Spinel Forest Of Dean Mines Fort Montgomery Orange Co. New York USA FOV:2.5 mm

Spinel Locations in New York State

Name	County	Lat	Long
20 Rows	Data exported from DRC 3.00 (c) 2012 Gary Kindel
CHENEY POND ORE BODY	ESSEX	44.05	-74.083333
CROTON AVENUE PIT & PLANT	WESTCHESTER	41.285556	-73.875278
DALTON ORE BODY	ESSEX	44.083333	-73.616667
DE LUCA EMERY MINE	WESTCHESTER	41.282778	-73.874444
EMERY HILL EMERY PROSPECT	WESTCHESTER	41.280278	-73.879167
EMERY HILL MINE	WESTCHESTER	41.278333	-73.874444
FOREST OF DEAN Mines	ORANGE	41.334444	-74.015
FURNACE DOCK EMERY MINE	WESTCHESTER	41.271944	-73.869444
KINGSTON EMERY MINE	WESTCHESTER	41.244167	-73.873333
LINCOLN POND MINE	ESSEX	44.133333	-73.583333
MACINTYRE DEVELOPMENT	ESSEX	44.051111	-74.050833
MONTROSE EMERY PROSPECTS	WESTCHESTER	41.239722	-73.935278
MOUNT ADAMS ORE BODY	ESSEX	44.083333	-74.05
PEEKSKILL AREA PROSPECT	WESTCHESTER	41.25	-73.916667
SALT HILL EMERY PROSPECTS	WESTCHESTER	41.239167	-73.866389
SANFORD LAKE DISTRICT MINE	ESSEX	44.05	-74.05
SPLIT ROCK MINE	ESSEX	44.216667	-73.366667
TILLY FOSTER MINE	PUTNAM	41.4125	-73.6425
TUNNEL MOUNTAIN MINES	ESSEX	44.2	-73.55
UPPER WORKS ORE BODY	ESSEX	44.1	-74.066667

Herkimer Diamond Hunting Locations

List of Herkimer Diamond Locations here.


Ace of Diamonds Mine and Campground - Middleville NY

The Ace of Diamonds Mine is located on NYS Route
28 within the village limits of Middleville.

Traveling from the WEST, use Exit 30 (Herkimer) NYS Thruway to
NYS Route 28 North. (We are approximately 9 miles
from the Herkimer Exit).

From the EAST use Exit 29A (Little Falls) NYS Thruway to NYS Route 169, at Middleville, turn left onto NYS Route 28, South. (We are
approximately 13 miles from the Little Falls Exit).

Tel: (315) 891-3855

Address:

Ace of Diamonds Mine
P.O. Box 505
Middleville, New York,
13406-505 USA

View Larger Map

Treasure Mountain Diamond Mine, Little Falls, NY

Address: 1959 State Route 5S Little Falls, NY 13365

Tel: 315-823-7625

Hickory Hill Diamond Diggings, Fonda, N.Y.

Minerals: Flawless double terminated quartz crystals (Herkimer Diamonds)

Description: These mines are famous for water-clear, Herkimer diamonds (double terminated quartz crystals.) Pockets can contain hundreds of these beautiful crystals often in clusters and occasionally containing water or bubble inclusions. Last year while they were digging a pit for an outhouse they dug up grapefruit sized crystals just in the topsoil! This site offers hard rock collecting for those that have the energy. For the less energetic you can screen through the soil and find crystals that have weathered from the rock.

Bring: Screens, hand tools, prybars, sledge hammers, insect repellent.

Only open three weekends a year (Memorial Day, July Fourth, and Labor Day.)

Diamond Acres Mine, Fonda NY

Minerals: Flawless double terminated quartz crystals (Herkimer Diamonds)

Description: This location is open year round. For a fee you can collect daily.

Crystal Grove Diamond Mine & Campground
Located just outside of St. Johnsville in the foothills of New York's beautiful Adirondack Mountains


View Larger Map

New York Hot Springs

Hot Springs SpreadSheet (this data is included in DRC 2.0)

State	Coordinates		Spring Name	Temperature
	LAT	LONG		F	C
NY	42.48	73.37	LEBANON SPRING	72	22

Fossil Collecting at Penn Dixie quarry, New York

Source Article by Diana Fattori and Nando Musmarra

This site is a former quarry that once was the source of calcareous shale excavated and used for cement aggregate by the Penn Dixie Cement Company. After quarry operations ceased in the 1960, weathering forces began to expose 380 million-year-old Devonian fossils preserved within the Windom Shale. This highly fossiliferous unit underlies the entire site and provides an inexhaustible supply of fossils. In addition to the Windom Shale, several limestone units outcrop on the surface. All those units contain a big variety of fossils.

380 millions years ago the region was 20 to 30 degree south of the equator, the actual Hamburg area was covered by a warm tropical sea providing an environment conducive for a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate animals. The shales and limestones that formed during this period preserved the remains of the diverse and abundant fauna that occupied these seas. The following discussion of the units present on the site begins with the Wanakah Shale at the north end through the West River Shale to the south.

The Wanakah Shale is a gray calcareous shale that weathers to a sticky clay. It is a popular area for fossil collecting (Brachiopods, bryozoans, trilobites, gastropods, pelecypods, echinoderms, corals, sponges, ostracodes, and some pyritized fossils).

The Tichenor Limestone (1.5 to 2 feet thick) has pyrite coated surface that exhibits a reddish-rusty color. This layer is often referred to as “crinoid heaven” due to the countless number of pelmatozoan columnals.
The Tichenor Limestone contains corals, brachiopods, pelecypods, trilobites, bryozoans, and echinoderms, all of which are difficult to remove from the hard limestone.

The Windom Shale is a dark gray, calcareous mudstone with several thin argillaceous limestones, concretionary beds, phosphate nodules and sticky clay (Beuhler and Tesmer, 1963).

The Penn Dixie site has the most complete exposure of Windom Shale in New York State, approximately 42 feet thick, that contains a variety of corals, brachiopods, pelmatozoan columnals, bryozoans, trilobites, gastropods, pelecypods, cephalopods, and more rarely fish remains, plant material, and blastoid and crinoid calices. The upper Windom has a variety of pyritized fossils that include brachiopods, pelecypods, cephalopods, trilobites, and blastoids

The North Evans Limestone is a dark-gray crinoidal limestone that is 1.5 to 4 inches thick. Erosional lag concentrations of hiatus concretions, pelmatozoan fragments, conodonts, fish plates, teeth, and mandibles, along with some brachiopod valves, are present. Carbonized plant remains are also found in this unit.

The Genundewa Limestone is a nodular, dark-gray to light gray poorly bedded limestone, which has been referred to as the “Styliolina Limestone”.. Carbonized wood can be frequently found, but other examples of the fauna are more difficult to obtain.
The West River Shale is dark gray to black in color. Most of this unit is covered by overburden at Penn Dixie. Conodonts, cephalopods, pelecypods, and fish remains have been reported from the West River Shale at other localities in Western New York.

In the Penn Dixie quarry is easy to find the trilobite Phacops rana (especially enrolled specimens!) washed out of the shale after a good rainstorm. Also multiple complete trilobites on a slab are common in the quarry.
The site was purchased by the Town of Hamburg in 1995 to preserve the former quarry and its associated wetlands saving one of the richest sites of 380-million-year-old Devonian Era fossils in the eastern United States. Now the site is owned and operated by The Hamburg Natural History Society, Inc (HNHS) a non-profit educational corporation and by the Outdoor Education Center of Hamburg, New York. The society was founded to promote the study of the natural sciences, astronomy (a seismographic and climatological station are planned to be included in the center) and ornithology (there are more than 140 bird’s species nesting and living in the quarry) with a particular emphasis on field activities associated with the geological and biological sciences.

Unlike conventional museums or research facilities, the Penn Dixie Site is an outdoor educational facility where visitors of all ages are encouraged to collect and take home the 380 million year old fossils. There is a small fee to collect in the quarry (6.00$ each adult; you can also consider to join the Society for one year for 20.00 $ like individual or 35.00$ like family and then collecting for free as many times as you like).
The Society reprinted an old exceptional book “Geology and Paleontology of Eighteen Mile Creek” by Amadeus W. Grabau, the book is very useful for identify the Penn Dixie fossils. Grabau was a distinguished geologist and paleontologist, he was the first professor of paleontology at the Columbia University. He moved to China where he became chief paleontologist of the National University of Peking. He was also closely connected with discoveries of Peking man.
The Executive Director of Penn Dixie Education Center is Jerold Bastedo, if any of you readers will visit the area out from the visiting schedules, it is a good idea contact him to arrange a visit to the quarry. Mr. Bastedo loves to have visitors from all around the world, he will be happy to fix for you a day to collect enrolled trilobites, beautiful spirifers, corals and others Devonian fossils. Penn Dixie staff and volunteer guides will direct visitors to the better collecting areas on the site.
If you are planning a trip in eastern United States, remember to include the area around Hamburg: good food and Devonian fossils. Is your appetite whetted?
The Penn Dixie society website is www.penndixie.org
(All photo by Nando Musmarra except as noted)

	Phacops rana collected by Jon Luellen and prepared by Gerry Kloc. Collected from the Lower Windom Shale at Penn Dixie. The trilobite is 5 cm. long. Photo provided by J. C.

Fossil Collecting in NY, NJ, and PA

Another interesting Fossil collecting article for NY, NJ, and PA

Fossil Collecting, NY and PA sites

Authors: Chris and Debbie Marotta (FossilGuy@Suffolkgem.com)

Content by courtesy of : Suffolk Gem & Mineral Club, Inc.

Whether interested in an adventure, or pondering the origin of nature, Paleontology can be fascinating and educational hobby. One of the most exciting activities in this field is attending a fossil dig. There are a number of places to dig, within a few hundred miles of Suffolk County, for either family fun or paleo-enthusiasts.

We owe our scientific "awakening" and love of nature to the late John Mlecz of the "Petrified Creatures Museum" in Richfield Springs (10 miles north of Cooperstown NY. on Route 20). This museum and it’s adjoining fossil pit provides an ideal introduction to the world of fossils to the entire family. After viewing the museums displays people are invited to dig in the pit for Devonian fossils (approximately 390 million years old). Visitors are allowed to take home their finds. The sedimentary rock is very hard but full of fossils. Small children should be closely supervised. When we last visited this site, everyone who dug was guaranteed to go home with a fossil. The hours opened are seasonal.

Another great collecting place for the whole family is Poricy Park in Monmouth County, NJ. This is a park that was preserved due to the efforts of its local community. Here they have a nature center, acres of woodlands, and generously allow moderate collecting of Cretaceous fossils that erode out of Poricy Brook. Visitors should only collect those fossils that wash out of the brook (as opposed to destroying its banks). The fossils are almost entirely sea life-extinct oysters, etc., although one year age, we found a small therapod tooth.

Still another great family fossil collecting site is Beltzville State Park. in Pennsylvania. Unlike many other states, Pennsylvania allows fossil collecting in designated areas in some of it’s State Parks. Beltzville, located in eastern PA., is a man-made lake that has been made in a Mid-Devonian fossil bed. Fossils can be found by simply wading into the lake and looking at the rocks under foot. A complete variety of Devonian life is represented. People are asked to collect conservatively so that fossils will be available to all visitors.

For the more adventurous, New York and Pennsylvania offer a variety of road cuts and fossil collecting locations. One of my favorites is the Suedeburg site in Swatara State Park, Central PA. This one is quite a drive but the mountains and miles of forests make a very scenic journey. One may want to stop along the way and pick up a nice piece of anthracite coal while passing through Carbon County on the way.

The Suedeburg site is on the "old state road" that runs through Swatara. Finding this road can be more difficult than finding the site. Once you do get on the old state road there is a clearing, several miles into the park, with about 100yds of the Mahantango Formation exposed (approximately 375 million years old). Some of the fossils here can be spectacular. One year we found a partial trilobite with a rare impression of the softer tissue.

SOME FOSSIL COLLECTING HINTS:

• The most important tool to bring is safety goggles (We have often learned this the hard way.) Some other good paleo-tools are hammers, stone chisels (or an old railroad spike), a whisk broom or old paint brush, many plastic bags and small sandwich bags, aluminum foil for delicate or broken fossils, and plenty of water.
• Always be certain that you have permission to collect at the fossil site.
• Try to avoid overcollecting. This will help keep fossil hunting available to everyone. Besides, who really needs a garage full of rocks?
• Avoid harming the site. (Let’s not give them reason to close it)
• Bring a map. Whenever possible try to document where you found your fossils. This may help you to identify your finds later on. The map may also help you find other interesting things in the area
• And finally, safety is always more important than any fossil.

HAPPY COLLECTING!