Latitude: 41°33'28"N
Longitude: 72°36'12"W
A small quarry in pegmatite cut into the northwest end of the so-called Eastern Dike of the White Rock District, just above a steep bluff on the south side of River Road. It is just east of the entrance to the Kleen Energy power plant, the lowermost dump was exposed during the blasting used to create this entrance and it can be seen in the trees above the rock face. The oft-reproduced map of the Middletown Pegmatite District in Cameron et al (1954) shows it in the wrong location, and Stugard (1958) names it as the "Western Quarry".
It was described by Bastin (1910) as "A small quarry...operated in 1907 by L. T. Snow, of New Haven, but work was suspended in 1908. The quarry consists of a single open pit on a northwest hill slope....Some masses of pure feldspar are 2 to 3 feet across...Both biotite [annite] and black tourmaline are present but are not abundant."
Watts (1916) stated: "The east dike is a widely varying mixture of potash feldspar pegmatite and soda feldspar pegmatite. It is much smaller in extent than the west dike and shows a structure similar to the gem bearing dikes of Maine. Much cleavelandite is scattered through this dike, and black, pink, and green tourmaline are noted, although the tourmalines are all opaque and not of the gem quality."
It may have been worked by the Consolidated Feldspar Company, which worked the White Rocks Quarry at the summit of the hill on the same pegmatite dike until around 1927 and both quarries revealed similar mineralogy and internal zoning. Collectors frequented the quarry for decades and often referred to it as the "lower White Rocks quarry" or the "quarry behind the trailers" for the mobile homes that were parked near it for a while. The quarry and dumps still exist but are inaccessible on the Kleen Energy property.
References
- Bastin, Edson S. (1910): Economic Geology of the Feldspar Deposits of the United States. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 420.
- Watts, A. S. (1916): The Feldspars of the New England and North Appalachian States. U. S. Bureau of Mines Bull. 92.
- Foye, W. G. (1922): Mineral Localities in the Vicinity of Middletown, Connecticut. American Mineralogist, v. 7.
- Rice, W. N. and Foye, W. G. (1927): Guide to the Geology of Middletown, Connecticut and Vicinity. Connecticut Geol. & Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. No. 41.
- Cameron, E. N., D. M. Larrabee, A. N. McNair, J. J. Page, G. W. Stewart, and V. E. Shainin (1954): Pegmatite investigations, 1942-45, in New England. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 255.
- Schooner, R. (1958): The mineralogy of the Portland-East Hampton-Middletown-Haddam area in Connecticut (with a few notes on Glastonbury and Marlborough). East Hampton and Branford, Conn.: Richard Schooner, Ralph Lieser, and Howard Pate.
- Stugard, Frederick. (1958): Pegmatites of the Middletown Area, Connecticut. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1042-Q, U. S. Government Printing Office.
- Altamura, Robert J. (1987): Bedrock Mines and Quarries of Connecticut. Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey Natural Resources Atlas Series Map, 1:125,000 scale, with 41-p. booklet.
- Ryerson, Kathleen H. (1972): Rock Hound’s Guide to Connecticut. Pequot Handbook 3. Stonington: The Pequot Press.
External Links
Cameron, et al (1954):
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp255Mineral List
26 entries listed. 18 valid minerals.
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