Fieldtrip Report:
Herkimer Diamond Mines,
Herkimer, New York,
September, 2005by: Denny Lawing
Hi all, just got back from Herkimer, N.Y. collecting Herkimer Diamonds.
We left Charlotte, N.C. around three in the afternoon to head to collect herkimer at the diffrent mines. We drove for about eight hours and got a hotel in Harrisburg PA. When we left Harrisburg around seven in the morning it would take about four more hours to reach Herkimer.
Some of the beauty of N.Y
Steve ( M.A.G.M.A. member) and I reach the town of Herkimer around twelve noon. As soon as we checked in off we went to the first site.
Crystal Grove Herkimer Mine was our first stop to check out an see if we could find any Herkimers. We search for about five hour and a lot of hard work and felt that this site was not that good. This location has always been the one I like to collect because the dolomite rock is not as hard to break as others are. So we cross off Crystal Grove.
The next day we went to the Ace of Diamonds and check out the mine and this location would be almost impossible to break rock because there were no pockets in the Dolomite. This location has become a claim location and hard to find a place to hound for Herkimers. So we went next door to the Herkimer Mine and paid and went in to collect. Both the Ace of Diamonds and the Herkimer Diamond mine is just to hard to find Herkimers. Both mines have high wall about twelve feet and solid dolomite. We stay all day at Herkimer mine and found one spot that we could break in to the wall and get a few small Herkimers. At the end of the day we decided that we were wrong about Crystal Grove and went back Sunday and Monday.
It is still hard work even at Crystal Grove but we did find many find Herkimers. I have a big bruse on my left leg from a piece of dolomite hitting it when I hit it with a 16 lb. sledge hammer. We broke and bent a few chisels and our bodies. It got to a point that I could not even hold my camera to take photos.
Here are some more pictures of what was found.
