Photo Gallery: 

Santa Ana Mountains, California, USA

 

N6T-7TKFizélyite Ag₅Pb₁₄Sb₂₁S₄₈

Blue Light Mine, Silverado, Orange County, California, USA

Fizelyite hairs in small vug in dolomite from the level 3 dump of the Blue Light Mine. Field of view 4 millimeters. Robert Housley specimen and photograph.

JM0-UYWFizélyite Ag₅Pb₁₄Sb₂₁S₄₈

Blue Light Mine, Silverado, Orange County, California, USA

Fizelite hairs in small vug in dolomite from the level 3 dump of the Blue Light Mine. Field of view 4 millimeters. Robert Housley specimen and photograph.

Tailings, Tin Mine Canyon

Santa Ana Mines, Trabuco Canyon [town], Orange County, California, USA

Old ore dump at Tin Mine Canyon, Santa Ana Mountains, USA

Faulting in the Bedford Canyon Formation, Santa Ana Mountains

Santa Ana Mines, Trabuco Canyon [town], Orange County, California, USA

Fault zone in Tin Mine Canyon. Faulting and hydrothermal alteration of surrounding strata is characteristic of this locality.

Mine Entrance, Tin Mine Canyon, Santa Ana Mountains, CA

Santa Ana Mines, Trabuco Canyon [town], Orange County, California, USA

One of numerous small claims in Tin Mine Canyon, Santa Ana Mountains, California, part of a local boom in the late 1800's to early 1900's. Like the better-known Santa Ana Tin Mine in Trabuco Canyon, efforts here ultimately proved unsuccessful.

CD4-XGNArcanite K₂SO₄

Santa Ana Mine, Trabuco Canyon, Trabuco Canyon [town], Orange County, California, USA

Largest Crystal Size: 0.1 cm

Crystal of arcanite, from Tunnel No. 1 of the type locality. N1669N S415-47
ex. Michigan School of Mines

Tin Mine Canyon, Santa Ana Mountains, CA

Trabuco Mine, Trabuco Canyon, Trabuco Canyon [town], Orange County, California, USA

Entrance to Tin Mine Canyon, Santa Ana Mountains, CA, which hosted a several small claims in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

RM4-1LYQuartz SiO₂

Lucas Canyon, Coto de Caza, Orange County, California, USA

Dimensions: 1 inches x 0.4 inches x 0.4 inches

Lucas Canyon has historically produced small amounts of gold, and this quartz crystal is likely a byproduct of gold mining in the canyon. This specimen was formerly in the collections of Wes Greenamyer & Gene Schenet, and Wes' specimen label for this piece notes that it was previously on display at the small gem & mineral museum (and store) that used to exist at Knott's Berry Farm (a western themed amusement park in Buena Park, California) dated 1998. Wes' label lists the exact location found as the 'Old Columbia Gold Mine' in Lucas Canyon, but no other written record of this mine name seems to exist. USGS topographic maps of the area from 1954 show three unnamed mining adits, and several old mining shacks that used to exist in this canyon (the structures burnt down in forest fires since that time), so likely this quartz crystal came from one of those adits. Rene Engel's 1959 article for the California Dept. of Natural Resources Division of Mines, titled Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Lake Elsinore Quadrangle, notes that placer gold was first found in Lucas Canyon in 1900, and that active placer claims existed in the canyon during the 1940-50s (named the Yvonne claims). The article also mentioned that the pay dirt was under 10-20ft of barren gravel and produced very little gold overall. BLM records show that in the 1970-80s several groups of people held placer claims and one group had a hard rock lode claim named the Busy Bee in the NW area of the canyon which suggests the existence of quartz veins in the canyon that could have produced quartz crystals. Additionally a news article published in the Los Angeles Herald, Number 279, July 6th, 1899, describes that locals had been finding occasional small placer nuggets in the Santa Ana mountains, and that their source was finally confirmed as Lucas Canyon, but that a lack of water was preventing any large scale mining operations. The article also mentioned 'good grade' quartz had been found in the canyon.