Chapter One Federal Government - Minnesota State Legislature

Kent Kaiser photograph
State Gemstone
Legacy Chapter Seven
The Lake Superior agate was named the official state gemstone in 1969. It is an unusually
beautiful quartz stone banded with rich red and orange colors derived from iron ore in the soil.
Most agates are about the size of a pea, but some are as big as bowling balls and weigh over 20
pounds. Small agates often are polished to make jewelry; larger “lakers” of up to a pound often are
cut into thin slabs to display the colored bands inside. Lake Superior agates, having been dispersed
by glaciers in the last Ice Age, are found in northeastern and north central Minnesota. The
specimens seen here, in the foreground, were photographed on one of Lake Superior’s many
gravelly north shore beaches, near Castle Danger.
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