By editor
Argenta Mining District, Beaverhead County
Near Dillon, the Frying Pan Basin offers a strange mix of minerals. It is part of the Argenta Mining District, an area known for lead and silver. But in the gravels and washes of the basin, rockhounds search for something else entirely: corundum and fossilized wood. The wood here is not merely petrified; it is opalized and silicified, turning ancient trees into stone that fractures like glass.
Visitor Access
This area is open public land. Collecting is free and legal under standard BLM and Forest Service rules, which allow individuals to take up to twenty-five pounds of petrified wood or common minerals per day for personal use, up to a maximum of two hundred and fifty pounds per year.