This specimen serves as a primary archival record of the classic Jeffrey “Haystack” habit. Demonstrating the intense luster and needle-like terminations characteristic of this site, this piece is officially documented as part of the Stanley Museum Collection.
LOCALITY STUDY: JEFFREY QUARTZ (PULASKI CO.)
Industrial Foundations & Mineralogical Records
INDUSTRIAL FOUNDATIONS
Specimen recovery at the Jeffrey Quarry (originally the Jeffrey Mine) was a secondary byproduct of infrastructure. The site was an industrial aggregate operation, blasting through Jackfork Sandstone to supply the road-building efforts of mid-20th-century Arkansas.
The famous “Haystack” pockets were discovered only when industrial excavation intersected specific fault zones enriched with rare silicate minerals. Because the quarry was flooded in the late 1970s, these specimens serve as finite geological records of a locality that is now physically inaccessible
Video cinematography courtesy of Blake Barnett, Barnett’s Fine Minerals @barnett.fine.minerals
THE BASKET ERA & RECTORITE “GOO”
During the peak 15-year period of accessibility, the Jeffrey was a site of frantic, high-volume salvage mineralogy. 🏛️📜
- The Rectorite “Goo”: The rare calcium silicate host was often encountered as a wet, Vaseline-like medium. Collectors would jar this material to preserve the “floater” crystals in their original state.
- The Basket Hauls: Millions of “needle crystals” and interlocked “burrs” were recovered in baskets—a testament to the prolific nature of the Rectorite-filled vugs.
MINERALOGICAL DATA
Associations: Rectorite and Cookite
Primary Mineral: Quartz (SiO2).
Habit: Multi-terminated “Haystack” / Jackstraw
LOCALITY DATA
Primary Name: Jeffrey Quarry
Prominent AKAs: Jeffrey Mine, Jeffrey Quarry (North Little Rock)
Status: Inactive (Flooded)
County: Pulaski County, Arkansas
Geology: Rectorite-bearing vugs in Jackfork Sandstone
Mindat ID: 3413
Data Sourced via Mindat.org
Reference: Miser and Milton (1964), Arkansas Geological Commission.