CRYSTAL QUARTZ

In the museum at Paradise, among the rock collections, are some specimens of quartz which show the characteristic crystal outline of this common mineral. So symetrical are many of these crystals that some of our visitors are rather skeptical of the statement that these clear, six sided prisms have been formed by Mother Nature without grinding by machines or polishing by human hands.

Quartz is a natural substance made up of two elements, silicon and oxygen in chemical combination and it is by far the most common of all rock forming minerals -- occurring both as grains in igneous rocks associated with other minerals, or composing almost the whole bulk of the rock as in sandstones and quartzites. It is not ordinarily soluble in water but under some of the conditions existing in the earth's crust, it is carried in solution. These solutions are working their way through the rocks, sometimes coming to the surface and giving rise to siliceous springs so common in Yellowstone and other places. In other cases these solutions will leave their deposits of quartz in the openings which exist in the rocks through which they are passing.

The quartz crystals which were taken for the museum were from the granites which form the base of Mt. Rainier and have been formed by solutions which have been percolating through the granite mass since its solidification. Where these solutions have encountered an opening such as a crack or pocket they have deposited their load of silica, building up crystals of quartz, the molecules of this substance arranging themselves in a definite way which gives rise to the crystal outline. The perfect crystal is characteristically a six sided prism, with the faces of the prism tapering at the outer end into a six sided pyramid. There are a great many of the crystals which do not have a perfect development due to their being interferred with during their growth by the growth of neighboring crystals, but even in these cases a few of the flat sides or angles of the imperfect crystals can be seen. These brilliantly beautiful crystals then, are simply another way which Mother Nature has of manifesting the intricacy of her work.

. . . William L. Effinger, Ranger-Naturalist.