By editor
Lewis and Clark County
East of Helena, near Canyon Ferry Lake, Magpie Gulch cuts through the hills. While the nearby Spokane Bar is famous for a rainbow of sapphires, Magpie Gulch is specifically known for green sapphires. These stones owe their green color to trace amounts of iron.
Visitor Access
The gulch sits on public BLM land. Access is free, and casual collecting with hand tools is permitted under standard limits (twenty-five pounds per day). The roads can be remote and rough, and visitors must be careful to stay off any marked private mining claims that dot the area.