|
|
|
Home > California > CA - Quarry Links & Photographs > Napa County > List of Stone Quarries
(* Please note this list does not include sand or gravel quarries.)
"Standard Portland Cement Company. The works of this company are at Napa Junction, Napa County; office, Crocker Building, San Francisco. The company began operations in February, 1903, with eight rotary kilns, which were soon increased to ten, each having a capacity of 200 barrels per day, or a total capacity of 2000 barrels of cement per day.
"The plant is close to the Southern Pacific Railroad, at the junction of the roads to Vallejo and Benicia. Two spurs from the railway extend into the works, and a tramway runs to deep water on Napa Creek, about a mile distant, so that cement may be shipped either by rail or by water."
“The cement is manufactured in large fireproof buildings. The building for holding the stock is over 200 feet long and has a capacity of 200,000 barrels. The cement is usually shipped in sacks of 95 pounds each; when so desired, it is shipped in barrels. The company has its own cooper shop.
“The works are well equipped with modern machinery. The company has its own machine shop. Electrical power is used throughout the plant, and the material is all handled by machinery from the time it is put on the car in the quarry until it is placed in sacks for shipment. The only manual labor required is in quarrying and loading the raw materials, and in loading the cement on the cars.
Ill. No. 79. Works of the Standard Portland Cement Company at Napa Junction.
Ill. NO. 80. Limestone Quarry of Standard Portland Cement Company at Napa Junction. “The raw materials, both the limestone and the clay, are quarried close by the mill and loaded on small dump-cars, which are pulled into the works by a wire cable. Each car is weighed as it comes in, and the materials are properly proportioned, so that the limestone and clay when dropped into the rock-crusher are in the right proportion for cement. From the crusher the material passes to two large rotary dry kilns heated by oil flame. From the dry kilns part of the product goes to storage bins, where a supply is kept to meet demands. The other portion from the dry kilns passes to the ball and tube mills; there are six of each for grinding the raw materials, and the same number for grinding the clinker. The fine material is then conveyed to ten large rotary kilns, where it is burned with oil fuel to a clinker, which as it comes from the kilns is caught in iron buckets on a vertical belt and carried to the top of the cooling chamber, where it is cooled by air-currents. The cooled clinker is next passed to the ball and tube mills, where it is thoroughly pulverized ready for use, and then taken by an overhead tube to the stock room, and stored in large bins awaiting shipment.”
"The raw materials consist of crystalline limestone and a calcareous clay, both of which are obtained from the same pit. The limestone occurs in regular beds from 1 to 4 feet thick, which dip to the north at an angle of 40 degrees. It is partly crystallized and very fossiliferous, being composed largely of a mass of broken shells, not many of which are preserved entire. It is probably of Lower Cretaceous age.
"The limestone is overlaid by a yellow calcareous clay. The quarry face shows a thickness of about 100 feet of limestone and 50 feet of clay. Drill records, it is reported, indicate a thickness of at least 200 feet of limestone at the quarry. Steam drills and dynamite are used in quarrying the limestone, and a steam shovel for loading the clay is soon to be added.
"A fault-plane runs through the quarry and shows quite prominently on the south wall, where a crumpled, blue-black pyritiferous shale has been thrust up over the limestone.
"The clay at the east end of the quarry is very calcareous, and merges into limestone, but at the extreme west end it is more argillaceous. Overlying all is a bed of dark brown adobe...."
"Standard Portland Cement Corporation. The manufacture of cement in Napa County began with the operation of this company's plant on March 17, 1903, since when it has been a continuous, steady producer. The capacity has been doubled from its initial figure, being now 2500 barrels of cement daily. Geo. F. Cameron is president, L. F. Young, secretary, with A. G. Lang, superintendent at the plant; home office, Crocker Building, San Francisco. The plant is in Sec. 19, T. 4 N., R. 3 W., ½ mile from Napa Junction station of the Southern Pacific Railroad, with which it is connected by spur tracks direct to the mill. Tidewater is only 1 ½ miles distant, but not utilized as yet. The same company also has a 12,000-barrel per day plant at Davenport in Santa Cruz County.
"For the benefit of those who may not be familiar with the process of making 'Portland' cement, a short description is here given:
"'By a 'Portland' cement is meant the product obtained from the heating or calcining up to incipient fusion of intimate mixtures, either natural or artificial, of argillaceous with calcareous substances, the calcined product to contain at least 1.7 times as much of lime, by weight, as of the materials which give the lime its hydraulic properties, and to be finely pulverized after said calcination, and thereafter additions or substitutions for the purpose only of regulating certain properties of technical importance to be allowed to not exceeding 2 percent of the calcined product.'
"This definition lacks the requirement of pulverizing or artificial mixing of the materials prior to burning; and thus permits the inclusion of some 'natural Portlands' under the specifications.
"The ideal Portland cement would consist essentially of lime and silica in the proportions of 73.6 per cent and 26.4 per cent respectively (tricalcic silicate, 3CaO, SiO2), but as such a material can not be clinckered, except in the oxyhydrogen blowpipe or the electric furnace, it is impossible to produce it commercially at the present time. For this reason it is necessary in actual practice to have other ingredients present to act as a flux and thus lower the temperature of fusion, permitting the combination of the lime and the silica. Alumina (Al2O3) and iron oxide (Fe2O3) fill this role. The raw mixture before burning, is made up approximately as follows: 75 per cent lime carbonate (CaCO3); 20 per cent silica, alumina and iron oxide together; 5 per cent impurities, including magnesia, sulphur and alkalies, some of which are always present. These materials, after being dried, are ground fine, the grinding accomplishing also the additional purpose of thoroughly mixing the constituents. Then they are heated to the point of incipient fusion (2500 -3500 F. in the hottest zone), thus forming 'clinker' - a bluish black in color, and more or less porous in appearance. The clinker, in turn, is finely ground (up to 2 per cent of gypsum being added to retard setting), so that 90 per cent to 95 per cent will pass 100-mesh screen, and 75 per cent to 85 per cent through 200-mesh. This amount impalpable powder is the Portland cement of commerce, named 'Portland' originally, not from the locality where it was made, but from its resemblance after setting to the oolitic limestone found in Portland, England.
'Eckel ('Cements, Limes and Plaster,' 1905, p. 494) says that normally a 60-foot kiln, working on a dry mixture will produce from 140 to 180 barrels of cement per day of twenty-four hours. Of coal as kiln fuel, 120 to 140 pounds are required per barrel of cement. One gallon of crude oil is equivalent to 10 pounds of coal, or 11 to 14 gallons of oil are required per barrel of cement. The capacity of a given kiln is lower with oil than with coal. Oil is used principally in California and Colorado. Of natural gas, 20,000 cubic feet are required as the equivalent of one ton of coal. Gas is used principally in Kansas and Ohio. For kiln linings, bricks of the following materials are used: Cement clinker, alumina, magnesia (calcined magnesite) and bauxite. The power and machinery required for grinding the clinker are about the same as for the raw materials; for, though the tonnage to be handled is only about two thirds, the material is much harder.
"At the plant of the Pacific Portland Cement Corporation limestone and clay are obtained from pits close by the mill, though at present owing to a decrease in the lime content, a portion of high grade lime rock from near Santa Cruz is added, to 'sweeten' the charge, before passing through the drier. In the quarry the clay is loaded by hand, and the limestone by a Marion steam-shovel (1 ½ cubic yards dipper), oil-fired (photos Nos. 44 and 46). The cars are drawn to the foot of the mill incline by cables and by a small steam locomotive. After passing through the gyratory crushers (one No. 9, three No. 5, Allis-Chalmers), the material goes to bins from which the rotary driers are fed. There are two rotary driers, oil-fired, 6' x 40', set on a grade of ¾ inch per foot, and running at 3 ½ r.p.m. (photo no. 47). A steel 'drag conveyer' takes the dried product to the ball mill bins. The excess over the ball mill feed, as the quarries are not worked at night. There are thirteen ball mills, running 24 r.p.m., divided between the raw crushing and the clinker ends of the process. After the ball mills, the mixture is further ground in tube mills (seventeen in entire plant, each 5' x 22', running 24 r.p.m.) and then passes to the rotary kilns, where it is clinkered.
| Photo No. 44. Clay pit of the Standard Portland Cement Company, Napa Junction, Napa County. |  |
| Photo No. 46. Steam shovel in limestone quarry of Standard Portland Cement Company, Napa Junction, Napa County. |  |
| Photo No. 47. Rotary driers in mill of Standard Portland Cement Company, Napa Junction, Napa County. |  |
"Samples are taken of the raw material after the drier, and again at the end of the ball mills. The finished product is sampled after the tube mills. This plant has two rotary kilns (photo No. 49), 7' 6" diameter x 125' long, and ten, 6' diameter x 60' long. The larger ones are run at ½ r.p.m. and the others are at 1 revolution per 1 ¼ minutes. All are set at a grade of ¾ inch per foot. The capacity of the two large kilns is about 1000 barrels per day, while that of the ten small ones is about 1500 to 1600 barrels. They all use crude oil for fuel. As the clinker falls from the kiln it is sprayed with water, partly to cool it but principally to break it up, and then elevated to the cooling tower (seen in the right edge of the photograph). The cooling towers have baffle plates to check the fall, and have air circulation. The desirable average size of the clinker is about that of a hickory nut. The higher the percentage of lime, the small is the clinker; while with a lower lime content, the mixture has a tendency to fuse more and form larger masses. The lime content is kept at about 74.5 per cent CaCO3 before entering the kilns, the balance being clay. Gypsum is added to the clinker as it goes to the ball mills, and is represented by 1.75 per cent SO3 in the finished product. At the California plants all burn oil, it is not necessary to take into account the addition of fuel ash, as in the eastern plants using powdered coal. It is advisable to carry alumina as low as possible, to give the cement a slower set and great ultimate strength.
"As there are times during inclement weather when the quarries can not be worked, the raw end of the plant has a capacity somewhat in excess of the finishing, and the surplus clinker is stored. Belt conveyers are used both to and from this storage pile. The next step is grinding the clinker, a repetition of that preceding the burning - first in ball mills and finishing in tube mills (photo No. 51). From the discharge end of the tube mill, the finely ground powder is drawn by a suction blower through a tube to the storage bins. The storage bins have a capacity of 125,000 barrels of cement. Here it is stacked (95 pounds each) using a mechanical filling device and loaded directly into the freight cars. Electric power is used throughout the mill, and belt and other mechanical conveyers wherever possible. About 3500 h.p. is consumed, there being two 800 h.p. motors besides a large number of smaller ones. The tube mills are all the trunnion type. The company has 200 men at work, with a monthly payroll of $16,000 to $18,000. The mill is operated continuously throughout the twenty-four hours. Twenty-five thousand gallons of water are used per day.
| Photo No. 51. Final tube mills in mill of Standard Portland cement Company, Napa Junction, Napa County. |  |
"As the geology of the deposit is described in Bulletin 38 (pages 180-182), it will only be summarized here. The limestone occurs in beds, 1 to 4 feet thick, which dip to the north at 40 . It is fossiliferous and party (sic) crystalline, and is overlaid by a yellow, calcareous clay. 'The clay at the east end of the quarry is very calcareous, but at the extreme west end it is more argillaceous. Overlaying all is a dark brown adobe.' About 1/3 mile south of the main pit, the company is opening a new quarry in a low, rounded hill, exposing beds of crystalline limestone mixed with some clay. Photo No. 54 is a general view of the plant from the southeast. It shows the clinker storage pile on the right, and part of the clay pit in the foreground.
"Bibl: Bull. 38, pp. 178-182; U.S.G.S., Bull 243, p. 121; Bull. 522, p. 121; Min. Res. 1912, Pt. II, p. 518; Cements, Limes and Plasters, E. C. Eckel, 1905."
| Photo No. 54. Standard Portland Cement Company, general view of plant from southeast. |  |
Napa Station (east of), Napa County, California - the Juarez Quarry* (Aggregate Quarry) (from “Mines and Mineral Resources, Napa County,” by Fenelon F. Davis, Assistant Mining Engineer, California State Division of Mines, Manuscript submitted for publication September 1947, in California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 44, No. 2, April 1948, State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, pp. 159-188. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey, pp. 184-186.) (* Footnote 39, pp. 187: Averill, C. V. Averill, C. V., Mineral resources of Napa County : California Div. Mines Rept. 25, p. 240, 1929.)
“Location: SE ¼ sec. 11, T. 5 N., R. 4 W., M.D. (projected), approximately 2 miles east of Napa station off Terrace drive on the south side of Tulucay Creek.
Owner: M. L. Reidenback, 115 Willow Street, Napa.
“The Juarez quarry was formerly operated by G. E. Errington and was purchased by the present owner in 1936. Operations are conducted on a small knoll of basalt rock about a quarter of a mile wide and half a mile long, which rises to an elevation of 170 feet. The rock is jointed along planes approximately horizontal and cross jointed in various directions. There is no brush or overburden but a thin clay soil penetrates the joint planes at many points, especially near the surface. Variations from fresh rock to highly altered material are seen. The fresh rock is usually more massive and breaks into large fragments 2 feet in diameter suitable for riprap. The jointed areas are usually more weathered, the degree of alteration having in some places led to abandonment of the working face.
“The hill has been worked as a series of disconnected benches. Five different levels with 25-foot faces are discernable. Present work is on the highest bench. The face is blasted with 40 percent explosives and fired electrically.
“The broken rock is loaded with a 3/8-cubic yard crawler-mounted shovel and hauled by truck to the coarse-feed bin where the plus 12-inch is hand sledged and the minus 12-inch passes through a grizzly to a 12-inch by 36-inch Cedar Rapids primary crusher. The crusher discharges to a 1 1/2-inch vibrating screen. The undersize is caught by a belt conveyor and carried to the 1-inch stockpile; the screen oversize is passed through a 32-inch Tel-Smith cone crusher. The plus ¼-inch from the secondary crusher is lifted by bucket elevator to the top of the mill house and emptied onto a graduated screen set over the bunkers. This screen makes three products: birdseye, ¼- to ½-inch; inch rock, ½- 1-inch; and 2-inch rock, 1- to 2-inch. The minus ¼-inch products from the secondary crusher are discharged to storage as dust, and sand. Maximum production is 150 tons per 8-hour day. Four men are employed. These products are sold chiefly for use in the Napa County road system, as the county no longer maintains its own quarry and crushing plant.”
"Juarez Quarry. The Juarez Quarry* is a pit owned by M. L. Reidenback and is about 2 miles east of the Napa Station, off Terrace Drive and on the south side of Tulucay Creek. It has been a producer of crushed rock since before 1900. An inclined basalt flow is worked. Where fresh, this is a purple-black rock, very hard and fine grained. Most surfaces, however, have a white coating, perhaps an eighth of an inch thick; weathering is pronounced, especially near the surface. Well-developed columnar joining is present. Beneath the flow are beds of tuff a few inches thick. They are yellow white and non-uniform; some contain pumice.
(* Page 109, footnote 98: Averill, C. V., Napa County: California Div. Mines Rept. 25, p. 240, 1929. Davis, F. F., "Mines and mineral resources of Napa County, California," California Jour. Mines and Geology, vol. 44, p. 187, 1948.)
"An old river channel cutting the tuff beds has been discovered. This is filled with cobbles and sufficient clay to tightly pack the gravel. Most of the cobbles, which range from walnut size to cocoanut (sic) size, are volcanic; but a few are chert and sandstone.
"The deposit has been worked with disconnected benches at several levels with faces 25 feet high. Blasting is required, and a power shovel is used to load broken rock into trucks for haulage to the nearby crusher. The primary crusher discharges to a screen the oversize, which is recrushed in a cone crusher. The undersize from the first screen goes to the 1-inch stock pile, while the product of the secondary crusher is sized on a graduated screen. The produce is used chiefly for road construction by Napa County."
"In Pope Valley there were at one time two kilns in operation, but they have been idle for several years.
"Bibl.: R. XIII, p. 629."
"There is sandstone in Maxwell Canyon, Pope Valley, 15 miles north of Rutherford, on the Maxwell and Hardin Ranches...." As of 1914, this sandstone deposit was undeveloped.
"Maxwell Canon. About 15 miles from Rutherford, on the Maxwell ranch, and also on the Hardin ranch, in Maxwell Canon, in Pope Valley, there is an abundance of sandstone which can be readily taken out in any desired dimensions. It is a fine, even-grained, compact, light gray sandstone, and works well. It has been used in the cemeteries at Napa and St. Helena. No regular quarry face has been opened as yet, owing to the long wagon haul to railroad or water."
"Bieber Quarry, P. P. Bieber, St. Helena, owner. It is 1 mile northwest from St. Helena post office and ¼ mile from the county road, at an elevation of about 500 feet. The rock is basalt and was first quarried in 1911 under lease, for paving blocks. Not operated in 1913."
(Carver Quarry - See: St. Helena (northeast of), Napa County, California - the Jursch Quarry below.)
"Davis Quarry; Dr. C. E. Davis, St. Helena, owner; 2 miles north of St. Helena, on the Sanatorium road. The stone is a hard reddish trachytic tuff, showing flow structure, and is quarried from the outcrops. It was used in the construction of the Hunt Block in St. Helena.
"Dr. Davis also has an exposure of soft buff-colored tuff at the bridge on the Sanatorium road, 1 mile north of St. Helena."
"Davis Quarry, Dr. C. E. Davis, St. Helena, owner. On the Davis ranch, 2 miles from St. Helena on the Sanitarium road, is a hard, reddish trachytic tuff which has been used locally for building purposes. At the time of our visit rock was being taken out from the bridge at the north end of Main street, St. Helena. Dr. Davis also owns a deposit of softer stone nearer town on the same road, but no quarrying has been done there.
"Bibl.: Bull. 38, p. 155."
| Figure 11. Holt Perlite Rock Quarry, Holt Ranch east of St. Helena, Napa County. Note columnar jointing. |  |
"Jursch Quarry (formerly the Carver Quarry); G. O. Jursch, St. Helena, owner; about 1 ½ miles northeast of St. Helena, on a private road off the Howell Mountain road. The stone is a light yellow trachytic tuff, and has been used in a number of buildings in St. Helena and also in some bridges in the county."
"Jursch Quarry (formerly Carver), Mrs. Lovella Priest, Sacramento, owner. This quarry, about 1 ¼ miles northeast from St. Helena, has been idle several years. The stone is trachytic tuff.
"Bibl.: Bull. 38, p. 156."
"Lenz Quarry, S. Lenz, St. Helena, owner. It is on the Calistoga road, 2 miles north of St. Helena post office. It is proposed to put in a crushing plant of 80 cubic yards daily capacity to utilize the spalls and waste from block operations for road work".
“Location: SE ¼ sec. 22, T. 8 N., R. 6 W., M.D., about 2 ¼ miles northwest of Saint Helena on Highway 29 and half a mile west of the Southern Pacific railroad.
“Owner: W. J. Lenz, Saint Helena .
“Mr. Lenz operates a plant manufacturing concrete building blocks and other concrete products on part of the 107-acre tract owned by him. The basalt quarry on the premises is no longer worked. It has become more economical to buy graded river sand and aggregate from the Basalt Rock Company. Special-purpose sands are ‘imported’ from Felton in Santa Cruz county and other localities.
“The plant consists of raw-material bins, mixing machine, tamping machines, vibrating machine, steam-curing sheds and curing yards. Six men are employed during the winter season, and the possibility of expanding the force during the summer is very good. Among the more important concrete products manufactured are: building blocks, culverts, drain pipe, irrigation pipe, sewer pipe, and septic tanks.”
"Mee Ranch. A little stone (tuff) has been taken recently (circa 1913) from the Mee ranch, 2 ½ miles from St. Helena on the east side near the creamery."
"Moffat Quarry; James Moffat, 915 Geary street, San Francisco, owner; D. Brusk, superintendent; about 2 miles northwest of St. Helena, near the reservoir. The stone is a light buff trachytic tuff; it can be quarried in large pieces, and is uniform in color. It was used in the construction of the beautiful new school building in St. Helena."
"Moffatt Quarry, Moffatt Estate, owner; B. Bruck, St. Helena, superintendent. It is 2 miles northwest from St. Helena, and has not been worked for several years.
"Bibl.: Bull. 38, p. 156."
"Taplin Quarry; W. H. & J. O. Taplin, St. Helena, owners; about 2 ½ miles southeast of St. Helena, on the east side of the road. This quarry formerly furnished considerable rock for building purposes in St. Helena, but has not produced much of late. The stone is a trachytic tuff."
"Tychson Quarry. Mrs. J. Tychson, St. Helena, owner. On the Tychson place, 2 miles northwest of St. Helena on the Calistoga road, a paving-block quarry was opened up in 1911. The rock is a fine-grained bluish basalt. The spalls and waste will be utilized for crushed rock for road work around St. Helena, under contract awarded by the county supervisors in September, 1913."
"Napa County Rock Plant. The county owns 3 acres on the hill at the turn of the county road 1 mile northwest of Yountville. The crushing and screening plant is driven by a 20 horsepower electric motor, power being bought from the Napa Valley Electric Railway, whose tracks as well as those of the Southern Pacific Company, are within 100 feet distant (see photo No. 33). The quarry was opened up about 1909, and is worked principally during the summer months. The capacity of the plant is 100 cubic yards per day, and requires 15 men when in full operation. The rock is a somewhat decomposed volcanic. The product is used for road metal in the surrounding district, and is hauled from the plant in wide-tired, bottom-dump wagons holding 6 cubic yards each. These wagons are owned by the county, which pays 50 cents to 65 cents per cubic yard, according to distance, for the hauling, horses being furnished by the drivers. The total cost is stated to be about $1 per cubic yard of rock, laid down at the point of use."
| Photo No. 33. Crusher and bins at Napa County Rock Plant, near Yountville. |  |
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.
