Hey Gang,

That's right - another field trip report about the Diamond Hill Quartz Mine. You are probably starting to think that I must have stock in the mine. But, not so people - we simply spent another great day there that is worth shouting about.

I was invited by my good friend Jeff Deere with the Rome, Georgia Mineral Society to help lead a field trip to Diamond Hill last Saturday. As you may have read in previous field trip reports, Chrissy and I have spent a few days over the past several months at this location and have done pretty well finding skeletal and smokey quartz. Ron Maddox, agreed to join us to do most of the the "heavy lifting" in the lower pit.

Even though it was a bit chilly with a high temperature only 40-degrees, 12 adults and one child (Jessica Maddox) showed up eager to dig.

Most of the Group in the Lower Pit
Click on above picture to enlarge

Ron, Jeff and I spent most of our day digging in a hole in the lower pit. We were chasing a quartz vein hoping to find pockets containing smokey quartz crystals. The following pictures are a pretty good indication that we were successful in our hunt. Jeff looks like a cat who just ate the canary and my obvious elation at finding a pocket was infectious to good-natured Ron.

    
Mike and Ron (above left) and Jeff Deere (above right)

When she wasn't digging, young Jessica Maddox had a good time talking to her incredibly patient and loving Dad by two-way radios. Standing two feet away from her Daddy didn't disuade cute Jessica from talking on the radio - heck, the radios work great when you are that close - STEREO. When Ron would take a well-earned break from talking to Jessica, she tried to figure out a way to talk to herself.

Ron and Jessica Maddox - two generations of Rockhounds

Digging in a honey hole can attract plenty of spectators as you can see in the following pictures.

    
Ben Crawford and Winnie & Lee Baron (above left)
Chrissy and Opal (above right)

    
Mary Siniard (above left)
Barry & Tonya Parker on their way over (above right)

David Peterson
(Let me in coach!)

We dug our hole until the middle afternoon when the crystal pockets seemed to pinch out. The following pictures show the hole after we had given up for the day.

    
Smokey Hole in Lower Pit

Everyone gathered around our large pile of smokey quartz crystal clusters like they were giving off heat before we divided the booty. Ron, Jeff and I had done so well for ourselves that we were happy to share about 1/3 of our find with all who attended that day. So, everybody left smiling!

Pile of clay-encrusted quartz crystal plates
And a dirty butt!

Jeff and Ron generously allowed me to have the largest crystal cluster that we recovered (they knew I would cry if they didn't). The following pictures are different views of this incredible specimen.

    

Click on Specimen Pictures to enlarge

    

I hope that you enjoyed yet another field trip report about Diamond Hill. It was a great day so I felt compelled to share it with all of you.

KOR

Mike

PS You can obtain more information and pictures of Diamond Hill Quartz Mine on McRocks.com and the Georgia Mineral Society's website by clicking on the following links: