FMF - Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Ed Huskinson]

We're "zonies", off to San Diego for vacation. They call Arizonans who escape the summer heat by flocking to the area "Zonies". We have T-shirts and everything....

Here's a photo of a rock so this will get past Jordi's scrutiny.

The specimen was given to me by Sr. Alphonso Miranda, the guy who originally discovered and mined the wulfenite at the "San Francisco Mine" (which is actually the name of the claim). He sold it by the railroad carload for it's lead content. At the railroad station as the material was being loaded, Jose Kovrig recognized the specimen potential of the wulfenite, and took a lease on the mine. This specimen came from an area high in the vein system, above the big glory hole that was developed there. It was collected by Alphonso personally. His gift of it to me is a testimony to our friendship. It is noteworthy not only for the story, but also for the associated quartz crystals. I treasure it, and am proud to share it here in the Forum.

More later,

Ed

[Peter]

Ed
Thanks for sharing the story of this lovely wulfenite on quartz.
Sorry I missed you when I was in Kingman in April.

[Tony L. Potucek]

Hi, Ed,
You're not kidding--that specimen is from the near surface portion of the mine. Wulfenite on crystallized quartz xls is very unusual from there. Over the years that I was involved on the wulfenite collecting projects (1975-1994), I compiled a collection of about 50 pieces, which are all keyed into the underground maps that I prepared during that time. Don't get over-excited yet--not all of the pieces are top shelf. I collected them as a geologist and as a collector. There are different styles and associations. But a geologically minded hombre like yourself would probably enjoy seeing them sometime, with the maps, so head east, young man. Good tequila awaits....

Although I visited the stopes open to the surface on Cerro Prieto, I did not map them because the owner/leasor interest was collectable wulfenite in large quantity. Specimens like yours were pretty rare in the veins up high, albeit present in localized small areas. Coupled with the economic factor of those employing my services and the overpowering fumes from the bat guano in many stope areas, I didnt get to spend as much time in them as I would have liked. One of the more memorable times that I remember from mapping and sampling the main 1080 level was walking down a dead-end crosscut, with an ever increasing number of bats flying and actually bouncing off me, and then the light from my head lamp illuminating a pure white cockroach amidst a moving mass of other cockroaches. When the stench finally drove me to turn around, I was still shedding cockroaches off my pants and socks all the way out of the mine. I found one still in my shirt pocket outside the mine. He was happy to find some new territory without so much competition, I'm sure!

Salud, Amigo,
tlp