Every year the population of the small town of Bancroft nestled in the York River Valley on the southern edge of the Canadian Shield swells by thousands as people journey from all over the world to attend the Rockhound Gemboree, Canada’s largest gem and mineral show. After hearing about this show in 1995, I always thought I’d like to see it and this year I made up my mind and went. Even after the ten hour drive from Long Island, I was not disappointed. After settling into the campground I had decided to stay at, I was anxious to check out the Gemboree. Bancroft looks like one of those towns where they roll up the sidewalk after 6 o’clock, but it is known as the "Mineral Capital of Canada".

The Gemboree run by the Chamber of Commerce was great. Over 50 dealers from Canada, Europe, and the U.S.A. offered a stunning array of beautiful mineral specimens, gemstone jewelry, lapidary, and crafts. Fiery opals, picturesque sandstone, and the area’s own rare sodalite were among the many treasures available. The Gemboree also offered rockhounds the chance to build on their collections by providing swapping tables for rent at low cost. Participants purchase "swapping dollars" to trade surplus specimens and add to their personal collections. There also were experts to identify minerals, seminars on rocks and minerals, and daily guided mineral collecting field trips.

After viewing this wonderful show ,I was itching to get on a dig. Geologist-led mineral collecting field trips are conducted daily during the Gemboree. The rock beneath Bancroft is between 1.1 and 1.8 billion years old, and has been subjected to volcanic activity, glacial scouring, extreme heat and pressure, and intense faulting and folding. The result of all this is a rich and varied array of semi-precious mineral, which provides a paradise for rockhounds and people travel from all over the globe to examine the amazing geology and to collect unique specimens.

If you ‘ve ever gone on a dig before, you know that nothing equals the excitement of finding your own mineral treasures, so I signed up for 4 field trips. Geologist Chris Fouts led the trips. If you’ve never been on a dig you need to wear old clothes, sturdy footwear, something to dig with, a container to carry your "treasures", rock hammer and chisel, safety glasses, water and lunch, and a hat. The four digs I went on were Tait Farm Prospect, noted for it’s tourmaline, quartz , actinolite, pyrite, diopside, and feldspar. The Beryl Pit, a property operated by AquaRose Gems. This area is known for beryl, tourmaline, columbite, and albite. Trip number 3 was the McCormack Mine from which feldspar was extracted in the 1920’s for use in ceramic production. Available here were feldspar, peristerite, grantic granite, amozonite, quarts, biotite, hornblende, titantie, scapolite , mangetite, zircon, allanite, and chlorite.

My last trip was to the Bear Lake Diggings . This site is known for its large specimens, and highly lustred titanite and hornblende crystals. A rainstorm left our group soaking to the skin, and we finally gave up our "treasure hunt".

On these field trips, I added to my mineral collection and met many people who share the love of rock and mineral collecting . Among the people I met were an environmental artist, Carolyn Schooley, who lives in Ontario, Canada and man who makes clocks from logs, Lannes Kenfield, who works in New York and lives in Pennsylvania.

I would highly recommend the Rockhound Gemboree to anyone, in fact, I give it FOUR GEMS!

For more information, contact:

        Bancroft & District, Chamber of Commerce,  P.O.Box 539, Bancroft, ON KOL 1CO

        Tel. 613-332-1513