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Dry Creek or Sacred Buffalo Turquoise
Dry Creek Turquoise comes from the Godber/Burnham mine outside of Battle Mountain Nevada. This mine was previously known for its sky blue to medium blue webbed turquoise. The Godber/Burnham mine has a long history of producing wonderful turquoise and has gone through several mine owners and name changes. This mine originally had the mine names of "Homesite", "Last Chance", and many other names. It is most famously called the Godber/Burnham Turquoise mine.
When Sacred Buffalo turquoise was first discovered in the Dry Creek Mine on the Shoshone Indian Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada in 1993, the miners, Bruce and Jeri Woods, weren't actually sure what it was. This Turquoise was harder than they expected. After it was assayed, their suspicions were confirmed: it was, in fact, Turquoise. It took a while to get the now famous Sacred Buffalo Turquoise or Dry Creek turquoise made into jewelry as the traditional jewelers did not favor its pale color.
Sacred Buffalo turquoise is not treated or color enhanced and is revered for its light whitish - blue Turquoise color. Most Turquoise this light of a blue is chaulk and is too soft to cut. That is one of the main reasons that Dry Creek Turquoise is soo valuable. It seems these days that wilder the color of Turquoise the more popular it is.
Turquoise gets its color from the heavy metals in the ground where it forms. The Blue Turquoise forms when there is a higher concentration of copper than Aluminum present, which is the case with most Arizona turquoises. Green turquoise forms where there is a higher concentration of Aluminum and in some cases Iron present, this is the case with most Nevada Turquoise. Sacred Buffalo turquoise forms where there are few heavy metals present, which is a rare occurance and the reason for the light whitish blue color. To date, no other vein of this turquoise has been discovered anywhere else and when this current vein runs out, that will be the last of it. Because this tuquoise is as rare as the sacred buffalo, the Indians call it "Sacred Buffalo" Turquoise.
The Shoshone Indians are not known for jewelry work and, as a consequence, the Shoshones sell or trade the Sacred Buffalo or Dry Creek Turquoise to the Navajos, and Anglo Jewelers in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, who then work it into jewelry.
Turquoise is the rare and improbable product of an incalculable number of chemical and physical processes that must take place in the right combination and proper environment over a time span of hundreds of thousands if not millions of years.
Nevada Turquoise Mines
Buy Dry Creek OR Sacred Buffalo Turquoise Jewelry | More History available at the official website of the mine.
