Outfitter guides adventurers in search of rare Montana Agates Moss

Fallon, Montana – Captain Eddie White can be seen searching for treasure on the banks of the Yellowstone River from the first thaw until the snow flies.

“I’ve been a rock hound all my life,” White said. “My grandpa was a big inspiration in my life and he was a rock hound and a fisherman, so that’s where it started.”

Montana Moss Agates are unique gemstones created by the volcanic activity of Yellowstone National Park.

“This is one of the only free-flowing rivers in the United States. So that in itself is pretty special,” White said. “But also this is the only place that the United States that you can find this specific kind of agate.”

White has created a distinctive company with a burgeoning clientele by assisting agate enthusiasts from throughout the nation in combing the Eastern Montana banks of the Yellowstone River for hidden riches.

“My business has been nuts. I’ve had people come from all over the country to go on agate hunts and it’s been awesome. I meet a lot of great people and it’s a lot of fun,” White said.

Two ardent rock hounds from Lewiston, Jarrod Reddish and Alicia Driemeyer, have accompanied White on three expeditions in search of routes to inaccessible stretches of the Yellowstone River.

“There are actually a lot more rock hounds out there than you’d expect, so a lot of places are picked over. If you can go out with Eddie as a guide for a trip, he’ll take you to the spots where you’re guaranteed to find quite a few,” Reddish said.

White suggests that when searching for agates, one should look for pebbles that resemble potatoes and that, when washed in water and exposed to the sun, enable light to show through. This yields agates for jewelry, trading, selling, and ornamentation.

“A lot of people put them in their gardens, they put them in their houses. I personally take them and I cut them and polish them as long as it’s a rock that is sought after.”

“We have buckets of them,” Driemeyer said. “We display them in our house. We’ve got a lot of the cool agates.”

For those who appreciate strolling down the river and have an eye for aesthetics, White offers frequent trips until the snow flies, at which point anyone can go rock hounding.
Here is where you can schedule a trip or learn more about his company: https://www.mtagateshack.com/