Inside the RHS Monthly Meeting: March Edition!

March 21st 2011:
After a day of tumultuous weather, the thunder and lightning died down just in time for the 7pm meeting at Old St. Mary's Chapel.  The room was cozy when President Gebel started off the meeting and, after a brief interruption from a nearby train whistle which was met with good-nature by all, things got rolling!


The President welcomed four non-members in attendance and reminded everyone that the RHS monthly meetings are open to the public.  He spoke of a recent memorial for Keith Huseby, the son of one of our members, who contributed his handiwork to the chapel restoration.  Gebel noted that Keith's work could be seen all around us in the woodwork, floors and painting of the chapel.  The memorial was held on March 13th and a very large amount of people attended to pay their respects, including many of our members.  The President said it was a wonderful event.


In museum news, it was announced that we have a shortage of docents!  You do not have to be a member of the Rocklin Historical Society to be a docent, and training is minimal.  Please contact Barbara Chapman if you are interested in volunteering: bchapman1234@sbcglobal.net.


President Gebel also gave an overview of 2011 plans for RHS including participating in the Placer County Heritage Trail Days again on August 6th and 7th this year, working with the city of Rocklin on plans for Big Gun Quarry and building a replica of Rocklin's first Fire House as well as a children's playground on the Heritage Park site.


Jean Sippola then took the podium to introduce our speaker for the evening, Roy Ruhkala.  The following is an excerpt of Jean's speech:

"Roy is one of five brothers and five sisters. He is the middle child.  All eleven Ruhkala children were born in Rocklin and all went to college. Roy graduated Oregon State University in Corvallis in1942 with a BA in Forestry.

After graduating he went straight into the Army and was an Artillery Instructor at Ft Sill, OK, for two and one-half years. He was being prepared to ship out to Japan when WWII ended, but his unit was still shipped to Japan for six months to make sure all the people were disarmed and weren’t hiding swords or guns.

Roy worked for his father-in-law in construction in Klamath Falls, Oregon until he decided California weather was better and he and his wife, Peggy, moved back to Rocklin. Roy worked at the quarry for many years all the while starting a Monument business in Sacramento ,serving on the Rocklin City Council for 10 years, first Chairman of the Placer County Water Agency, School Board, emetery Board, Historical Meetings, Old Timer’s Reunion, and first President of the Rocklin Historical Society. Marie Husan came on board in 1988 and the RHS became official. The RHS Society had a picnic every summer--many hosted in Roy’s backyard.

Many old-timers moved away from Rocklin, but returned to be buried in the Rocklin Cemetery. Ernie and Mamie Willard started hosting all the old-timers at their house when they returned on Memorial Day. Soon the crowd became too large and the returnees started meeting at Finn Hall. Roy took over as Chairman of the Old-Timers in 1958 and just turned over the chairmanship to the City of Rocklin three or four years ago Roy told all the old-timers to save their old pictures and he had so many that he had to store them under his bed. He brought them out and put them on display at every Old-Timers meeting. I’ve heard from several ladies that they crawled under Roy's bed to retrieve the boxes of photos."

Jean noted that "if it weren't for Roy, we would not have a Rocklin Historical Society nor would we have a Rocklin History Museum."

Rocklin: The Granite City of the West

In the program that followed, Roy spoke about the history of Rocklin's quarries and of  his experiences growing up around them.  According to Roy and some 1920's old timer accounts, quarrying began around 1855 in Rocklin.  It should be noted that this is almost ten years before tracks from the railroad were laid down in Rocklin; this meant that all of the granite had to be hauled to the nearest rail (at first in Sacramento, and later Folsom) by oxen and mule.

In March of 1864 the tracks expanding eastward from Sacramento finally reached Rocklin.  It was at that point that the high quality of Rocklin's granite began to catch the eye of legislators in Sacramento who were planning on using granite in the construction of the State Capitol Building.  After starting construction with Folsom granite, which was spotty in quality, the legislators decided to be rid of it and redo the State Capitol's east landing, steps and cornerstone with the superior Rocklin granite.  Other notable structures containing Rocklin granite include the San Francisco Palace Hotel (built in 1874) and the courthouses in Auburn, Reno, and Sacramento.

For more great history of Rocklin's granite industry, check out Gary Day's article, "A Town Built on Granite," in the Rocklin Historical Society's History Series.

Roy gave everyone a map drawn by Uno J. Hebuck in 1957 that details the locations of sixty-one Rocklin quarries.  He then treated the crowd to a fascinating personal account of his experiences with and knowledge of many of the quarries listed.  Audience members followed along and enjoyed finding the quarries Roy discussed on their maps.  Click on the picture of the map (at left) and see if you can find the following sites:

#10 Commonly known as "Brady's Quarry" this is thought to be the very first quarry in Rocklin.  Roy explained that we don't know too much about its early history, but he does remember that "people were always dumping their cars in it for the insurance."  He also noted that a 1960 Lion's Club project included further dumping of abandoned cars into the quarry as a way to clean up the streets and that nearby mills dumped their sawdust into the hole.  However, "the water [in the quarry hole] always looked pretty clear!"

#1 and #2 These make up what is now known as Big Gun Quarry (which is visible behind the City Council chambers).  The reason the quarry is split up into two parts on the map is because the hole produced two different types of granite: Sierra White and Sierra Grey.

#24 and 25 were what Roy and his family called the "Home Quarries" because they were so near to his house on Ruhkala Road.

#26 and 27 were known by Roy as the "Black Bass Quarries" because they were filled with that type of fish!  Roy noted that his brother Ruben fished out the big bass to keep them from eating all other fish supported in the quarry's eco-system.  As Roy put it "if you ddin't get rid of the big bass, in a few years the hole would be empty."

#50 was filled with perch (another type of fish) and now is the site of a trailer park.

#49 was filled with minnows which Roy would sell as bait (for $0.25/dozen) to the fishermen in Roseville, where bass fishing was a big deal.

#3 was once the site of a city dump but was cleaned up and now is the site of the Rocklin Police Station.

#29 was the Deleno Quarry, first started by Griffith Griffith (of Penryn notoriety) and was also converted to a city dump.  This site was covered but not cleaned out, so occasionally residents notice a faint smell.


Many of the quarries on the map are visible on google maps and resemble small ponds (since most of the remaining quarry sites are filled with water).  One of the most recognizable water-filled quarries is #28, located right outside the new Rocklin library.


See if you can match the quarry sites on the Hubeck map to the google satellite view of Rocklin (at right, click to enlarge).  Happy quarry hunting!

Photos of Roy Ruhkala (top) and Hebuck quarry map courtesy of Ronna Davis.
Sincerely,
Danielle Loebs
External Publicity Coordinator
Rocklin Historical Society