Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Society
GEM-O-RAMA
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- 2008 show for dates and times
2008 Show Update - 21 October
2007
1. NEW 21 October 2007 - The
2007 show is history and preparations have already started for
next year's show. Unlike the rain
just before the 2006 show, the weather in 2007 was spectacular.
The mornings were cool, around
50oF, but the afternoons were very comfortable for mineral
collecting at around 80oF. The
only flaw in the weather was a little wind on Friday evening.
This year we anticipated greater
attendance so we asked people to park closer in the field trip
parking lots. It was a good thing
we did because we had 7% more cars than last year, yet we
were able to fit everyone into the
parking lots without a problem. We really appreaciate
everyone who helped make this
possible. I am sure we will have to park close next year as
well.
On Tuesday, October 9, a film crew
from the Discovery Channel were on Searles Dry Lake to
film a segment about the
preparations for the Gem-O-Rama for the popular series "Dirty Jobs."
A small crew was also filming
during the Saturday morning Mud Field Trip. This program will
air in 3 or 4 months - January or
February 2008. When it does air we believe that it will
probably increase public interest
in our show, and that more people will attend next year than
ever before. At this time we are
planning on about a 50% increase in attendance. It is just that
we don't know how to service
this many more people and still maintain the high quality
of service you have come to
expect. We will be working on this problem over the winter.
The mud field trip this year was
the best ever. There was more mud than ever before - 37 truck
loads, each weighing about 20
tons. It was also spread more with just one truck load in each pile
This made the crystals more accessable and
made moving around the area much easier. The brine
troughs were also spread further
around the area to make them more accessable.
The blow hole field trip was also
very good. We used more explosive so we had lots of loose
crystals available to pump onto
the surface for the field trip. In fact, during the demonstration the
SVM technicians were unable to
even reach the bottom of the hole even though they continued
jetting the well for more than 15
minutes and brought about 40 tons of crystals to the surface.
The pink halite field trip was
disappointing to many collectors. As happened last year the weather
again worked against having good
collecting on this field trip. Trona has been so dry this past year
(2/3rds of the year's rain fell
the night before the 2006 show) tha nearly all of the brine pools in
the
northern half of the pink halite
area were dry. And with dry brine pools, no pink halite can crystallize.
We tried to warn people of this
and suggest that they collect in the southern half of the area, and
those that followed this
suggestion were successful. If you had trouble finding a nice specimen
this
year, listen to what we tell you
next year and perhaps you will have success as well.
If you
have a suggestion on how to make the show even better, please email
it to the email address
below. Even
small or simple ideas are welcome since these may make the show
better for everyone.
Until next year, may your dreams be
filled
with visions of crystals; Hanksite, Halite, Borax, Sulfohalite
Thenardite and Trona.
Sincerely,
Jim Fairchild, your Gem-O-Rama reporter
in Trona, California
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Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Society
P. O. Box 966
Trona, CA 93592-0966
Phone (760) 372-5356
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