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The ClubPUB  05/21/2018

5/21/2018

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The Club
PUBlication

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Come with us (my son Christopher, granddaughter  Stephannie, and me).  Help us mine precious stones in Franklin, North Carolina.  ​The weather was cool and overcast in the early morning hours, but by noon, it was HOT with a clear sky!
                          Sharon

The Mine

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The mine is located in Franklin, North Carolina, which is in the southwestern part of the state. It is only ten miles from the Appalachian Trail.
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What one does upon arriving at the mine is to, of course, pay at the counter; but then one procedes to the "panning area" which consists of a long trough with running water, long benches on which to sit, and a huge pile of dirt from which one fills his/her pails.
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Christopher was kind enough to fill Stephannie's and my buckets with dirt which we sifted through in hopes of finding "treasures".
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We are almost ready to begin at this point in time. We've staked out where we want to spend the day with our pails, food, water and camera bags!
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The sun gets intense during the day, so everyone greased up!
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We are finally ready to begin! Three happy campers sharing in some family fun: grand-daughter, Stephannie; son, Christopher; and yours truly.


​Now Down to Work!

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Stephannie caught on quickly. I can't believe this little girl could maneuver the heavy wooden strainer--Grandma couldn't! She used a colander.
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After a lot of shaking and dipping into the water, Stephannie found a couple of treasures.
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A couple of hours later and finding nothing, Dad slipped a huge piece of quartz into her bucket!
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Christopher, who has been doing this for several years, is able to fill the strainer, dip, swirl, rinse, repeat and toss in no time. It took me two days to get a pile this high!
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Part of the uniform is a pair of gloves because, not only is the water cold, but the clay-rich soil is very drying.
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Finally it was Grandma's turn to find something other than dirt. It's a good thing because I was getting a little disappointed!

Chris finds something!

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Christopher proclaims, "Hey guys, take a look at this!" To me, it looked like a bunch of clay-coated rocks, but, as it turned out, it definitely was a keeper! It might have been the one of which the final photo was taken.
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You are able to tell from the smile, there's something special in one of the hands, but which hand?
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Stephannie shows off her three sapphires and a garnet. KEEP IN MIND, THESE STONES ARE UNCUT AND UNPOLISHED--THIS IS HOW SAPPHIRES AND OTHER GEMS LOOK IN THEIR RAW STATE.
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I'm all smiles because this MIGHT be a future ring!

That's All Folks!

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When we got to the parking lot at the end of the 2nd day, this is what was waiting for us! After all, this is backwoods country!
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Chris, Stephannie and I sorted out our gems with the use of a black light and Dad's guidance.
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Among the kinds of stones we found were garnets, sapphires and rubies, along with many other semi-precious types. Black lights help to identify rubies which glow a brilliant reddish- pink, as contrasted with the ones adjacent to the ruby.
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This is a picture of one of Christopher's best finds! This 10 Karat ruby and two smaller rubies were all cut and polished from one stone!
I am really hoping I'm invited back for the trip next spring!  This was fun and interesting!

​Sharon


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