Latitude: 41°33'32"N
Longitude: 72°36'42"W
Mineralization occurring along the Eastern Border Fault of the Hartford Basin of the Newark Supergroup and exposed along Butler's Creek. The veins occur in heavily sheared Collins Hill schist and dip westward at about 35 to 45 degrees.
According to Field (1853) and Harte (1945) - Somewhat prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War “foreigners” opened and operated a lead mine on the east bank of the Connecticut River and in the Town of Middletown, expending, so it is said, much money in connection with it. It is not clear whether the British Colonel James, who was in possession of the mine when war was declared, and who had a large quantity of ore ready to send abroad, was, or was not, one of the “foreigners,” but be that as it may, Connecticut at once seized the mine and ore.
The vein ran northerly towards the river, was followed thirty or forty rods, and in some places was very rich. But the vein being enclosed in granitic rock it was very difficult to get the ore, and as it approached the river it sunk abruptly into the earth.
In May of 1775 a committee of three, including Hosmer, was appointed: “to work the ore at the lead mine at Middletown, and the sum of 500 appropriated for that purpose."
The mine and furnace remained in the hands of the State Committee for the next three years…It was some time in 1776 when it was reported there were 5,140 pounds of lead “in the care of the committee appointed to improve the furnace at Middletown.” In 1778, however, the Committee informed the Assembly “that the manufacture of said ore was unprofitable to the State,” and they were advised to discontinue any further smelting of lead at the mine as soon as they finished with the ore on hand.
"The deposits near Middletown, Conn. were reopened in 1852 by the Middletown Silver and Lead Mining Company, but the enterprise was soon abandoned, the results being far from satisfactory." (Pulsifer, 1888)
Mineral List
22 entries listed. 20 valid minerals.
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References
- Polehampton, Edward T. W. (1815): The Gallery of Nature and Art, Vol. II (London: R. Wilks), p. 314.
- Field, David D. (1819): A Statistical Account of the County of Middlesex, Connecticut, p.37.
- Robinson, Samuel. (1825): A Catalogue of American Minerals, With Their Localities; Including All Which Are Known to Exist in the United States and British Provinces, And Having the Towns, Counties, and Districts in Each State and Province Arranged Alphabetically. With an Appendix, Containing Additional Localities and a Tabular View. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co., Boston.
- Shepard, Charles Upham. (1837): Report on the Geological Survey of Connecticut.
- Field, David. (1853): The Middletown Lead Mine. Middletown First Society, Middletown, Conn.
- Whitney, Josiah D. (1854): The Metallic Wealth of the United States (Lippincott, Grambo & Co.)
- Pulsifer, William H. (1888): Notes for a History of Lead (NY, Van Rostrand), p. 78.
- Rocks & Min.: 16:279.
- Sanford, Samuel and R. W. Stone. (1914): Useful Minerals of the United States. United States Geological Survey Bulletin 585.
- Foye, W. G., (1922): Mineral Localities in the Vicinity of Middletown, Connecticut. American Mineralogist, Volume 7, pages 4-12.
- Schairer, John F. (1931): Minerals of Connecticut. State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut Bulletin 51.
- Harte, Charles Rufus. (1945): Connecticut's Minor Metals and Her Minerals. Proceedings of the Connecticut Society of Civil. Engineers, 61st Annual Report.
- Sohon, Julian A. (1951): Connecticut Minerals. State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut Bulletin 77.
- Schooner, Richard. (1958): The Mineralogy of the Portland-East Hampton-Middletown-Haddam Area in Connecticut (With a few notes on Glastonbury and Marlborough).
- Jones, Robert W. Jr., (1960): Luminescent Minerals of Connecticut, A Guide to Their Properties and Locations. Fluorescent House. Branford, Connecticut
- Schooner, Richard. (1961): The Mineralogy of Connecticut.
- Weber, Marcelle H. and Earle C. Sullivan. (November/December 1995): Connecticut Mineral Locality Index. Rocks & Minerals (Connecticut Issue), Volume 70, No. 6, p. 403.
- Hiller, John, Jr. (1971): Connecticut Mines and Minerals. Privately published.
- Ryerson, Kathleen H. (1976): Rock Hound’s Guide to Connecticut.
- Januzzi, Ronald. (1976): Mineral Localities of CT and Southeastern NY State.
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