THE FIRST OF TWO TH 30 ANNIVERSARY ISSUES TABL JOURNAL of the FRANKLIN-OGDENSBURG MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY, INC. SPRING, 1989 VOLUME 30, No. 1 PRICE $5.00 The contents of The Picking Table are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. THE THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY The Society is still possible to do so. The intensity and dedi- The Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society cation of the membership will meet this and fu- was founded in 1959 and the first issue of The ture challenges. Picking Table appeared in February, 1960. The Omer S. Dean, President, FOMS Society's formation followed the closing of the Franklin Mine by five years and the publication The Science of Mineralogy in Year of our of Palache's Professional Paper #180 by 24 years. Founding The faces of the Society and The Picking Table The year 1959 was also a period of diverse pur- have changed somewhat in the last thirty years. suits in mineralogy as scientists in England, However, the purpose of the organization and Germany, Switzerland, and the United States its journal remain the same. To refresh your continued the long tradition of research on the memory, the general purposes are: 1) To partici- minerals of Franklin and Sterling Hill. pate in the operation of a sound permanent mu- seum for Franklin minerals in Franklin, NJ. 2) In London, England, L.C. Trumper published his To collect and preserve mineralogical, geologi- report of the gemological characteristics of cal, and historical knowledge relating to the zincite. The crystal structure of Franklin rho- Franklin-Sterling Hill ore deposits. 3) To develop donite was published by F. Liebau of Berlin and new information on Franklin minerals and miner- his colleagues W. Kilmer and G. Lindemann. alogy through cooperative scientific programs Meanwhile, in Zurich, W.Th.Epprecht was study- with universities and other organizations and ing sussexite, and he published his results with individuals. 4) To obtain and make available, American coworkers W.T. Schaller and A.C. in proper perspective, accurate information on Vlisidis. Franklin minerals and mineralogy. 5). To facili- tate collection of Franklin minerals while con- Local studies were underway as well, and serving materials for future students and collec- Sterling Hill brandtite was found and described tors. 6) To facilitate identification of Franklin by R.V. Gaines. John Albanese was very active minerals. 7) To promote fellowship and the ad- at this time, publishing a paper on the metamor- vancement of both mineralogy and geology by phic minerals of Franklin, and beginning his ser- providing meetings of those interested in the ies of notes on the deposit, which he privately Franklin area. There are more purposes stated published from 1959-1961. in the F.O.M.S. constitution but these provide the essence. References: ALBANESE,J.S. (1959) The metamorphic miner- The Picking Table, 1, #1, had Clifford Frondel's als of Franklin, N.J. Earth Science, 12, 22-24. alphabetical list of validated mineral species ALBANESE, J.S. (1959) Notes on the minerals from the Franklin-Sterling Hill area plus two of Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey. Pri- last minute additions for a total of 172. The cur- vately published by John Albanese (1959-1961); rent Picking Table, 30, #1, also features a splen- one volume with eight parts, 149 pages. did article by Clifford Frondel. Likewise, this EPPRECHT, W.Th., SCHALLER, W.T., and issue has a mineral species list for the Franklin- VLISIDIS, A.C. (1959) Uber wiserit, sussexite, Sterling Hill area. The confirmed list now und ein weiteres Mineral aus den Manganerzen amounts to 330 species plus 4 others, reported vom Gonzen (beir Sargans). Schweizerische Min- but unconfirmed. The Society's involvement in eralogische und Petrographische Mitteilungen, the Franklin Mineral Museum continues to grow 39, 85-104. as does its liaison with universities such as GAINES, R.V. (1959) Brandtite at the Sterling Harvard and Lehigh. The Society, with its pa- Hill Mine, New Jersey. Am.Min., 44, 199-200. rade of faces and talent, continues to follow a LIEBAU, F.,HILMER, W., and LINDEMANN, G. purposeful path. (1959) Uber die Kristallstructur des rhodonites (Mn,Ca)SiO3. Acta Crystallographica, 12,182-187. The closing of the mine at Sterling Hill in early TRUMPER, L.C.(1959) The physical characteris- 1987 calls for some adjustment to our thinking. tics of zincite, a rare gemstone. The Gemologist, The challenge now is to place more emphasis 58, 81-83. on preservation of specimens and the record- Pete J. Dunn, Mineral Sciences ing of historical facts about the mines while it Smithsonian Institution The contents of The Picking Table are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The PICKING TABLE Journal of the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society, Incorporated TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. The Thirtieth Anniversary The Society by Omer S. Dean IFC The Science of Mineralogy in the Year of our Founding by Pete J. Dunn IFC History of a Classic; Charles Palache's Monograph on the Minerals of Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey by Clifford Frondel 02 The Epidote-Pyroxene-Fluorapophyllite Assemblage in the Franklin Mine at Franklin, New Jersey by Philip P. Betancourt 08 Palmer Shaft; Location of Headframe and Engine House —A tracing by Steven C. Misiur 11 The Franklin-Sterling Hill Mineral Species List, dated 12/31/88 12 In Memoria: Sunny Cook by John L. Baum and by Richard C. Bostwick 14 Henry Althoen by John L. Baum 15 Mineral Notes — Research Reports Ganophyllite 16 Bustamite & Rhodonite 17 Nasonite 17 Chalcophanite 17 From the Editor's Desk by Omer S. Dean 19 Historic Scenes—Classic Area photographs 20 A Franklin Fake by Pete J. Dunn 22 Wulfenite by Fred J. Parker 22 F.O.M.S. Spring Activity Schedule 24 ****************** THE COVER PHOTOGRAPHS Only the chosen few had an opportunity to collect specimens directly from the "picking table". These views help one to visualize the scene. Just imagine the noise level! (Counter-clockwise from top right) The "picking table" during operations, Franklin Mine, Franklin, New Jersey. The discharge chute from the "picking table" to the gyratory crusher. The gyratory crusher receiving ore from the "picking table" via the discharge chute. All photographs are circa 1940. All are from the archives of the Franklin Mineral Museum. Our thanks to Bob Svecz, who has placed these photo- graphs on loan to the museum. The Picking Table, Spring 1989 The contents of The Picking Table are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. HISTORY OF A CLASSIC: Charles Palachefs Monograph on the Minerals of Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey Clifford Prondel Professor of Mineralogy, Emeritus, Harvard University,Cambridge,MA The year 1985 was the 50th Anniversary of one the auspices of the U.S. Geological Survey. of the classics of American mineralogy, Charles This soon established the fact, fundamental to Palache's description of the mineralogy and ge- an understanding of the Franklin area, that the ology of the famous zinc mines at Franklin and so-called white limestone or Franklin formation Sterling Hill. It was published in 1935 by the was of Precambriam age and was not the meta- United States Geological Survey as Professional morphosed equivalent of the so-called blue lime- Paper 180. The monograph still stands both stone or Kittatinny formation of Ordovician as a model description of a mineral locality and age as earlier thought. It also resulted in the as a virtual Bible to the collectors of the multi- publication in 1908 of Franklin Furnace Folio tudinous minerals of the two mines. 161 of the Geological Atlas of the United States. This appeared under the authorship of A. C. In the Introduction to this work Palache remarks Spencer, J. E. Wolff, H. B. Kummel, R. D. "Through a variety of circumstances unnecessary Salisbury, and Charles Palache. Folio 161 gave to enumerate, this study has extended over a the first summary account of the geology and period of 25 years". After Palache wrote these mineralogy of the Franklin and Sterling Hill words, in the final version of the manuscript, mines and the surrounding area. It remained there was an unanticipated further delay and the standard reference work - today a collector's the total elapsed time from inception of the item - until the appearance of Palache's Profes- project in 1906 to actual publication rose to sional Paper 180 and the redescription of the 29 years. Palache was a reserved and sensitive geology of the area published by J. M. Hague, person, not always communicative about his J. L. Baum, L. A. Hermann and R. J. Pickering activities, and although his colleagues in the in 1956. Palache had been drawn into the prepa- Department of Mineralogy and Petrology at ration of Folio 161 as field assistant to Wolff. Harvard University knew that the progress of He contributed an annotated list of the 91 miner- his study over the years had met severe difficul- al species and varieties then known to occur ties the detailed circumstances have remained in the area. This was Palache's first contribution quite unknown. Recently, the writer had oc- to the mineralogy of Franklin and Sterling Hill. casion to go through Palache's professional cor- His list was gleaned from the literature and respondence, preserved in the archives of from local observations, and contained no new Harvard University, and extending from his ap- or original data. pointment to Harvard in 1896 to his death in 1954. This revealed the full and sometimes star- Matters soon changed. In 1906, after work on tling history of his monograph, and led to the Folio 161 had been completed, Wolff suggested discovery of his personal notebooks covering to Palache that he make a detailed and compre- the initial stages of his field work.