Visual History in Rocks
We no longer have
the rock manuals that Tim and I wrote many years ago which documented our trips,
so it is difficult to assess how many rock collecting trips we made over the
years. When I went back to Eureka to pick up our collection, Tommy
Flemmer's wife told me that she read every word in those books, and when I asked
where these books were...she told me that they had been thrown out a long time
ago. I suspect they ended up in the same place where many of our
"lost" rocks went - into the hands of the good people of Eureka, who came in to
take claim on anything that wasn't nailed down in our deserted home.
Since so much of the Smith boys' history revolves around rock collecting, it became apparent that these rocks represented our collective memories. Each stone generated a new found memory, so I thought it would be fun to go tell this history through pictures and stories that filtered back into recall.
So here it is...
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Sand Calcite Crystal This is one of Grandpa Ryan's rocks, which he found on Rattlesnake Butte. This is among the rocks he collected and placed in his saddle bag before the old Indian approached him. It sat in the upstairs attic in Kimball for many years until mom sneaked it out of her parent's house. Among these rocks was grandma's quartz crystal. It had a large crystal protruding from its base, and regrettably, this family heirloom is missing. |
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Teepee Canyon Agate We drove to an area west of Custer to find these agates. They have similar patterns to the Fairburn Agate, but is distinguishable enough to have its own name. Between all of us we had one rock pick and one hammer. The rock book was generally in possession of the person who was not handling the rock pick. |