Mining for America: The Franklin-Sterling Hill, N.J. Zinc Mines

Franklin, NJ has held some of the greatest mineral deposits on planet Earth. Franklin has also contained some of the rarest specimens, and also the most variety; especially those minerals that exhibit fluorescent properties. These ores have been mined in Franklin and Sterling Hill in Ogdensburg for up to 350 years, and valued at upwards of a billion dollars.

This is the story of that mining operation known the world over to geologists and mineralogists as: “The Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World”

In Mining for America: The Franklin-Sterling Hill, N.J. Zinc Mines, author William Truran has produced a definitive book on the centuries-long endeavor to extract and use the vast zinc ore deposits in the Franklin area. Truran has a complete description of the history of the various zinc mining companies, culminating in the famous New Jersey Zinc Co. In the thick 320 pages there are almost 500 photographs, many rare and never-seen-before images of mining beneath the ground in the early 20th Century. The book contains a complete list of the enormous number of minerals from the deposit, and photographs, many in color, of some of the exceptional pieces in famous collections, including Harvard, Rutgers, American Museum of Natural History, Franklin Mineral Museum, and more. The unique mining, mill, and transport processes are described in detail and flow diagrams. Locations of the mines, shafts, and mills is included. A valuable resource for the serious mineralogist and collector to understand the Franklin deposit.