Connecticut Gems (Part 1)

Living in Michigan has caused much change in my life for the better and the worst. Being that construction has been slow and I had an opportunity and received a job referral from my friend Bill to go to Westbrook Connecticut to work with a gentleman named Crag. Crag who has a wonderful wife whose home cooking was great with two students in college.

Before going to Connecticut I had spent years researching the gems in Connecticut with the hope that one day I could go there to hunt these gems. The state of Connecticut has a lot to offer, and man does this state really have some great gems stones to be discovered there.

The trip is about 12 to 13 hours from Michigan going through New York, crossing the Hudson River, to finally end up in the great state of Connecticut. On my way do some tile work there in Westbrook. My first night I spent the night in Middletown. When I woke up in the morning it was kind of cool outside being it was fall when I made this trip.

After I found some coffee and I was ready to go find some Connecticut gems. Good luck. If you know anything about gem hunting is that it takes as much skill as it does luck. I was looking for beryls and maybe I would also find an elbaite crystal (tourmaline) as well. I looked for hours, nothing. Eight hours had past from road cuts, to bad directions, to just taking chances.

Then I found some nice rock near the Connecticut River. I followed some quartz rocks to an old mine that had some very large blue beryl (aquamarine). After searching until dusk then I found a large boulder of Amazon stone at about 300 pounds. So I broke it in half. In my surprise there was a large blue green tourmaline crystal (three quarter of an inch by about 3 inches) surrounded by smaller ones and a one inch by one inch Aquamarine crystal in the same matrix. This is probably the nicest gem in matrix that I have ever found. (To be Continued)

See: Connecticut Gems (Part 2)