7 Ugly Creek Rocks Worth Keeping (One Is a Diamond)

If you see these ugly rocks in a creek, don't throw them back. In North Carolina, gold washers once found a diamond in their pan and smashed it with a hammer to test it. Here are 7 dull-looking rocks from our own Southeast creeks that are worth a second look. My field guide, Where the Gold Sits (page 17 is the black sand where garnets hide): https://claycarter.co The 7 rocks, so you can take them with you: 1. Garnet. Little dark red grains in your black sand, or dull red balls with 12 flat faces. Mostly sandpaper grit, but if your pan keeps its garnets, it's keeping the heavy stuff. 2. Kyanite. Flat blue-grey blades in the schist. A knife scratches it along the blade but not across it. 3. Staurolite, the fairy cross. Rusty brown six-sided sticks, sometimes grown into a cross. The common natural cross is a slanted X; most perfect square ones in shops were filed. 4. Rutile. A heavy black lump with a greasy shine and fine grooves. Not magnetic, pale brown streak, glows red at a thin edge. 5. Corundum (ruby and sapphire). A dull pink or blue-grey "hex nut" with stepped sides. Harder than quartz: if it scratches a quartz pebble, keep it. 6. Beryl and emerald. A six-sided pencil stub, pale green to milky. It's light, so it washes out of the pan. Look for it on the bank and in plowed fields. 7. Diamond. About a dozen turned up in North Carolina gold washings between 1843 and 1893. A rough one looks like oily glass or frozen honey. Never hit it with a hammer. Chapters: 0:00 If you see these ugly rocks 0:48 1. Garnet (already in your pan) 2:02 2. Kyanite (two hardnesses) 3:13 3. Staurolite, the fairy cross 4:54 4. Rutile (the heavy black lump) 6:19 5. Corundum, ruby and sapphire 7:51 6. Beryl and emerald 9:28 7. Diamond (and the hammer) 11:33 Honest words and the rules 13:45 Your weekend plan Not sure what you found? The North Carolina Geological Survey will identify a rock or mineral sample you send them, free of charge. Sources: G. F. Kunz, History of the Gems Found in North Carolina, NC Geological and Economic Survey Bulletin 12 (1907); NC Geological Survey Information Circular 24, Mineral Collecting Sites in North Carolina (Wilson and McKenzie, 1978); R. M. Patterson, Director of the US Mint, 1850 letter (USGS Open-File Report 79-1223); Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, Virginia Minerals vol. 38 no. 3; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 (garnet, kyanite, titanium minerals); NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (Hiddenite); US Forest Service mineral collecting rules for North Carolina and the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests. Pictures: public-domain plates and photographs from Kunz (1907 and 1913), Pratt and Lewis, NC Geological Survey (1905), and Tiffany and Co.'s 1893 World's Columbian Exposition catalogue; a 1920 Ford Motor Co. film (National Archives). Some scenes are illustrations. Stock video from Pixabay. Before you dig: no mining claims can be staked in Georgia, the Carolinas or Virginia. Most land here is private, so ask the owner. In North Carolina's national forests you may pick up rocks from the surface for personal use, up to about 10 pounds, but no digging. In Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest a pan and a small hand shovel are allowed, and a handful of rocks from the surface. Nothing may be taken from national parks, including the Great Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Georgia and North Carolina state parks don't allow rock collecting; Fairy Stone State Park in Virginia allows a few for personal use in its one marked hunting area. Call ahead before you go. What's the strangest rock you ever kept from a creek? Tell me in the comments, and tell me your state. #goldprospecting #goldpanning #geology