FluorapatiteStrickland Quarry, Strickland pegmatite, Collins Hill, Portland, Middlesex Co., Connecticut, USA
Latitude: 41°35'32"N
Longitude: 72°35'30"W
Granite pegmatite feldspar and mica quarry located on the west side and near the summit of Collins Hill, 2½ miles (4 km) NE of Portland. It operated in the Strickland pegmatite along with the separate, underground Schoonmaker or Cramer Mine to the immediate north, though the two were not connected until perhaps the last few years of operations. All the dumps formerly around the quarry except the largest, northernmost one belonged to the Strickland Quarry. The northernmost dump belonged to the Schoonmaker or Cramer Mine. When the golf course was built in the 1990s all of the dumps were removed, but although the flooded quarry is still present, collecting is no longer allowed or possible.
Mining supposedly began in the 1840s accoring to Foye (1922) who stated:
"The quarry was opened as early as 1840. There is a pitcher, bearing in gilt the name of Strickland, now preserved in Wesleyan Museum, which was made from feldspar taken from the quarry at that early date."
If so it was a minor operation as it is not mentioned in Beers' (1884) History of Middlesex County. Ralph Pelton's quarry is mentioned, but this is a separate locality just east of Collins Hill.
Strickland Quarry was operated by F. E. Strickland from 1904 to 1945. It was leased to Eureka Flint & Spar Co., Eureka Mining & Operating Co. or Eureka Mica & Mining Co. Successive operators were F. E. Strickland, George Wilkes, and William Wilkes.
Mostly it was involved in feldspar production before 1937, but was a big mica producer 1930-37, 1942-45, and 1952-53 (from wall zones). It produced 2,000 to 5,000 long tons of feldspar per year and 200 to 400 tons of mica since 1927. Also quartz, beryl and gem production. Workings include an open cut 300 feet long by 200 feet wide and 140 feet deep. The east cut quarried up to 100 feet deep & connected mines worked 1914-37. Wall zones mined underground mostly to the north in the 1940s & 1950s.
Because most collectors did not realize the northern dump belonged to a different operation, most specimens are referred to as coming from the Strickland Quarry no matter where collected. The difference is largely academic anyway because all the minerals came from the same pegmatite and the mineralogy, pegmatite zoning, and host rocks of the Strickland Quarry and Schoonmaker Mine are similar. Any specimen can be generically attributed to the Strickland pegmatite. Minerals from host rocks included in list.
Cameron (1954) summarized the pegmatite and its zones as follows:
Exposed in east quarry cut and for over 720 ft N-S by 240 ft E-W, 8-60 ft thick. Dips west 30-75 degrees.
Five lithologic zones:
1. quartz-muscovite-plagioclase border zone, 1-8 in. thick
2. plagioclase-quartz-muscovite wall zone, 1-7 ft thick (mica zone – books up to 6 feet!)
3. microcline perthite-graphic granite-quartz-plagioclase intermediate zone 1-22 ft thick (perthite crystals up to 22 ft!)
4. plagioclase-quartz intermediate zone up to 45 ft thick
5. quartz core
The most diverse mineralogy and miarolitic pockets were mostly found with pale blue to white cleavelandite in zone 4. Descriptions of gem pockets are found in Bastin (1910), Shannon (1920), Sterrett (1923), and Stearns (1983).
Many metamorphic/reaction minerals occurred in the host schist.
Mindat Articles
History and Mineralology of the Strickland Quarry by Rowan Lytle
Mineral List
144 entries listed. 103 valid minerals. 13 erroneous literature entries.
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References
- Jarnot, Bruce. (1989): Minerals New to the Portland Area Pegmatites of Central Connecticut. Abstract from the 16th Rochester Mineralogical Symposium April 7, 1989, in Rocks and Minerals, Vol. 64, No. 12, p. 471.
- Shannon, Earl V. (1920): Strickland'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: p. 667, 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
- Cameron, Eugene N. and others. (1954) PEGMATITE INVESTIGATIONS 1942-45 NEW ENGLAND. U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 255.
- Schooner, Richard. (1958) THE MINERALOGY OF THE PORTLAND-EAST HAMPTON-MIDDLETOWN-HADDAM AREA IN CONNECTICUT (With a few notes on Glastonbury and Marlborough).
- Stugard, Frederick, Jr. (1958) PEGMATITES OF THE MIDDLETOWN AREA, CONNECTICUT. USGS Bulletin 1042-Q.
- Jones, Robert W. (1960) LUMINESCENT MINERALS OF CONNECTICUT, A GUIDE TO THEIR PROPERTIES AND LOCATIONS.
- Schooner, Richard. (1961) THE MINERALOGY OF CONNECTICUT.
- Ryerson, Kathleen. (1972) ROCK HOUND'S GUIDE TO CONNECTICUT.
- Webster, Bud. (1978) MINERAL COLLECTOR’S FIELD GUIDE CONNECTICUT.
- Albini, Anthony J. (1979) SELECTED PEGMATITE QUARRIES OF THE CENTRAL CONNECTICUT REGION. Masters thesis.
- Webster, Bud and Bill Shelton. (1979) MINERAL COLLECTOR’S FIELD GUIDE THE NORTHEAST.
- Weber, Marcelle H. and Earle C. Sullivan. (November/December 1995) CONNECTICUT MINERAL LOCALITY INDEX. Rocks & Minerals (Connecticut Issue), Volume 70, No. 6, p. 403.
- Bastin, Edson S. (1910): Economic Geology Of The Feldspar Deposits Of The United States. United States Geological Survey Bulletin 420, Government Printing Office.
- Stearns, H. T. (1983): Memoirs of a Geologist: From Poverty Peak to Piggery Gulch. Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, Honolulu.
- Sterrett, Douglas B. (1923): Mica Deposits Of The United States. United States Geological Survey Bulletin 740, Government Printing Office.
- Foye, W. G. (1927): Guide to the Geology of Middletown, Connecticut, and Vicinity. Chapter VIII, pp. 82-90, Conn. Geol. Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 41.
- Foye, W. G. (Oct. 1919): A New Occurrence of Rhodonite. American Mineralogist. , Vol. 4, No. 10, p. 124.
- Jenks, William F. (Sept. 1935): Pegmatites at Collins Hill, Portland, Conn. Am. Jour. Science, pp. 177-197.
- Otersen, Mrs. Lillian. (July, 1934): Report on New Haven Mineral Trip to Strickland Quarry, (Rocks and Minerals Association National Outing, May 20, 1934) Rocks and Minerals, p. 104.
- Schairer, J. F. (1931): The Minerals of Connecticut. State Geological and Natural History Survey, Hartford Conn. Bull. 51, .
- Schairer, J. F. and Lawson. C. C. (1926): Pickeringite from Portland, Connecticut. Am. Jour. Science, 11, 301-4.
- Schrader, Frank C., Stone, Ralph W., and Sanford, Samuel. (1917): Useful Minerals of the United States. U. S. Geological Survey Bull. 624., pp. 97-101.
- Robbins, Manuel. (1994): Fluorescence: Gems and Minerals Under Ultraviolet Light. Geoscience Press, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona.
- J. H. Beers & Co. (1884): The History of Middlesex County 1635-1885
- Little, L. W. (1942): Recent Finds of Minerals in Central Connecticut. Rocks and Minerals. August.
- Moore, P. B., 2000, Analyses of Primary Phosphates from Pegmatites in Maine and Other Localities, in V. T. King (editor), Mineralogy of Maine. Mining History, Gems, and Geology, Maine Geological Survey, Augusta, Maine, p. 333-336.
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