Eyes on Enterprise: Utica shop adds sluice box for mining

Activity will be up and running Memorial Day weekend

The Rock and Soul will have its sluice box for gemstone mining up and running this Memorial Day weekend.

The Rock and Soul will have its sluice box for gemstone mining up and running this Memorial Day weekend.

Four sizes of paydirt bags will be available.

“We give them a little sluice box — a little screening box — and they go to the sluice box and they rinse it in the water, and they get gems and minerals,” said owner Christy Donahue.

Owning a rock shop, it was an activity Donahue wanted to add to her store.

“When my son was younger we went on vacation to North Carolina and we spent five hours doing it,” she said. “It was so much fun.”

Donahue said gemstone mining gets interest from all ages, adding there’s a 10-foot section for adults.

The Rock and Soul, 229 S. Clark St., Utica, also sells gemstones, minerals, meditation supplies and other items, according to its Facebook page.