Rock Picks Review - The Bug House

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The Bug House

We visited The Bug House located in Delta, Utah in May of 2008 during a trip to Topaz Mountain.

How To Get There

 

   The Bug House is a wholesale fossil and lapidary shop located in Delta, Utah approximately 30 miles west of Interstate 15 in an area where one might not expect to see a rock shop.  It is actually built next to owner and operators Loy and Althea Crapo's home.

The building is rather unassuming from the outside but quite a different story inside and out back.  The building also serves as an office for the family's U-Dig Fossils trilobite quarry which run by their son Shayne Crapo.  The family also owns the Dugway geode bed claim and a Septarian nodule claim in Orderville, Utah. 

                       

The Bug House
P.O. Box 1113
350 East 300 South
Delta, Utah 84624
(801) 864-2402
                                                                                  FAX (435) 864-4294                                                                                         Website http://www.thebughouse.net   
E-mail info@thebughouse.net 

Our Rock Picks Report

   We stopped by The Bug House on our way back through Delta on the way back home near the end of our visit to the area.  We were greeted inside by owner Loy Crapo.  He showed us around the shop sales floor, work area and rough rock storage area out behind the shop.   The sales area displays contain a varied assortment of fossils, Dugway Geodes, Septarian Nodules, Sandstone bookends, carved stone figures and a wide range of mineral specimens. 

  We didn't have a lot of time to spend at the Bug House but we did managed to chat with Loy for a bit before hitting the road for home.  He told us that the Bug House was started in 1969 by Lloyd Crapo and at that time, the business was partnered with Bob Harris who owns and runs West Desert Collectors, another rock shop on Main St. also in Delta.  The partnership was dissolved in 1980 and the partners

                   Loy Crapo of The Bug House

each went their own separate ways.  Mr. Harris also owns a trilobite and fossil claim nearby the U-Dig Fossils claim.  After a little bit of history on the business, we discussed the effects of the rising fuel prices on business.  The Bug House mines a good deal of its own rough materials and it has definitely affected the business in that it has become much less cost effective, for example, to dig deeper for the higher quality Septarian Nodules and instead to opt for the slightly lesser quality shallow nodules to keep the prices affordable for collectors. 

  The visit was quite an enjoyable one and we did purchase a few goodies such as a few pyritized ammonites and a really nice Selenite Rose Cluster.  I just wish I had available the time to dig thru the many piles of Septarian Nodules.  Maybe next trip!

Well Done Bug House!

Additional Photos

 

This site was last updated 06/15/08