Wegner taught us a little Arkansas Quartz 101 (first, wear old clothes to dig; the red clay stains). He explained that most of the quartz, which was deposited by extremely hot water some 300 million ...

Moonstones in Montana, amethyst and emeralds in North Carolina, garnet and quartz in upstate New York. At pay-to-dig mines around the United States, visitors can paw through piles of mine tailings to ...

Rocks have always held top priority among my three favorite things. The others are sea shells and driftwood. Not diamonds nor rare gems. Just patterns of the earth. The interest, perhaps, could be ...

LITTLE ROCK — Rockhounds, start your picks and shovels! The annual celebration of all things quartz crystal gets under way Friday at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Mount Ida. The Quartz, Quiltz ...

MOUNT IDA, Ark. — On a lonely road near Mount Ida, people from around the globe come to play in the dirt. “It’s something I have wanted to do for many, many years, and finally had the opportunity to ...

MOUNT IDA, Ark. — We promise, it's worth the drive to Mount Ida to get messy and find some crystals. The World Championship Quartz Crystal Dig will be held on October 11th & 12th. Registration & ...

BOEKENHOUTHOEK, South Africa—Crouched in the mouth of a hand-dug tunnel here, Linki Mugidi chisels the walls in search of a crystal used by Western wellness practitioners and of the sort promoted by ...

Happiness can, of course, come in many forms. For a rockhound — and I know this well, being one — it’s all but guaranteed by time spent patiently probing the ground at a mine somewhere, hoping to ...