Day One Ace

 Working the mine, one can only dig by nonmechanical means.  That means no cobra drill or anything like neumatic tools (oh how we long for any kind of advantage against the hard dolomite stone).  I learned some basic mining terminology, such as to cape or chiseling out a 4"-6" hole in the rock.  At the Ace I am working along side miner 'steve' learning how to deal with the dolomite stone the old fashioned way.  By making large rocks into small rocks, we occassionally find Herkimer Diamonds.  We were working on part of the ledge where there are spuratic water clear crystals to be found, or possibly even a 'sub pocket' which can have several crystals in a cluster.  Or it can have calcite, or druzy quartz, and if you're just 'getting warmer' it will be filled with a substance called anthrailite which is what the Herkimer Diamonds were composed of several million years ago.   Day 1 we were seemingly working part of the mine that was 'dead' rock or rock that is not crystal bearing.  Two days of working that spot with no reward had use looking to relocate about 30 feet due southwest.