What are the chances of climbing a mile up a mountain to go rock- hounding for quartz crystals and who should be sitting there, but a young man from Rocky Point LI NY. One town away from where I came from. When we said hi and asked how they were doing, I thought I heard the LI accent. He said he almost moved to Ithaca for awhile but didn't. His parents fought to keep the power plant in Shoreham from going on line and said he liked North Country Road. A friend of his has a gem shop on Broadway in Rocky Point.
Mt Ida, Arkansas is the quartz crystal capitol of the world. Today we went to the reclaimed mine of Crystal Vista to try our hand at rock hounding. A local miner and the Forest Service worked together and instead of rehabilitating the old mine site they made it into a recreational area for the public. They stabilized the slopes and planted grass seed to prevent erosion. Anything you find is yours to keep but you cannot sell it. Tomorrow we are going to a commercial mine to dig around some more.
Very pretty! The girls would have been very happy to have found those instead of the nothing we found at crater of diamonds.
ReplyDeleteRemember Ruggles Mine in New Hampshire???? Wasn't that great digging for gold ?
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