Rock on: Rural Chippewa Co. man's lifelong passion for collecting

Jul. 8—BOYD — On a return train ride after a vacation out west, a railway porter picked up one of Richard Cance's bags only to find it surprisingly heavy considering its size.

The helpful man asked the same question he'd likely said in jest many times when picking up a passenger's luggage.

"What do you have in here, rocks?" Richard remembers the man saying.

This was one of the rare occasions where the honest answer was "yes."

A lifelong rock collector who lives in rural Chippewa County, Richard was bringing back his latest haul of interesting finds.

"I guess I've always collected," he said Thursday, standing among about 70 milk crates full of rocks and fossils.

These are newer acquisitions and overstock from his collection, as his favorite pieces are carefully organized and displayed in his basement.

His hobby started when he was a child, picking through rock piles at his family's farmland, looking for interesting ones. Back then he was limited to the geology of the Chippewa Valley. But in the following decades, his travels as an adult helped him amass a wide-ranging collection — mostly picked himself — that he's turned into his own personal museum.

During vacations with his wife Jean to Utah, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Canada and Scotland, Richard Cance has carved out time to go rock hunting.

"Anywhere we go, he checks out the rocks before we leave," Jean said.

Though rocks are primarily Richard's hobby, his wife has accompanied him at times.

"I end up tagging along with him," Jean said.

Her hobby is quilting, which another room in their house is devoted to.

"When we travel, it's all the rock shops and fabric shops along the way," Jean said.

His own museum

At first Richard's rock collection took up a small shed ... and then a second ... and then shifting it into part of a pole shed.

When the Cances built their current home on property where they used to raise cattle and sheep, the couple decided that Richard could have the basement for his hobby. That gave him a more climate-controlled spot for him to organize his collection.

His favorite rocks are arranged on shelves, in display cases, wooden boxes and cabinets. Many of the drawers and boxes are labeled with the type of rocks contained within and where they were found.

For those that aren't, Richard quickly recalls the information off the top of his head.

From one drawer, he grabs out a trio of different colored stones that are smooth and look nearly polished. They're gastroliths — stones swallowed by animals to aid in digestion by physically breaking down food in their gizzards. These three stones are believed to have been in the bellies of dinosaurs, he said, as evidenced by their type, size, shape, unusual smoothness and finding them among fossils.

Another drawer is labeled rainbow obsidian — a variety of black volcanic glass that gives off an iridescent shimmer of purple and other hues when it catches the light just right.

He remembered getting these rocks from Glass Butte in Oregon, a popular spot for rock hounds who like obsidian. After he found a bunch of rainbow obsidian, he carried them back in collecting bags he sewed himself — two layers of cotton cloth to handle the weight. As he toted the rock-laden bags toward his car, Richard recalled saying to himself "my kingdom for a camel," pining for an animal to carry the load for him.

At 75, Richard is still collecting rocks, which can mean long hikes, sometimes along hillsides and then toting back heavy bags. Aside from a spirit of perseverance, he credits his continued rock hunting to the possibility of uncovering the next great piece for his home museum.

"You know there's a chance of finding something out there," he said.

That goes not only for finding the rocks themselves, but also unlocking the secrets within them.

From his own gravel pit, Richard had come across a piece of jasper, which was a dull brown on most of its surface. But cutting into it revealed bright swirls of deep red, yellow and orange within the rock, which he then brought out further by smoothing and polishing it.

He finds a similar joy in splitting a slab of shale to find a fossil inside.

"It's like opening a Christmas present," he said. "You see the outside wrapping and then look in."

A lucky break into a piece of shale from a spot where fossils were common could reveal the image of a plant, prehistoric fish or other creature that had died there long ago.

In addition to collecting, Richard has recently begun turning some of the rocks he finds into jewelry.

Using equipment he got as a Christmas present, he's been cutting and polishing stones, turning them into gems for pendant necklaces and earrings.

So far he's given them as gifts to loved ones, but he is building up toward selling jewelry at rock shows and art events.

Picking it up along the way

Richard didn't have a formal education in geology, but he's learned a lot about the subject during decades of rock collecting.

"I just look at what I've got and go figure it out," he said.

Doing research on the internet has added to his geologic knowledge, but it's also come from meeting fellow collectors. The Cances have been members of the Chippewa Valley Gem and Mineral Society for 15 years, giving them a group of fellow rock aficionados to share knowledge with. When they travel to rock shows and sales, the couple have also met others eager to talk about their shared interests in collecting pieces of geologic history.

Richard then has passed some of what he learned along to others through presentations for schoolchildren and other groups.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had been a guest speaker for students in Cadott and Thorp. Sometimes talking to eight classes in a day, Richard would bring a sampling of the geodes, crystals, volcanic glass and fossil-encrusted rocks to teach children about how rocks are formed and what they can tell us about earth's ancient history.

After a two-year break from doing presentations, he will be back at it starting next weekend with an appearance at the Stanley Area Historical Society.

David Jankoski, president of Stanley Area Historical Society and the city's former mayor, asked his friend Richard to share tales of rock hunting, show some of his collection and talk a little about local geology on the afternoon of Saturday, July 16.

"I was aware that Richard is what I'd call a 'rock hound' for some time," Jankoski said.

Richard and Jane Cance have volunteered as docents at the Stanley museum, which is open on weekend afternoons during the summer or by appointment.

Next weekend's presentation is reviving the museum's speaker series, which was dormant during the pandemic.

Prior to that, the museum had hosted talks on subjects including tales from former milk haulers, how to clean tombstones and the history of Victory Memorial Hospital (now Aspirus) in Stanley.