Press Release
April 15, 2013

Engine Number Ten: Local Schoolchildren Learn Regional History

Local Schoolchildren Learn Regional History

During April and May, Graniterock historian and author Rose Ann Woolpert will be visiting area schools to share her new children's book, Engine Number Ten.
  • April 24: Tres Pinos Elementary School, Tres Pinos
  • E.A. Hall Middle School, Watsonville (with Watsonville Rotary Reading Buddies)
  • April 25: Moreland Notre Dame School, Watsonville
  • Ann Soldo Elementary School, Watsonville
  • May 22: Aromas School, Aromas
  • May 28: Dilworth Elementary School, San Jose
This book is based upon the true story of Granite Rock Company and the trains used for over a century at its quarry near Aromas, California. Engine Number Ten served with the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, and then worked at Graniterock’s Logan Quarry until 1951, when she was replaced with a General Electric 470 horse power diesel locomotive switch engine.

In 1990, Logan Quarry was renamed for Arthur Roberts Wilson, who founded Granite Rock Company on February 14, 1900 and was the original quarry superintendent. In the 1990s, his grandson, Graniterock CEO Bruce Wilson Woolpert, sent Number Ten to the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento and had her restored to full working order. She remains at the museum, where she is used to offer visitors steam train rides in Old Sacramento.

About the Author
Rose Ann Woolpert is a children’s book author, artist, historian and mom with a “Yes, We Will” message for kids. She studied art and literature at UCLA and over the past twenty-five years has collected the stories and family photographs of Granite Rock Company, founded in 1900 and deeply rooted in the history of Northern California. Rose Ann shares these charming stories with a positive message in picture book format with a new series of “Yes We Will Books.”

Graniterock has been headquartered in Watsonville, California, since its founding in 1900. The Company’s employees work in branch locations in South San Francisco, Redwood City, San Jose, Salinas, Monterey, Oakland, Watsonville, Felton, Cupertino, and Santa Cruz. Graniterock supplies construction materials including ready-mix concrete, hot mix asphalt, building materials, landscaping supplies, rock, sand and gravel. The Company’s Pavex Construction Division is a significant regional heavy engineering contractor building roadways, airports and private commercial and residential projects. Graniterock received the 1992 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the 1994 Governor’s Golden State Quality Award.