Contra Costa County, CA History

Transcribed by Sally  Kaleta

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SOURCE:  The History of Contra Costa County, California
Edited by: Frederick J. Hulaniski
Publisher: Elms Pub. Co., Berkley, CA 1917
 
CHAPTER IX
MINES AND MINERALS
 
      In 1863 a great excitement was created by the discovery of copper in the 
county, and one really worthy of the "good times" in mining districts.  All at 
once, nobody could tell why, a grand copper excitement arose, which permeated 
the whole community.  It was reported by various parties that the mountains were 
full of the ores of copper of untold, because of unknown, richness.  
Simultaneously with this grand discovery every unemployed man turned prospector. 
 Blankets and bacon.  Beans and hard bread rose to a premium, and the hills were 
lighted up at night with hundreds of camp-fires.  Hammers and picks were in 
great demand, and there is ocular evidence even to this day that not a boulder 
or projecting rock escaped the notice of the prospectors.  It was a question of 
probabilities that were bound soon to harden into certainties.  Indeed, it was 
only a short time before copper prospects were possessed of a definite value.  
Claims were opened, companies formed, and stock issued on the most liberal 
scale.  Everything wore the couleur de rose.  As usual upon similar occasions, 
there was great strife about claims.  Some were "jumped" on the ground of some 
informality twice in twenty-four hours.  Heavy prices were paid for "choice" 
ground, and  it is quite safe to say that old Mount Diablo's sides and summit 
have never since borne such an enormous valuation.  It seemed as though the 
whole community had been bitten by the mining tarantula.  The excitement lasted 
for several weeks, growing fiercer from day to day.  Scores of men, laden with 
specimens, thronged the hotels and saloons, and nothing was talked of but "big 
strikes" and "astounding developments."
      Clayton was the center of these mining operations, and town lots were sold 
at high prices.  The ruling price for shares in the Pioneer was $4: in the 
Eureka, $3.50 and up.  Hundreds of companies were formed, and each had hosts of 
advocates.  Shafts were sunk and some ore obtained, and, according to one assay, 
"there was $48.33 in gold and $243 in silver to the ton"!  The first shipment of 
ore to San Francisco was in September , 1863, of one ton, from the Pioneer 
claim.   Smelting works were erected at Antioch, and the following prices 
offered: For copper of eight-per-cent quality, $15 per ton; for twelve-per-cent 
quality, $25 per ton.
        Men of experience and practical skill partook of the illusion.  All at 
once the bubble burst.  The millionaires of the day left their rude camps in the 
mountains, and, with ragged breeches and boots out at the toes, subsided at once 
into despondency and less exciting employment.  The hotel - and - 
saloon-keepers, to say nothing of the editors, proceeded to disencumber their 
premises of accumulated tons of specimens of all kinds of "shiny rocks" to be 
found within an area of thirty miles square, making quite a contribution to the 
paving material of the streets.
      Silver mines were staked out and partially worked in 1860.  The first 
discovery of silver was made by l. H.  Hastings, and was taken from the east 
side of the mountain.
      Paint deposits were discovered in 1862 by Doctor Hough, of Martinez, on 
the banks of the El Hambre Creek.  Specimens showed a large number of distinct 
tints, or colors.
      Petroleum wells were sunk near Antioch in 1865, and much land covered with 
claims.  In 1868 oil was also found on the ranch of Dr. Carothers, about three 
miles from San Pablo, and not less than $25,000 was spent in experiments, 
fixtures, oil-tanks, retorts, distilleries, etc., but from all these discoveries 
oil in paying quantities has never been obtained.
      Salt was found at a spring near the Marsh ranch, and a company was formed 
to conduct its operation, but we do not learn that any success followed.  
      Lime quarries were opened, and in 1862 large quantities of lime were 
manufactured in the neighborhood of Pacheco from stone found about six miles 
from Mount Diablo.  These quarries, opened in 1850, were the first discovered in 
the State, and were very profitable.
 CEMENT
 
 
        The cement industry of California is showing a rapid increase.  The 
works of the Cowell Cement Company, one of the greatest plants in the world, are 
located in Contra Costa County, between Concord and Clayton.  Several hundred 
men are constantly employed at these works, the average annual pay-roll 
amounting to upward of a quarter of a million dollars.
        A railroad was built by the company for the purpose of connecting its 
great works with the outside world.  The road is a standard-gauge line and 
connects with the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe, and the Oakland, Antioch & 
Eastern lines at Bay Point, serving the needs of the rich and fertile Clayton 
Valley. 
COAL
 
         In 1859, at Horse Haven Valley, six miles south of Antioch, William C. 
Israel, in cleaning out a spring on his land, discovered a vein of coal.  In 
connection with his father and brother George, he opened the vein for a short 
distance; but not having capital to work it, they disposed of their interest to 
James T. Watkins, and one Noyes, who, either from want of knowledge or 
resources, failed to open the vein so as to make its operation successful.  They 
abandoned the mine in 1861.
        On December 22, 1859, at a distance of three and a half miles west of 
Horse Haven Valley, Francis Somers and James T. Cruikshank discovered the vein 
of coal which since became known as the Black Diamond vein.  Somers and 
Cruikshank and their associates, W. S Hawxhurst and Samuel Adams, located the 
lands afterward known as the Manhattan and Eureka coal mines.  George Hawxhurst 
and George H. P. and William Henderson, in company with Francis Somers, opened 
the outcropping of the same vein, where were afterward developed the Black 
Diamond and Cumberland mines; but, believing that the expense of making roads 
was beyond their means, they made no attempt to secure title.  The Black Diamond 
Mine was subsequently located by Noah Norton, and the Cumberland mine went into 
the hands of Francis Such and others.  These coal lands, with others adjoining, 
became noted as the Black Diamond Coal Mines.
         Frank Such disposed  of his interest in the Cumberland Mine to C. T. 
Cutter, Asher Tyler, Josiah Sturgis, and L. C. Wittenmeyer, all of Martinez.  It 
was from their efforts and capital that the Cumberland Mine was successfully 
opened and worked, and roads were constructed from it to Clayton and New York 
Landing (now Pittsburg).  They also assisted Noah Norton to open the Black 
Diamond Mine.
         The Pittsburg Mine, east of Eureka, was located by George H. P. 
Henderson, who entered into a contract with Ezra Clark to open the mine, in the 
developing of which the vein of coal known as the Clark vein was discovered.
         The Central Coal Mine, east of Pittsburg, was located by John E. 
Wright.  The year following William B. Stewart became connected with it.  The 
Union Mine, north of Manhattan, was located by George Hawxhurst.  The 
Independence mine, north of the Eureka, was purchased from Major Richard 
Charnoch, by Greenhood & Neubauer.  The Manhattan Union, Eureka, and Independent 
comprise the mines forming the basin in which the town of Somersville was 
situated, and from where there was a railroad for the transportation of coal to 
Pittsburg Landing on the San Joaquin River.  The Cumberland, Black Diamond, 
Mount Hope, and other lands comprised the basin of the town of Nortonville.  
From there ran a railroad for the transportation of coal to New York Landing, at 
the head of Suisun Bay.  From the mines enumerated there were about two hundred 
thousand tons of coal per annum shipped.  What is known as the old Central Mine, 
originally located by William B. Stewart, was operated by Shattuck & Hillegas, 
of Oakland, and was later sold to the Empire Coal Mine & Railroad Company, and 
was operated by that corporation in conjunction with the Empire Mine.
        The Empire Company opened in 1876.  It has a magnificent vein of coal, 
with a railroad to the mine.  The mine is six miles from Antioch, within 
three-fourths of a mile of the first opening made on the coal veins of the 
county by the Israels.  It was owned by George Hawxhurst and John C. Rouse, who, 
after operating several years, hauling coal by team from the mines to tide-water 
at Antioch, sold a half-interest in the Empire and Central mines to M. W. 
Belshaw and Egbert Judson, and formed a copartnership under the name of Empire 
Coal Mine & Railroad Company.  With the funds supplied by Belshaw and Judson, a 
narrow-gauge railroad was constructed from the mine to Antioch, and thereafter 
all coal was transported by rail to this water shipping-point.
        After the discovery of the Oregon  and Washington coal mines, the Mount 
Diablo coal being of inferior quality, was unable to compete, and eventually 
oil, the steam fuel of today, finished the coal mining in this county.  At the 
present time all the mines are closed and filled with water, the rails were 
taken up, and probably the mines will never again be operated, unless for the 
purpose of generating electric power at the several mines, which probably could 
be done at a profit.  Such a project has been carefully considered by owners of 
the several properties, who figure that the short transmission lines to the 
industrial centers would counterbalance the additional cost of generating the 
juice as compared with the electric companies now generating electric power 
hundreds of miles away in the mountains.
         The coal-mining interest rapidly became one of the most important ones 
of the county.  It built up four towns, viz., Somersville, Nortonville, New York 
Landing (now Pittsburg), and Pittsburg Landing, and added greatly toward the 
town of Antioch.  These mines produced in 1877 108,678 tons of coal, valued at 
$650,000, as given by the assessor for that year, and 3000 acres of coal lands, 
valued at $163,300.  The tunnels of these mines were high enough for an 
ordinary-size man to stand erect and about five feet in width.   They generally 
run on an incline to the gangway, and the loaded cars were drawn by mules to the 
foot of the incline and hoisted to the surface, where they were dumped into 
bunkers, and from these bunkers emptied into railroad cars and transported by 
rail to the different landings.  The coal was then taken to San Francisco and 
other cities by river steamers.