Jacob’s Geode Mine

Written By: admin - Apr• 23•10

Jacob’s Geode Mine

So you’re ready to go on a treasure hunting vacation to get some wonderful crystal filled geodes of your own?

Hunting for Keokuk Geodes at Jacob’s Geode Mine

Tresure Hunting For Geodes

Then lets pack up and head to one of the best places in the world to find geodes, the Keokuk geode beds.

The Keokuk geode beds also happen to some of the biggest in the world, at about 35 miles across, and Jacob’s Geode Mine in Hamilton, IL is well situated within the Keokuk beds to give you a wonderful geode hunting experience.

At Jacob’s Geode Mine you will be charged only $16 for a full 5-gallon bucket of geodes, and that is well worth it.

At the mine most of the topsoil has already been removed so you’re already down to the layers that contain the geodes. In the mine, which is an open pit type area you will find 3 distinct layers that the geodes were laid down in.

The first layer is a shale/limestone layer that has a brownish color. This layer is well weathered and not to hard to dig out, many of the geodes at this level are large and hollow.

Due to the weathering at this layer many of the minerals in the geodes have undergone chemical changes and appear different then those below it. Even though they are weathered they’re still amazing.

The second layer is gray shale there are many geodes in this level that may have pyrite and calcite crystals in them along with the quartz.

The bottom layer is semi-hard shale that is also gray. The geodes in this area are about 2 inches across and are mostly just filled with quartz, but are still very nice.

While your digging for your geodes at the mine you may come across some flattened ones, although they don’t like you cracking open your finds at the mine they do allow you to open a few of these to see if you really want to take them with you.

So if you can’t bust open most of the geodes you find at the mine how do you tell if your geodes are hollow or filled in?

You’re just going to have to do this by feel. Trust me once you pick up a few of the same size you’ll get a feel for the weight of a filled in one as compared to a hollow geode.

Usually the hollow geodes are the most sought after, because they often have the most character. At Jacob’s Geode Mine about 60% of the geodes are hollow.

Equipment You May Need to Hunt for Keokuk Geodes

So what kind of gear might you want to bring with you to dig at Jacob’s Geode Mine? Well at the mine they have no equipment for you to use, so you have to bring your own. So here’s a list of gear to think about:

-Kneepads

-Safety glasses (sharp pieces of stone in you eye will ruin the day)
-Rock hammer (useful if you plan on just digging a little or a lot)
-Shovel
-5 Gallon Bucket
-Miners pick (if you plan on doing some serious digging)
-Food and water

Getting to Jacob’s Geode Mine

Close up of cut geode

The mine is open during the summer; you will need to contact them for exact dates and times.

To go to Jacob’s Geode Mine to search for geodes you’ll need to fly into Quincy, IL about 32 miles from the mine, so you’ll also want to have a rental car waiting.

For your hotel you’ll stay in Keokuk, IA it is about 5 miles away and just across the river from Hamilton, IL.

Since the address below will take you directly to the mine no further directions will be given.

If you’d like to see some great places to hunt for thunder eggs (kissing cousins of geodes) on the other side of the country see our Thunder Eggs page.

Contacting Jacob’s Geode Mine

For more information about Jacob’s Geode Mine or the Keokuk Geode Beds call:

Gary Jacobs
823 East County Rd
Hamilton IL 62341
217-847-3509