Chattahoochee River Gems

You may remember seeing 

these round stone orbs in my photos

in a few of my posts.

I bought them several years ago

from a man at a flea market who had dug them

out of the Chattahoochee River banks in Georgia.

(I found the information card

that he gave me when I purchased them.)

Here is what it basically said:

 These river balls were part of a water

filtration system for the Atlanta Water Works 

in the late 1800's. They were a base layer

for an primitive filtering system used to
remove mud and silt
 from the Chattahoochee River water.


The filter consisted of layers of round balls,
to include these 3 inch white marble balls,
along with gravel, charcoal and sand to remove
the silt from the river water for drinking purposes.
Bottle and relic collectors unearthed these 
in recent years during one of their "digs".


Water filtration systems like this were used
for years on rivers until more advanced methods
of filtration were invented.

I bought fifteen of them at the time
and wished I had bought more!


A year later I saw him again at the same 
 Chicago flea market and he said the river bed had
been depleted and all balls removed.
No more to be had at the
Chattahoochee River.
:(

Once again I learn.... buy things when you see them or they will be gone!

Here they are mixed with some old croquet balls.

However.....
last month, while I was at the Junk Bonanza
in Minneapolis, we ran across these much
smaller ones! Not sure where they came from,
but they are about 1" to 1.5" in diameter.

The new smaller marble-sized versions I found.

Love the stains, I mean the colors, 
and the history behind them.
They look great in a bowl
and they don't spoil or rot like fruit!


Do you have any of these from
the rivers in your area?