DakotaBirder
Tenderfoot
I work for USGS, but am not a geologist. However, my 14-year old son and I have suddenly been bitten by the collecting bug. We live in South Dakota, full of geologic wonders, but live on the far eastern edge of the state. Nonetheless, in the last few weeks, we've discovered the wonderful agate, fossil, and petrified wood opportunities in the western half of the state. We've been visiting Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, focusing on agates.
Given that we literally just started doing this a couple of weeks ago, we weren't quite sure what we were looking for! We've certainly found plenty of prairie agates, rose quartz, and petrified wood, but have really been trying to find a Fairburn. Last week, after our 2nd trip to the Grasslands, we brought back a couple of egg-shaped pieces, both about 1 1/2" long. One was all jet black, but we called it our "Eastern Island Head" find, given it's resemblance. There was no hint that it was anything special, other than the odd shape, but we put it in our newly bought Lortone polisher along with many other pieces.
This morning we opened our polisher for the first time. Imagine our surprise when we found that "Eastern Island Head" was actually our first Fairburn!! After a week of tumbling, the black coating has started to wear away, exposing some incredible Fairburn patterns underneath. We have another stone (also in the attached) that I suspect is also a Fairburn, given the similar shape to the first, and the hints of visible thin banding.
We're hooked! Never thought I could get my son away from his computer and video games, but for the 3rd weekend in a row, he wants to make the long 3 1/2 hour drive west this weekend. Now that we know what we're looking for, hopefully we can find more Fairburns!!
Given that we literally just started doing this a couple of weeks ago, we weren't quite sure what we were looking for! We've certainly found plenty of prairie agates, rose quartz, and petrified wood, but have really been trying to find a Fairburn. Last week, after our 2nd trip to the Grasslands, we brought back a couple of egg-shaped pieces, both about 1 1/2" long. One was all jet black, but we called it our "Eastern Island Head" find, given it's resemblance. There was no hint that it was anything special, other than the odd shape, but we put it in our newly bought Lortone polisher along with many other pieces.
This morning we opened our polisher for the first time. Imagine our surprise when we found that "Eastern Island Head" was actually our first Fairburn!! After a week of tumbling, the black coating has started to wear away, exposing some incredible Fairburn patterns underneath. We have another stone (also in the attached) that I suspect is also a Fairburn, given the similar shape to the first, and the hints of visible thin banding.
We're hooked! Never thought I could get my son away from his computer and video games, but for the 3rd weekend in a row, he wants to make the long 3 1/2 hour drive west this weekend. Now that we know what we're looking for, hopefully we can find more Fairburns!!
