Dig It!

Mason, Texas is known for topaz stones that have been found in areas surrounding this little town.  It is not being mined commercially, so there are three ranches that allow you to come on their property to search for them.  For a fee, of course.

The museum in town has quite a few of these stones on display, the largest one is uncut and is at least the size of a baseball.   There are some smaller ones, about the size of golf balls or a little larger, also uncut.  They also have stones that have been cut and faceted – complete with a star.  They are beautiful!  Texas gets lots of mileage out of that Lone Star!

It sounded like a fun idea, so I called and made arrangements to go out to one of the ranches to search.  It was a great day for digging – low humidity and total clouds for most of the day.  There was a large area that we could search  – there were two women besides myself.  We were given a few pointers by our guide, who then left us to our own devices. 

I decided I would dig close to a riverbed and ended up digging partly in the water of the small streambed.  It’s hard work, especially with wet sand/pebbles/stones.  You put a shovelful into the sifter and then scratch through it.  I found some nice stones and pebbles, but no topaz.  I tried a few more places and then decided I’d climb on top of the rocks for some photos, just for a break.  Besides, there was a nice breeze up on top!

I came back down and it was time for lunch.  The other two women had not found any topaz either, and decided it was time for them to leave.  I took a quick break, ate my sandwich and scouted out another place to dig.  I searched for another hour or so and decided I’d had enough, I’d been out there for about 4 hours.

I didn’t find any topaz, but I had a good time and it was interesting.  I’ve heard of places in other western states where you can search for stones, and I bet I’ll try it again.  I will probably do some research and see if I can find hints to make my next search more successful.