Dry Creek Turquoise
not Sacred Buffalo Turquoise

Dry Creek Turquoise comes from the Godber Turquoise / Burnham Turquoise mine outside of Austin, Nevada in Lander County. This mine was previously known for its sky blue to medium blue webbed turquoise. The Godber Turquoise / Burnham Turquoise mine has a long history of producing wonderful turquoise and has gone through several mine owners and name changes. The Dry Creek Turquoise mine originally had the mine names of "Homesite", "Last Chance", and many other names. It is most famously called the Godber Turquoise / Burnham Turquoise mine. Another type of Turquoise from this particular mine is called "Dry Creek Turquoise" and has become almost as synonimous with the mine as the Godber and Burnham Turquoise names.

The pale blue Dry Creek Turquoise was first re-discovered (with interest) in the Dry Creek Turquoise Mine also known as the Godber or Burnham Turquoise mine near Austin, Nevada in 1993. When the material was first found there was a white material and a pale blue material, they weren't actually sure what it was. It was further explored in 1999 by the current owners, Bruce and Jeri Woods. They had both materials lab tested and after they were assayed and their suspicions were confirmed: the pale blue material was, in fact, Turquoise and this Dry Creek Turquoise was harder than they expected.. This is not to be confused with the White material they found that turned out to be Aluminite. It took a while to get the now famous Dry Creek Turquoise made into jewelry as the traditional jewelers did not favor its pale color, however once it took off it became popular fast.

Dry Creek 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. Dry Creek 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 Dry Creek Tuquoise is as rare as the sacred buffalo, and has been commonly confused with the Turquoise from the Sacred Buffalo Turquoise Deposit and therefor the Indians, jewelers and gallery owners often call it "Sacred Buffalo" Turquoise. Dry Creek Turquoise is not Sacred Buffalo Turquoise and has not ever been marketed by the mine owners as Sacred Buffalo Turquoise.

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. The extreme rareity of Turquoise makes rare colors such as Dry Creek Turquoise that much more rare.

Examples of Dry Creek Turquoise not Sacred Buffalo Turquoise

Nevada Turquoise Mines

More Dry Creek Turquoise or Sacred Buffalo Turquoise Info

Buy Dry Creek Turquoise Jewelry | More History available at the official website of the mine.

Sacred Buffalo Turquoise

The Dry Creek Turquoise Mine does not produce the Sacred Buffalo Turquoise or White Buffalo Turquoise. It is common for people that do not know much about Turquoise to called Dry Creek Turquoise by the Sacred Buffalo Turquoise Name. The Godber Turquoise or Burnham Turquoise mine only produces Dry Creek and Godber Turquoise or Burnham Turquoise. Now that doesn't mean that someone didn't buy some Sacred Buffalo Turquoise years ago and then call it Dry Creek Turquoise when re-selling it. Someone may have also bought some Dry Creek Turquoise and re-sold it as Sacred Buffalo Turquoise. As far as the Dry Creek Turquoise mine owners know, the Sacred Buffalo Turquoise came from the Valley Blue Turquoise Mine owned by Stan Maestretti. The Sacred Buffalo Turquoise was tested and proven and proven to be actual Turquoise. The Valley Blue Mine where Sacred Buffalo comes from is on the opposite side of the mountain from the Dry Creek or Burnham Turquoise or Godber Turquoise mine towards Battle Mountain, Nevada. The Godber or Burnham Turquoise Mine is towards Eureka. There has been some very light Turquoise found, but it has a tint of blue or aqua blue color to it. The so called "White Turquoise" we found was tested and it was found to be Aluminite. The mine owners have never sold any Valley Blue "Sacred Buffalo Turquoise". Hopefully this clears up some of the missunderstands about Sacred Buffalo Turquoise.

Thank you for reading about Dry Creek Turquoise and Sacred Buffalo Turquoise and we hope that you have learned something about Dry Creek Turquoise.