Our annual rock, gem, mineral, and fossil show, ‘River of Gems’, is right around the corner, running Friday through Sunday, April 15 – 17, 2005, at the Polk County Fairgrounds in Rickreall. The theme of our 50th annual show is “Petrified Wood”, and is the highlight of our club’s purpose, which is “to stimulate interest in the study and collection of agates, minerals, gems, and fossils, and support lapidary work, education, scientific study of natural earth sciences”. Our show is all of that, and a whole lot more!

Friday’s show is dedicated to local schoolchildren. Thanks to the efforts of WAMS members who work with the schools to promote our show as an educational opportunity for the children, we had over 1200 kids in attendance last year. The children attend the fluorescent show, and each class instructor is provided with a selection of specimens to later distribute to the children or use in classroom activities. The highlight of Saturday’s show will be the treasure hunt at 1:00 p.m. for children 12 and under. The treasure hunt has quickly become a favorite activity for families attending the show with their children. The kids are separated into age groups and participate in a dash to gather up plastic eggs (filled with specimens or special prizes), petrified wood, fossils, agates, thundereggs, and other material. It’s quite an exciting event!

The show also will feature vendor booths with an amazing variety of gems, minerals, fossils, and supplies for sale. The fluorescent show runs at regular intervals, and the demonstration area is filled by craftspeople creating beads and cabochons, carving, faceting, gold panning, and other skills. The silent auction is a favorite of many attendees, and the wheel of fortune and grab bag booths are always a hit with the kids. There is popcorn for sale, as well as a snack bar with an excellent selection of food and beverages. Volunteers are needed for all three days of the show, as well as Wednesday and Thursday for set up, and Sunday for tear-down. Contact Show Chair Bob Harrison at 503.364.2288, or Volunteer Coordinator Katy Bayless at 503.378.2224 to sign up for volunteer service.

Show Schedule
Wednesday noon ‘til approx 7 p.m. – Setup

Thursday 8 a.m. ‘til approx 7 p.m. – Setup for display case entries, demonstrators, dealers arrive to setup

Thursday 6:00 p.m. – Spaghetti dinner for vendors, members, and volunteers. Spaghetti and French bread provided by the club. Members with last names beginning with A-L should bring a dessert, M-Z should bring a salad.

Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Show

Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Show

Saturday 1:00 p.m. – Treasure Hunt for children

Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. – Show

Sunday 4:30 p.m. ‘til done – Tear down

Sunday (following tear down) No-host group dinner at Farrell’s Restaurant (RSVP to Bob Harrison or Aaron Currier)

Editor’s Message

Hello Rockhounds! I am looking forward to our show this month, which is just a few short weekends away. We have so many new members, and I hope many of them will be able to come out and volunteer and participate with the show. It is a lot of fun, and a lot of work, to make it happen. I am pleased to announce that I have received notification that an article in ‘Rockhound Rumblings’ has won an award! Bill Jacobi will receive an award at the Editor’s Breakfast at the NFMS show (hosted by our club) in Albany in August. Congratulations to Bill! And, I want to remind you that articles, photos and submissions are always welcome. I appreciate those of you that make the effort to contribute to the newsletter.

I want to express my appreciation to our Secretary, Chuck Hunt. As you know, Chuck takes minutes at all of our general and executive board meetings. I appreciate Chuck’s commitment to being present at all of the meetings, and for timely submitting the minutes to me for publication. Also, big kudos to our Vice President, Ray Plummer, for maintaining the membership list so diligently, and distributing updates. This is so very important, and Ray is doing a great job. And, also, special thanks to Susan Appleby, who maintains and updates our excellent website at www.wamsi.org. My hat is off to all of these individuals working behind the scenes to make our club run very smoothly.

See you at the meeting,
Janine Owens, WAMS Bulletin Editor
Email: sunshynnn@comcast.net

Upcoming NW Shows

April 9-10 Baker Rock Club & Gem Club - Bellingham, WA
April 15-17 - Willamette Agate & Mineral Society - Rickreall, OR
April 22-24 Rogue Gem & Geology Club Grants Pass, OR
April 23-24 Grays Harbor Geology and Gem Society - Elma, WA

President’s Message

Hello Rockhounds,

It’s April which means in only a couple more weeks our River of Gems 50th anniversary show will take place. We can always use help. For those of you that are new to our club, now’s the chance to get involved. There are plenty of things to do. You can help set up Wednesday or Thursday, be there for Friday’s school day, help with Saturday’s treasure hunt, help run the various club activities throughout the weekend including the wheel of fortune, grab bags, magazines, popcorn, silent auction, greeting people at the door, or help break down and put things away Sunday evening. Be sure to sign up at this Thursday’s meeting. It’s a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun.

For those of you that cannot help out, please plan to attend the show. In addition to the activities listed above, we also have dealers selling their products, demonstrators showing how things are made, cases where we display our work, a fluorescent show that describes and shows how different rock materials fluoresce. There is plenty to see and do. I’ll see you at the April meeting and at the April show.

Kit Leshk, President

Save those Stamps!Your cancelled stamps can help cancer research. Our club participates in collecting stamps for the NFMS fundraiser for this purpose. Bring your stamps to the monthly meeting and turn them into Peg Townsend,
who coordinates our collection effort. When clipping the stamps, please remember to leave at least 1/4” or more around the stamp. Please do not include canceled postage meter stamps (they don’t have any resale value.)

AFMS News
Can be viewed at www.amfed.org

NFMS News
Can be viewed at www.amfed.org/nfms/

Meetings from March 3 General Meeting - submitted by Chuck Hunt

The meeting called to order by President Kit Leshk at 6:32 p.m. Announcements were made and note of up and coming show located elsewhere in the “Rockhound Ramblings”. There were copies of the new Bylaws and telephone directories at the sign-up desk. There were 90 members and guests. Show and Tell: The letter “V” included “Various VanCura Valuables”, “Very Happy Face” (rock), a variety of vertebrae, “Very Sweet Fossils“, Very variegated..., very fine urchins, etc. We had some Very, Veritable, Verbal members and their finds!

Program: The program was presented by member Nancy Plummer on maps and sources and how to find them on the internet. Break. At 8 p.m. the Business Meeting was called to order.
Secretary Report: Motion made and seconded to approve the minutes as printed in the Rockhound Rumblings. Approved.

Treasurer’s Report: Motion made and seconded to approve the report as presented. Approved. Motion made and seconded to pay the list of bills presented.

Show Report: Bob Harrison advised that there will be work parties Sat. March 12th at Don Esch’s 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring glue guns; they will be working on items for the wheel, grab bags and other endeavors. An additional work party will be at Tom and Susan Robertson’s on April 2, at 10 a.m. til 2 p.m. Pizza and drinks will be provided by WAMS at both work parties. Any questions call Bob Harrison 503-364-2288

Show Setup: Need volunteers, beginning at 12 noon on Wednesday, April 13th for the main setup of tables, cases, table covers, etc. We will be finishing up the setup 8 a.m. on Thursday, which is also the day that the dealers setup their tables. Bring scissors and box cutters to help in lining the new cases. The annual spaghetti dinner will be at 6 p.m. Thursday evening after work completed. It is requested that members for A-L bring desserts and M-Z bring salads.

Show Security: The same company as last year. School contact person: Need a volunteer to head up the position. Kit Leshk will have the new person shadow him through this year’s show to get the feel for
the position.

Name Tags: We will have special name tags this year for the volunteers that are working the show.

Show brochure: This year’s brochure will feature petrified wood with all of the WAMS information the same as last year.

Equipment sale: Members will be allowed to sell equipment at this year’s show. It will be on the north side of the building (vicinity of the picnic area). 10% of the sales price will go to WAMS. Need people to volunteer to ride herd on the equipment. Applications for entering cases in the show are on WAMS website www.wamsi.org or from Tom Robertson.


Field Trip Report: Kristi Edwards would like some ideas as to where the club would like to go on trips.

Federation Report: Dexter Leonard advised that there will be a meeting in April in Hillsboro.

Oregon Council Report: Dan Groah advised that the Oregon Council will be meeting at the Sweet Home Show March 26-27. WAMS has a case in the Capitol and will be there through June.

Publicity Report: Susan Appleby advised that there will be fliers for our show at the next meeting.

Newsletter Report: Janine Owens reminds everyone to e-mail articles or send them by mail for the newsletter. Deadline for the newsletter is the 24th of the month.

Adjudication Report: Ted Silver advised that the next meeting April is the time to bring material in to be judged.
Library Report: Chris Wissinger absent.

Stamps: Peg Townsend advised the stamps will be delivered to the federation at the April meeting.

Sunshine Report: Cards sent to Arloenee Summer, Bert Kleiner, Don Dobson and Richard Dowty.

Senior Center Classes: Ted Silver advised that the lapidary classes are full and a new group will start after the April show. Jodee Leshk advise that silversmithing is every Monday evening for information contact Charmaine Mortimore or Bob Watkins. Julie Hampshire will be starting a class on chainmaking. Kelly Henlin is finishing up a class on wirewrapping and the next class will be in June.

O ld Business: Audit will be done so that the report will be available at the April meeting. W ireless microphone still being looked into for our meetings. Name badges: We shall try to get it (the badge-making machine) to George Goetzelman to check it out.

New Members: Larry Nasset and Sharon Lee. Motion made and seconded to accept them as new members. Approved.

State Fair: Need a member to volunteer to take over the position to represent WAMS and organize some volunteers to display our hobby at the state fair. It is for just one day, September 1, 2005. The position will involve getting some people to sign up to demonstrate or talk about our hobby to fairgoers. There is usually all kinds of equipment available to use to demonstrate our hobby. When you volunteer for a couple of hours, you get free parking and a free all-day pass to the fair so that when your stint at the table is done you can wander all over the fairgrounds.

Board Meeting: Next one is March 21, 2005, 6 p.m. at the Senior Center.

April Show and Tell: The letters W, X, Y, and Z. April Program: Need suggestions.

April refreshment volunteers: Hillary Houha, Brenda Nelson and Linda Groah. Meeting adjourned at 8:48 p.m.

The Rock I Sent to ODOGAMI - submitted by Chuck Hunt

This story happened back in the mid-sixties when we were living in the interior of Alaska in McGrath. Now you’ve all heard stories about a place, “that wasn’t the end of the earth but you could see it from there!” Well, guess what McGrath was? The end of the earth and it is just like it looks.... the end!

But, I digress... While living in McGrath on Kuskokwim River, I discovered a baseball size rock that was very heavy, shiny and had a very reddish cast to it. It hung around in my collection for years and then when I was in the Roxy Ann Gem and Mineral Society in Medford someone suggested that I send it to Portland to ODOGAMI (The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries). I knew they worked with ore samples and thought I would send it off to them to get an analysis. After I called them, I proceeded to box it up with a letter stating my request that I would like to have what was left of my specimen returned to me. A couple of weeks went by and I received a letter from them stating the mineral content was mainly copper and other ores. I waited for about two weeks and then I called them to ask when they were going to send me my specimen? “Oh, we didn’t know you wanted part of the specimen back so we pulverized the whole thing! We don’t have a thing left of it, except dust”. It was the height of frustration. There was nothing left to do or say at that point, but the memory is still vivid.

Ask Rocky

Question: I am a member of the Hastings Rockhounds in Vancouver, B.C. I am interested in collecting on the Willamette River in the summer. Do you know of any public access roads to the gravel bars? I checked the Gem Trails of Oregon and it says it is difficult to find public access. Please let me know if you have any maps or info about the area near Corvallis. Thanks.

Answer: The Oregon State Marine Board and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department publish a booklet named Willamette River Recreation Guide, which should be very helpful. It shows all the public access sites along the Willamette River, and identifies what facilities are available at those sites. The booklet is available on the internet at: http://www.oregonstateparks.org/images/pdf/will_river_ guide.pdf. See pages 18-21 for the Corvallis area. If you are traveling with a group, you might want to consider renting canoes or kayaks. That way you would be able to stop at all gravel bars. Good luck!