Bulletin of the
Mineralogical Society
of Southern California
Volume 74 Number 10 October 2004
The 800th Meeting
of The Mineralogical Society
of Southern California
"Fluorite, A Journey
Through Color and Form"
by Mike Havstad
Friday,
October 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Geology
Department, E-Building, Room 220
Pasadena
City College
1570
E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena
Inside this bulletin
October's Meeting
October Field Trip to
Arizona Mines
Minutes of the August Picnic
Minutes of the September
Meeting
Are You Ready for the Show?
Mineral Locality Symposium
H. Stanton Hill:
Memories Shared
Calendar of Events
October's
Meeting:
"Fluorite,
A Journey Through Color and Form"
Mike Havstad will speak at 7:30 on October 8 on the forms and colors of fluorite. Mr. Havstad is a professional photographer and has prepared an exquisitely illustrated presentation. He holds an Earth Science degree from U. C. Santa Cruz, has been a gem miner and assistant foreman at the Tourmaline Queen mine. He served as a staff photographer at the Gemological Institute of America and specializes in macrophotography of gems, minerals, and jewelry. Mr. Havstad currently works as a photographer for the L.A. Sheriff's Department.
Come enjoy this great program and help the MSSC celebrate its 800th meeting!
October Field Trip to Arizona Mines
by Steve Knox
We are all looking forward to October 23 and 24 for great collecting at the Purple Passion mine and the Spectrum claim in Arizona. Instructions for confirmed participants follow. If you haven't signed up yet, the fee for each day is $30 per person per day. This is to cover equipment as we are planning to have a backhoe at our disposal. Fees must be paid in advance (no later than Monday, October 18th), and will be handled by Walt Margerum (treasurer and field trip chair). Checks payable to MSSC may be mailed to MSSC, P.O. Box 41027, Pasadena, CA 91114-8027. Additional information and photos are in the Aug and Sept. bulletins.
On Saturday, October 23, the MSSC will be meeting at the McDonald's parking lot in Wickenburg, Arizona, off Hwy 60 at 9 a.m. for a field trip to the Purple Passion mine and other locations in the vicinity. Constellation Road is the main road near McDonald's; it is a well graded road going into the field area. Mapquest is a good internet source for directions to Wickenburg or for identifying Constellation Road.
Please be on time, and we will be signing waivers before leaving. Primary minerals include wulfenite, fluorite, geodes, amethyst, malachite, and fluorescents. We can camp at the Purple Passion, which will provide a good night-time show for anyone bringing UV lights as the fluorescents are fantastic! For those not wanting to camp, motels are available in Wickenburg a short distance away.
On Sunday, we will again meet at the McDonald's parking lot in Wickenburg and leave at 9 a.m. for the Spectrum claim, which is approximately a 1-hour drive. The claim is off I-10 and Salome Road and north to Eagle Eye Road. At milepost 7, there is a dirt road to the claim. Actually, minerals occur on both sides of the paved road, especially fluorite. Other minerals include wulfenite, barite, quartz, and various copper minerals. The road is a typical desert road and the claim can be seen from the paved road.
Fall in Arizona is usually pleasant and a good time to collect, as the weather has had time to cool off. However, be prepared for either warm or cold weather. Bring plenty of supplies such as water, food, and of course, tools for extracting minerals.
A map of the area, mineral samples, and photos will be available at the MSSC show for examination by anyone interested.
Minutes of the MSSC August Picnic
The annual MSSC August picnic took place at the Arcadia’s Woman’s Club on Sunday, August 15th. The picnic began at 2:45 p.m. and had a wonderful turnout with everyone contributing various taste treats. Along with the great food, there were some great minerals that were happily swapped.
Numerous tables were set up to aid in stamping postcards for the show and for Kid Rock. Everyone pitched in, and the assembly lines were burning up. Much was accomplished; MSSC members can glue rocks onto paper with lightening speed.
The picnic ended at 7:00 p.m. Members left with new minerals and new memories.
Respectfully submitted by Ilia Lyles, Secretary
Minutes of the September Meeting
The 799th meeting of the Mineralogical Society of Southern California was held on Friday, September 10th in the Geology department at Pasadena City College. President Jo Anna Ritchey brought the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m.
First on the agenda for the evening was obtaining volunteers for the MSSC October 16th and 17th show. Various volunteers are needed to help set up display cases and for table skirting; anyone who is interested and can help should contact Janet Gordon, Jo Anna Ritchey, or James Kusely.
Next on the evening agenda was the premise of the entire meeting, and that was to remember H. Stanton Hill. H. Stanton Hill was a charter member of MSSC and a wonderful contributor to the world of mineralogy. Numerous friends and colleagues including Bruce Carter, George Rossman, Gus Meister, and Janet Gordon (who read e-mails submitted by others) shared kind words in front of the members about their past experiences with and memories of Hill. After the speakers an entertaining silent video was shown from a past field trip of Hill’s from 1939. It was an uplifting time in which everyone who attended was able to hear about a man who truly loved what he did.
Later in the evening everyone went down to the PCC mineral museum, courtesy of the former curator, our own Janet Gordon. The members and guests then enjoyed cake and refreshments while gazing upon gorgeous and rare mineral specimens in the museum.
The meeting was brought to a close at 8:38 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Ilia Lyles, Secretary
MSSC Board Meets in October
The MSSC Board of Directors will hold its quarterly meeting on Sunday, October 31, at 1:00 p.m. at the home of Rock Currier. Attendance by board members is essential as there are several important issues to discuss. This meeting is open to all Society members who would like to attend.
Are You Ready for the Show?
The behind the scenes crew under the able leadership of Justin Butt, show chair, has been working hard to produce a great show. In addition to all the seemingly endless traditional chores, the team taped a show commercial to be played on local cable TV, completely unloaded the MSSC trailer and sorted cases so that repairs could be made on the trailer, and expanded our targeted mailings to include hundreds of science teachers throughout Southern California.
Now we need to expand the team to include all Society members. Every member needs to attend the show and help, even if in the most modest way. This is the best way to thank your fellow members who have worked so hard! It's also how to show appreciation to the many friends of the Society who support the show. This includes this year's exhibit chair, many dealers, friends who are willing to display their minerals, teachers who send volunteers for Kid Rock, show speakers, and understanding relatives and friends of the show committee who have been pressed into service.
There is still time to volunteer, and you are needed! Contact Janet Gordon to sign up. Those who are on the volunteer schedule by October 8 will receive a free show T-shirt!
Show Speaker Schedule
Saturday, October 16
12:00 noon: Rick Kennedy of Earth's Treasures
"The Care and Feeding of Benitoite"
2:00 p.m. Ken
Gochenour of Gochenour Minerals
"A Portrait of Bert Simmons"
Sunday, October 17
12:00 noon: Rock Currier of Jewel Tunnel Imports
"Traveling in China"
Southern California Chapter of Friends of Mineralogy
Mineral Locality Symposium, October 23 & 24, 2004
The Southern California Chapter of the Friends of Mineralogy (SCFM) fall Mineral Locality Symposium will be held on Saturday, October 23, 2004, at the Riverside Municipal Museum. The field trip on Sunday will be to an active pegmatite mine in the northern Peninsular Range. The theme of the symposium is “Minerals from the Northern Peninsular Range Province,” which includes western Riverside County and San Diego County in southern California. Exhibits of Peninsular Range igneous and metamorphic minerals will be provided by SCFM members.
The program and speakers include:
10:00 Welcome James Bryant, Curator
10:10 Rock and Mineral Resources in Riverside County Dinah Shumway
10:35 History of Mining at Cajalco Dinah Shumway
11:00 Clintonite from Crestmore Curt Forrester
11:30 Hydrothermal Deposits in the Salton Trough Mike McKibben
12:00 - 1:30 Lunch Break SCFM meeting
1:30 Some Mineralogical Relationships between Pegmatites and Host Rocks in the Northern Peninsular Range Doug Morton
2:00 New Discoveries at the Fano Mine, Little Cahuilla Mtn. Ken Gochenour
2:30 Cryo Genie Pegmatite: Mineral Species Diversity Dana Gochenour
3:00 Field Trip Information
The Riverside Municipal Museum (951 - 826-5273) is located at 3580 Mission Inn Avenue, in Riverside. From the 91 Freeway, exit at University Avenue or Mission Inn Avenue and proceed westerly to Orange Street.
H. Stanton Hill: Memories Shared
The following are some of the memories of Stanton Hill that were shared at the September meeting.
From Bob Reynolds:
Stanton (Stan) implanted enthusiasm in all his students by showing examples of geology, mineral specimens, and adding glowing descriptions. We grew to have such great enthusiasm and outstanding field trips that one day, Stanton had to politely describe a hypothetical situation with the following words: "If you are bragging about your success as a hi-grader, remember that you are probably taking food off the plate of the mine owner that has worked long and hard on that pegmatite!" Stanton always had sobering words!
An enthusiastic student (later to be come mine geologist at a major California mine) brought several small, loose, euhedral crystals for Stanton to identify. Stan looked, then went to his loop, then to his microscope, then turned to the student, and with the only stern voice I have ever heard him use, said: Don't ever bring trinitrotoluene crystals to this class room again! [Trinitrotoluene is better known as TNT.]
Dana Club meetings were often at Stanton's house. One time, a guest speaker gave a WONDERFUL color slide presentation using his own photos and revolving around minerals in his collection. After applause, Stanton added: Another advantage to having a micromineral collection is that you can hand-carry the entire suite! Those of us that have self-storage rental fees, are facing a move, and wonder when we will find time to do all that trimming and photography, will long hear the echo of those words.
Stanton had advanced projects for Sophomores that included analysis, description and written report of the paragenesis of a mineral locality. I chose the Blue Bell Mine in San Bernardino County. Stanton, knowing the importance of prospecting, mining and freighting to the History of development in the Mojave Desert, had students write such in a chapter of the report. Unfortunately, I consistently misspelled "San Bernadino," and as he counseled me about the name St. Bernardine, the Mormon settlement below the sign of the Arrowhead, the division of San Diego into San Bernardino and then Riverside Counties, I learned Much More! Stanton filled me with information that I sorely needed as I went on to become Earth Science Curator of the San Bernardino County Museum. One of the greatest moments was the day that Roger brought Stanton and Mary to visit and we spent the greater part of the day touring displays, collections, curation systems, and every nook and cranny. I hope I made him proud!
From Rock Currier:
I did not know Stan Hill as well as I would have liked to, but would like to say that he was unfailingly generous with his time to anyone who was interested in minerals. Once he took me to visit the Hoover Library for a day. While he did his unpaid curatorial work on the collection, which he did for years, taking care of the books, like applying wax to old dried out leather bindings, etc., I lost myself in looking at the treasures in the library. He was the consummate teacher even then. He showed me the mis-pagination error that is one of the hallmarks of the first edition of De Rey Metalica, among other things. Books from his collection enrich my own today, including a most cherished letter signed "Benjamin Sillman, One of the professors, Yale College, 1833". It is a letter recommending one of his young students, James Dana, for a position as an assistant to one of the senior officers in the navy. He found it in a catalogue of autograph offerings and realized what it was and saved it from a fate we can only imagine.
It should also be mentioned that as part of his teaching position at Pasadena City College, he devised a test in mineralogy for the students that they all dreaded that consisted of several hundred small specimens of which, during two or three hours, they were require to identify as many as possible. A large portion of their grade in the class depended on how many of them they got correct. It was all site identification, but you could use scratch tests and a 10% solution of hydrochloric acid to identify them. Once I asked if I could go up and take the test along with the students, and there sweating it out along with the rest of the them, I did my best. It was a sobering experience to realize how many of them I could not identify. He is greatly missed.
From Bob Pedersen:
Stan always thought the collectors should get a break pertaining to specimens when it came to dispersing estates rather than sending them to museums or dealers. When the Vance collection was left to him dispose of and put the proceeds in the Van Amringe scholarship fund, he elected to price the minerals at a very low price and offer them to the collectors. Keith Harshbarger, Dick Bideaux and I priced out the collection and we had a successful sale in his back yard (not an auction as noted in the M.R). Probably the best ever for the collector.
Another one of Stan's strong points was systematic mineralogy, i.e. Dana System. I think a larger percentage of students coming throughPCC had a greater appreciation of systematic mineralogy than others across the country. And, Stan had a lot to do with that. Many of those at that time used the Dana System to organize their collections, and some still do.
From Dr. George Rossman, Professor of Mineralogy, Caltech:
After Stanton retired from Pasadena City College in 1973, he would occasionally visit Caltech and view our library and mineral collection. After we got to know his interests, we asked him to be our curator of collections. This position was, in particular, concerned with our minerals collection.
He served in this position beginning in August 1979 until the deterioration in his vision led him to retire in August 1988. During that time, he cataloged 3944 specimens that we acquired through gifts, trades and purchases. He also donated to our collection, 1777 specimens from his own collection.
As part of his duties as curator, he re-organized our collection. He went through our entire collection of minerals and gems and integrated several independent, parallel collections into a single collection with individual specimen numbers. This included the Oke collection, the Fargo collection, the main Caltech collection, his donated collection, and a number of smaller donated collections. His knowledge of geologic history was very valuable for improving the accuracy and documentation of sample localities.
He also went through the collection and identified excess material, poorly documented, or fully undocumented specimens. After more than a year of work, we ended up giving away, trading or selling about 1/4 of the collection. The result is a much better collection with significantly improved documentation. The documentation he prepared was in a form that made it possible for us at a later date to much more easily enter the collection into a computer database.
He donated journal collections for our collection room that remain of value for researching the specimens. These included extensive runs of Mineralogical Record, California Journal of Mines and Geology, and American Mineralogist.
His knowledge of geological books and literature also contributed to the well being of our library. After an episode of vandalism in the library, he went through our collections and identified rare and valuable books that should be withdrawn from the stacks and stored in a secure, locked environment.
In addition to these duties, on a day-to-day basis, he frequently helped students and faculty looking for a particular type of specimen for a variety of research projects.
Stan was a true professional. We were very sorry when the time came that he had to retire. His legacy lives on in a much better organized research collection, and donated samples that have already been part of the thesis research of several students and faculty.
2004 Calendar of Events
October 9-10, Antioch, Antioch Lapidary Club, Contra Costa Fairgrounds, 10th and L Streets - in the Flower Bldg , Hours: 10-5 both days, Ramona Bond ibmomobond@yahoo.com.
October 9-10, Grass Valley, Nevada County Gem & Mineral Society, Nevada County Fairgrounds, Main Exhit Hall - 11228 McCourtney Rd, Hours: 10-5 both days, Cliff Swenson (530) 272-3752.
October 9-10, Lakeside, El Cajon Valley Gem and Minerals, Lakeside Rodeo Grounds, 12584 Mapleview Road. Hours: 10-5 both days, Peggy Bowery (619) 561-7684 / docsgirl9@aol.com.
October 9-10, Trona, Searles Lake Gem & Mineral Society, Searles Lake Gem & Min. Show Bldg., 13337 Main Street, Hours: Sat. 7:30-5; Sun. 7:30-4, Bonnie Fairchild (760) 372-5356.
October 16-17, Southern California Gem and Mineral Show, Long Beach Convention Center, presented by the Mineralogical Society of Southern California. Hours: Sat. & Sun 10-6. Justin Butt, minwreck@hotmail.com.
October 22-24, Riverside, Valley Prospectors of San Bernardino, Rancho Jurupa Park; 4800 Crestmore, Hours: Sat. 9-5; Sun. 9-4, Alice Corey (909) 864-8320, Email: ALPENNYMAE@AOL.COM.
October 23-24, Southern California Chapter of Friends of Mineralogy: Mineral Locality Symposium, Riverside. See article in this issue.
Nov. 6-7, Oxnard, Oxnard Gem & Mineral Society, Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Hours: Sat 9-5 Sun 9-4, Norb Kinsler (805) 644-6450.
Nov 6-7, Ridgecrest, Indian Wells Gem & Mineral Society, Desert Empire Fairgrounds, Mesquite Hall, 520 S. Richmond Road, Hours: 9-5 both days, John De Rosa (760) 375-7905.
Nov. 12-14, Sacramento, Sacramento Mineral Society, Scottish Rite Center, 6151 H Street, Hours: Fri. 9-5; Sat. 10-6; Sun. 10-4, Boyd Lasater (916) 455-7075, Email: fosback@aol.com.
November 12-14, West Coast Gem and Mineral Show, Costa Mesa Holiday Inn, 3131 S. Bristol St., Hours Fri. & Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5. mz0955@aol.com, www.mzexpos.com.
Nov. 13 & 14, 25th Annual New Mexico Mineral Symposium, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico; a 2-day symposium of mineral talks and more. For details call Virgil Lueth (505) 835-5140 or see:
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/education/museum/minsymp/home.html
Nov. 6-7, Anaheim, American Opal Society, Anaheim Clarion Hotel, 616 W. Convention Way, Hours: 10-5 both days,Fran Todd (310) 721-5614 / Toddle@aol.com.
Nov. 13-14, Palmdale, Palmdale Gem & Mineral Club, Palmdale Elks Lodge, 2705 East Ave.Q, Hours: Sat. 9 – 5; Sun. 9 – 4, Gail Becker (661) 285-3958.
Nov. 20-21, Livermore, Livermore Valley Lithophiles, The Barn - (next to Civic Center), Pacific Ave. at So. Livermore Ave., Hours: Sat. 10 - 5; Sun.: 10 - 4, Joyce Friesen (925) 447-8223.
Nov. 20-21, Victorville, Victor Valley Gem and Mineral Club, San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, 14800 Seventh St., Victorville, Hours: Sat. 9 - 5; Sun.: 9 - 4, Mavis Mushaney (760) 241-8282.
Nov. 27-28 2004, Barstow, Mojave Desert Gem & Mineral Society, Barstow Community Center, 841 South Barstow Road, Hours: 10 - 5 both days, Bob Depue (760) 255-1030.
