1.8" Grossular Garnets on Hedenbergite - Vesper Peak, Washington

Vesper Peak is located along the Sultan Basin in Snohomish County, Washington. It's known for producing exceptional grossular garnet specimens, as well as a wide variety of other minerals including quartz, prehnite, diopside, pyrite, calcite, clinozoisite, hedenbergite and many more. The most commonly known mine is the 48-55 Mine, or the Garnet Mine, and the claim is owned by Mr. P. E. Crane of Snohomish, Washington. The hike to this location is considered quite difficult and is only accessible for about half of the year.

Hedenbergite is a calcium iron (magnesium) silicate that often bears a range of green to brown coloration. The crystals are typically opaque and occur in stubby or prismatic aggregates. Inner Mongolia, Russia and Greece all produce quartz crystals that are green in color as a result of fibrous hedenbergite inclusions. A variety of hedenbergite crystal forms can be found in Sweden as well, with dark-green blocky crystals coming from the Nordmark Odal Field.

Hedenbergite was given its name in 1819 by Jöns Jakob Berzelius, a chemist in Sweden. He named the mineral in honor of Anders Ludvig Hedenberg, a chemistry student and co-worker of Berzelius. Hedenberg is credited with the first documented discovery and description of Hedenbergite in Tunaberg, Sweden.

The general chemical formula of Hedenbergite is CaFe2+Si2O6 .