ntsougri Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 My daughter found a black igneous rock with some soft gold flakey material in it last Sunday. The rock was found near the flooded river bank of the Highwood River in the Kananaskis Valley. Is it real or is it Pyrite (fool's gold)? Another question is did we actually find some gold from the legendary Lost Lemon Mine? Just a brief history of the gold rush fever in 1870, particularly the southwestern foothills of Alberta. It had its share of pioneer stories of half-crazed gold hunters, the most sensational being the legend of the Lost Lemon Mine: a tale of discovery, murder and madness involving two prospectors named Lemon and Blackjack. According to Senator Dan Riley who was mayor of the Town of High River in 1906 - legend has it that Lemon & Blackjack found a huge seam of gold in the Kananaskis Mountains in 1870 but got into a violent argument, ending with Lemon splitting his partner's head open with an axe in the middle of the night. The gold was never recovered nor mined, and to this day, the story of the Lost Lemon Mine is veiled in mystery, but still generating ongoing camp fire theories and debate. We are going to get the rock inspected by a geologist friend and see if it is real or not. Stay tuned! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedBeard Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Hard to tell from the picture as it's kind of small, but is there any oxidization on the rock? When exposed pyrite typically is associated with a lot of rust from oxidization. See attached picture for oxidized pyrite at the Devonian/Mississippian unconformity. Also, does the portion of the rock in question have distinct crystal faces? Like is it square, octahedral, etc? That's a distinguishing feature of pyrite if so. A couple of other things you can try: Try scratching it with a knife, gold will scratch, pyrite will not; When you scratch it if you smell a sulfur odor (rotten eggs) when you put your nose right up to the rock, it's pyrite. Love the history lesson though!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vhawk12 Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Pyrite will leave greenish brown streak on a ceramic tile too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailhead Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Gold ore is usually associated with quartz veins. But gold is where you find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntsougri Posted September 15, 2013 Author Share Posted September 15, 2013 Well we had the rock examined and in fact it is pyrite. My daughter was disappointed but we did learn a lot about southwestern Alberta history during the gold rush period. There are still several individuals currently looking for the Lost Lemon Mine and we hope that someone is lucky enough to find it. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taco Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 Pyrite will leave greenish brown streak on a ceramic tile too... Shoot dawg I've been known to leave a greenish brown streak too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 Question for u where did u have the rock examined Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawgstoppah Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Shoot dawg I've been known to leave a greenish brown streak too Probably snacking on too many of them tasty little brookies there hoss. Slow down a bit. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taco Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Probably snacking on too many of them tasty little brookies there hoss. Slow down a bit. LOL Na, usually happens when I do a helicopter style header in the shower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vhawk12 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Shoot dawg I've been known to leave a greenish brown streak too You might want to see a doctor about that.... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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