OPAL

A rockhound from Riverton mentioned opal south of town. The Cedar Ridge deposit lies along the highway & is cut by numerous oil field roads, no one had recognized that this place had one of the largest opal deposits on earth! A few old geological reports from 50 years ago briefly mentioned opal, so I was surprised to find opal scattered over 14 mi2, opal masses >79,000 cts along the edge of the road & common, fire & precious opal with scattered Sweetwater agate & some of the nicest decorative stone on earth. All within Tertiary age volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks that had a notable contribution of volcanic ash erupted from Yellowstone in the geological past.

This gave me a clue - nearly all of Wyoming was blanketed by volcanic ash (as was Nebraska and South Dakota). Guess what? There are other opal fields waiting to be discovered. So I found millions of carats of common & fire opal & traces of precious opal (including black opal) that suggest as soon as someone digs, valuable veins of precious opal will be found as depth!
Photos show precious opal, Sweetwater agate, cobbles of opal in oil field adjacent to road. Below are fire and common opal