Epidote

specimen number:
2133356

location:
Thompson Peak, Plumas Co., California, USA

description:
A grouping of acicular crystallized epidote. In great condition. Collected by Chuck Trantham in 1987.

The Thompson Peak area, located near Janesville within Plumas County, California, has been a historic focus of small-scale quarrying and localized tungsten prospecting. Geologically, the mountain is composed of Mesozoic granitic plutons, primarily granodiorite, that intruded into older Paleozoic and Mesozoic metasedimentary rocks, creating highly localized contact metamorphic zones. Hydrothermal activity along these contacts deposited scheelite, the primary ore of tungsten, within quartz veins and tactite bodies, alongside minor sulfide minerals. Prospecting and small-scale exploratory quarrying at the Thompson Peak prospects occurred in sporadic waves, with the most documented industrial evaluation and development taking place during the 1940s and 1950s when wartime and strategic domestic demands drove interest in local tungsten sources. No large-scale commercial extraction followed these efforts, and primary mining activity ceased by the late 1950s, leaving the rugged site known primarily for its geological exposures.

Charles C. Trantham was a prominent California mineral collector, field collector, and geologist whose active field exploration spanned the mid-to-late 20th century. Professionally trained as an engineering geologist, he combined his formal scientific background with a deep passion for field mineralogy, leading him to explore and document numerous remote localities throughout California, Nevada, and the Pacific Northwest. He was widely recognized within the mineralogical community for his methodical approach to collecting, keeping meticulous records of his field discoveries, and assembling an extensive, highly regarded private collection of Western North American minerals. Trantham frequently contributed to the field by discovering or providing rare research material to academic mineralogists, and his legacy is preserved today through the high-quality specimens bearing his original handwritten labels that reside in major private collections and museum archives.

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