Dust Devil Mining sells you

Nick Johnson, the new owner of Dust Devil Mining, a you-dig operation in Oregon's Lake County, experienced a eureka moment on his eighth trip to dig in the dirt in the high desert with his wife, Samantha, and their seven kids.

"You feel free there, under the stars," said Johnson, who lives in Cottage Grove, a five-hour drive from Dust Devil Mining, which is outside of Plush, population 95. "Owning the mine is going to be wild but fun."

Johnson, 43, took his family of rockhounds last spring to the Sunstone Gem Collection Area, one of the free spots for hobby lapidaries offered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

"We did fairly well dirt surfing," he said.

People who mine at the free collection area near Plush use their hands or a lawn rake to gently scrape the sparkly surface, hoping to flip up a large, colorful sunstone, Oregon's official gemstone. Most of the sunstones are small and clear.

Oregon sunstones that seem transparent, however, can reveal flashes of pink to red, a metallic shimmer or "schiller," when viewed from different directions.

On their way home, the Johnson family stopped at Dust Devil Mining, which is across Road 6115 from the free dig site, "to see if we could get a sizable stone to take home," said Johnson.

Johnson, who is the national sales and brand manager for ES&A Sign and Awning Co. in Eugene, remembered the thrill of finding a gold nugget when he was younger.

At the Dust Devil Mining's store, the Johnsons purchased a pair of sunstone earrings for $50.

More of a treasure: The family fell in love with the peaceful, wide-open space that helped, Nick Johnson said, connect his newly blended family. The parents and their children, ages 10 to 19, returned two weeks later in their Toyota Highlander and six more times last year.

"We saw the Milky Way, from horizon to horizon, and nearly as wide as the entire sky," said Johnson. "On a clear night, you can see stars 360 degrees."

His wife told him he should buy the mine. The founders of the 30-year-old company had put their property — the Dust Devil Mining name, mining claims, equipment and 106 acres — up for sale at $1.6 million.

Nick and Samantha Johnson formed Johnson Family Futures LLC and made an offer that was accepted. They closed the deal in January 2023.

Listing agent Eric Squires of All Professionals Real Estate, who represented the buyers and sellers, would not reveal the sale price or other details.

The public side of the mining company, where rockhounds pick at the ground, hoping to find a valuable bicolor sunstone, will take place on the same vast land as commercial mining.

Hobby lapidaries and gem collectors can find sunstones at Dust Devil Mining three ways:

Johnson has set March 15 as Dust Devil Mining's opening day for 2023. The public mine area will be open daily, from sunup to sundown, through Nov. 15, "weather permitting," said Johnson. He suggests people contact him at 813-690-7973 or [email protected] before they head to the remote spot, about 350 miles southeast of Portland.

A sedan would be a slow ride over washboarded roads, he said. Drivers of mini vans, SUVs and pickup trucks have no trouble if they proceed cautiously, he added.

Have an extra tire in case of a blowout, bring warm clothing and print out directions.

The GPS coordinates are 42.714681, -119.865877, but Google Map will send drivers a few miles away from the mine. "Cellphone maps won't help because cell service is terrible out here," Johnson said, then joking, "Uber Eats and DoorDash do not deliver."

There is RV and trailer parking, and Johnson said if more space is needed, he will "take the loader out and create it."

More advice from dustdevilmining.com: If your car breaks down, stay there until help arrives. If you choose to walk for help (not advised), do not try to cut across country. Stay on the road. On any road except Nasty Flat Road, someone will be along within a few hours.

Martin and Tanya Barker of Bend went hunting for sunstones at Dust Devil Mining with their small daughter, Ella, in 2015. Tanya found a 52-carat strawberry-colored gem.Tanya Barker

Oregon sunstone's feldspar crystals are found in soil and prehistoric lava flows in Lake and Harney counties.

Genuine Oregon sunstones, unlike sunstones from Africa that are colored by iron oxide, can be as wide as three inches and, depending on the amount of copper, be pale yellow, soft pink, blood red, or deep blue and green, according to the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.

Their composition, clarity and range of colors make Oregon sunstones uncommon, say gem experts.

The Northern Paiute and Modoc tribes were the first to trade sunstones and in the early 1900s, Tiffany & Co. in New York City marketed them as "plush diamonds."

The Oregon sunstone was named the state's official gemstone in 1987.

More than a decade ago, Fred Meyer Jewelers sold Oregon sunstones, but to fill the jewelry cases in their many stores, they needed thousands of lookalike gems, and that, said Grants Pass jeweler Steven Douglas of the online The Sunstone Store, is "the antithesis of an Oregon sunstone."

In 1992, the founders of Dust Devil Mine, Terry and Jude Clark and Don and Patsy Buford, all rockhounds and lapidaries, staked claim of abandoned sunstone mines around Plush.

Four years later, they were selling the Oregon sunstones they unearthed at the prestigious Tucson Gem and Jewelry Show. The mine's sunstone won first place that year in the carving division at the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) Cutting Edge Competition.

The cover photo of the 2023 Tucson gem show magazine is an orange-red Oregon sunstone.

"It's one of the biggest gem shows in the world and some of the finest gem carvers prefer sunstones because of the stones’ complexity, color and the schiller aspect," Johnson said. "It's a fun stone to cut."

More on sunstones: Finding Oregon's official gem, the sunstone, for free or low cost can be done, but it's not easy

— Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

[email protected] | @janeteastman

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