Any rock hounds ?

[Davey Crockett]

Having picked every rock up that I thought looked cool and brought home since I was a kid I have quite a collection. My favorite is a small carved animal that resembles a bear that I found in the field right by my house about 40 years ago. Most of my Native american rock I picked up at auction sales but have found a couple . Crazy thing is I never find arrowheads . What have others found in ND ?

 

[Brian Renville]

Used to pick agate with my old man back in the day. Generally have to get on the MT side of the yellowstone but a few make their way into ND especially in gravel.

 

[1lessdog]

Having picked every rock up that I thought looked cool and brought home since I was a kid I have quite a collection. My favorite is a small carved animal that resembles a bear that I found in the field right by my house about 40 years ago. Most of my Native american rock I picked up at auction sales but have found a couple . Crazy thing is I never find arrowheads . What have others found in ND ?

Where are you located? I can put you on 7 or 8 Indian burial mounds where many arrow heads have been found.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Turtle Mountains

 

[Captain Ahab]

I picked a handful of fossilized things. I found a giant prehistoric snail fossil that was incredible. I also found a really nice arrowhead on the banks of Devils Lake as a kid. As a kid I was always looking and picking neat rocks.

 

[Ristorapper]

My dad had a huge collection of arrowheads and some other Native American tools. He grew up in the Mott/Bentley area of ND where we as kids would help him find the tools. Most were found in the cultivated fields along the Cannonball River there, mostly just north of Bentley. Unfortunately for us kids, we have no idea where his collection is today as he had divorced our mother and remarried and since passed away in '97. We kinda lost touch after the divorce. One of my sisters is really interested in the collection if she could find out who ended up with the stuff.

Interestingly enough, I wonder if that scratching the earth as a young 4-6 year old is where my interest in geology came from. Rocks certainly are interesting.

You being from the Turtle Mountains, the easiest pieces of interesting rock available may be glacial striated rock from that area and further east towards Grand Forks. WE did a field trip to some glacial morraine near Pembina out in a field and found it all over the place. Not near as interesting as Native American treasures but easier to find.

 

[Davey Crockett]

I have a good sized piece of petrified wood about a foot long but it's covered with lichen, That white/gray stuff that grows on rocks, It looks good the way it is but I bet it would look awesome cleaned up . My boy caught the rock hound fever as a kid too , He would take off walking when the fields were cultivated black and be gone for hours . Hoping to get the grandkids into a rock hunting adventure this summer. It's cheap fun and hunting for anything cultures ones mind

- - - Updated - - -

When I was working in Utah I'd go exploring nearly every Sunday. One time I found a fossilized snail about the size of a 50 cent piece in the Mountains at about 10,000 feet ..?? I never did check the internet to see what History says about that but you can find some amazing things in amazing places . I have no idea where it went to , Hoping I re find it again someday in my shop. Risto , I had never thought about that before but it seems true here too. My boy wanted to be a Geologist , He was working in the oilfield working his way through College and he saw what geologists do out there. I hated to do it but I steered him away from the oilfield. I drilled wells and got to know what's below the surface some areas you can bring up rotten wood that smells like Sulphur and snails at 200 feet.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Did your snail look like this?

 

[Davey Crockett]

Did your snail look like this?

No mine is not nearly that nice , Mine is worn down and smooth . I found it right on top of the ground out in the elements.

- - - Updated - - -

And now that I think about it , Mine might just be a fossil , Not petrified .

 

[Brian Renville]

There’s a layer in the badlands that can have marine fossils just pouring out of it as you dust the clay away.

 

[Ristorapper]

There are also marine fossils found in the highest elevations in ND. Take you kids/grandkids out to the badlands in the peaks somwhere. It shouldn't be too hard to find some snails in the sediments in the peaks out there. Show you kids/grandkids and ask them, what does that tell you about the history of ND? That could be their geology lesson for the day. Of course, it is illegal to take any objects from state/national parks so do not do that.

 

[BP338]

My wife used to collect rocks. When she was a kid she used to fill her pockets with all sorts of treasures (elk poop being some of those treasures...). I never really had an interest in it until I was older. When hunting in Mexico last year I found a big geode. It was egg shaped with the open ends. It was pretty neat. I left it at the ranch down there. I also suck at finding arrowheads. I've picked up a million rocks thinking they are arrowheads with ZERO luck!

 

[1lessdog]

Turtle Mountains

The mounds I speak of are located in S.E.N.D.

 

[LBrandt]

Only thing I have ever found was a large hammer shaped stone. You could see where the binding leather straps wrapped around the stone and the thing was heavy. Shaped kind of like a ball-peen hammer. Have no idea what happened to it.

 

[bigv]

I am a rock hound as well however I know nothing about rocks. I just like them. I always have my head down when out hunting scanning for anything unusual. Have found one arrowhead as a kid. Found a rock shaped just like a heart out goose hunting this year and gave to my wife. She actually liked it. I have several that are really neat shapes worn super smooth. No idea what they are but I keep them. My son found this one. Looks like an eye. About the size of a tennis ball but little flatter.

 

[Kurtr]

I know a guy who found all kinds of native fossils . He is doing 5-10 in the pen right now. guess you cant sell them on ebay

 

[BrokenBackJack]

When we were kids and on the farm everything we did was by hand. So picking rocks by hand we found many arrow heads, hammers, hatchets, and other items. Someone wanted them more than we did i guess as they disappeared one night. Since then i have found and collected the same as mentioned above. Also found about 10 years ago out in the field after they harvested beans was a rock made into a bowl and also a round rock for grinding whatever you put in the bowl. Pretty neat.
Bought some other big rock hammers, hatchets, and a rock that is shaped like a heart at an auction sale.

 

[gatorbaiter]

We have a couple of those Indian hammers that came through the potato digger. They're pretty interesting for sure. Coolest thing I've ran across so far is a buffalo skull and several teeth I found in the Red River when we had a really dry fall a few years ago. Also a piece of what I think is petrified wood off a gravel bar there. At least it has a wood grain and feels really heavy and hard.

 

[bigv]

A local farmer had a large slough shrink up about two yrs ago. The banks receded far enough that he found a buffalo skull laying next to an arrow head. He had never seen in his time on farm, the water that low. Long story short, it was sent somewhere, can't remember where, because an area geologist believes to be from the ice age. It has not returned yet as many test are being performed on them however they did mention ice age as well. Just trying to determine exact time frame??

 

[Ristorapper]

I am a rock hound as well however I know nothing about rocks. I just like them. I always have my head down when out hunting scanning for anything unusual. Have found one arrowhead as a kid. Found a rock shaped just like a heart out goose hunting this year and gave to my wife. She actually liked it. I have several that are really neat shapes worn super smooth. No idea what they are but I keep them. My son found this one. Looks like an eye. About the size of a tennis ball but little flatter.

Similar to the "cannonball" concretions found in the Cannonball Formation (Paleocene era) that are quite common around the Bis/Mandan area. You can see these and much, much bigger ones some years when the water is down near the confluence of the cannonball river and Missouri river. If you look up into the sedimentary formations at the cliff there you may see these concretions sticking out. Once eroded they will roll down the cliff to the shoreline there. You can see some that were collected and placed at Harmon lake north of Mandan. You see some of the bigger "cannonballs" around town in yards, some in area farm yards. Googled the Cannonball Formation and found an article from ONE of my professors at UND; Alan Cvancara, interesting.

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/Publication_List/pdf/RI SERIES/RI-57 ADD PLATES.pdf


https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/north-dakota/rock-formation-nd/

http://archives.datapages.com/data/ndgs/data/008/023/023.html

lol tell me if you've had enough!!

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/documents/Publication_List/pdf/Strat-column-NDGS-(2009).pdf