Area Rock Club Field Trip

BLGS Field Trip - Shullsburg Museum, Mine Tour & Collecting Field Trip  
Saturday July 14^th, 2012
 
Trip Leader:               Dan Trocke   dtrocke@acscm.com      Cell: 608-215-5307

Where to Meet:          Meet at 11AM at the Badger Mine & Museum at 279 W. Estey Street, Shullsburg WI.  Ph: (608) 965-4860.   Museum and Mine Tour Rates:  Adult $5.00; Child under 10 $3.00; Senior Citizens $4.00.

Directions:           From State Highway 11:  Enter Shullsburg's historic Water Street and turn left by the Gazebo, onto Galena Street.  Follow Galena Street along Badger Park before taking a left on Estey Street, where parking for the museum is available.
From Illinois, on County Road O:  enter Shullsburg from the South and turn right on Galena Street.   A quick right onto Estey brings you to the museum and Badger Park.
Museum & Mine:           Take a guided tour of the Badger Mine & Museum.  Newly renovated in 2006, the museum contains artifacts from Shullsburg's 179 year history, and shows how life was in Wisconsin's early mining communities.  Exhibits focus on some of Shullsburg's most important industries, including mining and cheese making, but also on day-to-day life through the decades.  See the recreated shops and exhibits of the early mining town.  Gaze at the early mining tools, ore specimens and learn the methods used to extract lead with the pick, gad and black powder.   The museum's newest acquisition, a fully functional replica of the Eagle Pitcher Mine, which operated near Shullsburg, offers a glimpse at how more modern mines functioned, until their closure in the 1970s.  After soaking in Shullsburg's history, descend 51 steps with your tour guide into a hand-dug nineteenth century lead mine. Although the tour route provides ample open space, you can marvel at the small side tunnels and wonder how men could work within such confined spaces.   I’m looking forward to escaping the heat in a nice cool and cavernous mine if only for a little while.  
Collecting Trip:               Our second stop after the Museum will be to a nearby mine tailings pile where we hope to find and collect specimens of Calcite, Marcasite, Sphalerite.     
What to Bring:           Safety glasses if you are doing any chipping or hammering.  Bring hard rock equipment - hammers, chisels, sledge, pry bars, wedges or any other tool you like for chipping and braking limestone. I don't think a shovel will be of much use but it may not hurt to through one in, you just never know.  Don’t forget sunscreen, bugspray, snacks and plenty to drink.

NW IL Rock Club Picnic

June 30th 2012 was a beautiful day for a picnic.

The Northwest IL Rock Club was invited to Tom and Dar's place for the annual club picnic, we all would like to thank them once again for their hospitality.

Many of our rock club members had some amazing rocks, crystals, cabachons

and handcrafted items to buy, look at, and appreciate.

 

 You can find many of these things

and more  for sale at Art's Art,

and Rock-n-Jewelry by clicking on

the buttons on the right hand side of

this page.

Also you can purchase quite a bit

at our annual show at Highland

Community College in Nov.

(More info on this at a later date.)

There were folks from all ages at our picnic this

year, from the very young,

to the very young at heart!

You can be any age to be a

serious rock hound and

collector!

    

The meal was eaten inside an

air-conditioned porch, though there were

a few hardcore that chose to eat outside in the shade.

Everybody brought a dish to pass and there was plenty to go around.

Afterwards buckets of geodes were brought out and we got cracking!

It was a good time for all, and though it was oppressively hot, it didn't seem to bother anyone

overly much.

   There was plenty of room for the kids to run, and a great little tree swing to take turns on.

 We all had a very nice time.

Hope to see you at the next club meeting.

It will be Sept. 20th, 2012.