By Kenneth S. Allen
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Nestled in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains is a day-trip destination that is a real gem—literally.

Emerald Hollow Mine is the only emerald mine in the U.S. that is open to public prospecting. It is home to more than 60 different types of naturally occurring gems and minerals.

Hidden treasure
Emerald Hollow is located in a geologically unique area that was first mined in 1879 by William Earl Hidden, who had been sent to the area by Thomas Edison to look for platinum. Instead, Hidden found a variety of spodumene that he named after himself.

Mining of hiddenite was sporadic, but the efforts also turned up sapphires, garnets, and some amazingly large emeralds, including a 1,438-carat behemoth. Found in 1969, it was the largest emerald discovered in North America at the time.

Rock hound heaven
The Hiddenite Emerald District is home to six emerald mines: Crabtree Mine, Old Plantation Mine, Adams Mine, the North American Emerald Mine, Ellis Mine, and Emerald Hollow. While tours can be arranged at some of the mines, only Emerald Hollow allows rock hounds to try their luck.

“We’ll have 300 to 500 people a day up here,” said Joann Cartledge, a mine employee.

Variety of prospects
Visitors can choose from among three ways to prospect. The easiest is the sluicing method. For $5 you get a seat at one of two sluiceways and a bucket of ore pulled straight from the mine. Additional buckets of ore can be purchased from $2 for native ore up to $100 for “enriched” ore that is guaranteed to contain facet-grade gemstones.

For the more adventurous there is the “creeking” method. Several streams crisscross the 70-acre property, and the beds are covered in rocks and gems washed out of the hills by erosion. Some people use screens to separate the material like gold miners in the movies. But a lot of visitors just wade in the clear mountain water, picking up anything that catches their eye. Creeking costs $8 a person and includes a seat on the sluiceway.