Turner Quarries, Mt. Apatite District, Auburn, Androscoggin Co., Maine, USA

Granite pegmatite. Eastern Mt. Apatite District - Oxford pegmatite field.

A large number of minerals have been erroneously reported for this locality as it is so close to famous occurrences which do have rare minerals. The Turner Quarries opened about 1895 by Eli Y. Turner of Auburn, Maine. The three small pits were worked intermittently for less than ten years. Total yield was small and considered of low grade due to iron-bearing minerals such as annite and almandine. The raw spar was shipped via the Grand Trunk Railroad to the Maine Feldspar Company grinding mill at Topsham as the Maine Feldspar Company's grinding mill at Danville was not in operation until 1906. (A mis-reading of Bastin (1910) could lead the historian to think that the Danville feldspar grinding mill was in operation before 1906. It was not operational until 1906.) Edson Bastin of the USGS visited the site in August 1906 and again in October 1907 and Bastin's comments as to what feldspar was being ground where must be taken into context. Currently owned by the City of Auburn, the Turner Quarries are a small part of the 325 acre “Mt. Apatite Park”. Promoted as a multi-use park, it allows hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing, limited snowmobiling and mineral collecting. Although collecting has no fee and does not require special permission, the City of Auburn Parks and Recreation Department should be contacted for specific collecting rules.


Ref:

Maine Geological Survey Publication: Mount Apatite Park, Auburn, ME.

Bastin, Edson S., USGS Bull. 445 (1911): Geology of the Pegmatites and Associated Rocks of Maine.

Bastin, Edson S., USGS Bull. 420 (1910): Geology of the Feldspar Deposits of the United States.

City of Auburn Parks and Recreation: Mt. Apatite Park Trail Map and Park Rules.

Rocks & Min.: 9:15
"Maine Mineral Localities, 3rd Ed." by Thompson, W.B., et.al., 1998.