Gray Brothers Telegraph Hill Stone Quarry 8. Editorial Photo

Thanks to the Gold Rush of 1849, San Francisco was a booming town by the 1850`s, with a hugh population explosion. This created a great need for an equal explosion in the construction of buildings, as well as roads and sidewalks, all of which required stone. San Francisco is built upon seven major hills and many minor ones, all of which have tons and tons of rock. Gravel being one of the ingredients to make concrete, the Gray Brothers set up a quarry business in the 1890`s and started blasting away on Telegraph Hill, one of their three quarry sites. Since safety, or paying their workers never was a concern of theirs, the murder of brother Harry by one of the workers finally brought the operation to a halt.In the century since, the permanent scarring is still there, and rocks still occasionally tumble off.As seen 29 June 2022.