Collecting Copper Included Agates Field Trip Report

Keweenaw Collecting - Copper Included Agates

Ted and I headed up to Houghton, Michigan on Monday August 4th after work. We
arrived at our motel about 10:30 pm. I took us about 3 1/2 hours from Stevens Point,
WI. Our plan is to tool around for copper on Tuesday and take a drive to Copper
Harbor.

Tuesday, August 5th.
We were up and at em' by 7am. Went to Perkins for breakfast
in Houghton, and were off for a day of collecting by 8:30. We
tooled around a few mine sites for the most of the day on
Tuesday working our way to Copper Harbor. We got side
tracked in Eagle River and found ourselves sitting on the shore
of Lake Superior.
Ted skipped some stones and I cooled down in the Lake. I had
only had planned to get my feet wet, but the water was so nice.
I was soon up to my waste. We diddled there for an hour or two.

We had collected a couple nice pieces of copper and about a
handful of nodules that we hammered out of the Basalt. As the
day was ending and we needed to get dinner and a shower
before we headed up to the Quincy Mine for the rock swap in
the parking lot starting at 7 pm.
We arrived at the swap a little early! (Only bout' a 1/2 hour.)
Figured that was ok as we were not the first ones to arrive. We
met up with some old friends and talked rock and minerals. I of
course found a few things to buy. A group of us decided that we
would collect at the Wolverine #2 for copper included agates.
Small they may be, but they are pretty little........... Agates.

Thursday, August 7th
We drove around for what seemed to be
hours, trying to track down a contact person
to get permission to go on a mine dump that
was privately owned. We wanted to collect
Datolite at this particular mine. However we
gave up after an hour or 2 of driving around
with no luck, so we settled for the LaSalle
mine dump. We had a tailgate lunch before
we headed out to the piles of Basalt.
We spent about 5 hours pounding the basalt
at the LaSalle with the Reeds. (Jan, Matthew
and little Brandon) For a toddler Brandon
had no problem with the uneven terrain, and
Matthew is a trouper. He pounded the basalt
all day and never tired. (A true rock hound in
training)
From what we could see they were mostly
calcite and some were included with copper.
I know this cause the hammer missed and hit
a few nodules instead of the basalt, a few
times and I hit my finger. By the end of the
day my index and middle finger were
bruised. It only hurt for a little bit!
We ended the day with a tailgate dinner of
ham and turkey sandwiches and chips.
Even though we have spent 2 days with Jan
and the boys collecting. Brandon was still the
shy little boy when it came to Ted and I.
However, that came crashing down when Ted
found and picked some wild berries, Brandon
melted like butta........ He held the bowl while
we picked. The bowl must have had a
hole.........cause every time we turned to put
some in it, they were gone!!!............

A Great ending to our day.........Thanks Jan,
Matthew and Brandon for making our week a
fun one!!!

Wednesday, August 6th
Up for breakfast and out collecting by 11am.
I know not so much an early start, but after all this is a vacation so I slept in. Ted walked
along the lake drinking coffee waiting for me to get out and about' (He's an early riser)
After breakfast we went to the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum for the specimen sale. I
bought a pretty little Fluorite Specimen from Mexico. A Nice specimen for a nice price.
Of course we went thru the museum before we met up with some friends for our dig.
The cell phone rang a 1/4 till 11 am. The group was ready to go. Good thing they called as
we lost track of time.........ok, I mean I lost track of time. Ted was waiting for me! We met
up with the group at about 11am and headed off to the Wolverine. We spent a long day
pounding out the little agate nodules out of the hard Basalt At the end of the day we had 2
handfuls. Hopefully 1 out of the hand full will have some copper inclusions.