Quartz

specimen number:
2292252

location:
Red Top Mtn., Kittitas Co., Washington, USA

description:
A beautiful cut and polished agate specimen. Very attractive.

The Red Top Mountain collecting locality, situated within the Wenatchee National Forest near Cle Elum in Kittitas County, Washington, is a highly regarded source of agates, particularly blue-agate nodules and geode-like formations. Geologically, these agates are hosted within the Eocene-age Teanaway basalt formation, which is characterized by extensive volcanic flows containing numerous gas vesicles. Over millions of years, silica-rich groundwater percolated through these cooling cavities, slowly depositing microcrystalline chalcedony layers to form banded agates, often containing sharp quartz crystals or calcite within their hollow centers. Mining has historically been entirely non-commercial and recreational, managed by the United States Forest Service as a designated public rockhounding area. While informal digging by independent hobbyists dates back to the early and mid-twentieth century, the site remains an active, popular destination for seasonal surface digging and shallow trenching by mineral collectors into the 2020s.

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