Historic Quartzite Quarry

There is a historic quartzite quarry located in Blue Mounds State Park near Luverne, Minnesota that is easy to visit. Blue Mounds State Park contains a Sioux Quartzite cliff that is over a mile long. The cliff is nearly 100 feet high in places. The Sioux Quartzite has a pink to purple color due to the presence of iron oxide in the rock. In the late 1800s the quartzite was quarried from the cliff to be used as a building material by the Luverne Granite Company. Many local buildings such as the Rock County Courthouse were constructed using the stone.

The historic quartzite quarry is easy to access via a short walk from a parking lot in the southeast corner of Blue Mounds State Park. The parking lot is located 1.3 mile east of U.S. Highway 75 on the north side of County Highway 8.  This lot is often used by rock climbers. There is a trail that heads north to the base of the quarry. It is a 0.2-mile walk to view the Sioux Quartzite walls. The quarry can also be viewed from above via a half mile hike on the Upper Cliffline Trail.