Mason Mountain Mine and Cowee Gift Shop, Franklin

I found more cuttable sapphire and ruby at this mine than any other in the Cowee Valley. You can fill your bucket with dirt as many times as you wish and every time you will find a satisfying amount of gem material. The attendant, Brian was most helpful. Folks young and seasoned, experienced or newbie will find this to be a well rounded experience.

My family and I went there today and had a great time! Brian the worker that watched over the flume helped us identify rocks, explained things to us, and told us stories. He made the place very friendly and made the whole experience a success. The gems and dirt are all native and we actually got a fresh load delivered while we were there. I have an 8month old and she went with us and they were all very welcoming and great to her as well. My husband, mom, dad and myself all agreed that this was the best gem mine we have been too and we have been to a lot. It was such a great experience and we will definitely go back.

I found Mason Mountain Mine online and chose it from all others based on good reviews and experiences of others. Gem mining has been something my husband had wanted to do for years and we were thrilled with our experience. It was so much fun sifting and looking for precious stones. We found more than I expected and I decided to have 2 stones cut, an aquamarine and a garnet. I was nervously waiting to see what they would look like, when they promptly arrived as promised I was stunned at how beautiful and exquisite they both were. I took them to my jeweler at home and she was in awe, at the fact that we found it and in the beautiful job done. I have yet to put it in a setting, I hope to soon. It was a wonderful experience and I cant wait to go back.

My wife and I go to visit Franklin, NC at least once a year and never miss the chance to go to the Mason Mountain Mine and Cowee Gift Shop. Tom, Ginger, Brown, Martha and all the rest make you feel very welcome and take care of your every need while you are there. If you are not sure of the rock or stone you have, just ask James and he will give you the straight information on your find. I personally found a "star ruby" that weighed about 500 hundred carats and really felt great about it and of course my wife was not to be outdone and found a monster ruby weighing in at 1275 carats. I had a ring made by Tom Johnson (one of the main owners) for my wife a couple of years ago from a North Carolina ruby and he faceted it perfect and the ring was appraised at five (5) times more than it cost to have the ring made. All the folks at the mine are great and honest to deal with at all times. If you don't find much in your bucket you purchase, it is because you don't really know what to look for and the best thing to do is ask James and he will give you an honest answer. My wife and I feel if you don't have fun at this mine, you won't have fun at any mine. Just go and have fun. You won't regret it.

We enjoyed our experience at Mason Mountain Gem Mine - especially talking with James. Be sure to find time to talk about him - very interesting guy! We purchased one bucket for five people and each of us had plenty of variety and quantity of gems. Our girls especially enjoyed the 'treasure' aspect. We each left with a gem that we chose to have cut - both to size and shape preference. We're looking forward to receiving our pieces. I highly recommend the experience.

We did not find anything to dislike about the experience at this establishment. What is offered online as to what you will find does not do it justice. When they tell you to keep all the rocks bigger than a pea - listen to them. The owners are fair and honest as to the value of any stone you ask about. We did both types of mining there. Both digging in the raw dirt pile and mining the pre-filled buckets for four days. We brought home about three five gallon buckets of gems. I have not weighed how many thousands of carats of raw rubies, garnets and sapphires we returned with. All rubies and sapphires come straight out of the mine on their mountain. One of the cuttable rubies I found digging in the raw dirt was over 300 carats. We found a few watermelon rubies. Other gems you will may in the filled buckets are emeralds, topaz, jasper of all colors, crystals, a little quartz, aquamarine, amethyst, citrine, agates, amazonite, tiger eye, aventurine, calcite, carnelion, chalcedony, pyrite, chrysocolla, chrysoprase, flourite, hematite, rutilite, lepiodlite, mica, moonstone, obsidian, rhodolite, rose quartz, rutile, sodalite, smoky quartz, snowflake obsidian, tourmaline- all colors, zoisite. In our buckets we found nearly all of the listed stones. Large quantities of topaz and emeralds. Our largest topaz weighed in at 326 carats. We also came home with a 1000+ carat garnet. I have not found as great a deal anywhere I have gone mining. If you go anywhere to search for gems, this is the place!

mason mountain mines was a great expierence and all of the fun we expected thanks james mack and sherry pitts pittsburg pa.

I could not find anything to ever dislike about this Mine. Tom & Ginger are exceptional people and can't help you enough. The whole family is great. Hope to see you in the spring!!! Luanne & Rick

I was disappointed at what we found in our bucket. Not alot of good stones were found to be cut. Maybe we just got a bad bucket. I do remember we had two stones cut and I thought the cutting charges were high compared to another gem mine we found in the near by area. Will we go back? Maybe, but most likely not

We loved this place. Stayed an extra day in area to mine here. James was wonderful. Did a salted bucket first then switched to the native. It was such a blast. I was so excited when I found a ruby of a life time. Found lots of others, but boy was this a great find. The shop was very helpful in making decisions on what to have cut and what not to have cut. A great selection of settings. Can't wait to see everything once it is all done. Glad we stayed the extra day, was a great time. I would recommend this place over all the other mines that we went to. Plan on going back as soon as possible...........might have to move there!