FRANKLIN AND STERLING HILL NEW JERSEY: THE WORLD'S MOST MAGNIFICENT MINERAL DEPOSITS
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General observations

 

Location

 

Local benchmarks

 

Nomenclature

 

The formal Franklin-Sterling Hill area

 

Maps and illustrations

 

Units of measure

 

Location

The zinc deposits of Franklin and Sterling Hill are located at 41o 07N north latitude and 74o 35N west longitude (Franklin) and at 41o 05N north latitude and 74o 36N west longitude (Sterling Hill) in the northwestern New Jersey Highlands, approximately 45 miles northwest of New York City (Figure 1-1).

 
 
    Figure 1-1. Historical communities in northern New Jersey. N-arrow is for true north.
   

The area is shown on the 7.5 minute, 1:24,000 topographic maps of the U. S. Geological Survey (Franklin, N. J., Quadrangle and Hamburg, N. J., Quadrangle), and the earlier "special map" of Cook (1868) and Pike (1899). The topography is hilly with elevations of 530-840 feet; the mineral kittatinnyite was named in recognition of these beautiful hills.

Precipitation is moderate, and the area is drained by the northward-flowing Wallkill River (Figure 1-2), a part of the Hudson River watershed. Drainage in the valleys is imperfect, with swamps and lowlands abutting many feeder streams. Glacial debris has caused many of the small ponds, but the one at Franklin is in part man-made; its shape has varied over the years, as evidenced by old maps.

   
 
 
 

Figure 1-2. View of Mine Hill from the bank of the Wallkill River, prior to 1856. Illustration from Kitchell (1856).

   Figure 1-3. Outcrop bluff of Franklin Marble on Wallkill River near Franklin. Illustration from Kitchell (1856).  
       

The Wallkill Valley, known in early times as the Valley of Sparta, is richly vegetated, and its beauty is best appreciated in autumn when the foliage is in full color; the mineral wallkilldellite  was named for the valley (Figure 1-3).

 
 
Figure 1-4. Silene latifolia, also known as the Bladder Campion. This plant is an indicator-plant for zinc-rich soils and is common on the mineral dumps at Franklin and Sterling Hill. Illustration from Stone (1945), reprinted courtesy of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.    
   

Bladder campion (Silene latifolia, Figure 1-4), a plant used in geobotanical prospecting for zinc, is found near the orebodies and dumps (Cannon, 1960). An uncommon member of the flax family (Linum sulcatum) is also found locally, together with a number of associated plant species more at home in the Midwest (Snyder, 1986).

 

 

 

 

 

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