Discussion: Anywhere in Illinois

Category: Discussion Forum / 1--HELP FINDING LOCATIONS IN YOUR AREA

Report thread
Watch thread
Share this

1 2 | Next

nickmgombash	Anywhere in Illinois Dec 5 2007, 5:45 AM EST \| Post edited: Dec 5 2007, 5:45 AM EST Does anyone know anywhere in Illinois to go digging? Post reply 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you? Keyword tags: None
ModerndayEdison	1. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Jan 10 2008, 7:43 AM EST The banks of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. That is allot of terrain to cover, but then again there were allot of homes washed away back in the flood of 1993. Pick a spot.... any spot..... and try your luck. Sand bars, islands, river banks, shallows. Just be careful and take a few friends along. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
nickmgombash	2. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Jan 10 2008, 1:13 PM EST What would there be to find? Anything in specific? My dad always used to tell me when I was little and went fishing with him that there was gold in the Kankakee River.... and also rattlesnakes.. haha. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
ModerndayEdison	3. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Jan 10 2008, 8:15 PM EST Homes were washed away, there would be silver, copper wire, aluminum, possibly gold jewelry, you name it. The Mississippi and other rivers like it, tend to reduce homes. automobiles, and what ever else they wash away back down to their raw materials. Whole towns were washed down river, you do the math, how much copper wiring, silver plate and flat ware, and jewelry do you think is out there just sitting in the sand or mud waiting to be found? The answer.......is loads. Ya just have to get out for a walk and find it. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
Tondalayo	4. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 26 2009, 1:07 PM EDT Where can you look for rocks or fossils if you don't want to look for stuff in the river. I live in Jacksonville, ILL and need some places to hunt. Most places in Calhoun Co. are locked up and they won't let you look. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
aubreyreynolds9@gmai	5. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 26 2009, 2:20 PM EDT "Where can you look for rocks or fossils if you don't want to look for stuff in the river. I live in Jacksonville, ILL and need some places to hunt. Most places in Calhoun Co. are locked up and they won't let you look." The Mazon Creek fossil region is world famous (find a fossil Tully Monster) Then there is the Keokuk geode region again some of the best in the country. And if that does crank your tractor there is the Fluorite region of Southern Illinois, Especially the Cave in Rock area. Go for and don't let us stop you. Bill Post reply Do you find this valuable?
aubreyreynolds9@gmai	6. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 26 2009, 7:18 PM EDT "Does anyone know anywhere in Illinois to go digging?" I posted a picture of a fossil of the Tully Monster from the Mazon Fossil Sites. There really is a Tully Monster; it is the state fossil of Illinois. Bill Post reply Do you find this valuable?
aubreyreynolds9@gmai	7. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 26 2009, 7:22 PM EDT \| Post edited: Sep 26 2009, 11:34 PM EDT "I posted a picture of a fossil of the Tully Monster from the Mazon Fossil Sites. There really is a Tully Monster; it is the state fossil of Illinois. Bill " If you live near a coal mine the Mazon fossils are in Siderite nodules. Do not break them open but put them in a bucket and let them set all winter until spring. The nodules will break open easily along the right plane to reveal the fossil inside. Some say putting them in the freezer will do the same thing. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
aubreyreynolds9@gmai	8. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 2:10 PM EDT The state fossil of Illinois is an enigmatic, wormlike creature called the Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium). It was a predatory creature that inhabited the lowland swamps that covered the state during the Pennsylvanian Period, around 300 million years ago. This member of the world-famous Mazon Creek fauna still presents science with a mystery regarding its relationships to any modern creatures. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
aubreyreynolds9@gmai	9. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 2:19 PM EDT Just 2 hours from your home is a great geode collecting site at Keokuk, Iowa Within a 50 mile circle check the creeks and fields. Bill Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Tondalayo	10. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 7:26 PM EDT Thanks. Yes Keokuk is a good place and I have been to the Mazon but didn't have much luck. Will try again though. If you think of any other or from here to Florida let me know. I did go to southern Ill last spring but it was after they had the 100 mile an hour winds and there was so much destruction you could not get most places. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
aubreyreynolds9@gmai	11. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 7:44 PM EDT \| Post edited: Sep 27 2009, 7:45 PM EDT "Thanks. Yes Keokuk is a good place and I have been to the Mazon but didn't have much luck. Will try again though. If you think of any other or from here to Florida let me know. I did go to southern Ill last spring but it was after they had the 100 mile an hour winds and there was so much destruction you could not get most places." Cross the Ohio at Cave in Rock Illinois and you will discover the world's finest fluorite museum is in Marion Kentucky. The Ben Clements Museum (google it up) or visit our Great Museums page. They have scheduled field trips. I have found really nice mineral specimens. If you take I 40 through Tennessee stop at the Gray Fossil Museum. Fantastic museum and you can schedule a dig with paleontologist at the site. They recently found a Red Panda fossil. Stay on I40 you will enter Western North Carolina. Gemstone Mecca. Hiddenite NC for emeralds and Franklin for rubies and sapphires. Catch I 95 South to Georgia and stop at Graves Mountain; the most important mineral site in the East. Contact the Georgia Gem and Mineral Society for access. Schedule this stop in advance. Just visit the National Directory on the drop down menu for more detail and many more stops if you take a different route. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Tondalayo	12. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 8:03 PM EDT Thank you very much Post reply Do you find this valuable?
havermap	13. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 9:40 PM EDT I think also if you contact rock clubs in the area where you are going, you will find most people are friendly and helpful. A member of my rock club did this during a vacation to KY last spring break. They brought back enough geodes the weight collapsed their car-top carrier (who carries rocks on the roof of their car?) If you are travelling through Indiana, be aware the authorities are ticketing rock hounds who are collecting in roadcuts. Pam Post reply Do you find this valuable?
jakesrocks	14. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 10:42 PM EDT Hey Pam, welcome back. We've missed you. The info on Indiana should be posted on the National Directory, Indiana page for all interested in that state to see. Don Post reply Do you find this valuable?
rockhuntress	15. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 27 2009, 11:04 PM EDT Those are some good ideas! Look for books--I found 2 for the state of Colorado, and I'm sure there are more. But then again, I love books! nan Post reply Do you find this valuable?
havermap	16. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 28 2009, 6:42 PM EDT I like Earth's Treasures: The NE Quadrant. It has a multitude of maps (I like maps) and it is about 10 years old. Although property ownership changes, I was able to follow the book to a couple of geode localities. And, I found a sweet piece of Ripple Marks - not sure what kind of rock it was. I say was, because the school I work for said "That's the finest piece of ripple we''ve ever seen; do you mind if we keep it?" I'll go back this weekend and see if I can find another piece. Don, I always peek in on this site. Lately, it seems the threads are about topics I have no knowledge about, so I don't comment. Pam Post reply Do you find this valuable?
jakesrocks	17. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 28 2009, 7:05 PM EDT Hey Pam, it's just good to know that you haven't abandoned us. Let us hear from you once in a while, just to let us know everything is OK. Don Post reply Do you find this valuable?
aubreyreynolds9@gmai	18. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 28 2009, 7:24 PM EDT Hi Pam, I hope you find a load of Indiana Geodes. There appears to be mixed signals about road cuts in Indiana, There is a controversy that started with stealing road construction materials and has escalated with Universities, Rockhound Clubs and tourist bureaus on one side the Highway Department on the other side and the State Police in the middle. Here is an article in the new paper: It isn’t clear whether anyone has actually been arrested for picking up a fossil along a road in Indiana, but it has a lot of rock and fossil hunters worried. Ed McDonald, president of the Three Rivers Gem and Mineral Society, which has about 100 members and schedules periodic field trips to road cuts, said it really started three years ago when someone stopped by a road construction site and started loading their SUV with rocks. The rocks, McDonald says, were actually riprap, The person, who was arrested and their car seized, was taking them to build a rock garden at home, McDonald said. There’s a lot of difference between a rock hound and stealing construction materials,” he said. But since then, the issue seems to have morphed dramatically. Cher Goodwin, a spokeswoman for INDOT says the agency has a policy that forbids activity in the right of way, including collecting rocks.“Someone can’t gain from state property,” Goodwin said.Because INDOT has no enforcement arm, it has asked the Indiana State Police to enforce its policy.A spokesman for the Indiana State Police in Fort Wayne laughed when we asked whether people picking up fossils at road cuts faced possible arrest. He’d never heard of the issue.t taking rocks is stealing from the state and that it’s a felony.“ McDonald, who is a retired police officer and has been a rock hound for 20 years, says INDOT “is getting a little bit carried away.”Someone, he said, has a burr under his saddle. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
havermap	19. RE: Anywhere in Illinois Sep 28 2009, 8:22 PM EDT Bill, I'm not going to hunt along SR 37 (I had hoped my club would take us there on the way home). The club is waiting for more information and won't break the law as it stands. I don't like busy roadcuts when I'm alone anyway. I dislike when cars honk at me, so I'm planning a little covert action on a backroad. I'll tell you the name of the road - next week. :) Picking geodes out of a creek is so much more to my liking than hammering them out of limestone. I'm after the elusive ripple rock, maybe a few geodes if the car will hold them. Pam Post reply Do you find this valuable?

1 2 | Next

JavaScript must be enabled in order for you to contribute to this site.
To start contributing, enable JavaScript by changing your browser options, then try again.

Home