• Raymond (near), Madera County, California – Raymond Granite Co. Quarry, owned by Cold Spring Granite of Minnesota, 36772 Road 606, Raymond, CA 93653; (559) 689-3257 (present-day company)
  • Color sample of Sierra White Granite quarried at the Raymond Granite Quarry
• Raymond, Madera County, California – the Raymond Granite Quarries from a Distance 

  Photograph of two of the active granite quarries at Raymond taken in late September 2010. The active Raymond granite quarries are owned and operated by Cold Spring Granite of Minnesota.

• Raymond (2 miles southeast of), Madera County, California – The Knowles Quarry operated by the Raymond Granite Company (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906.)

  "The Knowles Quarry, operated by the Raymond Granite Company, S. E. Knowles, president, Tenth and Division streets, San Francisco, has been open for seventeen years, and is well equipped with modern machinery for taking out and handling large quantities of stone. The outcrop of the granite at this point is something like a portion of the surface of a huge globe, about 300 feet or more in diameter, partly buried in the earth. Where it projects above the surface it is almost entirely bare of any soil, vegetation, or other material. It is apparently barren of seams, except the curved exfoliation seams parallel to the surface, and which are partly at least the result of weathering. In places there are remnants of these layers of exfoliation only a few inches in thickness, but the underlying layers, which are the ones worked in the quarry, vary from 1 or 2 feet to 25 feet in thickness. The quarry opening is on the northwest side of the sphere, and the quarry floor, which follows the foliation cleavage, is inclined from 20 to 30 degrees to the northwest.

  "The three large cutting sheds are located below the quarry opening, and an inclined tramway is run up to the quarry floor, down which the blocks are carried into the cutting sheds.

  "Hand and steam drills and the quarry bar are used in quarrying the stone. The quarry bar is used for cutting out the sides and ends of the quarry and also for drilling the large blocks in cutting dimension stone.

  "The stone is easily split and has a straight, even grain. It is split from the thin layers by drilling shallow holes and driving in wedges or plugs and feathers. From large layers the blocks are split off by drilling deeper holes and using the knox blasting system, which leaves an even surface. The thickest layer exposed is about 25 feet thick, but most of that part quarried is much thinner, from 4 to 10 feet. As the quarry opening is carried deeper the succeeding layers will probably become thicker, that is, the joints will be farther and father apart.

  "Nearly all the stone is cut and dressed at the quarry for building stone, or for monuments and cemetery work. After loosening the blocks from the quarry face and splitting them to the required dimensions by plugs and feathers, they are taken to the cutting sheds, where they are handled by steam-power overhead traveling cranes, and the surfaces are finished, either tool-dressed, rock-faced, or polished, as is desired, by hand or machine. The company has two of the heavy Barre granite surfacing and polishing machines and about ten of the lighter Concord surfacing machines. There are also a dozen or more pneumatic and surfacing tools for surfacing and carving, besides a hundred or more stonecutters and finishers at work with hand tools.

  "The finished stone is placed on the railway car in the cutting shed and run down the inclined track to the base of the hill, where it is taken to market over the Southern Pacific Railroad.

  "The supply of stone at this quarry is almost inexhaustible; it lies in admirable position for quarrying with a minimum amount of waste, and the facilities for handling the stone are excellent, all of which favor the large stone industry which has grown up at this place.

  "The stone is a biotite-muscovite light-gray granite, with biotite mica in excess of the muscovite, and an occasional crystal of black hornblende. It has a medium-fine grain and is remarkably uniform in color and texture throughout the mass. Over the entire quarry area only one small dark blotch was observed. Some of the biotite crystals are idiomorphic, six-sided prisms."

  • Raymond, Madera County, California – Raymond Granite Co. (Macadam) office at Tenth and Division streets; Avel Hosmer, secretary, San Francisco (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906.) (No other information is given.)
  • Raymond, Madera County, California – the Raymond Granite Quarries circa 1913 – Included in chapter in “California” (pdf), by G. F. Loughlin, in the Mineral Resources of the United States Calendar Year 1913, Part II.  Nonmetals, United States Geological Survey, 1914.
    

    “The Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada contain a vast quantity of various kinds of stone suitable for building, but large areas of these ranges are too remote from transportation lines to be of economic importance....”

    “Granite. – The granites and related rocks of California form the greater part of the central and southern parts of the Sierra Nevada and of the Coast Range southeast of Los Angeles.  Smaller, though  considerable areas are found in the Coast Range near San Luis Obispo, and east and west of the lower part of Salinas River, near Santa Cruz, and at several places in the Klamath Mountains in the northwestern part of the State....A favorable feature common to most of the granites is their remarkably good rift and grain, which allows large blocks to be split evenly with a minimum amount of labor...."

    “The most important quarry districts are in Madera, Placer, Riverside, and San Diego counties.

    “At Raymond, in Madera County, there are two large quarries of biotite muscovite granite which have furnished stone for the post office, the Fairmont Hotel, the Mercantile Trust Co., and other buildings, and for the Dewey and McKinley monuments in San Francisco.  The principal granites used in San Francisco are those from Raymond, Rocklin and Penryn....”

  • Raymond, Madera County, California – Raymond Granite Company (also known as the Knowles Quarry) (Granite) (Excerpts from Report XIV of the State Mineralogist - Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Chapters of State Mineralogist's Report - Biennial Period 1913-1914, Part IV. “The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus,” by R. P. McLaughlin and Walter W. Bradley, Field Assistants (field work in July, 1913, and July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

    "Raymond Granite Company (also known as the Knowles Quarry). F. E. Knowles, president; office, Division street and Potrero avenue, San Francisco; F. J. Krebs, superintendent at the quarry. Situated in Sec. 22, T. 8 S. R. 19 E. Operations have continued since 1888 with varying activity, there being at present (July, 1914) 175 men employed about the entire plant. The company owns some 1700 acres. About 5 or 10 acres are free of weathered overburden on a low rounded hill (see panoramic photo No. 4A). The rock breaks to extensive fractures lying nearly parallel to the ground surface and from a few inches to 15 or 20 feet apart. Cutting of these immense slabs is done principally by wedges with a little powder used occasionally. A channeling machine is also employed. (See photos Nos. 1, 2, and 'M'.)

    Photo No. 4A. Raymond Granite Company's quarry near Raymond, Madera County, California. Panoramic view of quarry from below.

    Photo No. 1. Raymond Granite Company, Madera County, Cal. Upper part of quarry.

    Photo No. 2. Wedging out a large block of granite (about 10 feet by 20 feet by 5 feet). Raymond Granite Company, Madera County, California.

    Photo "M," Raymond Granite Company's quarry, Raymond, Madera County, California.

    "The largest single piece reported was 4' x 4' x 40', but much larger blocks could doubtless be obtained. The stone is completely dressed or carved at the sheds adjoining the quarry, where air-driven machines are used. The equipment includes 6 derricks with oil-burning steam hoists, 2 sets of saws, and overhead traveling electric cranes (3 large and 2 small). Until February of this year (1914) oil has been used to generate power, since which time the San Joaquin Light and Power Company has been furnishing electricity. The steam plant is still maintained as an auxiliary. The stonecutters received $5 per day for eight hours.

    Monumental and building stone has been furnished to many large structures, among which may be mentioned the San Francisco post office, Municipal Auditorium, the U. S. Sub-Treasury Building and the Fairmont Hotel; also for buildings at the University of California in Berkeley. Of the latter, the most striking example is the Campanile, or bell tower, a shaft of 34 feet square base and 305 feet in height to the top of the surmounting bronze lantern. On the front of the new U. S. Sub-Treasury Building in San Francisco are ten Doric columns about 4 ½ feet in diameter and 27 feet long, each in three sections. As originally drawn, the specifications called for these columns to be monolithic. The change was made because of the greater cost of handling. As has already been pointed out even larger monolithic pieces than that can be obtained here. We were informed that the cost of cutting would be practically the same, but that the necessity of providing heavier equipment to handle them would have increased the cost $2000 for the ten columns in question, or $200 per column. It seems to the writer that it would have been money well spent, for the beauty of the building would have been enhanced many times.

    "Bibl.: R. X. p. 189; XII, p. 384; XIII, p. 620; Bull. 38, pp. 30-32."

  • Raymond, Madera County, California – Sierra White Quarry (Granite) (active ca 1996) (From Mines and Mineral Producers Active in California (1994-1995), Special Publication 103 (Revised 1996), California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, in cooperation with California Department of Conservation, Office of Mine Reclamation. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

    Mine name: Sierra White Quarry; Operator: Raymond Granite Co.; Address & County: 26772 Rd., 606, Raymond, CA 93653, Madera County; Phone: (209) 687-3257; Latitude: 37.22, Longitude: -119.87, and Mine location number: Map No. 327; Mineral commodity: Stone.

  • Raymond, Madera County, California – the Knowles Granite Quarry (Granite) (From United States Geological Survey, "Mineral Industries Surveys - Directory of Principal Dimension Stone Producers in the United States in 1995, prepared in January 1997.)

    The Knowles Granite Quarry is located near granite and is owned and operated by the Cold Spring Granite Co. of Cold Spring, Minnesota.

• Raymond, Madera County, California – Raymond Granite Quarry (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906, pp. 25.)

  “Method of Quarrying and Dressing The Granite.

  “In the smaller quarries the drilling is done by hand, but in most of the larger ones steam or electric drills are used. In many of the quarries the blocks are loosened from the bed by driving wedges, plugs, or feathers in the drill holes. In some of the quarries the Knox blasting system is used, and in some the rocks are blasted without any system.

  “The Raymond Granite Company uses a quarry bar to cut out the ends of the quarry. In many of the granite quarries in the Eastern States channeling machines are used for this purpose.

  “In the smaller quarries the stone is dressed by hand, by means of hammer and chisels and the bush hammer. In the larger quarries this part of the work is facilitated by machinery. Rock Planers, polishing machines, surfacing machines, and pneumatic surfacing tools are in quite general use at the largest quarries. Lathes are used also for turning and polishing columns, pillars, and round monuments.”

  Ill. No. 2. Raymond Granite Quarry, Madera County. Showing use of quarry bar.

  Ill. No. 6. Raymond Granite Quarry, Madera County.

• Raymond, Madera County, California – Knowles Quarry, Raymond Granite Company, Photographs presented by the Madera County USGenWeb Project site, Ken Doig, County Coordinator.
• Raymond (near), Madera County, California – Raymond Granite Quarry operated by the Wilson-Lyon Construction Company  (The following excerpt and photograph is from “California Quarries” (PDF), in The Monumental News, Vol. XVII, No. 4, April 1905, pp. 276-278.

  “View in granite quarry of Wilson-Lyon Construction Co. at Raymond, Cal.”

  “As a constructing material, granite leads all other building stone in California.  Sandstone (native California), comes second, when stone work is considered.  Of course, various kinds of bricks are used very generally in building.  A majority of the business buildings of San Francisco, Oakland and other large cities and towns of California are constructed of handsome pressed brick of various designs and colors.

  “Both granite and sandstone are extensively used for exterior construction.  There are a great number of what are known as ‘composite’ buildings – where several kinds of stone and brick are used together in various proportions.  A great many of the finest buildings are constructed of granite and sandstone with the interior facings of the walls of brick. 

  “A very handsome and showy material is the red sandstone of Arizona.  As it is brought hundreds of miles by rail, it is rather an expensive material and comparatively few buildings are constructed exclusively of this stone.  It is, however, widely used for trimmings, copings, cornices, and ornamental work of every kind, as it is worked into fine ornamental designs very easily.

  “Large quantities of all kinds of marble, – native, Eastern and foreign, – are used as building material, and the demand is constant and increasing.  A large percentage is used for monuments, slabs and costly mausoleums, vaults, etc.

  “For all heavy, massive and enduring construction granite may be considered the ‘King Stone’ in California.  The state has wonderful resources in sandstone, marble and granite.

  “In Madera County, not far from the little town of Raymond, about 165 miles from San Francisco, is located one of the most important granite deposits in the country.

  “There is a large quarry in operation there, from which stone is shipped to San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles and other California cities.  This quarry is owned and controlled by the Wilson-Lyon Construction Company, whose headquarters are in San Francisco, a corporation of unlimited financial resources.  This company is officered as follows:  President, H. Wilson; vice-president, J. A. Byrne; secretary, H. M. Owens; treasurer, High Dimond; directors, J. H. Batcher, Robt. J. Britzman and Joseph Slye.

  “This is one of the largest stone contracting firms on the Pacific Coast.  The land holdings are nearly 200 acres, and the entire tract contains large granite deposits – all of A1 stone – clean, hard and white.  There are very few flaws or large mica spots, and the material takes a very handsome polish.

  “These granite deposits are of unknown depth, and blocks can be quarried much larger than the machinery can handle.  All the stone in the main quarry is singularly free from flaws or blemishes of any kind.

  “The company has a complete plant for handling the output, both at the quarries and finishing sheds.  A large force of skilled stone cutters is employed the year round, and a railway spur runs from the main line into the quarry.

  “Many of the great business blocks of San Francisco are constructed of Madera County granite.  Prominent among these may be mentioned the new Post Office building, which, when completed, will cost $4,000,000; the great Flood Estate Block, costing nearly $3,000,000, and the immense Merchants’ Exchange Building, 14 stories high (just finished), costing over $200,000.

  “The stone has no superior for hardness, fineness of grain and durability, and Wilson-Lyon Construction Company have some of the largest contracts for buildings to be erected from this granite of any firm on the Pacific Coast.”

• Raymond, Madera County, California – Towns of Raymond & Knowles and the Raymond Granite Quarry & the Knowles Granite Quarry – Photographic Tour (To read the account of our trip to the Knowles and Raymond Granite Quarries in July 1998 go to our Visit to the Raymond Granite Quarries page.)
• Raymond (2 miles southeast of) at Knowles, Madera County, California - the McClellan Granite Quarry (later known as the McGilvray Granite Quarry) (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906.)

  "The McClellan Quarry, owned and operated by the Wilson-Lyon Construction Company, office 220 Market street, San Francisco, lies on the same hillside, about one half mile south of the Raymond Granite Company's quarry. It has been in operation for nine years, and produces a stone similar to that from the Raymond Granite Company's quarry, except the rock is to some extent more deeply weathered.

  "The company has two quarry openings, with a large derrick, in each, and a large circular cutting shed, with derrick in the center, at each quarry. The one quarry is about 50 feet square and works two layers, each 4 to 5 feet thick. The other quarry has a face about 100 feet long and from 25 to 40 feet high, with many vertical weather seams, but good granite between the seams. A branch railway spur connects this quarry with the same branch that leads to the other quarry. This stone, like that from the other quarry, is used largely for building and monument purposes. They are at present (September, 1904) preparing the stone for the McKinley memorial monument in San Francisco."

  (Also see: Raymond (near), Madera County, California – McGilvray Raymond Granite Company (formerly McClellan Quarry) below.)

• Raymond (near) at Knowles, Madera County, California - General View - McGilvray's Quarry.

  (postcard photograph, unmailed, early 1900s)

• Raymond (near) at Knowles, Madera County, California – McGilvray Raymond Granite Company (formerly McClellan Quarry) (Granite) (Excerpts from Report XIV of the State Mineralogist - Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Chapters of State Mineralogist's Report - Biennial Period 1913-1914, Part IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by R. P. McLaughlin and Walter W. Bradley, Field Assistants (field work in July, 1913, and July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

  "McGilvray Raymond Granite Company (formerly McClellan Quarry). John D. McGilvray, president; office, 634 Townsend street, San Francisco; Alexander McGilvray, superintendent at the quarry. Situated in Sec. 27, T. 8 S., R. 19 E. The rock is similar to that described in the Knowles quarry, except in the manner of natural fracturing. Here, no large exfoliation planes have as yet been exposed; but cross fractures some 20 to 30 feet apart occur, besides occasional small dikes. The quarry is a side hill cut worked on about the same scale as the other, but covering a smaller area and deeper. Equipment includes 6 derricks with oil-burning steam hoists, 2 saw sets, 4 overhead traveling cranes on two runways, and a locomotive track crane. The two compressors are driven by 150 h.p. and 250 h.p. motors, electric power being obtained from the line of the San Joaquin Light and Power Company, installed this year (February, 1914). Most of the work is done with pneumatic tools.

  "This summer (1914) the quarry has been employing from 250 to 300 men, the largest force in its history. This is mainly due to their furnishing the stone for the new San Francisco City Hall, the granite contract alone for which represents a value of $991,313. The architectural plans call for a large amount of fine sculptural detail, and this work is practically all done at the quarry sheds. In this department there were seventeen carvers working under a special foreman. The majority of these artists (for 'artists' they must be to do such work) are Italians and Scotchmen. Among the larger blocks finished are several platform pieces for the City Hall, 21' x 6' x 2'. (See photo No. 6.)

  Photo No. 6. Dressing a platform stone (size 21 feet by 6 feet by 2 feet) for the San Francisco City Hall. McGilvray Raymond Granite Company, Madera County, Cal.

  Photo No. 8. Sculptural Carving, plaster model at right for San Francisco City Hall. McGilvray Raymond Granite Company, Madera County, Cal.

  "The product has an extensive market, another example being the United States Custom House in San Francisco. The four monolithic Doric columns at the First National Bank are also from this quarry. The largest single piece shipped from this quarry was 14' x 13' 10" x 2' for the top of a mausoleum in Cypress Lawn Cemetery, San Mateo County.

  "Bibl.: R. XII, p. 384; XIII, p. 620; Bull. 38, p. 32."

• Raymond (near), Madera County, California – Madera County Rock Crusher Plant at the McGilvray Quarry (Granite) (Excerpts from Report XIV of the State Mineralogist - Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Chapters of State Mineralogist's Report - Biennial Period 1913-1914, Part IV. "The Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus," by R. P. McLaughlin and Walter W. Bradley, Field Assistants (field work in July, 1913, and July, 1914), California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1916, pp. 427-634.)

  "Madera County Rock Crusher. The county has a rock crushing plant at the McGilvray quarry to utilize rock and spalls for road material. It is under the supervision of H. L. Craw, supervisor. Idle in 1914."

• Raymond (near) at Knowles, Madera County, California – the McGilvray Granite Quarry as it looks today.

  McGilvary Granite Quarry (Inactive), Photographic Tour, Knowles, California (photographs taken Sept. 2010)
• Raymond (near) at Knowles, Madera County, California – McGilvray Raymond Granite Co., Raymond, Cal.

  (postcard photograph, 782; A. C. Mudge, Photographer, 826 Olive Ave., Fresno, California Summer Studio - Huntington Lake, Cal.; unmailed, early 1900s)

  • Raymond/Knowles, Madera County, California – John D. McGilvray – McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company & the McGilvray Stone Quarry, Raymond/Knowles Granite Quarry Owner & Operator
    • McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company & John D. McGilvray (photographs and history), presented on the Our Scottish Ancestors web site by Barbara Lewellen.

      The following excerpt is from the above web site which presents further genealogical material on the McGilvray family:

      “In 1907, John D. McGilvray reincorporated under the name of the McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company. Besides operating a quarry at Raymond, Madera county, McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company had quarries at Sites, Colusa county; at Greystone, Santa Clara county, and at Lakeside, San Diego county. ‘The plants at all these quarries, with their modern mechanical equipment for extracting and cutting the stone are among the largest in the country.’”

    • The McGilvray Stone Quarry, Madera County, California (photographs and history), presented on the Our Scottish Ancestors web site by Barbara Lewellen
  • John D. McGilvray, Pioneer Stone Man – The following article is from “The Who What and Why of Industrial San Francisco” section of the San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 1921, pp. 12. (A photograph of John D. McGilvray is included with the article with the following photograph caption: “John D. McGilvray, pioneer expert and founder of the McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company.”)

    California’s Granites are Unsurpassed – Company Builds Mausoleums for Our Cemeteries – Many of Finest Structures on Pacific Coast Erected by His Firm – John D. McGilvray, Pioneer Stone Man, Develops Great Industry Here

    “One of the great natural resources of California was for years comparatively unnoticed and a magnificent source of wealth remained undeveloped.

    “This was the now prominent state industry. Although a few experts and master stone men, like John D. McGilvray, founder of the great McGilvray-Raymond Granite Co., with a half dozen of the largest quarries in the country now in operation, knew of the wonderful possibilities of California stone on account of its superior qualities, yet it was not extensively used owing to ancient methods.

    “A few stone buildings had been erected before this time, but the cost was almost prohibitive. McGilvray introduced modern methods of handling stone in building construction, which made it possible to use it in competition with other materials. By this means he constructed a market for California stone. He lived to see the day when his judgment was sustained by the almost universal acceptance of his opinion that California granite for qualities of durability and capacity to take a fine finish, whether hammered or polished, was unequaled anywhere in the world.

    “Born in Scotland of good family, he early became acquainted with the best stones of that famous country. By trade he became a stone cutter and designer, and there were few quarries in Scotland, noted for its fine stones, or for that matter on the continent of Europe, with the texture and qualities of whose products he was not familiar.

    “Besides being a craftsman of acknowledged capacity, John D. McGilvray was a man who thought for himself on original and progressive lines, as his whole career shows. On coming to America, he first located in New York, next he went to Chicago, and following this he tried Denver, always on the lookout for some opportunity that would be worth while.

    A Pioneer in Developing California Stone

    “John D. McGilvray incorporated a company for dealing in stone in Denver, in 1880, where he remained for some time, being very successful in his business. In 1893 (indecipherable) he came to California, and on investigating the outlook by an examination of the qualities of the stone from California, he became convinced that here was his opportunity to develop in a larger way than was possible elsewhere.

    “In 1897 he incorporated the McGilvray Stone Company for the purpose of popularizing the California product in building construction. Later in 1907, he reincorporated under the name of McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company, of which corporation he remained the head until his death in 1916.

    “This brief record shows that John D. McGilvray may justly be considered a leading pioneer in the development of the now large and important stone industry of the Golden State. He became in time the most potent influence in creating a market for California stone, but also in advancing the architectural standards of our more important buildings on lines of permanence and beauty.

    “After the great fire and earthquake of 1906 he had a clear demonstration of his contention that California stone was the best building material for large buildings in the West. The Emporium building, which he constructed for the Parrott Estate in the nineties, and the Flood building across the way were both left standing, practically intact, while all around them was a mass of debris and burned rubbish. The Emporium building was so staunchly built, and the stone was of such a high grade that it even withstood the efforts of the dynamite squad, when they tried to level it to cut the pathway of the great fire.

    “The best encomium that can be passed upon the founder of the McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company is to mention some of the magnificent buildings of San Francisco and vicinity which were erected under his auspices, and which stand as living monuments in his enterprise and ability. On some of the buildings are jobs that are world records. On the First National Bank building, which he erected, are four cored monolithic columns, through which smaller steel columns pass, that are the longest in the world, being eighteen feet of solid stone. The McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company also holds the record in sandstone, having placed in the Southern Pacific building cored columns twenty-one feet long. The coring of columns had never been done before of that length, and the fact that such great masses of stone could be cut from California quarries, so perfect in texture, is a positive demonstration of its superior character.

    Builds First Skyscraper Erected in San Francisco

    “The McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company built the first great skyscraper in San Francisco for Claus Spreckels in 1888, which held the record for a long time as being the tallest building on the Pacific Coast. Next the company began to construct the various stone buildings which have made Stanford University known around the world for the architectural beauty of its stone. work. The Stanford chapel has become particularly celebrated in art circles for the magnificence of the design and the faultlessness of its construction.

    “The next important building of granite erected by the McGilvray firm was the United States Custom-house, on Washington and Battery streets. Since that time it has erected the San Francisco City Hall and Public Library buildings, among the most beautiful in the world; the Union Trust Bank building, the First National Bank building, the Kohl building, the Newhall building, the St. Francis Hotel, the Examiner and Chronicle buildings, American National Bank building, and the Courthouses of Sacramento, Solano, Kern, and Yolo counties. The McGilvray Company is now building that imposing and distinctive structure, called the Commercial Insurance building, on Pine and Montgomery streets.

    “The McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company operates quarries at Raymond, Madera county, at Sites, Colusa county, at Greystone, Santa Clara county, and at Lakeside, San Diego county. The plants at all these quarries, with their modern mechanical equipment for extracting and cutting the stone, are among the largest in the country. The control of these various quarries practically gives the firm command of almost inexhaustible sources of the best building materials in the West for generations to come. The McGilvray-Raymond granite is of beautiful color and texture and lends itself to almost any kind of construction. The severest tests have shown this California granite to be superior to anything the East can produce. It takes an unrivaled polish. Its wonderful strength and firmness prevent breakage in the process of construction, and the most delicate carvings can be executed with ease, as can be seen on so many buildings noted for their architectural splendor erected by the McGilvray Company.

    Company Designs and Constructs Mausoleums

    “The stone from Lakeside, known as Silver Gray, is considered among the finest monumental stones in the United States. In recent years, which the decline in building construction, due to the war and other causes, the McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company has gone extensively into the business of making and constructing mausoleums and memorials for our cemeteries. So great has been their success that this end of the firm’s business has become a most valued asset. The firms believe that people who want memorials should insist on having California granite, as this State has the finest grade of stone that can be found anywhere in the world.

    “The McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company is in a position to design, as well as construct, the most important memorials. The firm has to its credit many of the notable mausoleums in our principal cemeteries, among which may be mentioned the M. H. de Young memorial in Holy Cross, the I. W. Hellman memorial in the Home of Peace Cemetery, the Hitchcock and Murphy memorials in Cypress Lawn and the Musto and DeBarnardi memorials in Holy Cross.

    The McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company not only buildings and constructs all kinds of edifices in which stone can be used, but also is a large wholesale dealer in various kinds of stone used in building construction and for memorial purposes. The shipments of the company extend all over the Pacific Coast, and no firm or corporation in the West is doing more at the present time to extend the market of this important California industry.

    Sterling Qualities Perpetuated in Five Sons

    “John D. McGilvray, to whom California is indebted for building up a great industry, possessed many of the qualities of the fine stones of his native land. But it was in America and in helping to build up the West that he exhibited these sterling qualities – endurance, strength, reliability. At the same time he showed he was impressed with the beautiful, like a sensitive artist. Just as Scottish granite can take the finest polish like a silver mirror.

    “One other thing must be mentioned as an additional contribution to California. He left a family of five of as manly, energetic and progressive sons as live in the Golden State. Before his death a few years ago all these sons were helping their father to develop his business, since which time all of them have made distinctive reputations in the business and commercial worlds, showing that they are really ‘chips of the old block.’

    “At the present time John D. McGilvray, the eldest son of the founder of the McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company, is president and general manager, directing the firm with the same wise supervision and success as was shown by his father. H. S. McGilvray is vice-president and has charge of construction work in San Francisco. A. B. McGilvray is treasurer of the firm and manages the great granite quarry at Raymond. W. S. McGilvray has charge of the company’s plant in Los Angeles, at 678 South Utah street, while Malcolm McGilvray, the fifth son, occupies the position of assistant secretary.

    “So in some way or other all the sons of California’s greatest stone man are contributing to the upbuilding of the company’s business.”

  • The Emporium Building – John D. McGilvray, Builder in “A Twentieth Century Palace of Commerce.  The Emporium of San Francisco,” (pdf) in the Overland Monthly, Vol. XXVI. (Second Series), No. 155, November 1895, pp. 461-480.  (The November 1895 edition of this magazine is available on Google Books.)

    Raymond Granite Company Quarry in Madera County, California	The Emporium Building. Building up the store front with Oregon sandstone. J. D. McGilvray, Builder

    The McGilvray Stone Co. provided and installed the sandstone front of the Emporium building, built entirely of Oregon sandstone from the Pioneer Quarry, Lincoln County, and Yaquina Bay, Oregon.  The cutting and carving was done at McGilvray’s yard in San Francisco.

• Raymond, Madera County, California – the McGilvray Granite Quarry (present-day photos) The following photographs were taken and contributed by Lynn Northrop. She and her husband own and operate the Raymond Museum. (You can read more about the Raymond Museum on the online article, “Raymond Museum now an historical place of interest,” by Elizabeth Gabriel, May 30, 2008, on the Sierra Star web site.)

  In late September 2010, Pat and I were given a tour of the old McGilvray quarry by Lynn Northrop, of the Raymond Museum, and Robert Casaurang, a local historian and proprietor of the Hills Pride Inn. Today, the quarry is located on private land behind locked gates. Please go to the “Photo Tour of the Inactive McGilvray Granite Quarry” to view the photographs of the quarry, the old quarry works location, and the residents and commercial area. Peggy B. Perazzo

  A part of the McGilvray Granite Quarry in Knowles, California	Another part of the McGilvray Granite Quarry	McGilvray Granite Quarry (present-day photo)

  Granite structures left in place	St. Anne’s Church, Knowles, CA, built by Peter Bisson of locally quarried granite

• Raymond & Knowles, Madera County, California, & Sites, Colusa County, California - A.D. Knowles’ Raymond Granite Quarry at Raymond, California, & Knowles Sandstone Quarry at Sites, Colusa County, & John D. McGilvray’s Granite Quarry at Knowles in Madera County & his Sandstone Quarry (AKA Colusa County Sandstone Quarry & today known as the Brownstone Quarry)

   The following article was written and submitted by John L. Morton, Colusa County Historian. (I have condensed John’s article to reflect mainly the relationships between A. D. Knowles and John D. McGilvray and their quarries at Sites in Colusa County and Raymond and Knowles in Madera County. If you would like to read John’s entire article on the Colusa County sandstone quarries, you will find it at the following link: “Colusa County Sandstone Builds Some of the World’s Most Famous Buildings,” in the Colusa County quarry section of our web site.)

  Colusa County Sandstone Builds Some of The World’s Most Famous Buildings, by John L. Morton, Colusa County Historian.

  “Opened in 1886 the Knowles Quarry at Sites (Colusa County) supplied the stone that built some of the most beautiful buildings in San Francisco: the most famous of which is the Ferry Building, the work of architect Page Brown. ‘The world over, the Ferry Building stands for San Francisco the way the Campanile stands for Venice, the Eiffel Tower for Paris or the World Center for New York.’....”

  “The Ferry Building was actually the swan song of the Knowles Quarry (at Sites, Colusa County, California) for in 1899, a year after the Ferry Building was opened the more aggressive John McGilvray Stone Co. came into existence. A.D. Knowles decided to move south to Raymond, California where he established a granite quarry. Interestingly enough, after bankruptcy of the Colusa Sandstone Quarries in 1913, the equipment was purchased for the Raymond Quarry at the bankruptcy in 1916. John McGilvray was known for his work with the Almaden stone of which Stanford University is constructed....”

  “An interesting side-lite, after A.D. Knowles moved to Raymond, California; he awoke one morning to see that he had a new neighbor across the road - the John McGilvray Stone Co. These two companies were involved in the quarrying of Sierra White Granite. In this case, the Knowles Quarry is still being worked by the Cold Spring Granite Co. of Minnesota....”

• Raymond/Knowles, Madera County, California – Quarry at Knowles used to film the movie, “The Fountainhead” (1949), starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, and directed by King Vidor. 

  After watching the 1949 film “The Fountainhead” (based on Ayn Rand’s book of the same title), I wanted to determine where the quarry in the film was located.  Most of the online sources indicate that the quarry was located “near Fresno.”  Upon further online research, I found that the quarry was located “in Knowles, California,” according to the Stephen Michael Shearer, author of Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life (University Press of Kentucky, 2006, ISBN 0813123917, 9780813123912, pp. 63.  Portions of this book are available on Google Books.) Peggy B. Perazzo
  

  Gary Cooper

  “The filming of The Fountainhead began with the quarry scene, shot on location in Knowles, California, between Fresno and Yosemite National Park in the state’s largest and oldest quarry.  Director King Vidor rode out to Knowles with Patricia and Cooper in a studio limousine, and the three had dinner together….”

  “Patricia and Cooper stayed at the California Hotel during the three-day location shoot….”

  “The first scenes for the picture were shot in Knowles in July 12….”

  Photographs of some of the filmed Knowles quarry scenes are available on a couple of blogs:  Shadowplay Blog – “Hail to the King” & “The Fountainhead” (1949)
  

  According to the book, Ayn Rand and the World She Made, by Anne Conover Heller,* the Knowles, California, quarry was filmed as a substitute for the Connecticut quarry described in Rand’s book, The Fountainhead.  According to the author, Ayn Rand and her husband lived in Stony Creek, Long Island Sound, Connecticut 1937, known for its “famous pink-granite quarries” located near where they lived, although it is not known whether Rand visited these quarries or not.  The following is an excerpt from pp. 209:

  “Rand completed the screenplay in late June (1944).  As the shooting began in a quarry near Fresno, she remained on the lot to fine-tune the dialogue and explain her characters’ motivations to the actors….”

  * Ayn Rand and the World She Made, by Anne Conover Heller (Anchor Books, reprinted, illustrated Publisher Random House Digital, Inc., 2010, 608 pp., ISBN 1400078938, 9781400078936, portions of which are available on Google Books.)
  

  You can read more about the film in Wikipedia’s “The Fountainhead (film),” although there is no mention in the article of the location of the quarry that was filmed for the movie.

• Raymond Granite Quarries - Also see "Knowles & Raymond, Madera County, California - Granite Quarries.”
• Raymond, Madera County, California – The History of Raymond. The following information originated from a booklet entitled The History of Raymond, printed by Karl H. Krohn, 1982. The original article was published in the Raymond High School Tattler of March and April, 1933.

  "In order to gain access to the granite deposits around Raymond, Frank Ducey, of Fresno, purchased a quarter section of land from Luke David. Later the latter was purchased by F. E. Knowles and Able Hosmer who developed the land. They had a railroad spur built to their quarrying, which enabled them to load the stone for shipment out of the area. The San Francisco Post Office was constructed with granite from Knowles.

  Several granite companies operated in the area during the period 1890 to 1904. One of these quarries was the McLennan Granite Company. This quarry was eventually taken over by the Wilson-Lyons Construction Company who in turn sold the quarry to the McGilvray Company. Another granite quarry was opened 2 ½ miles south of Raymond about 1893, to provide granite for a contract for J. C. and I. N. Day Construction Company for the locks at Dalles, Oregon. A quarry was operated by Alex Mann in northeast Knowles in 1891-1892. During this time Wood, Johnny Milne, and Knudson quarried granite from another quarry near the Mann quarry. Eventually, the cost of machinery led to the elimination of the smaller quarries. Only two large companies were left at that time: the Raymond Granite Company and the McGilvray Company. These two companies consolidated in 1928.

• Raymond, Madera County, California - Raymond Granite Company, Raymond, Fresno County, Calif. - R. J. Waters & Company, photographic views available through the California Digital Library, MELVYL Catalog: 2 albums, views of quarry, stone cutting and transportation, and of buildings built with Raymond granite, ca 1924. (Information)
• Raymond, Madera County, California - Raymond Granite Company - Quarry of the Raymond Granite Company, Raymond, Fresno County, California, by I. W. (Isaiah West) Taber, photographed by I. W. Taber, publisher, ca. 1895, Restricted Originals. Use Viewing Prints Only, Shelved as BANC PIC 19xx.051-.052--PIC: Use of originals only by permission of the Curator of Pictorial Collections, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley. (Information from California Digital Library, MELVYL Catalog.)
• Raymond (1/2 mile southeast of), Madera County, California – (Unnamed) Granite Quarry (From The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, California, State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, California, 1906.)

  "About one-half mile southeast of the village of Raymond there is a small quarry with a face of about 18 or 20 feet, of a spotted gray granite, with large black crystals of hornblende and biotite. In places it approaches a syenite in character. A few feldspar veins occur and numerous dark blotches of segregated mica. There are a number of joint planes, yet blocks of large dimensions can be obtained. The greatest drawback is the large dark blotches, which mar the beauty of the stone; but where it can be obtained free from blotches, it is one of the prettiest granites in the State.

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