Dixie Roadcut

Materials: Spharosiderite & Micro Minerals
GPS: 46.15903, -118.13158
When using GPS coordinates to navigate to locations in the backcountry sites like Google will often make mistakes. Please watch this video before venturing out. https://youtu.be/hQr1l7dnCE4
Tools: Hand sledge and chisels
Vehicle: Any
Date Visited: January 2022
Additional comments: At the time of my first visit (March 2019) to this location I didn’t have a very good understanding of the Siderite and what to look for.

Please see the December 2021, and January 2022 update below along with the latest video.
Any Location Updates Since Visit:

This is a really old video that I made at a time in which I didn’t really understand what I was look at but I’m leaving this video up here for the record. Please watch the video below this.

December 2021 Update: At the time of writing this update, this listing has very little information on it because it was one of the earlier videos and locations we went to, but thankfully I have saved most of the material, and now I can investigate it with fresh eyes.

The first mention of this location I can find is in Bart Cannon’s book Minerals of Washington (1975), and later its location has been published in both Gem Trails of Washington and Rockhounding Washington out of what I assume to be an obligation to have a listing in this area. Even Mindat has very little information about this material and what can be found.

All the following photos come from this sample Wanapum Basalt that I took for the roadcut in 2019.

One of the things I have seen said about this location over and over again is that it has “Micro Minerals” which it does have, but let’s look at what some of these minerals actually are.

Unbroken
Broken
Many of the vugs in this Basalt are filled with a black mineral which I believe to be common opal, which is quite prevalent in eastern Washington.
A nice little pocket of Fire Opal! Perhaps this road cut has more going on than initially expected.
Some of the vugs also have small crystals in them that on first appearance seem to be a Zeolite.
Calcite

January 2022 Update: Here are all the shots of the material from the second visit to this location, and I will add more as I take them.

Fire Opal
These are all the microscope shots I took at the time of the publishing the latest video in January 2022.
The road cut.
The Spharosiderite makes for some nice specimens!

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