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Article: Mine Country Rich mineral landscape and varied treasures are vintage New England
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- May 26, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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NORTH GROTON, N.H. -- Rusted railroad tracks ran like old veins
along the floor of the mine, and icicles white as the quartz walls
hung from the ceiling. The drip of water from their melting echoed
sharp and tinny in the descent from warm spring sunlight to cold
dark.
The mine is a piece of New England history, one of hundreds of
mostly small abandoned shafts and holes that pock hilltops and woods
throughout the region. Despite its identification with granite, the
land has yielded a trove of minerals, stones and gems over the
decades.
When government scientists needed beryllium for the top-secret
Manhattan Project, for instance, they got it from a mine here and the
Beryl Mountain Mine in ...