Paulina Limbcasts
Near a place called Post, wich is actually just one small store,
is another place called Paulina. One thing Paulina is famous for is its agate limb casts of blue,
green, white and pink varieties. There are several collection areas open to the public and
to rockhounds. We used our book Gem Trails of Oregon to locate the turn off and
followed it until we came to a small clearing just past an old bridge made of concrete.
I should note the bridge is no longer visible and the concrete is barely discernable.
Wearing my hat and carying my hand pick, and walkie talkie I made my way up to one
of the pits nearby. I dug a little then moved on to another pit and dug some more.
After my fourth or fifth hole not finding any hint of agate I decided to go for a walk
and look for float. I walked and looked and still no sign of agate anywhere. Some
time around then I got a call from my mom on my walkie talkie saying she almost walked
right up on a big rattle snake so I should be carefull. She was walking up a hill toward
a tree where the snake was and didn't pay attention to the rattle. When she was right up
by the snake she realized what it was and side stepped away from it as quickly as she
could. She and Shirly both remarked at how brown in color the creature was laying there
coiled in a figure eight. I of course wanted to find out where the snake was so I
walked over to where my mom and Shirly were digging. She pointed up the hill toward
a tree and said up there. That was good enough for me. I decided to take the opportunity
to have lunch.
After having a sandwich and some potato salad I resumed my search. I walked a ways up
the wash and past the area with the snake.
I looked in the stream bed and didn't find anything and eventually stopped walking at
the base of a steep hill. I started climbing up it and that is when I started finding
float. Midway up the hill I found a nice piece of agate so I called my mom and had her
come over. All across the hill I noticed small chunks of wood, twigs, and little limbs.
I imagine they had been falling there on the hill for thousands of years. I dug with my long
handled pick in the ground plowing up the limb casts with my point. All over the hill
there were small pieces of agate. I even found a small ball of agate that I thought
may have been a fossilized bird egg. We had found a bird egg only a few momments before
that was a beautiful turquoise color. The ball is most likely a vug or a puff ball but I
still say it looks like a birds egg with a hole in the shell. We collected for awhile
but we didn't stay for very long because the no-see-ums were giving us hell and we were all too sore and
tired. We spent a few minutes looking for a lost pick and once we
had found it we packed up and left.
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Copyright 2003-2004 Ken Dinneen
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