Sandstone Quarry is located within the Scenic Loop Drive area about two miles from the BLM Visitor Center.  This part of Red Rock Canyon is the trailhead for the Calico Tanks and Turtlehead Peak. It is very easy to get to as it is about 500 yards from the parking lot. It is an interesting place to visit because it was created at a time when Las Vegas was first incorporated. The purpose of this place was to quarry 10 ton blocks of sandstone. This was to become a building material. Unless they had in mind building pyramids, these huge blocks were to have been further cut into smaller stone somewhere else. The mine operated from 1905 to 1912 as the Excelsior Stone Quarry. The on-again, off-again operation employed as many as 15 men at one time.

The 10 ton blocks were cut so that they could be transported to Las Vegas using the 'Big Devil Wagon'. This frightful locomotive-like behemoth could haul 20 tons of cut stone on a single trip. The odd looking contraption also burned about 400 gallons of crude oil per day. Unfortunately for the Excelsior company, the mine had to be abandoned due to the cost of using this machine. Probably also due to a lack of demand for weak sandstone.

Fortunately for posterity, it never occurred to the management at Excelsior to cut the stones into finished product at the site, thus making it possible to hual the stone using other, less expensive means. The green line measures 36 inches. These blocks are very large and would require at lot of labor manage. It does not look as though too much material was removed from this quarry. Today it is just an interesting and odd kind of place that deserves mention. Had this quarry been successful, how much of Red Rock Canyon would be left today?