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Home > California > CA - Quarry Links & Photographs > Amador County > List of Stone Quarries, etc. - Page 2
(* Please note this list does not include sand or gravel quarries.)
(Also see: Plymouth (east of), Amador County, California - the Amador Marble Quarry (AKA Dal Porto Marble Quarry, Oleta Marble Quarry).)
Arrigo Fantozi purchased the Particelli Marble and Granite Works some time after his arrival from Italy in 1913. Upon his arrival he was already trained in monument making. “The Fantozi Monument (Works) business was located on Church Street across from Jackson City Cemetery.” (A photograph of Arrigo Fantozi’s quarry near Pine Grove is included.)
The following is taken from an Amador County newspaper dated December 2, 1882:
"Visited the marble works
"Your correspondent visited the marble works above Plymouth one day last week. The place is now in splendid running order. Five sets of saws are kept running most of the time. Water power is used to run the mill and to hoist rock from the quarry. About 80 inches of water are necessary, with over 200 feet of pressure, through an 11-inch pipe. The quarry was first discovered by Chas. Esty and worked by him in the year 1862. It was then sold to a company and then abandoned until about 8 years ago when it was relocated by Tubbs & Co. of San Francisco and has since been worked to good advantage. From seven to 10 hands are now employed. A new derrick rope has been put in place which weighs over 1600 lbs."The following is from an email relating to the owner's Oleta Marble Quarry:
"I have been doing some research on my quarry and have found out several interesting things from the Amador county archives. On Dec. 6 1879 a Abraham Swithenbank was killed by becoming caught in some equipment at my quarry. At this time the quarry was owned by Amador Marble Co. I found a mention of a change in the road reducing the distance to Plymouth in 1880 by the owners Tubbs & Co. I also found a reference of a marble cutting machine installed in 1854 north of Fiddletown in the proximity of Indian Diggins, but I think this is the same quarry of mine.
Andrew SwithenbankToday I visited the cemetery in Fiddletown and found many headstones from this quarry. The grey blue streaks are easy to identify and the oldest stone I found was 1858. I also found the stone of Mr. Swithenbank made of marble from this quarry. The floor of the butcher shop in Drytown has marble from here circa 1860.*
(Note: The marble found at the Indian Diggings' limestone/marble deposit in El Dorado, north of the Oleta Marble Quarry, also shows the distinctive grey blue streaks. Some of the cemetery stones and monuments in the Old Sacramento City Cemetery in Sacramento, California, were created from the Indian Digging's stone and possibly the Oleta Marble Quarry stone. Peggy B. Perazzo)
The following was taken from an Amador County newspaper published in 1883.
“Amador Marble Quarry
“I visited the marble works a few miles from Oleta lately and arriving there about dinner time. I was invited to partake of a good substantial dinner served by Mrs. Swithenbank who keeps the boarding and lodging house. After dinner, I was shown the works by Mr. McAdams, the superintendant (sic). The water in the pipes was frozen so hard as to necessitate the stopping of the mill for a few weeks until there is a moderation of the weather. Charles Swithenbank, Mr. Martin and Italian Frank are engaged in cutting and hoisting rock from the quarry to the mill. Those who have never visited a marble quarry do not know the dangers which continually menace the workmen. The face of this quarry has already a perpendicular wall of over 60 feet and the workmen are often suspended upon rope platforms, 50 feet from terra firma, engaged in drilling holes and loosening huge marble blocks weighing from 1 to 30 tons. After which, they are with great difficulty, lifted from their bed and allowed to drop to the bottom with a tremendous thud. After the marble is sawed into the desired size and shape, it is hauled to the railroad by teamsters and from thence to San Francisco by rail. Their marble is unequaled for building purposes and the company clears over $20,000 a year from these works.”The following photographs are of the Oleta Marble Quarry and some marble that was obtained from the quarry in 2003:
Photograph of the Oleta Marble Quarry as it appeared in 2003.
Photograph of the remains of a marble foundation of stone from the Oleta Marble Quarry.
Photograph of a close-up of some pieces of marble from the Oleta Marble Quarry.
Plymouth (west of), Amador County, California - Serpentine Quarry at one time owned by Dr. Thomas Boyeson* (Serpentine) (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906.)
"A yellowish-green to dark olive-green serpentine has been quarried about two miles west of Plymouth. The quarry is not in operation and is said to have been idle for a number of years. The old pit is 40 by 20 by 15 feet, and was formerly owned by Dr. Thomas Boyeson.*
(* Footnote: Twelfth Report of State Mineralogist, 1894, p. 402.)
"Folio 11, U. S. Geological Survey Atlas, states that a beautiful mottled variety of serpentine is quarried 1 ½ miles west of Sugar Loaf, Amador County."
Sutter Creek (southwest of), Amador County, California - Allen Limestone Deposit, Teichert Lease (Limestone) (Excerpt from "Mines and Mineral Resources of Amador County," by Denton W. Carlson, Junior Mining Geologist, and William B. Clark, Junior Mining Geologist, California State Division of Mines, California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 1954, pp. 149-285. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)
"Allen Limestone Deposit, Teichert Lease. Location: SW ¼ sec. 13, T. 6 N., R. 10 E., M.D.M., 2 ½ miles southwest of Sutter Creek. Ownership: George Allen, Sutter Creek.
"A. Teichert and Son leased this property in 1945 and shipped 5000 tons of limestone for use as sugar rock. The fines were sold as road rock. This property has been idle since 1945, according to Lee Gardner.
"The deposit consists of a limestone lens approximately 100 feet wide and 400 feet long. The limestone is bluish-gray, fossiliferous, prominently jointed, and strikes northwest.
"The limestone was handled by power shovels, crushed, sized by a multi-deck trommel, and shipped by truck. There was no equipment on the property late in 1952."
(Map No.) 79; (Claim, mine, or group) Allen Estate; (Owner name, address) John B. and George Allen, Sutter Creek; (Location) Sec. 11, T. 6 N., R. 10 E., M.D.M; (Remarks) Of a number of limestone outcrops, only a few show promise. One of outcrops worked in late 1945 by A. Teichert & Son., Inc. of Sacramento...."
"Carrara Marble Quarry; C. Dondero, room 617, 456 Montgomery street, San Francisco. The quarry is located in Sec. 29, T. 7 N., R. 12 E., M. D. M. The principal product is white marble with black streaks; also white and ash-colored marbles are available. Used in rotunda of City Hall, and entrance to Native Sons' Building, San Francisco; also in rotunda of Museum Building, Stanford University."
Amador County, California - Carrara Marble Quarry (Marble) (Excerpt from Report XIV of the State Mineralogist - Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Chapters of State Mineralogist's Report - Biennial Period 1913-1914, Part I. "The Counties of Amador County, Calaveras County, Tuolumne County," by W. B. Tucker, Field Assistant, San Francisco, California, July, 1915, California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 2-172.)
"Carrara Marble Quarry. The quarry is located in Sec. 29, T. 7 N., R. 12 E. The principal product is white marble with black streaks. Idle. C. Dondero, owner, San Francisco.
Volcano (west of), Amador County, California - Dondero (Carrara) Marble Quarry (Marble) (Excerpt from "Limestone in California," by Clarence A. Logan, California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 43, No. 3, July 1947, California Division of Mines, San Francisco, California, pp. 175-357. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)
"Dondero (Carrara) marble quarry, is in N ½ sec. 29, T. 7 N., R. 12 E., M. D., 2 ¼ miles from Volcano and 12 miles by road from Martell railroad station. It is on the south side of the canyon of Sutter creek, and its position permitted cheap operation. A quarry floor 150 feet wide was opened and when last visited the face was nearly that high. Productions on a modest scale extended over 30 years, and the marble was used in many buildings in San Francisco. C. Dondero worked the quarry in the dry season until 1933, since when (sic) no production has been reported. Good-sized blocks were shipped in the rough state to a yard at San Francisco where they were cut and polished. The stone in the main quarry is principally a white marble, irregularly veined with blue, but some white and ash-colored stone was also produced."
Volcano (west of), Amador County, California - Dondero (Carrara) Marble Quarry (Marble) (Excerpt from "Mines and Mineral Resources of Amador County," by Denton W. Carlson, Junior Mining Geologist, and William B. Clark, Junior Mining Geologist, California State Division of Mines, California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 1954, pp. 149-285. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)
"Dondero (Carrara) Marble Quarry. Location: N ½ sec. 29, T. 7 N., R. 12 E., M.D.M., 2 ¼ miles west of Volcano. Ownership: Aurelio G. Dondero, 852 59th Street, Oakland, California.
"This property was worked on a modest scale for 30 years until 1933. A quarry floor 150 feet wide with a face nearly 150 feet high was worked (Logan, 1947, p. 209). Large blocks of marble in a rough state were shipped to San Francisco where they were cut and polished. Marble from this quarry was used in the rotunda of the San Francisco City Hall and in the rotunda of the Museum Building at Stanford University (Aubury, 1906, p. 97). "The stone is principally white marble with black streaks, although white and ash-colored marble are also present." (Map No.) 81; (Claim, mine, or group) Dondero Marble; (Owner name, address) Aurelio G. Dondero, 852 59th St., Oakland; (Location) Sec. N ½ 29, T. 7 N., R. 12 E., M.D.M.; (Remarks) (Aubury 06:96-97; Tucker 14:53; Logan 27:200; 47:209.)
Volcano, Amador County, California - Limestone Quarries (From Geologic Guidebook Along Highway 49 - Sierran Gold Belt: The Mother Lode Country, Bulletin 141, Olaf P. Jenkins, Chief, California Division of Mines, San Francisco, California, 1949. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)
"Nearing Volcano the limestone cliffs and road cut exposures prepare the visitor for the stone material used in the Volcano buildings. On all sides are massive buildings of quarried and rough-dressed blue limestone."
Volcano (near), Amador County, California - Volcano Limestone Deposit owned by the Great Western Land Development Co. (Limestone) (Excerpt from "Limestone in California," by Clarence A. Logan, California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 43, No. 3, July 1947, California Division of Mines, San Francisco, California, pp. 175-357. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)
"Volcano limestone deposit is owned by Great Western Land Development Company, which is reported to be fully owned by F. L. Smidth and Company, 60 East 42nd Street, New York and Copenhagen, Denmark. The 825 acres owned outright and mineral rights on about 520 acres more, cover most of the large limestone deposit at and near Volcano, which is 15 miles from Martell, the nearest railroad shipping point. The elevation is from 2000 feet to 2500 feet extending from Sutter Creek to the hills on both sides.
"In 1928, when the properties were offered to the present owners, six deep diamond-drill holes were put down in the deposit and hundreds of samples were sent out for analysis. The results are said to have been satisfactory enough to warrant completion of the purchase. Plans were made for erecting a Portland cement plant in Sacramento Valley and a right-of-way for a branch railroad from Volcano to the valley, following Sutter Creek, was purchased. The panic of 1929 interrupted the work and nothing has been done since (written circa 1947).
"This is probably the largest high-calcium, low-magnesium limestone deposit in the region, (though it does not compare in size with the magnesian limestone beds of Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties). Maximum backs of 300 feet or more from the level of the main street of Volcano northward are indicated by outcrops and exposures of limestone bedrock in old placer workings over a distance of a mile and a width of half a mile. South of Volcano, the limestone extends 1 ½ miles but is much narrower; however, a very substantial tonnage lies there, much of it having backs of 250 to 300 feet. An area of limestone half a mile square contains over 580,000 tons for each foot in depth.
"A sample of diamond-drill core marked 'Hole 3, 230 to 235 ft.,' which in this case would mean a vertical depth of 115 feet, was analyzed by Abbot A. Hanks, Inc., with the following results:
Insoluble, 0.22 percent
Ferric oxide and aluminic oxide, 0.19 percent
Calcium carbonate, 99.03 percent
Magnesium carbonate, 0.37 percent
Total, 99.81 percent"A surface sample taken by the writer at intervals over a distance of half a mile north of the town, and also analyzed by Hanks, gave the following:
Insoluble, 1.16 percent
Fe2O3 and Al2O3, 0.37 percent
Calcium carbonate, 97.26 percent
Magnesium carbonate, 0.39 percent
Total, 99.18 percent"The reason for the large areal extent of the limestone here (and also in the Fiddletown deposit farther north) is believed to be that the deposits have been partially protected from modern erosion by coverings of Tertiary gravel and volcanic debris."
Volcano (near), Amador County, California - Volcano Limestone (Limestone) (Excerpt from "Mines and Mineral Resources of Amador County," by Denton W. Carlson, Junior Mining Geologist, and William B. Clark, Junior Mining Geologist, California State Division of Mines, California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 1954, pp. 149-285. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)
(Map No.) 82; (Claim, mine, or group) Volcano Limestone; (Owner name, address) Great Western Lands Development Co. c/o J. J. Lerman, 806 Balboa Bldg. San Francisco; (Location) Sec. 23, T. 7, R. 12, M.D.M.; (Remarks) Six diamond drill holes drilled 1928. Probably largest high-calcium, low-magnesium limestone in Amador Co. Undeveloped. (Logan 27:200, 47:211.)
Commercial use of material within this site is strictly prohibited. It is not to be captured, reworked, and placed inside another web site. © . All rights reserved. Peggy B. and George (Pat) Perazzo.
