Leon,

According to our resident geologist, that area of Maine is know for its
pegmatites which contain "huge" quartz inclusions (one crystal recorded to
have been up to 12 feet long). If they were mining feldspars, these
inclusions would have been a fringe benefit and could have been being
cleaned up and sold for higher profit to rock crystal industries elsewhere.
Thus, the cellar could simply have been for storage of this more valuable
commodity and the flakes etc. could have come from materials testing or
cleaning.

John Dendy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cranmer, Leon [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 7:12 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: quartz question
>
> Greetings list members!
>
>         I have a mystery I'm hoping someone may be able to help me with.
> I'm working on a site we dug last summer on a tidal cove in Georgetown,in
> mid-coast Maine.  The site is a shallow 3 x 3 m cellar hole on a small
> triangle of land.  By the mid-19th c. on this lot was a wharf and
> storehouse, blacksmith shop, and one photo  shows a "work buildings"
> behind
> the whare and storehouse.  The cellar apparently belonged to one of these
> work buildings.  Across the road the same person owned general store with
> post office and slaughter house and across the cove was a shipyard.  Just
> above, on, and in the cellar floor  we found over 100 pieces of quartz.
> Most is shatter, but some have been flaked and a few pieces could be
> considered cores.  The quartz is mostly colorless, but some is crystal and
> some smokey.  It is not prehistoric nor did it come in with the fill.  The
> only  possible  lead I have is that feldspar was mined in the area in the
> 3rd quarter 19th c.  It was shiped out (on ships) to a pottery in Trenton,
> NJ.  But even if the quartz was related to this industry, why would it be
> in
> this cellar.  My question is, does anyone know of a use for quartz in the
> second half of the 19th c.?  Any suggestions here would be appriciated!
> Thanks for your time!
>
> Regard, Lee Cranmer
> Maine Historic Preservation Commission
> [log in to unmask]