If You
Hang
Around a
Rock Show
by Debbie Wahrmund
I
f you hang around a rock show, also
known as a gem and mineral show,
you will hear about rocks from
A(gate) to Z(ebra) rock. If lucky, one
can ogle, touch, spit on (ew!) or wet
with a spray bottle ore dug from mines
in Mexico, Arizona, Colorado or even
Texas. One person’s favorite gem may
be turquoise. At a rock show, you can
learn where it comes from, the differ-
ences between green and blue
turquoise and before you know it, you
are a semi-precious expert. If you’re
really lucky, the stories will begin to
flow like lava from a fresh volcanic
eruption; then the hunt for the special
agate formed near volcanoes will begin.
Volcanoes in Texas? Oh yes, that is
22
Cenizo
of Ocotillo Enter-
prises in Alpine.
Her shop was fea-
tured in the May
2009 Texas High-
ways Magazine as a
“Great Surprise”
because she “will
arrange a wire-
wrapping class if
you and your
party are interest-
ed.”
A long-
time member of
CDGMC, she is
one of the corner-
stones (no pun
intended) of the
Display tables at The Big Bend Gem and Mineral Show, Alpine, TX.
show, offering an
amazing assort-
just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
ment of books on geology, lapidary
The Big Bend Gem and Mineral
skills, Mexican and Native American
Show, sponsored by the Chihuahuan
heritage, and sustainable living.
Desert Gem and Mineral Club
Another surprise is that Judith is an
(CDGMC), returns to the Alpine Civic
author herself, publishing The Marfa
Center April 17th to 19th, 2015 for its
Lights in 1988. In 1993 she added a
26th year and features vendors with
magazine, The Desert Candle, to her
everything imaginable, from fossils and
repertoire. The first Big Bend show I
raw rock to piles of stringed beads and
attended, I had several sets of unfin-
polished stones, to books, art, and
ished agate earrings and did not know
demonstrations such as cracking a
how to attach them. By the time I
geode to discover what is inside.
made the rounds, she had the agates
Professional jewelers and lapidarists
completed with beautifully wrapped
share their expertise, and one may walk
wire hooks, and I wore them out.
out with more than a bauble; there is a
Judith said, “It is a most wonderful
high probability of becoming smitten
thing to recognize stones underfoot and
with the rock hounding bug.
make them into something beautiful.”
Just ask Judith Brueske, owner
Finding plume agate with its featherlike
First Quarter 2015
pattern is like finding the Holy Grail of
rocks. Agates tend to be named after
their locations because their colors are
unique to that area; there is the Van
Horn Black Plume, the Balmorhea
Blue, and Marfa Bouquet agate. Red
and black plume agates which have
tree-like or feathery formations of dif-
ferent colors in the agate were found on
the Woodward Ranch near Terlingua.
J. Frank Woodward, a local geolo-
gist, bought the original Woodward
Ranch, founded in the 1880s, 18 miles
south of Alpine and adjacent to Eagle
Peak. Frank Sr. opened the ranch up to
collecting “biscuits” (agates with sort of
an English muffin shape) in the 1950s.
This practice was continued by Frank
Jr., then by son Dave, then by daughter
Susie and husband Robert Black, then
Trey and Jan. The Woodwards pur-
chased another small patch later near
the Needle Peak outcropping which
was known to contain Pom-Pom and
green moss agate. The ranch backed
up to Big Bend National Park and J.
Frank reportedly said that it (the
Chihuahuan Desert) was a special area,
“The landscape is not cluttered up with
trees so you can see the rocks.”
I learned of the ranch through a fea-
ture in the Austin American Statesman.
There was a picture of the Woodward
family home with the fireplace built
totally out of agate and put together by
J. Frank, his sons, and some brick
masons from Mexico.
The
Woodwards were instrumental in