SWEETWATER AGATE Much of this information came from a native from Riverton, Wyoming, a fellow whose father worked and prospected in the Jeffrey City area decades ago. Back in the Cold War era, these fascinating dendritic agates were quite plentiful along the Sweetwater River and surrounding vicinity, and nearly all the locals had a bucket full of them. It was, and still is, a very desolate, dry and dusty setting, once heavily relied upon to provide uranium for the war effort. I'm told that the area is pockmarked with holes to this day, dug by folks either looking for the beautiful speckled agates, jade, petrified wood, or hoping to get rich by finding veins of uranium or oil. The early pioneers, on their way west via the Oregon and Mormon Trails, saw an area littered with countless agates and shards, and some picked up samples as momentos, where they may still reside in the collections of their descendents. Jeffrey City once thrived as a home for thousands when uranium was discovered nearby. It is nearly abandoned today, almost a ghost town, and the entire area where one might hope to search for these coveted agates is crisscrossed with barbed wire. As for the agates themselves, there's hardly a sign of them to be found nowadays, having been collected into scarcity. Interestingly, Sweetwater agates are among the very few agates known to fluoresce brilliant lime green in ultraviolet light. It is an amazing sight to see! Here are some examples of Sweetwater agate cabs, which I offer occasionally on the Designer Gems page:             I hope you enjoyed viewing these rare agates.