Scottie Gates ready for the fair

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Scottie Gates' rock collecting project is just about ready. His fossils, iron ore, sandstone, fluorite and flint arrowhead are all glued to the display case awaiting labels.

"I found this one at Harrisburg Lake," Gates said pointing to the slab of smooth, gray shale.

Gates, at age 9, says he has had a great summer preparing his first 4-H projects for judging at the fair. His parents, Eric and Tami, have taken him out and about to find some unusual rocks. His grandpa, Ed Miller, also brought him a bag of granite and red sandstone from the west.

But with horses, his little four-wheeler and all the other activities for a 9-year-old, what makes rocks so interesting?

"They are cool. They have fossils in them and all kinds of stuff. I think this fossil has bones, fish bones," Gates said.

His father is not so sure. It looks like a piece of coral to him.

"This is coal I found by the railroad track," Gates said.

The coal is shiny black and there is another rock that is shiny white.

"It's calcite. I found this one in the driveway," he said.

One of Gates' favorite rock gathering sites is an old quarry on the Eagle Mountains. There are several examples of clam shell, crinoid and coral fossils in the stone there.

Iron Furnace in Hardin County is a spot to pick up iron oxide left over from the iron smelting operation there.

Deciding on the best rocks to keep is a challenge for Gates, so he decides to bring home most all of them.

"Every rock he wants to bring home," Eric said.

Gates is also showing garden produce, his horse, a first aid box for the outdoor adventure project and his 14-pound orange tabby cat named Morris.

"I take care of him, like brush him, feed him, get his shots," Gates said.

Gates is the youngest in a long line of family 4-H members, beginning with his great-grandfather, Ernest Gates, who was leader to his grandfather, Carl Gates. Carl and Mary Anne Gates led Eric's club. The Pleasant Valley Go Getters club is currently lead by Danny and Nancy Evans.

- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.

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