RockWoof
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

Western Quarry (Past Producer)Hercules Quarry (Past Producer)St. Clair Lake (Prospect)Spencer Deposit (Occurrence)Skookumchuck (Occurrence)
Past ProducerProducerProspectOccurrenceStatus unknown
5 paw pins, one per site. Hover or tap a pin for the site name. County outline: US Census Bureau cartographic boundary file (2023). Locations approximate.

Woof’s favorite find

Skookumchuck

We picked it because its USGS record mentions 1 of the minerals on our cards and 1 of our card minerals overall. No other named site here scores as high on both counts. USGS lists it as occurrence for Copper. Minerals mentioned: Copper. Approx. location 46.787, -122.697. USGS record.

Ask first: a USGS record doesn’t mean you can visit. Find out who owns the land and get permission before collecting.

Field cards: what kind of sites?

2
Past Producer

Produced ore or material at some point in the past.

2
Occurrence

The mineral was noted here, without development.

1
Prospect

Explored or test-dug, with no recorded production.

Status terms come from USGS MRDS records.

Mineral cards

Counts are sites whose USGS record mentions the mineral or commodity. Hardness from Mindat.

Minerals recorded here

No individual minerals are listed in these records.

Commodities

Flagstone 2Copper 1Diatomite 1Iron 1

Sites

SiteCommodityMinerals recordedStatusApprox. location
Hercules QuarryFlagstone—Past Producer46.864, -122.833
Western QuarryFlagstone—Past Producer46.854, -122.864
SkookumchuckCopper—Occurrence46.787, -122.697
Spencer DepositDiatomite—Occurrence46.965, -122.720
St. Clair LakeIron—Prospect46.992, -122.724

Fossil collections

The Paleobiology Database lists 4 fossil collection records in Thurston County. These are research records, not public dig sites.

Nearby counties

Lewis County · Pierce County · Cowlitz County · Skamania County · Kitsap County

Washington mineral guides

Back to all Washington counties.

Related articles

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