• Wednesday-What'sUP July 17 - 09:16 pm

The Lake Superior shoreline is known for producing many an agate, both small and large, so it always draws the rock hound in folks, hoping to score a big one to either take home as a memory of their visit UP North or to sell for some extra cash. I'd venture to say that most folks only find the small souvenir size agates, but there are a few that are lucky enough to find the elusive large specimens, too.

Don Afman was recently on Agate Beach in the Toivola area, where he snapped today's photos with a number of avid agate hunters hard at work. It's definitely a great way to pass the time on the shores of Lake Superior.

Nice pix...those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

"In the Summertime when the weather is high, You can stretch right up and touch the Sky"

Nice pics, I wouldn't know an agate from a marble, or a petoskey stone!lol... My uncle's would walk that beach back in the day when it was really full of agate hunter's, and drop firecrackers behind them. Those folks were not too happy. What memories, lol

Many large agates were often found inland on the Keweenaw Peninsula where the shores of a larger Lake Superior once were located. Years ago a private collection of very large agates was in show cases near the office of the Vice President of Manufacturing of a (then) Dayton, Ohio company. I was employed at this company in a management position and often handled special assignments for the V.P. After he learned that I was born and raised in the Keweenaw Peninsula area, he told me that he found the large agates inland on the Keweenaw Peninsula. I have one about the size of a softball that was found on my parents' farm in Houghton County. I think it is likely that there are more in that general area that also has beach sand in several locations.

Some sense of humor, Uncle Chuck! Hope he could run fast.;->

I also would not know one if found in the wild.

U.C. I love your Uncle's!! lol!!

JT- Back then, Budweiser was involved, lol. To all us cousin's, are uncle's were legends!

When I was in High school I was lucky to find one the size of a baseball.This was on the Marquette shoreline.

Used to pick agates with my Gram every summer. My Great
Grandmother named Toivola, in finnish, it means "HOPE". The
Kallioinen Homestead was there.

I had to wait awhile to get that picture. With
all those rear ends pointed towards Minnesota, I
got an extra chuckle but then I have a weird sense
of humor.

Not having any luck with agate searches I headed
to the fairly new location of the A.E. Seaman
Mineral Museum in Houghton. They have everything
you might expect on display including agates,
datolite and native copper. Certainly worth the
trip. Has it ever been featured here?

I purchased a huge agate, half the size of a
bowling ball, cut in half and polished, with a
small geode exposed and not very expensive.
Unfortunately, it was imported from Brazil but
still beautiful.

I had a great week. Thanks go to Pasty Central for
suggesting new areas to venture to.

Ha! Great sense of humor!

I think Capt Paul's pictures were featured from the
new location of the A E Seaman a while back

September 15, 2011 was when the pictures were
posted.

Superior pictures!

Yay!! I finally got pasty up again. I'm seriously having so much trouble with this site!!

D. A....thankfully it was not a nudist beach. It would be tough asking them to crack a smile for the camera :-)

Alex-true! LOL

Thanks for the reminder jbuck. Just goes to show how
my memory is fading as I made a post on those CAM
Notes back then. As far as my sense of humor goes, I
call that picture, "Mooning Minnesota".

All the exhibit areas are now open and it's quite a
geological display. I would say it easily beats the
one at the renowned Field Museum of Natural History
in Chicago.

I, also, would not know an agate if I saw one. I'll have to google a picture of one so I can try my luck when I go UP there in September after the Mackinac Bridge Walk. Can't wait! :°)

Hi
Nick, that's interesting, and I have seen markers showing differences in the Great lakes levels during the ice ages. For example, at one point there was only a relatively narrow river in the straits of Mackinac.

Whatever size of stones, it is fun to look for rocks on the beach. We've been doing it for decades on the beach near our vacation home near Cheboygan...but there are still rocks to find after all time. ;>)

I have a stone that I picked up on the shore at Petoskey ~ would that be considered a 'Petoskey stone'? ;->

Hi Kathy,
The V.P. was a "rock hound" who often spent his summer vacations in the Keweenaw looking for the big agates inland. I remember him commenting that he thought the local residents were quite secretive about where they knew the big agates could be found. Years ago I met a man at a gem and rock show in the Troy, Ohio area who had a gemstone and rock/mineral store in Cincinnati, he gave me a slice of a very nice agate that he found UP there.