Elkins Gem Stones

A while back a friend of mine told me about a rock shop in Prineville, Oregon that had huge piles of quality rock starting at ten cents a pound.  This sounded unbelievable to me because the best shop I knew of before this started a dollar a pound and most shops I have visited start at much higher prices.  Ever since I was told about this I have been thinking that I must get to Prineville to see this for myself.

Early in June I read about the Prineville Powwow and decided it was time to go to Prineville.  I talked to my friend Tony about going and asked about the rock shop that sold material for ten cents a pound.  He told me the name of the shop was Elkins’ and not to skip going there.  For the next few weeks I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Elkins Gem Stones

My family arrived in Prineville early Saturday morning before anything was opened.  We decide to find where Elkins’ was located so we could return to it later.  We found that it was on Main Street next to the fairgrounds where the powwow was being held.  We spent a few hours at the powwow spending little money because I first wanted to see Elkins’ before we spent our rock budget.

When we returned to Elkins’ we found many piles of rocks and a nice sized slab table.  The first pile I wanted to explore was the one by the corner shed.  Tony had told me that there was a lot of good material in that pile priced at twenty-five cent a pound.  Before I started filling my buckets checked in with the shop owner, Judy Elkins and she explained the pricing of each of the huge piles of rock and told me to have fun.  I returned to the corner pile and quickly filled a bucket with Biggs Jasper and other fine materials.

Before I filled any more buckets I figured I should check out the ten cent a pound pile.  This is where most people were looking already.  I found a spot and stated finding pre-cut thunder eggs, moss Agate pieces and other nice materials.  As I would sort thru the rocks I would stop occasionally to spray one with water if I liked the rock I would hand it to my two and half year old son who would then put it my bucket.  This was a great way to spend time together and lots of fun.

Moss Agate

After the second bucket was full I decide to take some pictures.  I started with some of the rock piles then turned to a group of people that were studying the rocks closely as one man explained what he looked for in rocks and how he would cut each one.  I thought this was a great opportunity this group had because most people I know got a little information about rock cutting from club field trips or friends then went on their own to figure out the majority of cutting by actually cutting and sometimes wasting rocks.

People Studying Rocks

Once I was done talking picture I scoped out a few smaller piles of thunder eggs.  I ended my first round buying seven uncut McDermitt, Nevada Thunder eggs and my two five gallon buckets of rock.  I spent less than twenty dollars.

After lunch and checking my family into our motel I returned to Elkins’.  This time Tony and his wife Chris were there digging in the 10 cent pile.  Tony introduced me to few people I knew from online forums before we all returned to filling our buckets.  We continued searching the pile for a couple hours before the shop was closing.  Before Tony left he showed me a fantastic piece of Biggs Jasper that he found inside the shop.  I decided that I needed a nice piece of Biggs also so I went to check out what was available.  The prices inside were a little higher than what was outside but the materials were very nice and still a good deal.  I chose one piece of the Biggs jasper then went to weigh and purchase my treasures.

As Judy and I weighed my buckets of rock I asked about a couple of odd looking thunder eggs she had in a pile near the scale.  She explained that what I had was not true thunder eggs and called them something close to “thunder blanks”.  She then showed me some cut examples of both thunder eggs and thunder blanks explaining how the crystal part of the eggs form and how you can see where the start point was in the thunder blanks but see no agate or crystals.  I was very happy to receive this information because I had acquired a few of the thunder blanks before and figure they were bad thunder eggs.  Now I know the distinct look and won’t waste any more time cutting them.

As I paid for my rocks I told Judy that I would return the next morning.  She told me that it would be ok to return before the shopped opened to dig in the rock piles.  I wished her a good night headed back to the hotel.

The next morning I returned at around 7:30.  I was surprised to find that Judy was already opened; the shop normally opens at 9:00.  I dug in the piles for about fifteen minutes before the place was full of people wanting to get an early start.  Within an hour I had another bucket filled from the ten cent pile and a bucket of Biggs Jasper from the twenty-five cents pile.

Before paying for these bucket s Judy let me look in a shed where she had better material.  She told me if it was priced I could buy it but if it was not priced I was to keep my hands off it.  This shed is a rock collector’s heaven.  I was shocked at the super quality Biggs and petrified wood pieces cut, polished and ready to display.  I ended up buy three pieces from there, paying more for them that I spent on all the other materials purchased over the two days.

Biggs Jasper High Grade Finished

Biggs Jasper Rough

I am already looking forward to visiting Elkins’ again.  This is a definite don’t miss for rock hounds.  I was planning a trip to Wyoming in September.  Now I am thinking I might go back to Prineville, or maybe McDermitt, Nevada …..or Dugway, Utah…..?  Anyway, if I don’t make it back there in September I Know I will be back to Elkins’ next June if not sooner.

Elkins Gem Stones
972 S. Main
Prineville, OR 97754
(541) 447-5547