The best website on "Herkimer Diamonds"
Information and Mineral Sequence for Hanson/Benchmark Quarry (HBQ), St. Johnsville, NY
This is an active commercial crushed stone quarry. It is both illegal and dangerous to enter without permission. You risk fine and possible jail time if you enter this quarry without permission.
As far as I am aware - the owners NEVER give permission. The photo below shows the loose boulder risk.
The photos below illustrate the size of the exposed rock and the rare opportunity to examine the Herkimer zones over long distances.
We are making some progress at gathering information on this special location. There is more to be gathered. Your help is needed. Comments on our progress will be made here.
This photo shows how small the man looks, and this is a close up of only a small section of the quarry wall! It also shows all the loose boulders overhead and why it is very dangerous to be where that man is sitting.
The photo does show, and fairly nicely, a middle zone of pockets (the black holes) and as predicted they do follow the bedding. It is interesting to note that the bedding is not perfectly flat and that the pockets are not evenly distributed. This has been noted at other mines.
There is a lower zone, where the man is, look carefully and you can see a series of pockets left and right of the man at the bottom of the wall.
It has been reported that there is also an upper third zone. It is difficult to see in this photo.
Unlike other mines, large pockets have been found between the zones and are associated with an increase in the frequency of dolomite veins.
Perhaps these photos make clear to the viewer the rare opportunity the HBQ offers to examine the mineralized zones over long distances. Photographs could be taken over the entire length - not just once but multiple times over a few years. This would greatly aid in the understanding of where the pockets form, and maybe even help some with the great mystery of why.
HBQ is also unique in that, for the most part, weathering has not had a significant impact. Even a casual examination of the mineralization patterns acrosss this distance (and done several times over a few years) would help to establish how the deposited mineralization changes across long distances. This is information that would be of use to the science of all similar mineralization procceses throughout the world.
No other mine in the district offers these opportunities.
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This honey colored, translucent to transparent, calcite in this form is unique to HBQ, but also common to the location. The calcite at this mine is known for its pristine quality as compared to other mines in the Herkimer district. More photo examples can be found on the calcite page.
The specimen was donated by Frank, 2010. It is 12 cm across. You can clearly see the pyramid termination of one crystal in the center, and others nearby. Photo Dr. D.
Pristine clear and brilliant white dolomite as well as well preserved examples of sufides are also common for this location. Photos of these can be found on the dolomite page and the sulfide page.
Below we will post our progress being made on gathering data about the minerals from this special mine. DONATIONS OF SAMPLES are needed to help with this research.
