Basalt Rock Company was a multifaceted industrial operation that was founded in 1920. The company started as a rock quarrying operation located a few miles south of

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major t ...

near the

Napa River The Napa River is a river approximately long in the U.S. state of California. It drains a famous wine-growing region called the Napa Valley, in the mountains north of the San Francisco Bay. Milliken Creek and Mt. Veeder watersheds are a few ...

. It later branched out into the ship building business in 1941 when it started building ships for the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

for use during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Following the war, the plant built 30 miles of pipe for the City of Napa's pipeline from Lake Hennessey. In 1950, the company took title of a cement plant formerly owned by Standard Portland Cement Company in what is now

American Canyon, California American Canyon (previously known as Napa Junction) is a city located in southern Napa County, California, northeast of San Francisco, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2020 census reported the city's population as 21,837. Its ZIP Code i ...

. The cement plant remained in operation until 1978. As of 2001, the city was evaluating the plant for future use.

Successor companies of earlier corporate sales

The company's steel making plant was purchased by

Kaiser Steel Kaiser Steel was a steel mill near Fontana, California, founded by Henry J. Kaiser on December 1, 1941. The plant's first blast furnace, "Bess No. 1" (named after Kaiser's wife) was fired up on December 30, 1942, and the first steel plate was p ...

in 1955. The plant changed hands again in 1988 when it was purchased by

Oregon Steel Mills Evraz Oregon Steel Mills is a subsidiary of the Russia steel producer Evraz Group and has operations in Portland, Oregon, United States, and also with facilities in Colorado and Alberta. The company produces items such as structural tubing, pipe ...

and remained in operation as Napa Pipe until 2004. Developers proposed turning the site into a housing development, but faced strong opposition and controversy over the project. The rock and sand portion of the company was purchased by Dillingham Construction in the early 1970s. It was acquired by Syar Industries in 1986, and as of 2018 remains in operation as Syar's Napa Quarry. In 2013 Syar announced that it was applying for permits to double the output of the quarry from 1 million to 2 million tons of aggregate.

Ships built

Basalt Rock Company ships built for World War 2:Basalt Rock Company ships built
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References

{{coord, 38.26433, N, 122.270622, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Defunct mining companies of the United States Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States Mining in California Steel companies of the United States Companies based in Napa County, California American companies established in 1920 Manufacturing companies established in 1920 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1920 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1920 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1978 1920 establishments in California 1978 disestablishments in California History of Napa County, California Ships built in Napa, California American companies disestablished in 1978 Defunct manufacturing companies based in California

Successor companies of earlier corporate sales

Ships built

See also

References