Oregon Trip, Page 4

Below are pictures of the sign at the Dust Devil Mine, Steve's business card front and back, and the road leading out of the entire sunstone area.  As you can see, the roads here are very primative and can be pretty tough on passenger cars at certain times of the year!

Steve's card has a beautiful picture of a carved sunstone done by Will Cox which won the 2002 Cutting Edge Award.  Also the back has some great info on sunstone.

Below is a picture of two sunstones that I facetted prior to my trip.  I bought the rough at a local rock shop, but I'm positive that the material came from this area, either the public ground or one of the mines.  The square cut stone is 1 carat and the Standard Round Brilliant (SRB) weigh's .453 carats.  On both of these stones I oriented the shiller perpendicular to the table and when viewed from the side they give off fantastic displays of copper shiller flashes!

I spent tuesday evening camped at the Dust Devil Mine (camping is free for customers) and was graciously invited to join them for dinner.  Sid had prepared a really great rib roast on the BBQ and also had baked potatoe's with a romain salad topped with his own specialty seafood salad.....MMMMMMMM!  Topped off with a couple of Alaskan Amber beer's it was a feast fit for a king!  My thanks to out to all the people at the Dust Devil and they can be assured I will be returning when I can!

Onwards to Glass Buttes!!!

I left the Dust Devil Mine at about 8:00am on Wednesday morning.  Traveling back up Hwy 395 I decided to turn east on Hwy 20 and go into Burns again.  I needed some supplies and decided that a shower at the truck stop in town would be a good plan as my camper had no facilities to bath in and after several sponge bathes I wanted the full deal! At the truck stop I called my Mother to wish her a happy birthday and was informed that my GreatAunt who had been ill had passed away.  I decided I would cut my trip short and forego all stops other than Glass Buttes as the funeral services for my Aunt would be held on Friday in Hamilton, MT and I wanted to be there.  I left Burns at about noon and was shortly at the turn off to Glass Buttes, about 50-60 miles to the west on Hwy 20.  Once again, the sign for Obsidian Rd. had been torn down but thanks to the great directions in "Oregon Gem Trails" I was able to find it.  The road into the actual pits was in very rough shape and had to be driven very slowly.  About 3 miles in, just past the described cow tank, I took a left and drove up the road pictured below.  Not a trip for the faint hearted as it side hills often and in a couple spots I was almost sure the camper would tip over!  Thanks to 4 wheel drive and a steady hand no complications arrose.

At the top of the road in the picture is the Gold Sheen pit.  about a 1/4 mile beyond is the start of the Mohogany pit.  Here are some pictures of the obsidian littering the ground in that area.

Continued on Page 5