Customer Reviews

Exploring and Mining Gems and Gold in the West (Exploring & Mining for Gems & Gold in the West)

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This book is the personal history of the adventures of Fred Rynerson, one of the early tourmaline miners of San Diego County. Although he did not have a lot of formal education, he was a very intelligent man who had a keen eye for geology and for people. This is one of my all-time favorite books--if you have any interest at all in pegmatites or what conditions were like in early twentieth century southern California, I highly recommend this book.

This book is the personal history of the adventures of Fred Rynerson, one of the early tourmaline miners of San Diego County. Although he did not have a lot of formal education, he was a very intelligent man who had a keen eye for geology and for people. This is one of my all-time favorite books--if you have any interest at all in pegmatites or what conditions were like in early twentieth century southern California, I highly recommend this book.

There are certain books that seem to bring words to life, inspiring visions of the way things were, and the way things ought to be. Exploring and Mining Gems and Gold in the West - documents the personal history of Frederick James Rynerson, and his experiences during the boom years of San Diego's colored gemstone trade in the early 20th Century (ca 1900-1914). This book includes important photographs of the mines and people who helped make San Diego a global epicenter for Tourmaline. One of my all-time favorites!

This book was recommended to me, otherwise I would have never read it. The title (and cover) would suggest it's a book for rock-hounds, which I'm not, and there's a wealth of mineral information in the book, very specifically in San Diego county, California. It's much more, though. Fred Rynerson's Reminisces about his life, an auto-biography of sorts. Time and again he describes locations in San Diego and Imperial County that I realize I've been to, and had wondered at the time what all the digging there had been about. It's an intimate look into a pioneer's life, without drama. Only a non-professional writer could have written a book like this. The one thing I regret is a certain detachment he seems to have from his own life. He goes into great details about a certain prospecting trip he took in 1909, but then skims over other parts, referencing incidences and people that, I suppose, we're supposed to know. I wish someone had gotten a hold of Fred and done an Oral History with him, asking him the Who, What, Where, When, How and Why of it. Still, this book is a must read for any desert rat in Southern California, with a wealth of information presented with personality and humility.