www.coopersgemmine.com
www.bristol-library.org
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Although they got to wear hard hats, the children mining for gems with the Bristol Public Library’s Summer Reading Program didn’t have to tunnel underground to find smoky quartz, mica, peridots and other semi-precious stones.
On Wednesday’s field trip, held at the Cooper’s Gem Mine on Big Hollow Road, children were handed a trowel, a bucket of dirt and a wooden screen. They lined up along flumes and sifted their buckets in the water, squealing with delight when they found a treasure.
“I found a lot of rocks, which I love,” said Olivia Wilson, 12. She and her 10-year-old brother, Andrew, sifted through their buckets together. Both had Ziploc bags full of stones.
“It’s cool that we get to keep our discoveries,” Olivia said. “It’s a fun experience,” she said of her first trip to a gem mine. “It’s something I would come back and do again.”
Andrew said he was very picky about which rocks he decided to keep.
“The best thing about it is you never know what you’re going to get,” he said. “I found this one, it was shaped like a diamond.”Across the pond, brothers Davion and Skyler Tillison picked through their dirt carefully.
“My favorite is a purple rock,” said Davion, who is 7. “I already have one, and I want another.”
Skyler, 6, said he found “lots and lots” of purple rocks, and he liked the gold-colored ones the best.
“The best part is putting the rocks in the water and finding all the colors,” he said.
Kaitlyn Jones, 9, finished extracting the gems from her bucket of dirt early and helped others look through theirs. She said the best part was finding the gems.
“There’s a pretty purple-grayish kind of color,” she said, that was her favorite.
In total, the children and their parents sifted through 2,700 pounds of dirt, said Amy Cooper, who with her husband, Johnny, has been running the mine for the past 19 years. She said she likes being able to work with community groups such as the library.“It’s great,” Amy Cooper said. “When we can we try to work with the community and do things for kids that is fun and entertaining. Kids can go back and do research at the library; they can learn how to spell the names of the rocks.”
She said she usually hosts about 3,500 kids a year, but this year only 1,700 have signed up to visit the mine.
In part, she said, it is because school systems sometimes restructure field trips, and not as many students get to go to the mine.
In addition to mining for gems, children take a ride on a train made from a lawn mower and plastic barrels, see and pet a goat, and learn about coal mining from Jimmy Adkins, who works with Alpha Natural Resources.
Alpha, a corporate sponsor for the summer program, also gave the children plastic hard hats and other coal-related toys.
The mining program went along with the summer reading program’s theme, “Make a Splash!” said program organizer Melissa Page.
“It ties in with water, and it’s great to do something local and support local businesses. It’s something fun for us to do to but gets our families out,” Page said. “A lot of families have said, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to come back.’ ” The Wilsons are among those families.
“If we ever come back down to Blountville, this is probably what we’re going to do,” Andrew said.
“It’s definitely worth the time and the drive,” his sister Olivia said.
arobinson@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-3385
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