THE CROSSING, YARROW CREEK NEAR GLEN INNES NSW AUSTRALIA

THE CROSSING, YARROW CREEK NEAR GLEN INNES NSW AUSTRALIA

The Crossing (C), The Cascades (L) and the Black Jack Hole (R)

Readers will have noticed that we have given names to the various locations along Yarrow Creek where we have taken fossicking groups over the years. There are 14 named places and this has turned out to be a useful way of describing where particular gems have been found or to let regulars know where we intended to go next week.

The Crossing is one of the first places to which I took groups for Minerama field trips. It marks the point where 2 wheel drive vehicles can go no further and even 4 wheel drives would have trouble with it today. The landowner now uses the place we know as the Upper Crossing. 

The finds that started it all. March 2007

I had not paid a great deal of attention to this spot believing it to have been well worked over on those earlier trips, until I observed a fossicker on another trip removing a few rocks from a hole in the bed of the creek. He had some nice gems, including some topaz, and I determined to pay it a visit on one of our regular Glen Innes Baptist Church outings. It was then that I realised what we had been missing.

9 carat garnet September 2007

January 2008

There is a series of cracks running across the creek and each of these has been followed under the bank until the overburden has become too great.   There are also several holes jammed up with granite boulders which have yet to be cleared out, if they ever can be. 

We always seemed to be beaten by a combination of factors – the weight of the rocks, the depth of the water and the problem of where to put the rocks if we ever got them out. Maybe future fossickers will succeed where we have failed.

There are other possible traps in old channels or beneath deep sand. Who knows?

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Limestone Caves of NSW

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Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

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Shoalhaven District Geology.

30 carat sapphire January 2000

Finds from my last fossicking day at The Crossing - February 2012

SUE’S FAVOURITE SPOT YARROW CREEK, GLEN INNES NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

SUE’S FAVOURITE SPOT YARROW CREEK, GLEN INNES 

NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

 

The long straight stretch of Yarrow Creek

In 2003 and 2004 the Glen Innes Baptist Church Fossicking Group had so many good sites to search for sapphires along Yarrow Creek that it wasn’t easy to decide where to go each Wednesday. “Let’s go to my favourite spot”, Sue would often say to me, and so this place got its name.

February 2004

We had found it at the end of 2003 by the simple process of walking into the creek and finding that there was lots of gravel in one place, which we eventually extended along the channel for about 100 metres. Our fossicking guests found lots of sapphire, zircon and garnet cutters there. As late as the beginning of 2007 another new patch of gravel was found and I’m sure this won’t be the last.

There have been several highlights of our many trips to this productive spot. One happened when Mal Leyland – well known in Australia for his documentaries – came out with us to get some fossicking   

October 2005

footage for a video on Glen Innes he was working on. As it turned out, I got a nice blue cutter in the first sieve which was all he needed to see. Then he was gone! If you can find a copy of this video, the magic moment is preserved for all to see.

A second interesting event happened right back at the beginning when Yarrow Creek stopped flowing in a dry summer. Long stretches of the creek were dry, but we were concentrating on the Glory Hole at that stage and didn’t even get to check the rest of the creek out. By the time we did, the water was back to normal and hasn’t been down that far again since.

40 cutters in one day from the 2007 patch

The rich patch we found in 2007 was in a deep hole I hadn’t even noticed until then. It turned out to be chest deep (or deeper) and there was a submerged log down one side. Under the log was where the goodies were trapped. Unless you were standing in the water you could never have found this patch of gravel.

We use the name “Sue’s Favourite Spot” for a nearly straight 500+ metre stretch of the creek which starts where the “Glory Hole” area ends and finishes where the “Blockup” begins. At least half of this is reedy and uninviting, but who knows? There might be another bonanza or two in there.

My last day's finds from SFS - September 2012

There is a video on Sue’s Favourite Spot on You Tube here .

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All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

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Limestone Caves of NSW

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Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology.

16.8 carat sapphire from the 2007 patch

“THROUGH THE FENCE”, YARROW CREEK NEAR GLEN INNES NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

“THROUGH THE FENCE”, YARROW CREEK 

NEAR GLEN INNES NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

This location takes its name from the fact that an old wire fence runs next to the entire length of the place. As we got to know it better, we began to call parts of the creek further upstream “Through the Fence Extended”. It merges with the next productive area upstream which we know as “The Old Mine” at a point where the creek moves away from the fence. Downstream becomes “Down the Hill” where the fence crosses the creek.

I can identify 6 or 7 distinct sites where gemstones were most common and one of these yielded 3 sapphires each more than 30 carats in weight. Of these, I sold one blue for $330, the only time I’ve been persuaded to part with a really good stone. An almost identical stone was found by one of our group in the same place several weeks before. There are still several areas where little has been found yet and these need closer examination.

The creek in this stretch, just as almost everywhere else, is confined in a granite channel. There is only one small sandy area and no pools deep enough to make fossicking impossible. I expect that there will be many good finds amongst the rocks in the years ahead.

My finds from one fossicking day at Through the Fence

Visit my YouTube site here for videos on gem hunting in the Glen Innes district, including one on "Through the Fence" (here). 

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https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology.