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Ch. 3: Precious Gem stones in 1903

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972                                    MINERAL RESOURCES.
The minerals noted in this claim are tourmaline, albite, orthoclase. museovite, lepidolite, kaolin, talcose clays, essonite garnets, hornblende, and indications of epidote. The lower part of the ledge is composed of a fine, granular, mica-free granite of a gray color, banded at intervals of from 3 to 6 inches with minute essonite garnets, whence the name line rock. As in all the pegmatite veins in this region, this lower portion has about the same width as that of the formation from the pocket layer or center to the top and lies directly upon the diorite foot wall.
TOURMALINE KING MINE. TOURMALINE.
This mine is situated on the north slope of Pala Mountain, about 300 yards from the summit, at an altitude of 1,540 feet. It was located in March, 1903, but very little work has been clone, so that it is hardly possible to make a definite report. The mine is 4 miles directly north of Pala and is the last mine so far discovered at the western extremity of the Pala mineral belt. The claim runs northeast and southwest and is 1,500 by 600 feet. The vein dips to the southwest at an angle of 16ic, with an average breadth of 7 feet, and is essentially coarse pegmatite, but shows evidence of crushing and is badly broken in many places. The hanging wall is a coarse, gray diorite, and at the place where the work was done lies over about 15 inches of coarse, broken feldspar and lepidolite.
It is in this stratum that the gems appear, unlike the general pocket formation of the Pala district. Tourmaline was the only gem stone noted, and occurred in pencils, disseminated through this altered mass of decomposed spar, and apparently out of place. Concretions of albite, coated with beautiful purple museovite, were found loose in the soil. The ledge here was too badly broken to note the exact character of the pegmatite, and the line rock or lower stratum had not been uncovered, so that its character could not be determined. No work has been done here for several months, and nothing definite could be learned as to when it would be resumed. About 10 pounds of ci*ystals were secured in a cut V2 feet wide, barely scalping off the top layer of earth.
NAYLOR-VANDERBURG MINE. KUNZITE.
This mine, also near Pala, lies at an altitude of 1,400 feet, on the eastern slope of Mount Hiriart. The location was made by Mr. F. M. Sickler in February, 1903, soon after discovering that the pink and white crystals that he had found on the mountain side were not tourmalines, as had been supposed, or any stone known to local mineralogists. After considerable trouble and expense Mr. Sickler, still believing the stone to be of some value, continued his investigations. He at length sent a piece to New York to the writer, who determined it as
Ch. 3: Precious Gem stones in 1903 Page of 130 Ch. 3: Precious Gem stones in 1903
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US Geol. Surv. 1904. Gemstones, Metals.
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