Nathaniel Cook house, Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut, USAi

Regional Level Types
Nathaniel Cook house	- not defined -
Haddam	- not defined -
Middlesex County	County
Connecticut	State
USA	Country

Shepard (1870) describes columbite crystals from a small find at the Nathaniel Cook house:

"For my first knowledge of the new variety, I am indebted to several of my pupils who visited Haddam during the past year; and particularly to Mr. Charles H. Ames of the Senior class in Amherst College, who has furnished me with several dozen specimens, mostly isolated crystals, from one ounce in weight, downward, to that of a few grams. They all occur at a single repository, contiguous to the center of the village, and directly in the rear of the house of Mr. Nathaniel Cook, the well known collector and dealer in Haddam minerals. The locality was opened by explorers for porcelain stone; but the feldspar proving too ferruginous, being of a somewhat flesh-red color, has led to an abandonment of the enterprise."

However, in an editorial footnote to Delafontaine (1877) the editors note that "Mr. Cook informs us that there is no such locality, and that it must have come from the columbite locality, a mile distant from it." That would be the Cook columbite prospect (aka CCC Prospect) detailed here: http://www.mindat.org/loc-193458.html.

Field observations do reveal small outcrops of reddish microcline pegmatite at the house, though columbite is rarely found in that kind of pegmatite.

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References