Petrified Wood

Are you ready to go find a treasure that’s not only a fossil, but also a gemstone? One that not only can be very lucrative, but can also make a wonderful centerpiece, or be turned into a wide range of beautiful objects? Well then hunting for petrified wood may very well be the adventure you’ve been looking for.

See some current prices on rough/uncut Petrified Wood here!

How Is Petrified Wood Formed

Before you go out to get some of your own, you probably asking, “How is petrified wood formed?” The short answer, which is what you’re probably most interested in is….

That petrified wood is created when a tree falls to the ground and is quickly buried and thus protected from rotting. This can happen by falling into a stream and being quickly covered over by material in the stream, by a large volcanic eruption, or other quick moving geologic event. Then over millions of years minerals leech into it from the surrounding material and turn the wood to stone.

One of the most valued minerals in petrified wood is agate, and the higher the amount of agate present in it the more it can be worth.

Other highly valued specimens have opal inside of them. These are called conk wood, if you wish to learn more about this see our treasure hunting for opal page here.

The most wanted shape for petrified wood is called a “round”. This is circular, just like a tree trunk, which is exactly what it is. Rounds come in all sizes from only a few inches thick and a few inches long, up to 5 feet think and 7 feet long, or more.

Finding Petrified Wood in Oregon and Washington

The soil in which petrified wood forms in the states of Oregon and Washington are usually not exceptionally hard and are easily handled with a pick and shovel. A long handled pry bar is also a good idea to help break loose some of the larger chunks of petrified wood.

While doing the digging is not complicated the real key is to listen to how the pick sounds as you dig. When it hits a piece of petrified wood or stone it will make a very distinctive ping sound, after a few minutes you’ll know what I’m talking about.

When you hear that ping sound for the first time your heart will start racing and your curiosity will peek, because you never know what you might find under there, but you always hope its something wonderful and often your right.

Once you have your pieces you can leave them as is or you can add additional value by having them polished as a single piece, or for bigger pieces you can have them cut into slices, and then polished.

These slices can be worth anywhere from $20 to $40 each* or more depending on the amount of agate and the amount of interest in the slices. Knots in the wood add real interest to the piece and its very valuable.

When you take into account that a piece of petrified wood only 1 foot long can be cut into about 8 or more slices, and you can sell them for around $30 each*, I think you can see that a day of digging for petrified wood can be a very enriching proposition.

Places to Hunt for Petrified Wood in Oregon and Washington

If your interested in having your pieces cut and polished the folks at any one of these sites should be able to point you in the right direction.

Hollywood Ranch Sweet Home, OR

Mcdonald Ranch Ashwood, OR

Saddle Mountain WA

*Please understand the fact that although some gems are sold at a price like that, the odds are very much against a person not directly in the mining business ever even seeing a gem of that quality. Treasure hunting vacations are not about getting rich, they are not about the treasure you find in the ground, they are about the treasure you find in searching for the beauty that nature has to offer, and the treasure of enjoying time with family and friends. Enjoy your trip for these things and you will have a treasure hunting vacation of a lifetime.

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