**** Excerpt from the Field Trip Journal of John Cornish ****
5/7 - 5/12/1995
... It's a quarter after 10:00 p.m. and I'm sitting in an arcade/restaurant area just off from the casino. We arrived yesterday after a one hour and five minute flight out of Sea-Tac. We picked up our rental car and then checked in. We ate a $6.99 prime rib buffet at the El Dorado for dinner and did a little gambling, we really didn't stay up too terribly late. Monday morning we were up early to catch the 8:00 a.m buffet when it opened. From here we went to the grocery store and then were off to Hallelujah Junction (This was the name we first knew the locality by previous to our using Petersen Mountain as a locality designation... JC) for a bit of digging. We drove our rental Dodge as far as we could before we lost traction just below the upper parking lot above the camping area on the California side. We scrapped and bumped and drove off-road through brush and sage to get there too! I doubt the rental agency would be impressed. We hiked up the hill making our way slowly to the top and then over to the tailing pile where we set to work. It was obvious we were not going to be as lucky as we had been a few years back when we first came here. The pile had been picked rather clean. After about an hour or so two trucks drove up and through the locked gate to the claims. I went up top to meet the mine owners and met Jon Johnson and Ed Christensen of Hallelujah Mining and Exploration Company. They work the claim just to the side of Foster's (where we'd previously dug... JC) and proved to be very nice. We talked for awhile and then I went back to collecting with Gloria. We didn't find anything really of worth, a couple of scepters and lots of singles and shards. Nothing encouraging for sure, So after digging for awhile and then eating lunch and collecting a bit more, I decided to head to the other claim to say hi. Well, long story short, they missed a pocket with the backhoe till I called out I'd spotted something. Reaching down I brought up the first of five big purple multiply terminated, doubly terminated crystals. I also spotted several other pieces including a four inch scepter which they were very excited over. I called to Gloria and got her looking and in minutes she spots the biggest one yet, a huge purple thing which must have been at least 4 x 6 inches. After about an hour or so, we all decided to go and we were invited back for tomorrow. We got the second biggest piece for a few bucks ($45.00), but they let us keep some nice little things and gave us a ride down the hill to our car. Really nice guys, we had a nice day. The weather had been slightly overcast, but that didn't stop me from getting burnt on both my face and neck. We spotted five deer and saw a huge ground squirrel, a hawk and a lizard. We came back and showered and then hit the Jacuzzi. Then we were off for another prime rib dinner followed by a relaxing evening.
Tuesday morning. We met up with Ed in Bordertown at the restaurant and then headed up to the mine where Jon was already at work. Things started off great with half a dozen scepters showing up. And then the big one. This amethyst doubly terminated crystal was approximately 8 x 4 1/2 inches and was discovered sitting with a thin layer of sandy decomposed granite dirt barely covering it in the shovel of the backhoe. It was incredible watching Ed brush away the dirt exposing more and more crystal. It's a great piece and the biggest I've ever seen from here. We dug for about six or so hours and then called it quits heading to Ed's house where we were offered some specimens from the days collecting. We selected some of the bigger pieces and a few of the smaller perfect points. We were then invited over to Jon's place on Thursday evening where we'll be able to see the biggest crystal that they've collected, a big purple scepter head which if I remember correctly, they said weighed 21 pounds! I can't wait to see this one! After this, I spent the evening talking with contacts who we'd see tomorrow, Wednesday.
Wednesday we went out to eat breakfast at the El Dorado buffet and then went sightseeing going to Virginia City where we drove Six Mile Canyon, walked into a mine's property and bought peanut brittle on the boardwalk. Carson City was next where we went through the State Museum in the old Mint Building. >From here back to Reno and a visit with mineral dealer Harvey Gordon. We viewed some of his materials both those purchased and those he'd collected, primarily amazonite, topaz and smoky quartz from his Zapot Claim (Topaz spelt backwards). From here I visited with Martin Jensen for a few hours. He kindly provided me with a few localities which we might or might not collect from in the next few days. I should probably mention that the weather has been real decent varying from sunny to sunny and overcast days with the winds rising in the evenings. I got burnt on the first day out collecting and have been paying ever since.
Thursday and it's a little bit colder and they're talking about rain. We started the day off by going to the $3.99 breakfast buffet and then to the University of Nevada's John Mackay School of Mines Geological Museum. Here we walked the two floors with their endless mineral specimen ores and crystals from the State and abroad (The third floor was closed for renovation... JC). We filtered through faster than I expected and were soon on the road to Lake Tahoe. At the summit of Mt. Rose at 8,914 feet the snow was still over 6 feet deep. The clouds lay thick around the lake and near a fire lookout road, at a spot where we had a clear view of the lake, only one small bay area showed the vibrant blue-green color the lake is so well known for. All the rest of the lake was dark gray with choppy swells from the gusting winds. It started to rain off and on for most of the way back into Reno as we drove on Highway 80. The valley we drove through coming from Tahoe was a spectacularly beautiful place. A bubbling river follows the roadway reminding me of the Gallatin Valley of Montana without the high cliffs. A beautiful drive. Once in Reno we heard the news forecasting snow for Friday and we decided to call it quits and get out before the storm hit. We got on a flight leaving Reno at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. We had a message waiting for us when we returned from Ed confirming dinner at Jon's. So we prepared to go out by first relaxing and going to the Jacuzzi again. We drove over to Jon and his wife Noni's house and were soon met there by Ed. The dinner was the best of our vacation and was really fantastic. Fresh just driven over the Sierra's salmon from California, a rice dish, asparagus, bread and a salad. It was unbelievably good and both Gloria and I went on and on about it. After dinner we were shown the Johnson's collection. The 21 pounder was very impressive but I must say, the 15 pound scepter head was my favorite. This was about 7 inches wide and 8 inches long with a small milky shank about 1-3/4 inches wide going into a large mushroom like purple head. Awesome piece. We talked for a few hours and then headed back around 11:45 p.m.
Friday we woke up to snow all around us and with snow reported for the valley floor later that day. We caught the 9:30 a.m. out of Reno. We were originally going to stay until Monday and it would have been nice to have made it to some new places but oh well... there's always next time! This was a great trip and we had a good time.
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Well, there you have it, I hope you've enjoyed coming along for this year's 2008 Petersen Mountain collecting adventure and as equally, enjoyed stepping back to re-explore one of our older grand adventures from the days of long, long ago. Jon and Ed, as always, continue to be the best of hosts and the best of friends. Truly, we've been blessed! Thanks guys and we'll see you soon again. All the very best,
John
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