Terra Cotta, California
Coal, along with clay deposits, was found on the site by John D. Huff in the late 1880s, and the Southern California Coal and Clay Company was formed to mine them. The town site of Terra Cotta was laid out and was given a post office on October 26, 1887. In May 1893 its post office was closed and moved to Lake Elsinore. A plant for the manufacture of sewer and water pipes was built using the coal to fire ceramic pipes in the four kilns. The finished product had to be shipped by wagon six miles through Lake Elsinore to the La Laguna rail station at the mouth of Railroad Canyon until 1896 when a spur line was built through Lake Elsinore and Terra Cotta to the new clay deposits in Alberhill. The coal mined was also used locally as fuel for the stamping mill at the Good Hope Mine and was shipped elsewhere in the state.
Clayton West
There is evidence of 700 years of mining in the adjacent village of Emley. Records from the 13th century indicate that monks from Byland Abby mined and smelted iron ore. They mined using bell pits. A pit was sunk to a depth of 7 meters and worked outward from the bottom of the shaft. Pits dating back to the 16th century can be seen off Woodhouse Lane. Evidence of bell pits is also clearly visible in the woodlands around Duke Wood, down the hill from Cliffe Woods, in Clayton West. Joseph Norton was the owner of a number of mines around the 1870s which he used to mine to produce coal to power his textile mills located at Cuttlehurst and in Scissett. One of these was a mine in Duke Wood. This shaft still acts as an emergency exit and air vent for the privately owned "Flacks" mine, the only mine still operating in the village.