| Randsburg Rhodonite Randsburg, CA US Uploaded By Scott (webmaster) Uploaded on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 03:24:23 PM Viewed 7815 times |
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| You can find pink rhodonite here and here is a description of it: "Shaded from salmon to delicate baby pink, through shocking pinks, occurring in a black manganese matrix. The combination of the pink and black designs makes beautifully patterned pieces. Polishes very well and therefore is good for all lapidary arts. " The description comes from http://www.highdesertinsider.com/html/randrhod.htm For more information visit the website. It is possible the directions below are bad because I can't follow it on Google Earth. The source website has been known to have outdated or built over locations. | A map and directions can be found on the reference website. Here is what it says: "This area can be reached from either Highway 395 north from Victorville or from Mojave via the Randsburg-Johanannesburg Road. We prefer to go in from Mojave and the directions given here refer to the latter route. (See map for route from Victorville) From Mojave, take Highway 14 north for 11 miles to Randsburg-Johannesburg cutoff. Turn right. Follow this paved road 20.1 miles east to Randsburg, the famed gold mining town of old. Many of the original buildings are still in use and you may wish to stop awhile to visit some of the bottle shops. At junction with main street of Randsburg, turn right through town and proceed 1.6 miles to paved Sunshine Mine Road. Turn right and go 1 mile. Here the pavement turns left but you should continue straight ahead onto good dirt road for 1 more mile. Turn left onto lesser traveled dirt road and go .1 mile. Make a sharp left turn and continue .4 mile to narrow part of road. From here it is .3 mile to fair dirt road on right. If you use EXTREME caution, you may wish to take this road the .1 mile to the rhodonite vein. Otherwise, you can park your car at the bottom and walk up the road to the diggings. The black rocks must be chipped to expose the pink rhodonite. The better material seems to come out of the vein, but this is hard work and good pieces can be found among the rocks scattered on the dumps. Don't get discouraged if you don't find a good pice right away as it usually takes a lot of chipping before you come across a good-patterned chunk. " |