Schiess: Local rock club sells their treasures

After 10 organized field trips and hours of preparing finished stones, the Idaho Falls Gem and Mineral Society will be holding their 6th Annual Rockhounds’ Rock, Gem and Jewelry Sale on October 8. The sale will be at the Pinecrest Event Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature rock artists from the club. There is a $3.00 admission with children under 12 admitted free.

The show is the culminating activity of a very active club that meets the second Monday of most months in Idaho Falls. They also have a learning day where new members are taught how to finish gems, knap arrowheads, and build jewelry.

As a kid while hiking around and exploring I always came home with a pocket full of rocks. I had an uncle who was in to lapidary and I found working with rocks fascinating but never got too interested in it. One of the last activities with my father and uncle was hunting for garnets near Henrys Lake.

After retiring from teaching I got into rocks a little more seriously. I joined the club a year ago and have enjoyed the field trips organized to help newbies identify types of rocks and where to find the semi-precious gems. Each field trip has a wagon master who is knowledgeable about the area and the types of rocks available that leads from 15 to 30 people. The club has several claims where members can collect rocks and these claims are visited each year as part of the field trips.

The first field trip of the year was a three-day affair to the Moore/Mackay area to the club’s Hammond Canyon claim and the surrounding area. Club president Gerry Gibeault had opened his property at Moore for camping and evening socials after a day of hunting rocks. Jim Bosley, the club field trip chairman, led 30 members, about a third of them being beginners, to the claim looking mostly for agate and jasper. Buckets were filled with a few gems and a lot of “leaverites,” those rocks that should have been left right where they were found.

Root beer agate, seam agate and green jasper were the prizes most beginners were looking for while the more experienced rockers kept little and looked for the “piece to make the day.” About half of the group stayed at Gibeault’s for the three days while some like me had Sunday duties and headed home, tired but pleased with the experience.

Organized field trips are not the only gatherings as many of the experienced collectors take a day or two to explore areas where the geology suggests gems may be present. Several times during the summer I was invited by these members to join them on their exploration day trips. These trips usually end up being a lot of walking, climbing with little collecting but occasionally a pocket of undocumented gems will be found. This is the way most of the claims owned by the club have been found.

Interested in rocks and gems? Idaho is known as the “Gem State” and if you are interested in them, then the Idaho Falls Gem and Mineral Society is a good place to start. Go to the rock sale on October 8, look at the gems and rocks, visit with the great people involved and you might be hooked in a rewarding hobby. We need things to get us out of the house. Climbing a mountain, and hiking back down with 30 pounds of “leaverites” on our backs is certainly one way to live the wild life.