Facilities where tourists can find their own sapphire gems are available in two
areas in Montana, the first along the Missouri River near Helena, and the second
is at Rock Creek near Philipsburg, west of Butte. The adventure of finding your
own sapphires out in the Montana hills is a fascinating and fun filled
experience that is suitable for the entire family, including the kids.
The first gem-quality sapphires in the United States were discovered in
the gravels of the Missouri River in Lewis and Clark County, Montana in 1865.
The discovery is attributed to Ed Collins, a gold miner who was working on one
of the gravel benches, or "bars," just above the Missouri River near Helena.
This find was followed by a number of other discoveries in the late 1800s,
including Rock Creek in Granite County in 1892, and in Yogo Gulch in Judith
Basin County in 1895.
While most of the sapphires produced from both
Rock Creek and the Missouri River are of a pale color that is not particularly
desirable for jewelry, gemologists have found that with special treatment to a
red hot heat, the color of these gems is permanently altered to a much more
desirable shade. With the advent of successful heat-treating techniques for the
Montana sapphires, this gem material has gained a much greater acceptance in the
gemstone industry. This enhanced acceptance has resulted in a significant
increase in the market for and value of U.S. sapphires.
Digging your
own sapphires on the Missouri River:
Currently there are up to seven
operations on the Missouri River that produce sapphires commercially and/or
operate a dig-for-fee area. Not all of these may be active in any one year.
Perhaps the best-known Sapphire mine on the Missouri River which is open to the
public is the Spokane bar mine. Digging your own sapphires is not free, but the
costs are very reasonable.
Visitors will find sapphires in every color
at the Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine. The natural Sapphire crystal structure is
hexagon with triangle terminations which are often flat. The most commonly found
color at the mine is a green-blue shade. While blue sapphire is the best known
color, usually heat treatment is required to produce this type of color in the
Missouri River sapphires. Ruby is a sapphire that is colored red, and it is one
of the most prized gems of all.
The sapphires from the Missouri River
gravels in Lewis and Clark County are a mixture of rough and pitted crystals
showing well defined faces and completely rounded and smooth-surface highly
stream worn pebbles. The majority of the material is pale blue or blue-green,
with deep blue stones being quite rare. Stones also are found in pastel blue,
green, pink, pale red, purple, yellow, and orange. Most of the stones recovered
are less than 1/4" in diameter, but material between a quarter and a half inch
in diameter is not uncommon. Material greater than half an inch in diameter is
rare. The largest known sapphire from the Spokane Bar was 155 carats, found by a
man from Idaho - unfortunately it was not of gem quality. The largest gem
quality sapphire which has been found was 50 carats. Other gemstones which can
be found at Spokane bar (although very uncommon), are diamond, topaz, citrine,
and ruby. Garnets of several varieties can be found; the largest on record
weighed 40 carats.
Digging for sapphires at Rock Creek
During the past several years, there has been only a single producer
on Rock Creek. The gem mountain property has operated both a commercial recovery
plant and a fee recovery area. The fee recovery area sold buckets of gravel for
washing and also offered, for a predetermined fixed fee, the output of one day's
operation of the commercial wash plant.
At Gem Mountain, gravel dug by
the mine owners is purchased and sorted for its sapphires. Every bucket is
guaranteed to contain at least some sapphires. It is not necessary for the
visitor to bring any equipment to the mine, as the facility provides everything
a visitor needs to find their own Montana sapphires. Company staff teach how it
is done, and do all the heavy lifting, so all the visitor has to do is show up
and sift through the gravel to find the sapphires hidden in each bucket. From
May 19th through October 9th, the Gem Mountain sapphire mine is open to the
public seven days a week, from 9:00 am until 5:00 p.m. (from Memorial Day to
Labor Day, evening hours are extended until 7 pm).
The process of
recovering the sapphires from the gravel involves shaking a screen full of
gravel under the water in the water troughs. The material must be well washed in
order to clarify what sapphires or other gems are present. The water rinses away
the clay and mud that hide the sapphires from view.
All sapphires are
heavier than the general rocks in gravel so, as you shake the screen, the
sapphires settle to the bottom. Once it is well washed and shaken, the screen is
then quickly flipped over and dumped on a table. The sapphires that were on the
bottom, are now on the top of the gravel, and you pick the gems out from among
the gravels on your sorting table. Staff help new comers learn to screen the
gravel and pick out the gems. Spotting the gems and collecting them is fun for
everyone from the smallest child to the most serious rock hound.
For
Pictures of the Montana sapphires and maps to the Sapphire areas, be sure to
check out the author’s web site at:
» left by Anonymous from Sullivan, MO (314 days ago.)
Was very helpful on what to look for and what to expect at the mines. Also, appreciated the exact locations. Respond to this comment
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