One of the geologic puzzles I worked on during 2008 was the identity of “Rockridge Rock.” One candidate is a crag along Acacia Avenue once known as Cactus Rock; another candidate is an outcrop that supposedly was dynamited away in the early 1900s. I’m reluctant to accept either as the true Rockridge Rock without better evidence. In the meantime I’m intrigued by the hillock called “Mt Ararat” on an old map of the area. It’s topped with a bedrock eminence that’s almost completely hidden by homes and trees, but if you remove those (and there’s good historical reason to do that) I think what’s left is a legitimate candidate. This summer, while exploring the ground north of Mountain View Cemetery, I got a fair shot of the hill.
I’ve been too busy to carry my search further lately, but I haven’t given up.
Oakland Geology 
15 January 2009 at 12:27 pm
This is a great site!
RE: Top of Mountain View Cemetery
I have a puzzle and hope that you can help. In the old 7.5 map of 1949 it shows the elevation of the hill at the top of the cemetery at 704 ft. In subsequent maps it is at 646 ft and is quite leveled.
From experience I know that it is nice flat there and has an old paving or tarmac surface that is deteriorated.
Any idea why it was leveled? It would have been quite a project to remove 58′ of the top of a hill. Military?
I have always wondered.
Thanks!
15 January 2009 at 8:30 pm
The 704′ hill is still there, but the benchmark is gone and as you say, the grounds of the cemetery have been excavated. (That means there’s lots of rock exposed there.) The excavation happened between the 1949 and 1959 maps (see them at Cal EART). I have a vague memory that there was a whole complex up there. There’s a odd feature on a 1965 aerial photo that’s still there in 1968, but maybe a trip to the History Room is in order.
16 January 2009 at 10:45 am
Hi Andrew:
The photo was helpful. I have walked the site many times and from local lore there was a stage and a cross there, that is the odd feature that is just below the rectangular feature (which is an underground room of some sort with operating machinery)
From the photo you can see where it was cleared / leveled. There is pebbled, broken asphalt pavement over the entire area.
I will post again if I find out anything else. Thanks.