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Home > California > CA - Quarry Links & Photographs > Kern County > List of Stone Quarries
“Antelope Valley Marble Quarry, in Sec. 2, T. 9 N., R. 17 W., S. B. M.; Southern California Marble Company, J. T. Houx, Call Building, San Francisco, owner. Near Neenach, on the south slope of the Tehachapi range. A large body of fine-grained marble, consisting of a number of beds of various colors, dipping at an angle of about 35 degrees into the mountain. In the quarry is found white marble with reddish-brown veins, and with heavy blue veins. This marble has been used in the Stimson Block, Los Angles, in the Spreckels band stand, Golden Gate Park, and Goldberg & Bowen's store, Sutter street, San Francisco, etc. (See also XIIIth Report of California State Mining Bureau, p. 629.) This quarry has been idle for the past two years.”
“Antelope Valley Marble Quarry, owned by the Southern California Marble Company, is located in Sec. 2, T. 9 N., R. 17 W., S.B.M., near Neenach, on the south slope of the Tehachapi range. The deposit consists of a large body of fine-grained marble, consisting of a number of beds of various colors, dipping at an angle of 35 into the mountain. In the quarry is found white marble with reddish-brown and heavy blue veins. This marble has been used in the Stimson Block, Los Angeles, in the Spreckels bandstand, Golden Gate Park, Goldberg & Bowen's store, Sutter street, San Francisco. Quarry has been idle since 1904.
“Bibl.: Report VI, part 1, p. 23; XIII, p. 629; Bull. No. 38, p. 100.”
From "Tabulated list of mines in Kern County - Nonmetals": Ref. No.: 323; Name of mine: Antelope Valley Marble; Owner (name and address): Southern California Marble Co., San Francisco, Calif. (last known); Location: Sec. 2, T. 9 N., R. 17 W., S.B.M.; Mineral product: Marble; Remarks and references: Idle. Report 6 pt. 1, p. 13; Report 13, p. 629; Report 14, p. 520; Report 25, p. 73; Bulletin 38, p. 100.
"Marble occurs near Neenach, on the south slope of the Tehachapi range, in Brights Valley, in San Emigdio Canyon, and along Erskine Creek. The Neenach deposit is the only one that has been worked."
"Pomona Lime, Cement, and Stone Company, Pomona, has a quarry in a body of crystalline limestone at Spadra, on the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, about 4 miles west of Pomona. This limestone is burned in a kiln close to the quarry."
"Kern Development Syndicate Quarries, in Sec. 14, T. 32 S., R. 34 E., M. D. M.; Kern Development Syndicate, 202 Wilcox Building, Los Angeles, owner; Robert Lewis, manager. These quarries are 6 miles south of Tehachapi and 3 miles from Erie station, on the southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads, and 112 miles from Los Angeles. The sandstone is of many colors - green, blue, red, tan, and drab. The formation lies at an angle of about 10 degrees, and varies in thickness from 3 to 30 feet. It is unlimited quantity, covering several sections of land, all owned by this company. The Pasadena Library building, and the Date and Fish blocks of Los Angeles, were constructed of stone from these quarries."
| Ill. No. 56. Green Sandstone Quarry of the Kern Development Syndicate, Kern County. |  |
| Ill. No. 57. Red Sandstone, Kern County. Kern Development Syndicate. |  |
| Ill. No. 59. Sandstone Quarry, Kern County. Kern Development Syndicate. |  |
"A large quantity of sandstone is found a few miles south of Tehachapi, and in San Emigdio Canyon, the former deposit being worked several years ago by the Kern Development Syndicate.
"Kern Development Syndicate Quarry, owned by the Kern Development Syndicate, of Los Angeles, consists of 140 acres in Sec. 14, T. 32 S., R. 34 E., M.D.M., 6 miles south of Tehachapi, and 3 miles from Erie Station, on the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads. The sandstone is of many colors - green, blue, red, tan and drab. The formation lies at an angle of 10, and varies in thickness from 3 to 30 feet. The supply seems to be unlimited. The stone used in the construction of the Pasadena library building, and the Date and Fish blocks of Los Angeles. Quarry idle.
"Bible.: Bull. 38, pp. 128 and 370."
"Kern Development Syndicate Quarries, in Sec. 14, T. 32 S., R. 34 E., M. D. M.; Kern Development Syndicate, 202 Wilcox Building, Los Angeles, owner; Robert Lewis, manager. These quarries are 6 miles south of Tehachapi and 3 miles from Erie station, on the southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads, and 112 miles from Los Angeles. The sandstone is of many colors - green, blue, red, tan, and drab. The formation lies at an angle of about 10 degrees, and varies in thickness from 3 to 30 feet. It is unlimited quantity, covering several sections of land, all owned by this company. The Pasadena Library building, and the Date and Fish blocks of Los Angeles, were constructed of stone from these quarries."
"Jameson Quarry, Jameson Lime Company, Tehachapi, owner. On the north side of the great Tehachapi Valley is a broad belt of limestone that forms the bordering hills of the valley. The quarry is located in a small cañon about half a mile from the border of the valley. The hillside on which the quarry is located is 400 feet or more in height, and shows limestone outcroppings all the way to the top. The opening from which the stone is taken at present (July, 1904) is about 100 feet above the bottom of the cañon, and several other smaller openings have been made at different heights on the hill. The hill is apparently all limestone, except a few small clay seams in places and some chalcedonic chert near the middle of the slope. The slope on the south end of the hill and the talus slope below contain a great quantity of chert fragments which are remnants from the weathered limestone, and appear as a rusty brown mantle on the surface.
"The limestone is coarsely crystallized and of a prevailingly blue color, but portions of the deposit are white and in places white and blue banded. The rock is much fractured and weathered on the surface. The limestone, as exposed over a belt more than half a mile in width and at least several hundred feet in thickness, with practically no overburden, shows an unlimited available supply.
"Two modern kilns, constructed in the summer of 1903, are in operation. The lime is burned mostly with oil, but some wood is used. It is put in barrels at the kiln and transported by wagon to the railway at Tehachapi."
| Ill. No. 26. Jameson Lime Company's Kilns, Tehachapi, Kern County. |  |
"Jameson Lime Company owns an extensive deposit of limestone in the west half of Sec. 14, T. 32 S., R. 33 E., M.D.M., about 2 miles east of Tehachapi. These holdings, consisting of 320 acres, are controlled by J. W. Jameson, of Taft, and an excellent grade of lime is produced. The limestone is in part coarsely crystallized, and blue to white in color. The belt is at least 2500 feet wide and several hundred feet thick, with practically no overburden. The deposit has been worked for twenty years. Limestone is burned in modern kilns, having a daily capacity of 40 barrels each. Oil is used for fuel, costing 50 cents per barrel. Plant is operated about six months during the year, ten men being employed.
"Bibl.: Bull. No. 38, p. 70. The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, issued by California State Mining Bureau."
"Jameson Lime Company began work in 1903 on a large deposit of limestone in W ½ sec. 14, T. 32 S., R. 33 E., M.D., 3 miles northeast of Tehachapi. For many years they operated two lime kilns. About 1920 the property passed to Blue Diamond Plaster Company. This is the same section where Monolith Portland Cement Company later opened a large quarry. The limestone is coarsely crystalline, generally blue but in part white, or blue and white. It is in a hill rising 400 feet, and is half a mile wide."
"Los Angeles Aqueduct Plant was constructed by the city of Los Angeles to manufacture cement for use in constructing the Owens River water supply system. The holdings, consisting of 120 acres, are located in Sec. 14, T. 32 S., R. 33 E., M.D.M., at Monolith Station, 3 miles east of the town of Tehachapi (see photo No. 4.)
"Limestone was obtained near the plant, and also from the Summit quarry. An ample supply of clay was extracted from a pit near the works. The plant has a daily capacity of 1250 tons, operated by electricity from Pacific Light and Power Corporation."
| Photo No. 4. Cement plant at Monolith, erected by City of Los Angeles. |  |
"Summit Lime Company, formerly known as the Union Lime Company, owns 640 acres, patented in Sec. 35, T. 12 N., R. 15 W., S.B.M., about 3 miles south of Tehachapi. F. O. Wyman, president; W. O. North, secretary; C. W. Shoff, superintendent; Home office, 313 Heney Building, Los Angeles. Trade name, 'Blue Summit Lime.' The limestone occurs in heavy beds, with a strike of N. 75 W., and varies in color from white to light blue. It is all crystallized, in some places coarse grained, and elsewhere fine grained. The quarry is 300 feet long and 300 feet deep (circa 1914), the rock being conveyed to the Kilns by an automatic tram. The company operates four kilns at the deposit, and four near Tehachapi, in Sec. 21, T. 32 S., R. 33 E., M.D.M. (see photo No. 12). The limestone is hauled from the quarry to the Tehachapi plant, 3 miles, with eight-horse teams. Total capacity of the two plants is 560 barrels. Oil used for fuel. Output in 1912 was 120,000 barrels. Fifty men employed. Product sold in southern California and in Arizona.
"Bibl.: Report XIII, p. 628; Bull. No. 38, p. 71."
| Photo 12. Summit Lime Company's Plant at Tehachapi. |  |
"Union Lime Company, 203 San Pedro street, Los Angeles; A. L. Foster, Tehachapi, superintendent. The quarries are on the south side of the valley. The limestone occurs in heavy beds, with more or less inclusions of schist. The biotite mica in the schist is frequently badly disintegrated and stains the adjoining limestone with iron rust. The rocks are sharply folded and much shattered, so that large dimension stone is not available. The limestone is all crystallized; in some places coarse-grained and elsewhere fine-grained. It varies from white to light blue in color, the prevailing coloring being a bluish gray. In one place in the quarry of the Union Lime Company the stone is finely banded, blue and white, with a fine, compact, saccharoidal texture. It might be quarried with profit to a limited extent, in slabs of several square feet, utilizing the fragments for the limekiln. These slabs could be used for interior decoration and for cabinet and panel work.
"The limestone lies apparently in a closely compressed syncline, which has a general trend or strike about N. 75° W. Both strike and dip vary in direction as well as in angle.
"There are several quarry openings scattered along the hillside over a distance of half a mile or more. In one of the largest is a quarry face of about 300 feet which is worked at several levels. The stone is quarried by blasting and is run from the quarry to the kilns on tram-cars. It is needless to add that there is an unlimited amount of limestone available at this locality.
"There are at least two other ledges of limestone south of the Union Lime Company's quarry, one of which, about one mile south in a side canon to the west, was quarried some years ago and the lime burned in a pot-kiln at the quarry. The limestone at this point is only about 10 feet thick and dips 45° N. 40° W., which soon carried it so deep into the hill that it became expensive removing the overburden. The associated rocks are granite, schist, and porphyry."
| Ill. No. 28. Quarry and kilns of the Union Lime Co., Tehachapi, Kern County. |  |
"Union Lime Company whose last known address was 1326 North Maryland Avenue, Glendale, but which was suspended as of March 5, 1937, for many years held 1720 acres, patented, in and adjoining sec. 35, T. 12 N., R. 15 W., S.B., 3 to 4 miles south of Tehachapi. The company was the largest lime producer in the county and was in operation at least as early as 1896 and as lessee of Summit Lime Company reported production up to 1928. They operated as many as eight lime kilns with a total capacity of 560 barrels a day and a crew of 50 men. The continuous kilns in early days were fired by oak wood which was abundant locally, but toward the end of operations natural gas was used. The last four kilns received 45 tons of sorted limestone in an 8-hour shift. These kilns were near the quarry and a lime hydrate plant with a capacity of 8 to 9 tons a day was located at Tehachapi.
"The limestone deposit is 4000 feet long by about 500 feet thick. It is thought to be in a compressed syncline in granodiorite. It is interbedded with (biotite ?) mica schist and the two have been considerably crushed, which caused increased quarrying cost. The deposit is at the south edge of Tehachapi Valley and the main Garlock fault is about 3 miles southeast, so there may possibly be a fault wedge partly occupied by the limestone. It is a high-calcium, finely to coarsely crystalline, white to bluish limestone, and the lime made from it was widely and favorably known, as the district was the principal source of lime for southern California for many years. The limestone is said to have carried about 98 percent CaCO3 and 2 percent SiO2.
"Several quarries were worked, one of which had a face 300 feet high."
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