


Dwarves' Earth Treasures Online
Museum:
Caledonia
& Kowlton Datolites
Caledonia Mine, Mass City,
Ontonagon Co. Michigan
Field-collecting
Status: Private Property! Open only to Arranged Collecting
Tours
The
Caledonia Mine is the only Michigan copper mine I know of that's
still active, mainly for purpose of specimen collecting. Copper
and silver specimens had been found by the people on the guided
collecting tours during the Keeweenaw Week in August. The mine
is one of several mines best known for the colored datolites and
they're usually colored with brownish red being the typical
color. Occasionally, the datolites in other colors like blood
red, orange, peach orange, and pink and those with epidote
inclusions have been found. Some datolites are found in their
vein forms usually with episode, calcite and copper. Some are
found in seams filling in the mudslide cracks in one of those
big sloping mining rooms and even there are some datolites
hidden in the mine piles outside the adit. The mine is currently
owned by Red Metal Retreat company (Whitman's no longer an
owner). Kowlton Mine is a "Next Door" to the Caledonia
Mine and had produced some similar datolite specimens.