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.
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