[Rockhounds] Geodes in the tri state area of Keokuk

Wed Feb 21 13:07:46 PST 2018

Awesome reply. Thanks. Will be there in late May.
Thanks
Betsylew

-----Original Message-----
From: Rockhounds [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Doug Bank
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2018 12:53 PM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Geodes in the tri state area of Keokuk

I can’t say that I know which sites are best, but I have been there several times and have some feedback that may be useful and hopefully is correct ;-)

1) Iowa - I have never collected in Iowa. I believe that some people are successful collecting in private sites and possibly along the Des Moines River, but I have no specific suggestions. Of course, the best sites are kept secret :-(

2) Missouri - The geodes in Missouri are known to be larger than in other locations. I have personally collected at Sheffler’s site, though I don’t think this is the place with the largest geodes. He has, or at least had, a rock shop as well.

https://www.facebook.com/shefflerrockshop/ <https://www.facebook.com/shefflerrockshop/>

3) Illinois - There are a lot of places to collect geodes in Hamilton, IL. The pay sites I have been to are Jacob’s Geodes and Stevenson’s Geodes. At Jacob’s Geodes you dig the geodes out of a mud wall (at least, that is what we did). I’m not sure what it is like now, but when we went you parked on one side of a little river and then walked over and up a hill to get to the geodes. It was tiring. He said we could take our car over to the other side, but you need to go through 8 inches of water, and I didn’t want to risk it. The geodes here seem to have more secondary mineralization and possibly petroleum inside (personally, I have found blue and yellow barite, marcasite, pyrite, goethite, dolomite, sphalerite and others, along with way too much kaolinite and ferroan dolomite)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jacobs-Geode-Mine/245486572327977 <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jacobs-Geode-Mine/245486572327977>

At Stevenson’s Geodes, there is a lot more land and you kind of find them growing out of the ground (more in spring than other times of year) along a creekbed. I think the geodes here were larger and prettier than from Jacob’s Geodes, but there were a lot of solid nodules, so beware. Maybe bring a scale to help check density.

http://www.findingrocks.com/cgi-bin/viewlocation.cgi?location_id=390 <http://www.findingrocks.com/cgi-bin/viewlocation.cgi?location_id=390>

There is a lot of information on the internet about these and other sites. A lot of it is very old, so concentrate on newer pages and call places before deciding where to go. These pages seem pretty informative to me. The first one is quite old, so the pictures are too small, but it is very informative

https://www.geodegallery.com/keokuk.html <https://www.geodegallery.com/keokuk.html>

http://www.thevillagesgemandmineralsociety.com/changes-to-make10-14-2016/Places%20to%20See%20PDF/Places%20to%20See%20Iowa.pdf <http://www.thevillagesgemandmineralsociety.com/changes-to-make10-14-2016/Places%20to%20See%20PDF/Places%20to%20See%20Iowa.pdf>

http://rockhoundbill.blogspot.com/2015/04/march2015geodes.html <http://rockhoundbill.blogspot.com/2015/04/march2015geodes.html>

Doug

> On Feb 21, 2018, at 12:55 PM, BetsyLew Miale-Gix <bmg at personalinjurylawwa.com> wrote:
> 
> New topic - get to spend a couple days looking for geodes in the Keokuk Iowa area. There are several pay sites - what are the best? Other areas?  Have not been out there for years.
> Thanks
> Betsylew
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rockhounds [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com] On 
> Behalf Of batsondebelfry
> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 5:57 PM
> To: Jim Mills; Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
> collectors
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Rockhounds Digest, Vol 14, Issue 9
> 
> I use egg white with Mad Dog 357 hot pepper sauce. You might want to wear rubber gloves while mixing, applying, handling the coated wires.
> Neal Hazen
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
> -------- Original message --------From: Jim Mills 
> <crestoncoyote at millsgeological.com> Date: 2/19/18  2:52 PM  
> (GMT-06:00) To: rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com Subject: Re: 
> [Rockhounds] Rockhounds Digest, Vol 14, Issue 9
> 
> Honda makes a tape impregnated with pepper that mice avoid.  We had 
> problems on the ranch with both wiring and windshield washer tubes 
> being eaten.  Bought some of that expensive tape and have not had any 
> more problems for several years so I know it works.  The tape even has 
> small sketches of a mouse printed all along the tape.  We found it on 
> line from a Honda dealer in the midwest
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
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