Graniterock Celebrates 113 Years of Business with New Children's Book

On February 14, Graniterock will celebrate its 113th birthday, and this year’s celebration is highlighted by the publication of a new children’s picture book, Engine Number Ten, A Nearly True Tale Told by Rose Ann Woolpert. Kick-off events are being held at the Corporate Office in Watsonville on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and in Cupertino on Friday.

Engine Number Ten is a tale of steam engines, construction and California history, but is also a testament to the power of hard work and belief in the possible. It is illustrated with beautiful archival photos and original drawings by Jaguar Design Studio of Aptos.  A fascinating historical account, this beautiful teaching story tells of willingness, tenacity and compassion for others.

The story line: One hundred years ago men and mules did the back breaking labor of quarrying rock to build new roads and towns. Steam locomotives and shovels came to help, but they wore out and were replaced. When the last quarry steam locomotive helped to save a new diesel engine trapped in a rock slide, she was spared from the scrap heap. Years later, the boy who witnessed her willing spirit became the man who restored her and helped her find new and meaningful work at the train museum in Sacramento. 

This book is based upon the true story of Granite Rock Company and the trains used for over a century at its quarry near Aromas, California. Engine Number Ten served with the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, and then worked at Graniterock’s Logan Quarry until 1951, when she was replaced with a General Electric 470 horse power diesel locomotive switch engine. 

In 1990, Logan Quarry was renamed for Arthur Roberts Wilson, who founded Granite Rock Company and was the original quarry superintendent. In the 1990s, his grandson, Graniterock CEO Bruce Wilson Woolpert, sent Number Ten to the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento and had her restored to full working order. She remains at the museum, where she is used to offer visitors steam train rides in Old Sacramento.

For more information about Engine Number Ten, please go online to enginenumberten.com.