Illinois
Fluorite - Minerva Mine, Cave-In-Rock Illinois
What you'll find - Fluorite
What are they - Small yellow or purple squarish crystals
Fees - none
Address - Near the intersection of Tuckerhill Rd & 1500 E just north of Cave-In-Rock off of 1.
Hours - none
Phone - none
Website - none
Tips - This one took a lot of research for us to locate and due to a lack of road signs can be tricky to find. Drive north on 1 from Cave-In_Rock (which is also a very interesting place to visit with children) Tuckerhill Road will be on your right just before a nicer red house. The road soon splits, just stay to the right. You'll see some dirt driveways to the mine on your left. From what we were told by the locals, the Minerva mine still owns the land but since the shafts have been filled and the buildings are gone it doesn't mind recreational collectors picking through the gravel field. There is lots of purple and butterscotch colored fragments everywhere. We had good luck searching the piles that have been pushed up against the stream. We also found a very rare fossil blastoid that had been replaced by fluorite shown in the slide show below. The mine was operational from 1942 until about 1997. At rock shows you'll see some amazing and huge fluorite specimens that were mined underground here.
Kid Fact - If you have a short wave UV light some of the fluorite from here glows.
What are they - Small yellow or purple squarish crystals
Fees - none
Address - Near the intersection of Tuckerhill Rd & 1500 E just north of Cave-In-Rock off of 1.
Hours - none
Phone - none
Website - none
Tips - This one took a lot of research for us to locate and due to a lack of road signs can be tricky to find. Drive north on 1 from Cave-In_Rock (which is also a very interesting place to visit with children) Tuckerhill Road will be on your right just before a nicer red house. The road soon splits, just stay to the right. You'll see some dirt driveways to the mine on your left. From what we were told by the locals, the Minerva mine still owns the land but since the shafts have been filled and the buildings are gone it doesn't mind recreational collectors picking through the gravel field. There is lots of purple and butterscotch colored fragments everywhere. We had good luck searching the piles that have been pushed up against the stream. We also found a very rare fossil blastoid that had been replaced by fluorite shown in the slide show below. The mine was operational from 1942 until about 1997. At rock shows you'll see some amazing and huge fluorite specimens that were mined underground here.
Kid Fact - If you have a short wave UV light some of the fluorite from here glows.