Beginning in the mid-to-late 19th century , fill material was deposited over and in the vicinity of the Emeryville Shellmound . The purpose of this deposition was to facilitate industrial development of this locale . By the early-to-middle 20th century substantial heavy industry was in place principally in the form of the Judson Steel company manufacturing facility and P.I.E. trucking terminals . These developed uses were atop a layer of fill material measuring three to eight feet in depth above the native soil , shellmound and bay mud ; the fill itself derived from construction wastes from San Francisco including debris from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . Some of the wastes also included waste paints , numerous heavy metals and certain petroleum hydrocarbons
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Emeryville Shellmound