Dallas Gem Mine

USA / California / Coalinga / Sawmill Creek Road
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This is the historic Dallas Gem Mine where the discovery of benitoite by James Couch was document in 1907. This is the only known location where gem quality benitoite is found making it among the 10 most rare gems on earth. The mine was later renamed the Benitoite Gem Mine by Bill Forrest and Buzz Gray who once owned it. The mine is located on private land and you must gain permission before visiting the property.

Jim Couch initially thought he discovered a new kind of "blue diamonds" and samples were eventually sent to Dr. George Louderback at the University of California, Berkeley for confirmation. After careful analysis, Dr. Louderback determined that they had found a new mineral, which he named benitoite. R.W. Dallas filed a claim for the Dallas Mining Company in 1914. The Dallas Mining Company built a log cabin there that burned down in the 1951 fire.

Benitoite became the official gemstone of California in October 1985.

www.benitoite.com/
www.mindat.org/loc-3531.html
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benitoite
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   36°20'10"N   120°36'22"W

Comments

  • Also known as the California State Gem Mine: http://www.calstategemmine.com/index.html
  • Also the only mineral crystallizing in the trigonal bipyramidal form in Danas' System of Minerology.
This article was last modified 7 years ago