In a town named for industrialist Andrew Carnegie, John and James Treadwell owned and operated the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company from 1902 to 1912. Using clay mined at Tesla, four miles to the west of Carnegie, the factory produced over seventy million bricks and architectural Terra Cotta products, used in prominent buildings throughout California and the west, many of which stand today. The factory included numerous large buildings, twenty-six kilns, and four tall smokestacks. At its height, 350 people lived in Carnegie where one could find a company store, hotel, saloon, butcher shop, school, two bunk houses, and family cabins. Two boiler explosions and financial difficulties beginning in 1909 led to the factory closing in 1912.