I guess I've been a rockhounder (is there such a word) since I was born. I guess it was born and bred into me. My granddad, Andy Boyd Green became a prospector when he moved from Texas to Silver City, New Mexico. He had a turquoise mine for a while and I still have a few pieces of the turquoise he got out of his mine and made into jewelry or buttons for my mom. At different times he worked on several different gold mines. Not that he made much doing it. Prospecting is not a 'get rich quick' way of making a living for most people. It is hard work moving dirt and rocks looking for those tiny, little grains of gold, silver or what ever you are looking for. My mom was, also, an avid rock collector. Didn't matter if it was valuable or not as long as it was either pretty or interesting. My dad got into the rock collecting when he and my mom married and they past on this love of rocks to my sisters and I. We, in turn, passed it on to our husbands and our sons.
Like this poem says other rocks can be just as addicting to collecting as gold can be.
I have never really looked that much for valuable rocks just the ones I liked. Most of my rock collection has come from New Mexico in the areas of Silver City, in Grant county and in the Jemez Mountains, as well as near my home in Rio Rancho. I have been lucky in finding a lot of crystals, geodes, onyx, Apache tear drops, odd shapes of concretion, fossils, and one of my favorites petrified wood. Not all petrified wood comes from the well known Petrified Forest. Here on our New Mexico deserts we have lots of petrified wood if you know what you are looking for. I have found a couple of small pieces.
Most of the rocks I have found have been small rocks up to those about the size of my hand. Another words what ever I can pick up and usually put in my pocket. But then there are those huge boulders that I see and really wish I could bring home but there is no way. When I find those kind I just take lots of photos and put memories of the places where I find them in my mind. I remember once on a hike we found a very large lava rock, I would say it was about 5 tons worth, and it was shaped like a giant frog with it's mouth open. Of course I didn't get a photo of that one. I know about where it was in the Jemez Mountains but I have never been able to find it again.
If you collect rocks eventually you find your self buying a rock tumbler so you can have lots of small polished rocks. I did that a few years ago. Rock tumblers are VERY noisy but the polished rocks are nice. You can fill clear vases with them or give them as gifts.
I do have a few rocks that I have bought from rock shops. You will find shops that carry almost any kind of rock you could want to buy here in our southwestern states. They are interesting places to explore as you never know what you might find. And usually the one you want is expensive to buy.
If you do decide to go rock collecting make sure it is legal to pick up rocks where you are. If on private land ASK first. On public land, in our national forests, deserts or such make sure you know what the rules are before you pick up that cute little rock.
Here is a little poem that I found a copy of in my moms things when I was sorting through them.
Hope you enjoy it as I did.
Rockhounding
I
think that there shall never be
An
ignoramus just like me
Who
roams the hills throughout the day
To
pick up rocks that do not pay
For
there's one thing I've been told
I
take the rocks and leave the gold
Over
the deserts wild or mountains blue
I
search for rocks of varied hue
A
hundred pounds or more I pack
With
blistered feet and aching back
And
after this is said and done
I
cannot name a single one
I
pick up rocks wherever I go
The
reason why......I do not know
For
rocks are found by fools like me
Where
God intended them to be
Author
Unknown
