Rock Hunting with Google Maps

[zorgon]

Rock Hunting with Google Maps

Since my legs got so bad I cannot walk very far, and hiking up a mountain trail with a back pack is a thing of the past, I have found that looking for specimens is not that easy anymore ...

One solution would be I find a cheap 2 seater ATV with a cover (for sun protection in the Vegas Desert) and a box on the back to haul stuff...  Cheapest I have seen so far is around $5,000.00 but I keep checking Craigslist if someone is getting rid of one...

Well over the last few months I have been sorting and trying to properly label all the specimens I have collected over the years so I can get them listed online for sale.

In the good old days all I had to do was take them to rock and gem shows, put them on a table and sit and wait for buyers 

Today selling online gets you wider coverage  BUT by the time you take the photos of EACH rock and get it posted, takes about 20 minutes each. Save a little time doing batches but still...

So looking at the specimens I LONG to get back into the field at least a few times...

Now when I was sorting my samples, a few of them memory was fading exactly where they came from (and that is a must know to sell them to collectors)  So I started to use google search.  Back in the old days all I had was field guide books to find locations and hard to read topographical maps to find my way through the Canadian forests to long buried old mines

But today we have the INTERNET  so there are other collectors out there that have visited the same locations and have taken photos and posted the data on a website called MINDAT.ORG

But even better.... that pesky, nosey Google camera truck... seems to have crawled all over the country (the world actually) and I discovered that I can hunt rocks sitting at my computer.  I can see on my screen where a location is posted or accessable, I can see the actual outcrop, and most important, I can see if the locatipon is accessable by car.

Since I have my Nissan Xterra I can go where others fear to tread so that helps...




So  I will use this thread to go rock hunting, and document my finds... Once specimens form those locations are processed I will add photos and links to where to buy them too

[zorgon]

A couple years back we were just driving around Nevada back roads looking for interesting places like Ghost towns, old mines or just plain road cuts through rocks that might be interesting...  One such road led to Goodsprings Nevada, a half ghost town that still has the old Saloon making business. It is off the beaten track and a lot of bikers stop by, but its a nice place.



Clark Gable lived just around the corner and the saloon has a memorial room

So on that exploratory trip we picked up some red hematite (iron ore) specimens.  It was a location literally just off the highway...  I didn't take notes because I knew roughly where it was and planned to go back for a detailed trip.  Well got side tracked  LOL

So I decided to look over the area with Google Maps (I had previously found some of my old dig sites in the Canadian North)

So the red Hematite comes from THIS LOCATION




You can see three faint red/brown spots. This is what I look for as those are the adits or shaft entrances and the reddish dirt is the tailing from the hole. Here is a zoom in on the area  The black spots are the shaft openings..



Now then from that link above if you grab the little Street View guy  and place him HERE  you will see that those little brown spots are clearly visible from the hwy... and the only sign is a "Fore sale" sign  Mo gate, no "no trespassing" sign  and as you can see it is easy to access with even a regular car



Most of the locations around Goodsprings are accessible, though most of the open shafts do have red warning signs.

So that is one location that I can get at least ONE decent variety of specimens. RED HEMATITE with small Galena (Lead) crystals.  The area was mined for Zinc/Galena/Silver mixed into the ore. Also some rare Earth minerals and I found a cheap radiation detector on Ebay that actually works well.  Only measure Micro Sieverts but that is enough to know they are "warm"

[zorgon]

Now a typical Topographical Map looks like THIS



You can see mines marked on it wit an X or better ones use a pick and shovel X.  To find old mines you would look for trails if they exist OR  you followed the 'lay of the land' from an access road to the X.

That means you followed an elevation line, so you neither went up or down hill and you could find your spot. Fortunately back in Canada I had my Rally Car It had steel plates underneath and pro shocks so old mine roads were not an issue   There were a few spots I had to hike in and carry out the rocks... using the topography meant an easier hike

But as you can see, with Google maps now I don't have to do it 'old school' anymore, and I can see at a glance whether a location has 'Keep Out" signs or not, or if it is easy to get to

[zorgon]

Argentena Mine and Mill

"Argent" being French for Silver from Latin argentum

THIS is the Argentena Mine as it looks today



Notice that big pile of orange rock?  That is weather ore tailings mostly containing iron oxide in the form of Limonite.  Limonite is a secondary mineral and forms relatively quickly (same as Malachite does on Copper ore)

So there is a whole pile of potential specimens   This is one from another mine in Canada  Only have a few left



Also can look like this...

[zorgon]

So lets look at Google Maps for this one

COORDINATES

Just outside of Goodsprings..





You can see the orange dirt in this image...



The man in the street view shows no signs, a good well traveled dirt road, and you can see the orange dirt pile from the road






So... that is two locations within a short drive of each other that are easy access for me in my current condition without a lot of effort... and the rocks are there for the picking, already in specimen size pieces

[zorgon]

There is also this HUGE mine just north of Goodsprings, but it is active and requires permission. This however is a sandstone block quarry, so not much worth collecting in that one



As you can see however Google lets me see that it is active





The Google van stopped here..  That rock is what they are quarrying... a lot of quarries will leave sample rocks near the entrance to take specimens from

[zorgon]

Porphrytic Green Dacite





This rock is host to many specimens and will be the next chapter We ran into this quarry sorta by accident as we saw big rock transport trucks with trailer coming out of a small road. The Google van stopped at the cattle crossing where the pavement ended... but up that road was the quarry  and this one had the sample rocks all along the road

There is only one person manming the quarry office most days and as he was heading home we had to follow him out so he could lock the gate.

Quarries are usually friendly to rock collectors Common interest

Here you can see the huge boulders set along the road side. Some really nice fluorescent chalcedony came off those. Bright green (due to trace uranium content same as the old Depression glass)






continued...

[zorgon]

holding page....

[robomont]

i noticed you said it takes time to get pics posted etc.per rock.you may want to consider marketting your rocks on a proboards acct.i can take a pic and have it posted very fast,straight from my phone and on there.like three clicks and its done.no imgur necessary.

[zorgon]

i noticed you said it takes time to get pics posted etc.per rock.you may want to consider marketting your rocks on a proboards acct.

Well the time is more than just posting a picture with a price tag  Here is a typical listing ( I have a very high price ob that one hoping for a bite )

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113410939120

You need several photos form different angles and they have to be clear and sharp...  You need to give dimensions, weight, location etc...  You have to set price and quantity, then set shipping rates for US and international..

All that takes time  15 to 20 minutes from start of photo to final posting

I do have my own website set up, but no shopping cart program yet. Paypal buttons would work but again would require coding for each item

When you post say ONE Amythyst from Brazil... and you have more, you can use the 'sell similar' option and just change photo and details

Ebay is a long form... Etsy is easier but sales on Etsy have almost died.  Going to try the various facebook groups that look for specific things... might work

Most of my specimens are small usually between 5.00 and 20.00  and they sell from time to time (IF I get my ass in gear and get them listed ) I do have one extremely rare piece I found by luck and that site has now been closed to collecting. It's a new species and ny sample is better and 5 times bigger than the one in the Royal Ontario Museum

If I can sell THAT one all my problems are over   I an trying to get an auction house to pick it up

Ferri-Fluoro-Katophorite RARE Huge Museum Quality Display Specimen



https://www.ebay.com/itm/113410939120

I have years of collected rocks... but turning them to cash is not so easy. Today with the internet every Tom Dick and Mary is selling rocks

[robomont]

grr,you always need cash when i dont have it.that rock of iron is a beauty.

as for marketting.craigslist is a winner in my book.i posted a junked and totaled twenty year old car ,in two days it was gone,sold!
it use to be hard to setup but it went fast on my droid.the whole process was smooth as silk.three months ago.

i feel ya on the auto pay.you may check into chatbot services.

all the payment services are basically the same on the top end of security.the bottom end is where the quirks are.just sale through amazon.i doubt its hard to set up.
for the little guy,craigslist is the way to go though for fast potential buyers.

i was looking at rocks years back and there was a running auction site.i was looking at opals at the time.like the rock you have posted above,they had samples being auctioned off for what looked like reasonable prices.
i for one appreciate size reference and a quarter leaning beside an object makes a better reference than a ruler.as rulers are easy to deform due to lense.
a quarter is an easily recognized object worldwide.
i use that technique in my experiment images i post.
when buying a rock,i think size matters and im a nervous about image distortion on the www.
thats just my humble opinion on your endeavor.

[robomont]

i like the tent heater.you should do a thread on that thing.that thing looks like a bell ufo with an antenna on it!

[zorgon]

grr,you always need cash when i dont have it.that rock of iron is a beauty.

No worries The 'target' is the silent watchers

as for marketting.craigslist is a winner in my book.i posted a junked and totaled twenty year old car ,in two days it was gone,sold!
it use to be hard to setup but it went fast on my droid.the whole process was smooth as silk.three months ago.

Criagslist is touch and go... on big ticket items you get swamped with scam artists... and lately its been slow. We do use it for bigger items that can't be mailed like furniture etc

You can find some nice stuff in the FREE section too  Just run out and get it  and fix it up and relist for sale

all the payment services are basically the same on the top end of security.the bottom end is where the quirks are.just sale through amazon.i doubt its hard to set up.

Amazon is a good one because once you list an item it stays there until sold or you take it down...

Downside to Amazon
1) They limit certain categories so no new sellers
2) They charge 40.00 a month if you want to add your own items rather than "sell one like this" (for .99 cents collected when it is sold
3) Sellers undercut you by pennies to get to the top of the listing. (I found it best to not play that game. Just wait till yours comes up again

Plus side
1) get close to retail value
2) customers don't complain like on Ebay
3) there is no 'feedback' system that you must comply with

Going to try for a month in Jan (you can turn on and off that store on a monthly basis... so you can slam items in one month then stop store payments It defaults to the .99 cents per listing which is fine)  Buying the store is good IF you can post more than 40 items a month or items yhat are not already listed, otherwise it is no economical

i was looking at rocks years back and there was a running auction site.i was looking at opals at the time

THIS is one of the biggest problems with the internet. before you would fine a wholesaler and they would ship you stuff to resell. Today the miners in Australia are posting directly online.

I shouldn't share this LOL  but hey  what the heck

https://www.opalauctions.com

This was a piece of rough I bought back in 1975   gonna try selling this one soon  Top face is polished  Photo doesn't do it justice

Dimensions: 60mm x 40mm x 5mm thick
Weight:  13 grams ~ 65 Carats

[robomont]

thats jaw dropping beautiful.

thanks for the info on the different storefronts.

i may have misunderstood you on the amazon cost structure.is there a monthly charge fee of 99¢ per item per month.or a monthly bill of 99¢ total.
ive considered starting a physics storefront like bob lazar only competing in the amazon arena.physics playground has nice stuff but i suspect that guy will not be around much longer and his business may become for sale or close.i may want to fill that vacuum.

[robomont]

i use to rock hunt.ive done big bend,new mexico,wyoming.i found an ancient dish in wyoming.baked clay no markings.buried in a mountain stream bed.big quartz with silver from terlinqua ghost town mine.lava from new mexico.