Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Tussock moth caterpillar (Halysidota davisii) crawling on a rock face. 

Esoterizona Stones 46

Massive quartz bedding over quartzite, exposed in a pit mine operation.

The cut had exposed crystalline pockets within the quartz.

There were also a number of adits ...

... one of which led to a large stope that contained exploratory drill holes, side adits, fallen timbers, exposed crystalline faces, packrat nests, and a slickensided ceiling.

First side of a nicely terminated pair of quartz crystals.

Second side of the same pair.  Base= 1".

Double-terminated floater quartz crystal.  0.75"

Terminated floater quartz crystal. 1"

Cluster of terminated quartz crystals. Base=1.75"

Arizona Fall Colors

Tree leaves changing color in a canyon of the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona.

Mining History

I recently had the good fortune to acquire these beautiful pieces of mining history...

From left to right:

One foot section of ore cart rail and a rail spike from same track, AZ, ca. 1940

Koehler Miner's Safety Lamp, ca. 1919-1940

DuPont blasting cap tin

Trojan blasting cap tin

Mar-Delta Gold Mining Company stock certificate, AZ, 1919

Adamantine miner's candle, ca. 1880 - found in an abandoned mine

Tommy stick candle holder from the Comstock Lode, NV, ca. late 1800s

Justrite carbide lamp model 844 with original box

Painted Sherds

Fragments of red-painted pottery sherds, most likely Hohokam, roughly 1000 years old.

Franklin-Sterling Hill Collecting Trip 1

This past July I traveled from Arizona to New Jersey to visit the "Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World," the Franklin Mine in Franklin, New Jersey.  The Franklin mine was a zinc mine that also came to be known as the source for over 300 different mineral species, some of them found nowhere else on earth.  The mine was also discovered to host a generous number of fluorescent minerals, also more than any known location on earth.

The mines closed in the 1950s, and now remain as a museum and collecting area.

This is the Buckwheat Dump, the last remnants of the Franklin Mine still accessible to the general paying public.  For a small admission fee you can break rock and collect to your heart's content, and whatever you decide to drag out costs just $1.50 per pound.  Zinc ore is heavy though - this adds up fast.

A view of the flooded Buckwheat Pit from the road, off-limits on private property.

Beautiful displays of specimens (4000+!) and memorabilia inside the museum ...

... as well as a killer fluorescent mineral display.

Plus a lot of behind-the-scenes history.

Franklin-Sterling Hill Collecting Trip 2

The day after collecting at the Franklin Mine, I visited the Sterling Hill Mine, in Ogdensburg, New Jersey with the same purpose.  Although the Franklin Mine is the source of the rarest and most sought-after combinations of fluorescent minerals, Sterling Hill Mining Museum was the more popular tourist destination, with collecting areas as well as a tour through parts of the original mine and a warehouse-sized exhibit of minerals and mining history.

Overhead conveyor system coming out of the cliff over the museum visitor center.

Plus my little red rental car.

Old mine shaft in the collecting area, off-limits to collectors and curious alike.

Rusted old mine car with section of track.

I took this photo with my phone while collecting in the Passaic Pit that morning.  A lady walking by saw me breaking rock and wanted to know what we should be looking for, so I ducked into my dark spot with the lamp, then showed her the photo and wished her luck.

Between the two mines I collected and shipped home about 200lbs of rock.

Franklin-Sterling Hill Collecting Trip 3

The rocks.

This is what 200+ plus pounds of rock from New Jersey looks like.

Fluorescent calcite (red) and willemite (green).  Matching halves from a rock I split in the Buckwheat Dump, Franklin Mine.  Larger half is 4"x3"x2"

Same specimen, white light.

Calcite, willemite, and hardystonite, also from a split rock, Buckwheat Dump. 4.5"x3.5"x2"

Same specimen, white light.

Fluorescent sphalerite (orange) with minor eyes of calcite and an unknown fluorescent light blue - maybe cleiophane sphalerite?  This piece is kind of an oddball, as the sphalerite is brightest orange under short and mid wave UV, instead of long wave like usual.  Parts are phosphorescent after exposure to long wave as well.  This specimen is also one half of an near-mirror split with another piece - the geologist onsite noticed the sparkle of the sphalerite in my bucket and split it for me with a small chisel.  Buckwheat Dump, 5"x4"x2"

Same specimen, white light.

Fluorescent salmon calcite from the Passaic Pit, Sterling Hill Mine.  Only half of the specimen is pictured, full size piece is 6"x"5"x3"

Same specimen, white light.  You can see the salmon.

Fluorescent calcite and willemite, Passaic Pit. 6"x"3"x4"

Same specimen, white light.  The red is zincite, the black franklinite.

Calcite, willemite, and hydrozincite, Passaic Pit.  4.5"x3.5"x3.5"

Same specimen, white light.

Franklin-Sterling Hill Collecting Trip 4

The Tour.

The tour began at these large metal gates to the mine.  The pipe pictured lower left was a drainage pipe for the pumps keeping the mine from flooding.  When the mine was no longer profitable, the pumps were shut down and the lower levels flooded.

View down the adit behind the gates, complete with ore car and tracks.

This sign was posted at the inclined shaft for the mechanical hoist.  The hoist and its operators were responsible for ferrying miners down to their work stations, and hauling ore to the conveyors.  These bell signals were used to direct traffic.

A pair of toilets used down in the mines.  The story goes that whoever was late that day or otherwise on the boss' bad side was assigned toilet cleaning duty.  I don't think that the toilets were normally placed this close together.

A fluorescent room in the Sterling Hill Mine, showcasing boulders of the most common fluorescent minerals found here as well as their presence in the walls of the mine itself.

When the pumps keeping the mine dry were shut off, the water in the tunnels rose until it reached the natural water table.  Pictured here is an inclined shaft leading to deeper areas of the mine now filled with water.

Peering into a pocket where rusty chains descend into water.

These huge specimens were in the museum, the largest easily 4' tall.

This was posted outside the museum men's room.

An old mine hoist control unit.

A photograph of "the very last Sterling Hill miner," posted on the front of his old locker.

Sterling Hill closed in 1986.