If you have been following my blogs-you know that my foray into Petrified Wood began when we purchased an amazing collection that was mostly self-collected throughout the western United States from the 1930's to the 1960's by Sam and Ruth Kirkby. But just who were the Kirkby's?

The Kirkby's were well-known and well-respected in the rock and fossil world.

Samuel E Kirkby was born in 1910 and Ruth A Kirkby was born in 1914. Sam and Ruby married in 1936 in Michigan. They moved to Riverside, California in the late 1930’s, where they started Kirkby Trailer Company and raised four kids. They spent many years traveling throughout the west and self-collecting Petrified Wood, thundereggs, agates, jaspers and other rocks. Many of these areas are now in closed off areas and no longer collectable!

They sold the trailer company in the 1950’s and founded the Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center in 1964. A center that supported education in rocks, minerals, fossils, and petrified wood.  The facility along California 60 spans 82 acres teeming with olive trees, natural springs, botanical gardens, wildlife sanctuaries and life-size replicas of eight dinosaurs. Learning facilities include a children’s shopping center, Earth science museum, fossil shack and mining office. The Kirkbys donated the land and were unpaid directors.

The Kirkbys also conducted field trips to the Riverside Cement Co.’s Crestmore Mines, one of only three sites worldwide where more than 150 different minerals can be found. The quarry is now closed to collecting. Some of their own vast collection of rocks and minerals included stone spheres that they hand-cut themselves from self-collected materials and the spheres were often displayed at the California Federation Mineral Society's yearly showcase gathering awards and media articles.

Ruth was a paleobotanist and had several rare plant fossils named after her. She authored books and wrote and edited articles for Rocks & Gems magazine. And she was a community activist-in 1989 she tried to overturn the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to issue a stamp of an apatosaurus incorrectly identified as a brontosaurus. Although unsuccessful, she and Sam fought hard for scientific accuracy. Ruth also fought to shut down the Stringfellow Acid Pits right down the street from the JMCC, which was believed to be the cause of many health problems in the community.  

They retired and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995. Sam died in 2002 and Ruth died in 2007. Though quite extensive, we actually acquired only a part of their enormous collection. Our part includes a massive amount of petrified wood, as well as agates, thundereggs and lapidary rough rock and slabs. They also had a sphere collection, fossil collection, seashell collection, and a fluorescent mineral collection!