Working in a Garnet Mine
Each year, Henry comes up with a great idea for a little excursion during our Adirondacks trip. This year was no different, with a tour of the Barton Garnet processing plant ! You see, Henry’s family (the Barton’s) produce quite a bit of the garnet used in the US. You might know garnet as January’s birthstone (go Capicorns !). Apparently it’s kind of useful for other things too, like as an industrial abrasive. You see, the quirky thing about garnet is that it’s self sharpening. As the garnet breaks down into smaller pieces, it stays sharp because of the way it fractures.The tour was given by Chuck Barton, Henry’s cousin. (Thanks Chuck !) We started out in the mining pit itself, then over to the crushing facility, and finally on to the processing plant. Along the way, Chuck and Henry did a great job of explaining the process. Completely fascinating ! I made a little video along the way. It’s got a fun soundtrack, so be sure to turn up the volume first…