Breaking News for Jacksons’ Crossroads Amethyst crystal pay to dig fee mine , Hogg Mine star rose quartz, tourmaline , Aquamarine , and a few other pay to dig crystal mines as well , updated Aug . 25 . First time visitors are encourage to add this webpage  ( bookmark ) to your favorites for fast access to the latest scoops on notable producing locales– ones where YOU , for a low fee , can go dig and collect nice crystals and minerals. Also , after browsing the rest of my homemade website visit the slick commercial version www.dixieeuhedrals.net for streaming video of monster machine digs , a photo gallery and more. 

Just a reminder that Saturday ,Aug. 27 is an open dig at the Hogg mine $ 35/ person. Anyone wanting to come try their luck at the Hogg mine should meet at the place listed below at 8:oo a. m. to sign up . The group will be going Sunday to the Lagrange clear quartz crystal mine , which is another mile from the store . $15 per person and there is plenty of quartz crystals to be had . If any questions , do not hesitate to call the "HOGG MINE HOTLINE" @ 404-975-8005 provided by Nextel wireless . Verizon customers should call the " AMETHYST CONNECTION " @ 404-520-5059 provided by Verizon wireless.  Directions : from Atlanta take INTERSTATE 85 South .  Take the LAST Lagrange exit , exit 13 , hwy 219 .   Take a left at end of ramp and head south on hwy 219 for about 2 miles . Turn left on BARTLEY road and then pull to the right into STEELE'S corner store .  Sign in table should be by the campers. SInce they are nice enough to let us use their parking lot as a meeting place, it would be nice to buy drinks , ice , gas , water or SOMETHING from Steele's store . Meet Saturday at 8:00 am and as soon as you sign and pay you'll be given a ticket and directions to the mine .  Someone will be at the gate collecting tickets and the free children's passes .  Even though I have not gotten word that there will be 50 people , I will have the machine there and will do some digging for the group . Please keep in mind that the normal price is $35 and I am throwing the machine in FREE .  I will break even on machine costs with 50 people and If less than fifty people show up I will lose money . There has been six folks ask to get in friday and I have turned them down . There has been a lot of rain and I want the place to be a rewarding place to visit for the group since most are traveling a long distance , so hopefully the rain will have washed up a lot of stuff .   A young fellow named Lane found a big beryl crystal that I had left on the bank  and wants to sell it . It's whopper big ! I forget the exact dimensions but it is nearly 5 inches in diameter and weighs from 3 to five pounds . White in color , terminated . Slight gemmy clear areas and possible cat's eye or star material . $60 for the crystal ,but you can offer him less and see what he says .      I hope to add some pictures of the aquamarine crystals I have gotten. Very little facet grade has come out , but what has been found is perfect flawless and very blue. The opaque to semi-gemmy  aquamarine is  such deeply blue colored that it is breathtaking !   I had read about the hogg mine since I was a kid . Recently Read Miner sent me several Lapidary Journal reprints and my friend Mike Corrigan gave me an old book that has Hogg mine information in it.  I never heard about TABULAR AQUAMARINE crystals occurring at the Hogg mine , yet , I have found 3 examples. These are not just " kinda- sorta - maybe " tabular , but exagerated freaky tabular ! It could just be a fluke area , but I don't think so .  We are all familiar with prismatic hexagonal beryl --- if we are cognizant of it or not --.  Just picture the crystals coming out of  Mt. antero .  But when is the last time , if ever , that you saw a picture of tabular aquamarine ?     And that isn't the only odd thing to come out .  I recently read that asteriated ( star ) or cat's eye  ( schiller ) beryl is rare . I had never heard of such coming out of the Hogg , but the material that was found and sent to the cutter is reported to have a strong definite cat' eye effect.  I hope to get these back later this week . I am so far behind , and more digging scheduled , so I don't know when I can get the photo's taken , edited and posted to the web - but rest assured , it's on it's way .    Pete  tells me that as soon as he can get a good close up that he will send pix of the gemmy beryl . Pete further says he'll stop by on the 27th at the Hogg and show off his recent finds and will probably give some of his material away . It's my understanding that a young fellow went to the pit the other day and found a big fist sized beryl crystal that I had left on the bank . I knew I had left it , but I was so tired , and after loading a hundred pounds of beryl in my jeep , I just didn't feel like going back for just one 3 pound beryl crystal . I am told that the young fellow wishes to sell this crystal .  All y'all that come out on the 27th might want to take a look at it and make an offer . If it is like I remeber , it was white with a small gemmy clear area . It had a schiller and looked like it might cat's eye .  I think this is the one because the bottom part came off and I gave it to Don Henderson who was helping - with a comment about it's appearance )  and I set the remainder ( which was terminated with a c- face ) on the bank of the hole .Pete Mailman has jut sent in some pictures. One of the crystals is gemmy facet grade.  I have asked for a close-up picture of this . In the picture as it appears on the webpage once I reduced the file size is hard to see the gemmy blue glass . Here is the email that accompanied the pictures :Rodney,sorry these are not professional pictures but you are welcome to use what you want.note: the small dark piece, (approx 2"X 1") is the only gemmy, it and the small complete crystal (approx. 1" X 1/2") were found with some nice rose quartz pieces in an old dump pile by the deer stand with the chair on it.most pieces are layered except one. The biggest chunk has mica growing in it and it has green gemmy color. A solid piece. I would like to know what is inside but I do not have the guts to "smote it with a hammer".Denise actually found this big chunk. Let your guests know this is 1 1/2 hours of searching thru dump piles and tailings. We did very little digging ourselves. The backhoe and the rain did all the work for us. I am going to send these pictures to the Georgia Mineral Society. I am a new member and hope to get some interest out of them to visit the Hogg. You have my payment and forms for the crystal site dated last weekend. I'll bring current forms Sat.8-27 if you are going to be at the Hogg. Peter MailmanI Just heard from Pete and Denise who visited the Hogg  Saturday ,Aug. 20 .    Pete says he found 20 pounds of beryl , here is the email Rodney:  Denise and I had a really good time.  Found approximately 20 lbs. of Beryl - three large pieces (3-5 lbs. each) - many hand sized and smaller.  Tourmaline - had to work hard, but found some nice pieces.  I shared some Beryl with your other guests.  I think they had a hard time with the heat.  I found some of the Beryl and some of the nicest quartz in an old dump pile.  Pictures will follow.  Hope to see you next weekend.  If you are at Hogg, we will be going to the quartz area.Thanks - Pete
I hope to add a photo update of the gemmy aquamarine that I found Thursday  , and the pictures Pete sends of what he found Saturday. This will probably be monday afternoon.          A cold front is on it's way in  and temps for the Saturday dig are forcasted to be 68 degrees in the morning and a high of 84 degrees. Rain usually preceds the arrival of a cold front and hopefully this will wash up some good stuff.  Even though 3 seperate folks have asked to go in Friday , I am not letting anyone in to the site  for a week  prior to the Saturday 8 a.m. arrival of the MAGMA group .  I did some digging Thursday , August 18th .  I hit an area that contained a huge beryl crystal . The crystal fell apart into three sections , with 2 sections weighs 20 pounds each and the third section weigthing about 40 pounds . Yep , that's right , a 80 pound crystal  ! The single large crystal was about 2 foot long and 14 inches in diameter. It was surrounded by several baseball sized crystals.  Color varied form crystal to crystal from a blue to a green .  I hit one good gemmy facet grade medium blue aquamarine crystal late in the day , plus a non-gemmy   super dark blue crystal ( part of this is still sticking in the rock, just waiting for the next digger) .   I dug about a hundred plus pounds of beryl in three hours . Special thanks to Don Henderson of Rome , Georgia for assisting .There has just got  to be a lot of beryl in the dumps as I know I had to miss a good bit . pictured below is two of the pieces of the big beryl crystal .   I    call  me at 404-975-8005 to set up your own trip to the Hogg Mine. I left a great area on the core for folks to dig for aquamarine.  I left the core exposed with feldspar and huge mica books sticking out , a good area to dig !  All y'all as what is thinking about attending the big dig on Aug. 27  , don't worry too much about a crowd as the place encompasses about 10 acres . A huge tourmaline area  , a huge baseball sized graded area and a monster tailings pile that took thirty years to accumulate as the mine ran from 1930 to 1960 with virtually no rock hunters allowed in during or after .   A huge rose quartz pit  too !   provided that at least fifty folks attend , I'll be opening up somenew  areas and letting folks just get BUCK WILD in the hole .  Plus , after 2 p.m. I will then let folks into the tailing area where I will be hopefully digging up another hundred pounds of aquamarine ( no one allowed into the hole , but late in the day , I'll slope the dig area and let folks just have at it  . I don't know if y'all have seen my ebay items lately , but I have added a killer red rutile crystal from graves mountain and a nice jxr amethyst . I sell specimens from all my locations on ebay , with some really nice crystals starting as low as ninety nine cents   ( New ! Aquamarine crystals on matrix , dug Aug. 13 , starting bid is only 99 cents  ) , check it out here www.stores.ebay.com/dixieeuhedrals  also , check out thisebay ad for a big gemmy chunk of rose quartz , here: ( SOLD ! ) Have just got in from one of my cutters in Butte , Montanna , a batch of star rose quartz cabs from the Hogg mine . I’ll have these to display and some for sale too , at the Aug. 27 hogg mine dig. I have commissioned OTIS AND COMPANY to produce some special Hogg Mine t-shirts. These feature an electric pink pig holding a sign that says "Hogg Mine " . I should have these for sale also . My spruce pine cutter called today and said that he would not be able to get the Hogg mine faceted aquamarine to me in time to show off this weekend . The young fellow that has the beryl crystal for sale is going to the beach with his dad but he may send this up to see if anyone is interested in it .

    Next weekend , Aug. 27 , the M.A.G.M.A. group will be visiting the Hogg Mine . I have told them that if they get togethor at least  50 people that I will ensure that there is a backhoe out there and that I will do the following : I can make sure the place is dug up good a week ahead of time and not let anyone in for a week , so that if it rains there will be material washed up .I can make sure the place is dug up good a week ahead of time and not let anyone in for a week , so that if it rains there will be material washed up. If  the MAGMA group gets at least fifty people , I'll bring in a big backhoe . 1.) I'll open the tourmaline hole and expose a quartz core ( machine runs 45 minutes ) . Everyone welcome to both the resulting tailings pile and to enter the hole where there is a quartz core loaded with tourmaline .2. ) I'll move some fresh material off of the old aquamarine dump ( machine runs 15 minutes ) . 3 .) I'll do a little digging near the core to expose areas that may or may not have rose quartz or beryl ( machine runs 15 minutes) . 4 .) I'll be digging near the core for aquamarine . This area will be marked off and will be off limits untill after 2 p.m. After 2 p.m. the crowd can access the dumps and sift for aquamarine and rose quartz . There should be a huge amount of rose quartz dug up .Most likely no one will be allowed to enter this hole near the core because of safety concerns . Please note that there will be at least one area that folks can try their luck digging near the core in a virgin area for aquamarine. Folks should realize that aquamarine is rare and hard to find.  Aug.13 machine dig saw the opening of the tourmaline area . We hit a area of good hard quartz enclosing good solid shiny Tourmaline crystals . Here , Jeff " Jeffadillo " Deere from Rome , Ga. And Read Miner from Columbia , S. C. Show off some of the finds . A close up shows a nice single tourmaline crystal with a complex termination . We hit a area of awesome deep pink star rose quartz . No pictures of this yet ! This was the nicest I have seen so far . I even hit one area of facet grade rose quartz . Super clear material but it probably doesn’t star though . Later in the day after lunch , I headed on down to the main pit to the old workings on the rose quartz core . I made several test holes and ripped up lots of rose quartz . I then went along side the core and hit some awesome aquamarine crystals . Lots of small ½" diameter x 1 inch long xls and several big ones , as big as Coke cans ! Harry Hyaduck shows off some he trimmed out  by breaking down a boulder from the core : Remember , after all the rain  and thundershowers we usually get every afternoon , after this weekends digging, there should be all kinds of great gemmy star rose quartz to collect , loose tourmaline crystals , and if your lucky , Aquamarine crystals ! call 404-975-8005 to set up your collecting trip today .  You'll have to get  a release form in to me along with payment so please try to schedule your appointment well in advance.  All photo's this page by MICHELLE MATTHEWS . keep checking back , might be more did pix to come in from the other folks later.