Comments on: Rockridge Shopping Center quarry

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 01:09:14 +0000

I’m also curious about that rail connection to the quarry. The right of way that crosses Broadway at 42nd was acquired for a Key System route that was planned to run all the way to San Jose – but from all I can find no tracks were ever laid on the section from the Yerba Buena junction through to Arroyo (where a short section was in service up to Oakland Ave). But I have seen several references to a narrow gauge steam line serving the quarry, but have yet to see any trace of it on a map, or any old photos. Anybody have any clues?

By: Ross

Ross — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:47:48 +0000

Wednesday 11/21/2012
A yet unidiified man that resided above that ol’e rock quarry was out searching for his kitty-cat, and somehow fell, 100 ft. down into the quarry lake.
Rescue workers later recovered his body summerged under 30 ft.

By: jjlasne

jjlasne — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 19:16:48 +0000

Thank you for the info. Everytime I went to that shopping center, I wondered about that reservoir which definitely looks like a former quarry and went to look at the water. It is tough to get a good sense of it from the parking lot. I also wonder about that bridge crossing the water. And also what kind of fish might be leaving in there. As for the former estate, here is the entry from Wikipedia: “In 1922, the school moved to a new, permanent campus on the former James Treadwell estate in Oakland located just east of the intersection of College Avenue and Broadway where it remains today.”

By: Bev Chernoff

Bev Chernoff — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:05:18 +0000

My great-grandfather use to work at Bilger Quarry. Infact his home was a boarding house for some of the workers. Is there a place where I can find names of men who worked there? He lived on 43rd and the men that lived in the home all were from Italy. I am doing some family history right now and want to get more information.

By: alan simpson

alan simpson — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:54:26 +0000

Adam, the water has looked the same, dark and foreboding, since at least the late 40′s, the fence even at that time was topped with barbed wire, and us kids would have rather fished at the “Three Lakes” in the cemetary anyway.

By: Adam on Shafter

Adam on Shafter — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:17:41 +0000

Anyone ever managed to go fishing in the old quarry pond? Every time I pass by it I wonder what (if anything) lurks in its depths…and it looks like it’s pretty deep!

By: alan simpson

alan simpson — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 02:31:52 +0000

A little late here, I just found this site… In answer to Omar, the shopping center site was faily level to begin with, requiring no cut & fill to speak of. This writer, as a boy, “mined” guppies from small depressions, the entire area being rocky, with poor drainage. There was a major excavation at the Broadway corner of the property, solid rock mounds that required the use of dinamite, which then became the vault of the bank on the corner.

By: George S.

George S. — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 02:02:58 +0000

(A little off topic perhaps; if so, my apologies.) You refer to "a rail spur that crossed Broadway at 42nd Street and curved toward the former depot at 41st and Shafter streets (you can see the trace in Google Maps)." I'm not at all convinced that the rail spur from the quarry had anything to do with the Sacramento and Northern lines or depot. From the traces it left on the lot lines in the Google maps, it seems to have cut straight across Shafter and continued on toward the Bay. The traces are pretty clear to a little west of Telegraph, disappear for a few blocks, reappear around West St., curve south at Linden St., and disappear near San Pablo and Adeline. I think there was once an AT&SF track on Adeline. Do you happen to know when the quarry and its rail spur were last in operation? I'd love to know if the rail spur actually crossed the S&N track(s) on Shafter while both were active. [There are two places you can research this further (perhaps you already know them): the nice set of street maps at teczno.com/old-oakland and the online set of successive USGS topo maps at Cal Berkeley's Earth Sciences Library.]

By: Naomi Schiff

Naomi Schiff — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:14:21 +0000

Steve has moved to another Oakland library, but the current librarians are excellent and will help.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 06:48:02 +0000

Is the glory hole visible? I would like to see that!

[It’s not as exciting as the one shown in the link: just a square of concrete with some steel stuff around it. It’s right next to the new CSAA building.]