Page 11 - SparHawk Maine Tourmaline

White clay melting
camera above the pocket. I found a position behind and below Jeff.
The first thing I noticed was
what looked like a big block of
pure white Philadelphia cream
cheese. It was so white it was all I could see at first. Focusing in closer on the area just below this mass of white were many dozens of large green tourmaline crystals lying helter-skelter like pick-up sticks in this river of milk-colored water. Jeff continued hosing down the cream cheese white clay and as it melted away, more crystals appeared as the loosened tour- maline tumbled down the stream, glinting and glowing in the late after- noon light.
The real magic occurred when Jeff shut off the hose. The milk-water thinned, drained, and the full impact of the quantity and quality of these green crystals just lying about became obvious. Jeff reached down, picked up one of the larger crystals between thumb and index finger and held it to the sky and passed it back to his crew. He pulled the sieve over and very carefully scooped with two bare hands, double fists full of tourma- line. He did this several times until the sieve was full, then passed it back to two assistants who further rinsed the crystals and pocket material. They poked through the loose material a bit, pulled out several especially in- triguing crystals, held them up to the light, then passed them around. A crystal held to the sky is a gesture of wonder, awe and respect. It’s the uni- versal response at the discovery of a fine gem.
At this mine, in the previous month, two gem pockets on the same
Milk-like water washing down
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