Mineral club members dig deep to find real gems

Valerie Hansen sat at a rock-polishing machine Saturday afternoon, fine tuning cabochon rocks – in essence semi-precious stones that have been ground, rounded and polished – during the North Idaho Mineral Club’s rock and gem show.

A member for the last half-decade, Hansen and her husband, Kelly, showed off rocks they had dug up in Oregon during a recent jaunt to a rancher’s property. Kelly even broke a chisel on a polka dot agate he was trying to remove. The chisel and the stones themselves sit in a showcase in Building 1 at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. The show continues through today.

Like many others in the club, the Hansens became interested in the club because of a slight interest in rocks and the earth. From there, it became a love for the majesty of the land and what comes from it.

Holding a thunder egg, which is a stone with an agate inside, Kelly Hansen said the club serves as an outlet for adventure.

“Nobody’s seen inside this rock until it’s opened,” he said, nodding to the egg. “God created it, and we’re the first ones to lay eyes on it.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Diane Rose, the dealer chairman of the group who got the vendors for this year’s show.

“I really love to see what God has hidden in the Earth,” Rose said.

She and her husband, Mike, began their rocky relationship – yes, pun intended – out of curiosity but also to share in something with their young grandchildren, Rose said.

“We would get them outside and have them run around and squeal and bring home some rocks,” she said.

Now those grandchildren are growing up. One graduated from Lake City High School this year.

Kelly Hansen said the club, and rocks, have become sort of an addiction to him and his wife.

“If I’m not out working,” Hansen said, “then we’re out digging some place.”

The club also has an education factor, he said. During the colder months when the weather is too wacky to go out and dig, members will have workshops to learn about things like precious metal clay, which is actually clay with silver in it that can be morphed into jewelry with the right tools and work. Classes last winter also included a session on how to use a global positioning system device and lessons in making stone intarsia – a way to inlay stones in each other to form pictures or other works of art.

During the warmer months, club members – there are more than 50 – take personal trips in search of precious stones or go on club field trips.

This summer, the club will have several weeklong getaways to places like Virgin Valley, Nevada for black opals and to dig up obsidian in Davis Creek, California.

“It’s a pretty active group,” Hansen said.

And a joking lot at that.

Hansen said some members like to tease those who might be newcomers, or those who might just be a little too interested in rocks. Like one recently retired group member did to him.

“They called it a rabbit stone, and I was so interested,” Hansen said. “But it was just a regular rock, and you could throw it at a rabbit. Or some people talk about Leaveright stones, because you would ‘Leave ‘er right there.’ “

The joviality seemed to continue Saturday at the fairgrounds, as 21 vendors sold rough rocks, high-end jewelry and even fossilized dinosaur teeth to customers interested in treasures of the ground.

The mineral club members were raffling off a huge slab of fossils of the Orthoceras, which were early ancestors of squid and cuttlefish. The stone is easily worth hundreds of dollars and had been donated by Rock of Ages, a vendor from Havre, Mont., who was also selling smaller slabs of Orthoceras for $40 and $50.

They had other prizes, too, like necklaces, earrings, precious stone books and mining tools.

All proceeds from the door were being donated to Boy Scout Troop 201, Rose said.

“One of our club members is in that troop. They’re helping us set up and tear down, they’ve been great,” she said.

The rock and gem show is also a way for the club to recruit, Rose said.

The group meets once a month on the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Post Falls Senior Center.

Those new to the club shouldn’t feel left out by the knowledge of those already in the group, Hansen said. If anything, other members serve as great teachers. That’s how it worked for the Hansens.

“Before then, rocks were rocks,” Hansen said.