I also found what is obviously Epidote on Quartz, but Epidote isn't listed on the Mindat.com list of minerals for the Republic Mine.

Here is the best shot I could get of a combination of Dolomite crystals, Epidote, and Quartz.

As we were wrapping up around 1:00 it started to sprinkle. I was beat, and by then, my van was about full to capacity. I gave my thanks, and we all drove back down the same way we came. I returned to Van Riper and had a late lunch. After lunch I returned to the Ropes Mine area for some photos.

While there is noticed a shed snake skin, and soon found the one who cast it off.

It wasn't long before thunderclouds were coming my way, and I wanted to get off that plateau with all those iron tools, so I drove into town and bought a 6" sub for dinner, and returned to camp. It rained during dinner so afterword I settled in an read the book on local mining history which is filled with great old photos of mining in the early days. There is a detailed first hand account of the Barnes-Hecker Mine disaster in November 1926 that claimed the lives of 51 men. They were killed when the shaft filled with quicksand. A testament to the hardships of early mining. All while I read, my noisy neighbors had been going at it again, and I decided enough was enough. At 8:00pm when it was time to call Litha, I stopped at the office and changed camp sights to what I hoped would be a quieter area, but my new neighbors were right next door this time, and they were just as bad. To make a long story short, I didn't get to sleep until about 1:30am, and I had a 7 hour drive home the next day.

Sunday, June 25

I got up at 7:00am and was finished with breakfast by 8:00. With time to kill before the big rock sale at the museum, I made one last trip to the Champion mine and did a little more in depth searching. I got a photo of the silver Hematite road up at the mine.

While searching, I found a mostly buried boulder with Schorl that someone had broken a piece off of.

I decided it wouldn't be too hard to excavate with my large pry bar, and eventually got it to the surface where I could knock some good pieces off it.

After this I took a break and decided what to do with the rest of my morning. On our previous trip we located the Lucy Hill Luge track that was built on and around the old Lucy Hill mine dump areas. At that time we didn't have time to explore it, but this day I did, so I drove to Negaunee and the bottom of the Luge track. The hike wasn't difficult, but the day was warming up, and about half way up I found a wooded orv path that led off to the left that looked cool and was in the direction of the Lucy mine, so I walked that way and found at least one possible digging spot. Time was running out, I never made it to the top of the Luge, and I returned to Ishpeming, and Bancroft Park for lunch. I drove into the Cliffs Shaft parking lot around 1:00 with the sale officially starting at 1:30. People were already filing in so I followed, and entered the rock room, where the collection of the late Harry Dryer was on display. The collection had been inherited by Harry's son who wasn't a rock collector, so he chose to make it available for the first time to members of the club. The collection consisted of hundreds of micros, nice larger specimens from all over the world, a binocular microscopic camera ($300), an old belt driven craftsman rock saw ($150), and many text and reference books on minerals. I bought an old book on jewelry repair, a possible future interest of mine. I also bought a few nice specimens including a pair of Alaskan Garnets in matrix.

Some nice Amethyst from Ontario.

A couple of nice micros including this pink Tourmaline from California.

And finally, Rhodochrosite from Marquette Co. Michigan.

At around 2:00 I paid for my items and said goodbye to Ishpeming for a while. I filled up on gas, and bought two Mountain Dews to help fuel the drive home. I stopped at two roadside parks for a breather and to stretch my legs, stopped again in Gaylord for a Wendy's potato around 6:00, and dragged myself through the door at home around 8:50pm. It was quite an endurance test, but I would do it all over again, and will, for an even longer trip in August. 'Till then, I need some R&R.

Jim Adams