{"id":120,"date":"2014-03-16T18:32:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T22:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/americangeode.com\/blog\/?p=120"},"modified":"2018-08-24T11:42:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T15:42:21","slug":"herkimer-diamonds-claim-fonda-ny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/herkimer-diamonds-claim-fonda-ny\/","title":{"rendered":"Herkimer Diamonds claim in Fonda, NY"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the most up to date events, check out our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/events.php\" title=\"Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Shows\" target=\"_blank\">Gem, Mineral, and Fossil<\/a> Newswire.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: dotted 1px;\" \/>\n<p>A benefit of membership with the Nassau Mineral Club is that you have access to the Herkimer Diamonds claim in Fonda, NY. This means that you can go to a private plot and dig for the rare, and remarkable Herkimer diamonds.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d373225.644666662!2d-75.0060977400559!3d43.04510606351729!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0x6e5e4aad3eb180b9!2sDiamond+Acres+Mine!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1535124779470\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Joe and I met at the Schenectady train station and had our directions set in GPS, and I had hand written the directions so we have them \u201cold fashioned\u201d style,,,,still we drive around for half an hour when the GPS told us we were criss-crossing the center of the Herkimer plot. We should have been pulled up right beside the dolomite shelf itself,,,,so we drove back and forth and finally found someone walking outside their farmhouse. We asked her if she knew where the Hastings Herkimer Diamonds site was, and she had never heard of the place!\u00a0 So we asked her, \u201cAny chance that you have an interesting outcrop or rock formation near your residence, on your property?\u201d\u00a0 To that she also replied she did not know what we were talking about.<\/p>\n<p>Finally we drive past an unmarked drive-way the led to a circle road with variety of trucks and SUVs parked, and it was too early in the day for a party, so we knew we had found the place.<\/p>\n<p>Once you find your claim, the trick is clearing the rock down 6 to 8 feet below for the largest pockets, so we were told.\u00a0 We met many nice people along the way working their claims, some with elaborate PVC pipe contraptions set up to drain rain-water, to folks with New York City maintenance crew jack-hammers.<\/p>\n<p>Our claim is around 4 feet below the earth, so we have a lot of potential. The dolomite is very hard, and sometimes you are facing a smooth surface of rock, no fissure, crack or crevice to insert your chisel.\u00a0 So it is hard work, but a lot of fun when you hit a pocket, albeit small, and you pluck out perfect \u201cdiamonds.\u201d\u00a0 This is very hard rock again we stress.\u00a0 No wonder that the Herkimer diamonds are rare.\u00a0 We plan to return with a jack-hammer or a case of Red Bull energy drinks to get to the 6-8\u2019 level.\u00a0 Check out the photos of the smaller diamonds we recovered. They are beautiful and amazing since they pluck out of the earth as clear as glass, or a diamond.<\/p>\n<p>We would classify this location as \u201cVery Difficult\u201d because of the trek through the wilds that is required, the mosquitoes, chance for snakes, lack of facilities, and need to carry as much equipment as you can yourself through the possible \u00bc to \u00bd mile through the woods.<\/p>\n<p>Have fun!<\/p>\n<p>Be seeing you,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/rockhounding.php\">Rockhounding Photo Gallery<\/a>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSeTrNqIcAA6kAs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnleft size-medium wp-image-121\" alt=\"BSeTrNqIcAA6kAs\" src=\"http:\/\/americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSeTrNqIcAA6kAs-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSeTrNqIcAA6kAs-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSeTrNqIcAA6kAs.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSi59HnIcAAMpGj.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnleft size-medium wp-image-122\" alt=\"BSi59HnIcAAMpGj\" src=\"http:\/\/americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSi59HnIcAAMpGj-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSi59HnIcAAMpGj-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/BSi59HnIcAAMpGj.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:Charles@americangeode.com\">\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the most up to date events, check out our Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Newswire. A benefit of membership with the Nassau Mineral Club is that you have access to the Herkimer Diamonds claim in Fonda, NY. This means that you can go to a private plot and dig for the rare, and remarkable Herkimer &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/herkimer-diamonds-claim-fonda-ny\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Herkimer Diamonds claim in Fonda, NY&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65,66,14,35,69,70,68,67,28,8,34,106,92,131,72,39,73,4,36],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-afms","tag-american-federation-of-mineralogical-societies","tag-fossils","tag-gameostones","tag-gem-mineral","tag-gem-mineral-shows","tag-gem-and-mineral-clubs","tag-gem-and-mineral-shows","tag-gemhunters","tag-gems","tag-gemstones","tag-geode-cakes","tag-geodefest","tag-geodes","tag-get-out-and-rockhound","tag-herkimer-diamond","tag-herkimer-diamonds","tag-rockhound","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americangeode.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}