Griffith Quarry

The plaque is bolted to the thing the quarry sold. Griffith Griffith, a Welshman, opened the works in the autumn of 1864, and its granite went into buildings in San Francisco and Sacramento, including parts of the state capitol. In 1874 he put up what the bronze calls the state's first commercially successful granite polishing mill on the same ground. The block the plaque sits on has been left rough, which is what that mill existed to change.

What the plaque says

GRIFFITH QUARRY IN THE FALL OF 1864, MR. GRIFFITH GRIFFITH, A NATIVE OF WALES, ESTABLISHED THE QUARRY LOCATED NEAR THIS SITE WHICH WAS LATER TO SUPPLY HIGH-QUALITY GRANITE FOR A NUMBER OF THE IMPORTANT BUILDINGS IN SAN FRANCISCO AND SACRAMENTO, INCLUDING PORTIONS OF THE STATE CAPITOL. THIS WAS ALSO THE SITE OF THE STATE'S FIRST COMMERCIALLY SUCCESSFUL GRANITE POLISHING MILL, ERECTED IN 1874. CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 885 PLAQUE PLACED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION IN COOPERATION WITH THE PLACER COUNTY PARK AND HISTORICAL RESTORATION COMMISSION, MAY 7, 1976.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 16 mi
  The tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.
• Empire Mine State Historic Park — 25 mi
  The oldest, deepest, richest hard-rock gold mine in California, with 367 miles of flooded tunnels underneath.
• Sacramento — 26 mi
  The Gold Rush river port that became the state capital, and jacked itself ten feet into the air to stop drowning.

More markers nearby

• First Transcontinental Railroad - Newcastle — 2.3 mi
• Ophir — 3.5 mi
• Virginiatown — 4.3 mi
• City of Auburn — 5.5 mi