Rucks Pit Crystal Clam Festival

 

Here’s your chance to dig the world famous Rucks Pit crystal clams!
at The Rucks Pit Crystal Clam Festival

 

Incredible! – is the most common term used when people see this unusual combination of crystals and fossils. And for good reason: nothing compares to these fantastic specimens that bridge between the worlds of paleontology and minerology.

 

History – Discovered in the 1990s in Rucks Pit, an aggregate quarry near Lake Okeechobee, Florida, these fantastic crystal-lined fossil clams quickly became famous in both the mineral and fossil world. Alas, a dozen years after they were discovered, the mining played out, the quarry flooded, and the site was closed for good.

 

Several years later Pacific GeoLab researched this rare occurrence and arranged exclusive access and rights to the fossils at the old Rucks Pit quarry. Since then, we have discovered and opened several sites on the old quarry property where we excavate the crystalized clams that made Rucks Pit world famous.

 

Now you have a chance to dig your own!

 

The quarry will never reopen, and the property remains closed. However, we periodically arrange very limited opportunities for clients to visit and dig at our site once or twice a year during our Rucks Pit Crystal Clam Festival. Only a few dozen people will be allowed, and only for a few days. The next festival date on the calendar is:

 

NEXT EVENT WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON.

 

The Digging – Event Staff will assist you throughout the day. The digging is not difficult – any able-bodied person can do it. You will use hand tools – mostly rakes and trowels – to dig through the sediments. As you find specimens, you’ll wash them off with one of the several water hoses we provide. There are also matrix pieces which contain multiple clams. You are welcome to split them apart and pare them down using hand mallet and chisels but don’t do that if there are multiple good clams in it. Ask us first.