A.B.C. Mine (ABC Mine; Daggett & MacIntosh; Daggett group), Ramona District, San Diego Co., California, USA

The ABC mine is located in the NW4NW4 Section 8, T13S, R2E, SBM; Ramona District, approximately 3 2/3 miles east-northeast of Ramona.

The ABC deposit, which is noted for its yield of beautiful pink beryl during the early 1900's, was discovered in November 1903, and developed by Henry Daggett of San Diego, and Alexander MacIntosh of Ramona (Kunz, 1905, p. 140). The property was worked until the early 1910's and then became idle until 1922 when it was relocated by L. B. Spaulding of Ramona. Victor and A. L. Baldwin of San Diego purchased the property from Mr. Spaulding in 1937. In the late 1950's activity was restricted to amateur collectors who picked over the old dumps.

The mine was developed in a pegmatite dike which strikes northwestward, dips gently southwest, and ranges in thickness from three or four to perhaps five feet. The dike is exposed laterally for about 3,500 feet, but the principal workings are limited to the lower part of the eastern slope of a shallow south-trending stream canyon. The gem-bearing portion of the dike in these workings was described by Kunz (1905, p. 141) as follows:

"... a stratum varying in width from 1 to 6 inches, composed of a grayish or whitish decomposed orthoclase, with disseminated crystals of muscovite having a pinkish and lavender tinge on the outer edges. It is in this stratum, coated with albite and clay, that the pink beryls are found, generally solitary in a pocket with two or three large blackish-green tourmaline crystals..."

Several pounds of pink beryl were mined, including a crystal from which was cut a flawless 30-carat stone. Very small spessartite crystals also occur in the dike. Lepidolite also occurs, but is sparse. The workings consist of a series of shallow open cuts and trenches developed along the strike of the dike for about 200 feet. In addition, Kunz (1905, p. 140) stated that the pegmatite was developed by an 18-foot adit from which "a stope following the pay shoot for 45 feet had been run." These underground workings were no longer accessible as reported by the Baldwins in 1957.

In the early days of the mine, local gemstone miner and cutter Frederick James Rynerson recalled the following:

"Cutting stones from a dozen different mines and prospects, I got so I could tell from stones brought in to be cut, about where they came from. I saw some (spessartine garnets) that the Dagget boys took out of their property northeast of Ramona that were taken out as individual crystals, very light in color, almost a straw." (Exploring and Mining Gems and Gold in the West, Frederick J. Rynerson, 1967)

Mining was last done on the property in 1923, when Mr. Spaulding opened a pocket in the probable extension of the ABC dike on the northwest side of the creek, and obtained several "fine" spessartite crystals. The largest stone cut from these was 6 1/4 carats. (California Division of Mines and Geology, San Diego - Mineral Resources, 1963)

Notes: Will be adding 1906 description of activities and legal matters, production etc.; recent development status at the site describing mid to late 1990's production, etc. Also to do: Photographs: c1905; c1997, Green Cap elbaites, quartz crystals. Update and detail literary references.

References:
Kunz, G.F. (1905), Gems, jeweler's materials, and ornamental stones of California. California State Mining Bureau bulletin 37: pages 140-142.

Murdoch, Joseph & Robert W. Webb (1966), Minerals of California, Centennial Volume (1866-1966): California Division Mines & Geology Bulletin 189: 103, 272.

Pemberton, H. Earl (1983), Minerals of California; Van Nostrand Reinholt Press: 455 (map 13-4), 499.