Lake Monroe, Monroe County, Indiana, USAi

Regional Level Types
Lake Monroe	Lake
Monroe County	County
Indiana	State
USA	Country

Permission from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers ranger is required.
MONROE RESERVOIR (LAKE), 39.058483, -86.454761

Monroe Lake (also an Indiana State Park, see http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/2954.htm was constructed in 1964 by the Army Core of Engineers as flood control and the water supply for Bloomington, Indiana and surrounding smaller communities. Excluding Lake Michigan, it is the largest lake in the state, 10,500 acres. According to local expert and collector Bob Harman: “a wooded ridge about 40' to 60' high runs parallel to part of the South shore of the lake. Midway along this ridge, the spillway was blasted out of the Indiana limestone. It is now a wide flat area, now used for parking and a picnic area with access down to the lakeshore. The blasted walls, up to 60' high, are on both the East and West sides of this flat area. About 40' up on both East and West spillway sides, or about 10' - 15' below the forest floor there is a 5' - 6' geodized zone of limestone that has been worked for years. There are little alcoves in the rock in this zone with many high quality geodes found in the 50+ years since discovery. It is not for the faint of heart as getting there by climbing through the woods to the spillway wall edge is difficult and one small misstep in the collecting alcoves means you fall down the spillway wall. In the woods along this ridge are found large weathered out geodes with great barites, but most are not as fresh as those collected directly from the spillway rock.”

There are several general localities around the reservoir which could be better described by local collectors. The spillway location is known for barite, calcite, quartz and dolomite, although dolomite is now quite as common at the spillway as at other locations, or at the State Route 37 road cuts State Route 37 roadcut (Indiana Geological Society Bulletin 18 location 20), Harrodsburg, Monroe County, Indiana, USA. Also according to Harman, “…the road leading to this spillway area goes past the dam on the lake. As such it is known as Dam Road. It goes up a short hill with a small road cut just outside the spillway area. This locality is known as “barite hill” as collecting here over the years has yielded many barite-containing geodes. The short road cut here is severely undercut from extensive collecting and the overhang is now falling in, essentially bringing collecting to a halt. Round the back side of this road cut and further up the road it becomes Mission Valley Road. There are wooded areas which are quite hilly and descend into ravine areas called the “Mission Vally location,” about 0.5 - 1.0 miles from the spillway.”

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References