Houghton

Houghton-How cool is this?

Bonnie says I should write about our latest adventures hunting rocks in “da U.P.”, and who am I to argue. I love Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. When most people think of Michigan, Detroit comes to mind, or the Great Lakes. If you have never been to the Keweenaw area, you have missed the best part of Michigan. Michigan is really a huge state. Someone told me if you drove from Detroit to Copper Harbor it would take at least twelve hours. We live 100 miles from the Mackinac (pronounced “mackinaw” for you non-Michiganders) Bridge and it takes us about seven hours with stops to get to the Keweenaw.

Most of the old mine dumps can be hunted using any vehicle, but to get out in the “bush” you need a 4WD vehicle. Bonnie and I like to two-track, so my trusty truck is the ticket for getting around. Just off the road near Eagle Harbor are some two tracks that lead to what the locals call Thomsonite Hill. It is not on the map so you have to find a local rockhound and ask. For U.P. Thomsonite , which is really Prehnite, look for ugly white nodules. You will have to take these nuggets home to see what you have. You can chip off the edges and see if you have some pastel colors. Some of this stuff is gorgeous! Bonnie and I had good luck finding some in our normal “hole”. Some of this material has flecks of copper in it, making it really cool!

Beautiful "U.P. Thomsonite"

A great greenstone/prehnite!

We have been up hunting twice. The first time was for two weeks. The second time, over the Labor Day weekend. We had great success both times. We hunted with our new rockhound buddy Chris from Holland, Michigan, the first time we went up. The most humorous thing is when Chris showed me a nodule he had found. This was just a piece of basalt, but I had the feeling there was more to that rock than met the eye. I tapped the rock with my hammer and it split to reveal a nice big Greenstone. I handed it back to Chris and told him he might want to put this one in his pocket! We had a laugh that he almost threw the best stone of the day away. I think he will admit he was more alert after that find. Chris is fairly new to rockhounding, but to say he is “avid” is an understatement. He found two datolites, so I’m almost afraid to show him any more of my spots lest they get mined out. He doesn’t miss much. Bonnie and I made three trips to this greenstone hole and found some nice Greenstones each time. Datolite Scoreboard: Chris-2, Bonnie-1, Don-zip!(Ouch)

Chris with one of his Datolites

The best Greenstone from this trip (so far)

I did better buying material than hunting it. When you find a local miner that is ready to liquidate some good stuff, it is a nice opportunity. I acquired some nice greenstones from one, and some nice Datolite from others. Mesnard Datolite is considered the finest in the area because of its vivid red/orange/yellow colors. The Mesnard mine pile is private and has been closed to hunting for a couple years, so finding someone that has some of that material is always a treat. I expected to pay good money for this Datolite, and I did. I will be making some jewelry soon and will post some for sale on this site. This stuff is “killer”, so you Datolite lovers will want to keep watch for new pendants.

Another new find material we mined are Copper Included agates. These are a fairly recent discovery. They are small pinkish agates with copper replacing some of the banding. They are only found in a certain colored rock, and grow in the amygdaloidal basalt just like other Lake Superior Agates do. You find them as small round dark nuggets. You generally cannot tell if you have an included agate or a calcite ball. So you have to take them home and cut them in half to see. The really nice ones are valued well in excess of $100. I think if you see any of these, you should snatch them up. They are very rare and beautiful. The supply is limited and only a couple miners are finding them.

A copper included agate (but not a great one)

One of the miners actually hired a bunch of diggers to excavate an old tailings pile just to find a few of these agates.

They are only found in the Kersarge Lode, so far, and they require digging, digging , and more digging to find.

While we were near Lake Superior winds were severe a couple days. The waves on the lake are actually surfable if you don’t mind drowning. After these blows is a great time to go agate hunting. We found a few nice little “Lakers”, but did not look real hard. I expect if we had wanted to, we could have driven further off the beaten path and obtained many more.

Another piece of news is that the largest piece of float copper ever found has been moved from the Keweenaw to Marquette, where it is on display in the park. I understand it is approximately 40 tons. WOW! See the story at:

www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/548147.html – Cached

We left the copper in the U.P. this time, except for some small copper crystals that I need to clean up. I also acquired some nice silver-copper half-breeds to make some pendants out of.

WOW! what a great Halfbreed.

I should mention we do sell native copper by the piece or pound if you would like some for your collection. I am open to barter on these copper pieces. Call or E-mail me. I have cleaned and untouched material.

I appreciate your feedback, but lately I’ve been getting spammed frequently. Fortunately I edit all your comments and/or OK them for posting, so don’t expect to see any comments posted immediately. If you spam me, don’t expect me to post your meaningless gibberish.