[Rockhounds] Fairburn Agates in South Dakota

[Alan Silverstein]

Don et al,

> I am passing through South Dakota on Friday, close to Fairburn.  Can
> anyone give me any information about collecting Fairburn agates?  Any
> good locations that are easy and legal to go to?

I've hunted at Fairburn at least five times, but don't seem to have
anything on line I could easily send you except the GPS coords (anyone
want that?)

I can tell you that while hunting there is fun, apparently still legal,
and there are many vast places you can go (main beds, west beds, south
beds, I get confused), the odds of actually finding a Fairburn are very
close to zero.  You might get one small one in 3-5 days.  I've found
maybe 5 total in all my trips, nothing very big or exciting.  But I do
find some other nice agates and jaspers...  It's alluvial frosting, a
mix of materials, on badlands terrain.

If I remember right, the main beds (north of the free BLM campground)
are 20-30 minutes east of the pavement, on good gravel roads.  You need
to know where to follow the turns through the village of Fairburn
itself, then the main road makes a lot of curves although not hard to
follow.

Cheers,
Alan Silverstein