Bumpus quarry is a

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

Oxford County, Maine Oxford County is a county in the state of Maine, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the county had a population of 57,777. Its county seat is the town of Paris. The county was formed on March 4, 1805, by the Massachusetts General Court in t ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is primarily known for being the source of some of the largest

beryl Beryl ( ) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium Silicate minerals#Cyclosilicates, silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2(SiO3)6. Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and Aquamarine (gem), aquamarine. Naturally occurring Hex ...

crystals ever found, up to in length, weighing 26 tonnes (23.6

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the sh ...

s).

History

The quarry was opened in 1927 by Harry E. Bumpus, on land leased from the Cummings family. Bumpus worked the mine by hand from 1927 to 1933, mining

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

, and Harold Perham began mining in 1934. In 1936 the title to the land was sold to the United Feldspar and Minerals Corporation. However, it was not clear who now owned the mineral rights for the mine, and a legal battle ensued between the Bumpus family and the corporation. The mine was officially closed from 1940 to 1945 due to the ongoing legal proceedings. During the closure, the mine flooded, and several surveys of the area were made by the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

. In 1945, the United Feldspar Corp and Bumpus came to an agreement, allowing Dan C. Douglas to start pumping the mine in April, reopening it later that year. In 1949, the United Feldspar Corp gained full control of the property, and Douglas formed the Northern Mining Corporation in order to officially lease the mineral rights for the mine. Around this time, many large beryl crystals were found, the largest of them being found in 1949. The mine changed hands several times over the next few years, closing down in 1966 after a worker was killed by falling rocks. In 2005, the mine was bought by Dr. Lawrence Stifler and his wife Mary Mcfadden, with plans to reopen it as an educational facility about the history of mining in Oxford County. Tours around the mine are given for

amateur geologists An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History Hi ...

and school field trips.

Minerals

Although the mine was opened to mine feldspar, and it is most famous for its large beryl deposits, it has produced several other minerals in notable quantities as well. These include: * beryl ( aquamarine and heliodor varieties) * feldspar *

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

pyrite The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

(rose and smokey varieties) *

rutile Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite. Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at vis ...

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of th ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{cite report , last1=Neumann , first1=G. L. , title=Bumpus pegmatite deposit, Oxford County, Maine , date=1952 , series=Report of Investigations 4862 , url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015078468850&view=1up&seq=6 , publisher=U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Mines Mining in Maine Geography of Oxford County, Maine