashioned from European beach cobbles, they range from soft ball size to bigger than a basketball. The cuts on the stone are made with extreme precision thru the hardest basalt, granite and other minerals.

And finally, the Grooved Spheres from South Africa. Over the past several decades,

South Africa miners have found hundreds of metallic spheres, at least one of which has three parallel groves running around its equator. The spheres are two types- “one of solid blueish metal with white flecks and another which is a hollow ball filled with a white spongy center.” (Jimson, 1982). They look man-made, yet no intelligent life existed at that time. Source The Petrified Digest, Wenatchee, WA 11-12/03 via Shawnee Slate, 07/06


Upcoming Show Dates: Mar. 12-15 Deming, NM: 44th Annual Rockhound Roundup, Deming Gem & Mineral Society; Southwestern NM Fairgrounds. Free Admission. Contact Bud Daily for Field Trip info. 575-267-4399. See attachment for details. Mar. 20-22 Albuquerque, NM: 41st annual show, "Treasures of the Earth Show"; Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club; School Arts/Flower Bldg., New Mexico State Fair Grounds (EXPO-NM); Fri. 10-6, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5; adults $1 (Fri.) and $3 (Sat. and Sun.), kids under 13 free; contact Paul Hlava, (505) 255-5478; e-mail: [email protected] Mar. 21-22 San Antonio, TX: 48th Annual Fiesta of Gems; Southwest Gem & Mineral Society, Live Oak Civic Center. Adults $4. Contact Robert Bowle [email protected] www.swgemandmineral.org Apr. 11-12 Abilene, TX: Central Texas Gem & Mineral Society, Abilene Civic Center. Admission $3. Contact Sallie Lightfoot (325)692-4642 www.txol.net/rockclub Apr. 24-26 Denver, CO: Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show-Spring. Martin Zinn Expositions at Holiday Inn Central. 80 dealers, free admission. www.mzexpos.com Apr. 25-26 Franklin, NJ: 37th Annual Show & Swap. NJ Earth Sciences Assoc. Adult's $5 Contact Sterling Hill Mineral Museum (973)209-7212 For further information or shows go to www.rockngem.com or give me a call. Thought for the Day: Generally speaking, you aren't learning much if your lips are moving. From Maharishji Phucknuckel's Guide to Zen

A note from the editor: Special thanks to Lee, Don and Eric for all their help in putting this Bulletin together while I was in "dizzy land" the whole month of January. And very special thanks to Cookie for her trips to the doctors when I couldn't drive, the pharmacies, grocery stores, her encouragement and especially for not laughing when I was staggering around like a drunken sailor.


Info for the Newsletter: If you have information, articles, pictures or a website related to gem crafting, rock collecting or exploring and would like to share please give a call or email me at [email protected]. If you have a good idea or story to tell I will be more than happy to help you write it up. Also if you have minerals, outdoor or camping equipment, etc. that you would like to sell please let me know for the "Classifieds."

Gemcrafters & Explorers Club, P.O. Box 3091, Las Cr uces, NM 88003 Member of: American Federation of Mineralogical Societies: www.amfed.org Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies: www.rmfms.org Blue Ribbon Coalition: www.sharetrails.org

Be sure and check out these web sites at least once a month.

2009 OFFICERS: President – Dave Smith 521-3103 [email protected] Vice President – Kathy Fuller 524-0204 [email protected] Treasurer – Lee Attaway 523-4017 [email protected] Secretary - Susan Banning 532-9612 [email protected] Refreshments - Pat & Mitch Mauer 526-4939 [email protected] Historian - Don Saathoff 382-3464 [email protected] Programs - Eric Fuller 524-0204 [email protected] Newsletter - Maxine Wyman 649-4900 [email protected]

Documents

El Gambrisino 2009-02