Dig Your Own Sapphire Gems In Montana

The first gem-quality sapphires in the US were discovered in the gravels of the Missouri river in Lewis and Clark County, Montana in 1865. The discovery is ascribed 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 almost all of the sapphires produced from both Rock creek and the Missouri brook are of a pale color that is not especially fascinating for jewelry, gemologists have discovered that with special treatment to a red hot heat, the color of these gems is permanently altered to a more desirable shade. Sapphires.
now there are up to 7 operations on the Missouri stream that produce sapphires commercially and/or operate a dig-for-fee area. Not all of these might be active in any one year. Digging your own sapphires is not free, but the expenses are very reasonable.

Visitors will find sapphires in each color at the Spokane Bar blue sapphire
The natural Sapphire crystal structure is hexagon with triangle terminations which are often flat. While blue sapphire is the famous color, generally heat treatment is needed to produce this type of color in the Missouri stream sapphires. Ruby is a sapphire that is coloured red, and it is one of the most valued gems of all.

during the past several years, there was 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.
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. Staff help new comers learn how to screen the gravel and pick out the gems. Identifying the gems and collecting them is fun for everyone from the tiniest child to the most serious rock hound.

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