A couple of weeks ago I re-re-discovered an important corundum deposit in California. The deposit has been talked about for 100 years, but due to it's size and remote location, it has stayed relatively hidden. It took me several trips and all day hikes up mountains to find it, but I found it.
Corundum is an aluminum oxide with broken into two categories, ruby and sapphire. Red corundum is ruby and all other colors are sapphire. This deposit only produces sapphire as far as we know though. Most of the crystals are gray to blue with some pink and heavily included with mica.
The occurrence was first noted in 1924. Then again in 1939, but it wasn't until the 1980's when well known collecting brothers Ken(RIP) and Dana Gochenour(RIP2024) found the deposit again did these crystals become well known. However, they didn't find the main deposit nearby. That wouldn't happen until 1999 when they made another collecting trip. The main deposit would yield important, sought after crystals over 7" long. However, even their crystals weren't as large as the crystals I have found.
When I found the deposit I knew of the possibility of crystals 12" long and 3" in diameter. It was exciting to say the least. I immediately started digging into the mica schist and I was shocked at the crystals that began to present themselves. Most of the crystals were over 3/4" in diameter and 8" long. However, this crystal soon appeared and I about fell down the mountain when I exposed it.
It is 9.4" (24cm) L x 2.14" (5.5cm) W x 1.37" (3.5cm) H and it weighs 1lb 9oz. Not only is it long, but it's fat. I would find out that wasn't even the largest though. Two days later, on my second trip up, only a few inches away I found this one.
It measured 10.25" (27cm) L x 1.5" (3.8cm) W. !
I continued to pull out several crystals 8" L, however none as large as the two above.
After digging until the sun started going down I called it a day and began the 1.5hr hike down the mountain with about 60lbs of crystals on my back.
I spent the next day cleaning putting the crystal jigsaw puzzles back together. I forgot to mention, the larger crystals have all been fractured due to various geologic forces over millennia.
When all was said and done the large 10.25" crystal I was able to sell to a well known collector for a good amount of money the day before I left for Japan. He was good friends with Ken and Dana and had actually been to the deposit with them in the early 2000's. He assured me it was the largest crystal he had ever seen. I was happy to sell it to him as he still has several smaller of these crystals and he has become involved with the LA Natural History Museum. That means, if it is indeed one of the largest crystals, it may end up on display.
While there are stories and rumors of larger crystals up to 2' long, no one I know has seen one. I won't be able to know until I return to America in a few months. By then getting to the deposit will be difficult due to snakes and hot temperatures. I hope to be able to get up there again though and find an even bigger crystal. If I do I'll be sure to post about it here. Until then, thanks for reading!
