Shoshoni

Shoshoni is a small town in Fremont County, Wyoming, sitting in the sedimentary Wind River Basin — not, on its own, pegmatite country. Our database lists aquamarine, beryl, feldspar, and muscovite for this location, and that specimen list doesn't match Shoshoni's local geology at all. It does match, almost perfectly, a real and well-documented site about 19 miles north: the Copper Mountain Pegmatite District in the Owl Creek Mountains, a historic beryllium-tantalum-niobium pegmatite field mined from 1906 into the 1940s.[1][2] Shoshoni is the nearest town of any size to that district, which is likely why this database entry landed here — but it's honest to say up front that the town itself isn't the collecting site. Treat Shoshoni as a gateway, not a destination.

Shoshoni sits at the junction of US-20/26 and WY-789 in Fremont County. The Copper Mountain Pegmatite District is roughly 19 miles north, in the Owl Creek Mountains straddling the Fremont/Hot Springs county line.[1] No turn-by-turn directions to specific pegmatite outcrops were found — this is remote mountain country and a topo map or GPS is worth having.

UNVERIFIED. No source describes current surface accessibility, whether historic dumps are still pickable, or claim status at Copper Mountain today. There's renewed modern mining interest in the district's lithium potential, per a 2020s press release from a junior mining company — a sign the ground may carry active claims now, which would affect casual collecting.[3]

Land manager is UNVERIFIED both for Shoshoni itself and for the Copper Mountain district to the north. Given renewed commercial interest in the district's lithium minerals, don't assume old dumps are open ground — confirm current claim status before planning a trip. This is also remote, mountainous terrain; treat it as a backcountry excursion, not a roadside stop.