Petoskey Stone

This post came about in a roundabout way because of a conversation that I had yesterday with @janton on his post about Wild Bill Hickok going prospecting for gold in the Black Hills. I mentioned a more recent gold find in the Black Hills that I had heard about and that led to prospecting and that led to rocks and my love of rocks.

And as @janton is so good at doing, I found myself telling him about my search for Petoskey stones on the beach in Michigan.

Petoskey stones are fossilized coral that are 350 million years old. They are found throughout the Midwest where glaciers have carried them, but one of the easiest spots to find Petoskey stones is on the Lake Michigan beach in downtown Petoskey, especially early in the year just after the snow melts or after a big storm.

Petoskey stones are readily available for sale in many of the rock shops around the area but it was quite a thrill for me to be able to find my own on the beach. I used a grinding wheel to polish up one of them and even though they are not the finest specimens, they are some of my treasures!

All three of my stones are roughly fist sized or larger, but I have seen boulders on the lawns of rock shops that must weigh 300 pounds. It is Michigan's official state stone

Watch for the next theme announcement tomorrow! ( be on the lookout for clothing shadows!)

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