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Our second day with Leah and Katie, was going to be a big one. We were planning on visiting the Franklin Mineral Museum, and the Sterling Hill Mining Museum. This area of New Jersey is known for the many fluorescent minerals that are found at both locations.

After driving several hours, we were happy to finally be at the Franklin Mineral Museum. Apparently the museum is housed in what used to be the old electric generator building.

Before going around back to see the collecting feild, we decided to tour the museum first.

Doesn’t Leah look chic?

Old microscopes.

This is a case of products made from minerals mined here

Here is a model of the mining operations.

The museum has a room that filled with fluorescnet minerals.

See how different everything looks in regular light.

After looking at all the exhibits inside the museum, we went out to the collecting area behind the museum.

We had a good time at the Franklin Mineral Museum, but the day was getting late, and we still needed to get to Sterling Hill. The Sterling Hill Mining Museum is known for the “Rainbow Room” inside the mine. This room is actually an old mine shaft created by the miners as they extracted the zinc ore. Visitors can see the bands of the fluorescent minerals running over the top of the ceiling.

The Sterling Hill Mining Museum is owned by brother’s Richard and Robert Hauck. Both are old school miners whose goal is to preserve the mine for future generations.

Since we arrived after the public tour had already finished, we were treated to a special, private tour.

First we visited the main Exhibit Hall. This was a locker room for the miners when it was still active. Now it has been turned into a musuem of mining memorabilia and ephemeria.

After looking at all the displays in the Exhibit Hall, it was time for us to enter the rooms with the fluorescent minerals.

There are over 340 minerals found at the Sterling Hill Mine, but the most common are Franklinite, Willemite, and Zincite. This locality hosts 80 species of fluorescent minerals; more than over other single location worldwide.

But no tour would be complete without entering the mine.

Also on the property is one of Thomas Edison’s many test areas,

and sculptures depicting very buff, shirtless miners.

On a side note, on the way back to Philadelphia, near Cherry Hill, we spotted our first real life Uni-Royal Girl.

Our last day of filming for the “Pegmatites of Maine” was set to be another action packed day. Tom (Tom Klinepeter, starkhillgem), Justin and I were planning on visiting 3 locations; The Bumpus Mine, Songo Pond Mine, and the Peru Garnet collecting locality.

The Bumpus Mine is known for outstanding Beryl crystals, the largest of which is displayed in the New York Museum of Natural History.

Maine Mineralogy Expeditions offers visitors tours of the mine tunnels and a chance to collect from some nearby tailing piles. They give tours Wednesdays, and invited us to come film. First everyone meets at the Bethel Outdoor Adventure & Camp Ground before caravaning over to the actual mine site.

Before entering the mine site, guides give a very thorough presentation on geology and mining before handing out hard hats and flashlights.

One man had a propane powered lantern, which I thought was extremely interesting.

The actual site is pretty overgrown, on the way back to the tunnels.

The area was quite a moist, humid enviroment. There was even a nice waterfall at the opening of the 1st tunnel.

After which, we all were led to the 2nd tunnel. Tom said that he had never actually been to that tunnel either, so it was new for all of us. We walked back through the trails to a marshy area, and the opening to the tunnel.

Once again, we filed inside.

Look at this worthless piece of schorl!

The entire tour and collecting package takes 4 hours, but we only stayed for 2. Not only did we have all the foootage we needed, we had plans to meet Jan Brownstein (207-824-3898) over at the Songo Pond Mine. We caught up with him at the parking area, and hitched a ride up to the mine in the back of his truck.

Jan has a table of sample specimens set up for visitors to look at. We looked at the specimens as he told us about the mine and what could be found there. Songo Pond Mine is a highly mineralized area. Collectors commonly find Beryl, Quartz, Feldspar, Garnet, Schorl, Mica, and Apatite, along with several others that are less common.

After chatting we headed down to the pit and tailing piles to film.

However I was very distracted by the frogs

and the primative benches.

However our 3rd location was in Peru, (Maine) so we needed to head out before calling it a day.

Tom had a publication with directions to a place to collect garnets back in the woods. It didn’t look like anyone had been back the trails in a while, except for maybe snowmobilers in the winter.

We walked down the overgrown trails and into the woods.

The whole area was on a slope that was covered in trees and moss.

You can either collect from the what is scattered on the ground or by trying to work garnets out fo the veins.

However the matrix is hard, and the garnets often shatter.

I saw this nice garnet in the wall, and thought I would never remove it without shattering it.

But much to my surprise it was already loose, and came right out using only my fingers. This was my best find of the day.

On the way back home we saw a Paul Bunyan (often refered to as a Muffler Man), and stopped to take a picture. We have a fondness for them, and even lived up the street from one exactly like this in Tucson, AZ.

After such a jam packed day, we decided that we would take it a little slower today. Tom (Tom Klinepeter, starkhillgem) suggested we go the Harvard Mine and then check out a couple nearby rockshops.

It was extremely humid, and the hike to the mine is pretty steep, so by the time we made to the bottom of the tailings pile.

After a brief rest, it was time to walk to the actual quarry.

We went to both collecting spots at the site, and we were pleased with the terminated schorl we were finding through out the dumps.

After the walk back down to the car, Tom, Justin and I headed down the road to visit Perham’s Jewlery, Gems & Minerals, in west Paris.

They have an on site museum of locally collected mineral specimens.

And we browsed their stock of of book, tools and minerals.

After which we drove a short distance to Mt. Mann Jewelers in Brethel, Maine. The proprieter Jim Mann is a well know Maine feild collector, and the driving force behind the creation of the Maine Mineral Museum, set to open in early next year.

Every location that we went to in Maine are scattered with Mica, so Jim showed us a lantern from the early 1900’s with still intact mica sheets for the windows.

On the way back to Tom’s house, we stopped and got a photo of us at the Maine crossroads sign.