The Little Three Mine, near Ramona in the Ramona Mining District of San Diego County, was discovered in May 1903, yielding topaz, tourmaline, garnet, and lepidolite from pegmatite dikes until near-surface pockets were seemingly exhausted by 1909 . After decades of inactivity, Louis Spaulding and his son reopened the mine in 1955, recovering notable orange spessartine and blue topaz specimens through the 1990s. Examples of tourmaline from this mine in this size and quality are rare - with some backlight, the green color shows nicely.