The Sociolo Quartz mine is located on the steep hillside behind the Chester Granite and Polishing Works known as Prospect Hill. We paid a visit to owner Linda, Hilltown Hikers longtime member and our conservation property abutter. There is an old mining road to this shaft for the workers but the quarrymen got the quartz off the mountain by sending it down the mountain to Emery Street below using pulleys.  No pulleys were found but the chunks of granite scattered on the hillside told the story.  The quartz shaft has beam pockets in the walls where they secured the entrance and used pulleys to move the heavy blocks of quartz. “There are also several quartz quarries in Chester. One is located off Round Hill Road, one in Chester Center and one on Prospect Hill. The mines on Round Hill and Prospect Hill were operated in the latter half of the 19th century by James Keefe. Processing was done at his mill near the junction of Walker Brook and the Westfield River. It has been said that after working six months in this mill, a man would drop from silicosis caused by inhaling quartz dust. Among other things, the quartz was used for glass-making and as a lining for kilns.” Private property by owner permission only.

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