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Sisters, Oregon
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Gem Show brings treasures
By Jim Cornelius

This little girl found some treasure at the Sisters Gem Show.

All through the long holiday weekend, visitors and Sisters folk filtered into the tent city at Sisters Elementary School to hunt for treasure.

Whether it was $1-a-dozen glass beads to thrill a three-year-old or an exceptionally beautiful geode worth every bit of $50 to a wandering rockhound, or a piece of carving that caught the eye of a collector or decorator, the Sisters Gem Show had something for just about everybody.

Vendors come from all over the West for the Sisters show, and their assessment was that this year's show was a good one.

Visitors bought freely and the vendors enjoyed the comfort and cleanliness of the elementary school grass.

Sometimes, the vendors have a hard time keeping away from their neighbors' stalls.

Jim Coon discusses "opalized" wood with a visitor.

"My trouble is that I sell a rock and go buy two or three more," said vendor Jim Coon.

Coon was showing off a large piece of "Arizona wood" -- a chunk of petrified wood he had just purchased from a vendor down the row.

Coon planned to slice up the "wood" into specimen slabs.

Although this particular piece was from Arizona, nice examples of petrified wood abound in Oregon.

"They find that wood in Oregon -- better than that," Coon said. "Some of the best wood I've ever had comes from Oregon."

Coon explained that petrifaction occurs when wood is covered quickly and completely by mud or clay -- or in this region, volcanic ash.

If the material covering the wood is rich in the right kind of minerals, the wood petrifies into stone.

Coon noted that it used to be thought that such a process takes millions of year.

"If the conditions are right, it can happen relatively quickly," he said. "They've found pick handles in Germany --from the old mines -- that are petrified."

The education to be found is one of the attractions of the show -- along with the spectacle of polished stones glinting under a bright Central Oregon sun.

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