Rockhounding in Tompkins County, NY: 9 USGS Mineral Sites (2026)

Check access before you go. Most sites listed here are old mines, quarries or prospects, and many are on private land or active mining claims. Get the landowner's permission, check the rules of the agency that manages any public land, and never enter mine workings. Locations are approximate.

Sketch map

Past ProducerProducerProspectOccurrenceStatus unknown

7 paw pins; nearby sites are grouped into one pin. Hover or tap a pin for the site name. County outline: US Census Bureau cartographic boundary file (2023). Locations approximate.

Field cards: what kind of sites?

Past Producer

Produced ore or material at some point in the past.

Prospect

Explored or test-dug, with no recorded production.

Plant

A processing plant site.

Producer

Was producing when the record was made.

Status terms come from USGS MRDS records.

Minerals recorded here

Halite 1

Commodities

Salt 7Halite 1Flagstone 1

Sites

Site	Commodity	Minerals recorded	Status	Approx. location
Cayuga Mine and Mill	Halite	Halite	Past Producer	42.529, -76.525
Ithica Salt Co. Plant	Salt	—	Past Producer	42.448, -76.508
Cayuga Rock Salt Core	Salt	—	Prospect	42.533, -76.534
Cargill, Inc., Div. of Cayuga Rock	Salt	—	Plant	42.529, -76.525
University Quarry	Flagstone	—	Producer	42.436, -76.458
Ithaca Deep Well No.1	Salt	—	Past Producer	42.431, -76.509
Remington Salt Well	Salt	—	Past Producer	42.470, -76.504
Joe Farkas No.1 Well	Salt	—	Past Producer	42.529, -76.507
Remington Company Plant	Salt	—	Past Producer	42.467, -76.500

Fossil collections

The Paleobiology Database lists 30 fossil collection records in Tompkins County. These are research records, not public dig sites.

Nearby counties

Cortland County · Schuyler County · Chemung County · Tioga County · Seneca County

New York mineral guides

Back to all New York counties.

Is It Legal to Collect Rocks on Public Land? BLM, Forest Service and National Park Rules

How we built this page: we counted named sites in the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) for this area, left out sand, gravel, crushed stone, clay pits and unnamed sites, grouped them by Census county, and linked every site to its USGS record. We did not visit these sites, and MRDS does not tell you who owns the land or whether collecting is allowed.

Source: USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS). USGS ceased systematic updates to MRDS around 2011, so status and details may be out of date. Each site links to its USGS record.

Updated October 2026

Rockhounding in Tompkins County, New York