[7] Corral Hollow is located at the junction of the San Joaquin Valley and the Coast Ranges which border it to the west.

[7] The first European to pass through Coral Hollow was possibly Juan Bautista de Anza, who led a party through the valley on a side trip from a journey from San Francisco to Monterey.

[5] The trail was regularly used by Spanish and Mexican Vaqueros, when they drove herds of cattle through the canyon, and later served as a route to the southern mines during the California Gold Rush.

[5] He and three associates built a tavern on the edge of El Camino Viejo, the trail running through the valley, called the "Zink House", which served wayfarers along the road for several years.

[5] It changed names several times and underwent a series of failures until, after Carrell's death in 1880, it was purchased, renamed, closed, and reopened by James and John Treadwell.

[5] The plant used clay extracted from Tesla to manufacture brick and pottery products,[10] and grew to become its own town, also called Carnegie, of about 2,000 inhabitants.

[5][10] The 1906 earthquake and the failure of the California Safe Deposit Bank, which backed the operation, ruined the Treadwells financially, followed by repeated flooding and boiler room explosions.

[6][better source needed] Around 2001, the California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVR) purchased a large area of land around Tesla, planning to incorporate it into the nearby Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area (CSVRA), which would have allowed off-road vehicles onto the property.

[4] This was protested by a number of organizations on ecological grounds, including the Sierra Club, the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), the Greenbelt Alliance, Save Mount Diablo, and the Friends of Tesla Park, a group of nearby ranchers and residents.