FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[goletto]

Hello

Would somebody in the community know something about the “Mason Valley Gem Claim” in San Diego County, California ?

It is mentioned in the County Report No 3 (Weber, F. H. 1963) as well as in the California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 35 (Tucker, W.B., Reed, C. H.1939).

Supposedly it was worked before WW II by D.G. Ingraham for Lepidolite and Tourmaline.

Mindat lists it at N32.98361 W116.46306; USGS at N32.97506 W116.46334 ; distance between these 2 locations is about 0.6 miles. See attached map.

Thanks for any information you might have on this gem claim or contact information about possibly knowledgeable persons.

goletto

P.S.
I am not a professional collector and I have no commercial interests, I am mainly interested in old mines and bats.

[GneissWare]

The mindat coordinates lie atop a marked prospect on the map, whereas the USGS coords don't, so mindat is probably right. The USGS placed prospects and mines by inspection and aerial photo, so the ones marked probably exist. The old USGS coords are also pre-GPS so are likely estimates.

There is also a tunnel south of the USGS point which might be related.

[rweaver]

Based on my growing up in San Diego and having a full copy of the county report, I would go with the county report before going with mindat. I always found the report to be right when going out to these locations. The mine is most likely nothing more then a claim with maybe a hole in the ground to checkout what might have been there. Based on the location of the mine any tourmaline found would most likely have been black. 1939 was a long time ago. I would also check with either Cal or Bill to see what if anything they know about the location.