November 2006

SURREY ROCKHOUNDER(The Original Rockhoimder Newsletter)

Suite 614,736 137lh StreetSurrey, B.C.V3W1A3

Mewsletter of the Surrey Rockhound Club.Members of the BC Lapidary Society

Gem and Mineral Federation of CanadaArts Council of Surrey

EXECUTIVEPresident

1st Vice President

2nd Vice President

Secretary

Treasurer

Simon Cantin

Adam Villalbazo

Jennifer MacAlister

Erin Robertson

Adam Villalbazo and

COMMITTEES

Arts Council

Education Coordinator

Hospitality

Library

Membership

Newsletter / Web Page

Program

Public Relations

Show Committee

Sound

Sunshine

Sullivan Hall

Wagonmaster

Ways and Means

Workshop Foreman

Theresa Keet

Bill Wardle

Karin and Elmer Beck

Leo Dery

Karin Beck

Fred Stratton

De Singleton

Julius Cotter

Alice Clarke

Don Wolfe

Shirley Cook

Ron Wade

De Singleton

Kamlesh Puri

Elmer Clarke

The Surrey Rockhounder is the official newsletter of theSurrey Rockhound Club, and is included in the member-ship fee. It is published monthly, except July and De-cember. If you wish to submit articles, please send themto: Surrey Rockhounder, Suite 614, 7360 137th Street,Surrey, BC V3W 1A3 or

email: fredstr@gmail.com

Meetings

General Meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday ofeach month at 7:30 P.M. at:

St. Luke Parish Hall, 10177 148th Street, Surrey, B.C.(at the back of the church)

The Next General Meeting is Schedule for

Wednesday, November 22, 2006.

The November Program is called The Jade Game and ispresented by De.

The December Program will be the Holiday Party,December 8th

The Next Executive Meetings is Scheduled for

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

In the workshop

***** 'MEMBERSHIP*******Membership becomes due in September of each year.

Prices are $17.50 single or $25.00 per family (includes

WORKSHOPThe workshop is located in the basement of Sullivan

CONTENTSWorkshops

New Members

Minutes of October Meeting

River Bar Rockhounding by De

BC Wagonmaster's report

Upcoming events

The annual dues are now due

2

2

3,4,5

6

7,88

Surrey Rockhounder—November 2006

Workshops:

The workshop is located in the basement of Sullivan Hall, 6302 152ndStreet, Surrey. Please Note that for insurance and safety reasons, you must bea club member in order to use the workshop machinery.

The workshop is just a small part of the Club's activities. If you wish to usethe workshop facilities, please plan on attending some of the regular monthlymeetings. It is also recommended that if you wish to join wirewrapping orsilversmith classes that you should first complete the 10 week beginner Lapi-

Workshop fees; $2.00 per session plus cost of any supplies

Beginners Monday 7 to 9 PM: foreman Elmer Clarke

Faceting Tuesday Evening: Alice and Elmer Clarke

eneral Wednesday 12:00 to 3:00 pm (Call Rudy first)

There is no evening session on Wednesday

Thursday 6:30 to 9 PM : De Singleton

Friday 7 to 9 PM: Kavinder Puri

Thursday afternoon when arranged. CallNorma Wolfe. A minimum of 3 people per ses-sion

Wednesday Mornings by appointment from in-terested school groups. Contact Bill Wardle

Thursday evenings 7 to 9 PM: Simon Cantinand/or other guest carvers by appointment, butyou may come and carve if you wish.

A Reminder: Children must be accompanied by a Parent or Guard-ian or a Responsible Adult.

Wirewrapping

School Sessions (for schoolchildren to learn about us)

Sculpture / Carving

NEW MEMBERS

Surrey Rockhounders, welcome and look forward to meeting new

members:

Kathleen Garayt and James Wright of Surrey, B.C.

with junior members Declan and Caedmon

Micheal Suzuki of Surrey, B.C. with junior members Jeremy,

Krista, Daniel and Mowica.

Nobuko and Bob Chernesky of Surrey, B.C.

Nice flat lap! Could be anew project for the club

Surrey Rockhounder—November 2006 Page 3

SURREY ROCK HOUND CLUB

Minutes of the General Meeting October 25, 2006 - 7:30p.

1. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING:

Minutes from the September 27, 2006, meeting adopted as read.

2. BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES:

None.

3. CORRESPONDENCE:

Newsletters: On The Rocks Burnaby Laphounds, The Prairie Rock and Gem Society, Nickel Basin Rock-hound, Pebble Press Richmond, Sudbury Rock and Lapidary Society, Thunder Bay Lapidary Society, Rip-ple Rock Gem and Mineral Club.

A number of e-mails were answered in regards to the membership fees for the club and what kinds of work-shops the club offered.

4. TREASURER REPORT:

Balance/Profit/Loss report - Adopted as read.

5. COMMITTEE REPORTS:

1. Arts Council (T. Keet): Thanks E. Beck for doing last months report about the Arts Council; Six cop-ies of the Spotlight are available.

2. Education Coordinator (B. Wardle): Thanks to E. Beck for faxing off all the letters to all the schools.

3. Hospitality (K. & E. Beck): No report.

4. Library (L. Dery): No report.

5. Membership (K. Beck): 46 members present, 8 guests, 3 new families.

6. Newsletter (F. Stratton): Thanks to N. Cantin for doing the newsletter for the last 3Yz years; if youhave any articles you would like to put into the newsletter, let F. Stratton know.

7. Programs: (D. Singleton): F. Stratton did a presentation about his summer trip and he brought alongmany samples, including: agate, snowflake obsidian, brown obsidian, black opal, jasper opal, trilo-bites, shells, petrified wood, and coral; We received an e-mail from Pratap Reddy, from the SpectrumGroup, who is a geologist based in Surrey and has some raspberry rhodolite for sale. They can sup-ply this material to club members for $0.75 per gram. They can also supply rough amethyst, tourma-line, aquamarine, sillimanite and ruby. He is also interested in coming and doing a demonstration forthe club.

8. Wagon Master (D. Singleton): November 5th at 9AM - River Bar trip at Bridal Falls - D. Singletonleading; new list of field trips available.

9. Public Relations (J. Cotter): No report.

10. Show Committee (A. Clarke): Thank you to everyone involved with the show; we need to set nextyears' show date - S. Cantin suggested around the same time as this years' show.

ISurrey Rockhounder—November 2006

11. GMFC Report (A. Clarke): Mostly BC and Alberta representatives; the motion about the scholarshipwas defeated by 140 against to 30.

12. Sound (D. Wolfe): No report.

13. Sunshine (S. Cook): No report.

14. Sullivan Hall (R. Wade): No report.

15. Ways/Means (K. Puri): No report.

16. Work Shop Foreman (E. Clarke): 7 people showed up last Monday; new saw blade for the 10" sawand other saws have been fixed.

6. OLD BUSINESS:

1. Grant Application - We applied to the City of Surrey for a grant for the amount of $1000 to help inthe cost of materials, for bringing all of the school children to the classes taught by our professors.

2. Trailer Renovations - The trailers renovations are still in the design stage and we will proceed with therenovations soon.

3. Newspaper Articles - There was a two page spread in the Langley Times and The Surrey Leadernewspaper on our Surrey Rock Show at the Sullivan Hall; D. Singleton made the front page of theSurrey leader (October 8, 2006).

7. NEW BUSINESS:

1. Christmas Party - We need volunteers to organize the Christmas Party on December 8, 2006 - S.Cantin has the list of things to be done.

2. Shop Work Party - There will be a shop work party on November 4th from 10AM to 2PM.

3. Society Meeting Report (E. Beck):

Summer Camp 2007 is at Beaver Point Resort by Burns Lake

Rendezvous 2007 is at Roe Lake in the Caribou

Harley Waterson is investigating the possibility of a tailgate sale the first weekend of September 2007 inHastings Park area

May 5th, 2007 there will be a tailgate sale in Barrier put on by the Interior Zone

A BCLS calendar is being created, and they need to know how many would be interested in purchasingthe calendar for 2007

Volunteers are needed for the BC Gem and Mineral Show in Abbotsford.

If you know any good rock hounding books or videos, please let Harley Waterson know.

4. Society Members Election:

Need 3 meetings a year.

E. Beck unanimously elected as our first representative.

B. Morgan unanimously elected as our second representative.

N. Handy unanimously elected as our third representative

Surrey Rockhounder—November 2006

5. Thanks - Thank you to E. Beck for doing such a good job as the president of the club. Three years is along time and he did a great job. Thanks also to all the people that had positions and to those that havetaken positions on the executive and committees. We are always in need of volunteers, so let us knowwhere you can help to make a difference. Also, a big thank you to Alice Clarke for organizing our Sep-tember show and thank you to all the volunteers that have come out to help and make it so successful.Again, the kitchen was run professionally and the food was great, thanks to J. McAllaster and her team.

6. Volunteer Hours (submitted by the Arts Council of Surrey for the year 2005/2006):

Surrey Rockhound Club

+ 30 Classes with 700 kids and adults X 10 helpers

+ Workshop 100 hours X 50 persons

+ Annual show 24 hours X 25 helpers

+ Annual show 40 persons for display + kitchen + demonstr.

+ Executive meeting 10 meetings X 10 persons

+ Meetings 3 hours X 10 persons

Arts Council 10 meetings X 1 person

Total:

600 hours

5,000 hours

600 hours

1,120 hours

200 hours

300 hours

20 hours

7,840 hours

7. Membership Dues: Your membership dues are now due.

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.'-•x

Next General Meeting on November 22 at 7:30p.m.

Did anyone check out our website: www.surrevrockhound.com

*' '--.̂:f^' f~: '• VV'sj*;> 4 * -Stiltt-«iiS(fc'^?

Surrey Rockhounder—November 2006

Beautiful Coloured Leaves and Big Bear Tracks on the River Bar &*••

By De Singleton ^^

i^f Six cars were on the run, down the freeway toward Hope and up the &^% Fraser Canyon to Yale bar. We were hopeful, with the mild weather, that %

there would be no snow—and there wasn't. Unfortunately, we had set a re- |̂cord rainfall in the few days prior to the trip, and the access to the bar was ^Tcut off. The river was fast and dirty, so we weren't about to risk life andlimb trying to ford it.

^^ We did an about turn and went back to Hope, leaving two brave ^^W^ souls from Hastings Club behind. Honestly, we didn't force them, they W^A , ^ wanted to stay! At Hope there is a river bar with lots of rock exposed along- .^iP" side the Coquihalla River. There we stayed and had a glorious day. The Wf

fall leaves were turning golden, yellow and brown, and the temperatures ?fwere mild, with no wind. The scenery there is as spectacular as on any Sffbar, and we were having a good time. Three each from Surrey and Port ^Moody Clubs, and four from Hastings Club made up our group.

I wandered along the river's edge, and there were tracks from a Mr.Bruin (great BIG bear tracks in the sand by the river!) and the cloven hoofmarks of a deer.

I picked up some of the small red jaspers, and lava that is abundantin that spot, and went on to find a wanna-be jade slick. That is, I wanted itto be jade, but a more careful examination leaves a lot of doubt in my mindabout whether it is or not. Bob Morgan picked up a very nice sillimanite,with large depressions of greenish-blue, and I think that was the find of the

pi day. I heard that Bill Needoba found a reasonable-sized agate, and theothers seemed to have their buckets and bags bulging, and seemedpleased with their finds. So we left for the day.

It was a very pleasant trip, and I think it was enjoyed by all.

Thanks for coming out. 9if

De

Surrey Rockhounder—November 2006

BC Wagonmaster Report, Fall 2006

October 22, 2006 there was a Wagonmaster meeting at the Richmond Gem show, to map out some falland winter field trips.

Part of our discussion was defining who goes on trips, and our insurance needs.

From now on, the BC Wagon Masters will be asking all participants to "sign-in" acknowledging that theparticipant is indeed responsible for their own conduct and safety.

Participants must be members of a club in good standing, or be a sponsored guest with a club member.Club Members would include our neighbors from the US who belong to the US clubs, and who are alwayswelcome on BC Wagonmaster trips.

For all trips, please ensure that you have ample fuel...many of the trips go many miles from the initialgathering spot, The Bridal Falls coffee shop has a gas station, so please arrive early, and top it up.

Here's the list, with a couple of tentative dates that will be firmed up soon.

Sunday November 5: Yale Bar ( Fraser River ) for the usual assortment of materials in the fraser river.Agate, Jasper, Serpentine, Sillimantie, and the elusive jade. Meet at the Bridal Falls coffee shop at9:OOAM. Tools are clothes for cool or wet weather, Good footwear such as Hiking Boots, rock hammer,squirt bottle, bucket or backpack to carry the goodies. Trip leader is De Singleton. 604-599-6938.

Sunday November 19: Harrison Lake ( East Side ) for garnets in a host talc schist.

Meeting place is the Bridal Falls Coffee Shop at 9:OOAM. Bring tools, and munchies. Could be a coolouting so dress appropriately for cool weather. Leader is Cam Bacon, 604-854-1711.

Sunday December 3 ( Tentative ) Silver Pick ( Sale ) at O'Ferguson's Rocks & Grits.

The Fergusons have wound down their rock shop, and are possibly opening up for a one-day sale to re-duce the remaining inventory of rough rock, and findings. More information to follow once the event isfinalized. Leader is Bob Morgan. 604-534-7161.

No other events planned for December due to the holidays

Sunday January 14: Yale Bar, Again for the fraser river materials. In case of snow this far upstream,we may choose a downstream bar for searching as an alternative. In case of complete white-out condi-tions throughout the valley, we'll all stay home. Meeting place is the Bridal Falls Coffee Shop at9:OOAM. Trip leader is Harley Waterson, 604-590-3289

Sunday February 11: Peg Leg bar ( Fraser river near Chilliwack ). This is a great trip for new rockhounds, and the kids! This isn't too far from Vancouver, and there are acres and acres of flat area on thisbar for the kids to run around on! The usual materials are found here, although in smaller sizes. Lesslikely to have snow cover in mid-winter as well. Meeting place is the Tim Horton's Coffee Shop at9:00AM This is located just south of Highway #1 on the Vedder Road exit in Chilliwack. Leader is GordPinder, 604-870-4779.

Surrey Rockhounder—November 2006

BC Wagonmaster Report, Fall 2006

Sunday March 4: Alexandra Bar. This is another Fraser river bar, this time with larger stones from far-ther upstream. This one involves a hike down to the river from the parking area, so this one is not rec-ommended for people unable to withstand the strenuous hike back up with your backpack full of goodies.Again, the meeting place is the Bridal Falls coffee shop at 9:00AM. Leader is Bill Needoba, 604-451-7701

Sunday April 22: This is the annual trek up the west side of Harrison Lake for fossil collecting. This isusually a great trip for kids who wish to pick up some real clam or belemnite fossils! Meeting place is theSasquatch Inn parking lot at 9:OOAM. The Sasqatch Inn is located on Highway #7 in Harrison Mills.This is also at the turn-off for the Hemlock Valley Ski area. If you don't know where this is, check a map.You may end up being late and miss the group. Walt Finder is leading this trip. 604-826-2342.

This edition composed by Harley Waterson. Please let me know if there are any typos' or changes. Ifyou are leading an additional trip, please circulate the information!

Also check the BC Society Web page for the latest info as trips draw closer.

Thanks!

Harley

One of the reasons to hunt on river bars for rocks:

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The riverwas cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement oftime. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are thewords, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters."

- Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

About 6 weeks ago, probably on a Friday workshop, I lost 2 pairs of pliers.

One was a flat nosed pair with white handles and the other a half round pair with green handles.

Anybody seen them?

Contact: Theresa Keet^B

Upcoming Events:

Christmas Party - We need volunteers to organize the Christmas Party on December 8, 2006 - S. Cantinhas the list of things to be done.

Sunday January 14: Yale Bar, Again for the Fraser river materials.

Sunday February 11: Peg Leg bar ( Fraser river near Chilliwack ).

Rockhounder on the website www.surreyrockhound.com