Carnegie was a town in Corral Hollow, in

San Joaquin County San Joaquin County ( ; , meaning " St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 779,233. The county seat is Stockton. San Jo ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from 1902 to about 1915. It was discovered that the San Francisco & San Joaquin Coal Company's Tesla coal mines in Corral Hollow contained a rich deposit of clay. Fueled by California's rapid population growth and the subsequent demand for building materials, mine owners James and

John Treadwell John Treadwell (November 23, 1745 – August 18, 1823) was an American politician and the 21st Governor of Connecticut. Biography Treadwell was born in Farmington, Connecticut the only son of Ephraim and Mary (Porter) Treadwell, on November 23 ...

of the Treadwell gold mine formed the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company in 1902. The Treadwells named the company after philanthropist

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

. In 1904 the plant to make brick and architectural terra cotta was built near the

Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad The Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad was incorporated on May 1, 1895, to serve the coal mines of the San Francisco & San Joaquin Coal Company at Corral Hollow. The line ran from Tesla (located in the Corral Hollow canyon southeast of Corral ...

line, four miles east of the coal mining town of Tesla. A town was in place with over 300 inhabitants (mainly Italian artisans) and the town's brick factory was producing upwards of 100,000 bricks per day. In 1904, the Pottery sewer pipe plant was built between Carnegie and Tesla. In 1911 a flood destroyed bridges, roads, and buildings which the company could not afford to rebuild. The towns of Carnegie and Tesla were abandoned. The rail line from Carbona was abandoned by the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

in January 1916. Dan L. Mosier, Brief History of the Tesla Area
/ref> In 1916 the company was sold to

Gladding, McBean Gladding, McBean is a ceramics company located in Lincoln, California. It is one of the oldest companies in California, a pioneer in ceramics technology, and a company which has "contributed immeasurably" to the state's industrialization. During ...

Lincoln, California Lincoln is a city in Placer County, California, United States, part of the Sacramento, California, Sacramento metropolitan area. Located north of Roseville, California, Roseville in an area of rapid suburban development, it grew 282 percent b ...

. In an effort to reduce competition, the new owners sold off the factory's equipment and destroyed what remained of the town's buildings. On May 27, 1917, the tall smokestacks at the plant were dynamited. Today only the foundation of the brick works can be seen within the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area. Materials from Carnegie Brick and Pottery were used to build the

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are par ...

, the Oakland Hotel, and the Carnegie libraries in Livermore and Lodi, California. The site of the former town is registered as a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

References

Former settlements in San Joaquin County, California Former populated places in California Populated places established in 1902 {{SanJoaquinCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References