But Amelia County is thick with them. We spent a pleasant afternoon digging in the dumps and sluicing out some nice crystals, including garnet, topaz, and columbite. The nicest stone by far, though, is their amazonite. It ranges from a soft blue to a deep, dark green suitable for lapidary. We were fortunate that they dumped some out for us fresh from the depths of the mine.
Children are welcome.
Yes, there is some gold around the Great Falls area. There were several mines there in the early years. The Gold belt runs from the Great Falls of the Potomac down through Virginia and into North Carolina and Georgia. When this matter was presented to the mine superintendent, it was decided to abandon the portion of the mine from which this ore came. I located masses of a white mineral in radiating aggregates.