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Home > California > CA - Quarry Links & Photographs > Santa Barbara County
"The Santa Ynez Mountains consist of Miocene strata, which embrace a heavy body of sandstones, conglomerates, and shales at the base. (H. W. Fairbanks, Bulletin Geological Society of America, Vol. VI, p. 39, and Journal of Geology, Vol. VI, pp. 561 and 574.) Partly, as near Refugio Canon, the shales form the main body of the range, with a sandstone capping, dipping southeasterly; while in other places, as for instance near Santa Barbara, the range consists apparently of massive sandstones, dipping northward, the underlying shales being found in the foothills.
"As near as can be judged from the broken boulders, the stone is a light buff-colored, rather coarse-grained and not very compact arkose. It is used for building purposes. As yet only the large boulders have been quarried."
Santa Barbara County, by Emile Huguenin, Field Assistant. Field Work in November, 1915.
Introduction (of Santa Barbara County)
"Santa Barbara County, created February 18, 1850, is one of the original twenty-seven counties of the state and takes its name from the mission that was founded upon its shores in 1786.
"This county consists of 2740 square miles including the islands of Santa Cruz and Santa Rose, which lie 20 miles off the coast forming a natural breakwater 70 miles long. It is bounded on the north by San Luis Obispo County, on the east by Ventura County, and on the south and west by the ocean; having a coast line of about 100 miles.
"The population, according to the census of 1910, was 27,738 and is now estimated at over 30,000 as there has been a rapid increase in the last few years. Its assessed valuation in 1915 was $35,062,648.
"The city of Santa Barbara, the county seat with a population of approximately 18,000 lies on the shores of the channel. Due to the equable climate and beautiful surroundings it almost doubles in population during the winter months as people from many parts of the United States winter there."
Transportation (in Santa Barbara County)
"The county is traversed by the Southern Pacific Railroad which follows the coast line, with branch lines from Guadaloupe to Betteravia and from Surf to Lompoc. The Pacific Coast Railroad, a narrowgauge line, runs from Port Hartford in San Luis Obispo County, through Santa Maria to Los Olivos, with branches from Santa Maria to Betteravia and Sisquoe. This company also operates an electric line from Guadaloupe to Santa Maria, which connects Santa Maria with the S. P. R. R. Several auto stage lines make the interior towns easily accessible to the railroad and to the larger cities.
Mineral Resources (in Santa Barbara County)
"As will be seen by referring to the Table of Mineral Production,* by far the most important mineral yielded is petroleum. The total value of the petroleum produced up to December 31, 1915, amounts to over 80% of the total mineral production for the county. The actual output of minerals is in excess of that shown by the table. Los Prietos Mines are known to have produced quicksilver as early as 1874, though no record of the production has been kept. Gypsum, which does not appear listed in the table, was shipped from the St. Sal Mine for several years previous to 1880. Many prospectors have worked the auriferous sands along the beaches from Pt. Arguello to Pt. Sal, of which no records were kept.
(* This table will not presented in this online document.)
"The total recorded production of the county up to the end of 1915 is $42,740,545. The products in order of their value are: petroleum, natural gas, asphalt and bituminous rock, mineral water, sandstone, limestone and lime, infusorial earth, brick, stone industry and gold. In addition are known occurrences of barytes, chromite, copper, gypsum and manganese."
Sandstone (in Santa Barbara County)
"'The high ridge of the Santa Ynez Mountains from Point Concepcion eastward is formed by a great monocline of sandstone of supposed Vaqueros age that dips toward the sea on the south at an angle of 25.'* On the range back of Santa Barbara this sandstone is very massive and dips to the north. Huge boulders of this sandstone in the Mission and Refugio cañons have been quarried for many years.
(* Page 748 footnote: Ralph Arnold and Robert Anderson, U.S.G.S. Bull. 317, p. 14.)
"The increasing use of concrete in the county has almost entirely displaced the sandstone industry, so that very little building stone is now quarried."
Area: 2,740 square miles.
Population: 41,097 (1920 census).
Location: South-western portion of state, joining San Luis Obispo on the south."Santa Barbara County owes its position of fifth in the state in regard to its mineral output to the presence of productive oil fields within its boundaries. The total of its mineral production during the year 1919 was $7,594,917, as compared with the 1918 output of $10,051,831. Santa Barbara was the only important oil-producing county to show a decrease in petroleum valuation for 1919.
"Aside from the mineral substances listed below, Santa Barbara County contains asphalt, diatomaceous earth, gilsonite, gypsum, magnesite, and quicksilver in more or less abundance.
"Commercial production for 1919 was as follows:
(Headings for the information below are: Substance, Amount, and Value.)
Mineral water, 82,147 gals., $81,041
Natural gas, 4,084,709 M. cu. ft., $336,092
Petroleum, 6,089,082 bbls., $6,850,217
Potash, 298 tons, $30,128
Stone, miscellaneous, ---, $29,900,
Other minerals,* ---, $267,539
(Total value) $7,594,917(* Includes bituminous rock, chromite, brick, diatomaceous earth, and limestone.)
| Santa Barbara Obispo County, 1916 Map, from California Mineral Production for 1919 (with County Maps), Bulletin No. 88, by Walter W. Bradley, California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco: California State Printing Office, 1920, pp. 196. |  |
"Previous to 1919, limestone for beet-sugar refining was quarried from a deposit on the north side of San Miguelito Canyon, 6 miles southwest of Lompoc. Recorded production from 1902-19 inclusive had a total value of $314,855 and included some lime produced in 1912-13. The deposit was worked out in 1919.
"Although Miocene formations outcrop over large areas near the coast, limestone deposits have not been developed elsewhere in the region. A 'compact, hard limestone containing much sand, tiny pebbles and broken shells' was reported in Irelan 88, p. 539,* to occur between Las Cruces and Gaviota Pass. The same report mentions cherty limestone extending nearly to the seashore in the same locality, and a 'white, compact magnesian limestone' occurring 'in ledges about six feet in thickness' within 200 yards of the seashore and about 12 miles east of Gaviota. It is probably Miocene. Another similar deposit is mentioned by W. B. Tucker (25, p. 553)** on Las Positas Rancho 3 miles west of Santa Barbara. None of these have been developed."
(* William Irelan, Jr., Eighth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the Year Ending October 1, 1888, California Mining Bureau Report 8, 948 pp. illus., 1888.)
(** W. Burling Tucker, Los Angeles Field Division, "Santa Barbara County," California Mining Bureau Report 21, pp. 539-562, 1925.)
(* Please note this list does not include sand or gravel quarries.)
"Erickson Quarry in T. 9 N., R. 34 W., S. B. M., J. B. Arellanes of Santa Maria, owner. Beds of a tough gray sandstone are exposed in a railroad cut near Casmalia Station. Some of this rock was used for masonry work on the railroad years ago. Idle.
"Bibl.: R. XIII, p. 637; R. of M. Santa Barbara Co., 1906; Bull. 69, p. 133."
"T. C. Lind, Lompoc, owns a limestone deposit on the south side of San Miguelito Canon, opposite that on the property of the Union Sugar Company (see below), but whether it is part of the same reef is doubtful. Undeveloped."
"J. C. Lind of Lompoc owns a deposit of limestone on the south side of San Miguelito Cañon, six miles southwest of Lompoc, opposite that on the property of the Union Sugar Company. The deposit was sampled and the limestone analyzed by the Union Sugar Company. Found to contain a high percentage of magnesium which prohibits its use from the refining of sugar. Undeveloped.
"Bibl.: R. of M. S. B. Co., Bull. 38, p. 80."
"Lind deposit is 6 miles southwest of Lompoc on the south side of San Miguelito Canyon, opposite the deposit first mentioned above. It is reported to contain too much MgCO3 to permit its use for beet-sugar refining, and has remained undeveloped."
"Union Sugar Company, Betteravia, Santa Barbara County, owns a deposit on the north side of San Miguelito Canñon, about 6 miles southwest of Lompoc, elevation 1150 feet, which has been leased for the last six years by W. O. Badgeley, 236 Bacon Building, Oakland; G. E. Badgeley, Lompoc, superintendent.
"The stone is quarried and hauled by wagon 6 miles down grade to Lompoc, where it is shipped by rail to the large sugar factories at Santa Maria and Oxnard, being there calcined for use in refining the sugar.
"The limestone occurs in a heavy ledge which dips northeast. The quarries are on the projecting knobs on the north side of the valley.
"The rock is a soft, fossiliferous limestone, chalky in places. The upper part of the deposit is a coarse limestone conglomerate, with numerous siliceous pebbles. The stone has been badly shattered and broken in the uplift and contains many slickensides surfaces along the cracks and fissures. The limestone is of Tertiary age, as shown by the many fossil shells which it contains.
"There are three quarry openings. The most northern one shows from 30 to 35 feet of white limestone overlaid by 25 feet of siliceous limestone conglomerate. The south opening shows about the same thickness of limestone, which is stained yellowish brown in spots from the infiltrating iron-bearing waters. The middle opening shows from 10 to 15 feet of white limestone.
"There is no building stone available at this quarry, owing to the friability of the limestone. It is adapted to use for quicklime because of the ease with which it can be quarried."
| Ill. No. 31. Lompoc Limestone Quarry, Santa Barbara County. |  |
| Limestone Quarry of the Union Sugar Co., southwest of Lompoc. |  |
"Union Sugar Company, Betteravia, operates a limestone quarry 6 miles southwest of Lompoc on the north side of San Miguelito Cañon, at an elevation of 1150'. The limestone occurs in a massive ledge varying in width from 15' to 35'. The formations here are broken and distorted and the limestone outcrops in 5 distinct deposits over the 40 acres owned by the company. The deposits grade from a siliceous limestone conglomerate to a pure white fossiliferous limestone. It overlays blue shales. Three of the deposits are now being quarried (circa 1915-1916), two having already been exhausted. Twelve men are employed. The stone is broken by hand to cobble size, and hauled in 1800 lb. cars to bins, from which the stone is dumped into wagons, 10 ton capacity, and hauled to Lompoc. Forty tons are daily hauled to Lompoc by 2 teams. Produce approximately 6,000 tons yearly, working 8 months. Over 90,000 tons have been shipped from the quarry to the sugar factory in Betteravia, where it is made into quicklime. Operated continuously since 1900. It is estimated that the remaining supply of limestone will be exhausted within the next 5 years.
| Face of limestone quarry, showing limestone conglomerate at left and contact with blue shale at right. |  |
"Loma Blanco Lithographic Stone Company, Judge E. M. Ross, president; A. M. Cates, 310 Currier Building, Los Angeles, secretary. A deposit of fine-grained limestone, claimed to be appropriate for lithographic work. On the Moraga ranch, Secs. 4 and 5, R. 26 W., S. B. M.; near the summit of the Santa Ynez range, in a very unapproachable country."
"Loma Blanco Lithographic Stone Company, Judge E. M. Ross, president; A. M. Cates, 310 Currier Building, Los Angeles, secretary. A deposit of fine-grained limestone, claimed to be appropriate for lithographic work. On the Moraga ranch, Secs. 4 and 5, R. 26 W., S. B. M.; near the summit of the Santa Ynez range, in a very unapproachable country."
"Lomo Blanco Lithographic Stone Company has been mentioned in several of our past reports in connection with a deposit of fine-grained limestone which is found near the summit of the Santa Ynez Mountains. After being tested and examined more closely, it was found to contain veinlets of silica and calcite which were reported to render it of doubtful value for lithographic use. The deposit is more fully described below under Sierra Blanca limestone."
(Also see: Sierra Blanca Limestone.)
Orella Estate Quarry - See Santa Ynez Summit, Santa Barbara County, California - F. R. Angulo, owner of the Sandstone Boulder Quarry (Sandstone) below.
"Mission Cañon, near Santa Barbara; principal owner, the Roman Catholic Church. A number of buildings in Santa Barbara are built of this stone."
"Mission Cañon, 2 miles north of Santa Barbara. Large boulders of a hard, fine-grained buff-colored sandstone are occasionally quarried by hand, by the Franciscan monks, for building purposes, about the Santa Barbara Mission.
"Bibl.: Bull. 38, p. 133."
"Th. W. Moore, Santa Barbara. On Las Positas ranch, on the Arroyo Burro, 3 miles from Santa Barbara. A slightly yellowish colored coarsely crystalline limestone. (See also VIIIth Report, California State Mining Bureau, p. 538.)"
"Thomas W. Moore, Santa Barbara, has an undeveloped deposit of limestone in Veronica Valley, 3 miles west of Santa Barbara. This limestone is coarsely crystalline and of a yellowish color. The owner has had numerous tests made on it and reports that it is of no commercial value. It is said, however, that the cement used in the construction of the Mission Santa Barbara was made from this limestone.
"Bibl.: Bull. 38, p. 80; R. of M. S. B. Co."
"Near Los Prietos mercury mines, south of the serpentine in which the mines lie, there is a deposit of limestone. It is about 8 miles north of Santa Barbara and is undeveloped."
"Sierra Blanca limestone is 14 miles east of north of Santa Barbara on and near Sierra Blanca Mountain, in the north part of T. 6 N., R. 26 W., S.B. The mountain is 4700 feet high and the region is rough and devoid of roads, the nearest being 8 miles distant.
"According to Richard N. Nelson (25),* the limestone is 200 feet thick in Indian Canyon (in section 6), gradually decreasing in thickness to the east and finally disappearing a little over a mile west of Mono Creek (section 11). It rests upon the Mono shale (Cretaceous or Eocene) and is overlain by Miocene.
(* Richard Newman Nelson, "Geology of the Hydrographic Basin of the Upper Santa Ynez River, California," University of California, Department of Geological Science Bulletin, vol. 15, pp. 327-396, 1925.)
"Excerpt for the upper 10 or 15 feet, Nelson describes it a 'a remarkably pure, massive, almost white organic limestone.' Some of it is fine-grained and granular while elsewhere it shows outlines of small shells. In thin section, the most conspicuous forms were seen to be recrystallized Foraminifera of Eocene age.
"The deposit has also been described by M. F. Keenan (32)."*
(* Marvin Francis Keenan, "The Eocene Sierra Blanca Limestone at the Type Locality in Santa Barbara County, California," San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., Trans., vol. 7, pp. 53-84, 1932.)
"James Waring, Santa Barbara, owns a quarry in Sec. 6, T. 4 N., R. 26 W., S. B. M.; between Cold Stream and Hot Springs creeks, near Santa Barbara."
Mine name: Acin Ranch Site 1 ACIN RNC; Operator: Sepulveda Building Materials; Address & County: 2936 Sepulveda Blvd., Torrance, CA 90505, Santa Barbara County; Phone: (805) 735-5461; Latitude: 34.63, Longitude: -120.43, and Mine location number: Map No. 704; Mineral commodity: Stone.
Mine name: Bee Rock Quarry; Operator: Granite Construction Company; Address & County: Hwy. 154 & Bradbury Dam, Santa Ynez, CA 93427, Santa Barbara County; Phone: (805) 964-9951; Latitude: 34.55, Longitude: -119.98, and Mine location number: Map No. 705; Mineral commodity: Limestone.
Mine name: Colson Quarry; Operator: G. Antolini & Son; Address & County: 120 E. Hermosa St., Santa Maria, CA 93454, Santa Barbara County; Phone: (805) 925-4466; Latitude: 34.94, Longitude: -120.15, and Mine location number: Map No. 709; Mineral commodity: Limestone.
Mine name: El Jaro; Operator: Kasler Corporation; Address & County: P. O. Box 387, San Bernardino, CA 92402-0387, Santa Barbara County; Phone: (909) 884-4811; Latitude: 34.57, Longitude: -120.37, and Mine location number: Map No. 710; Mineral commodity: Limestone.
T. M. Hogan, Sandstone Quarry in Santa Barbara County. (No further information is given.)
"Hogan Quarry, in Sec. 2, T. 4 N., R. 27 W., S. B. M., in 3 miles north of Santa Barbara in the Sycamore Cañon. T. M. Hogan, 826 Orange Ave., owner. Beds of hard gray sandstone, a couple of hundred feet thick outcrop in Sycamore Cañon for several hundred feet. Stone from this quarry was used in building the breakwater at Santa Barbara; also in the portals of the Bay-Shore cut-off tunnels at San Francisco, and the Sespe, Piru, and Santa Clara railroad bridges in Ventura County. Idle for past five years.
"Bibl.: R. of M. Santa Barbara Co., 1906."
"Erickson Quarry, in T. 9 N., R. 34 W., S. B. M.; J. B. Arrellanes, Santa Maria, owner. A sandstone quarry, about 5 miles south of Santa Maria, from which some good building stone has been quarried. (See XIIIth Report, California State Mining Bureau, p. 637.)
"Near Gaviota Pass there is a blue stone of very fine grain that has been used in limited quantities for monuments by the Santa Barbara Marble Works."
"A. R. Angulo, Santa Ynez (844 E. Carillo street, Santa Barbara). A quarry of boulders in Sec. 12, T. 5 N., R. 31 W., S. B. M., on the summit of the Santa Ynez Mountains, at the head of Refugio Canon, 8 miles by wagon road from Orella, a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The abutments of the railroad bridge over the Refugio, and the church at Naples were built of this stone. Some is shipped to Los Angeles."
"Orella Estate Quarry, in Sec. 12, T. 5 N., R. 31 W., S. B. M. A quarry of sandstone boulders at the head of Refugio Cañon on the Santa Ynez Range, 8 miles north of Orella station on the S. P. R. R. The boulders are quarried by Geo. Robson of the Santa Barbara Monumental Works. Three carloads of this stone recently shipped to Los Angeles, was the only production recorded during the past five years. Idle.
"Bibl.: Bull. 38, p. 133."
"Loma Blanco Lithographic Stone Company, Judge E. M. Ross, president; A. M. Cates, 310 Currier Building, Los Angeles, secretary. A deposit of fine-grained limestone, claimed to be appropriate for lithographic work. On the Moraga ranch, Secs. 4 and 5, R. 26 W., S. B. M.; near the summit of the Santa Ynez range, in a very unapproachable country."
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