This locality deserves its own gallery because it has been among my favorite places since my interest developed in 1981. I will post articles and site photos elsewhere on my website. Check below or drop me a note to find out what’s new.
Many photos are self-collected specimens from Hastie’s Quarries, Cave in Rock, Hardin Co., Illinois. I was introduced to Don & Bob by the late Gill Montgomery back in 1983. The mining area today scarcely resembles its appearance in the 1980s. Smaller mine locations within Hastie’s include: Austin Lead mine, Cleveland mine, Green-Defender, adits that led to the Victory mine, and the Lead Hill mine. These old mines date from the 1920s to the 1950s and were largely mined through as the quarry’s chief product has always been limestone and sandstone. This location is the south side of “Spar Mountain” – a escarpment about 1 mile north of the Ohio River in the Cave in Rock area.
Other Hardin Co. Illinois localities where I found minerals include the dumps of the Rosiclare Lead & Spar Co. mill (site closed in the 1950s) – it’s now the location of the American Fluorite Museum, the Annabel Lee mine, Minerva No. 1 mine, and the Barnett mine Conn’s mine, a surface pit near the Gaskin’s mine and the Henson mine, in Pope Co., Illinois.
Kentucky localities include mine dumps and diggings in Crittenden and Livingston Counties. I collected my first hemimorphite at the Hickory Cane in 1987. The mine dumps were turned for the early Clement Mineral Museum field trips and shows and produced small but spectacular examples of the species for the fluorspar district. I had the pleasure of roaming with Bill Frazer, of Marion, Kentucky, who worked in Kentucky mines and who’s land contains the Old Jim and Columbia mine and Eureka prospects, the latter two being specimen producers, the Columbia is well-known for its fluorescent minerals.
While my award-winning article published by the Mineralogical Record in 1997 is a good history of the area, I have found so much more since that I could rewrite that article. And one of these days, I will!
Like my website, this gallery is a work-in-progress. Specimens will be posted in alphabetic order: Azurite, Barite, Calcite, Celestine, Cerussite, Chalcopyrite, Fluorite, Galena, Hemimorphite, Hydrozincite, Kaolinite, Malachite, Quartz, Petroleum, Smithsonite, Sphalerite, Strontianite, & Witherite. Alstonite & paralstonite and benstonite are reported and I have a photo or two of those. Maybe even marcasite, pyrite & sulfur!
Calcite
Calcite – Calcium carbonate – is a common mineral. Some mines produced some distinctive crystals (Denton, for instance). Hastie’s calcites were mostly barrel-shaped with negative rhomb terminations, but scalenohedrons were found. I have an odd-shaped 50 pound crystal in my garden collected around 2015 or 16, but most are much smaller.
Calcite crystal coated with somewhat iridescent iron (goethite?). Collected by me from the old Austin Lead mine exposed in Hastie’s Quarry in July 1984. FOV = 3 cmCalcite pseudomorph after gas bubbles! (Coated with dried bitumen.) Found during my first visit to the Hastie’s in 1983. I didn’t notice the weirdness until nearly 20 years later when examining specimens in my collection with a binocular microscope. FOV ~5mm Calcite pseudomorph after gas bubbles with dried bitumen. Found during my first visit to the Hastie’s in 1983. FOV ~1 cmA microscope view of calcite showing parallel doubly-terminated crystals. With frothy-looking fluorite, this specimen was likely etched by acidic fluids. Collected by me November 5, 1983 from the old Austin Lead mine exposed in Hastie’s Quarry in 1986. View ~1 cm.Not handsome, this large specimen covered in small calcite crystals was collected by me from the old Austin Lead mine exposed in Hastie’s Quarry in 1986. That locality has long been quarried away.Spray of calcite crystals with minor goethite coating on etched fluorite. Collected by me from the old Austin Lead mine exposed in Hastie’s Quarry in July 1984. Calcite – a large mass of drusy crystals (fracture-filling) with a cluster of brown scalenohedrons on one side. Collected by me from the old Austin Lead mine exposed in Hastie’s Quarry in August 11,1984. Calcite on etched fluorite (not scale on right), collected October 26, 1984 from the dump on the north side of the old Austin mine.Calcite – “The Mustache” perched on fluorite, from the middle workings, the east part of the Cleveland mine workings or barite diggings, Hardin Co., IL. Collected May 24, 1986. One of my favorite self-collected specimens from Cave in rock, Illinois. Calcite in parallel growth from the famous Minerva No. 1 mine north of Cave in Rock. This specimen was obtained in the early 1960s by Jim Below and traded with me in March 1987 for other minerals to build up his inventory for his business.Calcite with minor fluorite from the north orebody of the Annabel Lee mine, Harris Creek sub-district, Hardin Co., Illinois. Purchased at a rock shop in the area in the mid-1990s for a mere $15. Note the 2 cm scale on the left. Calcite crystal without a mine locality from Cave in Rock, Illinois. Obtained from Steve Garza’s collection.Calcite – snowy white – on sphalerite. No locality with the specimen, but probably from the Minerva No. 1 mine because the sphalerite crystals are so large. Ex-Steve Garza specimen.
Fluorite
Fluorite – Calcium Fluoride – became an important mineral in the 1880s when it was found to be an ideal flux to purify molten iron. Since then, it has found thousands of other industrial uses. During World War II, miners and anyone associated with the fluorspar mining industry were not allowed to join the fight in Europe or the Pacific. They had to produce ore for the war effort. Anyone who slipped away to join the army were sent home to work the mines!
Fluorite occurs in many colors. In the district, shades of purple and yellow were most common in the bedding replacement deposits, while white and brown were common in the veins. Blue is well-documented and highly sought by collectors. Green was found in the Rose mine in Hick’s dome. I found pink crystals at Conn’s mine in Pope Co. In general, most fluorite doesn’t fluoresce in the fluorspar district, except from oil inclusions. Fluorite around Hick’s dome has enough rare earth elements so it glows bright blue!
Smoky blue fluorite with caliche from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. Smoky blue fluorite from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. Zoned fluorite cut to show white and purple inside, from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. A chunk of fluorite cut to show blue and purple inside, from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. Pink fluorite with cerussite and galena, from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. FOV ~2 cm Yellow fluorite from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. Yellow cubes with a little purple. Back contains corroded crystals coated with tiny quartz needles. Conn’s mine, collected in 1984.Purple over yellow fluorite, from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. Smoky blue fluorite with caliche from Conn’s mine, Pope Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. Fluorite dusted with barite, old Austin Lead mine, Hastie’s Quarries, Cave in Rock, Hardin Co., Illinois. Collected in 1983. Fluorite dusted with barite, old Austin Lead mine, Hastie’s Quarries, Cave in Rock, Hardin Co., Illinois. Collected in 1983. Fluorite cube cluster, old Austin Lead mine, Hastie’s Quarries, Cave in Rock, Hardin Co., Illinois. Collected in 1984. The back of a specimen calcite on fluorite specimen shown above. It has crystalline fluorite and a seam of barite. Collected October 26, 1984 from the dump on the north side of the old Austin mine. Fluorite with iridescent goethite (iron hydroxide) coating. Old Austin Lead mines, collected in 1984. FOV ~ 2 cmBitumen coating lustrous amber fluorite cubes. Old Austin Lead mine. Purple over yellow fluorite surrounded by shale. Oxford Cut, Collected summer, 1987.Mass of purple fluorite crystals protected by wet clay when found. Oxford Cut, Collected summer, 1987.Large purple fluorite crystals protected by wet clay when found. Oxford Cut, Collected summer, 1987.Fluorite chip showing “Mercedes” pattern on the corner axis. Diamond drill cores on solid fluorite found in Allied Chemical Co. core dump by Victory mine shaft.
Malachite
Malachite coating corroded chalcopyrite in calcite. From the old Austin Lead mine, collected by me in July 1984.
