When one thinks of the word “MINING” in California, it is usually associated with gold. However there have been and are plenty of other minerals mined in California, including coal. This article will discuss one area of the coal mining history in California.
My interest in California coal evolved when I saw a piece of scrip from Alberhill Coal and Clay Company surface on eBay. Where was Alberhill located? I was able to locate Alberhill on the map and found it to be 38 miles east of my home and just north of Lake Elsinore. Interstate I15 went through Alberhill. An old coal mining camp located in southern California was definitely interesting.
On a Sunday, my wife and I drove to Alberhill and found it to be everything but a former remnant of a coal camp. We discovered beautiful rolling hills and hundreds of modern homes, many under construction. These are pricey homes reaching the million-dollar price tag, certainly not coal camp homes. We stopped at the sales office for the new homes and asked questions about Alberhill. The sales people were clueless about Alberhill’s history. We then proceeded to drive around the area. Approximately a mile from the new homes we found a modern looking brick factory, Pacific Clay Products Company. Since it was Sunday the brick factory was closed. [We also learned that a nudist camp was 3 miles north of Alberhill. Later I looked up the nudist camp on the Internet and confirmed it was still operating. Their ad states that the first visit is free. Is any one interested in a visit?]
Several days later I decided to call the Lake Elsinore Chamber of Commerce to inquire about any possible history of Alberhill. Lake Elsinore is a very nice older city just a mile or so south of Alberhill. Lake Elsinore adjoins the largest fresh water lake in Southern California. The lady at the Chamber suggested I call Ms. Ruth Adkins, who is president of the Lake Elsinore Historical Society. I called Ms Adkins and found her to be a very gracious person. Ms Adkins told me she was familiar with Alberhill and had historical items and some written history. She invited me to visit her at the society’s museum.
Several days later, on the way to Lake Elsinore to visit Ms Atkins, I first stopped at the Pacific Clay Products in Alberhill. I was introduced to Ms Darlen Paquelle, the Human Resources Manager. She had knowledge of the history of Alberhill and invited me to visit with her and discuss what she knew about Alberhill. Pacific Clay is, in fact, a descendant of Alberhill Coal and Clay Company. She also introduced me via telephone to Mr. John Kirk, a retired geologist from The Alberhill Coal and Clay Company. Mr. Kirk invited me to his home to further discuss Alberhill. Things were beginning to come together.
I proceeded to visit Ms Atkins at the Historical Society museum. She was very helpful in providing information. The museum was informative and well stocked with local history items. My eyes lit up when Ms Atkins showed me seven pieces of Alberhill scrip nicely displayed in a large holder. The scrip was in excellent condition, especially the two five-dollar tokens. The museum had several books and other information relative to Alberhill. Ms. Atkins and other staff members of the Historical Society, Mr. Kirk and Ms. Paquette were very helpful to me to develop a story. Now the story begins:
In 1886 two prospectors, C. H. Albers and H. H. Hill, found a vein of coal and quantities of clay northwest of Lake Elsinore. The two names were joined and the community of Alberhill was started. This area at that time was named the most important industrial community serving the Lake Elsinore area.
The Alberhill Coal and Clay Company mined low-grade lignite coal and fire clay on the premises from 1890 until 1940. Clay mining continued. Pacific Clay moved to Alberhill and purchased Alberhill Coal and Clay in 1963.
Pacific Clay itself has an interesting past. The Gladding and McBean Company owned Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company, using clay from Alberhill. Gus Larson was a superintendent who was very instrumental in the success of LA Pressed Brick Company. After years of service Mr. Larson was given a gift of land which later (1921) became the location of Los Angeles Brick and Clay Products. The Larson family teamed up with the Reordan family and they owned the company until 1963 when they sold out to Pacific Clay.
The quality of the coal at Alberhill was not the best. The composition of the coal was 19.0 % water, 12.60% ash, 46.50 % volatile matter, 21.90 % fixed carbon and a BTU value of 7,400. Comparing these numbers to typical bituminous coal chemistry with a fixed carbon content that ranges from 32.0 % to 40.7 % and a BTU comparison of 9,700-15,400 it is easily seen that the lignite is inferior to bituminous coal. Mr. Kirk commented he had burned the coal for heating and found the ash content to be very high. The Alberhill coal seams were as much as 10 feet thick, with an average thickness of 4 feet, and was imbedded with fire clay. The coal grades laterally and vertically into black carbonaceous clay.
The clay deposits are of significant interest. Many of the eastern coal properties were purchased with massive amounts of virgin timber on the land. Thus, the coal operator could sell and use timber from their holdings. Alberhill Coal and Clay also mined and sold clay. Alberhill’s clay is of very high quality. After 122 years this clay business is still booming with no end in sight, while the coal is now considered a minor nuscence. Test borings to 300 feet deep show the presence of high quality clays. Mr. Kirk told me the coal was usually in the way of obtaining the clay and had to be cleared out to get to the clay. The clay deposits are estimated to be 200 million years old. There are no other deposits of clay like this in the world. This clay is geologically unique in that both sedimentary (lake, stream, or ocean deposits) and metamorphic (altered in place) are present. This allows for the necessary blending to make many different ceramic products. The Alberhill area has supplied clay for fine pottery, clay sewer pipe, face brick, brick pavers, roofing tile, clay pots, firebrick, lignite coal and modeling clay. At one time, 12 different types of clay were shipped to 17 plants in the Los Angeles area. One famous pottery company that operated on Catalina Island until the 1940’s used clay from Alberhill mines to produce pottery that is extremely collectable today.
The coal was originally sold in Los Angeles for ships and industry, plus some household use. With the very mild winters in southern California that market couldn’t have been too big. The coal was also used to fire the kilns for the clay products. Another use of the coal was to serve as fuel to make steam for the Good Hope gold mine that is still in the area. Mining for the coal in the underground shafts was the room and pillar method. The tunnels were hand dug with shovels and wheelbarrows. Long before OSHA, this was a dangerous place to work due to numerous cave–ins and associated deaths.
Due to the abundance of clay in the area, several other clay companies were also operating in the Alberhill area. Mining and selling clay was good business. For example, in 1923 Alberhill Coal and Clay Company sold 2,000,000 tons of clay. I was not able to get coal shipment numbers. The finished clay products were transported via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to Corona and points north. Twenty years previously the bricks were transported to Los Angeles via wagons. Alberhill clay products were so superior they were used in half of the Riverside homes as well as many important Los Angeles buildings, including at UCLA.
As the area developed, workers moved their families to Alberhill. Rent was $1/year to attract the workers. The land was divided into seven camps. These were named Los Olivos, El Coyote, Clayton, El Campo Americano, Los Alcamphores, Campo de Madera, El Campo de Taila, La California and El Oyo. Based on these camp names one can speculate there were many miners of Mexicans descent working here.
Alberhill was a thriving community. It included two markets, Gahagan’s general store, a US post Office, a smoked turkey restaurant, Winks Café, a gas station, a school where students attended grades 1-8 taught by three teachers, and The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Like many other coal towns Alberhill also had a baseball team. Saturday night dances were held in the union hall. Due to the closeness of Lake Elsinore and the Pacific Ocean, plus the great year round southern California weather, the miners and their families probably had a better quality of life compared to those in the coal camps in the Midwest and East.
Alberhill Coal And Clay Company used scrip. The scrip was purchased in January 3, 1921. The 600 pieces were ordered from ICS. It is listed in Edkins as the only known California coal scrip. The denominations are nickel, R-10, dime, R-7, quarter, R-9, half, R10, dollar, R-9 and the $5.00 piece, R-9. I was unable to confirm which market took the scrip. I have the full set in my collection.
By the late 1960’s the “old town” of Alberhill disappeared when the freeway construction of I-15 began. As noted above, the Pacific Clay Products Company continues to operate near Interstate highway 15. This facility is the largest in the west. This plant can burn brick in 14 hours compared to 35 hours in a traditional plant, and produce 40,000,000 bricks per year. Ms Paqualle told me collectors of brick continually stop and ask to purchase a particular brick for their collection. Sounds like an interesting hobby.
In addition to Alberhill another coal and clay company, Southern California Coal and Clay, operated nearby at a small community called Terra Cotta. In the 1880’s, John D. Huff formed this company and town. Coal from this mine was primarily used to fire four brick making kilns. I learned that Terra Cotta had its own post office. Not much information is available. This community was abandoned in 1901.
Today remnants of the Alberhill community may be seen along Temescal Canyon Road. Temescal Canyon runs mostly parallel to Interstate I-15. It follows the original route of the Butterfield Stage Line. The original school is still standing and was used for some time for social events, such as reunions, but now is in disarray. A couple other buildings are also on the property. This is all in stark contrast to the modern homes being built about three quarters a mile away.