Where to go: The polka dot agate mine is located a little way outside of Madras, Oregon. Google maps will take you right there.
Road Conditions: Paved nearly the whole way, the driveway and road out to the mine are dirt but well maintained. Any vehicle will work.
What you’re looking for: Polka dot agate and/or canyon rim thunder eggs.
Tools needed: Getting the agate chunks out of the vein requires a hammer and chisels. Bring more than one chisel, one of ours broke and it would have been helpful to have a couple. I also used my rock pick and a crowbar. Digging for thunder eggs requires a rock pick, shovel and sometimes a pry bar. No chiseling necessary for the thunder eggs. You’ll also want a bucket at both spots. While the mine has some tools they may all be in use so it’s best to come prepared.
Safety Precautions: Digging for thunder eggs doesn’t require safety equipment, though I’d recommend some gloves. Digging in the mine has specific safety requirements: safety glasses, gloves and closed toed shoes are required. I would also recommend long pants, long sleeved shirts. Hammering at agate breaks off shards that will fly into the air. They are sharp and can easily cut you. You’ll also need to wear a hard hat and safety vest, which are both provided by the mine. Due to those sharp pieces and the strict rules no animals or children under 14 are allowed in the mining area.
Cost: The cost to go into the mine is 20$ per person, per hour and that money then goes to your first 4 pounds of agate. The agate is 5$ per pound. The Canyon Rim thunder eggs are 2$ per pound.
Note: The mine can only have 10 people in it at a time, so if you want to go down at a specific time I’d recommend calling and paying to reserve your time. Otherwise there’s no guarantee of going down at a specific time. The number to call and make a reservation is (360) 957-8695
More about our trip:
After being closed for 3 years the Polka Dot Agate mine has reopened the vein for public digging. I say digging but really it’s some hard rock mining, emphasis on hard! When I saw the beautiful pieces people were bringing out of the mine I knew I had to head down.
We started off poking around the thunderegg bed for a little bit before heading down to the mine. You’ll follow Brian (he’s the head guy at the mine) down the road in your car a short distance. Once you park Brian will drive down with the very large yellow construction vehicle that I can not currently name (I want to say it’s a front loader but I was busy looking at rocks). You’ll follow on foot. Part of the path down is steep with loose gravel, just go slowly and if it feels slippery turn your feet sideways to get more traction.
The road down to the mine
Walking into the mining pit is a bit overwhelming, the vein is massive and all of it has impressive agate. The base color ranges from an icy blue to a solid white with small polka dots. There are also veins of red running through in spots that sometimes resembles flames.
Before heading into the mine we donned hard hats, safely glasses, high visibility vests and gloves. While these might seem like overkill at first, it’s not. The pit is active and hammering into the wall sends bits of agate flying and vibrations through the wall. Those pieces are sharp and can easily cut you. I didn’t get cut but pieces hit me and I was grateful for long pants and long sleeves!
Before we started Brian remarked that this is a ”sweat equity” stone and you’ll have to earn it. How you’ll earn the stone is by searching for fissures along the veins and starting the work pieces near those fissures loose. I’d recommend walking along the vein and trying multiple spots to find a chunk that has a little give or that is between two fissures. If you aren’t making any progress after a couple minutes move spots. It’s tempting to try to work for a specific piece you like the look of but the time will go fast and your energy will go faster, work where you have a chance to get some pieces out. If you aren’t sure where to work or how to go about it just ask Brian, he’ll point you in the right direction. When times up Brian will take your tools and rocks back to the main area.
Once we got to the main parking area we took some to poke through the piles of rocks they have for sale and scored a good piece of amethyst sage, some blue mountain picture jasper, a couple of thundereggs and two small pieces of freedom jasper (recently called Gary green jasper) and then, because I couldn’t carry anything else, we paid and headed out.
We really enjoyed our visit down to the mine and even though it was hard work, it was gratifying to know we had chiseled the rocks out ourselves. If you’re not up to doing the actual mining there are large piles of the agate they have brought up and you can pick through that instead.