Mount Diablo Coal Field

The bronze closes the coal field in 1906; the state's register runs it to 1914. Nearly four million tons came out of these hills, and the ground was not done. In the 1920s miners went back under the empty townsites for silica sand, for Hazel-Atlas glass in Oakland and foundry moulds at Columbia Steel in Pittsburg, until Belgian sand and a closed foundry ended it in the late 1940s. The pioneer cemetery on the bronze is Rose Hill, resting place of many Welsh mining families. This is the homeland of the Bay Miwok-speaking Ompin, Volvon and Julpun.

What the plaque says

Mount Diablo Coal Field From 1860 to 1906, this area was the largest coal mining district in California. Five towns (Nortonville, Somersville, Stewartville, Judsonville, and West Hartley) grew up around twelve major mines. Today the towns are gone, the buildings having been moved to nearby communities after the mines closed. Mine openings, tailings, railroad beds, and a pioneer cemetery are being preserved by the East Bay Regional Park District. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 932 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the East Bay Regional Park District and Joaquin Murietta Chapter No. 13, E Clampus Vitus, September 27, 1980. This property has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Mount Diablo — 6.0 mi
• Don Salvio Pacheco Adobe — 9.6 mi
• Don Fernando Pacheco Adobe — 10 mi
• Captain Pedro Fages Trail — 12 mi