Treasure Hunting

Where To Dig For Sapphires In Montana

Disclaimer: This review was not compensated or paid for in any way. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not constitute an advertisement or promotion. The reader should confer with Gem Mountain to verify any information provided in this article.

After diamonds, sapphires are the second hardest naturally occuring mineral known to man. After opals they were the second most challenging activity of my summer vacation. I'm not a rock hound or gem collector but this year it seemed like the time was right to take a walk on the gemologist side and see why people love to dig for gems.

Despite what some may think, I had fun digging for opals in Idaho. I also had fun digging for sapphires in Montana, although it's not anything I would want to do for a day job.

That said, let me confess to having been inspired a bit by the Travel Channel's Kirsten Gum, whose treasure hunting shows make the activity of digging through rocks and mud look like fun.

While traveling through the Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho area I rediscovered the Gem Mountain tourist attraction. This is a working gem mine where the tourists do all the work (well, in a sense). We'd seen Kirsten Gum dig for sapphires and opals and gold on television and thought that would be a cool vacation adventure, so we went looking for places to dig for gems.

Gem Mountain is located about 16 miles off Montana highway 1 on Skalkaho Pass Road. After driving through some of the most breattaking countryside you can imagine, you come to a crossroads beside a rocky cliff and turn down a typical country road. At the end of the road you'll find the gem mine. You cannot miss it.

And digging for sapphires is about as easy to do, once you get the hang of it. The Gem Mountain operation is set up to all but ensure that visitors find something. They offer no guarantees of success, but most people seemed to be finding gems.

Now, let me say that I'm probably no better than most people at finding sapphires and, truth be told, I'm probably a lot worse than many others who have taken a shot at the process. Had it not been for the helpful Gem Mountain staff, my personal mining experience probably would have been less shiny.

When you pull up to the Gem Mountain facility you'll find a dirt-and-gravel parking lot. The day we arrived the place was packed. We half-expected it to be one of those nearly-empty, hard-to-find attractions that you never want to admit to having visited, but the immediate impression we got was this was the place to be. Tons of people were already looking for sapphires.

There is a little stream or runoff ditch near the parking lot. I walked our dog over there a couple of times and every time I came close to the water something popped below the surface. I don't know if it was a frog, a fish, a snake, or something else but it was interesting. I guess the wildlife in the area has learned that people are not there to bother it.

The facility itself consists of a few small buildings, a handful of covered "picnic areas", and about a dozen tables and picnic benches standing out in the open. And there is a rectangular water trough in the center of everything. That water trough is the heart of the operation.

Several young men tend a pile of rocks and dirt near the parking lot where they fill buckets for customers and offer tips on digging. When there is no demand for dirt buckets they walk among patrons and help people sift for sapphires. They are very professional and friendly and have a good tourist-side manner, so-to-speak.

You pay a modest price for your dirt buckets: $14.00 apiece. If you're feeling ambitious there are a few volume deals you can go after. I decided I wanted our visit to Gem Mountain to be memorable so I bought a "Lucky Seven" package. For $84 you get seven buckets of dirt. We almost regretted that.

The actual sapphire digging happens this way: you pour some of your dirt into a square metal tray that has a mesh bottom. You take the tray over to the trough and wash the dirt. The staff guys have been doing this for years (apparently the local teenagers are eager to take on a fun summer job where they "get paid to work out, meet people, and talk to girls"). Watching one of these guys wash dirt makes you feel humble. They make it look so easy, but there is a real technique to it.

There are two reasons to wash the dirt. First, you want to get the gems wet so they glitter in the sunlight. Second, by shaking the tray back and forth, up and down, and turning it as they shake it, the treasure hunters move the gems toward the center of the dirt. The more experienced you are, the more likely you'll get the gems to the center.

You then take your tray of dirt back to your table, turn it upside down, and dump it on the surface. If you've done the job right, you'll see your gemstones in the center of the dirt pile, at the top or very nearly at the top. Most tourists don't even come close to getting it right, but we saw a few people who were probably locals who do this a lot. In fact, some people drove up, bought bags of dirt, and left.

Most of the customers, including us, end up washing their dirt 2-3 times and spreading it out on the table. We then sift through the rocks and dirt as meticulously as possible, plucking out the gems. It's a time-consuming process and you don't want to do it this way -- but you really don't want to do it this way alone. This is definitely the kind of activity where it's fun to have someone to chat with, especially when you find a sapphire or garnet.

Most tourists probably go through about six trays of dirt per bucket. I must have looked worried or something because as we worked on our first bucket of dirt one of the staff guys came over to see how we were doing. "Finding any gems?" he asked.

"Yeah, we've found a few, but it takes so long," I said. He laughed.

"That's because you don't quite have the hang of it," he said as he watched me shove my dirt around in the water. "Would you like a demo?" he asked. Absolutely! Of course.

He grabbed a fresh tray and poured some dirt in it. In half the time I was taking to do my "first wash" he had shifted the dirt around and smoothed it out in the tray. He then brought it back to the table and turned it over. "There are your gems," he said, pointing at a few small stones in the center on top.

We plucked out our gems and then sifted through the rest of the pile and didn't find any more. About that time I saw the owner teaching new staff members this technique. He had neatly packed all the gems in the middle together. "I'm not that good," our staffer said shyly, but let me tell you, he's good at racking the rocks or whatever they call it.

We tried washing a couple more trays and were unable to master the technique. Our young friend came over and asked if we wanted another demonstration. "Sure," we said gratefully.

"I'll tell you what," he said. "I'll show you what's called the professional style (or technique)." Intrigued, we could not help but accept his offer. What followed was an amazing experience.

Throughout the next hour and a half (give or take), our young friend (in-between taking care of other customers) came back to our table periodically and washed a tray of dirt, flipping it over for us to pluck out gems. He told us to leave the dirt on the table. He only went through 3 trays of dirt per bucket.

After about every four trays he would grab all the dirt from the middle of the pile and wash it again. We would wipe away the remaining dirt and he'd bring back the tray. Dumping it over, he'd reveal a few more small gems. The Professional Technique accomplishes in minutes more than what most people achieve in almost an hour.

We chatted with a couple of the other guys on the staff. They joke with each other and share anecdotes with the customers. The mound of dirt from which they fill customers' buckets comes from the mine, which is closed to the public. They wash away a lot of mud and compact the dirt for customers -- I gather this helps improve the customers' chances of finding gemstones.

The guys are all well-muscled and very friendly. They've been working at Gem Mountain for several years each and have turned a lot of dirt. They're not allowed to take any gemstones but they keep a tip jar for customers. They're quick to answer questions and don't hold back when customers ask for help. They are generous in offering demonstrations when they see someone struggling to wash the dirt in the trays.

A lot of families visit Gem Mountain and the kids seem to have a great time. A few people, like us, bring their dogs. I occasionally got our dog's leash wrapped up around someone else's legs so I was constantly attending to him. He loved meeting the people (the kids especially enjoyed petting him) and we went for occasional walks around the edge of the parking lot.

The day gets warm and you want to bring something cold to drink (they sell cold drinks inside the main building). Our young staff guy told us it's better to work at one of the open tables rather than in the shade because you can see the gems better. We occasionally heard other people proudly exclaim "Here's a great one!"

Being around all that excitement, you cannot help but want to find a great one, too. One man went up to the staff and thanked them for their help. "My stone is three carats," he told them proudly.

"Do people always find sapphires?" I asked curiously as we sifted through the dirt.

"Almost always," our friend told us. "The largest I've ever seen was found by the owner -- it was 29 carats."

He went on to say that most of the sapphires are not of gem quality, but this is really about having fun doing something you'd normally never expect to do. And every now and then you hear someone cry out, "Dad! (Honey!) Look at this one!"

We were on our fourth bucket when our friend turned over a tray of dirt on the table. Right there at the top sat one of the most beautiful blue crystals I've ever seen. "There's your daymaker," he told me excitedly. "That's exactly what you're looking for." I wish I had taken a picture of the stone before we packaged it. I was just a bit too excited (and tired) to think about that.

With his expert help we found several dozen small sapphires. Most were not of "gem quality" but about 20, it turned out, were suitable for processing and cutting. I didn't have much cash left by this part of the trip (I mostly rely on my debit and credit cards when traveling) but we gave the young man all the cash we had as a tip. It was way too little but he didn't seem to mind.

When you've exhausted yourself (or your dirt, whichever comes first) you take your stones inside the main building and wait to speak with one of the graders. I'm not exactly sure of what their job titles are. Hayley, the lady who worked with us, told us they are not licensed to appraise gems so they don't do that. What they do for you is separate the gems into categories and weigh them.

Our prize gem, the Daymaker, weighed in at 3.21 carats with a very small flaw. That's what I'm talking about!

Hayley found about 20 other gems that she divided into two groups: Cuttable and Flawed/Cuttable. The rest of our stones were either too small or too flawewd to be anything but souvenirs. Our total find: approximately 20 carats in cuttable gems and 105 carats in uncuttable gems.

I was kind of excited. I couldn't help myself, so I had to ask her: "Is this a good return on seven buckets?"

Haylay shook her head in that sincere way you know people use when they are convinced of a good thing. "This is a VERY good return," she affirmed.

Still, I could not help but be skeptical. "I guess a lot of people ask you that," I said.

"But I don't always say, 'Yes'," she replied. "You guys did really well."

You can walk out with your gem stones right there, but in their raw state they're not much use for jewelry. They need to be heat-treated and cut. You can do that through services Gem Mountain offers or find your own vendors. We did not feel pressured into doing anything, but we did decide to have our 3.21 carat treasure processed through Gem Mountain. It may take up to 7 months before we'll see our stone again.

When we left the building I walked up to the staff guys and shook our friend's hand. "How'd you do?" he asked.

"We ended up with 20 carats of cuttable stones and 105 carats of uncuttable stones," I told him. I swear his jaw dropped, and his friend looked at him with a real respect you can only earn from a peer who knows what it takes to do a job right. I had tried to add a bigger tip for the boys when I paid for the heat process treatment, but unfortunately Gem Mountain doesn't allow customers to do that. I really wish I had brought more cash on the trip.

Haylay stressed that they are not allowed to provide estimates on the gem stones. Still, I came away with the impression (based on a few things people said) that we had between $1,000 and $2,000' worth of sapphires (after processing and cutting). That's not a bad haul for paying less than $100 for dirt and tipping one of the staff for his good-natured help.

We had a blast. I remember standing in line, waiting to see a grader, and looking around at the people with us. We were all dirty, dried out, and tired. Everyone's hair looked wild and unkempt. And not one of us cared about the way we looked. We'd had fun. And most of us walked out with real sapphires in our pockets. Kirsten Gum would be proud.

Disclaimer: Because most of the staff members we met were underage, their names and ages are being withheld to protect their privacy.