Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals
Encyclopedia
The Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals is a non-profit museum in Hillsboro, Oregon
, United States. Located just north of the Sunset Highway
on the northern edge of Hillsboro, the earth science
museum is in the Portland metropolitan area
. Opened in 1997, the museum’s collections date to the 1930s with the museum housed in a home built to display the rock and mineral collections of the museum founders. The ranch style home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, the first of its kind listed in Oregon
.
The museum sits on 23 wooded acres (9.3 ha), with the main building containing 7500 ft2 of space. Collections include petrified wood, various fossils, fluorescent
minerals, meteorite
s, zeolite
s, and a variety of other minerals. With more than 20,000 specimens, the museum is the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest
. The facility has around 25,000 visitors each year, many of whom are on school tours.
s along the Oregon Coast
. In 1952 the Rices built a new home north of Hillsboro on 30 acres (12.1 ha) that would later house the museum. The Rices founded a museum in 1953 to display their collections. Their collections won them the Woodruff Trophy three years in a row at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show
, which led to that trophy's retirement. Helen served as president of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies from 1959 to 1960.
In 1996 the Rices established the non-profit museum. Richard and Helen Rice both died in 1997 with the home passing to the non-profit museum as part of their estate. In 1997 the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals officially opened. In June 2000, 94 pieces from the F. John Barlow collection of crystallized gold were added to the museum. The facility opened an exhibit in 2001 dedicated to the lapidary
arts, and by that time the museum had grown to more than 4,000 items.
The museum opened a new gallery in January 2003 to feature petrified wood
. Rudy W. Tschernich was named curator in June 2003, replacing Sharleen Harvey. In 2004 the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University
loaned the museum 52 meteorites in an exhibit funded by NASA
. Attendance had grown to around 15,000 in 2004.
In 2005 the North America Research Group unearthed the fossilized remains of a thalattosuchian crocodile from the Jurassic period in Central Oregon
. The museum plans on displaying these fossils after they are studied. Later in 2005, the 1800 ft2 Northwest Minerals Gallery opened in a former storeroom at the museum after renovations totaling $150,000.
By 2007 the museum received 25,000 visitors each year, mainly from school groups. In August 2008 the museum opened a retail gift shop in The Streets of Tanasbourne
shopping center, and closed it in December 2009 due to the economic recession. This satellite gift shop was to be a temporary endeavor, and was designed in part to help drive traffic to the museum. By 2010 the museum's collections had grown to more than 20,000 specimens, and still had about 25,000 visitors annually, with about 18,000 coming from school field trips.
. The collections include gemstones, minerals, fossils, meteorites, and some artifacts.
Gemstones include rubies
, diamonds, rhodochrosite
, opal
, emerald
, and amethyst
among others. Fossils include shark teeth, coprolite
s, or fossilized dung, petrified wood, dinosaur eggs, trilobite
s, and a baby dinosaur of the Psittacosaurus
genus. One display features all 12 birthstones with a version of each in its natural state and as finished gemstones, along with the same before and after for other gemstones such as aquamarine. Around 1,000 of the specimens at the museum are only viewable using a microscope.
One gallery, the Rainbow Gallery, is designed to showcase rocks and minerals that have phosphorescent or fluorescent elements that allow them to glow in the dark. An automated system uses a lighting cycle that includes ultraviolet lights to energize the rocks. A large portion of the petrified wood comes from the collection of Dennis and Mary Murphy. Their collection, which is in excess of 450 items and includes a log of white oak
weighing 1,200 pounds (544 kg), was combined with the Rice Museum's existing pieces. The log is from Eastern Oregon
and is estimated to have lived more than 15 million years ago. The petrified wood specimens come from Oregon, Washington, and as far away as Argentina and Australia. Other fossils include those of cycad
s, palms
, and ferns.
The main rhodochrosite attraction is the "Alma Rose" from the Sweet Home Mine
in Colorado
. The Alma Rose includes crystals measuring up to 9.5 cm in length along with quartz and calcite highlights. The Rices once owned the complementary "Alma King" rhodochrosite from the same mine, but sold the piece to the Coors Brewing Company
, who then donated it to the Denver Natural History Museum
. The two stones had been purchased by the couple for USD$800,000. Other rhodochrosite specimens include those from mines in Arizona
. The museum also has a collection of 107 gold pieces from the F. John Barlow collection featuring items such as a 42 troy ounce (1.31 kg)) leaf and pieces mined from the Ace of Diamonds mine in Liberty, Washington
. One of the museum's pieces, a sperrylite
from Russia
, is considered one of the finest in the world.
Individual items on display include coprolite from Mongolia
, a 500 pound (227 kg) piece of the lightweight volcanic rock pumice
, obsidian
and basalt
. One specimen on display is a 30 centimetres (11.8 in) wide plate with clear quartz crystals, epidote
crystals measuring as large as 10 cm and translucent calcite scalenohedrons, and comes from Green Monster Mountain on Alaska's Prince of Wales Island. The collection includes a cycad
fossil dating from the Jurassic era that weighs 500 pounds (227 kg). One meteorite is the Gibeon meteorite which weighs 210 pounds (95 kg) and came from the African nation of Namibia
. The world's largest known opal-filled thunderegg
, weighing 1.75 tons (1600 kg), is housed at the museum. The thunderegg is Oregon's state rock. Other items include azurite
, Oregon sunstone
, amber, copper crystals, zeolite
s, morganite, and agate
among others.
between the Helvetia Road and Jackson School Road exits. Situated on 23 acres (9.3 ha) of mostly forested land, the museum is housed in the historic Richard and Helen Rice House, built as a single family residence. Completed in 1952, the home was built of Arizona flagstone
on the exterior and wood native to Oregon, including curly maple and myrtlewood
.
William F. Wayman designed the structure with Victor Batchelar building the home, while Charles F. Walters designed the grounds. All the wood was logged by Richard Rice, who made his living as a logging contractor. He also milled the wood. The home was designed to allow the basement to serve as a museum for the Rices' collections.
The structure contains three sandstone fireplaces, and the countertops are finished with hand-painted tiles from Mexico
. Myrtlewood is used inside as trim and for doors. Bedroom closets were constructed with drawers, shelves, and ironing boards built-in. Inside the two-level building are amenities such as dumbwaiter
s and a sewing room. On the outside raked cedar was used on the eaves of the low-pitched roof-line building. The exterior sandstone is tan, rose, and blue in color.
The 7500 ft2 home with a 3300 ft2 basement cost $185,000 to build. The original wool carpeting is still in use at the home, as is the original linoleum
that features the museum's logo of a shovel and a pick. The ranch style home
was the first ranch home listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon.
In addition to the house, which has a full basement, the museum uses a separate building as a gallery. That building, the Northwest Gallery, was formerly used for storage and as a shop, but looks similar to the Rice House. This gallery focuses on items from Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, and includes collections of agates, thundereggs, zeolite
s, and placer gold, among others.
Most of the rocks and minerals are housed in glass cases along the walls in the basement. Before opening to the public an elevator was added to the home. The museum includes a lapidary and arts gallery, agate gallery, petrified wood gallery, oddities gallery, crystal gallery, Northwest gallery, and fossil gallery. There is also an educational room and gift shop, while the outside grounds include a walk that features sandstone, columns of basalt, and a pile of rocks for children to climb over to find stones. This walk includes a 1,200 pound (540 kg) rock made of pumice.
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...
, United States. Located just north of the Sunset Highway
Sunset Highway (Oregon)
The Sunset Highway No. 47 , in the state of Oregon, is an official designation for the portion of U.S. Route 26 between its western terminus, south of Seaside, and the interchange with Interstate 405 in downtown Portland...
on the northern edge of Hillsboro, the earth science
Earth science
Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences...
museum is in the Portland metropolitan area
Portland metropolitan area
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...
. Opened in 1997, the museum’s collections date to the 1930s with the museum housed in a home built to display the rock and mineral collections of the museum founders. The ranch style home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, the first of its kind listed in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
The museum sits on 23 wooded acres (9.3 ha), with the main building containing 7500 ft2 of space. Collections include petrified wood, various fossils, fluorescent
Fluorescence
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation of a different wavelength. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation...
minerals, meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
s, zeolite
Zeolite
Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents. The term zeolite was originally coined in 1756 by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed that upon rapidly heating the material stilbite, it produced large amounts of steam from water that...
s, and a variety of other minerals. With more than 20,000 specimens, the museum is the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. The facility has around 25,000 visitors each year, many of whom are on school tours.
History
Richard L. Rice married Helen Hart in 1932 and the couple began rock collecting in 1938 after finding agateAgate
Agate is a microcrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are classically associated with volcanic rocks and can be common in certain metamorphic rocks.-Etymology...
s along the Oregon Coast
Oregon Coast
The Oregon Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It runs generally north-south along the Pacific Ocean, forming the western border of the state; the region is bounded to the east by the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon Coast stretches approximately from the Columbia River in the north to...
. In 1952 the Rices built a new home north of Hillsboro on 30 acres (12.1 ha) that would later house the museum. The Rices founded a museum in 1953 to display their collections. Their collections won them the Woodruff Trophy three years in a row at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show
Tucson Gem & Mineral Show
The Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase is one of the premier gem and mineral shows in the world. The event takes place annually in late January and February at approximately 40 to 49 different locations across the city of Tucson, Arizona. Most of the shows are open to the public, except for...
, which led to that trophy's retirement. Helen served as president of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies from 1959 to 1960.
In 1996 the Rices established the non-profit museum. Richard and Helen Rice both died in 1997 with the home passing to the non-profit museum as part of their estate. In 1997 the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals officially opened. In June 2000, 94 pieces from the F. John Barlow collection of crystallized gold were added to the museum. The facility opened an exhibit in 2001 dedicated to the lapidary
Lapidary
A lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, mineral, gemstones, and other suitably durable materials into decorative items such as engraved gems, including cameos, or cabochons, and faceted designs...
arts, and by that time the museum had grown to more than 4,000 items.
The museum opened a new gallery in January 2003 to feature petrified wood
Petrified wood
Petrified wood is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization...
. Rudy W. Tschernich was named curator in June 2003, replacing Sharleen Harvey. In 2004 the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
loaned the museum 52 meteorites in an exhibit funded by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
. Attendance had grown to around 15,000 in 2004.
In 2005 the North America Research Group unearthed the fossilized remains of a thalattosuchian crocodile from the Jurassic period in Central Oregon
Central Oregon
Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards the Columbia River, eastward towards Burns, or south...
. The museum plans on displaying these fossils after they are studied. Later in 2005, the 1800 ft2 Northwest Minerals Gallery opened in a former storeroom at the museum after renovations totaling $150,000.
By 2007 the museum received 25,000 visitors each year, mainly from school groups. In August 2008 the museum opened a retail gift shop in The Streets of Tanasbourne
The Streets of Tanasbourne
The Streets of Tanasbourne is a shopping mall located in the Tanasbourne area of Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in October 2004, the center provides shopping to the Hillsboro/Beaverton area west of Portland, near the Sunset Highway...
shopping center, and closed it in December 2009 due to the economic recession. This satellite gift shop was to be a temporary endeavor, and was designed in part to help drive traffic to the museum. By 2010 the museum's collections had grown to more than 20,000 specimens, and still had about 25,000 visitors annually, with about 18,000 coming from school field trips.
Collections
The museum is the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest with more than 20,000 items. The specimens come from around the world, many personally unearthed by the Rices. Bill Dameron of The Mineralogical Record named the museum as having the best mineral specimens in the Pacific NorthwestPacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. The collections include gemstones, minerals, fossils, meteorites, and some artifacts.
Gemstones include rubies
Ruby
A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...
, diamonds, rhodochrosite
Rhodochrosite
Rhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate mineral with chemical composition MnCO3. In its pure form, it is typically a rose-red color, but impure specimens can be shades of pink to pale brown. The streak is white. Its Mohs hardness varies between 3.5 and 4. Its specific gravity is 3.5 to 3.7. It...
, opal
Opal
Opal is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. 3% to 21% of the total weight is water, but the content is usually between 6% to 10%. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most...
, emerald
Emerald
Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
, and amethyst
Amethyst
Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz often used in jewelry. The name comes from the Ancient Greek ἀ a- and μέθυστος methustos , a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness; the ancient Greeks and Romans wore amethyst and made drinking vessels of it in the belief...
among others. Fossils include shark teeth, coprolite
Coprolite
A coprolite is fossilized animal dung. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour rather than morphology. The name is derived from the Greek words κοπρος / kopros meaning 'dung' and λιθος / lithos meaning 'stone'. They...
s, or fossilized dung, petrified wood, dinosaur eggs, trilobite
Trilobite
Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...
s, and a baby dinosaur of the Psittacosaurus
Psittacosaurus
Psittacosaurus is a genus of psittacosaurid ceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now Asia, about 130 to 100 million years ago. It is notable for being the most species-rich dinosaur genus...
genus. One display features all 12 birthstones with a version of each in its natural state and as finished gemstones, along with the same before and after for other gemstones such as aquamarine. Around 1,000 of the specimens at the museum are only viewable using a microscope.
One gallery, the Rainbow Gallery, is designed to showcase rocks and minerals that have phosphorescent or fluorescent elements that allow them to glow in the dark. An automated system uses a lighting cycle that includes ultraviolet lights to energize the rocks. A large portion of the petrified wood comes from the collection of Dennis and Mary Murphy. Their collection, which is in excess of 450 items and includes a log of white oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
weighing 1,200 pounds (544 kg), was combined with the Rice Museum's existing pieces. The log is from Eastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity, thus the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost counties in the state; in other contexts, it includes...
and is estimated to have lived more than 15 million years ago. The petrified wood specimens come from Oregon, Washington, and as far away as Argentina and Australia. Other fossils include those of cycad
Cycad
Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...
s, palms
Araceae
Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe or leaf-like bract. Also known as the Arum family, members are often colloquially...
, and ferns.
The main rhodochrosite attraction is the "Alma Rose" from the Sweet Home Mine
Sweet Home Mine
Sweet Home Mine is a mine near Alma, Colorado, United States. It was founded in 1873 as a silver mine. It is best known as the source of the famous rhodochrosite crystals "Alma King", displayed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and "Alma Rose", displayed at the Rice Northwest Museum of...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. The Alma Rose includes crystals measuring up to 9.5 cm in length along with quartz and calcite highlights. The Rices once owned the complementary "Alma King" rhodochrosite from the same mine, but sold the piece to the Coors Brewing Company
Coors Brewing Company
The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States...
, who then donated it to the Denver Natural History Museum
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a municipal natural history and science museum in Denver, Colorado. It is a resource for informal science education in the Rocky Mountain region. A variety of exhibitions, programs, and activities help museum visitors learn about the natural history of...
. The two stones had been purchased by the couple for USD$800,000. Other rhodochrosite specimens include those from mines in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. The museum also has a collection of 107 gold pieces from the F. John Barlow collection featuring items such as a 42 troy ounce (1.31 kg)) leaf and pieces mined from the Ace of Diamonds mine in Liberty, Washington
Liberty, Washington
Liberty is a small unincorporated community in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. Following the discovery of gold in Swauk creek in 1873, Liberty was one of several gold-mining camps that sprang up. The Swauk creek discovery is notable for producing specimens of crystalline gold.Liberty...
. One of the museum's pieces, a sperrylite
Sperrylite
Sperrylite is a platinum arsenide mineral with formula: PtAs2 and is an opaque metallic tin white mineral which crystallizes in the isometric system with the pyrite group structure. It forms cubic, octahedral or pyritohedral crystals in addition to massive and reniform habits...
from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, is considered one of the finest in the world.
Individual items on display include coprolite from Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, a 500 pound (227 kg) piece of the lightweight volcanic rock pumice
Pumice
Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...
, obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
and basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
. One specimen on display is a 30 centimetres (11.8 in) wide plate with clear quartz crystals, epidote
Epidote
Epidote is a calcium aluminium iron sorosilicate mineral, Ca2Al2O, crystallizing in the monoclinic system. Well-developed crystals are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in habit, the direction of elongation being perpendicular to the single plane of symmetry. The faces are often...
crystals measuring as large as 10 cm and translucent calcite scalenohedrons, and comes from Green Monster Mountain on Alaska's Prince of Wales Island. The collection includes a cycad
Cycad
Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...
fossil dating from the Jurassic era that weighs 500 pounds (227 kg). One meteorite is the Gibeon meteorite which weighs 210 pounds (95 kg) and came from the African nation of Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
. The world's largest known opal-filled thunderegg
Thunderegg
A thunderegg is a nodule-like geological structure, similar to a geode, that is formed within a rhyolitic lava flow.-Appearance and composition:...
, weighing 1.75 tons (1600 kg), is housed at the museum. The thunderegg is Oregon's state rock. Other items include azurite
Azurite
Azurite is a soft, deep blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. It is also known as Chessylite after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France...
, Oregon sunstone
Sunstone
Sunstone is a plagioclase feldspar, which when viewed from certain directions exhibits a brilliant spangled appearance; this has led to its use as a gemstone. It has been found in Southern Norway, and in some United States localities...
, amber, copper crystals, zeolite
Zeolite
Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents. The term zeolite was originally coined in 1756 by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed that upon rapidly heating the material stilbite, it produced large amounts of steam from water that...
s, morganite, and agate
Agate
Agate is a microcrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are classically associated with volcanic rocks and can be common in certain metamorphic rocks.-Etymology...
among others.
Programs
The Rice Museum offers a variety of public programs, including hands-on classes for children where participants make necklaces out of rocks. It hosts an annual summer festival with events such as thunderegg cutting and demonstrations of gold panning. The facility has hosted the Northwest Fossil Fest. The museum offers tours for school groups and other youth programs, often handling multiple groups each day. Children in the school tours get to select a stone to take home from a pile outside. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday.Facilities
The museum and grounds are located on the north side of the Sunset Highway west of PortlandPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
between the Helvetia Road and Jackson School Road exits. Situated on 23 acres (9.3 ha) of mostly forested land, the museum is housed in the historic Richard and Helen Rice House, built as a single family residence. Completed in 1952, the home was built of Arizona flagstone
Arizona flagstone
Arizona Flagstone is composed of rounded grains of quartz which are cemented by silica. Other minerals are present, mostly as thin seams of clay, mica, secondary silicam calcite, and gypsum...
on the exterior and wood native to Oregon, including curly maple and myrtlewood
Umbellularia
Umbellularia californica is a large tree native to coastal forests of California and slightly extended into Oregon.It is the sole species in the genus Umbellularia....
.
William F. Wayman designed the structure with Victor Batchelar building the home, while Charles F. Walters designed the grounds. All the wood was logged by Richard Rice, who made his living as a logging contractor. He also milled the wood. The home was designed to allow the basement to serve as a museum for the Rices' collections.
The structure contains three sandstone fireplaces, and the countertops are finished with hand-painted tiles from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Myrtlewood is used inside as trim and for doors. Bedroom closets were constructed with drawers, shelves, and ironing boards built-in. Inside the two-level building are amenities such as dumbwaiter
Dumbwaiter (elevator)
Dumbwaiters are small freight elevators intended to carry objects rather than people. Dumbwaiters found within modern structures, including both commercial and private buildings, are often connected between two floors...
s and a sewing room. On the outside raked cedar was used on the eaves of the low-pitched roof-line building. The exterior sandstone is tan, rose, and blue in color.
The 7500 ft2 home with a 3300 ft2 basement cost $185,000 to build. The original wool carpeting is still in use at the home, as is the original linoleum
Linoleum
Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
that features the museum's logo of a shovel and a pick. The ranch style home
Ranch-style house
Ranch-style houses is a domestic architectural style originating in the United States. First built in the 1920s, the ranch style was extremely popular amongst the booming post-war middle class of the 1940s to 1970s...
was the first ranch home listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon.
In addition to the house, which has a full basement, the museum uses a separate building as a gallery. That building, the Northwest Gallery, was formerly used for storage and as a shop, but looks similar to the Rice House. This gallery focuses on items from Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, and includes collections of agates, thundereggs, zeolite
Zeolite
Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents. The term zeolite was originally coined in 1756 by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed that upon rapidly heating the material stilbite, it produced large amounts of steam from water that...
s, and placer gold, among others.
Most of the rocks and minerals are housed in glass cases along the walls in the basement. Before opening to the public an elevator was added to the home. The museum includes a lapidary and arts gallery, agate gallery, petrified wood gallery, oddities gallery, crystal gallery, Northwest gallery, and fossil gallery. There is also an educational room and gift shop, while the outside grounds include a walk that features sandstone, columns of basalt, and a pile of rocks for children to climb over to find stones. This walk includes a 1,200 pound (540 kg) rock made of pumice.