Place: Utica Clay Pit near Utica Illinois
Date: Saturday, August 11th, 2012
Contact Person: Dan Trocke - Home: 608-935-0597, Cell: 608-215-5307, dtrocke@acscm.com
Meeting Place & Time: Meet at 10:00 AM at the Love's Travel Stop gas station, 3020 East 8th Road, North Utica, IL Ph:(815) 667-4572. There is a McDonalds here as well. We’ll try to leave here by 10:20 AM. Note: Love’s Travel Plaza meeting place is about 73 miles (hour and 24 minutes) south of Rockford Illinois so try to give yourself plenty of time.
Arrive at Utica Clay Pit: arrive at the quarry as a group at 10:30 AM and park out of the way near the main building. We’ll leave the clay pit around 3 PM and arrive home by 6PM.
What to bring: If when we get there the quarry is active and trucks are running, we cannot access or collect in the quarry unless we come prepared with Hard hats, High visibility vest (mesh will be coolest), safety glasses and good sturdy shoes or boots. Personal safety equipment can be purchased at Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight, Conney Safety, etc.. Bring a Sack Lunch, (as we will be eating lunch in Quarry), sunscreen and plenty of water and liquids! Small garden tools, small rake and shovel gem scoop, masons or geology pick for tools. A fanny pack, plastic grocery bags, 5 gallon buckets and egg cartons work great to hold your finds.
What we will hopefully find: Large quantities of little pyrite clusters, up to 2", fossil Lepidodendron roots up to 8" long, small petrified & pyritized wood pieces, and good chert. Odd silicious geodes have been collected here in the past. The real prize to be had, however, is the beautiful pyrite clusters perched on Lepidodendron root. Also interesting is the pastel colored cherts, with pyrite glitter on top. Kids are allowed in the quarry, and
Notes: This huge open pit mine has produced "fire clay," coal and crushed rock since the early 1900s. At the north (left) end of the pit, the Pennsylvanian clay rests unconformably on the Ordovician St. Peter sandstone. On the south (right) end, the clay is on top of the Platteville dolomite. The clay has been interpreted as a floodplain or delta deposit. This site had been closed to all collectors for many years. Let’s make sure to follow the rules, bring the safety gear listed above. There are moderate dangers of foul, acidic, standing water, and hard, tight piles to collect on, possibly twisting ankles. Keep away from the water and off dangerous inclines. Please do not contact this quarry or revisit this quarry except as part of the Badger Rock club fieldtrip this Saturday. We enter quarry as a group and leave the quarry as a group – no single stragglers. Sorry, no bathroom facilities in quarry. This has been an excellent producing quarry. This trip is opened to all Badger Lapidary and Geological Society Members.
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