RockBlog

An Interview with Ed Bowles, March 6, 2012

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

Ed Bowles was born in 1936 in Eagle Pass, Texas, just over the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico. Ed’s dad was a border patrolman for the U.S. Customs Agency, his mom was from Mexico, and Ed grew up bilingual. “We’d talk to Daddy in English and Mama in Spanish.” When he was ten, Ed’s parents decided that California would be a better place to raise a family, and they moved to Aromas. Living near the ... Read More

Interesting Tale of Austin Zelmer's life at Graniterock - Part 1

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

The first of two installments of the story of Austin Zelmer, who worked for Graniterock for thirty- five years.Austin Zelmer, 1934-1969In September, 1934, Austin Zelmer was hired to work as a bookkeeper for Central Supply Company. A.R. Wilson founded Central in 1922 as a building materials and sales operation managed completely separately from Granite Rock Company. The two businesses were finally merged and became Graniterock in 1973. Austin worked for Central Supply Company for thirty-five years ... Read More

FASCINATING LOOK AT THE LOGAN (WILSON) QUARRY AND IN THE TOWN OF AROMAS – MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

In February, 1989, Betsy Woolpert sat down with Grace Marshall Totten to hear about her memories of life at the Logan (now Wilson) Quarry. Here in Grace’s own words are some of those fascinating stories of life more than 100 years ago.―I was born in 1894 in Moscow, Idaho, where my family had a farm. We grew everything there - didn‘t buy anything but coffee and sugar. We had our own dairy cows for milk, butter ... Read More

The A.R. Wilson Era Continues - As Told By Robert Cozzens

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

The third in a series on the history of Logan Quarry by Robert Cozzens, who worked with Graniterock for over 62 years, this excerpt is taken from a history he created in 1974.Cozzens described A.R. Wilson as a very, very energetic man, and the growth and expansion he led at the Quarry (not to mention his other Company projects) over the next twenty years give credit to this description. Wilson was also often described as a ... Read More

The First Decade of Operations at Logan Quarry

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

The second in a series on the history of Logan Quarry by Robert Cozzens, who worked with Graniterock for over 62 years, this excerpt is taken from a history he created in 1974.Hand work at the Quarry was brutal and far too slow, and it was clearly necessary to mechanize production. In 1901, A.R. Wilson brought in a #3 Gates crusher, operated by a 150 hp Coreless compound steam engine, which increased tonnage from 17 ½ ... Read More

Getting Started at Logan Quarry, as Told by Robert Cozzens

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

Robert Cozzens started work at Granite Rock Company’s Logan Quarry in 1916. Over his long career with Graniterock, Bob worked for Company founder A.R. Wilson, his son Jeff and widow Anna, and for Bruce and Betsy Woolpert. Bob spent his first four years with the Company living in the Quarry Bunkhouse, and filled many roles in a work relationship that lasted for more than 62 years. He eventually served on the Graniterock Board of Directors, and ... Read More

Big Rig Trucks and Safety on the Highway

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

Everyone who drives our area highways passes commercial big haul trucks on a regular basis. But do we think about their drivers, the loads they carry or the importance of safe driving while we share the road with these big rigs? Graniterock transportation drivers recently talked about the challenges of safely navigating our area roads as they deliver construction products to our customers.Oil tank drivers are up at midnight to hit the road so that Graniterock’s ... Read More

Twenty Years Ago - Graniterock and the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

Surely one of the most exciting events in Graniterock’s history took place twenty years ago, in 1992. That was the year the U.S. Department of Commerce named Graniterock a winner of the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. In December 1992, a lucky few Graniterock Team Members were able to attend the ceremony in Washington, D.C. where President George H.W. Bush presented the award. In February 1993, still others formed a team to travel back to ... Read More

The Easton Family of Santa Cruz

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

Toward the end of the 19th century, many ambitious young men were drawn to careers in mining and construction. They dreamed of opportunity in the untapped riches of the West. Wallace Stegner’s novel, Angle of Repose, tells one such story and provides insight into the life and aspirations of western geologists and engineers of that era. The Easton family of Santa Cruz had three sons who followed a similar path, became civil engineers and played a ... Read More

Don and Pearl Sallows: Logan Quarry Pioneers

Author: Rose Ann Woolpert Posted by Rose Ann Woolpert on Wed, March 18th, 2015, 8:16 am

Don Sallows in 1924 and Pearl Sallows in 1984Graniterock values its family oriented workplace, and over the years there have been many families who have had more than one relative or spouse join the Graniterock Team. But it took more than forty years of doing business before Don and Pearl Sallows became the first married couple to work at Graniterock.Don Sallows was a third generation Californian who began work as a switch engine operator at Granite ... Read More

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