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These rocks are all they're cracked up to be

Missouri Mines Rock Swap continues today

By DONNA HICKMAN
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Gus Turnbeaugh, left, and his friend Logan Brown, both of Fredericktown, show off the rocks they purchased at the Rock Swap. Brown bought his because he liked the spots on it that look like a cheetah. - Donna Hickman | Daily Journal

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Just inside the gate at the Missouri Mines Rock Swap, you’ll find Philip Cooper of Camel, Mo. with a lot of lace agates.

“We brought three 5-gallon buckets full,” he explained. “They’re special because they’re only found on Crowley’s Ridge from Cape Girardeau to Marmaduke, Arkansas.”

Move a little further down the line of 70 vendors and you’ll find rocks and people who came from much farther away.

There’s John Washburn of Springfield, Ill. who sits behind rows of rocks like celestite from Michigan, florite from Ohio and dinosaur bone from Mexico. He not only collects rocks, he studies them.

“I found my first piece of quartz in my grandfather’s driveway in Minnesota when I was a boy,” he said. “I became a geologist with the Illinois Department of Transportation and once you study them, you appreciate them even more.”

Vendor Mike Lutton, Poplar Bluff, saw a little boy scouring the rocks in the parking lot for treasures, so he went right over and traded him some polished stones for the ones he’d picked up in the lot.

“When I was a little kid, Mom got me out of her hair by sending me out to the driveway and telling me to find her some pretty rocks,” he said.

He doesn’t look in driveways anymore, but in places where roads are under construction like near Sullivan and Van Buren and in Arkansas quarries.

Allan Smith happily perused the rocks, minerals, gems and fossils for sale with his Farmington family.

“We’ve been on vacation for the last three years and missed this, but we’re staying local this year because of the gas,” he explained.

Swap organizers think that’s one reason they may have broken a record Saturday for visitors. Since the rain kept many away Friday, they think they may have made up for it with a larger number than usual Saturday. The Swap continues today from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the State Historic Site in Park Hills. Admission to the Mine Museum is free during the swap.

As fishermen tell tall tales of the “one that got away,” rock hounds tell detailed stories about the gem they had to dig deep to find. Some rocks come with a warning like slag glass, “Very Sharp! Handle Carefully!” Others come with a promise.

“It’s ugly on the outside, but it can be beautiful on the inside,” said Mike Shumate, Nauvoo, Ill. who sells geodes — “You buy ‘em, we’ll crack ‘em.”

He cracked one for T.J. Waller, 10, of Farmington and explained he’d have to clean it up on the inside to make it sparkle.

“A geode is a sedimentary formation that is 300 to 500 million years old,” he explained. “Some say it’s made of soft-bodies animals that died in inland seas. Others say it’s gas bubbles. Iowa, Illinois and Missouri are the only places they’re found.”

Kevin Ginther, St. Louis, says the most popular rocks he’s selling are orange calcite from Mexico.

Logan Brown, Fredericktown, couldn’t remember the name of the shiny rock with the spots that he bought.

“But I liked it because it has the cheetah look,” he said.

There are big rocks that sell for a bundle and small rocks that sell for cents. Chi Yu and her husband David read about the Rock Swap on the Internet and are selling their pearls here for the first time.

“We love Missouri people!” she said as she made cultured pearl necklaces. “The shape of the pearl depends on the started seed. We have all kinds of shapes. And they’re dyed in an oil dye for one week and heat-treated. We don’t have white peals anymore — they have to be bleached.”

She sat in the shade of a tent and carefully tied a knot between each pearl. She’s been doing it for 20 years and says she can almost make the knots with her eyes closed. Since they drove all the way from Napierville, Ill., Yu said they hope to make enough to pay for the $140 in gas they’ll spend on the trip. Then, they might be back next year.

The Swap is sponsored by the Mineral Area Gem and Mineral Society, the Greater St. Louis Association of Earth Science Clubs and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Donna Hickman is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact her at 431-2010, ext. 138 or at dhickman@dailyjournalonline.com.