gem valley montana

While we were in South Dakota our two youngest daughters wanted to pan for gold. Because the lines were long we told them that we would go another day. Two days later we were in Cody and couldn't find another panning or mining experience. My husband and I went online and found this place. We added another day to our vacation so we could go and were glad that we did. This place is located right outside of Livingston and a short drive from Yellowstone north enterance. When we pulled into the parking area there were lots of picnic tables in the open and a few in a shade area. We went into the small building and it was packed full. There were two people behind the counter (the owners) helping everyone. They offer great priced bags in which to look for Sapphires or Garnets. Not having done this before we opted for the 25lb Garnet bag, We also got a fun pail for our 5 year old which contained polished rocks among regular rocks. Once you purchase the bag all it's contents are yours. You can bring them home or use their facilites to shift through the rocks and find your gems. We decided to stay. They show you how to go through the bag and borrow you the tools to get the job done. Once we finished going through our bag we brought our booty in to the building and they pull out and weigh all the gem/cut quality ones and put them in a bag for you. Ours was about 95 carats. They offer cutting and setting services but are not pushy. You don't feel obligated to purchase anything. And they send you home with some information as to where to get settings online. The bathrooms they offered were very nice. I would easily return here again and again. Some advice though, bring water to drink and sunscreen to wear.

Located in Livingston's historic Northern Pacific train station this museum has great displays of the history of railroading in Montana. Hundreds of photos and thousands of artifacts are excellently presented. The staff person on duty the day we visited was friendly and very knowledgeable.

I took my girls to the Gem Valley to see what treasures we could find. We bought a 25lb bag of rocks that had garnets in it. After showing us how to pan for them and what to look for, we spent several hours searching and ended up finding 71.7 carats. The kids and myself had a lot of fun. We will defiantly be doing this again. They also will cut them and set them for you. If you don't want to gem there, you can take the bag with you and mail back the stones to be set.

So fun to search for gems! Went with my two boys ages, 11 and 6. We all had a blast being "treasure hunters." Highly recommend.

I have been to Gem Valley three times from 2012-2013. They offer dirt from sapphire mines and dirt from garnet mines. The garnet was much cheaper so we chose that. They sold different size bags. I made my choice based on how much time I want to spend. Big bags take longer.... The nice folks there tell you and show you exactly how to do what you need to do. They also show you exactly what a raw gemstone looks like so you know what you are looking for. One down side was on one visit the sun was so hot the black rubber covering on the tables was almost too hot to touch. They have a shaded/covered work area that I should have moved to. It takes some time to pick through all the dirt and put your finds in a small plastic jar they give you. When you are all done you take your equipment and jar of stones back to the small store and they go through the stones and find ones that are facet-able (is that a word?) and let you know how much it would cost to have them cut and set for you. You might find a 8 carat garnet but it might be cracked and the finished stone would only be 2 carats. They are also very happy to give you your jar and say good bye. There was no pressure to have something set. We had two necklaces made - it takes a couple of days - they will mail them to you but we were going to be in the Valley for a bit so we were able to pick ours up when they called and said they were ready. I was surprised how much fun it was and how seriously my sister's took looking at every grain of sand and how excited we would get when we found a big stone. I have my plastic jar of uncut stones sitting on my windowsill at home and it is a fun reminder of our afternoon adventures.

We did a bag of Sapphires & a bag of Garnets. It was fun and we found quite a few of both gems. We were very pleased that we went out of our way to get there.

We had heard of Gem Valley from a very reputable sapphire mine owner, so we decided to check this place out. We went there to meet with the owner Drew and to have some gems graded and faceted. Not only was Drew very personable but he also taught us some more about gem hunting and what to look for. His little shop also had gravel for people to purchase to mine for gems and he also offers heat treating,faceting, & setting of gems. We decided to have some gems cut, so he explained to us the steps that he uses to cut gems and so forth. He was and is very reasonably priced. We left and came back a few weeks later to pick up our "prizes". We were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful they came out. Not only is his work excellent, but he is very trustworthy and that is important for people who want to have gems cut. The facility was very cute, clean, and set up for "miners" of all ages to pan for hidden treasure! We definately recommend this place to anyone who is interested in mining and having your treasures faceted and etc..... This is such a charming little shop and a pleasure to see all the interesting items in his store. We later took our gems to a jeweler and he commented on the excellent workmanship of these stones. YEAH!!!!!!!!