Inyo County - List of Stone Quarries

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Inyo County - List of Stone Quarries, Etc.

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

Keeler (north of), Inyo County, California

See: “Inyo Mountain Range, Inyo County, California – the Inyo Marble Company Quarries.”
Keeler District (north of), Inyo County, California – Badgley Quarry (Marble/Dolomite) (Excerpts from Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Chapters of State Mineralogist's Report Biennial Period 1915-1916, Part I. Alpine County, Inyo County, Mono County, California State Mining Bureau, pp. 5-175. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

"Badgley Quarry, Swansea (Keeler) district. Four miles north of Keeler, at the western base of the Inyo Mountains. Eighty acres patented, formerly owned by the original Inyo Marble Company (See Inyo Marble Co.). The marble beds here are folded and shattered. Quarried for use as dolomite. Hand drilling; one man employed. Spur track of the California and Nevada railroad to quarry. Approximately forty tons of dolomite per week are shipped to the California Iron and Steel Company at Los Angeles, Cal. Owned by W. O. Badgley, Monadnock Bldg., San Francisco, Cal."
- Keeler (north of), Inyo County, California - Badgley Quarry (Marble/Dolomite) (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.)
  
  "Badgley quarry, about 4 miles north of Keeler in sec. 24 (?), T. 16 S., R. 37 E., M.D. was worked about 1915-16. About 40 tons of dolomite was shipped weekly to the California Iron & Steel Company, Los Angeles. The dolomite here is shattered and only one man was employed to break up the blocks. This was part of the old Inyo Marble Company holdings and contained 80 acres, patented. A spur track from the narrow-gauge California & Nevada Railroad served the quarry. Present ownership is not known, but may be part of Inyo Marble Company."
Keeler (near), Inyo County, California – Mock Dolomite Quarry near Keeler & Keeler – ready to load dolomite blocks onto the Carson & Colorado Railroad to be delivered to the plant in Nevada for processing.


“Mock Dolomite Quarry near Keeler” (Photograph from the collection of Richard C. Datin, Jr., Reno, Nevada, founding curator of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada)	Dolomite Limestone Blocks (aka Inyo marble) along the Carson & Colorado Railroad tracks at Keeler (Photograph from the collection of Richard C. Datin, Jr., Reno, Nevada, founding curator of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada)	Abandoned railroad station on Railroad St. in Keeler (Photograph by Peggy B. Perazzo, Summer 2010)


2010 photograph of the Mock Dolomite Quarry area near Keeler (Photograph by Peggy B. Perazzo, Summer 2010)	2010 photograph of the Mock Dolomite Quarry area near Keeler (Photograph by Peggy B. Perazzo, Summer 2010)	2010 photograph of the Mock Dolomite Quarry area near Keeler (Photograph by Peggy B. Perazzo, Summer 2010)


2010 photograph of the Mock Dolomite Quarry area near Keeler (Photograph by Peggy B. Perazzo, Summer 2010)	2010 photograph of the Mock Dolomite Quarry area near Keeler (Photograph by Peggy B. Perazzo, Summer 2010)	Keeler End of the Line Monument of white dolomite (See below for inscription on plaque.) (Photograph by Peggy B. Perazzo, Summer 2010)

Inscription on the Keeler End of the Line plque reads:

“Keeler – End of the Line. From Mound House, Nevada, narrow gauge rails of the Carson & Colorado Railroad reached this site in 1883. Cerro Gordo and the other mines faltered, the rail line fell on hard times, so plans to extend the line to Mojave were abandoned, leaving Keeler as ‘end of the line.’ Dedicated May 12, 1973, Slim Princess Chapter, E. Clampus Vitus, Inyo County Board of Supervisors.”

Keeler, Inyo County, California - Natural Soda Products Company (shipped and processed dolomite) (Excerpt from Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Chapters of State Mineralogist's Report Biennial Period 1915-1916, Part I. Alpine County, Inyo County, Mono County, California State Mining Bureau, pp. 5-175. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

"Natural Soda Products Company, of Keeler, are shipping about 20 tons daily of the pure white dolomite from the quarries of the Inyo Marble Company to their soda plant south of Keeler. Seven men employed at $3.00 per day. The dolomite is used for generating carbon dioxide...."
Laws (northeast of), Inyo County, California - Rogers 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.)

"Rogers limestone deposit is 7 miles northeast of Laws, in Silver Canyon on the west side of the White Mountains. This quarry produced high-calcium limestone which was hauled by truck to the narrow-gauge railroad and shipped to soda plants on Owens Lake for production of CO₂ gas used in carbonation. No recent activity has been reported."
Laws (6 miles from), Inyo County, California - Volcanic Tuff Quarry (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906.)

"A soft volcanic tuff occurs in Sec. 14, T. 6 S., R. 32 E., M. D. M.; A. M. Strong et al., Bishop, owners; 6 miles from Laws, on the Carson and Colorado Railroad. It has been used for building purposes in Bishop and Independence."
Lone Pine (near), Inyo County, California – Inyo Marble Co. or Premier Marble Products or F. W. Aggregates or Israel Luce

See: “Inyo Mountains” or “Inyo Mountain Range”
Owens Lake (the south end of), Inyo County, California - Cartago Company (Limestone/Dolomite) (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.)

"Cartago Company, 8317 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, has at Cartago a dump of dolomite and quicklime and air-slacked lime made from limestone which was burned some years ago to produce CO₂ gas for use in alkali works. According to J. C. Fryer of Cartago Company, some sales have been made for metallurgical use at mines in Inyo County, as well as for other purposes. The dump contains 50,000 to 75,000 tons. Cartago is a railroad point near the south end of Owens Lake. Inyo Chemical Company formerly operated a plant there for making sodium carbonates."

"Inyo Chemical Company shipped lime from Cartago in 1927-31. The company was one of those engaged in making soda ash and sodium bicarbonate from the Owens Lake deposits, and the lime remained from limestone or dolomite which has been burned to obtain CO₂ gas for use in carbonation."
Owens Valley, Inyo County, California - Marble Quarry at the base of the Inyo Mountains in 1886 (Marble) (The following information is from “Statuary Marble,” in The Manufacturer and Builder, Vol. 18, Issue 5, May 1886, pgs. 107-108.)

Statuary Marble in California.

“It is reported on what seems to be reliable authority that a very extensive and valuable deposit of white marble has been discovered and opened in Inyo county, California. The San Francisco papers gave the following account of the discovery: A company has located 120 acres, and the depth of the bed seems from the outcroppings to be unlimited. The quality varies in different strata from common building material to the finest statuary marble. At present (1886) the Vermont quarries furnish the most available supply of marble for full size statues. The Italian quarries have been so exhaustively worked that large blocks of pure quality are obtained with difficulty. The importations of European marble into the United states are valued at about $1,000,000 annually, of which about one-half comes from Italy. The owners of the Inyo quarry expect not only to supplant foreign statuary marble in our own markets, but to export it. If their property half meets their expectations, it will be an important addition to the resources of California. The statuary marble of the Carrara quarries of Italy, though forming but a small product in bulk, far exceeds all the rest in value, and the supply of that quality in Inyo is thought to be practically unlimited.”
Owens Valley, Inyo County, California - Marble Quarry at base of the Inyo Mountains in 1894 (Marble) (The following is from: “Inyo Marble,” in The Manufacture and Builder, Vol. 21, Issue 3, March 1889, pgs. 59-60.)

Inyo Marble.

“For many years it has been known that California contained marble of a very superior quality, but until recently (1889) it has been almost entirely undeveloped, notwithstanding the fact that this State imported large quantities of Italian marble. The Inyo quarries have recently passed into the hands of energetic business men who are developing their resources. The stone has recently been examined by Wm. W. Wilkins, of Proctor, Vermont, who pronounced it of a very superior quality, of fine color, nearly white and of fine texture. There are other marbles in California of different colorings, which will in time demand attention.”
Owens Valley, Inyo County, California - Marble Quarry at the base of the Inyo Mountains in 1894 (Marble) (The following information is from: “California Marble,” in The Manufacturer and Builder, Vol. 26, Issue 5, May 1894, pg. 108-109.

California Marble.

“Near the base of the Inyo mountains, in Owens Valley, California, near the lake of the same name, lie what are, perhaps, the largest and most wonderful deposits of marble that have been as yet discovered. It is impossible to describe truthfully these vast deposits of beautifully colored stone.

“There is white, black, blue and yellow in pure colors, purple veined, black and gold, making a grand variety of colored marbles, very beautiful for interior decorations. The white marble is perfectly clear, the grain is fine, very compact, and will stand great pressure; it is a pure dolomite, and therefore will take on and retain a very fine polish. The first two stories of the Mills building in San Francisco, as well as a greater part of the interior finish of the same, are done in this material. The main entrance to the building shows what may be done in the way of relief with the white marble. The black is almost identical with the Belgium black marble; it is very difficult to distinguish one from the other when polished. The yellow marbles vary from a delicate cream to a dark mottled orange. There are veins of deeper yellow, with fernlike markings similar to moss agate, and it is particularly adapted for furniture and interior decorations.
Owens Valley, Inyo County, California

Also see: “Keeler (north of), Inyo County” above for more information on the marble in this the Owens Valley and Owens Lake area.
Trona (northeast of), Inyo County, California - West End Chemical Company (Dolomitic 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.)

"West End Chemical Company, Trona, has operated a quarry on a deposit of dolomitic limestone in the Slate Range, Inyo County, 12 miles northeast of Trona. The stone has been hauled in trucks to the company's plant on Searles Lake and burned to furnish CO₂ gas for use in making sodium bicarbonate and soda ash."

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