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GeneralElk Creek collecting

23rd Aug 2015 06:00 UTCZach Berghorst

I was wondering if anyone knew of ways to collect in the Elk Creek locality in South Dakota. From what I've heard and read online it's all either owned by collector's edge or private land owner's, but I have also heard of people collecting at this site, so is this locality completely closed off to the average collector or is there someone who will allow collecting on their land?

Thanks,

-Zach

23rd Aug 2015 20:24 UTCRobert Farrar

Zach,

The primary location is on one ranch, and is pretty much tied-up. When the lease does become available, it is monetarily out of the reach of the average collector (or business).

There are a few other outcrops where decent barytes have been collected, both upstream and downstream, but the sites are not as productive in quantity or quality, as the primary site. The crop of exposed concretions usually gets collected by early summer, if you are lucky enough to locate an owner willing to allow collecting. I've lived in the area for 40 years, and have never had the opportunity to collect at the prime site, even though I know the owner and have done some fossil business with him. Occasionally one can gain access to one of the less productive sites. Researching and contacting landowners is the only way to know for sure, but many of them are tired of people asking…

Bob

23rd Aug 2015 23:00 UTCZach Berghorst

That's what I figured but wanted to make sure. Thanks for the response though!

Zach

24th Aug 2015 22:17 UTCJim Robison

Many decades ago I had a summer job in north-eastern Wyoming. An overlooked facet of the calcite/barite localities, is that Elk Creek is on an exposure of the eastern flank of a very broad gentle anticline mostly eroded away from its exposure outcropping of the Fox Hills formation., and the western flank some 100 miles west in the area of the town of Osage, Wyoming. During a long ago summer job, my rockhound boss led me to the site, where it was possible to find calcite lined ammonites and baculites (I think) with barite included in the gaps of the fossil. No way as frequent or as spectacular as at Elk Creek, where I collected in the late fifties before the sites were tied up and still open to rockhounds. I have never seen this occurrence listed. Must confess I have never looked in the Mindat data base to see if the area is listed.

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