The Southern Pacific Silica Quarry (Nuevo)
Lakeview, California

Note: A church now owns the property going into the area and all other entrances are in a gated community with large Kelly humps in place. This is BLM land so entry should be granted since neither the church nor the gated community own the land. Access has long been granted by the road which predates the church. Going there during the weekend would be your best bet and visit with atleast another person and vehicle.

About: This quarry was probably mined for feldspar for some ceramic use. This deposit is characterized as a pegmatite with megascopic schorl, quartz, garnet, etc... There is now a huge open hole in the ground where they apparently once had tunneled into the pegmatite. There is an awesome display of stellate schorl crystals cemented into the host feldspar and quartz host rock. The collecting site is in an area of the dreaded urban sprawl. If you can get there before it is closed off. The quartz is clear and rose colored with some asterism sometimes. The best method for collecting at this site now is to dig thru the dumps on the north side or the pit. The dumps are fairly thick and that is how all these specimens were collected. Occasionally you can find very large chunks of rose quartz. Both ctypes of chunks are facet grade but absolutely none occurs as individual or groupings of crystals. Use care not to dig yourself into a collapse of the dump over your head.

Directions: To get to this site take Highway 215 South from the Highway 91 towards San Diego, California. Take Highway 74 East towards Hemet. Turn left at Menifee Road and proceed north until you come to Mountain Avenue (blacktop road). Turn right and proceed to Gunther Road (about 1.2 miles). The road curves sharply right and at this point a dirt road proceeds north towards a church and some homes. Follow this road for about 0.3 miles and stay left and up the hill. for 1.8 miles. Keep heading towards the power line towers to the east. Your direction will change several times but dont worry. Just get to the power lines. Follow this road to the north and stop when you see an obvious hump and primitive road on the left (about 0.3 miles). Park here and hike to the west and you will see the quarry and dumps. Better to leave your vehicle on the pole line road. There are also a lot of small pegmatites down the valley to the north which can be checked out by hiking. The best time to collect is the winter. To find out more specifics about what was found in these areas to start a collection or to possibly collect you might want to sign up for the Minerals of California Online Database. Click here to sign up.

To view a recent trip with more site pictures click here. To find out about a not-so-nice trip click here.

To download a map prepared by GAMECO (Copyright) click here.