Beginning in 1776, New Spaniards used California Indian labor to mine limestone and build structures like the Presidio and San Francisco missions.

[2] The inhabitants of Timigtac and another nearby village Pruristac actively quarried limestone from the mountain for trade, construction, and decoration.

[1] Timigtac and Pruristac were the only Ohlone villages between Montara Mountain and the Golden Gate due to strong coastal winds and sandy soil.

Horace Hill then bought it and established Rockaway Quarry, Incorporated, producing concrete aggregate, ballast, and high-grade limestone during World War II.

Other companies began limestone production around Rockaway Beach, and pits appeared on the north and west sides of Mori Point by the 1950s.

[1] When commercial quarrying ended, much of the area was left in degraded condition with unstable slopes, bare rocky bluffs, and soil vulnerable to invasive vegetation.

Calera limestone found at Rockaway Quarry is part of a group of Franciscan rocks called the Permanente terrane, which was carried to the ocean's edge through earthquakes over a period of 25 million years.