All of the quartz mined in Chester occurs in igneous formations known as hydrothermal veins. This type of vein is formed by a hot, watery solution into the surrounding rock, usually into a pre-existent crack. Hydrothermal veins often contain valuable minerals, including gold. The veins quarried for quartz in Chester, however, are pure quartz. There are several quartz quarries in Chester one off Round Hill Road, one in Chester center (Black Pool Quarry) and here on Prospect Hill high above the Chester Granite and Polishing Works. The pure white rock was brought down the mountain on sleds using pulleys ending up just about where the Granite Saw parking lot is on Emery Street where team moved it to the finishing mill.

The Prospect Hill quarry was mined in the latter half of the nineteenth century by James Keefe. The quartz was processed in his mill near the junction of Walker Brook and the West Branch. This mill had a bad reputation among old timers in town. It is said that a man would work six months in this mill and then drop from silicosis caused by inhaling quartz dust. The quartz was used for, among other things, glass-making and as a lining for kilns.

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