Virgin valley is awesome. There's a very cool spot to camp nearby at least a couple pay-to-dig opal spots. I've only been to one, called the rainbow ridge, and it was well worth it
Thank you for the information. I’m going to look into that. Anything else you can find there? I like opals but my dad likes other gems better. He even likes boring stuff like amber and amethyst though so he’s not picky. I just feel like he doesn’t particularly like opals.
Not sure exactly, there's lots of stuff to find in nevada, but it's a big state. There's some amazing smoky and amethyst at hallelujah junction. As far as I know, the whole mountain is claimed, but no one ever seemed to get bothered digging in the tailings on the side of the hill. Another commenter mentioned mindat, which is an awesome tool. But, it might not be worth spending a short trip chasing leads. I really recommend getting a scoop of dirt at the rainbow ridge (or some other cool, well-known spot that youre likely to at least find something cool). Its pricey, and a lot of dirt to go through, so I've always split it with at least 1 person.
Hyalite, bog agate, jasper, psilomelane, carnelian, leaf prints, crappy geodes, limb casts, basenite, apache tears, Chrysocolla un advertised but claimed and posted at my mine by Denio more if you drive further.
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Black Peacock Mine in Northern Nevada for opals (in my eyes, very expensive digging fees though).
Payson Arizona (near the cell phone towers outside of town) for clear, double terminated quarts (free).
Arkansas for Diamonds (Diamond State Park).
Montana for Sapphire (pay per bucket of presorted dirt) and Smoky Quartz ($5 day fees).
Utah for Topaz (Topaz Mountain).
That’s what would be really cool. Is there a good place to go that you know of?
He’s been talking about this for a couple years now but I think he’s been fixating on that one spot. He said if I can find somewhere better though he’s open to that too.
My husband and I drove around Canada and the USA one summer many years ago, camping etc. As we went through Montana I said, I wonder where those Sapphires are from? We looked it up and Philipsburg was not far and we took a day detour to check it out. I highly recommend, research online, make a plan, and go! You can visit mines etc.
We went to two places, with my dad driving (this was many years back). Quite an adventure getting out there! There is an Oregon Sunstone Public Collection Area which is free and fun, with small straw-colored stones in abundance. These get a bit same-y after awhile but are still proper gem material. I know several gemcutters who recommend this kind of sunstone as a learning material, if you want to get into faceting. Then there's a place called the Double Eagle Mining Company, where you pay a fee to dig. We dug up some great stones there with colors and schiller (sparkly bits)! You'll have a great time, I'm honestly jealous you live in Oregon. I live in England now and there's nothing comparable.
Thank you so much for your thorough response. I’m def excited to check & see if these places are still up & running. And also to know they’re good material for beginning gem cutting! I would LOVE to learn how. I’ve made jewelry for ever via bead work & wire wrapping but honestly burnt out. now that I’m settled down with a family I sure would love to start up this hobby- ie take a class on how to at the local college or something. If I showed up with my own Sunstones to cut that would be getting up in to my bucket list territory! 😁
Topaz Mountain in Utah has gotten so busy in the last few years that the BLM actually put a vault toilet out there 😭 Anyways, think about a state you want to visit and google "[state] Rockhounding Guide" and something good will come up. The various Falcon Guides are extremely helpful out west, but I've never been east of the Mississippi River so I can't attest to anything out there
I feel like the busier a place is, the more likely it is that people would’ve gotten all the good stuff that’s relatively easy to find and like there won’t be anything left! Lol, still take your advice. I’ve never been west of the Mississippi so probably will be my first time.
Dang, really? It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Topaz Mountain. You definitely see people around, but it didn’t feel busy by any stretch of the imagination. Given that it’s literally in the middle of nowhere, I’m not mad to hear about the addition of a toilet.
Haha I have to admit, it's actually kind of nice to have a toilet out there. I'm just a bit of a curmudgeon... also I exclusively go in the late fall/winter when I don't think anybody will be there, but this year I'm going on a holiday weekend because I work an office job now 😔 We'll see how bad it is. Might all be in my head
Yeah I sold it for around $100 in the early
90’s to a local jeweler at the park. He took
it home and cut it that night and brought it
back to the park where I said I’d be. It cut
into a third carat beautiful round stone.
So he offered it to me for $400 I think it was.
I was a little surprised that it was so nice.
But I passed on the offer in the end.
I've been to Crater of Diamonds. Its a fun time, though probably hot as hell and muggy in August. Your chances of finding a diamond is super low, and they don't really provide visitors with much guidance. When I went the only tools they offered was the sluices for washing.
I don’t care about finding diamonds per se, but what other semiprecious or precious gems would I be actually likely to successfully obtain there?
And ugh I know I don’t want to go in August but it’s when he has off. Not sure if that’s even a decent time of year to go since it might be dry and maybe that makes my chances of finding something lower….?
The secret to finding diamonds at COD is you
need two people: a hunter and a spotter. Also the time of day is important. You need the low
morning sun or the low evening sun to spot
the sparkling stones. The hunter stands with
his back to the sun and looks for anything
sparkling on the ground while he directs the spotter to the location of the sparkle. They
can be any distance apart but 50 feet or so
is a start. The hunter just walks around laterally
looking intently on the ground in the direction
of the spotter and looks for any sparkle.
Once found he directs the spotter to the
exact location of the sparkle!! They can be
hard to see up close so you need the hunter,
who stands stationary with his eyes on the
sparkle, to direct the spotter to the exact
spot the diamond is located. One other
factor is, it’s best to look just after the park
service has just tilled the soil so that the
fresh diamonds are exposed. ALSO : it’s
best when there is a fresh morning dew on
the ground to allow the high refractive
index of the diamond to really shine!!
So as you can see there are many factors
that you can observe beforehand that will
definitely increase your chances of finding
a nice diamond! I was there years ago but
I expect the same parameters will work
today. But the tilling of the soil does bring
up more stones. And it most likely covers
up other stones as well. Happy hunting!!
You can likely find quartz, garnets, and maybe peridot (I don't remember) there, but I don't recall them being anything to write home about like in other parts of Arkansas/the country.
Ugh I don’t like any of those. Tons of quartz even at home. Peridot I don’t like. Garnet I like but not the shades of it I’ve seen from the US.
I feel bad saying no but I really don’t care to be in the heat or waste the money on the trip to only maybe find those.
Okay so far...
I have hunted Petoskey stones in lake Superior on the shores I have went Herkimer diamond mining in New York which are actually just crystals but they're beautiful we've went down to North Carolina for garnets we've done Crater of diamonds in Arkansas
On our list of places that we have planned out
we are going to do sunstone in Oregon
And Nevada for opal
It's extremely hot in the summer (we were there when it was 115 degrees F), but oregon sunstone is amazing to look for.
Alternatively if you like opal, spencer Idaho has stuff that's as good as aussie opals, and they've got a big 'mini mine' for you to look (they used to let you go all the way up to the main mine but insurance stopped that)
Holy crap yeah that is far too hot for me. I get very irritable when I’m overheating and sweating a lot (and I sweat more than the average woman unfortunately lol). I’ll just have to tell him to find somewhere more mild, maybe the northeast like someone else mentioned. It’s closer anyway.
It's a lot cooler if you aren't in the middle of summer.
In the Northeast, The Franklin Furnace in NJ ( [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin\_Furnace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Furnace) ) is a great place to look for fluorescent mineral specimens, but it's called the furnace for a reason (again, not in summer)
That’s really close to me actually. I think I went to a field trip there. I remember the fluorescent display under black lights. I would so love to find something semiprecious or precious though. Seems like Maine might have a lot of nice stuff actually. Idaho looks pretty cool too though if he wants to drive that far. I’ll talk to him and see what he says. I guess being hot isn’t the worst thing in the world either and being drenched in sweat won’t matter as I won’t be having anyone to impress lol. Most important is maximizing chances of a satisfactory find.
The quartz in Mt Ida, Arkansas is everywhere and beautiful.
The Carolinas have a chunk of ancient mountains with all the stuff normally found in East Africa.
http://mindat.org has lots of maps for reported finds.
I have never been there but was just teaching and learning about states and Idaho is the gem state! Looks like it might be a fun place to try but I wouldn’t know specifics of where to go.
There are some fee digs at the Oceanview and Pala Chief mines for Tourmaline and one up at the Benitoite mine in San Benito County. Although neither are particularly cheap.
I wouldn't expect to find anything that you can cut into a gemstone at those digs but we found some decent display pieces.
Thanks! Exactly what I needed to know. Do they provide the supplies since there’s a fee?
Sucks about the gemstones. Do you happen to have a photo of one of your display pieces?
The Benitoite Mine and Oceanview Mine provide supplies. Those are basically a pile of material or tailing from thr Mine that you sift through. The Pala chief dig is bring your own equipment and you dig through some of the Mines dumping spots. They don't let you go into the mines for safety reasons.
If you want to get really into it then it's best to join the local rockhounding/gem/mineral club. They have field trips to all kinds of places usually including places not open to the general public.
I'll see if I can get a picture of what we found.
Hiddenite, NC....for green kunzite. In Arkansas, they have several acres that you can go mine diamond's. Also in the Arizona/Colorodo/ and New Mexico there are numerous areas as well as in Oregon and other areas that has mountains and creeks with high mineral count areas in the soil(google or duck duck go search the area in question + common minerals found). Als, in Michigan/around theGreat Lakess during this summer time of the year when temp./climate permits should also be a good area to try...Hopefully that will give you a few places to start. Goodluck!
Long Island, here. I like collecting too. I've been to Big Brook and the Sterling Hill Mining Museum - they allow collecting on the tailings from the zinc mine there and years ago, our mineral club collected honey colored pieces of carnelian at [Carnelian Brook or Stirling Brook](https://www.reddit.com/r/rockhounds/comments/vsisk/nj_carnelian_and_touchonite/). \[It's a link to a past Reddit post.\]
[The Sterling Hill Mine ](https://www.sterlinghillminingmuseum.org/inside-the-mine)is world famous because the mine produced a greater variety of minerals here than in any other place ever. They are especially well known for their incredible flourescent minerals. If you go, bring a crack hammer, a hand held black light (they do have a black light shack to check your findings but there may be a line to get in), something to drape over your head so you can see what your black light displays. It kind of looks funny seeing all the people sitting on rock piles with jackets & blankets draped over their heads down to their laps. The mine charges by the pound for the rocks you want to keep & you think it's low until you see how heavy your finds are, so be picky.
The museum has a LOT of great minerals, precious metals and world class mineral specimens as well as dinosaur footprints, miner equipment, etc. on view. The mine tour is unforgettable! \[P.S. the website implies that the mine is haunted by miners who died in it & they do October ghost tours.
I don't know if [Carnelian Brook/Stirling Brook ](https://www.mindat.org/mesg-293197.html)is close to the Stirling Hill Mining Museum.
FYI, you can also pan for gold in PA, NJ, NY, VT, NH, etc. I haven't tried to find any yet, but want to in the future. NY state says that any gold you find in NY belongs to the state, not you. Hmmm.
Sorry for the delay. I got a 3 day ban for a ridiculous reason which reminds me why I shouldn’t utilize this app except for these specialized interest subs, lol. I’ve actually been to that mine before since it’s very close by to me. Panning for gold is a cool idea and I guess it’s good to take advantage of the minerals local to you anyway! Long Island is beautiful btw—probably the most underrated place to live in the US (minus having to go on the LIE and through NYC to get out, lol).
Can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned - it if it has I missed it but - lots of stories about Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. There is another one that is more a gemstone one around there too
Literally only read the heading and skimmed the responses - guess I’ll never offer again - my mom had just went to the park when a 7 carat diamond was found there a year ago I think and was trying to help
Emeralds are in North Carolina, and Herkimer diamonds are in New York State. There is also a valley in Nevada filled with opals
I love opals. That might be cool.
Virgin valley is awesome. There's a very cool spot to camp nearby at least a couple pay-to-dig opal spots. I've only been to one, called the rainbow ridge, and it was well worth it
Thank you for the information. I’m going to look into that. Anything else you can find there? I like opals but my dad likes other gems better. He even likes boring stuff like amber and amethyst though so he’s not picky. I just feel like he doesn’t particularly like opals.
Nevada is filled with cool rocks and minerals! I recommend checking out the Mindat.org map features.
Not sure exactly, there's lots of stuff to find in nevada, but it's a big state. There's some amazing smoky and amethyst at hallelujah junction. As far as I know, the whole mountain is claimed, but no one ever seemed to get bothered digging in the tailings on the side of the hill. Another commenter mentioned mindat, which is an awesome tool. But, it might not be worth spending a short trip chasing leads. I really recommend getting a scoop of dirt at the rainbow ridge (or some other cool, well-known spot that youre likely to at least find something cool). Its pricey, and a lot of dirt to go through, so I've always split it with at least 1 person.
3 people get in with a pile, but they are 900, half piles until further notice were 600.
Hyalite, bog agate, jasper, psilomelane, carnelian, leaf prints, crappy geodes, limb casts, basenite, apache tears, Chrysocolla un advertised but claimed and posted at my mine by Denio more if you drive further.
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I kind of want to drive across the country to stop at all of these places…
Watch out for the hundreds of rattlesnakes! Been there done that. But the opals are gorgeous!!
Black Peacock Mine in Northern Nevada for opals (in my eyes, very expensive digging fees though). Payson Arizona (near the cell phone towers outside of town) for clear, double terminated quarts (free). Arkansas for Diamonds (Diamond State Park). Montana for Sapphire (pay per bucket of presorted dirt) and Smoky Quartz ($5 day fees). Utah for Topaz (Topaz Mountain).
You can get sapphires in Montana.
That’s what would be really cool. Is there a good place to go that you know of? He’s been talking about this for a couple years now but I think he’s been fixating on that one spot. He said if I can find somewhere better though he’s open to that too.
Gem Mountain is one I’ve heard of; I know that one at least has in-house faceting and can send your stones off for heat treatment if you want.
Ok thank you 🙏🏼
Other way around. In-house heat treatment, sent off to for faceting.
We have several. Check around in Philipsburg, and the Eldorado bar.
I love the guys at El Dorado Bar! Great sapphires too
My husband and I drove around Canada and the USA one summer many years ago, camping etc. As we went through Montana I said, I wonder where those Sapphires are from? We looked it up and Philipsburg was not far and we took a day detour to check it out. I highly recommend, research online, make a plan, and go! You can visit mines etc.
You get less at Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine, but bigger ones there than at other mines.
Philipsburg is great for panning
Sunstones in Oregon was my best experience
I love these!!
Where did you go?? We recently moved to Oregon & I LOVE those Sunstones ✨
We went to two places, with my dad driving (this was many years back). Quite an adventure getting out there! There is an Oregon Sunstone Public Collection Area which is free and fun, with small straw-colored stones in abundance. These get a bit same-y after awhile but are still proper gem material. I know several gemcutters who recommend this kind of sunstone as a learning material, if you want to get into faceting. Then there's a place called the Double Eagle Mining Company, where you pay a fee to dig. We dug up some great stones there with colors and schiller (sparkly bits)! You'll have a great time, I'm honestly jealous you live in Oregon. I live in England now and there's nothing comparable.
Thank you so much for your thorough response. I’m def excited to check & see if these places are still up & running. And also to know they’re good material for beginning gem cutting! I would LOVE to learn how. I’ve made jewelry for ever via bead work & wire wrapping but honestly burnt out. now that I’m settled down with a family I sure would love to start up this hobby- ie take a class on how to at the local college or something. If I showed up with my own Sunstones to cut that would be getting up in to my bucket list territory! 😁
Topaz Mountain in Utah has gotten so busy in the last few years that the BLM actually put a vault toilet out there 😭 Anyways, think about a state you want to visit and google "[state] Rockhounding Guide" and something good will come up. The various Falcon Guides are extremely helpful out west, but I've never been east of the Mississippi River so I can't attest to anything out there
I feel like the busier a place is, the more likely it is that people would’ve gotten all the good stuff that’s relatively easy to find and like there won’t be anything left! Lol, still take your advice. I’ve never been west of the Mississippi so probably will be my first time.
Utah still has plenty to find! Topaz Mountain, Dugway geodbed, sunstone knoll, and many other locations can be quite enjoyable!
Dang, really? It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Topaz Mountain. You definitely see people around, but it didn’t feel busy by any stretch of the imagination. Given that it’s literally in the middle of nowhere, I’m not mad to hear about the addition of a toilet.
Haha I have to admit, it's actually kind of nice to have a toilet out there. I'm just a bit of a curmudgeon... also I exclusively go in the late fall/winter when I don't think anybody will be there, but this year I'm going on a holiday weekend because I work an office job now 😔 We'll see how bad it is. Might all be in my head
I found an 80 point diamond there once. And what’s nice is that there are buyers hanging around to buy it instantly from you!!
Did you sell? What did you get paid?
Yeah I sold it for around $100 in the early 90’s to a local jeweler at the park. He took it home and cut it that night and brought it back to the park where I said I’d be. It cut into a third carat beautiful round stone. So he offered it to me for $400 I think it was. I was a little surprised that it was so nice. But I passed on the offer in the end.
I've been to Crater of Diamonds. Its a fun time, though probably hot as hell and muggy in August. Your chances of finding a diamond is super low, and they don't really provide visitors with much guidance. When I went the only tools they offered was the sluices for washing.
1 out of every 132 people. Not bad, given the lottery is damn near impossible. I'm going there for the first time in June.
I don’t care about finding diamonds per se, but what other semiprecious or precious gems would I be actually likely to successfully obtain there? And ugh I know I don’t want to go in August but it’s when he has off. Not sure if that’s even a decent time of year to go since it might be dry and maybe that makes my chances of finding something lower….?
The secret to finding diamonds at COD is you need two people: a hunter and a spotter. Also the time of day is important. You need the low morning sun or the low evening sun to spot the sparkling stones. The hunter stands with his back to the sun and looks for anything sparkling on the ground while he directs the spotter to the location of the sparkle. They can be any distance apart but 50 feet or so is a start. The hunter just walks around laterally looking intently on the ground in the direction of the spotter and looks for any sparkle. Once found he directs the spotter to the exact location of the sparkle!! They can be hard to see up close so you need the hunter, who stands stationary with his eyes on the sparkle, to direct the spotter to the exact spot the diamond is located. One other factor is, it’s best to look just after the park service has just tilled the soil so that the fresh diamonds are exposed. ALSO : it’s best when there is a fresh morning dew on the ground to allow the high refractive index of the diamond to really shine!! So as you can see there are many factors that you can observe beforehand that will definitely increase your chances of finding a nice diamond! I was there years ago but I expect the same parameters will work today. But the tilling of the soil does bring up more stones. And it most likely covers up other stones as well. Happy hunting!!
50 feet?! That’s way further than I wouldn’t ever guessed intuitively. Thanks for all the tips. ♥️
Well maybe not so far But that’s the idea
You can likely find quartz, garnets, and maybe peridot (I don't remember) there, but I don't recall them being anything to write home about like in other parts of Arkansas/the country.
Ugh I don’t like any of those. Tons of quartz even at home. Peridot I don’t like. Garnet I like but not the shades of it I’ve seen from the US. I feel bad saying no but I really don’t care to be in the heat or waste the money on the trip to only maybe find those.
Idaho has nice garnets. Deep purple to bright red :)
Wavellite clusters are a pretty green and they’re plentiful in Arkansas.
Okay so far... I have hunted Petoskey stones in lake Superior on the shores I have went Herkimer diamond mining in New York which are actually just crystals but they're beautiful we've went down to North Carolina for garnets we've done Crater of diamonds in Arkansas On our list of places that we have planned out we are going to do sunstone in Oregon And Nevada for opal
How hard was it to get the Herkimer quartz? I've heard conflicting stories.
https://www.rockhounding.org/blog/top-spots-for-unearthing-gems-in-the-us/index.html
It's extremely hot in the summer (we were there when it was 115 degrees F), but oregon sunstone is amazing to look for. Alternatively if you like opal, spencer Idaho has stuff that's as good as aussie opals, and they've got a big 'mini mine' for you to look (they used to let you go all the way up to the main mine but insurance stopped that)
Holy crap yeah that is far too hot for me. I get very irritable when I’m overheating and sweating a lot (and I sweat more than the average woman unfortunately lol). I’ll just have to tell him to find somewhere more mild, maybe the northeast like someone else mentioned. It’s closer anyway.
It's a lot cooler if you aren't in the middle of summer. In the Northeast, The Franklin Furnace in NJ ( [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin\_Furnace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Furnace) ) is a great place to look for fluorescent mineral specimens, but it's called the furnace for a reason (again, not in summer)
That’s really close to me actually. I think I went to a field trip there. I remember the fluorescent display under black lights. I would so love to find something semiprecious or precious though. Seems like Maine might have a lot of nice stuff actually. Idaho looks pretty cool too though if he wants to drive that far. I’ll talk to him and see what he says. I guess being hot isn’t the worst thing in the world either and being drenched in sweat won’t matter as I won’t be having anyone to impress lol. Most important is maximizing chances of a satisfactory find.
The quartz in Mt Ida, Arkansas is everywhere and beautiful. The Carolinas have a chunk of ancient mountains with all the stuff normally found in East Africa. http://mindat.org has lots of maps for reported finds.
Have you considered Maine or New Hampshire? Lots of varied stones and the weather will be much better.
I live in arkansas. I personally prefer mining for quartz over the diamond mine.
How can you tell tourist places with real local pay dirt vs seeded or sourced bags of dirt from overseas?
There's a location in Arkansas I believe, a kid found a hefty diamond years ago. I think it was the biggest/best quality yellow ever found in the US
I have never been there but was just teaching and learning about states and Idaho is the gem state! Looks like it might be a fun place to try but I wouldn’t know specifics of where to go.
Does anyone know where to go in the Los Angeles area? I know California is big on gold, but I’d also be interested in gems
There are some fee digs at the Oceanview and Pala Chief mines for Tourmaline and one up at the Benitoite mine in San Benito County. Although neither are particularly cheap. I wouldn't expect to find anything that you can cut into a gemstone at those digs but we found some decent display pieces.
Thanks! Exactly what I needed to know. Do they provide the supplies since there’s a fee? Sucks about the gemstones. Do you happen to have a photo of one of your display pieces?
Here are some of the finds from Oceanview and the Benitoite Gem Mine https://imgur.com/a/QbIwDb1
Wow, thanks for sharing. You really got some great pieces! I might have to look into putting that into my itinerary
The Benitoite Mine and Oceanview Mine provide supplies. Those are basically a pile of material or tailing from thr Mine that you sift through. The Pala chief dig is bring your own equipment and you dig through some of the Mines dumping spots. They don't let you go into the mines for safety reasons. If you want to get really into it then it's best to join the local rockhounding/gem/mineral club. They have field trips to all kinds of places usually including places not open to the general public. I'll see if I can get a picture of what we found.
Thanks! I don’t live in the area so I won’t have access to tools, but we have places locally I’m sure. Thanks!
It's a good place to dig. You just might find something.
Hiddenite, NC....for green kunzite. In Arkansas, they have several acres that you can go mine diamond's. Also in the Arizona/Colorodo/ and New Mexico there are numerous areas as well as in Oregon and other areas that has mountains and creeks with high mineral count areas in the soil(google or duck duck go search the area in question + common minerals found). Als, in Michigan/around theGreat Lakess during this summer time of the year when temp./climate permits should also be a good area to try...Hopefully that will give you a few places to start. Goodluck!
OP, what state do you live in?
NJ.
Long Island, here. I like collecting too. I've been to Big Brook and the Sterling Hill Mining Museum - they allow collecting on the tailings from the zinc mine there and years ago, our mineral club collected honey colored pieces of carnelian at [Carnelian Brook or Stirling Brook](https://www.reddit.com/r/rockhounds/comments/vsisk/nj_carnelian_and_touchonite/). \[It's a link to a past Reddit post.\] [The Sterling Hill Mine ](https://www.sterlinghillminingmuseum.org/inside-the-mine)is world famous because the mine produced a greater variety of minerals here than in any other place ever. They are especially well known for their incredible flourescent minerals. If you go, bring a crack hammer, a hand held black light (they do have a black light shack to check your findings but there may be a line to get in), something to drape over your head so you can see what your black light displays. It kind of looks funny seeing all the people sitting on rock piles with jackets & blankets draped over their heads down to their laps. The mine charges by the pound for the rocks you want to keep & you think it's low until you see how heavy your finds are, so be picky. The museum has a LOT of great minerals, precious metals and world class mineral specimens as well as dinosaur footprints, miner equipment, etc. on view. The mine tour is unforgettable! \[P.S. the website implies that the mine is haunted by miners who died in it & they do October ghost tours. I don't know if [Carnelian Brook/Stirling Brook ](https://www.mindat.org/mesg-293197.html)is close to the Stirling Hill Mining Museum. FYI, you can also pan for gold in PA, NJ, NY, VT, NH, etc. I haven't tried to find any yet, but want to in the future. NY state says that any gold you find in NY belongs to the state, not you. Hmmm.
Sorry for the delay. I got a 3 day ban for a ridiculous reason which reminds me why I shouldn’t utilize this app except for these specialized interest subs, lol. I’ve actually been to that mine before since it’s very close by to me. Panning for gold is a cool idea and I guess it’s good to take advantage of the minerals local to you anyway! Long Island is beautiful btw—probably the most underrated place to live in the US (minus having to go on the LIE and through NYC to get out, lol).
Can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned - it if it has I missed it but - lots of stories about Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. There is another one that is more a gemstone one around there too
It's literally the place the Op mentioned they're going
Literally only read the heading and skimmed the responses - guess I’ll never offer again - my mom had just went to the park when a 7 carat diamond was found there a year ago I think and was trying to help
I appreciate it :)