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LocalitiesConnecticut, USA

29th Oct 2011 01:38 UTCRowan Lytle

I recently found specimens from CT on John Betts sight and have not seen these localities:

Huckleberry Hill, Avon

(Mt. Tom), East Haddam

the second is an almandine similar to those found a lieser's ledge, and the other is said to be from near the canon lead mines.

any ideas?

-Rowan Lytle

29th Oct 2011 02:12 UTCRowan Lytle

also:

Balf quarry, Newington

Strickland Hill Prospect

Hollow Knoll Pegmatite, East Hampton

Long Hill, Trumbull

Barhamsted, CT

Silver Mine, Cobalt

Middletown parking lot construction,

Bill's Dam, barkhamsted

29th Oct 2011 03:47 UTCHoward Heitner

Long Hill, Trumbull includes the open pits and other workings located in Old Mine Park in Trumbull.

29th Oct 2011 13:48 UTCRowan Lytle

Thank you. that one I thought was part of Old Mine park, you have confirmed it.

-Rowan Lytle

29th Oct 2011 15:27 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

Huckleberry Hill was a prolific quartz fault-vein locality during the late 90s or so I think during housing construction there. Former mineral dealer Wil Talbot, who lived nearby, collected it heavily and sold many specimens from there, I have a few. Was never there personally, not sure exactly where it is but I do know it has nothing to do with the Canton lead mines. It still needs a mindat page, I have not gotten to photographing my pieces from there yet.

Mt. Tom is the large hill in what is now Machimoodus State Park in the Moodus section of East Haddam. The site is equivalent to these beryl prospects: http://www.mindat.org/loc-213294.html I'm surprised you hadnt heard of it, Rowan, you have a couple of mineral photos posted there! :)

Long Hill is not a sublocality to the tungsten mine area but is the place name for the northern section of Trumbull encompassing the various road cuts, Old Mine Park, and the new Home Depot (former Old Mine Plaza) sites. It is not a name used much anymore so I didnt add it to the heirarchy for these localities on mindat.

The Balf quarry is a long-operating basalt quarry on Cedar mt. in Newington. I have some babingtonite and zeolites from there. It still needs a mindat page, I have not gotten to photographing my specimens from there yet.

Not sure where/what the Strickland prospect is.

Hollow Knoll pegmatite is also a mystery - obviously not a prolific locality. There are hundreds of pegs there.

Bill's Dam in Barkhamsted produced zeolites in fractures in schist, which is common in western Conn. I have one of the specimens on John's museum page. Still trying to find that exact site.

Silver mine, Cobalt is probably equivalent to the Great Hill mines. Seems every vein in Conn. was once called a silver or copper mine....

Middletown parking lot construction. Hmmmm, wonder where that is?

29th Oct 2011 21:30 UTCRob (The Rock Hunter) Shepard

Yes Fritz I wonder where this Middletown parking lot construction is too...lol

30th Oct 2011 00:42 UTCRowan Lytle

Thanks, but I am positive that the Mt. tom speciman is from leiser's ledge. it looks nothing like the 1mm almandines at the other mt. tom. it is posted near the bottom of the New England page on John Betts Fine Minerals.

-Rowan Lytle

30th Oct 2011 01:20 UTCDavid Bernstein Expert

Canon lead mines are known for their amethyst specimens. Development has circled the area where the mines are located I believe. By the way, isn't it Canton Lead Mines?

I think there is some excellent pub food to be eaten near that Middletown parking lot.

30th Oct 2011 01:47 UTCRowan Lytle

oops! I misspelled it. I think that the middletown parking lot may be refering to dripps rd.

-Rowan

30th Oct 2011 12:48 UTCRowan Lytle

I woke up this morning and saw trees bent all the way to the ground! I guess I may not be going collecting today....

-Rowan

30th Oct 2011 22:19 UTCRowan Lytle

I added huckleberry, balf, and Bill's dam to mindat.

31st Oct 2011 12:22 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

John asked me what I thought about that garnet piece and I said that if it came from East Haddam, then it is a small, lost, or short-lived locality (there many of these in the rock hound world). I dont believe it is from Mt. Tom and I've only seen one piece (mine) from Lieser's ledge. Could be from there, people are always confusing Haddam and East Haddam and Haddam Neck. But there is so much garnet in schist here in Conn that it could be from many places. Some things will just remain a mystery.....

31st Oct 2011 12:52 UTCRowan Lytle

The garnet looks like my leisers ledge piece, and like two others I have seen. It also matches Foye's description of the locality.

4th Nov 2011 00:54 UTCJohn Betts

Where is "leiser's ledge"?

4th Nov 2011 01:47 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

That's a good question, John. I've never been there, Schooner describes it as "At a point in the woods, between Higganum and Middletown" http://www.mindat.org/loc-214539.html

There's a lot of woods in that area!

4th Nov 2011 18:59 UTCRowan Lytle

Yeah, it is a long lost locality. I challenge anyone to find it. If it still exists, it would be an interesting spot to visit.

13th Dec 2011 21:01 UTCJohn Bean

Canton amethyst is still accesible, recently roofed a house in that neighborhood, the homeowner told me they still have school field trips there. follow sivermine acres to end and park to left of mailbox, a friend and I left a real nice amethyst in pocket under the big tree face, also we started digging out the shaft entrance, mission impossible! there is also alot of amethyst and clear quartz right along rt 44 west northside just as it splits, in that lot they cleared but never built on, you can actually hike from the lot to silvermine acres, but It takes some navigating.

I was also lucky enough to be roofing on huck hill when they ripped into those nice big quartz pockets, funny thing,I think the road down the backside of that project is called emerald hill. wish I saw Will there, would have been something seeing my old school housemaster all muddied up!

The Barkhamsted location might be Satans Kingdom, there is a lot of old diggins near the top of the dirt rd near the 4way, also the river trail that the lifeguards walk for the tuberide has yielded some beryl. that is probably one of the prettiest places in ct. but I never seem to have a hammer on me when I go there to swim.JB

14th Dec 2011 14:37 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

John:

Great info, thanks, been wanting to take a look at that place.

Do you know what the name of the street is on Huck. Hill where they intercepted the quartz veins? I'd like to get the precise locality up on mindat.

14th Dec 2011 22:46 UTCRowan Lytle

I'm interested! I will make a trip up there next year. I the winter, I stay in East Hampton.

21st Dec 2011 05:14 UTCJohn Bean

Dont know the name of the rd, on Huck Hill, its most of the way up, the area is quite settled into with mcmansions, if you go into that lot cut off rt 44 for the canton amethyst, the ledge to the right, looking in, is quite productive, but not the only veins in that lot. if you make it into the woods off silvermine acres, tailings start almost in the houses backyard, I prefer collecting further up the stream, out of sight. the exposed vein seems to follow the stream up north about 50 yrds. tough rock solid quartz! I have this really cool green garnet from up in Peoples forest. I found an old cut in the steep hills east, I have to find that place again, map it, and explore. going out to ski sundown, there are two trailheads, just before the really sharp corner. the trail north has leatherrock? while the trail south has alot of staurolite and garnets, on the ridges left of the trail. another place id like to bring some steel. Another good garnet location I will get the excact location on, is west of rt. 8, in the hills before tuckers/mass line, matter of fact, there is a cool red agate location from nyguidecollecting bluebook 20 mins north from there,and a green actinolite vein about a mile back south from tuckers. this one I can explain easily. park in the north end/mass side of the res, then cross the field directly across rt. 8 fom the res entrance and head up to the hanging cliffs! go as far up the rubble as you can till you meet the cliff face. found some cool actinolite crystals here, that Ive etched out of calcite. there are a few pockets and some diggins.

found some great quartz crystals recently, just cant bring myself to give up the locale! would really like to spend some time with a ct. geologist, and get a clue? on some things, before xmas. anyways heres some cool ct quartz! pic 1, the freeze blew a pocket wall apart, freezing the pocket mud into rock solid peanut butter! still it looked and tasted just like the arkansas brand! didnt want to put directly into water, for fear of more cracking. so I left my pack indoors for the night, turning my pack into a (coffee filter) for the water in the mud as it thawed over the carpet all night. the next day it reached room temp and I was able to dissolve the mudmass with water in a screen, pic 2 I am a lucky dog! pic 3 a little muriatic, cleans the rust, showing green inclusions and well defined phantoms!

Yeah ct. minerals are like Frank Fappa, the best band you never heard!

23rd Dec 2011 20:46 UTCRowan Lytle

Whoa.... that is the first ct phantom quartz i've seen!

24th Dec 2011 01:23 UTCMickey Marks

Rowan,

I have posted some photos of amethyst from the Route 11 roadcut in Salem. None of those show phantoms, but there were loads of phantom quartz crystals from there. I'm going to search my collection to see if I kept any. If I did, I will post a picture.

Mickey

24th Dec 2011 04:45 UTCMickey Marks

Rowan,

As promised, here are three pictures of phantom quartz from the Route 11 roadcut in Salem. I collected these in May 1976. The phantoms are pale amethyst in clear quartz. Some are multiple phantoms.

Mickey

24th Dec 2011 21:04 UTCRowan Lytle

gorgeous Mickey!

19th Jan 2012 16:10 UTCJohn Bean

Found my hardhat, camera and notebook and went for it. This location is just across from rt 8 south at the end of the first (northmost) Torrington exit ramp. The quarry belongs to digger Dan Stoughton of Mountaintop Trucking. If you would like a quick peek, its very easy to park beside the white van, at nearby Dunkin Donuts, and hike 40 yds up the hill to quarry's edge. this will bring you right along the purple/blue quartzite actinolite/ tremolite zone where there is Zoisite/thulite. Yes, I just said that,ZOISITE! many veins of quartz crisscross the area.although they dont seem to run to the depth of the quarry floor, they are very evident(exposed) on the south wall. Please dont try to climb up to them as this wall is very volitaile, and no quartz Ive seen yet, is worth dying for. Plus Im sure an injury or fatality would cast a grim shadow on future collecting efforts. In the pic, behind the chipper, on the first wall there are mud pockets that go about 30ft down that have beautiful sceptered quartz crystals up to 2 inches. almost all quartz frome area has green inclusions, dots of chlorite? some crystals,although not very clear are of decent size 3and 1/2x1and1/2x1.There is also a decent amount of Metallic minerals. Pyrite and galena I can say for sure but also others, I will wait for the pro opinions. I imagine this must be a peg zone because I have a beautiful little pink lepidiolite about a quarter inch wide that I can see right through. does this mean a high chromium content? Gems in Torrington?

Sorry I waited a few weeks on giving up this info, I had told associates of other haunts in the past, with only deep regrets,Beer bottles on site, unfilled holes,garbage ect. and it would break my heart to find a no trespassing sign here. however I have milled it over in my mind this last week, read alot of mindat posts, and have come to a conclusion that this place deserves far more than an amatuer such as myself mousing around the edges. It would be great if the Bristol club could get access. Either way, Im sure you freindly people of Mindat can do something to save some of these beautiful minerals from the chipper! JB

4th Feb 2012 12:29 UTCJohn Bean

t I just worked on a house on the top of the west side, 97 deer hill/run? this is on the western side of huck hill, there are some dig signs in the adjacent lot, and quartz pockets in the boulders down the eastern side of the hill. perhaps enough woods here to ferret around.

4th Feb 2012 16:11 UTCWilliam C. van Laer Expert

Rowan: Your "Strickland Hill Prospect" is OBVIOUSLY the famous Strickland Quarry.....so many localities are mudded up by the naming of various types, like "quarry", "mine" or "prospect", but the literature never narrows this nomenclature down, so that if you were to look up the Tip Top Mine, for example, you wouldn't get a "hit" on mindat, since they list it as the "Tip Top Quarry"...no other description will get you to the proper page, as a matter of fact, it completely ignores this description and says basically there is no such locality....most other websites at least attempt to match or identify at least one key word so you have a chance at identifying it...

Harold, I'm surprised you missed this one (about "Strickland Hill Prospect")!!!

4th Feb 2012 21:37 UTCRowan Lytle

Actually, this is apparenly located on a hill opposite from collins hill, and is different from the strickland quarry.

4th Feb 2012 23:58 UTCHarold Moritz 🌟 Expert

There is a Strickland Hill just north of Collins Hill. It has some small pegs on it, too. So there could very well be some prospects up there, never been up there. But for whatever reason the Strickland pegmatite is on Collins Hill. There's no way the Strickland quarry could be called a prospect, though compared to today's giant open pit copper and iron mines and even the southeasternmost feldspar quarry at White Rock in Middletown, it's a puny hole in the ground...

17th Apr 2012 13:00 UTCRick Sinclair

Just visited Canton lead mine on 4/14/2012. Most of it is covered because when they put in the circle of new houses the road and shoulder covered most of the dumps that used to spread out below the mine. We had exactly 10 minutes on the site near the culvert before we were unceremoniously thrown out by the property owner who threatened to call the police if we didn't leave.

6th Jun 2012 04:10 UTCMIchael Sharpe

Your best bet is to key an eye out for construction sites where they are blasting in traprock. I got some mice prehnite a few years ago on the site next to the Wendys on the Berlin Turnpike.

I was at the Simpson quarry this week and the dumps seem to be picked over.

1st Aug 2012 14:30 UTCRick Sinclair

Update on Canton Lead Mine

this summer (2012) I took a couple of people there on a field trip and we were there no more than 5 minutes before the owner who lives in the house next to what's left of the locality told us in no uncertain terms that if we didn't leave immediately he would have us arrested for trespassing. There isn't much left of the mine except for a little material from the dumps right next to the culvert going under the road

1st Aug 2012 16:15 UTCMark Gottlieb

Having checked the Assessor's Map a few years back, I am fairly certain the Canton Lead Mine is on town property. Doesn't mean its open for collecting, but it does not belong to the neighbor.

24th Aug 2012 11:08 UTCNate (Nate {Not Given})

If its on Canton town property, the rules are that you need to stop at the police station the day of visit to get a dig permit, and must donate 10% of any proceeds (if specimens are sold) to the town of Canton. We need to get someone out the the town hall tax assessor's office to verify that this is town property, and determine an access route along town property, and put together a day-dig! We could all park along the culvert with permits proudly displayed in our windshields! Seriously, we should look into this.

24th Aug 2012 13:29 UTCTony Albini

Regarding Strickland Hill, this name may have been used by someone for an aplite prospect east of the Strickland quarry where the late and great Richard Schooner found beautiful almandine garnets which were on the same hill, Collins Hill, as the Strickland Quarry.

5th Oct 2013 06:01 UTCPaul Stroh

Hey Rowan I recently got some milky phantom quartz and amethyst phantoms.from southbury.

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