Pala, California

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Pala is a town in San Diego County, California near Fallbrook. It is east of Carlsbad in the San Diego-Carlsbad metro area. In the National Geographic Names Database it is officially cataloged as feature number 1661174. The community is in ZIP Code 92059, and inside area code 760.

The community name derives from Indian term "pal" for "water". Another possible origin of the name is the Spanish word "pala", which means "shovel".

The community is in the Pacific time zone. Pala is at an altitude of 404 feet, located at latitude 33°21′55″N, 117°04′36″W (33.365N, longitude 117.075W).

Pala was known for its mineral resources, including gold and tourmaline. Numerous gem mines were established in 1890's, of which more than twenty are listed in the [1]Minedat database. Gem mines in the Pala District still produce tourmaline, with the pink variety as the regional specialty.

China's Dowager Empress (Cixi) of Qing Dynasty was a huge fan of pink tourmaline. Under her influence, China had a huge appitite for this gem, which in term gave the California tourmaline industry a huge boom between 1902-1910. The boom ended in 1911 when the Empress died.

Pala was the site where morganite beryl was first discovered. It was also discovered in 1902 as the first commercially significant deposit of kunzite, named after George F. Kunz, the godfather of gemology.

[edit] See also

• Mission San Antonio de Pala
• Pala Indian Reservation