Fieldtrip Report:
Fieldtrip Report:
A
Fieldtrip to Mount Ida, Arkansas
With a Sidetrip to Marion, Kentucky
Written by: Steve Barr
Photos by: Matthew Price, Mark Randle, Rodney Moore and Steve Barr(Special thanks to the folks at the Clement Mineral Museum for their permission to reproduce the photo of one of their indoor displays.)
Okay, now what rockhound in their right mind would ever pass up an opportunity like this? I was invited to join Matt Price and Rodney Moore on a week-long machine dig at Matt's famous Arrowhead Mine in Mount Ida, Arkansas. Even though it meant shuffling my schedule around quite a bit, I just HAD to go.As luck would have it, just weeks before I headed west, I stumbled across a web site about a tiny museum in southwestern Kentucky that sponsors occasional fieldtrips to old fluorite mines. When I looked at my road atlas, I realized that Marion, Kentucky was "kinda-sorta" on the way, so I decided to take a slight detour off of I-40 and check it out for the club.
Since the folks in this group seem to love good food almost as much as they love hunting for rocks, I checked out a place to eat in the morning. The Marion Café, which is just a few blocks from the museum, opens at 6 am. They have a great breakfast menu, affordable prices and a cheerful staff.
This is a photo of my breakfast, a cheese omelet with homefries and toast..which was accompanied by multiple cups of piping hot coffee.
The folks who run the Clement Museum in Marion went above and beyond the call of duty. A gentleman named BJ met me in the museum's parking lot at 8 am on Friday morning, unlocked the doors and gave me a personally guided tour of the place. After he brewed a piping hot pot of coffee for us, he showed me all around the museum.
The lawn beside the building has an interesting collection of old equipment from the area's rich mining history.
There is a painting of a mine on the outside wall, and when the morning sunlight hits it the gems in the picture glisten and sparkle. There are also small dump piles off to the side that children can rummage through for five dollars.
Inside the museum, there are fascinating displays.
The building houses the lifetime collection of Mr. Clement, who was once a wealthy mine owner and spent his life building what is said to be one of the world's finest fluorite collections.
A true rockhound could literally spend hours gazing in awe at the unbelievable specimens Mr. Clement collected. There are rooms full of back-lit fluorite displays, fluorescent minerals and old mining equipment.
After my tour of the museum, BJ took me out to the old Columbia Mine. It was located way down a dirt road in the middle of a vast cow pasture. Tailings piles from the mine were scattered all over the property, and within minutes I began picking up small fluorite specimens.
The clump of mud sitting on the board in this photo turned out to be a massive galena specimen. It's about 9 inches wide, and one side is just covered with clusters of small silver cubes.
I had a great time in Marion, and came home with more than a five-gallon bucket of fluorite, calcite and galena just from a few hours of roaming around and surface collecting. I'll post pictures on Dirtyrockhounds once I get some of them cleaned up properly.
If you'd like more information about the Clement Mineral Museum, their fieldtrips or their annual mineral show and sale, here's a link to their web site:
http://www.marionkentucky.us/clementmineralmuseum/index.htm
"I'd like to thank Tina, Bill and BJ for their generosity, courtesy and cheerful attitudes that made my trip to Marion so much fun."
From Marion, I drove briefly into Illinois and Missouri, then headed south to Arkansas.
You'll know you're in Mount Ida when you see this sign on the outskirts of town.
To get to the Arrowhead Mine, you simply turn onto Highway 27 South and drive 3.5 miles (when you see the large mobile phone tower, you are getting really close). Take a Left onto Owley Road and travel 3 miles (you will pass a cemetery, one-lane bridge, and the entrance to the Wegner Ranch). Look for the hand-written sign that says Arrowhead Crystal Mine.
Shortly after dawn on the first day, Rodney arrived at the mine with a cup of hot coffee for me, and we began to dig.
