of the former town of Carnegie. A few miles on, beyond the Alameda County line where the road becomes the Tesla Road, is the site of coal mining that began in 1855, and later was the site of the former mining town of Tesla. Tesla appeared in 1889, as the San Francisco & San Joaquin Coal Company built the Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad line to the coal mines. When clay was discovered in the coal mine, the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company was formed in 1902, and its plant built four miles east of Tesla, to make brick and terra cotta. In 1904, the Pottery sewer pipe plant was built between Carnegie and Tesla. Carnegie became a town with a population of about 300; Tesla had a population of over 1200. The towns were abandoned after a 1911 flood, which destroyed the railroad and workings and the Company could not afford to rebuild. The rail line from Carbona was abandoned by the Western Pacific Railroad in January 1916. 99 years after the abandonment of the town, the unrelated Tesla Factory began operating about 20 miles west of the location of the former town. Upper Canyon The canyon turns to the southwest beyond the site of Tesla and ascends into the hills back into San Joaquin County. After passing the site of Tesla, the Tesla Road turns northwestward and winds up the side of a canyon into the Corral Hollow Pass and crosses over to the Arroyo Seco, and follows it as it descends into the Livermore Valley. Today Today the former town site of Tesla (named after Nikola Tesla in 1897 by San Francisco millionaire John Treadwell) is within the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area. The Carnegie town site partly within the Recreation Area; the rest is on the hillside on the north side of the Tesla Road where it intersects Carnegie Ridge Road. References External links Tesla 1905 1:62,500 from Perry–Castañeda Library, Map Collection, California Topographic Maps Topographic Map shows the extent and location of the buildings of the towns in the Corral Hollow before the flood. Former settlements in Alameda County, California Former settlements in San Joaquin County, California Diablo Range San Joaquin Valley Former populated places in California Populated places established in 1850 El Camino Viejo Valleys of San Joaquin County, California Valleys of Alameda County, California Valleys of California