Arthur E. Smith

New Hampshire mineral locality index

Granite State, is one of our smaller states, with an area of just 9,304 square miles and is one of the lowest in annual mineral production, the number of mineral collecting localities and the recorded number of mineral species is quite high. Hawes (1878) reported 95 mineral species, Meyers and Stewart (1956) reported 250, and Cares (1990) has modified it to 243. This high number is primarily due to the diverse igneous and metamorphic rocks that underlie the state, even though these rocks are partially blanketed by glacial deposits and outwash that no doubt cover other potential localities and prevent this list from being longer. It is evident when reading Jackson (1844) on the mineralogy of New Hampshire that even at this early date there was already a keen interest in collecting the state’s minerals and developing its mineral industries. Although the latter never sustained development on a large scale, there has been enough prospecting and mining activity to uncover many important mineral localities for the collector. Prospecting, granite quarrying, and mining probably peaked before the turn of the twentieth century, but pegmatite prospecting and mining were revived during World War II, with some mining continuing into the early 1960s. This activity produced new localities, renewed some old localities, and resulted in new minerals being discovered. Mineral Locality Index New Hampshire

Exploration and Mining History of the de Linde Wavellite Mine: East Dug Hill Area, Near Avant, Garland County, Arkansas

Figure 1. Digging at de Linde Pit No. 1, Garland County, Arkansas, in the early stages of exploration. Photo courtesy Stuart Schmitt. Figure 2. Locality map, prepared by William Besse. Figure 3. A ...

Iowa Mineral Locality Index

owa. ;t state with only sedimentary rocks exposed on the surface. has ;I surprisingly active and rich mineral collecting heritage. Its numerous limestone quarries, gravel pits, strip mines. and rock outcrops are scattered throughout the state and have produced many specimens for active collectors. Unfortunately. with today’s environmental laws and mine and quarry regulations. the prolific collecting of the 1950s through the 1970s has been restricted. However, many collecting opportunities are still available, and new material still comes on the market. Only I small number of the total specimen-producing localities are listed here. We have emphasized the longer-producing localities and listed only the minerals from those that are more ephemeral.

Collecting Microminerals in Leadville, Lake County, Colorado

W hen I first became interested in minerals, in the 1950s, finding data on localities was difficult. My main sources of information were mineralogy textbooks, which usually had brief locality information at the end of each mineral description. As this information, particularly on U.S. locations, was assimilated, certain localities seemed to stand out. Among them were Franklin, New Jersey; Baringer Hill, Texas; Bisbee, Arizona; Magnet Cove, Arkansas; and several localities in Colorado, particularly the town of Leadville. In the late 1960s through the early 1980s, I made numerous trips to Colorado, and I usually had some time to check the many dumps east of Leadville. I soon realized that most of the dump material was from the more recent mining and that most, if not all, was from the sulfide zone, whereas the minerals I had read about were all oxide-zone minerals. However, by 1972 I was into microminerals and figured that maybe I had a chance of finding something. That year I tried what had been the A. Y.–Minnie and Moyer mine complex in California Gulch and did locate a small patch of mostly ARTHUR E. SMITH 9118 Concho Street Houston, Texas 77036 artsmithite@msn.com

Through the 'Scope: Micromineral Collecting at Mineral Hill, Wakefield, Carroll County New Hampshire

y mineral collecting in New Hampshire began in sumM mer 1961 with a trip to the Weeks (now known as the Hams-Weeks) pegmatite mine (Smith and Bearss 1991). I dug and collected minerals from the dumps there for several years before reading in Morrill (1960) that Mineral Hill was just across the road. In the late 1960s my brothers and I took a collecting trip to Mineral Hill. There was no road up the densely wooded hill, so we bushwhacked our way through the vegetation, usually taking the path of least resistance while still continuing upward. As I remember, we found two shafts that day. We did no serious digging but broke some rocks and noted nothing but sparse green staining on some of them. Because I All photos by the author of specimens from his collection, unless otherwise noted

Austinite and Other Microminerals: From the Ojuela Mine, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico

f you were a mineral collector in Houston in the 1960s and I early 1970s. you probably were aware of the abundance of Mexican minerals available for purchase or trade at many of the local flea markets. Most of these minerals were secondary oxide-zone minerals on brown goethite. Though few were labeled, most were from the Ojuela mine, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico. Local entrepreneurs would make the trip to Mexico and buy the specARTHUR E. SMITH 9 1 I8 Concho Street Houston, Texas 77036

Minerals from the Sulfide Zone at Boling Salt Dome, New Gulf Wharton County, Texas

Abstract All specimens are from Boling salt dome, Wharton County, Texas, and are in the authors collection; all photos by the author.