October 2001 Newsletter

 

 

 

Howdy everyone,

 

We have had a fun and prosperous month of September.   Business has kept us very busy shipping worldwide.

 

Friends from Kansas and Oklahoma visited for a day and had great fun at our Crystal Forest Mine guided by Vernon.  Also, a Boy Scout Troop from DeQueen, Arkansas spent a day digging at the Crystal Forest Mine and loaded up a truck full of nice crystal rock.  They had so much fun they did not want to leave.  All of these folks, near and far, make for a great place to work.  Thanks.

 

Below we've included a portion of a publication by the Ouachita National Forest Service that we found interesting and thought we might share, we hope you like it.

 

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NOTABLE QUOTES ON QUARTZ

 

1819 – "One of the most noted localities of this mineral (quartz) west of the Mississippi river is the Hot Springs of Ouachita in Arkansaw Territory.  At this place numerous pieces of quartz been found, very pure and transparent, and beautifully crystallized…" H.R. Schoolcraft, from a book on the mineralogy and geology of "Missouri and Arkansas and other sections of the western country", published in the year 1819.

 

1952 – "The existence of quartz crystals in the Ouachita Mountains has been know since the days of the Indians.  According to Hugh Miser, De Soto's men found that the Indians had been chipping arrowheads from quartz crystals."  A.E. Engel, 1952, Quartz Crystal Deposits of Western Arkansas:  U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 973.E,

 

1959 – "The structure and the vein quartz of the Ouachita Mountains are closely related in origin and they in turn are related to the other geologic features of the region.  They thus constitute an important chapter on the geology of the Ouachita Mountains."  Hugh D. Miser, 1959, Structure and Vein Quartz of the Ouachita Mountains: in Symposium on geology of the Ouachita Mountains, Dallas and Ardmore Geological Societies.

 

1967 – The Arkansas State General Assembly of 1967 established quartz crystal as the official State Mineral of Arkansas through Act 128.

 

1987 – "We figure there's been about 175 years of digging up there, not counting the Indians, and we've taken out maybe four percent of the crystals."  Ocus Stanley (the "undisputed grand old man of quartz in Arkansas"), from Arkansas Democrat magazine insert, May 31, 1987.

 

1988 – "Quartz, or silica (SIO2), is a hard brittle, durable mineral that exhibits considerable resistance to weathering.  Quartz crystals from Arkansas have received world-wide recognition by the mineralogical profession."  J. Michael Howard and Charles G. Stone, 1988, Quartz Crystal Deposits of the Ouachita Mountains:  Arkansas Geological commission, MP-21.

 

1988 – "The Ouachita contains large deposits of quartz, a silica based mineral which is valued for its aesthetic qualities and for certain industrial applications.  Small mining operations have existed on and near the National Forest for many years…  In the Ouachita Forest, where the quartz crystals formations are reputed to be the best in the world, the result has been an onslaught of new mining activity."  Honorable Dale Bumpers remarks before the U.S. Senate on July 13, 1988, to introduce what became Section 323 of P.L. 100-446 on September 27, 1988.