CARNEGIE



Carnegie, named for Andrew Carnegie, was located in San Joaquin County, four miles east of Tesla, California. It was subsidiary of the Tesla coal mining operation where fire brick and architectural terra cotta were manufactured from 1903 to 1911 by the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company. The clay was shipped by rail from Tesla, and the finished products were shipped by rail to Stockton.

Carnegie The company town consisted of a hotel, school, bakery, saloon, bunkhouses, and cabins. It had a population of 350 to 400 of mostly Italian immigrants. The plant employed 200 workers during the busy season. There was also a small Chinese section along the base of the hill west of the Graner Hotel.

Carnegie consisted of a brick plant, with machinery capable of making 20,000 brick per day, and two long drying sheds and 26 kilns. A well-known landmark was a 317-foot high square brick chimney fed by six kilns.

In 1905, the terra cotta plant was added to produce the ornate terra cotta trimmings found on many of the buildings still remaining today throughout the state. Some of the finest examples include the Oakland Hotel, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, and the Palace Hotel, Monadnock Building, Bank of Italy, and Methodist Book Concerns Building in San Francisco.

After Carnegie shut down in 1911, the plants and buildings were razed and the property eventually became a motorcycle and off-road vehicle park. In 1979, a part of Carnegie became the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area.

Carnegie motorcyclists
Entrance to the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area where the folks are friendly.

Carnegie hills
Steep slopes at Carnegie attract dirt bike riders.


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Contact Dan L. Mosier at danmosier@earthlink.net.

Copyright © 2003 Dan L. Mosier

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