At this point, we avoided collectingthe floor plates. If they were intact, wewould need to chisel under them andpop them up to remove them safely withoutdamage. Often these plates are inworse condition than the ceiling plates,although they are often larger and somewhatmore intact. Mud, oxides, and secondary fluids tend to corrode the floorplates.

 

 

　　– Crap. Goethite psuedomorphs –Tim handed me a brown lump.

 

　　I took the piece – an amorphousglob of yellowish brown dense yuck. Afragment of blue stuck out from it. Hehanded me more.

 

　　– It’s too thick to remove – he said.

 

　　I recognized he was right. We hadprayed we wouldn’t run into this kind ofproblem.

 

　　– Where does it seem to be leading?

 

　　– Off to the right side. The wholesection is cemented together.

 

　　He backed out of the pocket, anotherchunk in his hands.

 

　　– Well, what we got so far is good.

 

　　– I waved at the pieces we had collected.

 

　　Tim began gathering up the smokies,examining them. He took ahold ofsome of the amazonites and beganchecking for fits. He immediately founda couple.

 

　　– These are all going to go together,– he said excitedly. – This isgoing to make one freaking hugeplate.He dove back into the pocket. – Wegotta get all the pieces.

 

　　He handed me every tiny scrap. Dutifully,I wrapped them. The section hewas working eventually filled four flats.

 

　　Later, these pieces did fit together.

 

　　The “Porcupine” came from this sectionof the pocket and consists of 38 fit sectionsand crystals. It is arguably one ofthe finest specimens, if not the finest,from the Crystal Peak district.

 

　　We took turns collecting specimensuntil the day’s end. It looked like thepocket was about finished. Everything tothe right was cemented together exceptfor a section at the far end which we hadnot excavated. The left side had been collected.

 

　　In the morning, we would work onthe floor plates. We again packed thepocket for the evening.

 

　　To get to the floor plates we had tocut the working face back on each side of the pocket. That meant bringing thetop down to within a meter of the openingand then cutting the sides back towhere they extended beyond the lengthof the pocket. We also trimmed the frontuntil we were right up to the floor plates.

 

Same specimen as repaired one and still in pieces during preparation process. J. and G. Spann collection. J. Callén and J. Dorris photos.

 

　　George began by cutting down thetop and then he cut the left side, searchingfor any pegmatite that drifted in thatdirection and trying to get beyond thecavity. Next, he began cutting about ameter to the right side of the pocket. Thefirst cut on the right exposed anotherpegmatite. It looked promising. I had himmove farther to the right and continuecutting until he no longer hit pegmatite.

 

　　This was incredible. Often when onepegmatite produced a pocket an adjacentone would as well. It did not yetshow color, but the chunks of smokyquartz and pink feldspar were large.

 

　　– Better give me a minute – I signaledto George.

 

　　I worked the pegmatite with mypick, knocking loose some pieces. It keptenlarging. Tiny gaps appeared betweenthe crystals.

 

　　– It’s gonna open – I shouted backto George. Tim was trying to examine theold cavity and now came over to investigate.

 

　　– It’s green – I shouted. I wrenchedout some chunks of amazonite. – This isgoing to open, Tim. I just know it.

 

　　– We’ve been fooled before – Timcautioned.

 

　　George had come into the excavationto watch.

 

　　With the next swing of my pick, Ibroke into a cavity, and pulling out a fewchunks of pegmatite, a black hole staredback at us.

 

　　– It’s deep – I said. I slid in a screwdriver.

 

　　There was open space behind. –It’s going in the direction of our otherpocket. – I observed. I pulled free somemore chunks, and then, there it was, aperfect glassy smoky quartz, identical tothose we had been pulling from the othercavity.

 

　　I turned and looked at Tim. He andI were thinking the same thing.

 

　　– They’re going to connect! – Ishouted – They’re the same pocket!

 

　　Collecting was now going to becomea bit more problematic because therewas a greater danger for the ceiling tocollapse into the right pocket section, but what a problem to have. I had Georgecontinue cutting the right side until wedetermined the extent of the right side.

 

　　We removed more from the top on the leftside and then all three of us, working together,removed the heavy ceiling rocks,exposing the bottom plates on the leftside.

 

 

　　As it turned out, we discovered thebottom plates were mostly destroyed andwe recovered only a few minor crystals.

 

　　The material on the right edge of the bottom was encased in goethite and equallyworthless. Only a small area toward theback remained promising.

 

Freshly collected specimen during first bath, 10 cm. M. Oleszczuk collection. J. Finished “Forest” specimen, 15 cm. E. Long collection J. Scovil photo. Dorris photo.