HOWLITE: A RARE (AND UNUSUAL) MINERAL

Howlite is a rare mineral found in evaporate deposits at only a few places in the world. It is a borate mineral: more specifically, it is a calcium-borosilicate-hydroxide mineral consisting of calcium, boron, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen. 

Howlite itself is not regarded as an "economically important mineral." It usually co-occurs, however, with the minerals colemanite and gypsum, both of which have considerable economic value. Polished pieces of howlite are sometimes sold as a substitute of the more valuable mineral turquoise, which howlite can resemble. 

Howlite was first discovered in 1868 Nova Scotia by Henry How. It was named by James Dana, shortly thereafter. 

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Howlite is creamy white in color and can have gray-black streaks (veins). It typically occurs as gray nodules or masses that resemble a “head of cabbage.” It is soft enough to carve and polish. The most common form of howlite is nodules. This mineral has a hardness of 3.5, and its common name (a misnomer!) is “white turquoise.” 

Figure 1. Three hand specimens that I collected from along the south side of the paved road next to the old-mine (see discussion, below). The scale is in centimeters. 

CRONOLOGY OF THE MINE SITE NEAR JUST NORTH OF Los Angeles:

1853: The map maker Lt. R.S. Williamson named “Tick Canyon.”

1905: Two prospectors found the deposit in Tick Canyon and staked a claim .

1906: The prospectors sold their claim for $30,000.

1908: The new owners of the claim began serious mining efforts, and the deposits became known as the "Sterling Borax Works." A large mill (see Fig. 2 below) was built, as well as 6 miles of narrow gauge track that would be used for a “dinky train” to deliver the ore to an established Railroad siding, known as Lang Station. Eventually, a company town, with 160 workers, was established at Lang Station. At its heyday, the dinky train hauled 18,000 to 20,000 tons of ore. The howlite was regarded as slag or waste and dumped in the vicinity of the mill or a short distance down the canyon. To this day, pieces of this mineral can be found in the slag.

1911: Borax Consolidated purchased the mine for 1.8 million dollars.

1921: The mine was no longer profitable, and the equipment was shipped to a company-mining site in Nevada.

1923: The company town at Lang Station became a “ghost town.”

 

The processed ore had to be transported several miles via another narrow gauge railway (wider gauge than the “dinky one” mentioned earlier) to the south, to a regular railway siding, called Lang or Lang Station. There, a community of about 160 borax workers set up “a company town” and lived there for a few years. Note: the narrow gauge “train” that went to Lang Station had to be backed up, in order to return to the mine. There was no provision for it to “turn around.”

Figure 2. Newspaper clipping of the "Sterling Borax Works," as it appeared in 1917 (see Reynolds, 1983). The remains are now only some concrete  foundations.

Figure 3. White-colored spoils (i.e., so-called waste deposits from any mine) in the immediate vicinity of canyon just south of the mill. Such spoils were also dumped short distance to the south of the site, along a road that is now a public road. Hoards of rock hounds have “picked over” the spoils for many years now.

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1950s/1960s: Local geology departments brought many students to this area for field trips in order to “comb” the spoil piles for minerals. Some schools (e.g., UCLA and Cal State Northridge = CSUN), however, brought their more advanced students to the mine-site area in order to do detailed geologic mapping of the faulted-synclinal structure in the area. Eventually, fences appeared and a few years ago, the land was posted as “Private Property, Keep Out.” Now, if you want to collect legally, you have to collect south of the public highway.

For those of you who have the interest, I highly recommend the very informative, online video, about this mine:

https://scvtv.com/2007/07/01.philip-scorza-explores-the-sterling-borax-mine/

Also very interesting is another online video: "Midnight run to fortune." [see SCV history.com]

Written Reference Cited:

Reynolds, Jerry. 1983. “The Wreck of the Sterling.” Trip of the Week. Newhall Signal & Saugus Enterprise (a newspaper that is still being published). Friday, December 16, 1983. 

[Note: Jerry Reynolds (died in 1996), who in my opinion was a suberb historian, always wrote reliable and accurate articles about Santa Clarita Valley.]