The Montezuma or Rice district is in northeastern San Diego County about six miles southeast of Warner's Springs and 12 miles north of Julian. Gold was first mined here about 1896, when a number of claims were located. Many of the claims were consolidated in about 1910 by the Montezuma Gold Mining Company, which worked them for a few years. The district was prospected again in the 1930s. A series of northeast-trending gold-quartz veins occur in quartzite, schist, gneiss, and quartz diorite. The veins range from one to four feet in thickness and have been developed to depths of about 230 feet.
Mines
Buckeye, Grubstake, Lucky Strike, Maid of Erin, Montezuma group.
Bibliography
Merrill, F. J. H., 1916, San Diego County, Montezuma or Rice district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 14, p. 648.
Tucker, W. B., 1925, San Diego County, Montezuma mine: California Min. Bur. Rept. 21, pp. 342-343.
Weber, F. Harold, Jr., 1963, San Diego County, gold: California Div_ Mines and Geology County Rept. 3, pp. 115-167.
