Preston, GA - goethite // Lagrange, Ga - rose quartz, schorl, quartz crystals
September 30 - October 1-2, 2005
The Jacksonville Gem and Mineral Society had a scheduled field trip on Friday, September 30
to Preston, Georgia to prospect for goethite geodes. A meeting place in downtown Preston at 12:00 pm in front of the courthouse was prearranged.
We left about 12:20 and headed north on 41 toward Buena Vista. We checked several roadcuts and previous locations and found some
nice areas to collect. We finished up around 5:00 and headed to Columbus for the evening.
Gary patiently waiting in front of the Preston courthouse.
Paula looking at a piece of goethite.
Some of the goethite collected.
We got checked into our hotel in Columbus and headed out to a chinese buffet dinner.
We went to bed early, so we would be ready to leave at 7:00am Saturday morning toward Lagrange. We stopped at
Smith's Crossroads store to see if anyone else would be joining us for the day. But when no one showed, we headed down to the Hogg Mine.
It only took a couple of minutes to reach the mine, and anxiously we checked Rodney's map and compared it to Gary Maddox's map to try to
figure out good spots to collect. The No.l pegmatite was out front and, as the information said, this is where the schorl
crystals were found. We quickly checked out the dump where the aqua was being found, and then walked down to the rose
quartz collecting area.
The dump at the front of the Hogg Mine.
A close look at the dump pile.
Schorl(black tourmaline) collecting area.
The road inside the old pit.
Russ, from Wisconsin, digging rose quartz.
A rose quartz seam in the quartz core.
When we arrived at the rose quartz area, we saw Russ, a collector from Wisconsin, who came
down for the weekend to collect. About the same time another collector from Griffin, Ga came in to join us for the day.
After we scoped out the area, we headed up to the schorl area. We were able to find several nice size boulders
that we were able to break up to find some of the black tourmaline crystals. Due to the leveling of the surface we were unable to locate a promising
area to dig, so we headed down to the rose quartz collecting area. In that area Rodney has exposed the large quartz core of the pegmatite that
have large seams of beautiful rose quartz. Some of the quartz lenses in the seam were up to four inches across and fracture free.
Before leaving for the day, I tried my hand at the dump for beryl. Knowing that beryl in the dump is scarce due to the fact that
beryl is what they were mining, I was only able to find one small piece; however, Paula managed to find some beryl including a small
crystal at the schorl collecting area. Gary, Paula and I checked several areas looking for promising areas to collect,
but years of mining and overgrowth made areas on the map almost impossible to locate.
A few pieces of the rose quartz collected.
Some of the schorl collected near the road.
Paula left around 4:00 to head back to Jacksonville. Gary and I hung around until 6:00pm
and then headed back to Columbus. Russ was still at the mine hard at work when we left. For dinner, we luckily found the Country's Barbeque restaurant.
Not only were we supplied with excellent food including fried pickles, but we also had live entertainment from a local country/western
band. Again, we crashed early to leave again at 7:00am to head for the quartz crystal mine near Smith's Crossroads.
The road into the quartz area.
The "parking" area.
Not expecting anyone to join us for the day at the quartz mine, we still waited patiently at
the store until about 8:15am. We pulled out of the parking lot and a few seconds later we were on the small road leading to the
crystal mine. Driving on this road was one of the most exciting parts of the trip because it turns into a high clearance vehicle
road before you reach the mine. We collected at this site until 12:00 and then I got cleaned up to head for Jacksonville. Gary, being
a real enthusiast, stayed in the area and did some more prospecting. We had a great time, and I would like to thank Rodney Moore
for giving us the opportunity to collect in a historic mine and a newly opened quartz crystal location. Anyone that would like to
visit these sites can contact Rodney Moore through his website at Dixie Euhedrals.
