Mariposa County - List of Stone Quarries, Etc.*

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Mariposa County - List of Stone Quarries, Etc.*

(* Please note this list does not include sand or gravel quarries.)

Bagby (1½ miles from), Mariposa County, California – Welsh and Forney Limestone Deposit (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.)

“Welsh and Forney deposit is 1½ miles from Bagby and within 1 mile of the line of Yosemite Valley Railroad which has, however, stopped freight service. The limestone outcrop is from 25 to 100 feet thick, 3,000 feet long and would give backs estimated at 200 feet. George Welsh and J. W. Forney, Bagby, were the last known owners.”
Bear Valley, Mariposa County, California – Schist Quarrying (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.)

"The little hamlet of Bear Valley, first named Simpsonville, is the site of a once important town in which John C. Fremont made his home. Several old stone buildings are still in use (circa 1948). All are made of schist slabs, set in lime mortar and plastered over with stucco. A local source for the stone building material is indicated by evidences of quarrying in schist outcrops within the town...."
Briceburg (near), Mariposa County, California - Briceburg Limestone Quarry (From Geology of Northern California, Bulletin 190, Edgar H. Bailey, Editor, United States Geological Survey, California Division of Mines and Geology, Ferry Building, San Francisco. 1966, "Economic Mineral Deposits of the Sierra Nevada," by William B. Clark (Limestone and Limestone Products, p. 212.) (Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

"The production of limestone and limestone products is now (circa 1966) the largest segment of the mineral industry in the Sierra Nevada, amounting to 10's of millions of dollars a year. Crystalline limestone and dolomite, the basic source rocks, occur as lenses in various types of metamorphic rocks and granitic rock. Although the age of most of the limestone deposits is not known, a few of them have yielded fossils ranging from Mississippian to Permian in age. The limestone usually is white to blue-gray in color, and fairly pure. The largest masses are in the Sonora-Columbia area of Tuolumne County, but extensive deposits are in Plumas, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, Kern, and Tulare Counties. The principal districts producing commercial limestone at present (circa 1966) area at Cool, Shingle Springs, and Diamond Springs, El Dorado County, where most of it is used in beet sugar refining or the manufacture of lime; San Andreas, Calaveras County, where it is quarried for cement by the Calaveras Cement Co.; Columbia and Sonora, Tuolumne County, where terrazzo stone and lime are made, and Tehachapi, Kern County, the site of the Monolith Cement Co. operation. At one time limestone was quarried near Briceburg, Mariposa County, for use in a cement plant in Merced County...."

Briceburg (1 mile from), Mariposa County, California - O'Brien Limestone Deposit (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.)

"O'Brien limestone deposit is in N ½ NE ¼ sec. 11, T. 4 S., R. 18 E., M.D., about 1 mile from Briceburg, a point on the Merced-Yosemite Valley highway, and 50 miles from Merced. Miss Ethel R. O'Brien, 1534 Clay Street, San Francisco, and others, are the owners. The 80 acres of land is patented and rises about 800 feet above the highway on the southeast side of Merced River, which is about a mile distant. A road connects the deposit with the highway.

"No production has been made from the deposit and it has not been developed sufficiently to prove tonnage, but the owners estimate some millions of tons are available. The limestone outcrops prominently on a steep slope and can be worked entirely by gravity. Electric power and water are available nearby...."

"Two-thirds of deposit is said to be of the mottled limestone (no. 3.)" (The other two colors listed in the chart, which is not presented here, are white and black.)

Plate 28- A. Part of Outcrop - O'Brien limestone deposit near Briceburg, Maripoa County. Photo by courtesy of Ethel R. O'Brien.

Cotton Creek, Mariposa County, California - Cotton Creek Limestone Deposit (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.)

"Cotton Creek deposit is a small body of limestone in the Mariposa (Jurassic) slate in sec. 18, T. 4 S., R. 16 E., M.D., just north of Cotton Creek."
Coulterville (east of), Mariposa County, California - Bower Cave Limestone Deposits (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.)

"Bower Cave deposits are two good-sized lenses of limestone extending southeast for a total distance of about 2 miles from Bower Cave, a small cavern in limestone on the North Fork of Merced River in sec. 19, T. 2 S., R. 18 E., about 10 miles east of Coulterville."
Coulterville, Mariposa County, California - Schist and Soapstone Quarrying (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.)

"Among the most interesting of the buildings in Coulterville are the ruins of a stone hotel. It is constructed of flat laid schist slabs (Fig. 28) but the front is covered with neatly dressed blocks of soapstone (Fig. 32). The soapstone facing blocks are said to have been quarried on the Gordon Place at Greely Mountain. Adjoining the ruins of the Coulter Hotel are the brick Wells Fargo office and Wagoner's store. Adjacent to this group is a schist quarry, the source of part of the building material...Several brick buildings may be seen as well as a few made of schist slabs...."
Diamond Springs, El Dorado County, California - Diamond Springs Limestone Quarry (From Geology of Northern California, Bulletin 190, Edgar H. Bailey, Editor, United States Geological Survey, California Division of Mines and Geology, Ferry Building, San Francisco. 1966, "Economic Mineral Deposits of the Sierra Nevada," by William B. Clark (Limestone and Limestone Products, p. 212." (Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

"The production of limestone and limestone products is now (circa 1966) the largest segment of the mineral industry in the Sierra Nevada, amounting to 10's of millions of dollars a year. Crystalline limestone and dolomite, the basic source rocks, occur as lenses in various types of metamorphic rocks and granitic rock. Although the age of most of the limestone deposits is not known, a few of them have yielded fossils ranging from Mississippian to Permian in age. The limestone usually is white to blue-gray in color, and fairly pure. The largest masses are in the Sonora-Columbia area of Tuolumne County, but extensive deposits are in Plumas, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, Kern, and Tulare Counties. The principal districts producing commercial limestone at present (circa 1966) area at Cool, Shingle Springs, and Diamond Springs, El Dorado County, where most of it is used in beet sugar refining or the manufacture of lime; San Andreas, Calaveras County, where it is quarried for cement by the Calaveras Cement Co.; Columbia and Sonora, Tuolumne County, where terrazzo stone and lime are made, and Tehachapi, Kern County, the site of the Monolith Cement Co. operation. At one time limestone was quarried near Briceburg Mariposa County, for use in a cement plant in Merced County...."
El Portal (southwest of), Mariposa County, California - F. A. Bondshu, J. F. Harris, C. P. Pratt and J. W. Pratt - Marble Deposit (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 IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by F. L. Lowell, Field Assistant (field work in July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

"There is a very fine marble located in Sec. 2, T. 4 S., R. 19 E., M.D.M., 6 miles southwest of El Portal on the road to Hites Cove and on the south fork of the Merced River. It is owned by F. A. Bondshu, J. F. Harris, C. P. Pratt and J. W. Pratt of Mariposa. The limestone is about 3000 feet wide and stands 600 feet from the river. The marble is white with dark streaks through it and takes a fine polish."

Croppings of white marble on the south fork of the Merced River near Hites Cove, Mariposa County, California.
Exchequer, Mariposa County, California - Yosemite Stone Quarry (Diorite) (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 IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by F. L. Lowell, Field Assistant (field work in July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

"Yosemite Stone Quarry. This property consists of 40 acres of patented land owned by the Ransome-Crummey Company of Oakland and located on the Merced River at Exchequer on the Yosemite Valley Railroad. The rock is a fine grained diorite and the dike is about 500 feet wide between the walls of slate. The equipment consists of an air compressor and 5 machine drills, a blacksmith shop, gravity tram, two 5-ton cars, 5 Gates gyratory crushers, elevating buckets, 10 motors, one 100-ton ore bin, a large crane, office, and superintendent's house. Power is supplied by the San Joaquin Light and Power Company and 20 men are employed at the present time."

Ransome-Crummey rock crusher at Exchequer, on the Merced River and Yosemite Valley railroad, Mariposa County, California.
French Mills, Mariposa County, California - Schist Quarrying (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, photograph on pp. 103. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

"A mile and a half south of Coulterville and three-quarters of a mile west of highway 49, are the ruins of the mine buildings and houses of the old site of French Mills. At present (circa 1948), the remains consist of a boiler house, a series of retaining walls, and several stone foundations, all constructed of schist slabs set in mud mortar and stucco covered. The source of this building material can be seen in the extensive quarrying of local outcrops."

Fig. 26. Schist quarry, French Mills, DMBS mrp-H19.
Greely Mountain, Mariposa County, California - Soapstone Quarrying (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.)

"Among the most interesting of the buildings in Coulterville are the ruins of a stone hotel. It is constructed of flat laid schist slabs (Fig. 28) but the front is covered with neatly dressed blocks of soapstone (Fig. 32). The soapstone facing blocks are said to have been quarried on the Gordon Place at Greely Mountain...."
Hornitos, Mariposa County, California - Schist Quarry (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.)

"...The schist for the several stone-mud buildings was quarried in the center of town (Hornitos) (Fig. 13)...."

Fig. 13. Schist quarry in Hornitos, DMBS Mrp-H6.

Jasper Point, Mariposa County, California - Yosemite Rock Quarry (Quartzite) (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 IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by F. L. Lowell, Field Assistant (field work in July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

"Yosemite Rock Quarry. This quarry consists of 80 acres owned by the Merced Stone Company and leased by the E. B. & A. L. Stone Company, Rialto Building, San Francisco. The quarry and plant are located on the Merced River at Jasper Point in Sec. 19, T. 3 S., R. 16 E., M.D.M. The rock is an altered quartzite, very hard and of a jaspery nature. The equipment consists of a steam shovel, compressor and air drills, three gyratory crushers, screens, bucket conveyors, bins, electric monitors, power line and transformer house. Power is obtained from the San Joaquin Light and Power Company. The capacity of the plant is 750 tons per ten hours and the rock is sold at from 20 to 30 cents per ton on the cars of the Yosemite Valley Railroad. Only a few men were at work when the property was visited."

Merced Stone Company's rock quarry at Jasper Point on the Merced River and the Yosemite Valley Railroad, Mariposa County, California.

Jenkins Hill, Mariposa County, California - Emory Limestone Quarry (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.)

"Emory quarry is at Jenkins Hill on the north side of Merced River in secs. 7 and 8, T. 3 S., R. 19 E., M.D. For 17 years it was the source of limestone for Yosemite Portland Cement Corporation which operated a plant 2 miles from Merced from 1927-44, when operation ended and the cement plant was removed.

"The limestone quarry floor is 800 feet above the railroad tracks. The outcrop rose several hundred feet higher and extended for half a mile. The stone was broken to pass 1 inch before being lowered for loading on railroad cars in which it was shipped 63 miles to the cement plant.

"The cement plant was described in detail in Rock Products, June 11, 1927."
Mariposa County, California - Cunningham Slate Quarry (Slate) (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 IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by F. L. Lowell, Field Assistant (field work in July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

"Cunningham Slate Quarry. Consists of slate land located in Secs. 6, 7, 8, and 17, T. 7 S., R. 17 E., M.D.M., and owned by the Cunningham Corporation of Planada, Merced County. The quarry was leased from Cunningham by D. J. Gonyer for fifteen years. The quarry is developed and a good quality of roofing slate produced. It is not working at present (circa 1914).
Mariposa County, California - W. M. Frew - Limestone Deposit (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.)

"W. M. Frew, Ben Hur Post Office, has reported having a large deposit of high-grade limestone. No details are available."
Mariposa County, California - Limestone Outcrop on the Mariposa Grant (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.)

"A mile northeast of Mount Bullion, on the Mariposa Grant, there is a small outcrop of limestone in a lens of Calaveras rocks."
Mariposa County, California - Marble Point Marble Deposit (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.)

"Marble Point deposit is in sec. 2, T. 4 S., R. 19 E., M.D., on the South Fork of Merced River. This has been mentioned by Lowell (16a)* as a 'very fine marble' and has been located as mineral but so far as known is undeveloped. It is 2 ½ miles south of the Yosemite Valley highway. The marble is white with dark veining and takes a high polish. The outcrop is reported to be 3000 feet wide, and rises 600 feet from the river. At Hite Cove, 2 miles northwest on the same stream, H. W. Turner (94, p. 446)** reported the finding of the fossil Fusulina, which has a range from the Permian to the lower Carboniferous."

(* F. L. Lowell, "Mariposa County," California Mining Bureau Report 14, pp. 569-604, illus., 1916.)

(** Henry Ward Turner, "The Rocks of the Sierra Nevada," U. S. Geological Survey 14th Annual Report, pt. 2, pp. 435-495, pls. xlviii-lix, 1894.)
Mariposa, Mariposa County, California - the Mormon Bar Granite Quarry (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, photograph on pp. 97. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

"...The jail (Fig. 7) which sits on the hill at the southern end of town (Mariposa) is made of dressed granite blocks from Mormon Bar two miles south of Mariposa. This granite is significant as it comes from the intrusion which terminates the Mother Load on the south."

Fig. 7. Jail, Mariposa, DMBS Mrp-H3.
- Mariposa, Mariposa County, California - the Mormon Bar Granite Quarry. The Mormon Bar Granite Quarry was located south of Mariposa. According to local sources, there is no longer any evidence that there was a quarry on the site.
Mariposa County, California - the Pacific Slate Company's Quarry (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906.)

"Pacific Slate Company's Quarry, in Sec. 6 T. 6 S., R. 16 E., M. D. M.; Pacific Slate Company, owner; C. G. Kocher, Merced, secretary. The quarry was first opened about 1897 and operated intermittently for a time, but it has been idle for the last three years. The slate is of good quality, with a straight, even cleavage, and was used in roofing the county jail at Merced. An 18-mile haul over rough roads is the main item of expense."
Merced Falls (4 miles from), Mariposa County, California - Pacific Slate Quarry (Slate) (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 IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by F. L. Lowell, Field Assistant (field work in July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

"Pacific Slate Quarry. Consists of 50 acres of land located in Sec. 6, T. 6 S., R. 16 E., M.D.M., 4 miles from Merced Falls and owned by the Pacific Slate Company of Merced, Merced County. The slate is quarried and cut into slabs for roofing purposes mostly. None is being shipped at present, as there is very little demand."

Roofing slate from quarry of Pacific Slate Company in Sec. 6, T. 6 S., R. 16 E.

Pacific Slate Company Slate Quarry.
Mariposa, Mariposa County, California - Soapstone Quarried (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.)

"...Of the old stone buildings, the most accessible is the present (circa 1948) Butterfly Grocery whose exposed inner walls are built of soapstone set in mud mortar. Source of the soapstone is the hillslopes immediately east of the town...."
Mariposa County, California - Guido Vignalo - Granite Deposit (Granite) (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 IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by F. L. Lowell, Field Assistant (field work in July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

"Granite abounds in large quantities in Mariposa County of the same variety as the famous granite at Raymond in Madera County, but it is so far from transportation that it is not able to compete at present (circa 1914) with that more favorably situated. A granite property consisting of 50 acres of patented land located in Sec. 20, T. 6 S., R. 19 E., M.D.M., was located in 1906 by Guido Vignalo but was deeded to the State for taxes.

"It is 15 miles by wagon road from Raymond and the granite is the same as that of the Raymond granite but is not be worked (circa 1914)."
Mariposa County, California - Yosemite Slate Quarry (Slate/Dimension Stone) (active ca 1996) (From Mines and Mineral Producers Active in California (1996), Special Publication 103 (Revised 1996), California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, in cooperation with California Department of Conservation, Office of Mine Reclamation. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

Mine name: Yosemite Slate Quarry; Operator: Mariposa Flagstone/Yosemite; Address & County: P.O. Box 897, Mariposa, CA 95338, Mariposa County; Phone: (209) 966-2070; Latitude: 37.48, Longitude: -120.02, and Mine location number: Map No. 338; Mineral commodity: Dimension stone.
Mt. Ophir, Mariposa County, California - Schist Quarry (Schist) (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, photograph on pp. 100. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

"Now completely abandoned, Mt. Ophir is sometimes said to be the site of California's first mint. The foundations of the Mt. Ophir mint, about 30 feet square, may still be seen (circa 1948). Like the other ruins in Mt. Ophir, they are made of quarried slabs of schist set in mud mortar...The ruins of the Trabucco Store (Fig. 16) can be seen from the highway. It was built about 1853. The inner walls of this building are faced with a lime stucco. The local source of the building material can be seen in the open quarry drift on the east side of the highway (Fig. 17). Next to the road on the east are several stone house ruins (Fig. 18)."

Fig. 17. Schist quarry east of highway, Mt. Ophir. DMBS Mrp-H9

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