This is Throwback Thursday #314. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com.
We are in the midst of the spring field trip season and this article by Roy Beghtol from the May 1954 edition of the ESCONI newsletter seemed appropriate. Things haven’t changed much since then.
Remember this…
We don’t always come home with a full bag, but we do have the satisfaction and pleasure of having spent a full day with a lot of nice people with whom we have something in common.
Enjoy!
COLLECTING
After looking ovor some of the finc specimens which aro displayed at oach of our monthly moetings, porhaps some of you may becomo fired with onthusiasm and decido, then and there that you are going to do a little collecting and build up a display of your own. Assuming you are now at the game, you have the problem of how to go about it. But don’t let a little thing like that worry you because in this article I am going to tell you of threc ways in which you can do this. So just read on,
Method No. 1 If you are the lazy type, then this method is for you, provided the old homestead will stand another mortgage. It is called the Armchair method.
Subscribe to all the magazines devoted to this type of hobby, “The Earth Science Digest” is one. Look over the advertisements and send to the many mineral supply houses for their catalog. From these select and purchase the specimens that you desire. Since the amount of materials is great, it might be well to start out with, for example, the copper group instead of unrelated minerals, which you can fill in with later as you advance. Get advice from your club members. A marvelous collection can be built up in this manner, but it won’t take you long to wonder if one mortgage will be enough.
All in all you can purchase far better material than you can gener-ally find, but don’t overlook the fact that what you find yourself you treasure more highly than what you buy. Not for what it is worth but for the things associated with the findings, things like bright sunshine, a day with your fellow Club members, wood ticks and mishaps. These and many more go into every piece that you find. These you can never purchase. While this is a good method for some people, I am afraid it is not for most of us. Let’s s go onto…
Method No. 2 Perhaps you are anti-social or the lone wolf type. and want to go it alone, here is your procedure. Nonchalantly wander around at the Club meetings and eavesdrop on the rockhounds who are bragging about their finds, and see if you can learn where they go. For further help subscribe to the magazines mentioned in Method No.1. Buy yourself a hammer and a stout bag to carry over your shoulder like a paper boy.
How you get to the secret sites is your problem but see to it that you don’t have to walk very far to get there. We are assuming that you are new at the game and don’t know one rock from another. Look around and pick up every rock that appears different from all of the others and place it gently in your bag. Some people wrap their specimens in paper, but you can skip this on your first couple of trips. In an hour or so the bag gets heavy and you will want a rest. Select a tall rock or stump to sit on because unless you are quite a bit younger than I, you will have a little trouble getting up from a low one by yourself. Now look over the contents of your bag. You are going to be surprised to find that most everything you have been carrying around for an hour doesn’t look as good as it did and you wonder why you ever picked it up. Throw these disappointments away. Repeat the culling every hour or so. Some people have been known to even throw their bag away about the third time they stop. If you remain stout hearted you will find that you are learning, you don’t pick up every rock that looks pretty. You now select with cars. Bring those you keep and put them on the “what’s it” table at the Club meetings.
This will tell you what progress you are making. I forgot to say that this method is the hard way to collect and besides being all alone, suppose you broke your leg or a snake nipped you where you couldn’t apply a tourniquet. Let’s don’t try this method but proceed to..
Method No. 3 Suppose you are the sociable type, filled with the love of the great outdoors and your fellow man, then you will want to go with us on our Club field trips. You will find that those funny stooped shouldered people you see wandering with their on the floor at our meetings are not so bad when you get to know them. This humped-backed appearance is no affliction but merely the posture of a rock hound.
All field trips are announced in advance in the Bulletin and at the preceeding monthly meeting. There is no need to sneak around to find locations, we will tell you where to go and what you might expect to find.
When you reach the collecting location ask questions or if you are a little bashful observe what the others are picking up and pick up some of the same, although don’t depend too much on this last item.
I’ve seen some of the material that even the best of them carry home at times. Why they do it I’ll never know. My own back yard looks like a mine dump. What does a person do with that stuff anyway???? Peter Zodac wouldn’t like it if you threw it in a ditch.
Towards the end of the summer if you make all the trips, you should be acquainted with most of the minerals and fossils in the Chicago area, and I’ll lay odds that you won’t be able to walk across a stone driveway without picking up a couple of pieces.
If you read this far you will have come to the conclusion this article is a sales talk for our field trips. This is so. We don’t always come home with a full bag, but we do have the satisfaction and pleasure of having spent a full day with a lot of nice people with whom we have something in common. Can you ask for more?
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