Rock Blown from Quarry

The heavy missile, which neighbors said had hurled through the air like a

“shell from a cannon.”

Oakland Tribune October 28, 1931

A 40-pound rock, blasted from the hills above Millsmont, was hurled half a mile and crashed through the roof and dining room ceiling at the home of Fred Bailey, 4017 Altamont Avenue.

The rock was blasted from the nearby Heafey-Moore quarry.

“There is little doubt the rock came from the quarry, where men were blasting.”

John Heafey, President of the Heafey-Moore
Oakland Tribune October 28, 1931

A “strange-urge” told Mrs. Bailey to leave their home, and she did go. She left the house at 4:30 with her daughter and went downtown.

“every time I went into the dining room, something told me I shouldn’t be there.” Mrs. Bailey said

Oakland Tribune October 28, 1931

They returned home to find it in shambles. There was an eight-foot hole in the ceiling of the dining room. The rock landed on the couch/bed that their daughter used.

4017 Altamont Avenue – Today – Google Maps
4017 Altamont Ave and the Quarry – google maps

The End

One thought on “Rock Blown from Quarry

  1. I lived just around the corner for many years and never had heard that that story! Amazing! We used to watch the wild goats on the hillside of the quarry before it was sold and developed. In the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, a sole employee of the quarry at that hour was down a shaft, not sure how many feet below the surface. Apparently he didn’t feel a thing. We all thought the homes above the quarry at that time, 1989, would disappear into the abyss during ‘the big one’, if it ever came. Nope!

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