Rockhounding in Benton County, Missouri

Benton County

Lincoln sits at the heart of the mozarkite country in Benton County, the source of Missouri's official state rock, a multicolored gem chert that weathers out of the Mississippian Burlington and Warsaw limestones. Freshly broken cobbles show red, pink, purple, and green banding against gray, and the town hosts an annual mozarkite festival built around the material. It is one of the few places in the country where this specific gem chert occurs in collectible quantity.

Chalcedony, Chert, Mozarkite, Galena

Benton County

Warsaw anchors the southern end of the Benton County mozarkite belt and sits on the Harry S. Truman Reservoir, where falling lake levels expose chert and mozarkite cobbles along the shoreline. The same Burlington and Warsaw limestone weathering that supplies Lincoln also feeds gravels and lakeshores around Warsaw, yielding banded gem chert plus agate and ordinary chert. It is a second strong access point for the state rock, with miles of public shoreline to walk.

Agate, Chert, Mozarkite