Canadian Rockhound: Rockhounding along New Brunswick's North Shore by Campbellton

I live in Campbellton, which is a small port city in Restigouche County located along the south shore of Baie des Chaleurs (Chaleurs Bay) in northern New Brunswick, Canada (Figure 1). One can look across the bay northwards toward the Gaspé Peninsula, which is in Québec. Nearby, to the west is the mouth of the Restigouche River, which empties into the Baie des Chaleurs. A short section of this river serves as the boundary between New Brunswick and Québec.

New Brunswick is a picturesque province, especially the northern region. Looking over the Restigouche River, you would agree. You'd see Québec across the bay with the Appalachian Mountains in the background (Figure 2). The area where I live is beautiful at any time of the year. My wife and I liked the area so much, we moved back eight years ago.

Map
Figure 1. Map of Campbellton area.

Geological Summary

Geologically, the province is comprised of several terranes, some of which are rich in minerals, such as gold and copper. The region where I live is very mountainous, but the mountains of northern New Brunswick are not has high and rugged as those on the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec. The mountains here are part of the ancient Appalachian system, which continues northeastwards from the state of Maine in the United States and extends into the Gaspé. The rocks in northern New Brunswick were formed during the Paleozoic Era more than 500 million years ago. Some of the rocks in the Dalhousie-Campbellton area are the result of volcanic activity.

Collecting

Agates and jasper can be collected on the beaches and in gravel pits within a 30-mile radius. There is reference to these semi-precious stones in various publications from the Geological Survey of Canada dating from the 1960s. In particular, Volume III of the GSC guidebook "Rock and Mineral Collecting in Canada," published in 1964, focused on the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In this guidebook the Campbellton area is mentioned. Ann P. Sabina personally collected here and cataloged her findings in the 1960s. This volume is no longer in print, but it may be available at local libraries. A new guidebook, however, was published in 1992 by the GSC, titled "Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Estrie and Gaspésie, Québec; and parts of New Brunswick." It is available from the GSC.

A few years ago I was able to follow part of Ann Sabina's route for collectors while looking for semi-precious stones to polish in our tumbler. I have a little hobby now polishing stones for jewellery. In addition, I do some trading among friends. Through my rockhounding hobby, I met many nice people over the years from all over the Maritimes and beyond. It is a real good way to make new friends and contacts.

Figure 2. Shoreline near Campbellton, New Brunswick.

Did you ever try to find something using an old map as a guide? Well I tried to, and I admit it was a bit frustrating at times. Some of the roads mentioned in the old GSC guidebook are no longer there, and new roads have been built since then. This can cause a lot of confusion. If you are going to go rockhounding in this area of New Brunswick, you had better be well prepared before you start. After reading a lot of books and talking to different older people, one starts to find the old spots and good areas where there are stones worthy of polishing. There are some localities out there, but they are elusive. Another problem is that once a locality is discovered, it tends to get picked over quickly. Once it's gone, that's it. So, appreciate what you do find. One should also check rock fragments. Frost will crack agates and other semi-precious stones into smaller pieces. But these pieces are not worthless, since they can still be used to make good jewellery.

Dolomite, front
A
Dolomite, back
B
Figure 3. Dolomite and chalcopyrite specimen, from Brunswick No. 12 Mine, Bathurst, New Brunswick. Massive sulfide specimen with all sides showing nice crystallization. (A) This view shows the dolomite balls, a colorless quartz crystal (so clear it's almost not noticeable) and a couple of 1 cm chalcopyrite tetrahedra (upper right). (B) The opposite side of the same specimen is covered in white calcite and creamy dolomite. Size: approx. 7 x 4.5 cm. Photo courtesy of Doug Wilson.

Figure 4. Dolomite, Calcite. From Brunswick No. 12 Mine, Bathurst, New Brunswick. Size: approx. 9 x 6 cm. A cabinet sized plate of calcite poker chips with creamy dolomite balls. Photo courtesy of Doug Wilson.

Mineral Localities

For the more serious mineral collector, fine quality mineral specimens have come from the Brunswick No. 12 Mine at Bathurst, New Brunswick. Examples of specimens found include dolomite balls with chalcopyrite or calcite (Figures 3 and 4). According to the Province of New Brunswick, the Brunswick No. 12 Mine is one of the world's largest deposits of base metals. Other minerals mined in the province include lead, cadmium, zinc, bismuth, potash (the province ranks second in Canada after Saskatchewan), antimony, gold, silver and copper. Coal is produced at Minto, and gypsum is extracted near Moncton.

Other mines and mineral deposits exist in New Brunswick. The Caribou Mine was a lead-zinc mine that began in 1997, but closed shortly after due to less than expected ore production. Situated 50 kilometres west of Bathurst, the Caribou operated both as an underground and open-pit mine.

There are a few localities worth investigating, especially some of the lesser known ones. According to the February 1968 issue of the Canadian Rockhound (Vol. 7, No. 1, p. 12), large staurolite crystals up to 2 inches long were found one mile northwest of Moores Mills, near the border of Maine. Some people refer to these crystals as "fairy crosses." It would be interesting to know whether the staurolites from this locality can still be found.

Fossils

One can find many fossils in the Atholville vicinity west of Campbellton. This is the best locality in the area. Shark fossils were recently found nearby and news of this discovery appeared in the local papers. However, some of the world's most outstanding fossils of lobe-finned fish from the Devonian Period (about 370 million years ago) occur across the bay at Miguasha Park in Québec. This fossil locality was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. The Miguasha fossils were first discovered in 1842. It was only in 1985 that the site was placed under Provincial Park status to protect the fossils for scientific study. The local museum at Miguasha will tell you more about the paleontology of the fossils. To learn more about New Brunswick's fossils, you may want to visit the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John.

Jasper Wood

After a few years of wandering the beaches, I began finding good collecting spots. One day we met an older man stooping down. It looked as though he was picking shells from the sand. Curious as to what he was doing, my wife and I got closer. We must have startled him, since he did not expect anyone else would be interested in collecting stones on the beach. But, we did approach him and began to compare our findings. Through our discourse, we discovered that he had found "jasper wood", or so he said. Well, apparently he was right, because some years later we found some of the same type of stone and donated some to the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John. Apparently the museum already had some jasper specimens from this same person. They said this was top quality jasper wood and some of the specimens were sent away for further study. The museum staff showed us a nice piece from one of the drawers in their storage area.

I continued collecting along the shore and I found a few more good pieces of jasper. One day I met that man's brother! He was about 78 years old and was collecting jasper wood for the purpose of adding weight to the back of his tractor. "The jasper wood is good," he said. "It has a good weight to it." I mentioned to him that I used the jasper for lapidary purposes. Would you believe there is a race now to see who gets to the jasper first after a storm? I guess he must have over 200 lbs. of this material in the back of his tractor! I never found that much. Thank goodness he was a real nice fellow; he did not mind us collecting. We met again one day and he pointed out a big piece to me that he hid between some driftwood logs. He gave me the slab of jasper wood and mentioned he was getting to old to carry such large pieces. I found the slab and helped myself to it. I lugged the piece all the way back to where my wife and I parked, about 1/2 mile up the beach. That jasper wood got real heavy after a while, but it made it home - to our rock garden! Now and then I get a few smiles from visitors when I point out the huge slab of jasper in the garden and the effort it took to haul it there. Rockhounds know what it takes to have a nice rock garden and appreciate it too.

The jasper wood from the Campbellton area is of good quality. It has no cracks, and has a nice red or yellow color. A rind can be seen on the outer edges. Jasper wood forms in the muddy clay layers. These layers are titled at a 30-degree angle. The surrounding soil is volcanic in origin and has reddish colour. Jasper wood washes out during the spring season along the seacoast banks. It is also found among old driftwood and trees that have fallen off the cliffs. Unfortunately, jasper wood is gradually getting scarcer every year, due to over collecting in recent years. Furthermore, a lot of the jasper wood was traded to American tourists. But it is still possible to find this material; this past fall I found a few fist-sized pieces. Now that we have snow, we look forward to the springtime, when will go the picking again.

I hope you will consider visiting northern New Brunswick and try some collecting along our shores and surrounding vicinity. New Brunswick overall has a few interesting mineral localities, and some fine mineral specimens have been found in the past. For the collector, the province may be worth investigating, and it would be good to properly document some of the minerals and localities. For the lapidary enthusiast, various agates, jasper and other rocks can be found. It would also be interesting to learn more about the paleontology of the province. I welcome any comments you may have.

Related Websites:

Province of New Brunswick Natural Resources and Energy, Minerals and Energy Division, Selected Publications: www.gov.nb.ca/0078/minerals/select.htm
Province of New Brunswick Website: www.gov.nb.ca/finetpubwwwrootcnb/nb/nb%2De.htm
Sépaq: Parc de Miguasha:
www.sepaq.com/En/Parks/ExtractionparcMig.cfm?Site=23
UNESCO Miguasha Park:
www.unesco.org/whc/sites/686.htm
World Conservation Monitoring Centre - Miguasha Park:
www.wcmc.org.uk/protected_areas/data/wh/miguasha.html

References:

Ann P. Sabina. 1964. Rocks and Mineral Collecting in Canada. Volume III: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. Geological Survey of Canada Miscellaneous Report No. 8. (Out of print)
Ann P. Sabina. 1992. Rocks and Minerals for the Collector: Estrie and Gaspésie, Québec; and parts of New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada Miscellaneous Report No. 46.
UNESCO Miguasha Park, [www.unesco.org/whc/sites/686.htm]
World Conservation Monitoring Centre - Miguasha Park, [www.wcmc.org.uk/protected_areas/data/wh/miguasha.html]
Province of New Brunswick Website, [www.gov.nb.ca/finetpubwwwrootcnb/nb/nb%2De.htm]
Breakwater Resources, [www.breakwater.ca/oper/cari.htm]

Acknowledgements:

I am grateful to Dirk Schmid for assisting me in the preparation of this article. I also thank Doug Wilson for providing the mineral specimen photographs.

This article may not be copied, distributed or reprinted in any form without the author's permission. To contact the author, please use the e-mail address provided. If you are unable to contact the author, please contact the Canadian Rockhound. Authorized reprints must acknowledge the author, original source and the Canadian Rockhound, and include the website URL address of the Canadian Rockhound.

All mineral specimen photographs are copyright © 2000 by Doug Wilson [dwilson@mastodonridge.com]. Photographs used in this article may not be copied, distributed or reprinted in any form without permission. To contact Doug Wilson, please use the e-mail address provided, or visit the MinCity website at [www.mincity.com]. Photographs used with permission.