From Quarry to Cemetery Monuments

California Quarries that Supplied Stone for Yolo County, the Sacramento Area, and the San Francisco Bay Area (Continued)

Colusa Sandstone Quarries, Colusa County, California

Colusa County also had two large sandstone quarries operating in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. They are located near Sites, and they were operated from 1886 until about 1913. Colusa sandstone was used principally in San Francisco and other central Californian cities. Both of these quarries can still be seen today along the Maxwell-Sites road today. You can also see them using Google Maps. (Look in the hilly area.)

The following quotation is from “The Colusa Sandstone,” in Stone: An Illustrated Magazine, June 1916, Vol. XXXVII, No. 6, pp. 308.

(Colusa sandstone) is obtained from a series of massive beds just east of Sites and extending eight miles north and south, with a width of over one-half mile. Sites is the terminus of the Colusa and Lake Railroad, narrow gauge, which connects with the Southern Pacific main line at Colusa Junction. There the stone has to be transshipped to the standard gauge cars. Principally for this reason, the stone is not dressed at the quarries but at the yards in San Francisco. There are two quarries which are operated commercially, the Colusa* and the McGilvray. They adjoin, the first named being the older, and to the north. Both properties have railroad facilities. The canyon of stone Corral Creek cuts through the series nearly east and west at about the center of the Colusa company’s ground. The individual strata vary in thickness up to 18 feet so far as opened up by quarrying operations. The stone is very even grained and is quite uniform in color, being a blue-gray which darkens but slightly in weathering. It is especially well adapted for general use as a building material. Colusa sandstone has been employed so far principally in San Francisco and other central Californian cities. Some has also been shipped to Hawaii. The quarries of the Colusa Sandstone Company, three-fourths of a mile east of Sites, was first opened in 1891. The Ferry Building, San Francisco, 1896, was the first large building constructed of this stone. The sandstone can be obtained in any desirable dimensions. There are four monolithic columns in the Bank Building, at Santa Cruz, from the Colusa Company, the pieces as shipped from the quarry being 22 feet 6 inches long, by 4 feet 10 inches square at the bottom and 3 feet 6 inches square at the top. Four others of the same size were shipped to the yard at the same time. F. E. Knowles is president of the company, Abel Hosmer, secretary, and the home office and yards of the company are at Tenth and Division Streets, San Francisco. The quarry of the McGilvray Stone Company is one mile southeast and adjoins the Colusa property on the south. It was opened by the present owners in 1900. The stone has been used in many prominent buildings in San Francisco and some large blocks have been shipped. The office of the company is at 624 Townsend Street San Francisco.” (* The Colusa quarry is known as The Brownstone Quarry today.)

The photographs below are of the old F. E. Knowles sandstone quarry, previously known as the Colusa Sandstone Company Quarry, today known as The Brownstone Quarry. Today this quarry is operated on an as-needed basis. According to Charles “Chip” Coffyn, the quarry owner, the color of the sandstone in the quarry varied in color from a light brown through a purplish color. (Chip Coffyn died in August, 2007.) The photographs below are from the early 1900s. (More photographs of these quarries are available on “The Brownstone Quarry” & “The McGilvray Quarry” photographic tours.)

Below are photographs of The Brownstone Quarry taken in 2006 when we visited the quarry with John L. Morton:

The photograph below are of old inactive McGilvray Stone Company sandstone quarry, which is no longer active. This quarry was owned and operated for years by John McGilvray Stone Company. (If you’re interested in reading more about the competition between John McGilvray and F. E. Knowles, you can read the account on our web site entitled, “Colusa County Sandstone Builds Some of The World’s Most Famous Buildings,” by John L. Morton, Colusa County historian.)

If you'd like to learn more about John McGilvray, his quarry and building operations, and his family, you can do so at, “John Duff McGilvray & Marion Beaton” and “The McGilvray Quarry, Madera County, California,” on the “The McGilvray Famiy Page,” web site, presented by Barbara Lewellen. (Regarding this last link, scroll to the bottom to find the “McGilvray Stone Company” link.)

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