An aid to labeling display quality barite specimens
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COLORADO
| Boulder Co., White Raven mine |  |
| Zoned cream colored tabular blades to 2 cm with siderite. | |
| Dolores Co., Rico Argentine mine, Aztec mine |  |
| Crystals up to 2.5 cm, thin white rosettes reported from Aztec mine. | |
| Eagle Co., Gilman, Eagle Mine |  |
| Bright, gemmy gold crystals to 0.9 cm in groups. Sometimes occur larger. | |
| El Paso Co., 21st Street, Colorado Springs |  |
| Small (1 cm) crystals, gold, like Elk Creek South Dakota in concretions with calcite. Also labeled from Academy Blvd. & B St. | |
| Jackson Co., Teller City |  |
| Grey to pale yellow very blocky crystals (to 4+cm) with paler centers. | |
| Lake Co., Black Cloud mine |    |
| Left to right: thick tabular blades to 1.5 cm, dark brown-gold, zoned around matrix material. 4x4 cm specimen, minor quartz crystals. The crystal on the toenail specimen (3.5 cm) is 2 cm. The specimen with the nearly complete crystal (Dave Bunk's) is a little under 2 cm. Also occurs as thin blue blades to 2 cm. | |
| Lake Co., Leadville, Sherman mine |  |
| Golden tabular crystal, 7 cm. Can reach 13 cm. | |
| Mesa Co., Book Cliffs |   |
| Very clear prismatic crystal, 3.5 cm, on matrix; 5x6 cm overall. Usually not this pristine. The crystal not on matrix is 4.5 cm. They occur larger, and similar crystals in concretions have been found in Otero Co. | |
Mesa Co., south of Gateway, Dolores River Canyon, Genevieve mine |
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Milky to clear crystals to 2.5 cm with small octahedral frosted white fluorites. This TN 2.4x2.75 cm. |
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| Mineral Co., Bulldog mine |  |
| Whitish, milky sometimes translucent tabular crystals to 13 cm. This Denver Museum of Nature and Science specimen is about 45 cm across. | |
| Mineral Co., Wagon Wheel Gap (CF&I mine) |   |
| Somewhat translucent semi-lustrous blocky crystals, 2 cm (sometimes larger), on frosted purple fluorite faces, all on clear fluorite. Also milky white blocky crystals to 3 cm in groups. | |
| Montrose Co. and perhaps nearby counties | |
| Septerian nodules of Mancos Shale very, very rarely have yellow barite crystals to 3 cm. | |
| Otero Co., near La Junta |   |
| Almost identical to Book Cliffs, in concretions with calcite, though even larger (to 15 cm) and can be very clear and good. Uncommon; almost all collected by Dan and Dee Kile. This stubby crystal 2.5x4.5 cm, Gene Tribbey's larger crystal 5 cm tall. | |
| Ouray Co., Black Girl mine |  |
| Opaque thin, stepped, white blades to 3.5 cm on drusy quartz. | |
| Ouray Co., Bankers & Exchange mine |  |
| Often given as Dexter Creek but actually Cutler Creek. Mine is linked to the Bona Hensel mine. White blades 2.5 cm (up to 6 cm) covered with sparkling quartz druse. | |
| Ouray Co., Camp Bird mine |  |
| Uncommon; white, sometimes bluish tabular crystals to over 3 cm. These 1.8 cm crystals on thumbnail with sphalerite and quartz. | |
| Ouray Co., Guston mine |  |
| Milky white tabular crystal fragment, 4x5 cm. Large for locality, from dump. Collected by Gene Tribbey. Quite ugly but quite rare from Guston. | |
| Ouray Co., Mother Cline mine | |
| White blades with quartz, to 3 cm. | |
| Ouray Co., National Belle mine |    |
| Usually aesthetically challenged white crystals to 5 cm. From left: this first group is 3.5 cm; the second has most of a 4 cm crystal with a white rim; the last showing modified termination is 5 cm wide. All self-collected, thus allowing for an exception to the "attractive" specimen criteria. | |
| Ouray Co., Ouray (almost in city) |  |
| White blades to 2 cm with tiny sparkling quartz crystals. Most local barite has been replaced by quartz. This from a Benjy Kuehling find. | |
| Ouray Co., Senorita mine |  |
| Delicate white blades to 1.9 cm on tiny quartz crystals in groups. | |
| Park Co., Hartsel |   |
| Glossy, translucent, tabular blades to 3 cm (occurs to 12 cm); blue/white, some dark yellow zones. 10x7 cm. Also stalactitic growths of smaller crystals. Common, but good specimens scarce. | |
| Park Co., Crystal Peak area |  |
| Very near Lake George Ray Berry found several small barites in 1979; small tabular blades, one to 2.5 cm (this 1 cm), brownish-white, with small scalenohedrons of calcite, some goethite. In 1972, Clarence Coil told Joel Arem he found colorless barite in a pocket with barylite (MR III-3). | |
| Pitkin Co., Aspen district | |
| White blades to 2.5 cm with sulfides (CSM display); reportedly yellow crystals from Smuggler mine. | |
| Rio Grande Co., Muddy Creek |    |
| Clear, white or gray fairly thin tabular crystals. This clear/grey crystal with zoning is 4 cm. The white ones are 3 cm each; specimen itself is 6.5 cm wide. The piece with clearer crystals with modified faces (self collected) is 3x3 cm. | |
| San Juan Co., Hurricane Pass |  |
| Nondescript white blades to 1 cm encrusted with quartz druse in groups. | |
| Weld Co., Stoneham (some evidently nearer Raymer, or in Logan Co.) |   |
| These fairly gemmy blue crystals are 7 cm tall (they occur evern larger), and as is common, with small light yellow calcite crystals. The small very clear crystal about 3.5 cm tall. |
BARITE SPECIMEN LOCALITIES
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