HARRISON LAKE QUARTZ
Looking north from a spur road off the West Harrison F.S.R (Forest Service Road) towards Breckenridge and Stokke Creek.
Harrison Lake Minerals for Sale
I am pleased to be able to share a new find of particularily interesting quartz specimens from Harrison Lake, British Columbia. Harrison Lake is located about 1 hour east of Vancouver, Canada. It is a geologically active lake with several hotsprings in the area; most notably the namesake Harrison Hot Springs Resort. This find is located at high elevations that requires travelling over treacherous ground, and as such, collecting is limited to the summer months. It produces very nice specimens of gem quartz. What makes it a bit more unique than many quartz finds, is that it is particularly productive in the very rare Japan Law twin variety of twinning. It has produced many nice matrix specimens as well as many nice thumbnail specimens. They are found in a system of pockets in quartz veins located in a breccia type formation. I work as a project manager for a forestry firm. One day, one of our engineers, Luke (whom I had ealier subverted to the ways of the rockhound from previous excursions hunting mineral specimens) came into the office and dumped rock on my desk. He asked me if it was of any interest. I took a quick look at it and noticed some small, but clean and clear, quartz crystals poking out from some clay on some breccia. I said that it was very nice, but wasn't too excited about it; as it came after we found the Black Tusk quartz and certainly didn't measure up to that find at first appearance. He completely agreed with my sentiments, so I put the rock in my drawer and Luke went out to the field and life went on. Three days later, I remembered it was in the desk and pulled it out. The time in the desk had allowed the clay to dry out completely, and it was very easy to remove it. When I blew away the final traces of it, a pristine gem clear Japan Law twin that was 1.5cm accross was facing back at me. Needless to say, I was quite suprised and happy. It truly was a very nice specimen, worthy of anybody's mineral collection, not just mine because it was something I had been involved in finding. The next chance I got to talk to Luke and we were off to the site on the next Saturday. He had found the rock at the bottom of a talus slope near the tree line. We went to the area and began to climb up the talus slope. Immediately we began to find small pieces of rock with quartz crystals in them. Then the farther we went up, we began finding bigger and bigger chunks of the material. Finally we came to a rock out crop at the top where this material was wasting away from. It is very steep coming up the the host rock. Grades are around 90% (a 45 degree angle is a 100% slope - which is very steep - trust me on this one...), so it takes a bit of mountain goat blood to feel comforatable at times. Collecting continued all day, and we have been back many times since. It is truly a great find.The area is heavily oxidized with some pockets completely covered in Goethite (those are the good pockets because it means the quartz are pristine and there might be floaters :). Sometimes, if I am lucky, I will find some etched pyrite nucleated in the center of the goethite. Also present, although they are incredibly hard to recover, are Magnesite crystals. Even rarer, and even harder to recover are the Limonite pseudomorph's of the pyrite and magnesite crystals. Regular pyrite crystals are found as well, but are generally not of significant quality to deserve much attention beyond reference specimens. Many of the twins is produces are, while not huge, very fine and worthy of any collection in my humnle opinion. The specimens are recovered in a array of conditions. Some are naturally cleaned from exposure to the elements and requred nothing other than a quick rinse with water to get the dust off. Other's require to be soaked in oxalic acid and hours of extensive mechanical cleaning to remove all the goethite and limonite. Sometime I have to emply Hydrochloric acid, but I try to avoid this as I find it gives the specimen a bleached look with the quartz appearing more white than clear. The oxalic acid leaves enough of the iron staining in the matrix crystals to give a really nice contrast that sets off the twins perfectly. Below I have selected a few specimens from the 'keepers' flat that I have in the cabinet that I would like to share.
One of the two best specimens recovered so far (in my opinion). The twin is 3.5cm and could
not be placed any better on the matrix of pristine and gemmy quartz crystals.
The second of the two best specimens recovered so far (in my opinion). The twin is just under 2cm and
like its predecessor, could not be placed any better on the matrix of pristine and gemmy quartz crystals.
It could use some more cleaning probably, but I am content with it as is for now.
Nice gemmy twin next to a point. Twin is 1.5cm accross. Still some goethite coating that needs to be cleaned off.
Very nice twin on a burr of quartz. This has been soaked in HCL acid to remove the iron staining. Very nice.
Incredible luster on this 2cm twin.
Too much glare from the lights betrays the true beauty of this specimen. It is gem and pristine and perfectly arranged.
Etched Pyrite to 2cm on a matrix composed of goethite mixed with broken and re-healed (euhedral) quartz points.
Nicely etched Pyrite - floater - good on both sides.
I call this 2cm twin the Nike Swoosh.
Very big (for the locale) twin (repaired) - 4.5cm accross
Harrison Lake Minerals for Sale