Quarry in serpentine/tremolite, located on Chestnut Hill, above the Delaware River, North of Easton. Owned by the C.K. Williams & Co., Easton, PA. Encompassing the original sites of the Sherrer, Verdolite, and minor workings of the Fox quarries, this site was greatly expanded in the mid 1920's, exploiting Serpentine for ornamental/building stone and Tremolite as mineral pulp additives in paint and paper products. By the mid 1930's, demand for building stone diminished, but the market for it's mineral-pulp carried the company until it's close of operation in the mid 1940's.
In the 1950's the property was put up for sale and purchased by famed Mineralogist Arthur Montgomery, at that time an acting professor at Lafayette College in Easton. He deeded the property to Lafayette in 1953, for the purpose of preserving this unique mineralogical site in perpetuity.
Note that most, if not all, 'eastonite' from this locality is in fact a mixture of phlogopite and serpentine. There are no modern analysis confirming the presence of eastonite in Easton. See Livi and Veblen (1987) “Eastonite” from Easton, Pennsylvania: A mixture of phlogopite and a new form of serpentine, American Mineralogist, 72, 113-125
References
Rocks & Minerals (1942): 17: 344.
Montgomery, Arthur (1957) Three occurrences of high-thorian uraninite near Easton, Pennsylvania, American Mineralogist, volume 42, p. 804-820.
Montgomery, Arthur (1969) The Mineralogy of Pennsylvania 1922-1966, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Special Publication No. 9.
Smith, II, R. C. (1977) Metanovacekite chapter in The Mineralogy of Pennsylvania, 1966-1975, Friends of Mineralogy Pennsylvania Chapter, Special Publication No. 1, p. 174-178.
MATRIX, sum. 200 pg. 95-102.
Mineral List
Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities
The above list contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to
visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders
for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.
This page is currently not sponsored. To sponsor this page click here.