The town of Saugus was incorporated in 1815. One of the first iron works in North America was started in Saugus as summarized in Nicholson and Mitchell (1964):

Bog iron ore [precipitated nodular goethite] was found in small lakes or ponds on the western bank of the Saugus River, near Lynn, soon after its settlement in 1629, by Thomas Dexter...Richard Leader, selected a site at Saugus on a part of the holdings of Thomas Dexter. The new iron works were favored by a plentiful supply of bog iron ore, extensive woodlands, favorable topography, a navigable stream, and water power. In 1648, production was seven tons a week of sows and pigs, pots and skillets, and a wealth of household objects. The finery produced bar iron from the pigs cast at the furnace.

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

4 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Note: data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!

Rock list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

Select Rock List Type

Alphabetical List Tree Diagram

ⓘ Granite

ⓘ 'Jasper'

Detailed Mineral List:

ⓘ Calcite

Formula: CaCO₃

Locality: US Route 1 area, Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

References:

P Cristofono collection , 2009

ⓘ Goethite

Formula: Fe³⁺O(OH)

Habit: massive

Colour: dark brown

Description: Bog iron ore was found in small lakes or ponds on the western bank of the Saugus River, near Lynn, soon after its settlement in 1629, by Thomas Dexter.

References:

Everts, Louis H. (1879) History of the Connecticut Valley in Mass.: (1): 17.

Nicholson, Hugh P. and Donald W. Mitchell. (1964) An Early History of the Mineral Industry in New England-New York. New England New York Interagency Committee, Mineral Resources Study and Report Group.

ⓘ Pyrite

Formula: FeS₂

Locality: US Route 1 area, Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

References:

P Cristofono collection , 2009

ⓘ Quartz

Formula: SiO₂

Localities:

Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA
US Route 1 area, Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

Description: So-called "jasper" from Saugus is actually a rock - rhyolite. Perhaps it was all mined out in the 19th Century. Peter Tarassoff, after the 2012 Rochester Symposium, wrote: "The quartz variety jasper from Saugus, Massachusetts, that you saw in my RMS presentation is in the Redpath Museum mineral collection as specimen no. H1378. Holmes cataloged it as specimen no. 468. He obtained it in exchange from C.U. Shepard in 1828. I think that this provides justification for adding quartz var. jasper to the Mindat Saugus mineral list."

ⓘ Quartz var. Chalcedony

Formula: SiO₂

References:

Sears, John Henry (1905) The Physical Geography, Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology of Essex Country, Massachusetts. Essex Institute.

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts
ⓘ	Pyrite	2.EB.05a	FeS₂
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides
ⓘ	Goethite	4.00.	Fe³⁺O(OH)
ⓘ	Quartz var. Chalcedony	4.DA.05	SiO₂
ⓘ		4.DA.05	SiO₂
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates
ⓘ	Calcite	5.AB.05	CaCO₃

List of minerals for each chemical element

H	Hydrogen
H	ⓘ Goethite	Fe³⁺O(OH)
C	Carbon
C	ⓘ Calcite	CaCO₃
O	Oxygen
O	ⓘ Calcite	CaCO₃
O	ⓘ Quartz var. Chalcedony	SiO₂
O	ⓘ Goethite	Fe³⁺O(OH)
O	ⓘ Quartz	SiO₂
Si	Silicon
Si	ⓘ Quartz var. Chalcedony	SiO₂
Si	ⓘ Quartz	SiO₂
S	Sulfur
S	ⓘ Pyrite	FeS₂
Ca	Calcium
Ca	ⓘ Calcite	CaCO₃
Fe	Iron
Fe	ⓘ Goethite	Fe³⁺O(OH)
Fe	ⓘ Pyrite	FeS₂

Fossils

This region is too big or complex to display the fossil list, try looking at smaller subregions.

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saugus,_Massachusetts
Wikidata ID:	Q257438
GeoNames ID:	4950267

Localities in this Region

USA

Massachusetts
- Essex County
  - Saugus

Other Regions, Features and Areas that Intersect

North AmericaContinent

North America PlateTectonic Plate

Avalonia TerraneVolcanic Arc
Carolinia DomainDomain

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

Everts, Louis H. (1879) History of the Connecticut Valley in Mass.: (1): 17.

Quick NavTop Mineral List Rock Types Fossils Other Databases Localities in Region Other Regions References

Mindat.org® is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Mindat® and mindat.org® are registered trademarks of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2026, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau.
Content on this site may not be used to train, fine-tune, or otherwise develop artificial intelligence or machine learning models without prior written permission - see our Terms & Conditions.
To cite: Ralph, J., Von Bargen, D., Martynov, P., Zhang, J., Que, X., Prabhu, A., Morrison, S. M., Li, W., Chen, W., & Ma, X. (2025). Mindat.org: The open access mineralogy database to accelerate data-intensive geoscience research. American Mineralogist, 110(6), 833–844. doi:10.2138/am-2024-9486.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: October 22, 2026 13:15:02 Page updated: August 14, 2025 22:24:27

Go to top of page

Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts, USAiRegional Level TypesSaugusTown Essex CountyCounty MassachusettsState USACountry function showexplain() { $("#locexplain").toggle(); if (typeof movemap === "function") movemap(); }

Select Mineral List Type

Mineral List

Rock Types Recorded

Select Rock List Type

Detailed Mineral List:

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

List of minerals for each chemical element

Fossils

Other Databases

Localities in this Region

Other Regions, Features and Areas that Intersect

References

Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA i
Regional Level Types
Saugus Town
Essex County County
Massachusetts State
USA Country