Earth Treasures Volume 3: The Northwestern Quadrant (Earth Treasures (Back in Print)) (Paperback)

by Allan W. Eckert (Author)
Key Phrases: area mine dumps, sagenitic inclusions, area gravel deposits, Lake Superior, South Dakota, North Dakota (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Here at last, is the ultimate guidebook to actual locales that can be driven to for collecting rocks, minerals and fossils in Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. The four volumes, with over 1,200 maps, describe over 5,000 sprecific sites; this Volume 3 includes over 300 to-scale maps marked with over 1,000 collecting sites and detailed directions on getting there, the types of rocks, minerals and fossils to be found at each site, and how and where to search once you've arrived.

About the Author
Allan W. Eckert, seven-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, has written 39 books, including his award-winning Incident at Hawk's Hill and The Frontiersman, plus numerous other historical narratives, novels and non-fiction works, as well as books for young adults and children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 660 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse; illustrated edition edition (April 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595089607
• ISBN-13: 978-0595089604
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #227,007 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Earth Treasures:The Northwestern Quadrant, December 30, 2001

By	W. Eberhart (Crosby, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book covers only very well known locations and only of rocks and minerals suitable for lapidary. This book is a good 30 years out of date. In my own state, I have been to every location listed and 90% of them do not exist anymore or are no longer accessible. In addition, I know of several other areas that are well known but not listed. Don't waste your time with this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Earth Treasure series , July 15, 2007

By	Lawrence L. Dee "Ex geoman" (Idaho Falls, ID) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This series is one of the most poorly conceived mineral guides I have ever seen. The author obviously knows very little about minerals e.g. "quartz rock crystal" and his maps are so poor you would be lucky to find anything using them. I agree with a previous reviewer who said "do not waste your time with these books." L. Dee, Geologist

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Basic historical information only, January 10, 2008

By	Garret Romaine (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

The other reviewers are exactly right; use Eckert's information as a basic starter only. Speaking for the Oregon, Washington, and Idaho locales, I have had to use a lot of imagination to figure out where Eckert was trying to point me. There just isn't enough specific information for some listings, and for others, "current events" (i.e., development) have long since overtaken the rockhounding locales.

One thing that would have helped when marketing this book would have been a little explanation of what is different from the last volume. I patiently counted up all the sites listed for Oregon in the new guide, then counted the ones in my old book, and there was no change! In fact, I don't think a single site in the book was updated, added, or removed for Oregon. I suspect very few locales were updated, period.

There are no pictures, and the maps are only very vague; many times, a rockhound locale will be referred to as near a city, and the map will just point to that city. If the books weren't so expensive, they would be at least useful if you were trying to put together a complete picture for a state that you intended to rockhound to 100%. But I spent $20 on a used copy of an old edition and still felt a little gypped.

Where the book does help is in pointing you to a series of gravel bars on a river or major creek. For example, the Oregon section pointed me toward Vinemaple on the Nehalem River, and I used Google Earth to pinpoint some likely gravel bars. It turned out, however, that there were barbed wire fences and No Trespassing signs everywhere; I would have had to put in a canoe or kayak to get to his suggested spot. However, knowing that Vinemaple was good once, way back when, was useful, and when I got access to the river way above the Eckert site, I found what I was looking for.