Strickland Quarry, Collins Hill, Portland, Middlesex Co., Connecticut, USA

Granite pegmatite feldspar and mica quarry located on the West side of Collins Hill, 2½ miles (4 km) NE of Portland. Minerals from host rocks included in list. Mining began in the 1840s (Pawloski 2006). Operated by Deacon Ralph Pelton beginning in 1877 (Federal Writer's Project, 1938). Operated by F.E. Strickland beginning in 1904. Produced 2,000 to 5,000 long tons of feldspar per year and 200 to 400 tons of mica since 1927. Workings include an open cut 300 feet long by 200 feet wide and 140 feet deep. The quarry was closed when the ground water level was encountered. The quarry was filled in in recent years and is now under a golf course.

References:
Shannon, Earl V. (1920): Stickland's Quarry, Portland Connecticut (American Mineralogist 5:51-54)

Foye, W. G. (1922): Mineral Localities in the Vicinity of Middletown, Connecticut. (American Mineralogist 7:4-12)

Schairer, J. F. (1926): Lithiophilite and Other Rare Phosphates from Portland, Connecticut (American Mineralogist 11:101-104)

Zodac, Peter. (1937): Minerals of the Strickland Quarry (Rocks & Minerals: 12:131-141.)

Federal Writer's Project (1938). Connecticut: A Guide to Its Roads, Lore, and People, p. 402.

Palache, C., Berman, H., & Frondel, C. (1951), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, Volume II: 851.

Brookins, D.G., Fairbairn, H.W., Hurley, P.M., and Pinson, W.H. (1969): A Rb-Sr Geochronologic Study of the Pegmatites of the Middletown Area, Connecticut). Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 22, 157-168.

Januzzi (1976), Mineral Localities of Connecticut and Southeastern New York State (Taylor Assoc./Mineralogical Press).

Rocks & Minerals: 64: 471.

Rocks & Minerals: 70: 379.

Henderson, William A. (1995). Microminerals of Connecticut (Rocks & Minerals 70:420-425).

Pawloski, John A. (2006). Connecticut Mining (Mt. Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing) pp. 50-51; 61.

Rocks & Minerals (1955) 30:351-358