St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-11-12
New Minerals at the Museum.

The Museum has recently received val
liable additions to its collection of miner.
ais which included several valuable speci
mems of stalactites from the famous
Copper Queen Mine" which is located
at Bisbee Arizona, in the heart of the
mule mountains. A descriptive letter ac-
companying the collection says that for
merly the ore iu this mine was all of the
carbonite malachite and azurite varie-
ties, but now the excavations have gone
below, that deposit and the mine is
producing sulphideore. In running a
"winze' the wOrkmen ran into a cave
which is, in reality, a huge vault in the
earth, simply a great open crack. This
cave is perhaps one-half, possibly three
quarters OF mile long, maybe 200 feet in
the deepest place, and is probably 1000
feet underneath the top of the mountain
Walking through it is extremely difficult.
In some p aces the root is only few feet
from the floor, in Others it is 200 feet.
A large group OF s. alactites in the col
lection represents the material that as a
rule covers the entire roof OF the cave;
and in all places where the root is strong
enough to support the weight, it
is covered with a mass of material
all mixed and iutertwined. Yet there
are exceptions. In some parts of
the cave single stalactites exist,
fifty and seventy feet long, as large
as small house at the top and taperng
to a slender point. One OF the points is
in the collection. Owing to the PREACHER,
Gus roof, rock slides are common and
evidences are at hand on all sides to show
that frequently vast masses of the roof
fall. Thus one can often crawl under
these blocks on all tours or climb over
with the aid OF ladders.
These stalactites, when displayed with
an artificial light behind them, give the
of huge ice blocks, owing to
the fact that the material is so pure in it.
self and so treefrom Opaque Interruptions
OF clay, iron or gypsum. The stalactites
are cacite and are very highly crystal
Ilzed. Huge deposits OF copper carbon
ates exist above the cave, thus the sta
lactites are colored blush green or more
generally green. We have many caves in
the world, but nothing a all like the
Copper Queen Cave" On account of
the pure color and high crystalzatjon of
it's stalacrltes ii ranks as the most beau
tiul one in the world, although, owing
to the tact that 1t is not on the line Ct
direct travel, it is but little known. The
Kentucky and Missouri caves contain
either gypsum or dirty yellow cacite
staaCJltes which have little beauty. 0ne
strange feature about the stalacties in
the "copper" Queen Cave" is that all are
not straight or perpendicular. This is
accounted for by the fact that in certain
Instances molecular attraction is more
powerful than the centre OF gravity.
The coral like white stalactite in the
collection is a strange thing. The cave
was not more than three uy eight feet
and entirely dlsconLec,ed with any other
opening, beirg entirely surrounded bv
limonite, simply a hill OF limonite with
lime deposit above. Yet the staIactite
was formed OF a perfectly clean color,
surrounded by material suitable
for yellow paint
Another exhibit is amber calcite from
the Roach lead and zinc mine, Joplin,
Missouri. When mining, room 80 feet
high and 80 feet long, was found, the
sides top and bottom being lined with
the huge crystals. Then there are speci-
mems of green tourmaline from Paris,
Me, and asbestos from the Italian Alps
This in eresting collection is on exhibit
ton in the Office where it will remain for
a short time.