Mystery Specimens
3 messages in this thread
Hi Nathan-
..and I thought I'd finally covered SE Pennsylvania with my "discovery" of the
Wheatley. Another sleepout at Warwick Woods Campground seems in order.
Apparently I missed a few… As for Lancaster, I visit there for pleasure, not
rocks. This is not to say I don't keep my eyes peeled…Musta been asleep at
the job…
FWIW, my LITFORUM source of these is in Westminster, MD. …JayDee
jerry,
when you live on atlantic coastal plain (south jersey), the piedmont of SE
Pennsylvania looks pretty good for mineral collecting. The Wheatley lode is
just one good, reliable collecting site. The old Ecton Mines were run by
Audobon himself in Lower Providence, PA. Like the Wheatley, it is a
hydrothermal sulfide deposit with complex alterations to carbonates, sulfates,
phosphates, etc. I have nice pyromorphite, smithsonite, barite, hemimorphite,
malachite, pseudomalachite, etc., from this locality in Montgomery County.
Lancaster is a bit far for me, but the serpentine deposits have some
interesting minerals. French Creek is less than an hour out of Philadelphia,
and so is the Grace Magnetite Mine. (I visited the Grace this fall and found
nice, dodecahedral magnetite crystals.) The Kibbelhouse Quarry, in
Perkiomenville, is a classy zeolite locality with multi-colored zoned
fluorescent calcites.
so–there are some good reasons to leave the devonian shale of Binghamton and
come down and visit SE Pennsylvania.
BTW, did you get a chance to tour Valley Forge when you visited the Wheatley?
Nathan
I've never had a problem with Piedmont collecting, it is almost as rich as
Maine. Lancaster is a bit far from me too, but when I get there, I keep my eyes
peeled. Grace Magnetite Mine? New one on me. Details? Kibbelhouse is also new
to me. (hint, hint..)
>…there are some good reasons to leave the Devonian Shale<
There are ALWAYS good reasons to leave the Devonian Shale. Trilobites, cool.
Who needs more than one?
Yep, did the Valley Forge tour when I did the Wheatley. *My* wife still thinks
it's a vacation and never suspects I hike golf courses in quest of rocks. *I*
won't tell (HHH)… JayDee
PS – Since it's VERY late on XMAS Eve, happy holidays to ya. Maybe even
belated. Got no sense of time, been trying to type stuff for my new novels…
Must be thirty-three o'clock. Gotta fall over, or Santa won't come..
Also, gen'l msg on Xmas Lemmings (Yes, I know this belongs on GAMERS FORUM)
ARRRRRGGGGHHH!…JayDee