Dolomite Products Quarry
Penfield, New York
May 14, 2005
By Jay Loch
jay6380@yahoo.com
This was my first time going to a Dolomite Products
Quarry in Penfield N.Y. Di and I loaded the van up
Friday before the kids got out of school, then headed
up with Chris and Kathryn. We arrived in Penfield
around 10 pm and was asleep by 11 pm. And as will
happen, our neighbors started making load noises and
woke Di and I up around 12. Why, I don't know, but I
just couldn't go back to sleep! Finally, at 5:30 am I
managed to get to sleep, only to awaken at 6 to start
the day.
We arrived at the Quarry around 6:30 am to see Dale
and Barb Walker unloading the truck. I had previously
been talking and emailing Dale about this trip, as he
was the one who posted it here at McRocks. Al O was
going to drive up with me but he had to cancel at the
last minute.
The weather was great, overcast and mid 60's perfect
weather for breaking rock! There was probably around
30 rockhounds that made this outing. We had a brief
overview of safety with management and off we went!
We were restricted to the top level, but there was
plenty of rock to go around. The main pile was on the
right as we parked and that's were everybody collected
for most of the day. I started off there also and
found crystallized Dolomite pockets everywhere, but no
Fluorite.
This Quarry is noted for its Fluorite, and most
people search only for that mineral. Myself, being the
first time there, was actually happy to find Dolomite!
I stayed on the main pile, happily cracking dolomite out
of the limestone when Di came over and wanted me to
crack something out of a boulder. She said she found
some Smoky Quartz! She had wondered over to the other
side of the rubble pile were nobody was collecting, as
it was not the Fluorite zone material. So I stopped and went to investigate. What she
really found was some very nice crystallized brown
Calcite!
Then she found a large pocket of Dolomite and
Calcite for me to stay busy on!
There even ended up being some clear Fluorite on the
right side, I didn't even notice that till I got it
home!
While I was working on the above piece she came over
and showed me some really great pieces of Selenite
that she had just pulled out of a pocket. Below is a
great matrix Selenite.
Below is a great Selenite piece that is 1.5 inches
thick and " window pane " clear.
There is also some very nice Calcite and Dolomite
crystal inclusions in it!
Here is another nice piece of Selenite that Di also
brought over. It is a whole piece that is not cracked
that had been lying on the ground that had just "
popped out " ! It has a crystal covered matrix on the
back side, but they cant be seen clearly because the
surface is etched.
And heresy another whole Selenite.
While I was busy cracking rock, Dale and Barb drove
over and started collecting there also.
Report continued . . . . . . .
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