THE GLORY HOLE YARROW CREEK
NEAR GLEN INNES NSW
The original Glory Hole January 2003
This spot always proved popular with those who
came on our Baptist Church Fossicking Group trips and during Minerama (the
annual Glen Innes gem and mineral show).
Although I had visited this part of the creek
several times before 2003 and had even taken groups there, nearly everyone was
not at all keen about venturing into the waterholes which characterise the
place. In January 2003 the water level was about as low as it ever gets because
of a dry summer and so, with our newly formed fossicking group, we decided to
give it a go.
A series of joints in the granite has produced
some ideal traps for gemstones. The largest of these is blocked with large
rocks at one end (all submerged) and full of sand at the other. The problem
with the sand is that there isn’t any place to put it when you dig it out where
it won’t wash back in again next time the creek floods. The best I could do was
to throw it up into the shallow end and hope to reach the bottom at
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| The first good find January 2003 |
the deep
end.
This worked out fine, as it turned out, because I
was able to get in under the rocks and extract some rich gravel. We took no
photos of the finds, unfortunately (predigital camera time for us). All the gem
photos are of stones found in other cracks nearby on later visits.
There were cutters in every sieve – sapphire,
zircon, garnet, black spinel and quartz – and it’s no wonder we called it the
Glory Hole.
The name is now used for all that section of the
creek. This was the first bonanza we had found in Yarrow Creek and one of the
biggest. The gems were embedded in white clay and I have no doubt that there
are still good finds to be made in the original location. Just get rid of the
sand!
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| January 2003 |
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| Working on a productive crack January 2013 |
All the other cracks located here have also
produced quality gems and I’m convinced that there are both new cracks and extensions
of the original ones yet to be explored.
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| Good wash January 2013 |
See my video on gem hunting at the Glory Hole here .
https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos
All New England and other Geology blogs and videos
Limestone Caves of NSW
Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs
Shoalhaven District Geology.
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| A good pyrope garnet January 2013 |
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| Zircons and garnets March 2009 |
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| Sapphires March 2009 |
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