Lake Superior Agates

[TonkaBass]

Couple hours of walking. Not huge but good average size with many the size of chicken eggs.

I like the blue in this one

This one has awesome lines!

This is my biggest one I found but I think it would look better polished. Not sure whats up with the black in the middle?

I think this is Wonka's new candy

[reinhard1]

those are awesome. i do like the blue color in the one agate. good luck.

[Stringerless!]

Nice !!

[DARK30]

A very productive walk indeed! That red and white one would make a really cool marble. The "black" stuff on the big one is probably amethyst and should have a purple color to it.

[rixxatool]

Holy Hannah!!! That's a couple of hours worth?!?!? Awesome!! Nubie here so would you please share the kind of terrain you could find agates like that? Lake shore, gravel pits, gravel roads, etc Thanks!!

[TonkaBass]

It was me and another guy and he got more than me and some really nice ones too. I went out again today and found a couple more decent ones but not as many. It was separated gravel

[BartmanMN]

Beautiful Agates.

[Steve Foss]

That's a great score with some really cool specimens!

Rixxatool, lots of places to look for agates. Glaciation pushed a lot of LS agates south into portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. I may get dinged for providing so much detail, because agate hunters can be very private and secretive. There's actually a solid market for unique and/or large agates, and when there's money to be made, well . . . you know.

But this site is about information, and I'm not giving any specific locations. Not unlike when someone wants to know how to find walleyes on a lake and someone else gives good general how-to info but no honey holes.

The Lake: While hunting along Lake Superior itself offers a lot of great scenery, with a few exceptions most of the LS agates you find along the shores are small fragments, with very little larger than a nickel. Best times to prowl for them are after heavy waves of Noreasters push up and agitate the whole shoreline. Sometimes one does run across a larger stone, and the whole geology of the North Shore is a pretty fascinating subject. There are some state parks and other well known locations along Michigan's UP where lakeshore agates seem to run a bit larger.

Gravel roads: Not bad places to look. Mostly this gravel has been through a crusher, so large agates aren't commonly found. Railroad grades are good as well, and this rock tends to be quite a bit larger than what's found on gravel roads.

River beds: Rocky or gravel strewn river beds and lake shorelines are good places to look. So are landscaping jobs where river rock was used. Larger agates can be found.

Gravel pits: It's a lot tougher to get into these places legally to hunt agates. Gravel pits have some dangers, key among them slumping mountains of sand/gravel that can cover and smother the unwary. For that reason, owners aren't keen on allowing people in. Those that do sometimes require folks to sign waivers. Gravel pits can be great agate producers, and some of the largest have been found there because they've been undisturbed since deposited by glacial activity. You can find the same type of thing on exposed sand/gravel banks that aren't being worked, but are naturally ocurring. I've found a couple agates in central MN where a fox had dug a den under a gravel road.

Construction sites: Like gravel pits in most ways. If you find a construction site (including road maintenance) where a large amount of earthwork is being done, they are good hunting zones. The same danger/rules apply as with gravel pits, however.

A person can go in after working hours or on weekends, but I can't in good conscience recommend breaking the state's trespass laws.

Since you mentioned being a newbie, it's probably worth pointing out that agates that do not have a face exposed from glacial grinding/fracturing do not look at all like the typical striated LS agates. They tend to have an amber/yellow/grayish look, and the surface appears somewhat smooth and translucent. This is easier to see when they are wet and in the sun, which is why many agate hunters carry spray bottles of water. If you get up the North Shore, rock shops in Two Harbors and Beaver Bay have many "raw" agates that have not been polished or treated with mineral oil, and you can get a sense of how they look. Once you see a few, you'll have a mental picture.

A good cheap guide still in print and widely available is "Amazing Agates: Lake Superior's Banded Gemstone" by Scott F. Wolter. Also as part of the same series is the more general "Rock Picker's Guide to Lake Superior and the North Shore" by Mark Sparky Stensaas. Both are short, easy to read and understand, yet comprehensive and detailed.

Hope that helps.

[rixxatool]

Awesome information Steve - Thank you very much! We have only been searching on gravel roads but plan on expanding now that we have some idea's. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures on Monday!! Good luck this weekend everyone!

[bobbymalone]

Since you mentioned being a newbie, it's probably worth pointing out that agates that do not have a face exposed from glacial grinding/fracturing do not look at all like the typical striated LS agates.

My mom is a rock hound so when we were up around the north shore we did plenty of searching with little luck. Then we stopped in one of those two harbors rock shops and realized we probably picked up and chucked a ton of them.

the only typical striated agate I have found was in a metro cornfield. I noticed it while picking up goose decoys last fall.

[DARK30]

I'm lucky to have permission to pick a few good pits but anywhere you find concentrations of gravel aggregate, you can pick up agates. The lake superior agate is unique to the upper midwest. The Mississippi River watershed, St Louis river, St Croix river , western Wisconsin, and down through the cities is laker country.

Once you pick a few hundred, you notice them much better. Good exercise too!

[TonkaBass]

simply Awesome!!! Dark, what are your biggest ones you've found so far?

[Muskiefool]

When I was roofing we found many, some guys had several 5 gallon buckets full of 1 to 5ozers. Another spot is in landscaping around my house; the wife is continuously tossing out what I find lol

[DARK30]

Kind of a misleading photo but those are not my agates...got that pic off the net. I still need to take some good pics from my collection sometime.

Agates over a pound are rare. I have 4 and only one is solid without clear quartz.

[TonkaBass]

Dark, some of the agates I have found have a brown color that looks to be not part of the agate, but stuck on there. Looks kind of like peanut butter that wont come off. Any tricks you know to remove this? thanks

[DARK30]

One of the agates in the picture above has some "peanut butter" on it. The one in the upper middle left side. That is actually part of the agate. Sometimes its part of the crust or "husk" as they call it and I think its just another way the iron presents itself in the stone.

The gritty stuff that looks like dried cement can easily cleaned off with a little muriatic acid and water.

[DARK30]

Picked up a beautiful paint....

Heres a nice little eye....

[TonkaBass]

That is creepy that little one has 2 eyes on it! I am getting more into the agate deal, but takes a lot of time. Love your videos on Youtube Dark keep them coming!

[TonkaBass]

Here are some of the nicer ones since I last posted. The last one is really nice, it has good lines on one side and tight translucent purple lines on the other.

[DARK30]

Some nice zingers there no doubt!

I did ok this am. Nothing huge but some nice color...

Heres my attempt at a group shot of some of my favorites

Heres a "peanut butter" from today

[TonkaBass]

WOW! Those things are awesome!I really like that big one with the eye and your "easter egg"

[Jarrid Houston]

Very very nice stuff..

[Steve Foss]

Love the pics, guys. Some real sweethearts in there!

[DARK30]

A guy I know just picked this one up (for $400). Its a whopper at 5.5 lbs

[Steve Foss]

Dark, always interested in what agates are fetching on the market. Do you have other pics? On the upper right, how substantial is the quartz plug? How far back does it go?