SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING RARE

BY JIM LANDON

The vineyard road we walked looking for agates had been paved with rocks from the quarry. The sweet smell of ripe wine grapes filled the air.

This little carnelian “glowie” was found among the other rocks on the ridge above the quarry. Note the lichens covering the other rocks.

Every locality a rockhound finds or visits has a story to tell. They all hold secrets and offer up clues that can shed light on what can be found at each, where to look, and how they came to be.

Finding and collecting at new localities can be a much richer experience if one takes the time to get the big picture. Often the hunt starts with rumors, chance encounters, published information, or by checking out displays and dealers at rock shows and talking to fellow rockhounds. I was very fortunate to stumble across something new for me in April of 2018.

A small contingent from the Yakima Washington Rock Club traveled to the Tri-Cities Washington (Richland, Pasco, Kennewick) to pick up a bunch of display cases from the Lakeside Rock Club we needed when we were going to host the Northwest Federation Show in Yakima, Washington, the last weekend in April. We had scheduled the Federation event for the weekend following the Lakeside Club annual show, so the plan was to pick up the needed cases upon completion of the club’s show. We also got there early enough to take in the show and see what they had to offer.

This amazing baseball-sized CBA shows the striking banding they can have. Note the quartz crystal center.

I was really impressed with this agate. The banding reminded of what some Brazilian agates look like.

This CBA Ryan gifted me has water-level banding, agate stalagtite tubes, and a quartz crystal center.

While making the rounds of the dealers and displays, I stopped in front of a case of agates the likes of which I had never seen before. They were labeled “Columbia Basin Agates,” and some closely resembled high quality Argentine Black River Agates. Over the years I had heard rumors of agates being found in the gravels of the ancestral Columbia, Salmon, Clearwater, and Snake River drainages, but thought they were all run-of-the-mill yellow to red carnelian pebbles. The specimens on display in this case were large, well-patterned, and uniquely colored. I was duly impressed.