Gilsum mineral show to celebrate 50 years this weekend

June 23--GILSUM -- Half a century ago, people traveling through town would stop in to Francis "Bunk" Malony's home to see his gems.

The pieces were out on display on the front porch, so anyone could admire the chunk of beryl crystal or a small cat's-eye beryl.

So it was only reasonable that when the small mining town was looking for a way to raise money for the recreation department, Malony suggested a mineral show.

The rest, as they say, is history.

That mineral show, the Gilsum Rock Swap and Mineral Show, celebrates its 50th installment this weekend, and in several ways, it looks just the same as it did in 1964 -- only bigger, said Malony's son, Charles Malony.

Thousands of visitors each year descend on the town of about 800 during the weekend of the rock swap, where collectors, traders and dealers gather.

Children pan for minerals and barter to add new pieces to their collection. Neighbors socialize during the traditional ham and bean supper.

Robert Mitchell, president of the Gilsum Recreation Committee, said to organize the annual event, he runs through a phone list of volunteers about 300-people deep. Everyone plays a part, whether its organizing parking, setting up tents or baking. As of this weekend, there were nearly 80 homemade pies promised for the Saturday night dinner.

"The big story, for me, has been that it's always been a great opportunity to bring the community together," he said.

This year's event includes two presentations on Saturday, one on the mining industry in Gilsum by amateur historian Jim Pecora and one from Tom Minnich and Dave Redfield of the Keene Mineral Club about the club's 50 greatest mineral finds.

Also new this year is a Saturday night bonfire where dealers can share stories about their memories of previous rock swaps and mineral collecting.

Mitchell has a binder of black and white newspaper photos of the show and advertisements, now browned with age. One, from 1965, offers maps for 15 cents of the local mines that guests could tour.

The maps are still available today. The tours, though, are not. The risk of injury was too high, and so they were stopped years ago for insurance reasons.

But in the beginning, mine tours were one of the biggest draws of the show.

"We'd even drill and blast for them, so they'd have fresh piles to look through and find some treasures," Charles Malony said.

Gilsum's mines operated through the 1940s and 1950s and yielded feldspar, mica and beryl.

Today, though, the younger Malony said the entrances to most of the mines are so grown over that if you didn't know where to look, you'd probably walk right past them.

Some mines go down 200 or 300 feet, with large caverns -- "big enough to fit a house in," he said.

Dale Johnson, who's lived in Gilsum his whole life, was first introduced to mining as a boy. His father worked for a trucking company that transported feldspar, and Johnson would ride along with him while he worked.

When he got older, Johnson worked in the mines, and then operated machinery in the plants that processed the minerals.

If OSHA inspectors had walked through in those days, they'd probably have a heart attack, Johnson said. There was a lot of machinery and the rock crushers, for example, had no guards on the flywheels, which operated the jaws. Sometimes men would have to walk between machines to oil them, and the dust from grinding feldspar was so heavy, you could only see 20 or 30 feet.

Johnson doesn't think he's ever missed a rock swap. He sees people who he knew as kids now bringing their grandchildren.

But he never would have guessed that. At first, he figured there'd be enough interest to sustain it for a few years.

"Some things you're just wrong about, I guess."

People passing through Gilsum can still admire Bunk Malony's collection, part of which was once on display at the Smithsonian and which is now on loan to the Gilsum Historical Society.

Bunk Malony died more than 20 years ago. And his son, who grew up in Gilsum but lives in Milford now, said he doubts his father expected the mineral show to grow as it has.

"There's still a lot of enthusiasm about it, which is good," he said. "Some things come and go, but this seems to be hanging on."

The rock swap will be Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gilsum Elementary School grounds.

Kaitlin Mulhere can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or kmulhere@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMulhereKS.

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