The Sterling Hill Mine, now known as the Sterling Hill Mining Museum, is a former zinc mine in Ogdensburg, Sussex County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States. It was the last working underground mine in New Jersey. It closed in 1986, and became a museum in 1989. Along with the nearby Franklin Mine, it is known for its variety of minerals, especially the

fluorescent Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...

varieties. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1991.

History

Sterling-hill-mining-museum-inside-adit-portal

Mining began at the site in the 1630s, when it was mistakenly thought to be a copper deposit.

George III of the United Kingdom George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great ...

granted the property to William Alexander, titled Lord Stirling. Stirling sold it to Robert Ogden in 1765. It went through several owners until the various mines were combined into the New Jersey Zinc Company in 1897. The mine closed in 1986 due to a tax dispute with the town, which foreclosed for back taxes in 1989 and auctioned the property to Richard and Robert Hauck for $750,000. It opened as a museum in August 1990.

Geology

The ore bodies at the Sterling Hill Mine lie within a formation called the Reading Prong massif; the ores are contained within the Franklin Marble.Dunn, Pete J.
"Introduction to local geology".Franklin & Sterling Hill Minerals website.
Retrieved 2011-09-06. This was deposited as limestone in a

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

oceanic rift trough.Dunn, Pete J.
"Regional geology".Franklin & Sterling Hill Minerals website.
Retrieved 2011-09-06. It subsequently underwent extensive metamorphosis during the

Grenville orogeny The Grenville orogeny was a long-lived Mesoproterozoic mountain-building event associated with the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia. Its record is a prominent orogenic belt which spans a significant portion of the North American continent, ...

, approximately 1.15 billion years ago.Wolf, Adam, John Rakovan, and Christopher Cahill.
"Ferroaxinite from Lime Crest Quarry, Sparta, New Jersey".
''Rocks & Minerals'', vol. 78 (July–August 2003), pp. 252-56. Retrieved 2011-09-06. Uplift and erosion during the late

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

and the

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

era ,exposed the ore bodies at the surface. The glaciers of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

strewed trains of ore-bearing boulders for miles to the south, in places creating deposits large enough to be worked profitably.Dunn, Pete J.
"Local geology".Franklin & Sterling Hill Minerals website.
Retrieved 2011-09-06. In the area of the Franklin and Sterling Hill mines, more than 360 minerals are known to occur. These make up approximately 10% of the minerals known to science. Thirty-five of these minerals have not been found anywhere else. Ninety-one of the minerals

fluoresce Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...

. There are of tunnels in the mine, going down to below the surface in the main shaft and in the lower shaft. As of 2017, other than the very top level of the mine (<100 ft), the entire lower section has been flooded due to the natural water table and hence is no longer accessible. The mine is at a constant .

Museum

The tour spends about 30 minutes inside the exhibit hall which contains a wide variety of mining memorabilia, mineralogical samples, fossils, and meteorites. It then leads into the mine for a walk on level ground through the upper level of the mine. The walk goes through a new section which they blasted in 1990 using 49 blasts and at a cost of $2 (~$ in ) a foot. In the Rainbow Tunnel, short wave UV lights are turned on to demonstrate the entire tunnel and various samples glowing with fluorescence. The mine is also home to the Ellis Astronomical Observatory, the Thomas S. Warren Museum of Fluorescence, and a large collection of mining equipment.

References

Literature

* Robert W. Jones, ''Nature's hidden rainbows'', Ultra-Violet Products, Inc., San Gabriel Calif., 120 pp., 1964
(pdf 34MB)

External links

Sterling Hill Mining Museum
official website
Mindat.org entry for Sterling HillSterling Hill ore and rock samples
photo gallery {{authority control Geology of New Jersey Underground mines in the United States Mining museums in New Jersey Industry museums in New Jersey Museums in Sussex County, New Jersey Geology museums in New Jersey Mines in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Sussex County, New Jersey Ogdensburg, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Museums established in 1989 1989 establishments in New Jersey Gulf and Western Industries