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Saturday was the first field trip of the year for the Owyhee Gem and Mineral Society. The group headed to Reynolds Creek to collect petrified wood. The wood from this location takes some work to find, not much is found on the surface. After a lot of digging I did manage to find some small pieces. The first few pictures below show how well this material polishes.
Reynolds creek is a very special place to me. Before my grandfather passed away he told me that our family had ties to the area and that our ancestors were some of the earliest settlers of the area. He told me that the name I should look up was Scott. After doing some research I found that our family’s story in this area starts with a man named George Dennison Gardner.
After serving with the Thirteenth Iowa United States Volunteers during the Civil War George set out for Boise City and arrived there September 3, 1864. After this George moved his family to Ruby City then in May of 1870 he purchase and moved to the Carson Ranch in Reynolds Creek. In that same year his niece (my great-great grandmother), Mellissa A. Gardner, from Ohio came to live with his family.
On February 19th 1882 Mellissa married Frank H. Scott of Succour Creek, Oregon. Soon after their marriage they had their own ranch in Reynolds Creek and started raising a family. They had 3 children Harlow, Anne and Lula. Lula (my great grandmother) married a man with the last name of Feldtman and move to Los Angeles. My family returned to Idaho in 1951 when my grandfather joined his aunt, Anne Robinson, in Twin Falls to start a real-estate business. The remaining members of the Scott family had passed away by the end of the 1920’s and that is where direct family history ends in Reynolds Creek. The Gardner family descendants continued to live on the Carson-Gardner Ranch until 1945.
More information about this historical ranch can be found in the Owyhee Outpost No.12 published by the Owyhee County Historical Society in April of 1981. “The Carson-Gardner Ranch, Reynolds Creek –Owyhee County, Idaho Territory” written by Marjorie Williams.
Sometime gems are not only rocks found in the dirt. The knowledge of my family’s roots is a very valuable gem of knowledge to me.
This week I found some good likes about rock hounding in Idaho. The links are list below. The last link is to a site that has some wonderful maps available for free. You can also download a sample map right here.
SPECIFIC GEMSTONE AND ROCK INFORMATION - where to find them.
ROCKHOUNDING ON IDAHO STATE ENDOWMENT LANDS
IDAHO GEOLOGISAL SURVEY - Free Maps
Clcik here for a sample map Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. A link to this free download is on the link page.
The Magic Valley Gem Club held their annual gem show last weekend. This was a smaller show but was just as fulfilling as the resent shows in Boise and Caldwell. I picked up some nice materials at great prices. The pictures below show some of the displays and materials from this show.
