The Minerals of New York City (2024)

A review of the history of mining, mineral collecting and minerals found in the five boroughs of New York City

including all five boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island within the New York Counties of Richmond County, Queens County, Kings County, Bronx County and New York County

by John H. Betts, All Rights Reserved
This article The Minerals of New York City was originally published in Rocks& Minerals magazine, May/June 2009 issue
(Volume 84, No . 3 pages 204-252) and was awarded the 2009 Best Article inthat magazine by the Friends of Mineralogy.

Introduction to The Minerals of New York City

The landscape of New York City (NYC) was arguably the most exposed and excavatedarea in the U.S., possibly only matched by that of Philadelphia. Bedrockwas exposed for basem*nt excavations of buildings to 30 m deep, cut-and-covertrenches passing through bedrock for subway lines, and the underground railroad,sewer, water and steam tunnels that crisscross the city. Just one example,the 1903-1913 excavation for the New York Central railroad yards under whatis now Park Avenue north of Grand Central Station produced 3 million cubicyards of excavated rock. During these projects local residents interestedin minerals have managed to make many mineral discoveries. Oftentimes theworkers themselves were the ones that set aside a unique mineral occurrence.

Because NYC bedrock has been so thoroughly exposed, a surprising number ofminerals have been found here. The current list of the minerals from NewYork City include 129 valid mineral species. If NYC were a single localitythis number of mineral species would be impressive. But there are six diversegeologic environments found within city boundaries.

Even more surprising is that three mineral finds in New York City are amongthe best specimens of that mineral species found within the USA. The famous"Subway Garnet" is the largest, well developed single crystal of almandinegarnet the author has seen from the USA; while the glassy yellow-greenchrysoberyl found by Wallace Goold Levison frozen in quartz matrix certainlyranks among the best from the USA. Finally the well crystallized artinitespecimens found on Staten Island are equal to the similar specimens foundin San Benito County, California.

History

Archibald Bruce produced in 1814 the first list of New York City mineralsthat included minerals from Corlaer's Hook on the lower east side of Manhattan.This was a large alluvial deposit 20-50 meters deep and a mile north of thecity limits at the time. The largest boulder at Corlaer's Hook measured 6meters in length and was serpentine, possibly from the deposits between 58thand 60th Street on the west side of Manhattan (Chamberlin, 1888). In 1818the Lyceum of Natural History of New York was founded in Manhattan and wasthe central scientific body for geology and mineralogy in the city. One ofthe Lyceum members, Issachar Cozzens, published the first reference on NYCgeology in 1843, including a hand-colored map and geologic sections of Manhattan.Cozzens also donated 49 mineral specimens from NYC to the Lyceum in 1843.The Lyceum's name was changed in 1876 to the New York Academy of Sciences(NYAS) and the mineralogy section contained many notable early amateurmineralogists including W.F. Chamberlin, his son B.B. Chamberlin, Dr. BenjaminNicholas Martin (1816-1883), his son Dr. Daniel S. Martin and S.C.H. Bailey(1822-1910) whose mineral collection of 5000+ specimens was acquired in 1874by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), founded in 1869, and wasthe first mineral collection purchased by the museum.

The Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences started publicationin 1881 and chronicles the lectures and discussions held by the sectionsof the NYAS, including mineralogy. Many reports and exhibits were made bythe members, which included George F. Kunz (1856-1932) noted gem expert,author, and vice-president of Tiffany & Co.; Benjamin B. Chamberlin(1831-1888) engraver and accomplished collector of New York City minerals;and Daniel Strobel Martin (1842-1925) geology professor and author, who appearsto be largest contributor to the operation of the mineralogy section of theNYAS. It was at the NYAS on May 31st, 1886 that B.B. Chamberlin announcedthe discovery of the "Subway Garnet". At the same meeting, D.S. Martin proposedthat the NYAS membership should assemble a collection of mineral specimensfrom NYC and suggested B.B. Chamberlin's mineral collection could be acquiredto form the nucleus of such a collection.

Shortly thereafter, on September 21st, 1886 the NewYork Mineralogical Club (NYMC) was founded by Kunz, Martin and Chamberlinwith the first meeting held at Martin's home at 236 West 4th Street. Theyfounded the club "to form a cabinet of New York County minerals beforeimprovements now going on in said county made it impossible to form sucha cabinet and presenting the collection to a museum." Clearly the 35 mineralcollectors at the first meeting were concerned about the loss of the naturallandscape to the creeping urbanism that was working north on Manhattan Islandbut had not yet reached far above 50th Street. By the second meeting of theNYMC the membership included three particularly notable mineral collectorsClarence Bement (1843-1923) penultimate mineral collector whose collectionis now at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC; Washington A. Roebling(1837-1926) builder of the Brooklyn Bridge whose collection now resides atthe Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.;and William Niven (1850-1937) an early mineral dealer who eventually servedon the Board of Directors of the Houston Museum of Natural History.

The NYMC was a separate group from the NYAS even though they shared commonmembers. In 1887 the NYAS hosted the annual meeting of the American Associationfor the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) and recognized the value of incorporatingspecialized local societies following the model of the AAAS. The NYAS invitedother societies to apply for affiliation. The NYMC was the first to applyand on April 2, 1888 the NYAS membership voted to unite the two groups withthe provision that the NYMC retain their name and independence. Thereafterthe NYMC met with (and essentially ran) the mineralogy section of the NYASand published meeting reports in the Transactions of the NYAS. Prior toincorporation with the NYAS, the NYMC reports can be found in the Exchanger'sMonthly, an early magazine published for mineral collectors.

In 1892, George Kunz proposed to the club membership that an exhibit of NewYork City minerals be prepared for the upcoming World's Columbian Expositionin Chicago in 1893. Kunz took responsibility for assembling and financingthe exhibit. The NYMC exhibit was in the Mines and Mining Building as partof Group 42: Minerals, Ores, Native Metals, Gems and Crystals - GeologicalSpecimens. It received an award for the exhibit, one of the thousands presentedto the exhibitors, and an engraved diploma prepared by the Bureau of Engravingand Printing under the Direction of the Executive Committee of the World'sColumbian Exposition Commission was presented to the club in 1896. OtherNew York State exhibitors that received awards in this group included: GeorgeKunz (3 awards), Ward's Natural Science Establishment (4 awards), and Tiffany& Co. (2 awards). In 1894 the exhibition committee requested a catalogof the NYMC exhibit for their records and the NYMC authorized the preparationof the catalog at their April 1894 meeting. The diploma and catalog are nolonger in the NYMC files, though a duplicate of the diploma should be onfile at the National Archives.

Despite their unassuming name, the NYMC was a serious organization of respectedprofessionals. Each new member had to be sponsored (proposed) by an existingmember, reviewed by the membership committee that recommended candidatesto the entire membership, then were voted in by a majority of the members.Over the 120+ years the club name has not changed, even though the name hasbeen variously misstated as the Mineralogical Club of New York, New YorkMineralogical Society, The New York Mineral Society, and The New York MineralClub.

The NYMC club members took the task of preserving New York City mineralsseriously. Over the years they added to the collection through purchasesof important specimens and collections. Though there have been losses overthe years, the club collection still has approximately 700 specimens remainingand is currently housed for safekeeping at the AMNH. Today the collectionand is still the best reference we have of New York City minerals collectedprior to 1930.

In April 1888 the NYMC meeting minutes reported that Dr. Sieberg, as chairmanof the collection committee, had received acceptance from the AMNH to storethe club collection "subject to certain reasonable regulations" and thecollection was moved there in the summer of that year. The NYMC mineralcollection has been permanently loaned to the AMNH since then and portionswere placed on display in two cases in the north end of the old Hall of Geology.One case exhibited the minerals encountered when crossing the Manhattan Islandeast to west. The other case exhibited the wide variety of minerals foundon Manhattan. The NYMC collection was displayed for over 50 years in themuseum, but sadly is no longer on public display. At the time of this article,plans were being made for an exhibit at the New York State Museum in Albanyto display the best of the NYMC mineral collection.

Early Collectors and Collections

Several local mineral collectors stand out in the history of mineral collectingin New York City.

Benjamin B. Chamberlin

The largest private collection of New York City minerals was assembled byBenjamin B. Chamberlin (1831-1888) who was the catalyst for the formationof the NYMC. B.B. Chamberlin was an engraver and created the engraving ofthe Subway Garnet that appeared in New York Academy of Sciences TransactionsVolume 5 for May 31, 1886 and Gems & Precious Stones of North America(1890). After he served in the Civil War, he returned to New York City, wherehe considered it his life's work to assemble a collection of mineral specimensfrom the city. In 1888 B.B. Chamberlin died and the NYMC arranged to purchasehis collection of approximately 1000 New York City minerals from his estatefor $1500, a large sum at the time when a common laborer's wages averaged$6-$10 per week. Articles in the New York Times announced club appeals forfunds to purchase the collection. At the time, Chamberlin's collection wasconsidered the most extensive collection of local minerals in existence andit became the core of the NYMC mineral collection that currently residesat the American Museum of Natural History.

George F. Kunz

Arguably one of the most important influences on minerals and collectingis GeorgeKunz (1856-1932). Much has been written about Kunz, and by Kunz, thisarticle will not repeat them. As co-founder of the NYMC, Kunz took the taskof assembling a collection for the NYMC seriously, and he acquired many importantNYC mineral specimens. These were labeled as loaned to the NYMC or part ofthe Kunz collection on loan to the NYMC. Upon his death he bequeathed theNYMC full ownership of the minerals on loan, including the famous SubwayGarnet. He also left an endowment to the NYMC to fund an annual prize forbest publication on the minerals of NYC. The Kunz prize was bestowed annuallyfor many years, but in the 1980s, when the club had lost their elite stature,the endowment was merged (illegally) into the general club treasury. TwoKunz prizes were awarded in the 1990s, but currently the NYMC has abandonedthe prize again due to poor response to their call for papers.

Gilman S. Stanton

Throughout his life Gilman Shattuck Stanton (1872-1954) was a passionatemineral collector. As a student, he discovered the famous find of almandinegarnets at 65th Street and Broadway that ranks among the best finds in Manhattan.He was a lifelong member of the NYMC and eventually presided as their presidentfor many years. Upon his death in 1954, Stanton's mineral collection wasacquired by Hugh Ford (1885-1966), the New York City-based mineral dealer.Ford's advertisem*nts in Rocks & Minerals (November-December 1954) offered"Sphene, Harlem, New York City" most likely referring to the specimens Stantonrecovered during the construction of the Harlem Speedway, known as the HarlemRiver Drive today. (Fitton 1995)

James G. Manchester

The two most authoritative references on New York City minerals at the timewere written byJamesGreenfield Manchester (1871-1948); The Minerals of Broadway (1914) andThe Minerals of New York City and Its Environs (1931), plus several smallerarticles about the minerals of NYC. The specimens he donated to the NYMCcollection rank among the best in the collection and the name Manchesterassociated with a specimen carries an implicit association of quality. Manchesterpermanently loaned many of his best NYC mineral specimens to the NYMC. Afterthe death of his wife Manchester donated his mineral collection, with theexception of the loaned specimens that were bequeathed to the NYMC, tothelibrary in Falls River, Massachusetts where they were labeled as the "FlorencePilkington Manchester Memorial Collection," where it resided until recentlydispersed.

Local Mineral Museum Collections

The following museums have significant collections of mineral specimens fromNYC.

American Museum of Natural History

The AMNH has the finest worldwide mineral and gem collection on display inthe New York City area. Their display once had systematic exhibits ofglass-topped cabinets but these were abandoned for the dramatic lightingand displays popular in the 1970s. Only a handful of mineral specimens fromNYC are currently on display. Notably an artinite specimen and a serpentinespecimen from Staten Island; a muscovite crystal from 172nd Street and FortWashington Avenue; and a large trapezohedral almandine crystal from the NYMCcollection labeled as from simply "New York, NY" that was found at West 166thStreet and Knowlton Place, near the current Columbia Presbyterian MedicalCenter. The museum is located at 79th Street on Central Park West in NYC.

New York State Museum

The NYSM has a large collection of minerals and they take seriously the taskof preserving NY State minerals, acquiring NY specimens when they becomeavailable. Their current displays show the breadth and beauty of NY minerals,well beyond the Herkimer Diamonds that novice collectors think of when NYminerals are discussed. The NYSM collection of New York City minerals issecond only to the NYMC collection. Fortunately the NYSM has greater flexibilityin adding or rotating the minerals on display and they plan a case of theminerals of NYC in the near future with the help of the AMNH and NYMC. TheNYSM is on Madison Avenue, south of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY.

The Staten Island Museum

In 1881 the Natural Science Association of Staten Island was founded. Eventuallychanging its name to the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences (SIIAS),this organization opened the current Staten Island Museum (SIM) in 1917.Currently this is the only museum within the boundaries of NYC with a collectionof local minerals on display. The SIM is a delightful regional museum focusingon the history and natural history of Staten Island. In 1937 the SIM acquiredthe mineral collection of the old Brooklyn Institute and the merged collectionsare extensive with many unique specimens not represented in the NYMC, AMNH,NYSM collections. Their geology and mineral exhibits are nicely displayedand well illuminated. Any mineral collector visiting Manhattan should takethe free Staten Island Ferry over to Staten Island where the museum is afive minute walk from the ferry terminal at 75 Stuyvesant Place.

Geography

New York City (NYC) was solely Manhattan Island, also called New York Island,until the 1898 consolidation with the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and StatenIsland that created the NYC we know today. These separate boroughs are alsoknown as the following counties of New York State: Manhattan = New York County;the Bronx = Bronx County; Queens = Queens County; Brooklyn = Kings County;Staten Island = Richmond County. When reviewing historic literature pre-1898New York meant Manhattan Island only and in the same references the Bronxwas part of Westchester County.

Manhattan Island is oriented NNE-SSW following the folding of the underlyinggeology. Northern Manhattan is dominated by a long ridge peaking at 80.7meters above sea level near Fort Washington and in Inwood Park. The highestpoint in Central Park is the Summit Rock at 43.2 m above sea level. The areaof lower midtown Manhattan is largely buried by glacial and river sedimentsto a depth reaching a maximum of 35 meters near Chambers Street. The deepsediments resulted in few tall buildings between midtown and downtown Manhattanbecause of the difficulty in reaching solid bedrock to support the heavyfoundations. The bedrock rises again to near surface at the southern endof the island around Wall Street.

Brooklyn and Queens comprise the western end of Long Island and are separatedfrom Manhattan Island and the Bronx by the East River and Long Island Sound.Queens and Brooklyn formed as terminal moraines and the minerals found therewere recovered mostly in glacial erratics that originated elsewhere. Twomajor moraines that formed Long Island are the Harbor Hill moraine in thenorth and the Ronkonkoma moraine in the south. The moraines merge near theeastern end of Queens and run to the southwest through Brooklyn in a ridgearound 60 meters above sea level stretching roughly from Kew Gardens in Queensto Prospect Park in Brooklyn. A few deep bedrock excavations have producedfine minerals specimens as we shall see later in this article.

On a map Staten Island appears to be part of New Jersey, separated from theother four boroughs of New York by New York Harbor. A large serpentine highland,11 km long , underlain by Manhattan Group basem*nt rock, runs through StatenIsland from northeast to southwest and forms the highest point in NYC, TodtHill at 124.9 meters above sea level. To the northwest of the serpentinehighland, running parallel, are diabase, sandstone and shale formations thatare extensions of the Newark Basin. The southern and eastern portions ofStaten Island are gravel/sand/clay beds of the coastal plain and glacialdeposits.

Geologic Settings

The minerals found in NYC occur in six distinct geological domains. A briefoverview is needed to understand the minerals found. But this article, withlimited space, cannot seriously discuss the geology, which is still beingstudied and interpreted today. For in-depth discussion of NYC geology, readersare referred to the references by Dr.Charles Merguerian at www.dukelabs.com.

Fordham Gneiss

The oldest bedrock exposed in the city is the billion year old Fordham Gneiss,a complexly deformed sequence of interlayered metasedimentary, metavolcanic,and metaplutonic rocks that form the ancient underpinning of NYC. The mineralogyof this sequence predominately consists of quartz, feldspar, mica(s), amphiboles,pyroxene and garnet, with common accessory minerals of kyanite, sillimanite,epidote, and magnetite. The Fordham is exposed in the Bronx with portionsextending into the subsurface of Manhattan and beneath the Cretaceous andoverlying glacial sediment of Queens and Brooklyn.

Manhattan Group

The Manhattan Group schists are a series of three schistose units (Manhattan,Hartland, and Walloomsac) underlying Manhattan Island and extending northwardinto parts of the Bronx (Merguerian 1995, 2005; Merguerian and Merguerian2004). They are silvery-to-gray quartz-plagioclase-muscovite-biotite schistswith interlayered amphibolite and granofels layers. The schists are frequentlyintruded with crosscutting granitic pegmatites. The minerals found in theManhattan Group are commonly associated with the pegmatites and the alteredcontact zones surrounding them. Late forming minerals, specifically zeolitesare found in narrow fractures and faults running through the schists (Merguerian2002).

Cameron's Line marks a tectonic boundary extending through the northeasternUS through the middle of the Bronx and wraps around the southern portionof Manhattan Island. East of Cameron's line, through the Bronx, lies theHartland Formation of metamorphosed former oceanic strata that were accretedto the North American continent during the early Paleozoic Taconic orogeny(Merguerian 1983; Merguerian and Sanders, 1993). The Hartland is part ofthe Manhattan Group but it represents exotic strata that were not formerlydeposited on North American crust.

Inwood Marble

The Inwood Marble (sometimes referred to as the Inwood Limestone) is agray-to-tan grainy dolomitic to calcitic marble that runs through the centralBronx and into the northeastern portion of Manhattan Island. It was formerlyquarried for lime kilns, as a building stone, and as grave markers. Howeverthe complex mineralogy and high mica content caused it to weather poorlyand was it abandoned as building stone. Minerals associated with the InwoodMarble include brown tourmaline, phlogopite, tremolite, pyrite, diopside,quartz, and rutile among many others.

Serpentinite

Serpentinite outcrops in bands and pods along the length of the eastern seaboardof the US. Serpentine has been discovered associated with the Manhattan Groupin western midtown Manhattan (Merguerian 2006) and the north-central highlandsof Staten Island (Okulewicz 1990). Typical of iron- and magnesium-rich serpentinein the northeast, the constituent minerals include antigorite, chrysotile,lizardite, brucite, talc with disseminated grains of chromite and magnetite.When the serpentine decomposes secondary mineralization includes artinite,hydromagnesite, magnesite, goethite-hematite and quartz.

Cretaceous Strata

In the eastern portion and southwestern end of Staten Island are sedimentarydeposits of the Cretaceous Raritan and Magothy formations that extendsouthwestward into New Jersey and northeastward through the subsurface ofLong Island. Clay pits were mined for their clay and have produced a widearray of fossils and amber. Pyrite and marcasite concretions are presentthroughout the clay beds. The abundant marcasite rapidly decomposes uponremoval from the clay, altering to whitish melanterite and producing a weaksulfuric acid vapor in the process which will eat through boxes and labels.However a few of the nodules proved to be pyrite and they show little tono decay over time.

Glacial Deposits

The terminal moraines that formed Queens and Brooklyn transported rocks andsediment from the northeast and northwest (Sanders and Merguerian 1994, 1998).Many minerals have been collected from these glacial erratics. An articlefrom the New York Times, May 20th, 1889, describes three collecting tripsby the NYMC and the Brooklyn Institute. Over 40 mineral species were describedin the article, many matching descriptions of the minerals from New Jersey,Manhattan and the Bronx, upslope from the glacial advance paths.

Mining and Quarrying in New York City

Early settlers were hopeful of forming profitable mining enterprises in theNew World. Many mining attempts were made in the NY area, but the first viablemine was across the Hudson River in Arlington, New Jersey where the SchuylerCopper Mine was established ca. 1715. As with any early settlement, miningwas also required for the iron industry, building stone and lime productionused as plaster.

The NYCParks Department reports the first evidence of iron mining on Staten Islanddates to 1644 when Todt Hill was known by the Dutch as Yserberg, meaningIron Hill, because of the widely disseminated iron oxides goethite-hematitethat formed from the decomposition of the underlying serpentine. Large scalemining did not occur until around 1830 when modern blast furnaces initiatedthe growth in the cast iron industry. In 1832 Walter Dongan granted permissionto mine a portion of his property and mining continued in the area through1880s, when the Lake Superior iron mines started producing iron ore moreeconomically. An often cited statistic is that 300,000 tons of iron ore wasmined on Staten Island, though the exact source of the statistic is unknown.The iron was mined for iron foundries and also finely ground for use as thepigment red ochre. Iron mining centered around Todt Hill, Emerson Hill andGrymes Hill.

In the Kingsbridge area, at the northern end of Manhattan Island, there wereseveral quarries excavating the Inwood marble. Two mills for sawing thelimestone, one located on the Bolton Canal the other on Spuyten Duyvil Creek,were powered by the tidal flow between the East River and Hudson River. Onehand-drawn map by John Randel of northern Manhattan Island shows two marblequarries and a kiln on the property of John and Charles Bolton, and a marblequarry on the eastern slope below the old Fort Price Charles on land ownedby Jacob Hyatt. Another map drawn by William M'Neil in 1835 shows anothermarble quarry to the west, near where the eastern border of Inwood Park istoday. This same map illustrated two granite quarries on the north shoreof Spuyten Duyvil Creek as it enters the Hudson River, at the southernmostedge of the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The Inwood marble was quarriedto make quicklime for use in mortar and plaster construction, and as buildingstone, but it weathered poorly and it's use was abandoned by around 1850when the marble quarries of Vermont began producing a better quality of marble,more resistant to weathering, and the transportation infrastructure was inplace to move the stone produced to the metropolitan area economically. Severalreferences refer to Thompson's (or Thomson's) marble quarry at 196th Streetnear Fort Tryon Park and Fort George (Chamberlin 1888).

A note of clarification is needed regarding the use of the name Kingsbridge.The area of northern Manhattan Island west of the Harlem River was referredto as Kingsbridge by early residents, named for the early toll bridge, andis synonymous with Inwood today. In 1895 the Harlem Ship Canal cut throughthe Kingsbridge area severing a small section of the northern tip of ManhattanIsland. Rock from the canal was used to fill the old Spuyten Duyvil channel,thereby joining the severed section to the Bronx. The severed section retainsit's stature as part of the borough of Manhattan, even though it is no longerattached to Manhattan Island. As a result, all of the old mineral localitieslabeled as from Kingsbridge sites are all in Manhattan, even though theyappear to be in the Bronx. Do not be confused by current NYC maps that showsa completely different neighborhood in the Bronx called Kingsbridge, northof the Marble Hill neighborhood, northeast of the Harlem River.

The U.S. asbestos industry began in 1858 when fibrous anthophyllite was minedfor use as asbestos insulationby the Johns Company, a predecessor to the current Johns Manville ata quarry at Ward's Hill on Staten Island. A few local buildings of the area,including the Dutch Reformed Church in Huguenot, were constructed of thelocal serpentine quarried on Staten Island. The stone's greenish appearancedistinguishes it from other building stones used in the area. The serpentineproved to be a poor building stone because of poor resistance to weathering.

The Encyclopedia of New York City (1991) incorrectly states that gypsum wasmined on Staten Island until the 1960s. It is possible this is in referenceto J.B. King's Windsor Plaster Mills in New Brighton, Staten Island thatprocessed gypsum imported from Nova Scotia, but did not mine the gypsum locally.One of the products King produced was "asbestos cement for plastering wallsand ceilings" and it is possible that the asbestos content was locally minedanthophyllite.

Clay pits in southwestern Staten Island were mined for white kaolin claybeginning in the mid-1800s. In 1854 B. Kreischer & Sons started miningclay used for manufacturing brick, terra cotta and tiles. At their peak,the operation employed 300 workers and production topped three million bricksper year. The operation lasted until 1929. Other operations mined clay andone 260 acre tract has been preserved as Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve.Few minerals have been recovered from the clay deposits but they are wellknown for amber, lignite and over 300 types of plant fossils/impressionspreserved in the clay.

In Manhattan, there were building stone quarries in east midtown at Kip'sBay and Turtle Bay on the East River from 38th to 44th Streets that excavatedgneiss for building stone. Chamberlin (1888) reports the quarries operatedfor 50 years but had completely disappeared by the late 1880s. Julien (1883)reports gneiss was quarried for building stone at Willet's Point and Hallet'sPoint in Queens (though he incorrectly listed these localities in Kings County).Limestone was quarried at St. Ann's Quarry in Mott Haven in the south Bronx(Julien 1883), further north at a quarry on Jerome Avenue (Chamberlin 1883a)and at the Central Avenue Quarry (Chamberlin 1888). Building stone quarriesoperating from 1841 to 1896 in the Graniteville and Travis sections of StatenIsland quarried the diabase for paving stones that were used on portionsof Broadway, Whitehall Street and Bowling Green in Manhattan, the streetsof Brooklyn and exported for use on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina.

Though not part of the mining or quarrying industries, two colossal constructionprojects deserve special mention because of the amount of rock displaced:the Harlem Ship Canal (and straightening of the Harlem River-Spuyten DuyvilCreek) and the Water Tunnel No. 3.

The Harlem Ship Canal at the northern end of Manhattan Island was constructedfrom 1875 to 1938, blasted straight through the island to connect the Harlemand East River with the Hudson River near the old Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Thecanal followed the much smaller, earlier Bolton Canal (later the DyckmanCanal) that appears on maps in the early 1800s. In addition to the canal,the river channel was straightened and deepened west of the canal, betweenit and the Hudson River. The excavated rock was used to fill the tidal creekcalled the Spuyten Duyvil around three sides of the Marble Hill neighborhoodat the northern end of Manhattan Island. The result was a small portion ofManhattan is now connected to the Bronx, though still maintaining a politicaldesignation as part of Manhattan. This explains how mineral specimens from225th Street at Broadway are considered as minerals from Manhattan, eventhough modern maps show that area connected to the Bronx. The rock dumpsof this huge project were a favorite mineral collecting locality at the timewith the most prolific dump at Broadway and 220th Street now buried underneathBaker Field, the football stadium for Columbia University.

Water Tunnel No.3 began construction in 1970 to relieve the burden on the existing WaterTunnels Nos.1 and 2. The tunnel, when completed, will connect the city tothe upstate water supply. The tunnel runs under the Bronx, Manhattan, Queensand Brooklyn and connects to the existing aqueduct on Staten Island. Thetunnel varies from 3.2-8.0 meters in diameter and is 250-800 feet below thesurface. Vertical shafts are scattered throughout the city. Stage one ofthe construction employed traditional drill and blast methods and mineralspecimens were preserved by the project geologists and the sandhogs (thetunnel workers). Currently, tunnel construction employs tunnel boring machines(TBM) that grind the excavated rock reducing collectible mineral specimensto those recovered from the fault zones exposed in the tunnel walls afterthe TBM has passed. Still the blasting for the shafts and valve chambershas produced collectible minerals, many recovered from the rock dumps scatteredaround the metropolitan area.

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