Graniterock
Easton's brother-in-law, Warren Porter, was a well connected Santa Cruz County banker, lumberman, and politician.
[1]A small granite quarry on Judge Logan's ranch east of Watsonville supplied rock for construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) for several years before it was acquired by Porter's bank in 1899.
In the beginning, quarry operations were tough; fifteen men used sledgehammers, picks, shovels and wheelbarrows to break and load broken rock onto horse-drawn wagons for the trip to the railroad line.
Crushing capacity was increased by 35 tons per hour in 1904 by crusher No.5 powered by an oil-fired Atlas tandem compound steam engine.
[3] Rock was transported from the quarry face to the crushing plant in horse-drawn, side-dump rail cars, which were loaded manually.
In the following years, Granite Rock Company supplied materials for a number of buildings in San Francisco and around the Monterey Bay area.
Granite Rock Company received its first contract for placement of water-bond macadam on Lake Avenue in Watsonville, from Walker Street to the northeast city limits.
As World War I increased freight costs, local plants were developed so rock could be sold in small truck lots.
Granite men and machinery, including two of the narrow-gauge locomotives and 20 quarry cars, went south to do the work in Casmalia, California.
Granite supplied thousands of tons of rock fill to stabilize the SP line crossing the saturated alluvium of Elkhorn Slough.
[3] A standard-gauge railway locomotive was purchased in 1920 to shunt railcars on the lower quarry level near the SP rail line.
The company made interest free loans to employees to cover medical bills when unable to offer regular employment.
World War II brought new activity, as materials were needed to build Fort Ord, Camp McQuaide and the Navy airstrip in Watsonville.
A new plant was built at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, and excavation of the mining face at the Aromas quarry brought it down 100 feet, now level with the train tracks.
New plants were opened in San Jose, Redwood City, Santa Cruz, Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas and Seaside.
Rock from the Logan quarry was hauled north to repair the SP Dunsmuir, California, rail yard after flood damage in 1974.
A new road materials plant in South San Francisco, concrete operations in Redwood City, Southside Sand and Gravel in Hollister, two new sand plants in Santa Cruz County and recycling centers in San Jose and Redwood City were added to the Graniterock family.
The company bought the mineral rights to 2,800 acres (1,100 ha) of land around and at the summit of Pico Blanco Mountain in the Big Sur region in 1963.
Granite Rock filed suit claiming that the Coastal Commission permit requirement was preempted by the Forest Service review.
Graniterock provides a wide range of construction aggregates, sand, decorative rock, concrete and building materials.
Graniteseal is Graniterock's own sealcoat system based on the Carbonyte Process, which modifies molecular bonds to convert asphalt into a thermoplastic.
