Calcite

specimen number:
2292209

location:
Red Cliff Cave, Gallatin Co., Montana, USA

description:
Yellow lustrous translucent scalenohedral crystals of calcite on matrix. In good condition. Complete all around.

The Red Cliff Campground area, situated along the Gallatin River within the Gallatin Canyon of Gallatin County, Montana, is a prominent outdoor recreation and localized field-collecting site known for producing striking specimens of golden dogtooth calcite crystals. Geologically, the area is defined by towering, reddish cliffs composed of Mississippian-age Madison Group limestone. Natural solution cavities and small caves within these carbonate strata provided open spaces where hydrothermal or meteoric fluids precipitated highly lustrous, sharp rhombohedral and scalenohedral calcite formations, sometimes as double-terminated crystals on matrix. While never developed as a commercial industrial-scale mine or quarry for metals, the limestone formations have historically been utilized for local building material, and the site has been actively frequented by independent mineral collectors and rockhounds from the mid-twentieth century through to the 2020s.

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