Minerals.net

We are working on our mineral database by updating the content of existing minerals and adding important minerals that have not yet been indexed in our database. In July, we started working on the oxides. The following two new oxide minerals have been added:

• Bixbite
• Pyrolusite

We have also updated and revised the details on the following oxide minerals:

• Cuprite
• Ice
• Zincite
• Corundum
• Hematite
• Ilmenite
  

Bear Mountain is the most famous mountain in the New York City vicinity. Jutting up from sea level at the Hudson River with a myriad of hiking trails, this location has been an important scenic destination for over a hundred years. Bear Mountain State Park encompasses Bear Mountain and the surrounding highlands and contains many tourist-friendly attractions including a scenic lake, observation tower, skating rink, carousel, pool, and an historic inn. It also hosts seasonal events such as the weekly antique car show throughout the summer and Oktoberfest in the fall. 

One of Bear Mountain's main attractions is the zoo. While very small when compared to most zoos, its collection is exclusively limited to local animals of the region. The zoo is also unique for its natural and woodsy feel, as well as pretty scenery and good views. Located within the zoo are several museum rooms containing historical artifacts and natural history items. One of these museums is the geology museum. The geology museum is located directly behind the Bear Mountain Bridge, and is housed in a musty one room stone structure that is easily missed. 

This geology museum contains a small representation of local minerals from the Hudson Highland / Ramapo Mountains region of New York. The local rock in the vicinity of the Museum is Precambrian metamorphic rock, with gneiss, granites, and some localized skarns and marbles. The mineralogy of the region is somewhat similar to the St. Lawrence County region of upstate New York and the Grenville Province of Canada. 

This region was also home to a booming iron mining industry, with a large number of abandoned iron mines dating back to the 1700 and 1800's. Some of the better-known mines include the Forest of Dean, Hasenclever, Hogencamp, Pine Swamp, Greenwood, O'neal, and Sterling Mines. All these mines are long abandoned and overgrown, though many are still accessible within state parks along hiking trails. 

Not much in terms of mineral specimens was ever recovered from these mines. The iron ore was mostly Magnetite, but in massive or crudely crystallized form. These mines only occasionally produced collector specimens, though other locations such as road cuts and dams produced several more specimen findings. Aside from Magnetite, other minerals include Diopside, Scapolite, Hornblende (including the rare Potassic-fluoro-hastingsite which is not found anywhere else in the world), Graphite, Biotite (including very large books), and Pyrhottite.

While the museum's collection of local minerals is fairly small, it is an interesting collection whose likes are rarely represented in collections. The exhibits are definitely old and dated, but they are nevertheless worthwhile for a visit. If you are visiting New York, definitely make a visit to Bear Mountain to enjoy the scenery and the zoo, and don't miss this little museum within the zoo.

Here are some of the individual minerals in the exhibit. Click the pictures below for a larger version pop-up.

View of Anthony's Nose and the Bear Mountain Bridge from the Zoo


Geology Museum at the Bear Mountain Zoo


Mineral Exhibit of Minerals of the Bear Mountain Area


Giant Mastodon Skull Found in the Vicinity


Salmon Calcite & Diopside, Route 6, Woodbury, Orange Co, NY


Diopside Crystal Cluster, Brooks Hollow, Woodbury, Orange Co, NY


Meionite Crystal, Route 6, Woodbury, Orange Co, NY


Meionite Crystal, Bear Mountain, Stony Point, Rockland Co, NY


Quartz on Calcite, Anthony's Nose, Cortlandt, Westchester Co, NY


Analcime, Dirubbo Quarry, Peekskill, Westchester Co, NY


Calcite, Tompkins Cove, Stony Point, Rockland Co, NY


Crude Meionite Crystal, Iona Island, Stony Point, Rockland Co, NY


Hedenbergite Crystal Cluster, Iona Island, Stony Point, Rockland Co, NY


Pyrrhotite Crystal Mass, Route 6, Woodbury, Orange Co, NY


Feldspar crystal (probably Microcline), Bear Mountain, Stony Point, Rockland Co, NY


Graphite Flaky Mass, Bear Mountain, Stony Point, Rockland Co, NY


Large Biotite mica Book, Beechy Bottom, Stony Point, Rockland Co, NY


Spiky Calcite Crystal Cluster, West Nyack, Rockland Co, NY
(Only the photo of this is in the museum, not the actual specimen)


Octahedral Magnetite Crystals, Monroe, Orange Co, NY
(Only the photo of this is in the museum, not the actual specimen)

We have been working on finishing the sulfide group of minerals (and sulfosalts sub-group) so that all the important ones are indexed with detailed information and pictures. While there are always more to add, all the standard and important members are now indexed in our database.

Here are the recent sulfide minerals added:

• Boulangerite
• Jamesonite
• Miargyrite
• Sperrylite

We will now commence with the oxides and add the important ones that are missing, as well as refresh the existing content and add new pictures to them.

I had the opportunity to visit the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto this past March. Adam Teller and Eli Frommer, both Minerals.net enthusiasts from New York, joined me on this trip. The ROM is Canada's premier natural history museum, and it has an extensive mineral and gemstone hall containing many exceptional pieces. Some individual minerals and gemstones in the collection are highly renowned. Anyone in the vicinity of Toronto should definitely pay a visit to this museum.

The mineral hall occupies a large room with high ceilings, and the appearance of the room and displays show that it was recently renovated with modern display units and excellent lighting. A large focus of the museum exhibits is naturally the minerals of Canada. However, there are also plenty of other minerals and exhibits to be seen at this museum. For this new particular news post, I focused primarily on the minerals of Canada, though a few other interesting photos managed to get in as well. The museum has a dazzling collection from several important Canadian localities, including the Jefferey Quarry in Asbestos, Mont Saint Hilaire, the Cobalt District, and the Rapid Creek area.

The museum also hosts a gem hall adjacent to the mineral hall, which contains collections of rough and cut gemstones, as well as other interesting displays such as Gold.

The museum has most of the minerals on display labeled with a number. There are touch screen tablets by each large case which allow one to navigate and read all about each mineral in detail based on its associated number. This new-age concept with a tablet touch screen for detailed information is a great usage of modern technology for a mineral and gemstone exhibit. However, it disturbed me how many of these these touch tablets were disabled and rendered useless. In fact, there were more non-functioning units than functioning ones! Further, the basic locality should also have been shown together with a mineral on display, so that you can see this information without the need to look it up.

I subsequently discussed the above matter with Katherine Dunnell, the Mineralogy & Geology Technician at the museum, who informed me that they are upgrading the entire digital kiosk system this coming month. This will be a great improvement for research, and I am looking forward to seeing this enhancement on my next visit to the museum.

Below are some handpicked photos of some of the fascinating display cases in the ROM. Click the pictures below for a larger version pop-up.

Adam Teller, Hershel Friedman, and Eli Frommer in Front of the Uniquely-Styled ROM Entrance


The ROM Mineral Hall



Eli and Adam Posing by a Huge Michigan Copper from the Keweenaw Peninsula


Bizarre "Gogotte" Sandstone Formation from Chartes Eure-et-Loir, France


Huge Polished Slab of Serpentine from Montville, New Jersey


Large Mass of Radiating Schorl Tourmaline from the Sceptre Claims, Emerald Lake, Yukon Territory



Head-Sized Plate of Gemmy Orange Grossular Garnet from the Jeffrey Quarry, Asbestos, Quebec



Very Large Plate of Diopside with Other Smaller Diopside Crystals on the Side from the Jeffrey Quarry, Asbestos, Quebec



Crystal Cluster of Prehnite in a very Unique Formation of Thick Blocky Crystals from the Jeffrey Quarry, Asbestos, Quebec



Orange-Yellow Prehnite Crystals in Interesting Aggregates from the Jeffrey Quarry, Asbestos, Quebec



Vesuvianite Crystals from the Jeffrey Quarry, Asbestos, Quebec



Phosphates from the Rapid Creek Area in the Yukon Territory



Giant Silver Mass from the Cobalt Mining District in Ontario



Safflorite and Skutterudite from the Cobalt Mining District in Ontario



A Giant Grapefruit-Sized Crystal of Analcime from Mont Saint Hilaire, Quebec



Beautiful Serandite Crystals from Mont Saint Hilaire, Quebec



Various Colorful Crystals from Mont Saint Hilaire, Quebec



Beautiful Twinned Serandite Crystal from Mont Saint Hilaire, Quebec



Diopside Crystal Clustes from Birds Creek, Bancroft, Ontario
Elongated Corundum Crystal from the Gutz Farm, Renfrew Co., Ontario 



Deep Green Fluorite from Madoc, Hastings Co., Ontario.
This is Probably the Best Fluorite I have ever seen from Canada!



Exceptional Apatite Crystals Protruding from Calcite Matrix
From the Liscomb Occurrence, Wilberforce, Ontario 



Large Molybdenite from Moly Hill, Quebec



Star Sapphire from Sri Lanka



Case of Various Gemstones Displaying Asterism and Chatoyancy



Tourmaline Cat's Eye; Locality Unknown



Large Gold from Mine McIntyre, Timmins, Ontario



Canadian Gold - Left to Right:
Crosus Mine, Matheson, Ontario
Sachigo River Mine, Sachigo River, Ontario
Hoyle Pond Mine, Timmins, Ontario



Gold in Matrix ("Picture Rock") from Mine d'or O'Brien, Cadillac, Quebec



Cut Cerussite gem, 896 carats, from Tsumeb, Namibia
This is the world's largest cut Cerussite Gemstone, and an Iconic ROM Object
Cerussite is an extremely lustrous gemstone with amazing internal fire, greater than Diamond



Mass of Biotite Mica with Adam and Eli for Perspective
From the Purdy Mine, Eau Claire Station, Ontario



Minerals.net Delegation at the ROM Museum. Left to Right:
Adam Teller, Hershel Friedman, Eli Frommer