Editing Novato, California (section)

=== Mining and quarrying ===
Novato's history of mines and quarries goes back to 1863, when all of a sudden, multiple mining claims popped up in the area. At this time, most of the mines were either gold, silver, or copper mines. Initial results seemed promising, but eventually, prospects shifted elsewhere. Instead of mining for silver or gold, Novato's quarries and mines turned to [[Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve|Mount Burdell]]. Mount Burdell ended up being the source of hundreds of thousands of hand-cut [[andesite]] paving blocks, that were used as ballast in ships and street construction as far away as in Europe. Many of San Francisco's foundations and retaining walls from before the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] also came from Mount Burdell. Novato's largest quarry, the Burdell quarry, produced upwards of 2000–4000 tons of stone daily. Even with such high production, the quarrying activity in Novato slowly waned until the last quarry, located on the west side of Mount Burdell, shut down in the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Trumbull |first=John A |date=April–June 2008 |title=Novato Underground: Mining in Novato |url=https://www.novatohistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Novato-Underground-Mining-Vol32-No2.pdf |journal=The Novato Historian |volume=32 |issue=2 |via=Novato Historical Guild Inc.}}</ref>