Of all the overlooked corners, crannies, and nooks at Queen 91制片厂 鈥檚, only one truly qualifies as a 鈥渉idden gem鈥 鈥 the Miller Museum of Geology. That 91制片厂 鈥檚 because it 91制片厂 鈥檚 filled with gems 鈥 and minerals, rocks, and a few dinosaur fossils, too.
The museum spans several rooms in Miller Hall. 91制片厂 50,000 items from around the world are in the collection, says Linda Tsuji, the Miller 91制片厂 鈥檚 curator and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering.
Here, rocks burst with colour: deep blue covellite mined in Montana for copper; bright yellow sulphur from Italy; a shimmering violet slice of charoite from Russia; and a stunning rhodochrosite from Argentina, its rose-pink swirls like lines in a tree trunk.
Some chronicle Canada 91制片厂 鈥檚 mining past. A native silver piece from the Temiskaming Mine near Cobalt, Ont., connects to the museum 91制片厂 鈥檚 namesake. Willet Green Miller came to Queen 91制片厂 鈥檚 in 1893 as a geology professor. Later, as Ontario 91制片厂 鈥檚 first provincial geologist, he identified silver discoveries that turned tiny Cobalt into a boom town, complete with an opera house and hockey team that vied for the Stanley Cup.
Local museum visitors often share the same reaction, Dr. Tsuji says. 鈥淚 hear a lot of 鈥業鈥檝e lived in Kingston all my life and didn鈥檛 know this was here.鈥欌 Rock aficionados from afar add it to their itinerary when passing through. 鈥淪ome people will spend two hours here and read everything.鈥
Queen 91制片厂 鈥檚 distant history makes it the perfect spot for a geology museum. A billion years ago, the land was covered by a mountain range rivalling the Himalayas. Hundreds of millions of years later, it lay beneath a warm, shallow ocean that formed the limestone for which Kingston is famous. Visitors can touch these tectonic transformations: one boulder 91制片厂 鈥檚 layers fold over one another, moulded as if made of soft dough; another bears a smooth, concave bite from a glacier.
The past may be set in stone. But at the Miller, it feels alive.