UP TO OUR NECKS IN -ITES IN HOUGHTON MICHIGAN

Houghton MI (Low 38 Sunny then Showers later High 70)

Subtitled: A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum

It was a rainy day recently so we decided it would be a good day to visit the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton Michigan. There were so many -ites we were up to our neck in them :-)

Some of the -ites we saw: rhodochrosite, datolite, goethite, halite, barite, wulfenite, calcite, fluorite, azurite, aragonite, curite, sphalerite; and hundreds more.

This museum has thousands of exhibits, a small percentage is viewable at one time so even if you have been before chances are it will be different since they rotate the exhibits.

We had a rough time just getting out of the gift shop since it was so neat. Here are some leaves electroplated with copper.

Here are other displays in the gift shop.

We also liked this display helping us to identify items.

A 800 pound sheet of copper in the gift shop.

Somewhat appropriately this museum sits on top of an old mine shaft and houses the world’s finest collection of Keweenaw Copper District mineral, the world’s finest collection of Lake Superior Iron District minerals, the world’s most comprehensive collection of Michigan Minerals, one of the best fluorescent mineral exhibits in the United States, and is one of the largest mineral collections on public view in North America. It is a Keweenaw National Historical Park Heritage Site. 

A few of our favorite display cases.

Since we don't want to overwhelm you with photos and stories we are going to break this into at least another blog entry, maybe two or more, so stay tuned.

Another great day exploring things we had never heard of before.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo