Minerals.net

I recently made a trip to the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, New Jersey. The museum is on the grounds of a former mine, the Sterling Hill Mine, which was one of the largest producers of zinc in the United States. This productive underground mine was closed in 1986 and converted into a museum, with an underground tour in the former mine tunnels.

The Sterling Hill Mine is located in the Franklin Marble, a Precambrian deposit of white and weathered brown Calcite crystals in Northwestern New Jersey. The Sterling Hill Mine, together with the nearby and geologically similar Franklin Mine, has produced more mineral species than almost any other mine in the world. Franklin and Sterling Hill are also collectively known as the "Fluorescent Capital of the World," due to their abundance of fluorescent mineral specimens.

The museum tour starts in the Concession Building where tickets are purchased, inside the gift shop. A guide then leads the group to the Exhibit Hall, which contains many relics from the old mine as well as interesting mineral samples. The Exhibit Hall also contains an outstanding worldwide collection of fine minerals.

The tour continues in the old mine tunnels, where one visits the Lamp Room, Shaft Station, Ore Pass, the Rainbow Tunnel, a loading bin and ore car, and one can see a blasting demonstration. The tour ends after exploring the Geotech Center, which contains many more local and fluorescent minerals on display.

This first post will document the mine tour, and our next post will document individual mineral images from the museum.

Our next post on the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, New Jersey, focuses on the minerals and displays of the museum. The highlight of the museum is the mine tour and preservation of the historic zinc mine for public view and exploring. The museum also has many mineral specimens and mining artifacts. These include historical artifacts related to the days of active mining, regional artifacts, and general mining and mineral artifacts of interest. 

However, the most significant part of the museum collection is their exceptional worldwide collection and important collection of local Franklin and Sterling Hill minerals. This post features the regional minerals of the collection.