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Show , on the other," he relates. "In addition, he should have a couple of rock sacks either tuck-in-the-belt or a knap-sack type a small magnifying glass, a chisel or two, a knife and a good mineral guide." Most rockhounds are said to specialize rather than try to collect col-lect all 150 known minerals. One may be fascinated by the shape ! of crystals. Another may concentrate con-centrate on petrified wood. A third may prize only rocks that jii Pest Article Describes Utah as Paradise For Rock Collectors Utah is somewhat of a Mecca for the growing number of Americans searching for pretty pebbles and interesting minerals, according to the current issue of the Saturday Evening Post. In an article "They Find Baubles Bau-bles in the Dust," Andrew Hamilton Ham-ilton tells that last vear an esti mated 500,000 rockhounds ran around mountains, woods and beaches, eyes alert for any brief gleam of mineral or a telltale flash of crystal. Hamilton's report, illustrated with color photographs taken at the Valley of the Goblins and other locations in Utah, says that one of the pleasant things about this hobby is its modest cost. "A collector's basic tool, be he a Ph.d. in geology or a Boy Scout working on a merit badge is a prospector's hammer blunt on one end, pointed like a pick The Post article tells that the region around Capitol Reef, one of the least visited areas administered admin-istered by the National Park Service, is a veritable bonanza for collectors. Among other things it abounds in petrified woods of rich and unusual patterns; black, glasslike glass-like obsidian embedded with white "snowflakes" of silica; red jasper; band and plumed agate, which take a high polish; quartz, amethyst and topaz crystals; blue variscite; diamondlike lab-radorite, lab-radorite, and dinasour and marine ma-rine fossils. Few rockhounding finds are worth much in terms of dollars and cents, but the Bureau of Mines estimated that last year amateur gem hunters found the semiprecious stones worth over $1,000,000 or approximately $2 worth per rockhound. The monetary value is not what keeps the true rockhound going, but it is something to keep in the back of the mind. You never can tell. |