The Helena Mineral Society Newsletter

Transcription

1 The Helena Mineral Society Newsletter Gem, Mineral, and Geological Education and Experience October 2013 In This Issue: Page 1: From the Editor Page 2 Coming Events Page 3: Tidbits Page 4: Classifieds From The Editor: We had friends visit us last summer. They love Gem and Mineral hunting too and they wanted to check out The Montana Dinosaur Trail while they were here. We had heard of it but didn't really know what it was. The Montana Dinosaur Trail connects 14 dinosaur museums, interpretive centers and field stations in 12 communities across central and eastern Montana. Each facility prominently displays dinosaurs found in their area. Some of the facilities provide hands-on field dig programs while others offer regular programming highlighting Montana's paleontology story. They also have a neat program called the Prehistoric Passport. You can purchase your passport book at any of the trail facilities for $5. Then, you can get it stamped at each facility you visit on The Dinosaur Trail. Each location has it's own unique Dino stamp. Once you collect all 14 stamps, you receive a gold seal, a certificate of completion and an exclusive T-Shirt. Thankfully you have 5 years to complete the trail since the trail is nearly 1000 miles long with lots of great territory to explore. We only made it to two locations that trip, The Old Trail Museum in Choteau and Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum. Choteau had a great museum, with a lot of historical displays. If you haven't been to the center in Bynam it is worth the trip. They have the Guinness Book of World Records largest scientifically accurate dinosaur reconstruction Seismosaurus. It is huge! Plus many other displays and hands-on digging trips if you want to get in on that. There is a nice rock shop next -1-

2 Helena Mineral Society Officers for President: James Bruce Vice-president: Kathy Bruce Secretary: Caroline Edquist Membership Chairman: Fred LaForest Treasurer: Kathy Koenig Member-at-Large: Gene Hodge Historian: Gary Stout Field Trip Chairman: Martin Landry Show Chairman: Gary Parisi Program Chairman: David Jordan Newsletter Editor: Marlo Fullerton door too. You can get more information on their website : I would really appreciate some content ideas...any topics you want to hear about? PICTURES! PICTURES! Please send me pictures from the recent field trips, events and/or anything else HMS related. Please include a description of the photo and your name. I would love to include them in future newsletters. Thank you! Please send me your pictures, stories or anything mineral or rock related. Submit to the newsletter editor to be included in this publication. Thank you! Upcoming Events: October 31st Happy Halloween! The HMS annual Christmas party will be held at the Hannaford Street Bible Church on Dec. 7th. Set up at 4:00, dinner and auctions start at 6:00. This is a pot luck. HMS provides turkey, ham, gravy, mashed spuds, napkins and utensils. Please bring your favorite dish to share. Silent and live auctions. If you have an item(s) to donate, contact Gary, to pick up or drop off. Items needed by Nov 1st, please. More info next month. Next regular meeting, November 14,

3 Grab bag sewers are needed. Contact Kathy at for info. Grab bag material is needed. Go through the treasures collected this year and donate unwanted material. Contact Gary at to make arrangements for pick up. Red, green, blue and purple agate for slabbing material is needed by Larry Eller. He is going to make a clock shaped like Montana for next year's Christmas auction. Please bring to November meeting. If you are interested in purchasing lapidary equipment, faceted stones, jewelry findings and finished jewelry, contact Marilyn at for more info. HMS members Natalie Jordan and Kathy & Jim Bruce will be selling wire wrapped jewelry at the Helena Civic Center's Fall Craft Shows. Natalie will be there Saturday, November 2nd. Kathy & Jim will be there Saturday, November 9th. The hours are 9am 4pm and the admission is $2.00. Seismosaurus at Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum, MT 137 feet long and nearly 23 feet tall at the hips (Note: I did not have my super wide angle lens with me and the display is so big I could not get a pic with the entire dinosaur in it) -3-

4 Meetings The Helena Mineral Society meets at the Mountain West Bank located on Montana Avenue between Aspen and Poplar. Meetings are the second Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm. There is no regular meeting for the month of December. See you there! Friends, guests, and new members are always welcome To place a classified ad, please see me in person at one of our regular meetings or you may me (Marlo) with your information at marlo@planetmall.com. Ad will run in the newsletter for that month only unless specifically requested to run longer. Pictures and Articles Needed: If you have a picture that you want to share, please send it to me, along with a short description of the activity, where it took place, and when, and I ll put it in the newsletter. If you d like to share your field trip adventures with those members who are unable to attend, please feel free to contribute to the newsletter. Just me your experiences, and I ll make sure they re entered. Remember, this is your newsletter, and your contributions make it better. Helena Mineral Society, Inc. PO Box 736 Helena, Montana

5 HELENA MINERAL SOCIETY MEETING MINUTES Oct, The meeting was called to order by Dave Jordan filling in for President Jim Bruce at 7:00pm. A quorum was present. There were no new members or guests to be introduced. Wayne Waters gave a presentation on the importance of rocks to early native Indians. He presented different rocks that were used as knives along with different rocks that were used to make the knives. Wayne said he would speak at a future date about arrowheads. Due to the minutes of the meeting for September not getting posted, the minutes for September was not presented for approval. The minutes for September will be presented for approval at the next meeting after everyone has had a chance to read them. The Treasurer s Report was presented. A motion was made, seconded, and approved to accept the report as presented. Bills were presented for payment and approved. Upcoming Field Trips October 12, 2013 A trip to the Miss Beverly mine for spraying weeds. The Historian had no new. Break. Old Business Next month, November, finalization for the annual Christmas party will take place. A motion was made to reimburse the members who volunteered their time and boats to take people across the river during the annual field trip to the Club s Sapphire Mine. The motion was approved. Natalie Jordan requested help from members to sew the grab bags for the annual show. If anyone can help sew bags they may contact Kathy at for instructions or for information on the sewing circle that takes place during the day. The club has moved to a new storage unit. New Business Susanne Bidmead wished to thank club members for their thoughts and prayers. Larry Eller is making a clock in the shape of Montana and is asking for rocks from Montana to use in the clock. He needs the following colors: Red, Green, Blue, Purple, and orange. He will cut a ¼ slab and

6 return the rest of your rock. Please bring any rocks to the November meeting. The clock will be auctioned at a future date. The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be Thursday November 14, 2013 at 7:00pm