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Open Ground · Open ground

The Fairburn Agate Fields

Free public grasslands, Buffalo Gap National Grassland, SD
ACCESSIBLE
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

The Fairburn Agate Fields: still unexplained.

Fairburn agates, the most prized agate in North America

The law of this ground: Buffalo Gap National Grassland, surface collection of small amounts for personal use generally allowed; no digging, check current Forest Service rules.
The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
Fairburn agates, the most prized agate in North America
The account

Across the rolling grass below the Black Hills lies the home ground of the Fairburn, a fortification agate banded in red, pink, and black that collectors chase across the world. Erosion lifts new ones to the surface with every storm. The grassland is public; the hunt is free; the eye is everything. They do not give themselves up to the hurried.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • What you can keep: Fairburn agates, the most prized agate in North America. Confirm the site's current rules and any day fee before you go.
  • Where: Buffalo Gap National Grassland, SD. Buffalo Gap National Grassland, surface collection of small amounts for personal use generally allowed; no digging, check current Forest Service rules.
  • Best practice: record anything notable, leave the ground as you found it, and check the latest access notices before you travel.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • What you can keep: Fairburn agates, the most prized agate in North America. Confirm the site's current rules and any day fee before you go.
  • Where: Buffalo Gap National Grassland, SD. Buffalo Gap National Grassland, surface collection of small amounts for personal use generally allowed; no digging, check current Forest Service rules.
  • Best practice: record anything notable, leave the ground as you found it, and check the latest access notices before you travel.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 43.400°, -103.300° (approx.) View on the Map