History in Photos
Camp Stoneman
Camp Stoneman was the main point of embarkation for troops en route to the Pacific Theatre during WWII and the Korean War. The main gates were located on Railroad Ave. where the Atchison Apartment complex is presently located.
The Army docks were located along E. 3rd St. just west of Harbor St. Troops would march to and fro along Harbor St. to the base entrance located at California St.
The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps stationed at Camp Stoneman were a major force on base that handled many of the administrative duties as well as other tasks. This is also an example of the many military standard barracks that populated the camp.
Commercial Fishing
Archival Photo
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ca 1935 a view from the roof of the A. Paladine Fish Co. that was managed by Frank Cardinalli. One can see the nets laid out to dry on the racks for mending. In the background behind the water tower is the Booth Cannery.
Archival Photo
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ca 1940 Fishermen's Wharf
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ca 1917 an inside look at Booth's Cannery. Workers are labeling cans and packing them. Front right Katherine "Katie" Ascanio-Galuzzio. Photo courtesy the Frank DeRosa Collection.
Nortonville Black Diamond Coal Mines
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ca 1875 The Black Diamond Exchange Hotel is to the middle, left. The company barns right of center is where the horses and mules were kept. Coal, bunkers and smoke stacks in the background.
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Main St. before the fire of 1878. Left to right is the butcher shop, barber shop, boarding house, and the Knights of Pythias Hall.
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This particular locomotive and coal car train was utilized at the Empire Coal mines in Antioch beginning in 1876 — an example of what would have been running from the mines in Nortonville out of the foothills, down Railroad Ave. and terminating at the Black Diamond coaling station at the waterfront.
Columbia Steel Co., Pittsburg Works
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An aerial view of the massive Columbia Steel plant that began operations in 1910. It became a subsidiary of U.S. Steel in the 1930s. At one time 5,500 workers were employed working around the clock.
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ca 1940s Wire Rope Mill. An example of workers utilizing tongs to grab the super heated metal and feeding it into a machine that would further compress and reduce the circumference of the rod to the desired length.
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Liquid iron from the blast furnace is poured from the ladle into an open hearth furnace to mix with already melted steel scrap. The open hearth furnace removes carbon and other elements to transform iron into steel.
Redwood Manufacturers
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Established in 1903 Redwood Manufacturers was C.A. Hooper's first industrial enterprise in his newly purchased town of Black Diamond. It was the largest of its kind in the world. All wood products from A-Z were produced and finished here and then shipped around the world.
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1923 an amazing five-masted sailing ship calling on Redwood Manufacturers docked here in New York Slough. This was a common sight.
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1923 One example of product that was made: redwood piping banded with metal for use as sewer lines. Many of these lines were dug up right here in Pittsburg and replaced with modern piping in the 1960s and '70s.