DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

HUBERT WORK, Secretary

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director

Bulletin 738

THE COMMERCIAL GRANITES 

OF NEW ENGLAND

BY

T. NELSON DALE

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE

1923
ADDITIONAL COPIES

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCUEED FEOM

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS

GOVEENMENT FEINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON, D. C.

AT

50 CENTS A COPY

PUECHASEE AGEEES NOT TO EESELL OE DISTEIBUTE THIS 

COPT FOB PEOFIT. PUB. EES. 67, APPROVED MAY 11, 1922
CONTENTS

Pag«.

Introduction_______________________ 1

PABT I. Scientific discussion_______ _ 3

Granite proper______________________ 3

General features____ 3

Definition________________________ 3

Origin_________ _ 3

Mineral composition 5

Chemical composition ______ 7

Texture________ __________________________ 9

Definition____________ __ __ 9

Character and grade_____________ 9

Forms of minerals _ 9

Arrangement of minerals _ _ 10

Porphyritic texture ______ ___ 10

Color_____________________ ______________ 10

Physical properties_____________ __ __________ 10

Weight________________ ____ ____ 10

Cohesiveness_____ 11

Elasticity___________________________ 11

Flexibility___________________________ 11

Hardness____..________________________ 12

Expansibility_ __ __ ___ _ _____ 12

Porosity____ ___ _____' _____ 12

,_. Vitreousness________________.________ 12

Classification___________________________ 13

Scientific classification___________________ 13

Economic classification___________________ 13

General structure_ 14

Flow structure_____ ____ _ _______ 14

Rift and grain. _______________________ 19

Definition_________________________ 15

Previous descriptions____:____________ 15

Relation of rift and grain to fluidal cavities____ 17

General examples_________________ 17

Fluidal cavities in granite gneiss.________ 21

Fluidal cavities in small dikes or veins_____ 22

Are some fluidal cavities secondary?______ 22

Summary on rift and grain______________ 24

Sheet structure ___________ 26

Double-sheet structure. _ _ _________ 36

Joints. ______ 37

Headings-__ _ ___________________ 38

Faults_______________________________ 38

Shear zones___________________ _______ 88

" Shake " structure- ___________________ 39

m
IV CONTENTS.

I'ART I. Scientific discussion Continued. 

< Iranite proper Continued.

General features Continued.

General structure Continued. I'lige.

Subjoints__________________________ 39

Contemporary fractures______________ .. 40

Modifications of granite___________________..__ 41

Dikes________________________________ 41

Acidic dikes______________________ 41

Granite________________________ 41

Aplite_________________________ 42

Pegmatite_____________________ 46

Pegmatitic quartz_________________ 50

Basic dikes________________________ 51

Basic schistose dikes__________________ 56

Effect of basic dikes on granite____________ 57

Segregations ("knots")___________________ 58

Basic segregations________:__________ 58

Acidic segregations___________________ 60

Orbicular granite________________________ 60

Geodes_____________________________ 62

Inclusions_____________________________ 62

Gneissic structure_______________________ 65

Rusty stain and its causes__________________ 66

Decomposition_________________________ 70

General features____________________ 70

Ovoidal weathering___________________ 72

Special features_____________________________ 73

Pegmatite dikes in groups____________________ 73

Muscovite veins___________________________ 74

Zeolite veins________________________1 ____. 75

Mineral veins______________________^_____ 75

Feldspars__________-*.__________________ 75

Original and secondary colors_____________ 75

Cut surfaces _______________________._ 79

Granitic quartz___________________________ 80

Texture________.___________________ 80

Colors______________________________ 80

Olive-green granite ___________________ 81

Minerals on joint faces_____:________________ 81

Contact phenomena ______________________ 84

Petrographic relations____________________ 84

Bethel, Vf ________________________ 84

Barre, Vt _________________________ 85

Woodbury, Vt ______________________ 88

Conclusions -,__________ ____ 88

Structural relations_____________________ 89

 Waterford, Conn____________________ 89

Waldoboro, Maine____________________ 90

Milford, N. H________________________ 90

Westerly and Charlestown, R. I____________ 91

Conclusions__________________________ 93

Plicated gneissic texture_____________________ 93
CONTENTS. V

PART I. Scientific discussion Continued. Page.

"Black granites" ______ 93

Classification_____ ; 93

Origin________..______________ . - ..___ 94

Mineral and chemical composition-. 94

Texture___________________ 95

Physical properties _ 96

Textbook references on granite and " black granites " 97

PAI*T II. Economic discussion_ 99

General features________~ __ 99

Tests of granite _ 99

Chemical analysis 99

Determination of CaCOs 99

Test for discoloration _ 99

Mineral composition _ - 99

Proportions of minerals 100

Polish_______________________ 100

Hardness____________ 100

Compressive strength : 101

Transverse strength 101

Tensile strength _______ _ 101

Porosity___________~_______ _____________ 101

Absorption ________________________________ 102

Behavior under fire _ _ ___ 102

Specific gravity__ ______ 102

Weight per cubic foot_ ____ __________ 102

Coefficient of expansion____^_________________ 102

Geographic distribution of New England granite quarries____ 103

Descriptions of the quarries, granites, and product__________ 103

Method of treatment__________________________ 103

Vermont _________________________________ 104

Distribution of the granites and quarrying centers______. 104

Geologic relations of Vermont granites_,__________ 105

Outline of earlier history of Vermont granites_________. 107

The granite railroads_______________________ 108

The quarries, their granite and finished product_______ 108

Caledonia County_______________________ 108

Hardwick ____________________________ 108

Kirby_____________________________ 110

Newark __________________________ 112

Uyegate__________________________ 113

Topography _______________________ 113

General geology ____________________ 113

" Ryegate granite " ________ 114

Geology of Byegate quarries__________ -114

Quarries ________________________ 114

Groton____________________________ 116

Oriinge County __________________________ 118

Topsham___________________________ 118

Randolph ___________________________ 118

Orleans County- _______________________ 119

Derby _________ 119

Barton _ ______________________ 121
VI CONTENTS.

PART II. Economic discussion Continued.

Descriptions of the quarries, granites, and product Continued.

Vermont Continued. Page. 

The quarries, their granite and finished product Continued.

Washington County _____________________ 121

Barre and Williamstown________________ 121

Topography ______________________ 121

General geology _:____.._____________ 122

Barre granite.______________ ______ 123

Geology of Barre quarries____________ 125

Quarries _______________________ 128

Cabot __________________ _______ 143

Calais_____________'_____________ 144

Woodbury________________________ 145

Topography _________________________ 145

General geology _________________ 146

" Woodbury granites "._____^________ 146

Geology of Woodbury quarries__________ 147

Quarries ___'_______________.______ 148

Windham County ___. .________± ________ 153

Dummerston___ ____ ____________ 153

Windsor County __._.____________________ 155

Bethel ___________ ....____________ 155

Topography and general geology_________ 155

" Bethel granite "_____________^___ 156

Quarries ___________________L_____ 158

Rochester _________________________ 159

Plymouth __________________________ 160

Windsor___________________________ 163

Topography and general geology ______ __ 161

"Windsor granite"________________ 162

Quarries ___-____________________ 163

New Hampshire ____________________________ 164

Distribution of granite-quarrying centers________:___ 164

Geologic relations of New Hampshire granites_______ 164

The quarries, their granite and finished product___'.___ 164

Carroll County ___________ ______________ 164

Con way ______ - ______________ - ___ 164

Topography _________ _____ _____ 164

Geology, of the quarries _______ _____ 165

Quarries _______________________ 166

Madison__________________________ 170

Cheshire County________________________ 171

Pitzwilliam district___________________ 171

Geologic relations_____________ __ 171

Quarries ___________ __________ 171

Coos County ___ _ 176

Kilkenny ___ : 176

Stark __________________ __________ 177

Grafton County 177

Canaan ______ 177

Lebanon_____ _ _ 178

Haverhill_____________ 179
CONTENTS. VII

PART II. Economic discussion Continued.

Descriptions of the quarries, granites, and product Continued.

New Hampshire Continued. ' Page. 

The quarries, their granite-and finished product Continued.

Hillsborough County_________ ___ 180

Milford district_____________________ 180

Topography 180

Geology of quarries_________ ____ 180

" Milford granite "__________ __ 182

Quarries ____________ _ 183

Brookline _________________ _ 191

Nashua _________________________ 193

Merrimack County__ _~_ 193

Allenstown ______________________ 193

Hooksett_______________________ 194

Manchester 194

Concord__________________________ 195

Topography ______ 195

Geology of the quarries__ _ _ 195

"Concord granite". _____ ___ 196

Quarries ________________ 197

Rockingharn County____________________ 202

Auburn__________________________ 202

Strafford County______________________ 202

Rochester ________________________ 202

Sullivan County__________________ ___ 203

Sunapee ___________________-_____ 203

Maine__________ ______________________ 205

The occurrence of granite in Maine, by George Otis Smith_ 205

Geographic distribution _: ___ _______ 205

^ Geologic relations _ 207

Distribution of granite quarries_________________ 209

Quarries of granite proper ___________________ 210

Quarries of " black granite "________________ 210

The quarries, their granite and finished product________ 210

Cumberland County . _ _________ 210

Brunswick_________________________ 210

Freeport__________________________ 211

, Pownal___________________________ 211

Westbrook_________________________ 212

Franklin County_______________________ 212

Jay __'.______..______________________ 212

Hancock County _______________________ 214

t/Bluehill __________________________ 214

(/South Brooksville____________.________ 216

Dedham__________________________. 217

Franklin___________________________. 218

(/Lorig Island (Black Island)______________ 221

Mount Desert____ __________________. 222

Stonington district__________.. :__________. 224

v Distribution and geology of the quarries____ 224

Quarries-_______________________ 224
VIII CONTENTS.

I'ABT II. Economic discussion Continued.

Descriptions of the quarries, granites, and product Continued. 

Maine Continued. %

The quarries, their granite and finished product Continued.

Hancock County Continued. Page.

Sullivan___________________________. ' 230

Swans Island ._____________________ 232

Treinont:____'.- _________________________________ 233

Kennebec County_______________________ 233

Hallowell__________________________ 233

Knox County__________________________. 236

Muscle Ridge Plantation_________________ 236

South Thoniaston____________________. 238

St. George_________________________. 239

/Vinalhaven and Hurricane islands__________ 241

Lincoln County ________________________. 248

Bristol_____-____-_________________. 248

Waldoboro_________________________ 249

AVhitefield__;_______________________. 251

Oxford County____..______________________ 252

Fryeburg__________________________ 252

Oxford___________i______________- 253

Woodstock_____ __ _____ __ . 253

Penobscot County : _ _____ __ 254

Hermon__________________________ 254

Piscataquis County_______________________. 255

Guilford__________________________. 255

Somerset County ______________ _ - 255

Hartland__________________________ 255

Norridgewock_____________._________. 255

Waldo County_________________________ 257

Frankfort__________________________ 257

Lincoln________________________. 260

Searsport____________________________ 261

Swanville__________________________. 261

Washington County______________________ 262

Addlson____________________________ 262

Baileyvilie________________________. 263

Calais____________________________. 264

Jonesboro_____ __________________. 267

Jonesport__________________________. 270

' Marshtield___________L_____________________. 271

Millbridge________________________. 272

York County____________________________. 272

.Alfred____________________________. 272

Berwick____________________________ 273

Biddeford___________________________ 274

Hollis________._____________________ 276

Kennebunkport____________________^_, 276

Wells______________________________ 277
CONTENTS. IX

PART II. Economic discussion Continued.

Descriptions of the quarries, granites, and product Continued. Page.

Massachusetts __________________..__________. 278

Distribution of granite-quarrying centers___________ 278

Tlie quarries, their granite and finished product_______ 278

Berkshire County_________________________ 278

Geologic relations____________________ 278

Becket___________________________ 279

Ot:s_____________________..________. 281

Bristol County__________________________. 282

Geologic relations_____________________ 282

Fall River_________________________. 282

New Bedford_______________________ 285

Dartmouth__________________________ 286

Essex County_________________________. 287

Peabody-Lynnfield district_____________. 287

 Geologic relations ___________ ___-_ 287

Quarrieis_______________________ 287

Rockport_______________L _______________. 291

Topography ________.__ ______. 291

Geologic relations________________. 291

" Rockport granite "_________________ 291

'Geology of Rockport quarries__________ 293

Quarries____________.__________. 294

Hampden County____________.__________. 303

Monson_______________.__________. 303

Hampshire County___________ __________. 305

Pelham__________________________. 305

Middlesex County_______________________. 306

Geologic relations___________________. 306

Acton___________________________. 307

Groton____________________________. 308

Westford______________.__________-_. 309

Townsend_________________________. 313

Norfolk County________________________. 314

Wrentham________________________. 314

Stoughton__________________________. 31.5

Cohasset-'______________.______ . 315

Quiucy, Milton, and Braintree________-___ 315

Topography__________._._ . 315

Geologic relations_______ __ 316

Quincy granite __________ 316

Geology of Quincy quarries- __ 319

Quarries____________ ________ __ 321

Plymouth County____________._____,._____ 335

Brockton______________________ _ 335

Hingham_____________________ _ __ 336

Suffolk County______________._____-_____ 339

Revere____________________________ 339

Lynn_________________.___________ 340

Worcester County___________'.__ ____ 340

Milford granite district______ _ _ ___:__ 340

Topography__________.__ 340

Geologic relations___________ ______ 340
X CONTENTS.

PAST II. Economic discussion Continued.

Descriptions of the quarries, granites, and product Continued. 

Massachusetts Continued.

The quarries, their granite and finished product Continued. 

Worcester County Continued.

Milford granite district Continued. Page.

" Milford granite "_________________ 342

Geology of Milford quarries____________ 343

Ciuarries_______________________ 344

Uxbridge________________________ 352 

Leominster ________________ _.____ 353 

Fitchburg_______________________ 355 

Connecticut-__________________,___________ 355 

Geologic relations, by H. E. Gregory___ 355 

Outline of geologic history of Connecticut 355 

Distribution of granites and gneisses in Connecticut 357 

Nature and age of the granitic intrusions of Connecticut ____________________________ 359 

Granite quarries of Connecticut______ __ 361 

Fairfield County______________________- 361 

Bridgeport_______________ __ 361 

Danbury__________________________ 362 

Greenwich ________________________ 362 

Norwalk _________________________ 364 

Hartford County ____________________ 365

Bristol___________________________ 365

Glastonbury________________________ 366

Litchfield County______________________ 369

Cornwall__________________________ 369

Litchfield________________ __ _ 370

Noriolk__________________________ 370

Roxbury __________________________ 371

Thomaston____ __ _ 372

Torrington__________________________ 373

Warren__________________________ 375

Middlesex County ______________________. 375

Middletown ________________________ 375

New Haven County_____-_______ _ _ 376

Ansonia __ _ ___ 376

Branford ________________________ 377

Guilford_____:___________________ 382

Seymour__________________________ 384

New London County_____________________ 385

Groton___________________________ 385

East Lyme________________________ 388

Lyme____________________________ 389

Old Lyme________________________ 390

Stonington________________________ 392

Waterford ________._______________ 394

Tolland County ___ ________________ 399

Bolton___________________________ 399

Windham County______________________ 400

Sterling______".___________________ 400

Windham _________________________ 402
CONTENTS. XI

PAKT II. Economic discussion Continued.

Descriptions of the quarries, granites, and product Continued. Page.

Rhode Island________1 _____________________ 403

Washington County________________________ 403

Westerly and Charlestown____________ __ 403

Topography_____________.__________ 403

Geologic relations______._____________ 403

Geology of Westerly and Charlestown quarries 405

" Westerly granites " _____________-___ 406

Quarries _________________________ 408

Adaptability of New England granites._ _ ___ 418

Economic classification of New England granites_ __ 419

Geologic factors in granite quarrying.. __ ___ _ 435

The production Of granite in the New England States, by A. T.

Coons____________________________________ 436

Bibliography of economic geology of granite._______ 464

Glossary of scientific and quarry terms.____________.__ 461

Index________________________ _______ 473

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Pago.

PLATE I. Map of Vermont and New Hampshire showing, location

of granite quarries____________________ 108

II. Map of Barre, Vt, showing location of granite quarries. 108

III. A, Orbicular granite from Bethel, Vt.; B, Schist injected with granite, Barre and Ryegate, Vt__ 160

IV. Carved exedra of Barre granite______________ 160

V. A, Statue of Barre granite; B, Carved panel of granite

from Woodbury, Vt ______-______ _ 160

VI. A, Effect of compressive strain on granite, West Dummerstou, Vt.; B, Double sheet structure, Robespn Mountain, Woodbury, Vt^___'__________________ 160 

VII. A, Carving of Bethel white granite from Vermont; B, 

i Polished and cut syenite from Mount Ascutney, Vt___ 160 

VIII. A, Contact of granite and granite gneiss, Milford, N. H.; 

B, Diorite with pegmatite dike cut by diabase dike, 

Round Pond, Maine____________________ ]61

IX. Map showing distribution of granitic rocks and quarries

in Maine_______ __.________________ 2<K;

X. A, Joint structure.on Heron Neck, Green Island, Maine; 

B, Sheet, dome, and joint structure, Crotch Island, 

Maine ___v _-___--________________ 256

XI. A, Sheet structure, Ryan-Parker quarry, Crotch Island, 

Maine; B, Sheet and dome structure, Mosquito Mountain, Frankfort, Maine___________________ 256

XII. A, Hurricane Island quarry, Maine, showing a 60-foot 

sheet; B, Sheet and joint structure, Stinchfield quarry, 

Maine _____ __ _______ ___ 256
XTT ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page. 

PI.ATK XIII. Sheet structure, Crabtree & Havey quarry, Sullivan,

Maine: A, South side ; B, East wall___________ 256

XIV. A, Sheet and joint structure, Sands quarry. Vinalhaven. 

Maine; B, Sheets and curved joint, AVhite quarry, 

Bluehill, Maine________________________ 256

XV. A, Sheets under cornpressive strain, Rock Chapel Hill.

Ga.; B, Schist inclusion at Preeport quarry, Maine_ 256

XVI. A, Heading, High Isle quarry, Maine; J3, Sheets cut by

diabase dike. Alien quarry, Mount Desert. Maine___ 256

XVII. A, Granite and schist contact, Waldoboro quarry, 

Maine; B, Intersecting headings and weathering, 

Longfellow quarry, Hallowell, Maine__________ 256

XVIII. A, A tidewater quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine; B, A oneman paving-block quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine_____ 256

XIX. A, Carving in coarse granite from Sands quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine; B, Granite column in lathe. Palmer 

quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine________________ 256

XX. Fine carving of granite from Stinchfield quarry, Hallowell, Maine __________________-____- 256

XXI. Statue of granite from Stinchfield quarry, Hallowell,

Maine___________-_________________ 256

XXII. A, Monument of quartz diorite, Round Pond quarry, 

Maine; B, Monument with die of olivine-norite, Heal 

quarry, Lincoln, Maine____________________ 256

XXIII. Map of Massachusetts showing location of granite quar-

-^ ries_______-______________________ 278

XXIV. Map of Quincy, Mass., showing location of granite quarries_________________________________ 320

XXV. A, Dell Hitchcock quarry, Quincy, Mass.; B. Monument

of porphyry from Rockport, Mass_____________ 320

XXVI. Ball of polished Quincy granite______________ 320

XXVII. A, Pigeon Hill Upper quarry, Rockport, Mass.; B. Deep

Pit quarry, Rockport, Mass_____________ 321

XXVIII. Geologic map of Connecticut showing location of granite

quarries___ ____ ________ 360

XXIX. A, Granite gneiss, Leete Island quarry, Conn.; B, Ovoidal 

weathering in very fine quartz monzonite from Westerly, R. I_..__________________________ . 400

XXX. A, Polished slab of pegmatitic biotite granite gneiss, 

Norcross quarry, Stony Creek, Conn.; B, Obelisk of 

hammered .pegmatitic biotite granite gneiss, Norcross * 

quarry, Stony Creek, Conn__l______________ KX)

XXXI. A, Coarse porphyritic granite gneiss, Hoadly Point, 

Branford, Conn.; B, Porphyritic granite gneiss, Derby, 

Conn_______________________________ 400

XXXII. Monument of fine quartz monzonite from AVaterford,

Conn_______________________________ 400

XXXIII. A, Bas relief of fine quartz monzonite from Waterford, 

Conn.; B, Monument of fine quartz monzonite from 

Groton, Conu___________________________ 400

XXXIV. A. Contact of granite and granite gneiss, Klondike 

quarry, Charlestown, R. I.; B, Carving in fine quartz 

monzonite from Westerly, R. I______________ 401
ILLUSTRATIONS. XIII

Page.

FIGURE 1. Rift and grain in thin section of gran'te from Redstone (Conway), N. H______________________________ 18

2. Banded aplite dike in diorite, Leavitt quarry, Leouiinster,

Mass ___________________ _________________ 45

3. Horizontal section of diabase dike in Deep Pit quarry,

Rockport, Mass____________________________ 54

4. Structure at Sullivan quarries, New Bedford, Mass_______ 53

5. Liiuonitic stain ("sap") in thin section of granite from

High Isle, Maine_________________________ 67

6. Liiuonitic stain from a crystal of allauite in olive-green granite

from Redstone, Conway, N. H _ __ _______ 77

7. Heimititic stain from aegirite in altered Quincy granite___ 79

8. Structural relations of granite and schist, Bethel, Vt______ 84

9. Thin section of granite and schist contact, Bethel, Vt_____ 85

10. Structural relations of granite and schist, Anderson quarry,

Barre, Vt _______________,______________ 80

11. Details at contact of granite and mica slate, Anderson quarry,

Barre, Vt _______________________________ 86

12. Mica slate with dikes of pegmatite and lenses of apatitic 

granite from the granite-slate contact, Anderson quarry, 

Barre, Vt______________________________ 87

13. Section of Waterford quarry, Connecticut___________ 89

14. Relations of granite and granite gneiss in center of Waterford

quarry, Connecticut ______ ^1_____ _____ 90

15. Discordant sheet structure in granite and granite gneiss,

south wall of Waterford quarry, Connecticut _______ 90

16. Schist and granite at southwest end of Waldoboro quarry,

Maine _____________ __-___-__________ 91

17. Granite and granite gneiss contact at Pease quarry, Milford.

N. H_________________._________________ 91

18. Granite and granite gneiss contact at Catto quarry, Westerly,

R. I___________________________________ 92

19. Plicated biotite granite gneiss, Hoadly Point, Branford, Conn_ 94

20. Map of Woodbury and Hardwick, Vt., with quarry locations

and granite railroad____^____________________>_ 109

21. Map of Kirby, Burke, and Newark, Vt., with quarry locations- 111

22. Map of Ryegate, Groton, and Topsham, Vt., with quarry locations ____________>__________________- 113

23. Structure at Benzie quarry, Groton, Vt______________ 117

24. General topographic section through granite mass at Barre,

Vt __________________________________ 122

25. Structure at Boutwell quarry, Barre, Vt____________ 129

26. Structure on west wall of Empire dark quarry, Barre, Vt__ 130

27. Structure at Stephen & Gerrard quarry, Barre, Vt_______ 133

28. Structure, north wall of Stephen & Gerrard quarry, Barre, Vt_ 133

29. Structure at Jones Light (main) quarry, Barre, Vt______ 134

30. Structure at Smith Upper, Smith Lower, and Duffee quarries,

Barre, Vt _____________________________ 136

31. Structure at Consolidated quarry, Barre, Vt___________ 140

32. Structure at Milne quarry, Barre, Vt______________ 141

33. Structure at Pirie quarry, Williamstown, Vt__________ 142

34. Structure at Woodbury Granite Co.'s quarries, on Robeson

Mountain, Woodbury, Vt_____________________ 150
XIV ILLUSTRATIONS.

	Page. 

FIGURE 35. Map of Bethel, Randolph, and Rochester, Vt_________ 156

36. Structure at Ellis and Woodbury quarries, Bethel, Vt_____ 158

37. Map showing location of quarries at Conway, N. H______ 165

38. Map showing location of quarries at Milford, N. H______ 181

39. Structure at Young quarry* Milford, N. H____________ 191

40. Structure at Fox quarry, Concord, N. H____________ 201

41. Structure at Maine & New Hampshire Granite Co.'s quarry,

North Jay, Maine________________________ 214

42. Structure at White quarry, Bluehill, Maine___________ 215

43. Structure at Brown quarry. Dedham, Maine___________ 217

44. Structure at Robertson quarry, Franklin, Maine________ 218

45. Structure at T. M. Blaisdell quarry, East Franklin, Maine_ 219

46. Structure at W. B. Blaisdell quarry, East Franklin, Maine_ 220

47. Structure at McMullen quarry, Mount Desert, Maine____ 222

48. Map shosving location of quarries about Stonington, Maine-_ 225

49. Structure at Ryan-Parker quarry, Crotch Island, Maine___ 226

50. Structure at Goss quarry, Crotch Island, Maine___-_____ 226

51. Structure at Sherwood Lower quarry, Crolch Island, Maine_ 227

52. Structure at Settlement quarry, Deer Isle, Stonington, Maine- 229

53. Structure at Stinchfield and Longfellow quarries, Hallowell,

Maine ________________________________ 234

54. Structure at Tayntor quarry, Hallowell, Maine___ ___ 235

55. Structure at High Isle quarry, Maine ____ 237

56. Structure at Sprucehead quarry, South Thomaston, Maine 239

57. Structure at Long Cove quarry, St. George, Maine. 241

58. Map showing location of quarries on Vinalhaven and adjacent

islands, Maine______________________ ___ 242

59. Structure at Sands quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine - 243

60. Structure at Hurricane Isle quarry, Maine 248

61. Structure at Round Pond diorite quarry, Bristol, Maine___ 249

62. Structure at Waldoboro quarry, Maine ____ 251

63. Structure at Eagle Gray quarry, Fryeburg, Maine- 252

64. Flow and sheet structure at Dodlin quarry, Norridgewock,

Maine _________________ 256

65. Structure at Mosquito Mountain quarry, Frankfort, Maine_ 258

66. Structure at Mount Waldo quarry, Frankfort, Maine - 259

\ 67. Structure at Beaver Lake diorite quarry, Calais, Maine 265

68. Structure at Bodwell quarry, Jonesboro, Maine _ 268

69. Structure at Gowan Emmons quarry, Biddeford, Maine 274

70. Structure at ROBS boulder quarry, Kennebunkport, Maine 277

71. Structure at Beattie & Wilcox quarry, Fall River, Mass __ 283

72. Structure at Beattie quarry, Fall River, Mass __ 284

73. Map of part of Cape Ann, Mass., showing location of quarries- 290

74. Structure at lower Pigeon Hill quarry, Rockport, Mass 296

75. Structure at upper Pigeon Hill quarry, Rockport, Mass__ 297

76. Structure at Blood Ledge quarry, Rockport, Mass_ 301

77. Structure at Deep Pit quarry, Rockport, Mass___ 302

78. Structure at Reinhalter quarry, West Quincy, Mass_ 327

79. Structure at Swingle quarry, West Quincy, Mass 328

80. Structure at Granite Railway quarry, West Quincy, Mass__ 330

81. Map showing location of quarries about Milford, Mass 341

82. Structure at Cutting quarry, Milford, Mass _ 345
ILLUSTRATIONS. XV

Page.

FIGURE 83. Structure at East quarry, Milford, Mass____________ 347

84. Structure at Blanchard quarries, Uxbridge, Mass_______ 352

85. Map showing location of quarries about Greenwich, Conn___ 362

86. Map of Glastonbury, Conn., showing location of curbing quarries_________________________________ 366

87. Map of Branford and Guilford, Conn., showing location of

quarries _______________________________ 378

88. Structure at Holbrook quarry, Seymour, Conn_________ 384

89. Map of Waterford, Conn., showing location of quarries____ 395

90. Details at Millstone quarry, Waterford, Conn__________ 396

91. Structure at Waterford quarry, Connecticut__________ 399

92. Map showing location of quarries in Westerly and in Charlestown, B. I _____________________________ 404

93. Structure at Klondike quarry, Charlestown, R. I_________ 416

94. Granite produced in New England, 1896-1921, and in the

United States, 1916-1921___________________ 442

95. Value of granite produced in New England and in the United

States, 1896-1921 ________________________ 442

96. Granite of different classes produced in New England, 1896-

1921 ____________________________ 442

THE COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW 

ENGLAND.

By T. NELSON DALE.

INTRODUCTION.

This work is a revised and abridged edition of the writer's four 

bulletins and two supplementary papers on the commercial granites 

of the States of New England.1 The exhaustion of the edition of 

some of these bulletins and the duplication of the general treatment 

of granite involved in any reprint of the originals make such a combination and revision advisable. The revision has also permitted 

greater systematization in the introductory part, as well as the correction of some errors in both parts. The descriptions of quarry 

plants, which change from year to year, have been omitted; also the 

purely technologic details, which belong properly to the province of 

the Bureau of Mines.

A small area of white granite in Plymouth, Vt., not mentioned in 

Bulletin 404, has been visited, and its granite is here described. The 

granites of quarries opened in Woodbury, Vt., and Milford, Otis, 

Stoughton, Cohasset, and Braintree, Mass., since the publication of 

Bulletins 404 and 354 are described.

As in the original bulletins, the general aim of this one is to present the subject in both its economic and its general scientific aspects 

and to make the scientific part intelligible to the general reader. The 

economic part includes a chapter on the adaptations of New England 

granites and another on the economic geologic factors in granite 

quarrying, with some practical suggestions.

A number of abandoned quarries are described with the active ones, 

either because of the scientific interest of their granite or their rock 

structure or because of their latent economic possibilities.

1 Dale, T. N., The granites of Maine, with an introduction by George Otis Smith: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 313, 1907; The chief commercial granites of Massachusetts, New 

Hampshire, and Rhode Island: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 354, 1908; The granites of 

Vermont: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 404, 1909; Supplementary note on the granites of 

New Hampshire. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 430, pp. 346-372, 1910; Supplementary note 

on the granites of Massachusetts: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 470, pp. 240-288, 1911. Dale, 

T. N., and Gregory, H. E., The granites of Connecticut: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 484, 1911.

105700 23 2 1
2 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The word "granite" in the title is used in its commercial sense 

and thus includes, besides true granites, quartz monzonite, granite 

gneiss, diorite, diorite gneiss, gabbro, diabase, and norite. The 

scientific name is always given.

The specimens described from active quarries were always selected 

by the foreman or operator of the quarry. The number of each 

specimen described, to which that of the thin section or sections corresponds, is given, so that the description can be verified by consulting the collections at the National Museum.

The word " coarse," applied to the texture of granite, includes that 

with feldspars over 0.4 inch in diameter; " medium," with feldspars 

under 0.4 inch and over 0.2 inch; "fine," with feldspars under 0.2 

inch.

All the granites described are classified according to their charac-^ 

i eristics of texture, color, and uses on pages 419-435, with their commercial and scientific names. A bibliography of the economic 

geology of granite is given on pages 464-467. It includes several 

works of a general character besides papers on physical tests and 

geometric analyses of granite, and on the statistics of granite production in the United States. A short list of more or less elementary 

text books on mineralogy and igneous rocks will be found on page 97, 

and a glossary of such scientific terms as have been unavoidably 

used and of quarry terms on pages 467-471. Miss Altha T. Coons, of 

this Survey, contributes the statistics of production.

The section by George Otis Smith on the occurrence of granite in 

Maine, including its geographic distribution and its geologic relations, formed his introduction to Bulletin 313. The passages on the 

geologic history of Connecticut, the distribution of granite and 

gneiss in that State, and on the nature of its granitic intrusions have 

been taken entire from Herbert E. Gregory's contribution to Bulletin 484. Similar but shorter quotations from other geologists as 

to other States are duly credited.

The writer's obligation to Albert Johannsen for the critical revision of the more difficult microscopic mineral determinations is renewed here. Chemical determinations by W. T. Schaller and George 

Steiger of this Survey, by E. C. Sullivan, and by George P. Merrill, 

of the United States National Museum, and a complete mineral 

analysis by Wirt Tassin, also of the National Museum, are credited 

in their place. The Rosiwal method of estimating mineral percentages in rocks has been applied as far as practicable to all the types of 

granite described.
PART I. SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 

GRANITE PROPER.

GENERAL FEATURES.

DEFINITION.

Granite, in a general sense, is essentially an entirely crystalline 

igneous rock, consisting mainly of quartz, potash feldspar, and a 

feldspar containing both soda and lime, in some granites microscopically combined, and containing also a small amount of either white 

or black mica or both, and in places of amphibole (hornblende, riebeckite), more rarely of pyroxene (augite, aegirite), or both. Where 

granite has, subsequent to or during its crystallization, been subjected 

to pressure sufficient to produce a parallelism in the arrangement of 

its minerals that is, a schistosity it is called gneiss or granite 

gneiss; but as some sedimentary rocks in becoming crj^stalline also 

possess this parallelism and closely resemble a granite gneiss they 

are distinguished by the term " sedimentary gneiss."

ORIGIN.

Granite is now regarded as the product-of the slow cooling and 

crystallization of molten glasslike matter at a dull-red heat matter 

Avhich contained superheated water and was intruded from below 

into an overlying mass of rock of sufficient thickness not only to prevent the rapid cooling and general extrusion of the molten matter at 

the surface but also to resist the pressure of the intrusive by its cohesion and powerfully to compress the molten matter by its gravity. 

As carbonic acid can be liquefied only under pressure, its presence in 

liquid form within some of the microscopic cavities in the quartz of 

granite is .alone evidence that the rock was formed under pressure. 

That the temperature at which granite solidified was comparatively 

low has been inferred from the fact that it contains minerals which 

lose their physical properties at temperatures higher than dull-red 

heat. The relations of the mineral constituents of granite to one 

another show the order in which they must have crystallized. This 

order differs from that in which they would crystallize if molten in a 

dry state, but laboratory experiments have shown that the presence 

of even a small quantity of water suffices to change that order of 

crystallization. The presence of superheated water in the formation 

of granite, inferred from the arrangement of its minerals, shows that 

the conditions requisite to its formation included not only the pressure 

of an overlying mass of rock but also expansive pressure from 

below. Had this molten matter been extruded at the surface it 

would have cooled so rapidly that but few of its constituent mole3
4 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

cules would have had time to arrange themselves in geometric order. 

The process of crystallization would have been arrested by the sudden 

passage of the material into-the solid state, and the product would 

have been a volcanic glass somewhat resembling that which forms 

cliffs in Yellowstone National Park. In granite, however, the mass 

has cooled slowly enough to permit the complete crystallization of 

the originally molten glasslike matter, and no unarranged molecules 

remain. The production of a glass by the rapid cooling of the surface of a granitic intrusion in consequence of its contact with a schist 

mass is seen at Bethel, Vt., and shown in thin section in figure 9.

From observations in Norway, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and 

Montana geologists conclude that the thickness of the rock overlying this molten matter may have been only a few hundred yards, 

the essential conditions for the production of granite being slow 

cooling and the confinement of the vapor of water escaping during 

crystallization to the adjacent rocks.2

Lacroix, in his studies of Mount Pelee, found that quartz may 

crystallize in a superficial volcanic dome, even under a thin solidified crust, as soon as this forms a closed vessel. 3

The overlying rock mass which furnished a part of the pressure 

required to form granite has at many places been removed from it 

by erosive processes that operated through great stretches of time. 

Indeed, it is only by the removal of this mass that granite is anywhere naturally exposed. Although this mass may have measured 

hundreds of feet in thickness, its former presence is at some places 

attested only by a thin capping on the granite or by fragments 

which the lacerating action of the intruding granite has incorporated into itself.

The lacerating effect of an intrusion and the subsequent erosion 

of some of the overlying strata have been reproduced experimentally.*

2 Brogger, W. C. f Die geologischen Verhiiltnlsse der Pegmatitgange " des Christianiagebietes: Zeitschr. Krystall. (Groth), Leipzig, p. 225, 1890. Cross, Whitman, The 

laccolitic mountain groups of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona: U. S. Geol. Survey, Fourteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, pp. 230, 238, 1894. See also Barrell, Joseph, Geology of the 

Marysville mining district, Mont., a study of igneous intrusions and contact metamorphism: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 67, 1907.

8 Lacroix, Alfred, La Montagne Pele*e et ses Eruptions, p. 517, Paris, 1904.

4 Howe, Ernest, U. S. Geol. Survey Twenty-first Ann. Kept., pt. 3, pp. 294-296, pi. 43, 

1901. Reyer, of the Austrian Geological Survey, has illustrated a granite intrusion by 

this simple experiment: Upon a table a frame of clay, say 2 inches thick, is constructed 

about a square piece of board 1 inch thick. After removing the board a mixture of 

medium-thick plaster and red coloring matter is poured-into the inclosure. The surface 

of the red plaster is then sprinkled with a layer of white plaster powder. After making 

a lens-shaped perforation in the center of the board it is again fitted into the frame 

and pressed against the red and white layers until the white plaster exudes through the 

opening, and afterward the red intrudes the white. The materials are allowed to harden 

and are then sawn to show the structure. See Reyer,.Ed., Tektonlk der Granit Ergtisse 

von Neudeck und Carlsbad, etc.: K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt Jahrb., vol. 29, pp. 432-433, 

fig. 6, 1879.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 0

Granite itself has been converted in the laboratory into a material 

which upon cooling under ordinary conditions has proved to be a 

glass, and the chief mineral constituents of granite have been arti- 

> ficially crystallized at high temperatures in the presence of water 

vapor under high pressure, but the conditions requisite for the 

production of a granitic rock from its chemical constituents have 

not yet been successfully imitated.

Some granite shows locally a certain .alinement of its mica plates 

and feldspars, due to the flow of the mass while it was in a plastic 

state a structure which was probably controlled by the pressure 

and form of the bordering rock. This "J^ow^atiaicture " should not 

be confounded with the schistosity, which is due to later pressure, 

involves mineral changes, and is usually regional rather than local 

in exteiitvlmcT whTchTis called "gneissic structure."

The great Differences" in the grade of texture in granites the 

mineral particles ranging from an average diameter of 0.02 inch 

(0.5 millimeters), and even 0.0069 inch (0.175 millimeter), to over 

0.5 inch is attributed to differences in the rate of cooling. The 

portions at the margins of large masses, or in small masses such as 

dikes, which cooled rather quickly, crystallized in very small crystals; the central portions, which cooled more gradually, became 

coarsely crystalline.

MINERAL COMPOSITION.

Feldspar is the most conspicuous and generally the most abundant 

mineral in granite. By its color or colors it usually determines to a 

large extent the general color of the rock, and by the light which it 

reflects it gives brilliancy. It is easily distinguished from the other 

constituents by its smooth cleavage surfaces and milky, bluish-white 

or opalescent, reddish, brownish, or greenish color. Granite usually 

contains two kinds of feldspar, the more abundant of which is 

generally potash feldspar, a silicate of alumina and potash. This 

occurs in one or both of two crystal forms, orthoclase or microcline, 

which, however, can be distinguished only by means of the microscope. The other variety of feldspar (plagioclase), containing either 

soda or soda^ncTlime, although it may be of the same color as the 

potash feldspar, can in some granites be distinguished by the very 

fine, parallel, lines on its surface. Usually it differs greatly in color 

from the potash feldspar, which may be reddish, brownish, or lavender-colored ; the plagioclase may be white, gray, or greenish. Under 

the microscope the soda-lime feldspar can be readily distinguished 

from the potash feldspar by its behavior in polarized light, which 

brings out its crystalline structure and indicates its particular variety and approximate chemical composition. A granitic rock that
6 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

contains the two feldspars in equal proportions is distinguished by a 

special technical name.

Quartz (silica), the next most abundant constituent, is readily 

recognized by its glassy luster, uneven fracture, and brittleness. It 

may be clear, milky, bluish, opalescent or amethystine, or smoky. 

The quartz determines in some measure the shade of the rock. The 

vitreousness of the quartz greatly affects the granite.

The next most abundant constituent of granite is mica, which is 

present in two forms the white (muscovite, or potash mica), essentially a silicate of alumina with potash and minor amounts of soda 

and ferrous oxide, and the black (biotite, or magnesia mica),, essentially a silicate of alumina with potash, magnesia, and both ferric 

and ferrous oxide. Granite may contain one or both of these micas. 

The dimensions and number of the scales of black mica largely determine the shade of many granites.

Amphibole, a constituent of many granites, although greenish 

(rarely bluish in minute or very thin crystals), may in crystals of 

ordinary size appear as dark as the black mica, but, unlike that mineral, it does not split into scales. Amphibole and pyroxene resemble 

each other so closely when in small particles that they can be distinguished only by means of the microscope. Both may occur in 

granite.

In addition to these more abundant minerals, others are usually 

present in minute or microscopic quantities. Some of these including kaolin, sericite (a potash mica or muscovite), chlorite, epidote, 

zoisite, and calcite, as well as paragonite (soda mica), which may 

possibly be present, are the result of chemical changes in the feldspars 

or the biotite or amphibole and are therefore called "secondary.* 

Others, like zircon, apatite, titanite, rutile, tourmaline, fluorite, garnet, magnetite, molybdenite, ilmenite, pyrite, and allanite, are regarded as original " accessory constituents." Calcite also occurs in 

microscopic quantity as an original mineral of some granites.5 Of 

these minor accessories, pyrite (ir_pjti_disulphide)_and calcite (lime 

carbonate) alone have economic significance, for these may discolor 

or weaken the stone when dissolved or oxidized on an exposed surface.

The chemists of this Survey have treated 10 granites from Maine, 

23 from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and 10 

from Vermont, with hot dilute acetic acid and find that they contain 

from 0.05 to 2.46 per cent of CaCO3 (lime carbonate).

The following accessory minerals have been detected in the New 

England granites: Garnet, tourmaline, zircon, titanite, magnetite,

8 See Zirkel, F., Petrographie, vol. 2, p. 13, and Weinschenk, E., K. Bayer. Akad., 

Math.-phys. Classe, Abh., vol. 18, p. 730, pi. 5.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 7

ilmenite (?), pyrite,0 molybdenite, fluorite, apatite, biotite, allanite, 

and rutile; also the secondary minerals hematite, limonite, calcite, 

kaolin, muscovite, paragonite (probably), quartz, hornblende, riebeckite, chlorite, epidote, and zoisite. The number of minerals occurring in the pegmatite dikes within the same granites is very much 

larger. (See pp. 46, 47.)

The arrangement of the chief minerals in the stone is described 

under the heading "Texture" (p. 10).

The percentages of the mineral constituents differ within wide 

limits in granites from different localities. The percentages of muscovite and of the f erromagnesian minerals (biotite,, amphibole, pyroxene) are always small; those of the feldspar and quartz are large. 

There is considerable variation in the relative amounts of feldspar 

and quartz and still more in the amounts of each of the feldspars.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.

The chemical composition of granite is of less scientific and economic significance than its mineral composition, for, although chemical analysis shows the percentages of the constituent elements, the 

process by which these are determined necessarily mingles the elements of several minerals whose proportions vary and whose contributions to the physical properties of the rock differ greatly. 

When, however, a combination of elements occurs only in one or two 

of the minerals the chemical analysis serves to corroborate the evidence obtained by microscopic analysis.

Many analyses of granite have been published, but it will suffice 

here to give the extremes of the percentages shown by some of the 

more authoritative of these and to refer the reader to works containing complete analyses.7 Four analyses of granites from Scotland, 

Ireland, Italy, and Sweden show the following ranges: 8

0 As to the question whether marcasite (white iron pyrites) occurs in granite, Alien, 

Crenshaw, and Johnston, in an important paper on " The mineral sulphides of iron " 

(Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 83, pp. 169-236, 1912), state on page 216 that " the fact that 

marcasite never occurs as a primary constituent of magmas, while pyrite sometimes 

does, is explained by the fact that marcasite can not exist above 450°." On p. 190 

they add: " Paramorphs of pyrite after marcasite are certainly possible, but paramorphs 

of marcasite after pyrite are evidently impossible." J. D. Dana, in the fourth edition 

of his System of mineralogy (1858, p. 61), stated that "At Warwick, N. Y., marcasite 

occurs in simple and compound crystals in granite with zircon." This passage Is re7 peated verbatim in the sixth edition, 1911, p. 95.

7 See Washington, H. S., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 99, 1917; also Clarke, F. W., 

U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 419, 1910.

"Geikie, Archibald, Textbook of geology, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 207, London, 1903.
8 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND. 

Analyses of European granites.

Silica (SiO») ________________________ 70.60-74.82 

Alumina (AUG.)________________________ 14.86-16.40 

Ferric oxide (Fe2 03 )____________________ .10-1.63 

Ferrous oxide (FeO)___________________ .42-3.20 

Magnesia (MgO)_________ __ .14-2.23 

Magnesia (MgO) _____ _______________ . 23- 1.00 

Lime (CaO) ________________________ .89-2.47 

Soda (Na2O) ________________________ 3. 51- 6.12 

Potash (K2 0) ________________________ 3. 55- 5.10

Twelve analyses, made at the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey, of granites from California (2), Colorado (1), Maryland (3), Michigan (1), Minnesota (1), and Montana (4) show the 

following ranges: 9

Analyses of American granites.

Silica (SiO2 ) ___________ ________ 63.87-76.10 

Alumina (A1203 )______________________ 12.95-19.13 

Ferric oxide (Fe2O3 )__ __ _______ .00-1.80 

Ferrous oxide (FeO)____________.______ .42-3.20 

Magnesia (MgO)_____________________ .14-2.23 

Lime (CaO)________________________ .12-4.30 

Soda (Na20) ________________________ 2.36-4.53 

Potash (K2O)________________________ 1.87-7.99 

Titanium dioxide (T;O2 )_________________ .07-0.65 

Phosphoric acid (P2O6 )_- ___ __________ Trace- 0.30

The average of 21 analyses of even-grained Georgia granites made 

by Watson 10 yields the following percentages:

Analyses of Georgia granites. 

\

Silica (SiO2 ) (extremes 68.38, 72.56)______________ 69.97 

Alumina (A12O3 ) ______________'-__________ 16. 63 

Ferric oxide (Fe2O3 )________________________ 1.28 

Lime (CaO)_____________________________ 2.13 

Magnesia (MgO) _ __< _ _ .55 

Soda (Na2O) ____________________________ 4. 73 

Potash (K2O) ____________________________ 4. 71

Holmquist" gives 137 analyses of Swedish granites arranged in a 

continuous table.

In all these analyses most of the lime is to be attributed to the 

lime-soda feldspar and nearly all the rest of it to apatite (lime phosphate), or to amphibole and pyroxene, if these are present.

9 See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 419, p. 33, analyses C, D, B; p. 46, analysis A; p. 52, 

analysis D; p. 77, analyses D, E, F; p. 86, analysis C; p. 99, analysis E; p. 151, analysis 

A; p. 157, analysis E.

10 .Watson, T. L., Georgia Geol. Survey Bull. 9-A, p. 241, 1902.

11 Holmquist, P. J., Studien fiber die Granite von Schweden: Upsala Univ. Geol. Inst. 

Bull., vol. 7, Nos. 13 and 14, pp. 77-269, 1906.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 9

It is of interest to note in this connection that certain Scotch and 

Irish granites contain from 1.6 to 2.8 volumes of gas per volume of 

rock. This gas is inclosed in microscopic cavities within the 

minerals, and in the Scotch granite it consists of carbon, oxygen, 

hydrogen, and nitrogen in the following combinations and proportions: C02 , 23.60; CO, 6.45; CH4 , 3.02; N8 , 5.13; H2 , 61.68 12

R. T. Chamberlin 13 found in a gray granite from Quincy, Mass.. 

1.60 volumes of gas per volume of rock and made up as follows: CO2 , 

0.39; 00, 0.09; CH4 , 0.06; H2 ,1.04; N2 , 0.02. Averaging 19 analyses 

of granites and granite gneisses (17 by himself and 2 by Ga\itier) he 

obtained the following volumes of each gas per volume of rock: C02 , 

1.4T; CO, 0.22; CH4 , 0.05; H2 , 1.36; N2 , 0.09 total, 3.19.

TEXTURE.

Definition. The texture of a rock signifies the size, the forms, and 

the mutual relations of its minerals as seen without or with a microscope.

Character and grade. The most characteristic external feature of 

granite is the character of its grain^ Some granites are even grained; 

others contain more or less fnTnly disseminated and complete crystals 

of feldspar in a mass of finer, even-grained material that is, they 

show what is called porphyritic_texture. (See p. 10.) The next 

most striking feature is the relative coarseness or fineness of grain 

in an even-grained granite. Three grades of texture of this sort 

may be distinguished (1) coarse, in which the feldspars generally 

measure over 1 centimeter, or 0.4 inch; (2) medium, in which they 

measure under 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) and over 0.5 centimeter (0.2 

inch); (3) fine, in which they measure under 0.5 centimeter (0.2 

inch). In some coarse-grained granites the feldspars measure 

one or several inches, and in some fine-grained ones all the'particles 

range from 0.25 to 1 millimeter (0.04 inch) in diameter, and some 

average as low as 0.5 millimeter or (0.02 inch). Extremely fine ones 

average 0.175 millimeter or about 0.007 inch.

Forms of minerals. Even without the aid of the microscope it will 

be noticed that, except in granites of porphyritic texture, the minerals 

rarely attain their complete crystalline form. They have interfered 

with one another's growth. It will also be noticed that some of the 

crystals of feldspar in some granites are surrounded by a border of a 

different feldspar. Thus a red feldspar may be bordered by a white 

or greenish one, or vice versa. Either of these may be the potash 

feldspar and the other a soda-lime feldspar. It will also be noticed 

that many of the feldspars are not simple incomplete or complete

^Tilden, W. H., Roy. Soc. London Proc., vol. 60, pp. 454, 455, 1897. 

13 Chamberlin, R. T., The gases in rocks : Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 106, p. 23, 

1916.
10 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

crystals, but "twins," having the cleavage planes in one half at'a 

different angle from those in the other half, so that when held in the 

sunlight only one half will reflect the light in one position.

Arrangement of minerals. A polished surface of any medium or 

coarse grained granite shows that the quartz fills up the spaces between the feldspars that is, it was formed after them also that 

both feldspars and quartz inclose particles of mica, etc., which must 

therefore have crystallized before them. Under the microscope the 

arrangement of the minerals is found to be such that they must 

usually have crystallized in the following order: Magnetite, pyrite, 

apatite, zircon, titanite, amphibole and pyroxene, biotite, muscovite. 

the feldspars, and, last of all, the quartz. It should be noted, however, that many of the feldspar crystals contain intergrown quartz, 

so that some of the quartz must therefore have crystallized at the 

same time as the feldspar. The structure of the potash feldspar in 

some granites is very intricate, as it contains microscopic intergrowths of a lime-soda feldspar, both having evidently crystallized 

at the same time or in close alternation. Also, as stated above, the 

potash feldspar may be rimmed with soda-lime feldspar, or vice versa.

Porphyritic texture. In some granites some of the minerals, generally the feldspars, occur as large, isolated, more or less complete 

crystals in a mass (groundmass) of finer, even-grained granite. This 

is known as the porphyritic texture. (See PI. XXXI, B.) The conditions under which a porphyritic granite was formed are not yet perfectly understood. The large crystals were, of course, formed before 

the completion of the groundmass. If a porphyritic granite passes 

into a gneiss, the large crystals become elongated and lens-shaped 

and the rock is called a porphyritic or " augen " (eyes) gneiss. (See 

PL XXXI, A.) The secondary structure known as gneissic is described on page 65.

COLOR.

The color of a granite is almost entirely governed by that of its 

dominant feldspar, and its shade is largely determined by that of its 

quartz and its mica. These physical qualities of granitic feldspar 

and quartz are described on pages 75-79, 80, 81.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES.

Granite derives its physical properties from its mineralogic constitution, particularly from its large content of feldspar and quartz, 

and from its texture. Among these physical properties the most 

important are wjeight, cohesiveness, elasticity, flexibility, hardness, 

expansibility, porosity, and vitreousness.

Weight. In order to establish a fixed standard the weight of a 

certain volume of a rock is compared to that of an equal volume of
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 11

distilled water. The weight thus determined is called the specific 

gravity of the rock. The specific gravity of granite ranges from 

2.593 to 2.731. The average of these extremes is 2.662, which is 

equivalent to 2 long tons, or 4,480 pounds, to the cubic yard, or about 

165 pounds to the cubic foot- Geikie 14 calls attention to the change 

in the weight of granite when immersed in sea water, as given by 

Stevenson. 15 A red granite having a specific gravity in air of 2.71, 

or 13.2 cubic feet to the ton, will in sea water of a specific gravity of 

1.028 measure 21.3 cubic feet to the ton.

Cohesiveness. The cohesiveness of a rock is ascertained by determining its crushing strength that is, the weight in pounds 

required to crush it or to destroy its cohesion. The ultimate compressive strength of granite ranges from about 15,000 to 43,973 

pounds per square inch,16 but the usual range is from 18,000 to 34,000 

pounds. Herrmann 17 gives the crushing strength of European granites as ranging from 1,100 to over 3,000 kilograms per square centimeter. Recent tests by the Bureau of Standards on five granites 

from Maine, Maryland, and North Carolina show their compressive 

strengths ranging from 17,132 to 41,772 pounds per square inch.18

Elasticity. Tests made at the United States krsenal at Watertown, 

Mass., to determine the compressive elasticity of specimens of granite 

from Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, and NCAV Hampshire, 

show that the specimens, in a gaged length of 20 inches and a diameter of 5.5 inches at the middle, when placed under a load of 5,000 

pounds to the square inch, suffered compression ranging from 0.0108 

to 0.0245 inch, resulting in a lateral expansion ranging from 0.005 to 

0.007 inch, and giving ratios of lateral expansion to longitudinal 

compression ranging from 1:8 to 1:47.19

The results of some experiments on the elasticity of granites from 

Westerly, R. I., are given by Adams and Coker.20

Flexibility. Although granite contains a large amount of brittle 

material (estimated at 30 to 60 per cent) and the interlocking of 

its various particles gives to it great cohesion and rigidity, yet in 

sheets of sufficient thinness and areal extent it is flexible. Sheets half 

an inch thick and 4 feet long may be bent, as noted in the description

14 Textbook of geology, 4th ed., p. 568.

15 Stevenson, T., Harbours, p.'107.

10 These extremes are from Wisconsin granites. See Buckley,' B. B., On the building 

and ornamental stones of Wisconsin : Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 4, 

pp. 361, 390.

17 Hermann, O., Steinbruchindustrie und Steinbruchgeologie, p. 43.

18 Figures from the Director, Oct. 11, 1916.

19 Report of the tests of metals, etc., made with the United States testing machine at 

Watertown Arsenal, Mass. (1895), pp. 339-348, 1896.

20 Adams, F. D., and Coker, E. G., An investigation into the elastic constants of rocks, 

more especially with reference to cubic compressibility: Carnegie Inst., Washington 

Pub. 46, 1906. For another reference to the compressibility of Westerly granite see 

Adams, F. D., An experimental contribution to the question of the depth of the zone of 

flow in the earth's crust: Jour. Geology, vol. 20, pp. 112-115, 1912.
12 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

of the Lawton quarry, at Norridgewock, Maine (p. 256). Whether 

flexibility in this granite was conditioned upon a slight loosening of 

the grains by chemical and physical change is uncertain.

Hardness. As will be seen by reference to the tests-for hardness 

described on page 100, granites differ greatly in hardness. This difference is due not merely to differences in the percentage of quartz, 

but also to variations in the character of the feldspars.

Expansibility. The expansibility of granite has been variously 

tested. Bartlett 21 found that a piece of granite coping 5 feet long,, 

subjected to a winter temperature of 0° F. and a summer temperature of 96° F., expanded 0.027792 inch, or 0.000004825 inch per 

inch of length for each degree of increase in temperature. The Ordnance Department at the Watertown Arsenal,22 tested the granites 

referred to under the heading "Elasticity" and found that slabs of 

gaged lengths of 20 inches in passing from a cold-water bath at 32° 

F. through a hot-water bath at 212° F. and back again to cold water 

at 32° F. expanded from 0.0017 to 0.0059 inch, averaging 0.0040 inch.

Porosity. Granite contains and absorbs water, which is held in 

microscopic spaces both within and between its constituent minerals. 

Ansted 2S states that granite generally contains about 0.8 per cent of 

water and is capable of absorbing about 0.2 per cent more. In other 

words, a cubic yard of granite weighing 2 tons contains in its ordinary state about 3£ gallons of water and can absorb nearly a gallon 

more on being placed in pure water for a short period. Buckley 24 

found that the pore space or porosity in fourteen Wisconsin granites 

ranges from 0.17 to 0.392 per cent, and that the ratio of absorption 

(percentage of weight of absorbed water to the average dry weight 

of the sample) of the same granites ranges from 0.17 to 0.50. The 

Bureau of Standards finds that this percentage in a North Carolina 

and a Maryland granite ranges from 0.15 to 0.43.25 Merrill 28 has 

shown that certain Maryland granites absorb from 0.196 to 0.258 per 

cent of water after drying 24 hours at 212° F. and then being immersed for 24 hours.

Vitreousness. The vitreousness of granite is due to that of its contained quartz. Under extreme changes of temperature, as in a city 

fire, where water is thrown on the stone, granite exfoliates badly. 

This exfoliation or shelling is attributable to the unequal expansion or contraction of the outer and the inner portions of the rock 

under sudden changes of temperature. It is also probably connected

21 Bartlett, W. C., Experiments on the expansion and contraction of building stones by 

variation of temperature: Am. Jour. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 22, pp. 136-140, 1832.

23 Op. cit., p. 322.

28 Ansted, D. T., quoted by Edward Hull, in A treatise on building and ornamental 

stones of Great Britain and foreign countries, p. 30, 1872.

2«Buckley, E. B., Op. cit, p. 400.

83 Figures from the Director, Oct. 11, 1916.

29 Merrill, G. P., Maryland Geol. Survey, vol. 2, pp. 94, 95.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 13

with the vitreousness of the quartz. The unequal expansive ratios of 

the different constituent minerals would result in general disintegration, not in exfoliation. (See further under " Fire test," p. 102.)

Buckley 2T subjected 2-inch cubes of five Wisconsin granites to hightemperature tests and found that they were all destroyed at 1,500° F. 

One of them cracked at 1,000°; two others began to disintegrate at 

1,200°. The most notable change was that "when struck with a 

hammer or scratched with a knife they emitted the sound peculiar to 

a burnt brick. " Cutting 28 applied a fire test to granites from eighteen quarries in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New 

Hampshire, Vermont, and Virginia, with the result that after saturation they all stood a temperature 6f 500° F. without damage but 

showed the first appearance of injury at T00°-800° and were rendered 

worthless at 900°-1,000°. Twenty-three sandstones subjected to the 

same tests showed the first appearance of injury at 800°-900° and became worthless at 950°-1,200°. His general results agree with those 

of experience as to the relative fire 'endurance of granite and sandstone. 29 The behavior of granite under very high temperature is not 

attributable to any one physical property. The physical properties 

of granite are further discussed in Part II, under the heading " Tests 

of granite" (pp. 99-103).

CLASSIFICATION.

The varieties of granite are so numerous, that for either scientific 

or economic purposes they need to be classified.

Scientific classification. For scientific purposes granites may be 

classified according to their less essential mineral constituents 

mica, hornblende, and augite. Thus a granite containing white mica 

is termed a muscovite granite; one containing black mica, a biotite 

granite; one containing both, a muscovite-biotite granite. A granite 

containing black mica and hornblende is called a biotite-hornblende 

granite. Granites may also be classified according to both their 

mineral and their chemical composition. These two form the basis 

of an elaborate classification of igneous rocks, which is too complex 

to be outlined here. 30

Economic classification. For economic purposes granites may be 

classified first as to texture as even grained, or porphyritic, or as 

coarse, medium, or fine, according to the scale given on page 9. 

Those of extra coarse or extra fine texture can be distinguished by 

the prefix " very." This scale gives five grades of textures. Gran27 Op. Cit., p. 411.

«»Cutting, H. A.; Vermont Agr. Sixth Rept., pp. 47-54, 1880; Durability of building 

stone: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d scr., vol. 21, p. 410, 1881.

20 Merrill, G. 1'., Stones for building and decoration, p. 435.

80 See Cross, Whitman, Iddings, J. P., Pirsson, L. V., and Washington, H. S., Quantitative classification of igneous rocks based on chemical and mineral characters, with a 

systematic nomenclature, Chicago, 1903 ; also Jour. Geology, vol. 10, pp. 555 et seq., 1902.
14 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

ites should also be classified as to general color and shade as pinkish, reddish, lavender, or gray or warm gray (that is, a gray showing the presence of a slight reddish, reddish-purplish, or yellowish 

tinge), and as dark, medium, or light; and the terms "dark gray" 

and " light gray " may be modified by prefixing the word " very." 

The word "shade" here is used throughout to denote degree of 

blackness apart from color. In very many granites this is due 

directly to the relative smokiness of the quartz or the amount of 

black mica or other very dark silicate. They may be further classified and designated by the colors of their most conspicuous minerals, 

the feldspars, quartz, and mica. A stone may thus be called a coarse 

even-grained warm-gray granite, with lavender and white feldspars,, 

smoky quartz, and black mica; or another may be called a fine evengrained, very light gray granite, with white feldspar, clear quartz, 

and both white and black mica. Lastly, they may be classified by 

their uses as constructional, monumental, inscriptional, polish, or 

statuary granites. All the commercial granites of New England 

will be found classified according to their uses, colors, and shades on 

pages 419-435. The outline of an exhaustive technical description of 

any granite can be constructed from the tests enumerated on pages 

99-103.

GENERAL STRUCTURE.

The term "structure." embraces all the divisional planes that 

traverse the rock. These occur at intervals ranging from a microscopic distance to one measured by scores of feet and either cross 

or, very rarely, are parallel to the texture resulting from crystallization.

FLOW STRUCTURE.

Where two varieties of granite lie in, contact, as at Bedstone, 

N. H. (p. 165),and at Norridgewock, Maine (fig. 64),the dividing line 

between them indicates the direction of their flow, for the same 

reason that the direction of the flow of a stream would be shown 

by the demarcation between its water and that of a muddy tributary a little below their junction. In some places this direction is 

also indicated by streaks or sheets of mica scales parallel to the 

line between the granites. Such streaks, therefore, where alone, are 

regarded as indicating flow structure. They may be inclined at all 

angles or be in horizontal undulations with axes pitching 10° to 40°. 

In some Massachusetts and New Hampshire quarries the structure 

is parallel to the surface of the granite at its contact with overlying 

rocks or surrounds in parallel bands the surface of large inclusions. 

(See pp. 90, 281, and fig. 17.) Flow structure also is conspicuous in 

the granite of Milford, Mass., and in some of the quarries of Milford, N. H. (See pp. 185, 343.) At the Millstone quarry in Water-
/ SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 15 

o 

ford, Conn., flow structure doubles over on itself. (See fig. 90 and

p. 396.) The very local character of such structural features indicates that they are not due to pressure affecting the entire region, 

but that they originated while the granite masses were still plastic. 

A. granite that exhibits flow structure is called by some writers a

flow gneiss.

RIFT AND GRAIN. 

DEFINITION.

The rift in granite is a feature of considerable scientific interest 

and of much economic importance: It is an obscure microscopic 

foliation either vertical, or very nearly so, or horizontal along 

which the granite splits more easily than in any other direction. 

The grain (see glossary) is a foliation in a direction at right angles 

to this, along which the rock splits with a facility second only to that 

of the fracture along the rift. After a little experience an observer 

detect the rift with the unaided eye, where it is marked.

PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS.

The earliest Jnention of rift in geologic literature appears to be 

that made in 1778 by J. F. W. Charpentier,81 who noticed that granite 

millstones which were cut with their largest diameter parallel to the 

rift we're much more readily worn than those cut at right angles to 

it that is, parallel to the " hard way." He attributed this property 

to a parallel arrangement of the mineral particles. The next reference was made in 1803 by Potsch,32 who described the rift in the 

granites of Lausitz, in Saxony. In 1833 it was referred to by Enys 

and Fox 33 as characterizing the granites of Penrhyn, and in 1834 it 

was mentioned by De la Beche ; 84 also in 1855 by Adam Sedgwick,85 

who attributed it to crystalline action at the time of consolidation. 

In 1860 C. F. Naumann 36 ascribed it either to local differences of 

cohesion or to an inner strain possibly related to the direction of 

original consolidation. In 1864 G. vom Rath 37 described a diorite 

from Monte Adamello, in the Tyrol, without dominant rift, and observed that the rift course was, on the contrary, uniform in the granite of Monte Motterone (Baveno)s. In 1876 James D. Dana 38 stated 

that " granite often has a directon of easiest fracture due to the fact

31 Mineralogische Geographic des chursachsischen Lande, 1778. See also his Beobachtungen iiber die Lagerstiitte der Erze, 1779.

33 Bemerkungen und Beobachtungen fiber das Vorkommen dcs Granits in geschichtete 

Lagen, p. 140, 1803.

33 London and Edinburgh Philos. Mag., 3d ser., .vol. 2, pp. 321-327, 1833.

84 Researches in theoretical geology, and Report on the geology of Cornwall, 1834.

^Geol. Soc. London Trans., 2d ser., vol. 3, pt. 3, p. 483, 1855.

soLehrbuch der Geognosie, 2d ed., vol. 2, pp. 191-192, Leipsig, 1860.

^Beitrage zur Kenntniss der eruptiven Gesteine der Alpen : Deutsch. geol. Gesell. 

Zeitschr., vol. 16, pp. 249-260, 1864.

83 Manual of geology, 2d ed., p. 628, 1876.
16 COMMEKOIAL GRANITES .OF NEW ENGLAND.

o

that the feldspar crystals have approximately a uniform position in 

the rock, bringing the cleavage planes into parallelism." This is true 

in those places where the directions of flow structure and rift chance 

to coincide, and in some porphyritic granites the porphyritic crystals 

are arranged with reference to the rift, but that this arrangement is 

not the cause of rift is shown by the fact that the feldspar cleavages 

usually intersect the rift face at all angles. In 1879 Keyer 39 attributed rift to an original arrangement of particles by flowage. As 

rift in places crosses flow structure this explanation is also inadequate. 

In 1893 Carl C. Kiiber, in a work on the granite industry of Norway,40 described an augite syenite with inferior rift and grain, in 

which the cleavage planes of the individual feldspar crystals were 

parallel to the two cleavages, rift and grain, of the rock. In 1894 

F. Zirkel,41 after reviewing the opinions of his predecessors, tentatively suggested that rift might be the result of conditions of strain 

brought about by pressure from one side only, which failed to find 

adequate relief in jointing. In 1913 Eduard Suess 42 expressed the 

opinion that horizontal rift or grain structure is the primary effect 

of compressive strain upon granite and that vertical rift or grain, 

as well as vertical joints, are secondary effects of the same strain. 

In 1916 John Oxaal,43 State geologist of Norway, found that " rift 

is a primary phenomenon determined by the congealing of the rock 

and by the crystallization of the mineral constituents." This-was the 

view of Adam Sedgwick (1855). Oxaal states further:

There is a well-defined conformity to law as regards the orientation of the 

separate constituents of the rock. In labrador or larvikite the feldspars are 

nearly parallel to each other, and the beautiful blue opalescence in the direction (801) in feldspars appears consequently only along one direction in the 

rock, while in the other directions little or no play of color appears. The cleavages of the rock (rift and grain) are parallel to the cleavages of the feldspar 

constituents.

Two American geologists 44 have described rift minutely: Tarr 

presents four figures reproduced from drawings made from enlarged 

views of thin sections showing the rift in Cape Ann hornblendebiotite granite. These figures and his descriptions indicate microscopic faults, most of which meander across feldspar and quartz 

alike, although some go around the quartz particles rather than 

through them. In the feldspars they usually follow the cleavage.

38 Reyer, Ed., Tektonik der Granit Ergflsse von Neudeck and Carlsbad, etc.: K.-k. geol. 

Reichsanstalt Jahrb., vol. 29, p. 415, 1879.

10 Norges Granit Industri: Norges geol. Undersogelse Aarbog for 1893, No. 12, p. 45.

41 Lehrbuch der Petrographic, v 2d ed., vol. 2, p. 52-53, 1894.

42 tiber Zerlegung der gebirgsfaldenden Kraft: Geol. Gesell. Wien Mitt., vol. 6, pp. 

13-60, 1913.

"Norsk Granit: Norges geol. Undersokelse No. 76, pp. 210, 211, 1916.

44 Tarr, R. S., The phenomena of rifting in granite : Am. .Tour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 41, pp. 

267-272, figs. 1-4, 1891; Economic geology of the United States, p. 124, 1895. Whittle, 

C. L., Rifting and grain in granite : Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 70, p. 161, figs. 1, 2, 1900.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 17

These minute faults are lined with microscopic fragments of the 

mineral they traverse and some of them send off short, minute diagonal fractures on either side. After comparing this description with 

that given by the writer on page 58 of certain microscopic fractures 

in the granite at its contact with a basic dike in the Flat Ledge 

quarry at Rockport, and also with the writer's descriptions of rift 

and grain cracks it may be questioned whether the microscopic faults 

described by Tarr were not produced by a dike and therefore can not 

be rift.

Whittle gives two sketches made from polished surfaces of a wellknown granite quarried by the Maine & New Hampshire Granite 

Co., at Bedstone, N. H. One of these sketches, made from a surface 

running at right angles to the rift, shows quartz and feldspar grains 

traversed by a generally parallel set of lines corresponding to the 

rift planes. The lines are more numerous in the feldspar than in 

the quartz grains. The other sketch, made from another specimen, 

shows besides the rift lines another less pronounced set intersecting 

these at right angles. This second set corresponds to the grain. A 

visit made by the writer in 1906 to the quarry at Redstone, N. H., 

corroborated Whittle's observations.

RELATION OF RIFT AND GRAIN TO FLUIDAt, CAVITIES.

General examples. During the writer's visit to Redstone a specimen of the pink granite was obtained, with a face 4f by 4 inches cut 

and polished parallel to the " hard way " that is, at right angles 

to both rift and grain; also a specimen of the green granite from the 

adjoining western quarry, 5 by 4 inches, cut and polished in the same 

way. Material for a thin section of the pink granite was also obtained, and a section \\ by 1 inch in area was cut at right angles to 

both rift and grain. The direction of the rift at the quarries was 

found to be horizontal, crossing the sheets, which curve in anticlinal 

attitude across the axis of the hill with a dip of 15° both to the east 

and the west, while the grain is vertical with an east-west course and 

corresponds with the most prominent set of joints.

A careful examination of these specimens shows rift cracks in 

both the feldspar and quartz of the pink granite, though they are 

more conspicuous in the quartz, partly because of the darkness of 

its shade. Grain cracks are less abundant. The green granite 

shows both rift and grain cracks, if anything more abundant, 

though not as easily seen as in the quartz of the pink granite.

The large thin section shows 12 prominent rift cracks in the quart/, areas

in a space of 1.2 inches measured along the grain that is, with an average

distance apart of 0.1 inch. The grain cracks are far less numerous and less

continuous. Some of the rift and grain cracks are filled with secondary

105709 23 3
18 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

fibrous mica. The quartz areas also show two intersecting sets of lines, really 

sheets or planes of gas or liquid inclusions, the latter with vacuoles. Many 

of these cavities are very irregular in outline, some having several ramifications. They all range in diameter from less than 0.00285 to 0.063 millimeter. 

The strike of these two sets of sheets corresponds respectively to that of the 

rift and grain. Some of the rift or grain cracks appear to have followed the 

sheets of cavities, for they coincide with them. Portions of this section are 

shown in figure 1.

FIOURB 1. Camera lucida drawings of quartz areas in an enlarged thin section of biotite 

granite from the Redstone quarry in Conway, N. H., cut parallel to the " hard way." 

A, enlarged 62£ diameters, shows sheets of cavities and incipient cracks in both rift 

and grain directions. B, from a different quartz area, enlarged 175 diameters, shows 

the variation in the size of the cavities and their arrangements in both rift and grain 

directions. C, from still another quartz area, enlarged 23£ diameters, shows conspicuous rift and grain cracks, filled with fibrous white mica, coinciding here and 

there with the sheets of cavities, also two parallel exceptional fractures crossing the 

rift and grain directions diagonally. D shows part of one of the grain sheets of 

cavities of G, enlarged 175 diameters in order to show the shapes of the cavities. As 

most of these sheets of cavities in the section appear to undulate in the direction of 

the line of vision when placed under the microscope the outlines of all the cavities 

become visible only by altering the focus.

Emerson 45 in describing the granite of Becket, Mass., uses these 

words: " The quartz grains were full of sheets of cavities, with large 

moving bubbles." Washington refers to streaks of inclusions in the

45 Emerson, B. K., The geology of eastern Berkshire County, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 159, p. 73, 1899.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 19

greenish granite of Bay View, on Cape Ann: " Gas and liquid inclusions, the latter carrying a movable bubble, are quite abundant 

though small and occur in streaks." 40 The movements of the 

vacuoles in these fluidal cavities are probably related to the Brownian movement discovered by Jean Perrin. If so, they represent themolecular motion either of the "matter" within the vacuole or of 

the liquid without it. 47 Tarr and Newinan 48 report from their study 

of Missouri granites: " The study with the binocular microscope 

showed that the inclusions were really in planes."

At the Bedstone quarry of Westerly, E. I., the quartz has cavities 

in sheets with rift cracks parallel to them. Sheets of cavities intersecting one another at right angles and with rift and grain cracks 

parallel to them were also observed in granite sections from the 

quarry at Becket, Mass. (p. 279); and in several other Massachusetts 

and New Hampshire granites the cavities are arranged in rectangular sheets. This has also been found to be true in many sections of 

Vermont granites. One of these from Cobble Hill, near Barre, shows 

quartz containing sheets of cavities with conspicuous rift cracks 

parallel to or coinciding with them. Some of the rift cracks polarize 

brightly and extend into the feldspars, where they are clearly filled 

with fibrous muscovite; but in other sections, cut without reference 

to rift or grain directions, the sheets of cavities intersect at all angles 

or the cavities have no apparent arrangement. Many such irregularities thus result simply from the haphazard direction of the section. For this reason probably Eosenbusch refers to their occurrence 

in apparently irregular groups or courses only.

In the thin section of granite from Eedstone, N. H., described on 

page 17 some of the sheets of cavities pass uninterruptedly and without deflection from one quartz particle to another, and the rest do not 

appear to terminate abruptly at the edge of the particle. The passage of sheets of cavities from particle to particle without interruption or deflection can be observed also in a section (109, specimen. 

36, b) from the adjoining green granite of Eedstone, also in one 

(150, specimen 38, a) from the White Mountain quarry, near North 

Conway, N. H. This is also the case in several sections of Quincy 

granite (234, specimen 79, f, from the Hard wick quarry, and 206, 

specimen 85, a, from the Mount Pleasant quarry, Milton) and in 

some (221, 228, specimen 91, f) from the quarry at Becket (Chester), 

Mass. There is also in all these sections a general parallelism in the 

sheets, which lie either in the rift or the grain direction or between

48 Washington, H. S., The petrographical province of Essex County, Mass., I: Jour. 

Geology, vol. C, p. 700, 1S08.

47 Ferrin, Jean, The Brownian movement and molecular reality (translation by F. 

Soddy), London, 1910.

4S Tarr, W. A., and Newinan, L. M., A study of the effects of heat on Missouri granites : Missouri Univ. Bull., vol. 15, No. 27, p. 55, 1914.
20 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

these and the rift or grain cracks, but some sections also have sheets 

of cavities diagonal to those directions. Even sections cut parallel 

to rift or grain or at right angles to both usually show cavities, more 

or less abundant, which are without any apparent arrangement.

These facts point to the probability of an intimate relation between 

the arrangement of the inclusions and the n^anoTgrain structure. 

~Tf the cavities, containing water or liquid carbonic acicl, or either of 

these in a gaseous form, in the quartz of granite, are correctly regarded as having originated at the time of the crystallization of the 

material of the granite, then the rift and grain structure would seem 

to be either original also or, if secondary, to have had its directions 

generally determined by those of the sheets of inclusions.

That these fluidal cavities in the quartz of granite are not the 

only factor in the origin of rift and grain structure is evident from 

the parallelism which exists between the arrangement of the mica 

scales and the rift of many granites. At the abandoned Hayden 

quarry in Milford, N. H., large porphyritic crystals of biotite have 

their cleavage parallel to the rift. The detection of this arrangement 

of the mica is the principal means of determining the course of the 

rift before actual experiment. Similarly the course of the " hard 

way " in a quarried block is ascertained by the greater roughness of 

the particles to the touch on the " hard way " side than on either of 

the others.

The observations of Riiber and Oxaal in Norway on the relation 

of the arrangement of the feldpars in porphyritic granite to the rift 

fall in with the facts as to the arrangement of the mica (see p. 16), 

and so also does the statement of the Cornish granite quarry man 49 

as to the granite quarried at Colcerrow, in Cornwall, having its large 

feldspars (2 by 0.5 inch) with their long axes parallel to <^the rift 

and the short ones to the " hard way." The porphyritic feldspars in 

the granite of Woodbury, Vt., show a parallelism in their arrangement in the groundmass (p. 146).

That any alinement of the mica scales in the direction of the sheets 

of fluidal cavities and the rift cracks is not necessarily identical with 

their arrangement or that of the feldspar by flow structure is shown 

by the following observations in New England granite quarries: At 

Mount Waldo, Frankfort, Maine, flow structure strikes N. 20° W., 

rift is horizontal, and grain vertical with N. 85° W. course. At the 

Tayntor quarry, Hallowell, Maine, flow strikes N. 35° W., rift is 

horizontal, and grain is vertical with N. 70° W. course. At North 

Jay, Maine, flow is horizontal in undulations 20 feet wide and rift is 

horizontal without grain. At Dodlin Hill, Norridgewock, Maine, 

rift is horizontal, flow and grain are both vertical with N. 60C E.

48 See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 484, p. 46, 1911.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 21

course. The norite at the Hall quarry, near Baileyville, Maine, has 

horizontal sheet, flow, and rift structure.

At Milforcl, N. H. (p. 343), flow varies greatly (N.,N. 15°,20°,50°, 

70° E., and N. 75°-80° W.), rift is horizontal or nearly so, and grain 

is about vertical with N. 60°-90° W. and 80° E. course. At the Klondike quarry, in Charlestown near Bradford station, R. I., flow is N. 

10C -20° W.. dipping west, intersecting a feeble horizontal rift. At 

Milforcl, Mass., there is a wide range in both strike and dip of flow, 

but rift is everywhere reported as horizontal and grain as vertical 

with N. 40°-90° E. course. In places flow and rift are parallel 

(p. 344).

Flui(hi^camties_jjn .j^ranUe gneiss. The following observations 

were made in studying the New England 'granites: An augite 

diorite gneiss with a vertical foliation overlying an intrusive quartz 

monzonite at Milforcl, N. H. (see PI. VIII, A), has sheets of fluidal 

cavities intersecting each other at right angles. An inclusion of 

granite gneiss in the quartz monzonite of Blue Mountain, in South 

Ryegate, Vt., has parallel sheets of fluidal cavities passing from one 

quartz grain to another at right angles to the foliation of the gneiss. 

A finely banded gneiss at Old Lyme. Conn., cut by dikes of coarse 

pegmatite, has its quartz laminae crossed by sheets of cavities, with 

rift cracks parallel to them and to the gneissic foliation, crossed at 

right angles by a sparser and finer set of cracks. Sheets of fluidal 

cavities and rift cracks parallel to or coinciding with them were 

observed in the mica diorite gneiss of Greenwich and Torrington, 

Conn., also in the granite gneiss of Norwalk, Ansonia, Roxbury. 

Benvenue, Stony Creek. Hoadly Point, Leete Island, Sachem Head, 

Waterford, and Bolton, Conn. Rift in these Connecticut gneisses 

was always found parallel to the foliation, but in the gneiss of Selden 

Neck, in Lyme, which has biotite lenses with their longer axes transverse to the gneissic foliation, the rift is parallel to the long axes 

of the lenses and at right angles to the foliation; also in the banded 

gneiss of the Mclntosh quarry, near Groton, Mass., the rift is transverse to the foliation, both rift and grain fractures being smoother 

than those along the banding.

A banded biotite granite gneiss obtained by the writer in 1913 

from a conspicuous hill in the southeast corner of Peru, in Bennington County, Vt., consists of bands of feldspar grains alternating with 

bands of strained quartz grains whose longer axes are about at right 

angles to the bands. The feldspar bands carry biotite scales with 

their longer axes parallel to the bands. Sheets of fluidal cavities 

and rift cracks cross the quartz bands at right angles unaffected by 

the straining, but stop at the feldspar bands.

The question arises whether the sheets of fluidal cavities crossing 

the gneissic foliation were formed before or during the alteration
22 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

of the granite to gneiss. If the quartz individuals of the granite 

were greatly elongated the transverse sheets of cavities could not 

well have retained their original parallelism, and in such gneisses 

the arrangement of the cavities may be ascribed to the period of 

metamorphism.

Fluidal cavities in small dikes or veins. In a veinlet of quartz 

and feldspar at the Calder & Carnie quarry at Westerly, R. I., the 

quartz particles are crowded with cavities in sheets parallel to the 

side of the vein and also in line with streaks of kaolinization in the 

feldspars. A smoky quartz vein averaging 0.35 inch thick, of pegmatitic origin, in the A. Milne quarry at Barre, Vt., shows many roughly 

parallel diagonal fractures. In thin section it has a largely feldspathic border, 0.2 inch thick, which is partly micacized, and inside 

of it the quartz is in places granulated. Discontinuous sheets of 

cavities with vacuoles extend both in the direction of the vein and 

at right angles to it, and some cracks with granular quartz zigzag 

along these directions. In places the cavities are abundant but without apparent arrangement. A section of a little pegmatite dike cutting the schist that overlies the granite at the Bailey quarry in 

Barre, Vt., shows sheets of cavities and rift cracks transverse to the 

dike and the foliation of the schist. Small pegmatite dikes proceeding from the granite surface into the overlying mica slate, at the 

Anderson quarry in the same township also show two transverse sets 

of sheets of cavities, one parallel to the dike and another across it.

Are some fluidal cavities secondary? Van Hise 50 points out that 

in a certain q.uartzite. of the Black Hills rows of minute go?-fi!lod 

or liquid-filled inclusions running in parallel lines across the entire 

section, transverse to the longer axes of the quartz grains, with rows 

of black ferrite and secondary quartz similarly oriented, are of secondary origin. He regards them as probably due to the fracture of 

the grains by mechanical action and the introduction of liquid along 

the cracks, with the later deposition of secondary quartz, which has 

retained the liquid as inclusions.

Some vitreous Cambrian quartzite collected by the writer near Fort 

Ann, Washington County, N. Y., in 1899, shows in thin section enlargement of the original quartz grains by secondary interstitial 

quartz and also sheets of liquid inclusions intersecting one another at 

various angles within the quartz grains. As these sheets of cavities 

stop abruptly at the edge of the original quartz grains, and the courses 

of the sheets in different grains are not parallel but quite discordant 

with one another, it is evident that these liquid inclusions antedate the

60 Van Hise, C. R., Pre-Cambrian of the Black Hills: Geol. Soc. America Bull, vol. 1, 

pp. 216-218, fig. 4, 1890; A treatise on metamorphism: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 47, p. 

620, 1904.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 23

metamorphism which produced the quartzite.51 A thin section of a 

calcareous sandstone from the same vicinity shows similar sheets of 

cavities in its quartz grains, but their directions are such that they can 

have had no relation whatever to the bedding planes of the sand- 

.stone or to any secondary fractures in it, but their origin must date 

back to the granite or gneiss from which they came.

The inference to be drawn from the quartzites of the Black Hills 

and Fort Ann is that lines or sheets of fluidal cavities within Jhe 

quartz grains of li^ulfrtzlteTnTii^^ is, 

they may have qn^SateSrin We^^process of the formation of the 

quaflzif? orThey may have been associated with that of the parent 

graHile dr gneiss itself. The thin sections themselves will indicate 

in most cases the mode of origin.

C. W. Cross 52 in 1881 described a gneissoid plagioclase-pyroxene 

rock from Koquedas, near Vannes, in Brittany, which bears on the 

origin of fluidal cavities. A summary follows:

The outcrop is between tide levels, and its feldspars are therefore much 

weathered, the orthoclase passing into muscovite and the plagioclase into

-wollastonite. The weathered feldspar shows rows of fluidal cavities with 

vacuoles, and some of the cavities have negative crystal boundaries. These 

rows of cavities, however, form the continuation of acicular crystals of wollnstonite, which occur at the beginning of the zone of weathering and radiate into 

the fresh feldspar. Delicate lines corresponding to the sides of the crystal 

and extending beyond them into the feldspar connect the rows of cavities. 

'These rows disappear in the more altered parts of the feldspar. The fluidal 

cavities are regarded as clearly secondary and as precursors of the wollastonite. 

Where the feldspars are much altered similar rows of fluidal cavities begin to 

extend into the pyroxene from the wollastonite crystals. The same rock has 

streaks crossing differently oriented quartz particles. One such streak crosses 

14 particles of quartz, 5 of plagioclase, 5 of titanite, and 4 of pyroxene that is, 

28 different crystal individuals. In a titanite the streak is represented only by 

a crack, but as it reaches the quartz or the plagioclase it contains fluidal cavities.

These rows of fluidal cavities associated with the marine weathering of a gneiss and the alteration of its plagioclase into wollastonite 

are of very different origin from the fluidal cavities common in quartz 

crystals. They also differ from the sheets of cavities in the fresh 

parts of granite, which do not extend into the feldspars. Only one 

of the many sections of New England granites examined by the 

writer showed cavities bounded by crystal faces. That one was a section of the hornblende-augite granite of Mount Ascutney, in Vermont (p. 162.)

51 See also Merrill, G. P., Fluidal cavities in quartz grains of sandstones: Science, 

vol. 1, p. 221, 1883. He calls attention to the same sandstone or quartzite near Fort 

Ann, and to the rapid movement of the vacuoles within the fluidal cavities.

52 Cross, C. W.. Studien tiber bretonische Gesteine: Min. pet. Mitt, N. F., vol. 3,

*pp. 373-376, pi. 7, figs. 1, 2, 1881.
24 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

E. S. Bastin,53 in studying the pegmatites of Maine, found that, 

some of the sheets of fluidal cavities in the quartz of pegmatite pass 

without deflection from an area of unstrained quartz into a strained 

and a recrystallized zone of it, as clearly shown in his photomicrograph. The writer finds in his granite sections one from the Marr 

& Gordon quarry in Barre, Vt.,. in which sheets of fluidal cavities 

cross strained quartz without deflection, as they do also in the 

granite gneiss from Peru, Vt., described on page 21. But such examples do not prove that the cavities were formed or arranged after 

the straining, for changes in the orientation of the quartz molecules 

and even their recrystallization in place would not necessarily alterthe courses of the sheets of cavities, nor is the passage of sheets of 

cavities without deflection from one crystal of quartz, to another 

evidence that the cavities were formed or arranged after the crystallization of the quartz. The arrangement of the cavities and the 

crystallization of the quartz, the first governed by crustal strains; 

and the second by crystalline cohesion, may have been synchronous 

processes.

No such rows of fluidal cavities as Rosenbusch 54 describes as connected by fine cylindrical canals and as occurring especially in 

granites containing quartz with crush borders have been detected in 

the New England granites studied by the writer. Rosenbusch regards these as possibly of secondary origin or else caused by crustal 

compression.

SUMMARY ON RIFT AND GRAIN.

1. Rift and grain structure consists of minute cracks from 0.091 

to 1.3 millimeters apart crossing the quartz particles and extendinginto the feldspars. These cracks produce a rough fissility in two 

rectangular directions, that of the rift being more pronounced.

2. One of these sets of fractures is always horizontal, or nearly so,, 

and the other is vertical, or nearly so.

3. Both sets are independent of flow structure.

4. Both sets are independent of sheet structure, intersecting granite 

domes, except where one of them chances to coincide with the sheets 

in part of their course.

5. Rift is usually parallel to the mica plates and in many porphyritic granites to the longer axes of the phenocrysts (isolated 

large feldspars).

6. Rift and grain are not pronounced in all granites. Either or 

both may be very feeble or both may be absent.

63 Origin of the pegmatites of Maine: Jour. Geology, vol. 18, p. 308, 1910 ; Geology 

of the pegmatites and associated rocks of Maine, including feldspar, quartz, mica, and' 

gem deposits: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 445, pp. 19-21, pi. 6, fig. 4, 1911.

M Mikroskopische Physiographic, 4th ed., vol. 2, pp. 41, 42, 1907.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 25

7. Rift and grain fractures are about parallel to or coincide with 

sheet's of fluidal cavities in the quartz particles. In some places the 

fracture extends from the end of the sheet into the quartz only; in 

others it continues into the feldspars. These cavities measure from 

less than 0.0028 to 0.03 millimeter in diameter. The sheets cross one 

another at right angles, but those in the grain direction are less 

abundant.

8. These sheets of fluidal cavities with vacuoles pass without interruption or deflection from one crystal particle of quartz to the adjacent one or from an area of unstrained quartz into an area of strained 

and recrystallized quartz.

9. Some sheets of cavities are diagonal to rift and grain directions, 

and some cavities appear to be without arrangement.

10. The'sheets of cavities in granitic quartz stop abruptly at its 

contact with the quartz of any inclusion or rock intruded by the 

granite. Thus at an inclusion of schist on Blue Mountain, in Byegate, Yt., also at the schist mass in the Marr & Gordon quarry, in 

Barre, Vt., where, although the two rocks are firmly welded together 

^k and the quartz of the schist has sheets of cavities, those of the quartz 

of the granite stop at the quartz of the schist.

11. Rift and sheets of fluidal cavities occur also in granite gneiss, 

usually parallel to. its foliation but in places at right angles to it.

12. Small quartz veins, presumably of pegmatitic origin, and small 

granitic and pegmatitic dikes cutting granite or schist also have 

sheets of cavities and rift cracks. Some of these are parallel to the 

sides of the dike, and some dikes have a second set at right angles to 

the first.

13. Secondary minerals (sericite, riebeckite, liinonite) form within 

the rift or grain cracks.

y, 14. Rift and grain are affected by temperature. Granite splits 

more readily along the rift in winter.

15. Rift appears to be slightly deflected by gravity. A detached 

block of granite splits at one angle from the top but at another from 

the side.

16. Rift is also affected by present compressive crustal strain, an 

undetached block having a horizontal rift when split from one point 

of the compass but acquiring a slightly inclined rift when split from 

a point of the compass removed 90° or 180° from the first point. 

(Data obtained from experienced granite workmen at Concord, 

N. H., and Quincy, Mass.)

The facts adduced support the following interpretation of the order 

of events in the formation of rift and grain structure:

(a) During the consolidation of granite, when the quartz, the last 

constituent to consolidate, was crystallizing, the fluidal cavities were 

formed and, in obedience to crustal strain, were largely alined, some
26 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

in approximately horizontal sheets and others in vertical sheets. 

Under the same strain the mica plates in most granites and the large 

feldspars in many porphyritic granites became alined with their 

long axes in the rift direction.55

(b) After complete consolidation, as crustal strain continued, rift 

and grain cracks ensued, following more or less continuously the 

planes of diminished cohesion afforded by the sheets of cavities; and 

these fractures were extended from the quartz into the feldspars.

(c) Under later metamorphism and deep-seated weathering secondary minerals were deposited in the rift and grain cracks, and 

kaolinization took place along the feldspar fissures.

(d) Wherever a granite with fluidal cavities passed under metamorphism into a gneiss and the quartz was simply recrystallized in 

place, the sheets of cavities persisted, but where under more intense 

metamorphism the minerals were rearranged as well as recrystallized 

the fluidal cavities in the quartz under the new compression became 

realined, some of the sheets of cavities and the later ensuing cracks 

being parallel to the gneiss foliation and others running across it.

Rift. and grain structure, has been the chief economic factor in 

granite quarrying from the time of the ancient Egyptian quarrymen 

to the present. Although the rift cracks do not greatly weaken the 

stone they diminish its compressive strength. The average difference 

(loss) of compressive strength shown by two tests made by the 

United States Ordnance Department on granite from Mount Waldo, 

Maine, and Concord, N. H., one with the pressure applied at right 

angles to the rift and the other in the same direction as the rift, was 

11.8 per cent.

SHEET STRUCTURE.

The division of granite into "sheets" or "beds" by jointlikc 

fractures which are variously curved or nearly horizontal, being 

generally parallel with the granite surface, attracted the attention 

of geologists long ago. In 1797 De Dolomieu and shortly before 

that De Saussure 5G described granite sheet structure.

In 1803 Potsch 57 published a paper on the subject. In 1841 

Edward Hitchcock 58 described what he termed the " pseudostratification of granite," near Worcester and Fitchburg, Mass., as a concentric, onionlike structure generally conforming to the rock surface.

K The prientation by crustal compression of mica scales, feldspar crystals, and fluidal 

cavities in granite during its consolidation is somewhat analogous to the process in 

one of the early experiments made to illustrate slaty cleavage, where unarranged metallic scales in a mass of plastic clay became oriented with reference to the pressure 

brought to bear upon the mass.

56 Jour, des mines, vol. 7, No. 43, p. 426, 1797.

57 Bemerkungen und Beobachtungen tiber das Vorkommen des Granits in geschichtete 

Lagen, p. 140, 1803.

58 Final report on the geology of Massachusetts, p. 683, 1841.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 27

in 1860 C. F. Naumann 59 dealt with the subject.

In 1863 F. von Adrian 60 described the structure in Bohemia ami 

regarded it as the result of cooling.

In 1879 Reyer 61 described it as found in another part of Boiiemia; and in 1894 Zirkel 62 also treated the subject.

Although this is the most striking feature in every granite 

quarry and next to the rift and grain is of the greatest importance to the granite industry, there is much diversity off opinion 

os to its cause. Whitney 63 writes:

The curves are arranged strictly with reference to the surface of the masses 

of rock, showing clearly that they must have been produced by the contraction 

of the material while cooling or solidifying and also giving very strongly the 

impression that in many places we see something of the original shape of the 

surface as it was when the granitic mass assumed its present position.

Shaler, a few years later,64 attributed the sheet structure to expansion due to solar heat.

C. H. Hitchcock 65 notices in New Hampshire granite "numerous 

joints, the planes of which correspond very nearly with the slope of 

the hill," but does not undertake to explain them..

Vogt 00 states that the sheets in granites of southeastern Norway 

measure from 6 inches to 6 feet in thickness and dip from 8° to 33° 

on the sides of the mountains, toward the valleys, but that they are 

horizontal on top and approximately parallel to the surface. He 

shows that they are of preglacial origin, attributes them to the same 

cause that is postulated by Whitney for those in California, and 

regards them as parallel to the original surface of the granite masses.

Harris 07 referring to the English granite quarries, writes: "In 

 every quarry we visited we found that the direction of the ' beds' 

approximately corresponded with the outline of the hill on which it 

was situated." He offers no explanation of the phenomenon, however.

J. J. Craw ford °8 describes the sheet structure at granite quarries in 

Madera and Tulare counties, Calif., as consisting of " concentric

68 Lehrbuch dor Geognosie, 2cl ed., vol. 2, p. 191, Leipzig, 1860. 

00 K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt .Tahrb., vol. 13, pp. 155-182, 1863. 

01 Idem, vol. 29, p. 405, 1879.

 <» Lehrbuch dcr retrographic, 2d ed., vol. 2, p. 52, 1894.

43 Whitney, J. D., Geology of California, vol. 1, Geology, p. 372; also pp. 227, 417. 

flgs. 49-54, 1865.

04 Shaler, N. S., Notes on the concentric structure of granitic rocks: Boston Soc. Nat. 

Hist. 1'roc., vol. 12, pp. 289-293, 1869. ' '

86 Goology of New Hampshire, vol. 2, pp. 511-532, plate opposite p. 158. showing sheot 

structure at the " Flume," 1877.

00 Votft, J. H. L., Sheets of granite and syenite in their relation to the present surface: 

Geol. Foren. Fb'rh., No. 56, vol. 4, No. 14, 1879 ; also Nogle, Bemaerkninger oui Granit : 

Christiania Videnskabsselsk. FOrh., No. 9, 1881.

07 Harris, G. F., Granites and our granite industries, London, 1888.

 °" California State Mineralogist Twelfth Rept, pp. 384-387, 3 plates, 1894.
28 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

layers conforming in a general way to the contour of the hills.," but 

suggests no cause for them.

Herrmann,*9 who made a special economic study of the granites of 

Saxony, writes:

Upon closer inspection it appears that the granite sheets are elongated 

lenses overlying one another, of which the upper one, as a rule, has its bulging 

part lying in the depression formed by the two underlying lenses where they 

come together.

Branner 70 describes the exfoliation of the granitoid gneisses in. 

Brazil, which he attributes only in part to changes of temperature. 

He calls attention to the fact that the linear expansion of a mass of 

gneiss 300 feet long at a depth of 15 feet from the surface under a 

surface temperature of 103° F. would amount to only 0.072 inch;; 

and he quotes the results of Forbes, Quetelet, and others to show 

that the annual change of temperature can penetrate rock only to a. 

depth of 40 feet in temperate regions and still less in the Tropics.

Merrill 71 describes 'jStone Mountain, in Georgia, as a boss of granite 

2 miles long by 1£ miles wide and 650 feet high, which owes its form 

wholly to exfoliation parallel to preexisting lines of weakness. The 

mass appears to be made up of imbricated sheets of granite which 

he regards as the result of torsional strains. The bosslike form is 

incidental and consequent. Intermittent expansion and contraction 

from changes of temperature have so affected the sheets that bound 

the mass at the sides that they have found relief in expansion in 

an upward direction. These ruptured sheets are rarely more than 

10 inches thick, but are 10 or 20 feet in diameter.72

Herrmann 73 sums up his conclusions on the subject substantially as 

follows: The so-called sheets are thin near the rock surface, generally 

only a few centimeters thick, but become gradually thicker with 

increasing depth. This downward increase in the thickness of the 

sheets is generally more rapid where the texture of the stone is coarser. 

The course of the sheets is not, as Yogt claims, parallel to the original 

surface of the consolidating rock. It is not governed by internal 

strains. The attitude of the sheets corresponds to the form of the 

present rock surface. The sheet structure is to be looked upon as 

the effect of the beginning and progress of weathering from the sur09 Herrmann, 0., Technische Verwerthung cler Lausitzer Granite: Zeitschr. prakt. Geologic, 1895, p. 435.

70 Branner, J. C., Decomposition of rocks in Brazil: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 7, 

pp. 269-277, 285-292, 1896.

71 Merrill, G. P., Rocks, rock weathering, and soils, 2d ed., p. 231, 1906.

72 For description and representations of Stone Mountain see Merrill, G. P., op. cit, 

pi. 1; Purington, C. W., Geological and topographical features of the region about 

Atlanta, Ga.: Am. Geologist, vol. 14, pp. 105-108, pi. 4, 1894 ; also Watson, T. L., Georgia 

Geol. Survey Bull. 9-A, p. 113, pis. 1-8, 1902. See also description of another granite 

dome Stone Mountain, in North Carolina by Watson and Laney, in North Carolina 

Geol. Survey Bull. No. 2, pi. 25, 1906.

73 Herrmann, 0., Steinbruchindustrie und Steinbruchgeologie, pp. 109-131, 1899.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 29

face inward. These weathering cracks are determined by the form 

of the rock surface instead of that being determined by them.

Turner 74 calls attention to the sheet structure and exfoliation of 

Fairview dome, in the Yosemite.

Gilbert 78 shows that sheet structure occurs in synclinal as well as 

in anticlinal attitude in other words, is parallel to hollows as well 

as to hills which he considers unfavorable to the theory that it is an 

original structure. He suggests that sheet structure may possibly 

be due to expansive stress consequent upon relief from compressive 

stress brought about by the removal of the mass into which the 

granite was intruded. Subordinately he notes that in the Sierra, 

at least, the dome structure and the parallel joint structure do not 

occur in the same place and that the former has resisted general 

erosion more successfully than the latter.

G. F. Becker, in a conversation with the writer, stated that he 

had found the granites and gneisses at the bottom of the Colorado 

Canyon both vertically and horizontally jointed. If these are true 

granites and are still in contact with the rocks into which they 

were intruded and show genuine sheet structure the phenomenon 

would conclusively prove that such structure may occur independently of solar heat and load.

S. F. Emmons similarly stated that in the Mosquito (Park) Range, 

in Colorado, the pre-Cambrian granite and schist are cut by horizontal joints to a depth of 50 feet below their contact with the overlying Cambrian, and that the joints diminish in number downward. 

The original load upon the granite here consisted of at least 10,000 

feet of Paleozoic rocks and between 5,000 and 6,000 feet of Cretaceous 

rocks. As the granite, however, was not intruded into Cambrian 

sediments it must have been exposed to atmospheric erosion before 

they were deposited. These horizontal joints may therefore have 

been related to solar temperature.

G. K. Gilbert studied the granite domes of Georgia and attributed 

their sheet structure to compressive strains. He found that the 

granite in these domes 70 is not naturally divided into plates, but 

that the outer parts of the granite the parts nearest the surface 

are in a condition of compressive strain, which results in slow 

exfoliation and which enables »quarrymen, by means of carefully 

regulated blasts, to develop joints that run approximately parallel 

to the surface, so that the granite is detached in sheets. As these

74 Turner, H. W., The Pleistocene geology of the south-central Siorra Nevada, with 

especial reference to the origin of the Yosemite Valley: California Acacl. Sci. Proc., 3d 

ser., Geology, vol. 1, No. 9, Formation of domos, pp. 312->314, pi. 37, 1900.

76 Gilbert, G. K., Domes and dome structure of the high Sierras : Grol. Soc. America 

Bull., vol. 15, pp. 29-36, pi. 3, 1904.

78 Letters to writer dated May 4 and June 11, 1906.
30 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

sheets are divided into blocks in the process of quarrying, the blocks 

expand horizontally as they are released from the general mass. In 

these granitic domes parting planes also develop naturally within 

a few inches of the surface, and the expansive force is there SO' 

great as to induce conspicuous buckling in the thin sheets thus 

formed. This buckling is illustrated in Plate XV, A, from a photograph taken by Gilbert. The jar of blasting precipitates this sheeting action, so that several of the domes at which quarrying is in 

progress show long lines of freshly formed disrupted arches. Gilbert found that the horizontal elongation, or rather the elongation 

approximately coincident with the contour of the dome surface, 

amounted, by one measurement, to 0.75 inch in a length of 40 feet.

The effects of compressive strain on granite were observed by the 

writer in 1907 at a quarry at the west foot of Black Mountain, a 

domelike mass in West Dummerston, near Brattleboro, Vt., and are 

illustrated in Plate VI, A. New thin sheets have thus been formed 

and one of the sheet fractures opened 3-| inches.

The owner of a large granite quarry in Westford, Mass. (p. 310) 

finds that the sheets are under a compressive strain which relieves 

itself by an expansion amounting to an inch in 100 feet, or 0.0083.

The artificial production of sheets in granite, as practiced at 

Bangalore, in southern India, shows similar phenomena. It is 

described by H. Warth 77 in substance as follows: At the surface 

there is a horizontal sheet of rather weathered rock 4 feet thick; 

below this lies a sheet of fresh rock 3 feet thick, but below this 

lies fresh rock without split. These sheets " are probably due to 

the variations of temperature, daily and seasonal." By means of 

wood fires plates 60 by 40 feet by 6 inches in thickness are detached 

in one piece. A line of fire 7 feet long is gradually elongated and 

moved over the granite. The effect of the fire is tested by hammering the granite in front of it, and then the fire is moved forward. 

The maximum length of the arc of fire is 25 feet. The burning 

lasts eight hours; the line of fire is advanced 6 feet an hour. The 

area passed over by the line of fire is 460 square feet. The amount 

of wood used is 15 hundredweight. The average thickness of stone 

is 5 inches, and its specific gravity is 2.62. These data show that 

1 pound of wood suffices to quarry £0 pounds of stone. Some plates 

are taken out in inclined position. The action of fire is independent 

of the original surface of rock, also of the direction of lamination 

(the granite is gneissose) and of veins. The uniformity in the thickness of the sheets is attributed to the regulating influence of preexisting cracks.

77 The quarrying of granite in India: Nature, vol. 51, p. 272, 1895.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 31

Van Ilise 78 is inclined to attribute sheet structure to solar temperature.

Oxaal 79 connects sheet and rift structure. "In the coo"ing of the 

granite mass a strain or tension is caused which is relieved naturally 

in the formation of cracks in the line of least resistance, namely, 

parallel with the rift."

Before these theories are discussed sheet structures as exposed at a 

few of the larger quarries in Maine will be described.

Dome form and sheet structure are most finely exhibited at Crotch 

Island, near Stonington, and at Mosquito Mountain, near Frankfort. Plate X, Z?, shows the structure in the southern half of Crotch 

Island, at Thurlow Head. The dome is oblate, measuring about 

1.500 feet from north to south and 140 feet in height.

Plate XI, J., from a photograph of the Ryan-Parker quarry, at the 

southern edge of the dome, shows that the sheets rapidly increase in 

thickness downward from 1 to 25 feet in a depth of 75 feet and 

that they dip 20°-25° S. At the next quarry north, the Goss quarry 

(see p. 226), the excavation has exposed the center of the dome mass. 

Here the sheets dip both north and south, measure from 1 to 30 feet 

in thickness, and extend to a depth of fully 140 feet from the surface. 

At both of these quarries the rift is vertical and thus intersects the 

dome sheet structure.

Mosquito Mountain, 2 miles south of Frankfort, in Waldo County,, 

is an oval granite dome 545 feet high, with a north-south axis about 

1 mile long and measuring about half a mile across. It has a steep 

east face, the sheet structure of which is shown in Plate XI, B. On 

the top of this mountain, where the quarry is situated, the sheets dip 

gently north, west, and east, tapering out on the sides, and are 6 to 

15 feet thick. The dome sheet structure is intersected by horizontal 

rift and vertical grain.

At the Mount Waldo quarry, 1£ miles north-northwest of the top of 

Mosquito Mountain, the sheets dip 10° and are 8 inches to 8 feet thick,, 

arid the excavation averages about 20 feet in depth, about 300 feet 

from north to south, and 400 feet from east to west The granite here 

is evidently under compressive strain, for the progress of quarrying 

resulted in a vertical fissure, running north-northwest by south-southeast for the entire width of the quarry and across the rift, which is 

horizontal. The formation of the fissure was accompanied by a dull 

explosive noise. At several other quarries in the State foremen 

report a partial closing of vertical drill holes by expansion or compressive strain of the rock. (See pp. 236, 251.)

78 Van Hise, C. R., A treatise on metamorphism: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 47, pp. 

434-439, 1904.

 Oxaal, John, Norsk Granit: Norges geol. Undersokelse No. 76, p. 211, 1916.
32 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

At the White quarry, in Bluehill, the granite breaks with explosive 

sound when split in large sheets along a vertical rift that extends 

N. 50° W. The gradual increase in the thickness of sheets downward 

is well shown at the Stinchfield quarry, near Hallo well (PL XII, 

B}. Their evenness and curvature are shown at the Sands quarry, 

at Vinalhaven (PL XIV, A). At the Hurricane Island quarry 

(Pi. XII, A) the excavation is 105 feet deep. The upper sheets 

measure from 3 to 20 feet in thickness, but the lowest sheet is fully 60 

feet thick. A good cross-section of granite sheets is seen at the Crabtree & Havey quarry, in Sullivan, shown in Plate XIII, Z?, which 

brings out their lenticular form and arrangement. The tapering end 

of one lens lies between the thickest parts of two others. This accounts for the apparent irregularity in the thickness of the sheets 

in some longitudinal sections, notwithstanding their progressive 

thickening downward. (Compare PL XIII, A, taken at the same 

quarry, with PL XIII, B.)

Sheet structure as exposed in the other New England quarries is 

described on pages 297 and 320 and is illustrated in Plates XXV, JL, 

,and XXVII, A; its relation to overlying rocks is shown in Plates 

Vlli, A, XVII, A, and XXXIV, A, and figures 14,15,17, 18, 93.

The observations as to sheet structure made at over 100 of these 

quarries are here summarized:

1. There is a general parallelism between the sheets and the rock 

surface, resulting in a wavelike joint structure and surface over large 

areas.

2. The sheets increase in thickness more or less gradually downward.

3. The sheets are generally lenses, though in some places their

-form is obscure. Their thick and thin parts alternate vertically with 

one another. The joints that separate these superposed lenses therefore undulate in such a way that only every other set is parallel.

4. On Crotch Island, Maine, the sheet structure extends to a depth 

of at least 140 feet from the surface, and at Quincy, Mass., to 250 feet.

5. Sheet structure, with rare exceptions, intersects the rift.

6. There are indications here and there that the granite is under 

compressive strain, which tends to form vertical fissures or to expand 

the sheets horizontally so as to fill up small artificial openings or to

 extend the sheet partings horizontally. (See pp. 153, 198, 236, 251.) 

The observations made in Europe and in this country, taken in

connect'on with the inferences geologists have drawn from them,

indicate that sheet or " onion " structure in granite rocks is due to the

following possible causes:

1. To expansion caused by. solar heat after the exposure of the

granite by erosion.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 33

2. To contraction in the cooling of the granite while it was still 

under its load of beds, the sheets being therefore approximately parallel to the original contact surface of the intrusive.

3. To tensional strain in the cooling of the granite finding relief in 

the direction of the rift.

4. To expansive stress or tensile strain brought about by the diminution of the compressive stress in consequence of the removal of the 

overlying material.

5. To concentric weathering due to original texture or mineral composition. This action would be chiefly chemical and would be aided 

by vertical joints and by any superficial cracks due to expansion and 

contraction under changes of temperature.

6. To compressive strain akin to that which has operated in the 

folding of sedimentary beds.

7. To the cause named under 1 at the surface, but to the cause 

named under 6 lower down.

These propositions will be considered in the order given:

1. Solar heat may ^produce a certain amount of exfoliation in thin 

sheets at the surface, as is proved experimentally in the fire method 

of granite quarrying in India (p. 30), but as it penetrates only to a 

depth of 40 feet and as sheet structure is known to occur on Crotch 

Island, Maine, at a depth of 140 feet and at Quincy, Mass., at a depth 

of 175 feet, it is quite inadequate to account for sheets that are 20 to 

30 feet thick and 100 to 175 feet below the surface. In Quincy at 

a depth of 175 feet the next sheet is over 50 feet thick.

2. In view of the load under which granite was probably formed 80 

and the gradual .rate at which, therefore, it probably cooled, which is 

also indicated by the general coarseness of its texture, it is improbable that the temperature at its contact surface and the temperature at depths 100 or 200 feet below could have so greatly differed 

as to bring about such a system of joints by contraction.

3. As the sheets in very many New England granite quarries and 

notably in the domes of Crotch Island and Mosquito Mountain, 

Maine, cross the rift the explanation that postulates relief from 

tensional strain in the direction of the rift will not answer. Wher80 See p. 4. Sorby thought that this load could be estimated by calculating the contraction of the liquid in the cavities of the quartz. Sorby, H. C., On the microscopic 

structure of crystals, indicating the origin of minerals and rocks. Geol. Soc. London 

Quart. Jour., vol. 14, pp. 453 et seq., 1858. Ward, J. C., On the granitic, granitoid, and 

associated metamorphic rocks of the Lake district. Idem, vol. 31, pp. 568-002, 1875. 

Rosenbusch claims that the great variation in the relative dimensions (amount) of the 

liquid and the vacuoles in the cavities of granitic quartz shows conclusively that the 

vacuole was not due to the contraction of the liquid. Mikroskoplsche Physiographic der 

Mineralien und Gesteine, 4th ed., vol. 2, pp. 41, 42. For further discussion of this question see Chamberlin, R. T., op. cit., pp. 64 66. For drawings of these cavities and 

vacuoles see Judd, J. W., Volcanoes, figs. 8, 9, 1881; also Bastin, E. S.( U. S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 445, flg. 4, 1911.

105709 23 4
34 COMMEKCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

ever the sheets are parallel to the rift it is a coincidence, not an 

effect. Sheets also occur in granite gneiss (see figs. 14, 15, 17, and 

Pis. VIII, A, XXXIV, A) and in places intersect its rift. The same 

sheets even traverse a granite and the overlying granite gneiss intruded by it. (See PI. XXXIV, A, and fig. 17.) At the lower Sherwood quarry, on Crotch Island, Maine, sheet structure crosses the 

contact of a coarse and a very fine granite that is, the direction of 

the flow structure at 90° (see fig. 51) and a vertical rift at 75°. 

Its origin was therefore subsequent to consolidation and to rift 

and unrelated to flow and rift.

4. As Gilbert states, in suggesting the theory of fracture by relief 

of tensile strain through the erosion of overlying masses, we have no 

distinct knowledge of it. It is a possible explanation.

5. Careful inspection of the rock on both sides of the sheet joints 

fails to show any difference in texture or mineral composition. The 

sheet structure traverses both rift and flow structure, and it would be 

possible to procure specimens showing a sheet joint traversing a 

single crystal of feldspar. Whatever chemical action has taken place 

along the sheet joints is of secondary character. Acid waters may 

have gained access to the joint but have not caused it. ('See matter 

under heading "Rusty stain ('sap')," p. 66.)

6. The condition of strain described by Merrill and Gilbert as existing in the granite domes of Georgia and by Niles and Emerson in 

the gneiss at Monson, Mass.,81 and by the writer at West Dummerston, Vt. (p. 153 and PL VI, A ), and occuring to a lesser extent in some 

Maine quarries (p. 236), shows that granite and gneiss are in places 

still under compressive strain. Another instance occurs at the quarry 

of the New England Granite Works, at Concord, N. H. (p. 198). The 

foreman at this quarry was in the habit of calling certain sheets 

marked by the absence of rusty stain " strain sheets," to distinguish 

them from the others. At one place a northwest-southeast compressive strain had actually extended the strain sheet about 5 feet and 

also caused a vertical fracture that extended over 15 feet diagonally 

from the north-south working face to a point on a vertical east-west 

channel 5 feet back of the face, closing up the channel to half its 

original width. Evidences of compressive strain were also noted at 

Quincy (p. 320) and Rockport, Mass. (p. 294), and at Westerly, 

R. I. (p. 406), and have been observed by the writer in some of the 

quarries at Barre and Woodbury, Vt. (pp. 128, 147). The practicability of developing sheet structure by the use of explosives and 

compressed air, as is done in some of the North Carolina granite

81 Niles, W. H., Some interesting phenomena observed in quarrying: Boston Soc. Nat. 

Hist. Proc., vol. 14, pp. 80-87, 1872, vol. 16, pp. 41-43, 1874. Emerson, B. K., Geology 

of Old Hampshire County, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 39, pp. 63-65, 1898.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 35

quarries, shows that the rock is under a compressive strain there.82 

Recent effects of compressive strain have been noticed in the granite 

quarries of Quenast, in Belgium.83

All these observations bring this theory within the domain of 

inductive science. If sheet structure is due to compressive strain, it 

is due to such a strain as would produce a series of undulating fractures extending entirely across a granite mass several miles in diameter and to a depth, as far as observed, of 250 feet from the rock 

surface.

7. In view of the undoubted sheeting effect of expansion under 

solar heat within a short distance of the surface 84 and of the fact 

that some of the sheets near the surface measure but a few inches in 

thickness, it is quite possible that very thin surface sheets have 

originated in this way; but in view of what was stated under -heading 6 it seems probable that compressive strjdnjis^_the_main factor in 

r^-ojlu£ijig_jnassive sheets. At the surface both causes may have 

cooperated. The progressive thickness of the sheets downward indicates that the operation of this strain is evidently also dependent 

upon distance either from the present surface or from a farmer surface or contact.

According to this view sheet structure may be said to exert a controlling influence upon surface forms, yet it seems quite possible 

that granite domes as conspicuous as Stone Mountain, in Georgia, 

and Fairview Dome, in California, not with standing all the exfoliation that has taken place on them or the erosion they may have suffered, may still retain some degree of parallelism between their present form and the original contour of the granitic intrusions of which 

they are parts. This may be true also of the granite hills.of Mount 

Desert.

The probability being admitted that the general parallelism between the present surface and the sheet structure is the result of 

erosion that followed the sheeting, the question still remains, What 

has determined the form and location of the domes? These may 

possibly be referred to major arches (anticlines) in the folds of the 

stratified rocks that originally overlay the granite. The crustal 

movement that produced these folds may also have brought about the 

intrusion of the material that formed the domes beneath them.

Although the sheet structure and the rock surface are very generally parallel, they are not universally so.

82 Watson, T. L., and Laney, F. B., The building and ornamental stones of North 

Carolina: North Carolina Geol. Survey Bull. 2. pp. 157-160, 1906.

83 Hankar-TJrban, A., Note sur des mouvements spontane's drs roches dans les carrieres: Soc. beige g6ol., pal. hydro!. Bull., vol. 19, pp. 527-540, 1906; also two later 

papers in vols. 21, 1907, and 23, 1909.

84 See reference to Walther's observation of the exfoliation of granite under solar heat 

In Egypt, on p. 71.
36 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Sheet structure in granite so much resembles the structure of 

folded stratified rocks that underground water circulates in practically the same way along the fracture planes of one and the bedding planes of the other. The exudation of water along sheet joints 

on vertical rock faces is seen in many of the Maine quarries (PI. 

XIV, #), and also in Massachusetts (PL XXVII, A) and Rhode 

Island (PI. XXXIV, A).

DOUBLE-SHEET STRUCTURE.

Robeson Mountain, in Woodbury, Vt., is a narrow granite ridge, 

attaining an elevation of about 1,100 feet above Hardwick station 

and some 930 feet above Woodbury (Sabin) Pond. It is from 300 

to 400 feet above the hollows on either side of it. Its axis trends 

from N. 80° E. to S. 70° W., describing a slfght curve. Near its 

west-southwest end the Fletcher quarry cuts the ridge in a northeastsouthwest direction, and in 1907 had reached a depth of 40 feet. 

The sheets exposed here are from 1 to 5 feet thick, horizontal at the 

top of the ridge but curving over on the southeast with a dip of 

15° to 30°, as shown in Plate VI, Z>, and determining the slope of 

the ridge on that side. These sheets are, however, intersected by 

another set from 5 to 9 feet thick, dipping 5°-10° S. 70° W. in 

the direction of the axis of the ridge. In the Woodbury Granite 

Co.'s quarries, roughly about 1,750 feet N. 80° E. of the Fletcher 

quarry, the sheets at the top of the ridge turn, dipping to the northern horizon. Lower down on the southeast side of the ridge they 

are from 2 to 18 feet thick and dip 20° SSE., with an intersecting set 

wh'ich is horizontal and evidently corresponds to the second set of 

the Fletcher quarry.

At one of the Oak Hill granite quarries, 6 miles west of Lowell, 

in Westforcl, Mass. (p. 310), the sheets, 6 inches to 8 feet thick, dip 

10° NE. but are intersected by secondary sheets, 10 to 20 feet thick, 

dipping 20° N. 47° E.

Out of the 425 granite quarries visited by the writer in New England, these are the only ones in which secondary sheet structure was 

observed.

The only explanation offered for this double-sheet structure is 

the ^existence at some time of a secondary compressive strain^operating_differently from thaTwhich produced the primary^eeJLsjbnicture and giving rise to a"he"ai-ly horizontal set of. joints, or sheet 

partings. There is now a marked compressive strain in the Fletcher 

quarry, operating from northeast to southwest, parting the sheets 

and giving rise even in the upper part of the quarry to horizontal 

strain fractures. Its existence lends support to such an explanation.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 37 

JOINTS.

Herrmaim 85 divides joints into two groups joints formed by lateral compression, whose distances from one another are related to 

the coarseness of the rook texture, and joints due to expansion some 

of which are parted and filled with calcite,. quartz, pegmatite, or 

volcanic rock. That many joints are due to compressive or torsiona! 

strain, and that every such strain resolves itself into two components, resulting in two sets of joints that intersect at an angle oi 

about 90°, each forming an angle of about 45° with the direction 

of the strain, are facts now generally recognized. Crosby 8G has suggested that torsional strains may have been supplemented by vibratory strains in causing joints. Becker 87 shows that four or even 

more than four systems of joints may be due to a single force. He 

also shows.that subsequent strain on a region thus jointed would 

tend to produce motion along the previously formed joints rather 

than, a new system of jointing. It is conceivable that if a region 

had been jointed and afterward subjected to a tensile strain, some 

of its joints might be parted^ and if they were very deep the openings might become filled with volcanic matter from below, or. if 

not, Avith matter from above, infiltrated from overlying rocks. That 

motion has occurred along some of the joints in the quarries is evident from the polished and striated surfaces of the joints as well 

as from the faulting of the sheets.

Joints are exceptionally as curved " as the side of a ship." (See 

PI. XIV, B.)

Possibly related to such curved joints are what some New England 

quan^men term "toe nails." These joints strike with the sheets 

but extend only from one sheet surface to the next and have a curve 

which sharply intersects that of the sheet structure. Such joints 

seem to be due to a strain different from that which produced the 

sheets. They may be due to an incipient secondary sheet structure. 

They were noted at Quincy, Mass., Westerly, R. I., and Milford,N. H.

The spacing of the joints varies considerably, ranging from 1 foot 

to 500 feet, but usually from 10 to 50 feet.

In some localities the jointing is very irregular. The granite is 

broken up into various polygons, which at the surface, where weathering has made inroads, resemble boulders. Quarries opened in such 

places are called boulder quarries. Another sort of irregularity in 

joints consists in their discontinuity or intermittence, their strike and 

dip for the short spaces in which they occur being uniform. Joint

86 Herrmann, 0., Stelnbruchindustrle und Steinbruchgeologie, p. 103, 1899.

88 Crosby, W. 0., The origin of parallel and intersecting joints: Am. Geologist, vol. 12, 

pp. 368-375, 1893.

87 Becker, G. F., Simultaneous joints: Washington Acad. Sci. Proc., vol. 7, pp. 267-275, 

pi. 13, 1905.
38 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

courses at the quarries referred to in this work are given under the 

quarry descriptions in Part II, and many of them are there shown in 

diagrams.

HEADINGS.

In some places joints occur within intervals so short as to break 

up the rock into useless blocks. For a space of 5 to 50 feet the joints 

may be from 6 inches to 3 feet apart. A group of close joints is 

called by quarrymen a " heading," possibly because, when practicable, 

such a mass is left as the head or wall of the quarry. (See Pis. XVI, 

A; XVII, B.} Headings afford ample ingress for surface water, and 

consequently the granite within a heading is generally badly stained, 

if not decomposed. This will be referred to more fully under the 

heading "Decomposition" (p. 70).

An interesting feature of both headings and joints shown in some 

of the deeper quarries at Quincy. Mass. (p. 320), is their vertical discontinuity. A heading occurring at the surface may disappear below, 

or a heading may abruptly appear a hundred feet below the surface 

and continue downward.

The hornblende granite of High Eock, in Wrentham, Mass. (Curry 

quarry, p. 314), besides the usual sheet and joint structure, has steep 

headings at irregular intervals in its upper part. These are only 

5 to 10 feet deep and several feet wide, differing from ordinary 

headings in the closeness of their joints, which are only 1 to 2 inches 

apart.

Headings are not easily accounted for. They may be produced by 

vibratory strains recurring at intervals of time. If they are so 

caused, the character of the fractures in .some headings indicates 

that the strains are very complex. (See under Concord, N. H., 

p. 196.)

FAULTS.

The polished and grooved faces (" slickensides") observed on 

many of the joints at the quarries show that faulting has occurred 

along them. The discontinuity of the sheets at.some of the joints, 

causing, where the joints are slightly inclined, what quarrymen call 

" toeing in," may .probably be attributed to faulting. This supposition assumes, of course, that the sheet structure was formed prior to 

the jointing. Faulting occurs also along sheets, displacing vertical 

flow structure, or vertical dikes. .(See PI. XVI, B.) It may occur 

along one of two intersecting dikes, displacing the other, as at the 

Deep Pit on Cape Ann, Mass. (See PI. XXVII, B.)

SHEAR ZONES.

 Zones along which numerous microscopic parallel meandering 

fractures have been made and shearing has occurred, giving rise to 

secondary minerals and plicating the lamellae of plagioclase, were
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 39

observed at one of the quarries at Fall River, Mass. (See p. 283.) 

This is incipient gneissic foliation.

" SHAKE " STRUCTURE.

In quarries where rift structure and sheet structure happen to 

coincide the granite in proximity to steep joints and near the surface 

acquires a marked foliation parallel to rift and sheets. This is 

known by quarrymen as " shake." It occurs at the top and bottom of 

sheets through a thickness of 6 inches and is coextensive with the 

rusty stain. Under the microscope it prove's to consist of minute 

nearly parallel fissures of no great continuity, traversing the mineral 

grains and conspicuous in the quartz and mica. The spacing of the 

fissures ranges from 0.004 to 0.02 inch.

The structure is attributed to the action of frost upon the rift, 

surface water having reached sheets and rift through steep joints. 

It is uncertain whether the fine horizontal fissures at right angles to 

the gneiss foliation but parallel to the sheets, <and spaced 0.5 to 6 

inches, at the Sachem Head quarry, in Guilford, Conn. (p. 384), are 

also to be so explained or constitute a miniature sheet structure.

SUBJOINTS.

Careful inspection shows that the joint structure in granites does 

not everywhere consist of a, simple fracture but is at many places 

complex. Minute fractures branch off from the joint at an acute or 

right angle and penetrate the rock a few inches, or the rock for a 

few inches on either side of the joint is traversed by microscopic 

fissures that are roughly parallel to it. All such structural features 

may properly be called sub joints.

The following observations were made in the Maine granites and 

quarries:

A thin section of North Jay granite across a joint face shows two 

diverging sub joints that form an acute angle with each other and 

with the main joint and are filled with.limonite and sericite (?). 

Single sub joints are, however, rarely found, five or six fine parallel 

fissures generally occurring together. In one of the quarries at 

Franklin (quarry of W. B. Blaisdell & Co., p. 220), the subjoints 

are parallel to the main joint and steeply inclined, and as both main 

and subjoints are filled with calcium carbonate the granite near the 

joint weathers out vertically in small slablike pieces from half an 

inch to 2 inches thick. As these usually contain one or more subjoints filled with calcite or aragonite they consist of alternating bands 

of calcium carbonate and granite. Under the microscope one of 

these subjoints, measuring 0.74 millimeters across, is seen to be filled 

with long slivers of quartz and feldspar and scales of biotite, forming a breccia. Another, 0.07 millimeter wide, is filled with secondary
40 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

quartz. At the T. M. Blaisdell qarry in East Franklin, Hancock 

County (p. 219), a northeast-southwest vertical joint has on one side 

numerous sub joints that meander off at right angles to it and traverse 

a cubical mass whose sides measure 10 to 15 feet. At the Shattuck 

Mountain quarry, in Calais (p. 266), a joint striking N. 25° E. has 

subjoints striking N. 40° E., N. 60° E., and N. 50° W.

Woodworth 88 has studied analogous and related structures in various rocks and described them as " joint fringe" and " feather 

fractures."

The term sub joint is here extended to include also series of minor 

parallel joints traversing quartz veins.

Such jointed veins occur in several quarries at Quincy, Mass., on 

the North Commons. They are made conspicuous by a zone of light 

discoloration in the granite on either side of the vein. At the 

Field & Wild quarry (see p. 326) these'veins recur at intervals of 

2 to 25 feet, with a north and northwest strike. They are crossed 

every inch or two by subjoints about 1 foot long, which strike about 

N. 15° W. and dip east like the chief joints of that quarry. At 

the Galvin quarry (see p. 325) similar quartz veins, striking N. 25° 

W., are crosse'd by vertical subjoints an inch apart and a foot long, 

with a northerly strike like that of the major joints. Workmen 

report that the granite iiear such veins is harder than elsewhere.

These subjoints may be accounted for by the greater rigidity and 

vitreousness of the veins and the adjacent granite, thus causing them 

to fracture more readily than the surrounding rock under the jointforming movements. Although parallel to the major joints, such 

subjoints may have been formed at a different time.

CONTEMPORARY FRACTURES.

The geologic structural features termed contemporary fractures, 

formed by processes that are still going on, have been described 

under the subject of sheet structure on pages 29-30 and are illustrated in Pis. VI, A, and "XV, A. The effect of compressive strain 

has also been noted at the Tayntor quarry, Hallowell, Maine (p. 236), 

the Hooper & Havey quarry, North Sullivan, Maine (p. 231), also 

at these quarries in Vermont: Woodbury quarry, Bethel, strain 

east to west; Boutwell quarry, Barre, strain north to south; Bruce 

quarry, Barre, strain north to south; Wells-Lamson quarry, Barre> 

strain north to south; Canton quarry, Barre, strain east to west; 

Fletcher quarry, Woodbury, strain northeast to southwest; Benzie 

quarry, Groton, strain general; Tupper quarry, Blue Mountain, 

Ryegate, strain east to west; Lyons quarry, Black Mountain, Dummerston, strain N. 10° E. to S. 10° W.

83 Woodworth, J. B., On the fracture system of joints, with remarks on certain great 

fractures: Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. Proc.. vol. 27, pp. 169-173, pis. 1, 2. 1896.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 41

The usual effect of such strains is the closing of channels and the 

crushing of "cores" (rock intervals) between vertical drill holes.

MODIFICATIONS OF GRANITE.

Under the above heading are grouped all those variations from 

typical granite that are due to injection, segregation, inclusion, steam 

cavities, compression, infiltration, and decomposition.

DIKES.

Dikes in granite are fissures filled from below by the injection of

' matter in a heated and more or less plastic to fluid condition. The

injected material or dike rock may be acidic or basic that is, it may

be very siliceous, like granite, or it may contain more of the basic

elements, like basalt.

ACIDIC DIKES.

The acidic dikes in the quarries are of three kinds fine or medium 

grained granite; extremely fine grained aplite, and very coarse 

grained pegmatite. The courses of these dikes at each quarry are 

given in the diagrams or descriptions in Part II. In thickness they 

range from a fraction of an inch to over 20 feet but usually from 2 

inches to 2 feet.

Granite. The following observations were made in the Maine 

quarries: At the Settlement quarry, near Stonington (see p. 229), the 

coarse granite is traversed by a dike, 4 to 12 inches thick, of light 

pinkish-gray granite, in which the feldspars attain a size of 0.1 

inch (25 millimeters). This rock consists of a jpinkish potash feldspar (microcline), a white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), 

smoky quartz, and black mica (biotite). At the Mosquito Mountain quarry (p. 258), near Frankfort, there is a 10-foot dike of 

medium-grained gray granite (quartz monzonite), with feldspars 

up to 0.3 inch. The potash feldspar (microcline) is about equal in 

amount to the soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), the quartz is smoky, 

and the mica is black. At the Mount Waldo quarry (p. 259) there 

is a dike 200 feet wide of fine biotite granite, with coarse biotite 

granite on both sides of it. The feldspars of this dike measure up 

to 0.15 inch, but range ordinarily from 0.36 to 1.45 millimeters. The 

fine-grained biotite-muscovite granites quarried at the Sherwood 

quarry, on Crotch Island (specimen 25, a, described on p. 227), at 

East Bluehill (specimen 39, a, p. 216), and at a small opening on 

Dodlin Hill, near Norridgewock (specimen 117, a, p. 257), all seem 

to belong to similar dikes that are not many feet thick. At an old 

quarry near Bluehill there is an 18-inch dike of fine-grained muscovite-biotite granite, in which the feldspars are much intergrown with 

quartz.
42 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

At Milford, Mass., the medium-coarse, even-grained, slightly 

gneissoid biotite granite is cut by a 4-foot dike of fine to medium 

grained porphyritic biotite granite. (See further p. 346.) The same 

granite at the West quarry (p. 348) is cut by dikes of fine quartz 

monzonite.

In Rhode Island the fine Westerly granites appear in dikelike 

masses from 50 to 150 feet thick, striking N. 75°-90° W. and dipping 30°-45°. At the Smith quarry they are underlain by a parallel 

mass of aplitic granite of similar character, carrying also inclusions 

of finely banded biotite gneiss. At the Klondike quarry the granite 

has a flow structure striking N. 10°-20° W., intersecting the course 

of the apparent dike. It is uncertain whether these are granite dikes 

or protuberances from a broad intrusive mass which have become 

exposed by the erosion of the thinner parts of the overlying gneiss.

The fine quartz monzonites of Connecticut, like those of RhodeIsland, occur as dikes, or apparent dikes, in various gneisses. At the 

Waterford quarry there are two such parallel dikes with an intervening strip of gneiss. The relations are shown in figures 13 and 14. 

The thickness of the dikes measured at a right angle to their inclination ranges from 12 to 40 feet, but at the Millstone quarry the 

relations are not clear. The granite is exposed for a depth of 50 to 

125 feet and a width of 50- to 300 feet, and is capped here and there 

by 25 feet of gneiss, but no underlying gneiss is yet exposed, although 

the abundance of inclusions at the bottom of the quarry may indicate 

its proximity. If the width of the granite at right angles to the 

flow, which appears to dip 35° SW. is taken as 200 feet, the thickness of the granite, would be about 114 feet. It is possible that a 

part of this quarry oyerlies the vertical portion of a granite dike. 

(See pp. 396, 397.) At the Torrington Borough quarry (p. 379) a 

finely banded biotite granite gneiss associated with pyritiferous 

quartz-mica diorite gneiss is crossed by a network of dikes the 

largest 6 inches thick of bluish-gray quartz monzonite, which has 

acquired a gneissic texture.

In Dummerston, Vt., on the west side of Black River (Bailey 

prospect, p. 155), the granite is cut by a dike of fine granite, 30 feet 

wide, with a N. 10° W. course and dip of 50° W. It is of medium 

bluish-gray color and of very fine, even-grained texture, with feldspar and mica up to 0.05 inch. In thin section its particles range 

from 0.074 to 1.1 millimeters in diameter. It is a quartz monzonite 

of similar composition to that of West Dummerston. Its mica is 

chiefly biotite. Feldspar and quartz are intergrown and have crush 

borders.

Aplite. Aplite differs from ordinary granite by the greater fineness of its texture and its scant content of mica. It is known by 

quarrymen as " salt horse " or " white horse."
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 43

Aplite dikes are supposed to have originated in the same deepseated molten mass as the granite they traverse, but they represent a 

later stage of igneous activity. The fissures they fill were the result 

of various tensional strains or contractions, possibly consequent upon 

the cooling of the granite.

In color these dikes range from white, bluish or brownish gray to 

light pinkish gray, cream color, and dark reddish. The texture of 

some aplites is so fine that the mineral particles can not be distinguished with the unaided eye; that of others is so coarse that the 

feldspar and mica may be thus detected. Under the microscope the 

dimensions of the particles range from 0.05 to 0.75 millimeter, the 

average being about 0.16 millimeter for the finer ones and 0.50 millimeter for the coarser ones. Some aplites have a porphyritic texture.

Most aplites contain a slightly higher percentage of silica than 

granite. Five analyses of aplites from the far West made at the 

laboratory of the United States Geological Survey 89 show a range 

of silica from 74.21 to 76.03 per cent and an average of 75.18, which 

is near the maximum of silica for granites generally.

The minerals of aplite dikes are so firmly attached to the granite 

on cither side that a split can be readily made across both granite 

and aplite. Under the microscope the minerals of the dike appear 

to be welded, so to speak, to those of the granite. In construction 

the blocks containing such dikes should not, therefore, necessarily be 

regarded as places of weakness, but in a quarry at Franklin, Hancock County, Maine, the granite is close jointed for a space of a foot 

on either side of an aplite dike, the joints being parallel to the dike.

Two typical aplites will be described in detail. One, from the Goss quarry 

on Moose Island, near Stonington, Maine, is from a dike 15 inches wide and over 

200 feet long, consists largely of quartz, potash feldspar; (microcline), and a 

soda-lime feldspar (oligbclase) in particles ranging from 0.047 to 0.141 millimeter in diameter, a few thinly disseminated particles qf the same minerals 

measuring from 0.55 to 1.45 millimeters and a few scales of black mica measuring up to 0.47 millimeter. Another apllte, from the Sands quarry at Vinalliaven, Maine, consists mostly of quartz but contains some potash feldspar 

(orthoclase and microcline), still less soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase). and a few 

scales of black mica. The particles range from 0.047 to 0.3 millimeter in 

diameter.

Dikes of aplite were observed at the quarries in Roxbury, Benvenue, Bolton, Greenwich, and Sterling, Conn. Aplite is also associated with pegmatite at several other quarries.

At Itoxbury some of the aplite is Cose colored, and the larger dikes are 4 feet 

thick. Its particles are all under 0.1 inch and consist of oligoclase-andesine, 

smoky amethystine quartz, microcline, rare muscovite, and microscopic garnets. 

The feldspars have crush borders, the dikes having been exposed to the same 

pressure that made a gneiss of the inclosing granite. A white aplite from the 

same quarry has oligoclase-albite as its chief feldspar.

68 U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 419, pp. 64, 86, 92, 148, 157, 1910.
44 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

At Benvenue the aplite is white to rose-colored, and the larger dikes are to 

foot thick. Its particles are all under 1 millimeter and consist of quartz, 

orthoclase and microcline, oligoclase, and rare biotite, with accessory pyrite,. 

titanite, allanite.

At the Peter son quarry in Bolton an 18-inch bluish-gray aplite of slightly 

gneissic texture has quartz and feldspar particles from 0.11 to 0.33 millimeter, 

with some porphyritic particles from 0.54 to 0.84 millimeter, and consists of 

smoky quartz, bluish microcline and orthoclase, white plagioclase, and rare 

biotite. v

The diorite gneiss of Greenwich is crossed by a network of small dikes of 

aplite of bluish-gray color, with particles under 0.76 and mostly under 0.57 

millimeter and consisting of quartz with cavities in sheets-, microcline and 

orthoclase, andesine, and probably oligoclase-andesine, rare and minute biotite, 

with accessory pyrite, apatite, titanite, zircon.

At the quarries near Oneco, in Sterling, the larger aplite dikes are a foot 

thick and the aplite is cream-colored, with particles ranging in diameter front 

0.05 to 1.11 millimeters. It consists of clear colorless quartz with cavities, 

microline and orthoclase, rare and minute biotite, and accessory ilmenite,. 

garnet, and apatite. A small dike contains a central band of ilmenite.

At the .Bodwell Granite Co.'s quarry (see p. 268), 2 miles east 

of Jonesboro, Washington County, Maine, the reddish granite is traversed by a 6-foot dike of rather coarse dark-reddish aplite, in which 

the higher power of the microscope shows that the source of the 

color lies in exceedingly minute dots of hematite. The aplite contains also muscovite, biotite, and accessory pyrite. This dike crosses 

the quarry in a N. 20° W. direction. A similar dike, having a like 

course, but only 4 feet wide, occurs at the east end of the quarry. A 

third dike, 3 to 6 inches wide, has a N. 77° E. course, and a fourth, 

of fine-grained material, 0.5 to 1 inch wide, crosses the others with 

a course N. 60° W. and can be traced for 200 to 300 feet. This is 

evidently of later date than the others.

The gneissoid biotite granite of the Savoie quarry, in Fall River, 

Mass. (p. 284), is crossed by two aplite dikes.

One (specimen D, XXX, 118, a), 10 feet wide, is of light pinkish-gray color 

and fine, even-grained texture. Its second feldspar is albite (soda feldspar), 

somewhat micacized and epidotized. Its biotite is chloritized. The other 

(specimen D, XXX, 118, b), up to 2 feet thick, is of dark brownish-gray color 

and semiporphyritic texture, its smaller particles generally arranged about the 

larger. Its second feldspar is also albite.

The biotite granite gneiss of the Blanchard quarry, in Uxbridge, 

Mass. (p. 353), has aplite dikes up to 3 feet thick.

The muscovite-biotite granite gneiss of the Merrill quarry, in 

Westford, Mass. (p. 310), has whitish aplite dikes with longitudinal 

bands of black tourmaline 0.2 inch wide.

A very unusual dike of aplite crosses the mica diorite of the 

Leavitt quarry, in Leominster, Mass. (p. 353). (See fig. 2.) It is 

of light-gray and bluish-gray color. Its broadest part consists of 

over 150 meandering parallel bands of these alternating shades
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 45

<( specimens D, XXX, 110, b, c), many of them bordered with microscopic prisms of black tourmaline with their main axis across the 

band. The meanderings of these bands resemble the plications of a 

metamorphic stratified rock. The aplite contains here and there

 clear feldspars up to an inch long.

In thin section it resembles a quartz monzonite, its constituents, in descending order of abundance, being oligoclase-albite, quartz, microcline, and black 

tourmaline in minute prisms. The accessory minerals are apatite in needles 

;and particles (abundant), pyrite, garnet, and flakes of muscovite (rare). The 

.yellowish tinge of some of the bands is probably due to the oxidation of the 

pyrite. A few of the bands are pegmatite without tourmaline but.with biotite, 

;a little muscovite, and ilmenite (?) surrounded by leucoxene.

The banding of this aplite dike 

may be ascribed to a gradual enlargement of the fissure and the deposition of aplite on either side, as in 

banded mineral veins. The meandering or plication of the bands and 

the transverse orientation of the 

tourmaline prisms are possibly due 

to one cause. Other smaller dikes

 of aplite are parallel to this one,

 and some of aplite and of pegmatite intersect the main dike.

The considerable area of 

pyritiferous aplite quarried 

in Hingham, Mass. (p. 336). is

 of light, slightly greenishgray color and scarcely developed sheet structure, but with 

.many headings showing rusty faces from the limonitization of the 

pyrite.

This rock also resembles a quartz monzonite, with these constituents in de- 

.scending order of abundance: Oligoclase-albite, quartz, microcline, and very 

little biotite mostly chloritized and associated with epidote. The accessory 

minerals are pyrite and magnetite. As the stone is extremely hard, its percentage of quartz must be high.

Ill Caledonia County, Vt. (Grout quarry,Kirby Township,p. Ill), 

three aplite dikes strike N. 80° E. and are 6 feet 6 inches, 6 feet, and 

1 foot thick.

This aplite (specimen D, XXIX, 76, b) is dark gray and of very fine porphyritic texture. But few particles can be distinguished; feldspar 0.1 inch, mica

 0.05 inch. It effervesces slightly with muriatic acid test. In thin section the 

particles of groundmass range from 0.037 to 0.148 millimeter and consist, in

 descending order of abundance, of quartz, microcline (possibly also orthoclnse), 

rare soda-lime feldspar, minute biotite scales, muscovite or bleached biotite, 

.and secondary zoisite. The porphyritic particles and crystals are quartz, sodalime feldspar, orthoclase, and biotite. One of the former feldspars has curved 

twinning planes, another is faulted across them and has much secondary quartz 

about it. all indicating motion after crystallization. Calcite is present.

FIGURE 2. Approximave horizontal section of 

banded aplite dike in diorite, Leavitt 

quarry, Leominster, Mass.
46 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Other aplite dikes in New England are referred to on pages 127, 

1G7, 265, and 415.

Pegmatite. Pegmatite lies at the other extreme. Its mineral constituents range generally from 6 inches to 1 foot or even several feet 

in diameter. It is reported that the crystals in some pegmatite dikes 

measure from 10 to 30 feet in length by 1 to 3 feet in width. The 

chief minerals in pegmatite dikes are the same as in granite, but they 

occur in different though varying proportions. With these minerals 

are commonly associated tourmaline, garnet, beryl, etc. Chemically 

these dikes generally contain more silica than the granite. Dikes of 

pegmatite are, as a rule, more irregular in width than those of aplite. 

They generally range in thickness from 1 inch to 10 feet.

The origin of pegmatite has been much discussed both in Europe 

and in this country.90 Bastin in the bulletin cited states that the 

" distinguishing feature of pegmatites is not coarseness of grain but 

extreme irregularity of grain." Gregory 91 in showing the bearing 

of the phenomena in the granite quarries of Connecticut upon the 

origin of pegmatite states:

The contact between the pegmatites and the gneiss or other rock into which 

they have been intruded is clearly defined, showing no gradation between the 

pegmatite and the gneiss. In the feldspar quarries of Glastonbury, where the 

contact may be clearly traced, the gneiss immediately adjoining the pegmatite 

retains all the minute structures of foliation and differs in no way from the 

main body of granite gneiss. * * * The proportions of the chief minerals 

in pegmatites vary greatly. Some dikes or veins contain quartz, feldspar, and 

mica in about the same proportions as those found in normal granites. In other 

dikes feldspar and quartz make up practically the entire mass, and in some 

localities quartz alone constitutes probably 90 per cent of the entire rock.

Pegmatite may be regarded as a form of granitic intrusive that originated 

in parts of the igneous mass which were abundantly supplied with water vapor. 

Most masses of pegmatite were formed in a manner somewhat different from 

that in which ordinary granite was formed, and their composition varies with 

their distance from the granite mass. For instance, in the Collinsville granite 

gneiss area the pegmatities that are closely associated with the granite mass, 

such as those at Canton, are of essentially the same mineral content as the 

granite. The pegmatite farther away, which cuts the schist overlying the 

granite, is composed chiefly of quartz and feldspar, and that which lies still 

more distant is formed entirely of quartz.

Referring to the minerals occurring in pegmatite. Gregory states:

The pegmatite veins along Connecticut River have yielded sphalerite, gahnite, magnetite, chrysoberyi, bismutite, orthoclase (crystals), albite, oligoclase,

30 The principal American writings on the subject are those by Williams, G. H., The 

general relation of the granitic rocks in the middle Atlantic Piedmont Plateau : TJ. S. 

Geol. Survey Fifteenth Ann. Kept., pp. 675-684, 1895; Crosby, W. 0., and Fuller, M. L., 

Origin of pegmatite: Tech. Quart;, vol. 9, pp. 326-356, 1896; Am. Geologist, vol. 19, 

pp. 147-180, 1897 ; Van Hise, C. R., A treatise on metamorphism : U. S. Geol. Survey 

Mon. 47, pp. 720-728, 1904 ; Bastin, E. S., Geology of the pegmatites and associated 

rocks of Maine, including feldspar, quartz, mica, and gem deposits: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 445', 1911. An important European work on the subject is that of Brogger. W. C., 

Die Syenitpegmatit-gange dcr siidnorwegischen Augit- und Nephelinsyenite: Zeitschr. 

Kryst., vol. 16, 1890,

81 Gfregory, H. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 484, pp. 18, 19, 1911.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 47

beryl, iolite, garnet, epidote, tourmaline, muscovite (crystals), lepiclolite, biotite, 

cohimbite, samarskite, monazite, triplite, torbernite, autunite, and uraninite. 

From a single pegmatite mass at Branchville twenty-seven minerals were collected. Single crystals taken from this mass weighed 100 to 200 pounds.

Bastin 92 names 20 minerals from the Maine pegmatites, exclusive 

of the quartz, feldspar, and mica of the dikes and the secondary 

minerals.

The writer's notes on the pegmatites of the Connecticut granite 

quarries follow:

Pegmatite in lenses or small dikes occurs at nearly all the quarries. There is a 20-foot dike with large gneiss inclusions at the 

Torrington Borough quarry (p. 375), and pegmatite occurs near or 

about such inclusions at the Millstone quarry (p. 396, fig. 90, b, d) and 

also at short intervals intersecting one another.

The permeation of the Stony Creek granite gneiss with pegmatite 

differentiates it from many granites and partly accounts for its very 

irregular texture. (See p. 378 and PL XXX, A.) The biotite granite 

of the MacCurdy quarry, at Lyme, is really a pegmatite occurring 

as dikes, 15 to 22 feet thick, cutting a mass of finely banded granite 

gneiss. ( See p. 391.) At the Slater quarry, in Glastonbury (p. 369), 

a 12-inch pegmatite dike in fine porphyritic biotite granite gneiss contains muscovite crystals, the largest 5 inches across and 4 inches thick. 

At the Center Groton quarry the quartz monzonite on either side of a 

4-foot pegmatite dike has been darkened. Dikes from 6 inches to 2 

feet thick abound in the Holbrook quarry at Seymour. (See p. 385 

and fig. 88.) At the Benvenue quarry, in Middletown, small pegmatite dikgs are bordered with bands of feldspar and hornblende and 

the granite gneiss itself also contains hornblende.

Generally pegmatite dikes contain the same minerals as the 

granite they penetrate, but in larger particles. In the very fine 

granites such dikes afford a ready means of observing in the field 

the chief constituents of the granite they penetrate.

The pegmatite of Lyme village contains apatite, that of the Oneco 

quarry fluorite and epidote, that of Pawcatuck allanite, that of the 

Mascetti quarry, in East Litchfield, and the Potter quarry, in 

Ansonia, black tourmaline, and that of several other quarries 

garnets, all in small particles or crystals.

The pegmatite of the Collins quarry, in Danbury, owing to 

crustal motion, has all its quartz granulated like that of the 

gneissoid granite of Milford, Mass., and its feldspars bordered with 

crushed feldspar.

The courses of many of the pegmatite dikes and their relations to 

the structure of the granite in the New England quarries are shown 

in figures 4, 32, 33, 39,41, 53, 54, 57, 61, 62, 63, 64, 72, and 88.

82 Op. cit., pp. 16-18.
48 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The following observations were made in the Maine quarries: 

A pegmatite dike crosses the diorite at Round Pond, in Lincoln 

County. (See p. 249, also PL X, B, of U. S.-Geol. Survey Bull. 

313.) At the Hallowell Granite Works quarry (p. 234) there is 

a 2-foot dike consisting of milk-white soda-lime and potash feldspars (oligoclase and microcline), smoky quartz, biotite and muscovite (black and white mica), and garnet. The feldspars, quartz, 

and micas attain a length of several inches. At the North Jay 

quarry (p. 214) the pegmatite dikes, which are as much as 2 feet 6 

inches in width, consist of a milk-white potash feldspar, smoky 

quartz, biotite, and muscovite, the constituents measuring several 

inches in diameter. At the Clark Island (Rodgers) quarry (p. 241) 

there are two interesting pegmatite dikes with similar material of 

similar dimensions, together with black tourmaline and garnet. The 

granite at Fryeburg, near the New Hampshire line, abounds in pegmatite. At the Eagle gray granite quarry (p. 252 and fig. 63) two 

dikes, one 5 feet and the other 10 feet thick, alternate with granite 25 

and 60 feet thick. The feldspar masses and crystals attain a length of 

12 inches, and the biotite and muscovite crystals and the quartz 

masses a length of 6 inches. Small garnets are abundant. Mingled 

with the pegmatite is some fine-grained aplitic material. There is 

also considerable pegmatite at the Waldoboro quarry, in Lincoln 

County. (See p. 250 and fig. 16.) At the Willard Point quarry 

there is a 12-inch pegmatite dike of feldspar, quartz, muscovite, and 

black tourmaline, which has a banded structure. It is crossed by 

another dike half as thick with a difference in strike of 20°. 

The following observations were made in New Hampshire: 

At a quarry in Milford (p. 189; PI. VIII, A) large dikes of pegmatite appear to proceed from the surface of a mass of quartz monzonite into an overlying granite gneiss. The pegmatite dikes at 

the Bailey quarry, in Allenstown, Merrimack County, contain black 

tourmaline and beryl. A thick dike of coarse garnetiferous pegmatite in the center of the Marlboro quarry, in Cheshire County, has 

.a border.made up largely of beryl and its biotite is in blades 1 foot 

long and 1 inch wide. This dike is reported to have yielded a garnet 

 crystal over 6 inches in diameter and beryls of the same length. The 

pegmatite dikes of the Perry Sunapee quarry contain the usual black 

tourmaline and garnets.

O

The following observations were made in Rhode Island: 

At the Klondike quarry, in Charlestown (PL XXXIV, 4), 

large dikes of pegmatite appear to proceed from the surface of 

an intrusive quartz monzonite into an overlying granite gneiss. 

At the Redstone quarry, near Westerly, a pegmatite dike 5 to 10 

feet thick runs the whole length of the quarry, 850 feet, with a dip 

of 10°, and consists of alternating reddish aplite and coarse pegma-
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 49

tite made up of reddish feldspar, smoky quartz, and biotite. Some 

of its surfaces are coated with drusy hematite. This dike overlies 

a fine-grained quartz monzonite and underlies a medium-grained 

biotite granite of earlier date than the monzonite. At the Chapman 

quarry, also near Westerly, the fine-grained quartz monzonite is cut 

by a pegmatite dike of very low dip, and 20 to 30 feet below it is a 

small aplite dike with like dip.

The following observations were made in the Vermont quarries: 

At the Pirie quarry, near Barre, the biotite granite is cut by a 

pegmatite dike 3£ feet thick, consisting almost entirely of light 

bluish-gray feldspars having a 6-inch biotitic border on each side, 

with the axes of the biotite crystals at right angles to the course of 

the dike. At the Anderson quarry, near Barre, a 1-foot pegmatite 

dike intervenes between the granite and the slate capping, which is 

also injected with minute dikes of pegmatite as much as 4 feet in 

length. (See further p. 85 and figs. 11,12.) At the Barney quarry, 

in Barre, a pegmatite dike follows the contact of granite and schist, 

and the granite, for a thickness of 15 feet from the schist, appears 

to be pegmatized in alternating bands. At the Bailey quarry, in 

Barre, pegmatite dikes, large and minute, penetrate the schist capping and a large schist inclusion and are associated with aplite. 

Some of the pegmatite dikelets, only 0.3 to 0.4 inch thick, run across 

the bedding foliation and then subdivide to pass at right angles 

within one of the little beds. The adjacent schist is unaltered. On 

Robeson Mountain, in Woodbury (p. 88), minute pegmatite dikes 

also proceed from the granite surface and penetrate the schist capping. 

A very exceptional cylindrical dike of pegmatite penetrates the 

riebeckite-aegirite granite at the Ballou quarry, in Quincy, Mass., 

and a similar one was discovered about five years afterward in the 

Fallon quarry, about 600 feet south. (See map, PI. XXIV.) These 

pegmatites and their minerals have been exhaustively studied by 

Palache and Warren and are described in three papers.98 The dike 

at the Ballou quarry is vertical, roughly cylindrical, and about 2 

feet in diameter. A horizontal section of it has for many years 

been exposed at the gradually deepening bottom of the quarry, which 

in 1906 had reached a depth of 150 feet. A block containing an entire cross section of this dike was shown to the writer in the yard

88 Warren, C. H., Note on the occurrence of an interesting pegmatite in the granite 

of Quincy, Mass.: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser.. vol. 28, pp. 449-452, 1909. Palache, Charles, 

and Warren, C. H., The chemical composition and crystallization of parisite and a 

new occurrence of it in the granite-pegmatites at Quincy, Mass, U. S. A., with notes on 

microcline, rlebeckite, aegirite, ilmenite, octahedrite, fluorite, and wulfenite from the 

same locality: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 31, pp. 533-557, 1911. Warren, C. H., and 

Palache, Charles, The pegmatites of the riebeckite-aegirite granite of Quincy, Mass., 

U. S. A.; their structure, minerals, and origin: Am. Acad. Arts and Sci. Proc., vol. 47, 

pp. 125-168, Boston, 1911.

105709 23 5
50 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

of the Quincy Granite Co. It has an outer rim with abundant blueblack riebeckite crystals slightly larger than those of the surrounding granite. Within this is an intermediate zone (specimen D. 

XXIX, 80, b) of light greenish-gray feldspar and slightly milky 

quartz (particles up to 0.8 inch in diameter), containing bright grassgreen crystals of aegirite in sizes up to 1 by 0.5 inch, with some purple 

fluorite and rusty metallic spots. The center consists mainly of 

quartz, with coarse feldspar outside of it.

Under the microscope the feldspars prove to be orthoclase with a finely intergrown plagioclase, also particles of albite and probably oligoclase-albite. Both 

feldspars have the minute crystals of riebeckite and minute grains and prisms 

of aegirite typical of Quincy granite. The quartz has many fluidal cavities. 

There are slender aegirite crystals in feldspar and quartz. The riebeckite, 

is intergrown with aegirite, and ilmenite is somewhat plentiful. The feldspars 

are somewhat kaolinized, and there is some hematite and limonite stain. The 

brownish metallic areas of the middle zone consist of ilmenite, titanite, zircon 

in double pyramids, allanite, fluorite, aegirite, and quartz.

This cylindrical dike is thus a riebeckite-aegirite granite that is, 

a granite containing varieties of amphibole and pyroxene rich in soda 

and ferric oxide but poor in alumina, magnesia, and line and therefore resembles the surrounding granite, but its particles are much 

coarser and radially arranged; some of its accessory minerals are 

exceptional, and the others are more abundant. A polished complete 

section of the Ballou dike is in the collection of Harvard University.

The minerals identified by Palache and Warren in the pegmatite 

dikes of the Ballou and Fallen quarries include quartz in crystals, 

aegirite, riebeckite, crocidolite, zircon, fluorite, ilmenite, octahedrite, 

parisite,94 beckelite,94 wulfenite, molybdenite, chalcopyrite, galenite, 

sphalerite, hematite, secondary calcite, and ferruginous stain.

Pegmatitic quartz. Besides these dikes of normal pegmatite there 

are dikes consisting largely of quartz of pegmatitic origin. At the 

old Bodwell Co.'s quarry on Cook's Mountain, near Redbeach, Maine, 

the red granite is traversed by a banded grayish quartz vein, about 

18 inches thick, with a N. 25° W. course and vertical dip. It comprises three or in places four bands, which differ mainly in texture 

and are separated by more or less pyrite in fine particles. In places 

this vein divides into three smaller veins, each of which is from 

3 to 4 inches thick. The quartz contains some purple fluorite (lime 

fluoride), as determined by W. T. Schaller, of this Survey, and a 

variable amount of a foliaceous lemon-colored mineral which Wirt 

Tassin, of the United States National Museum, has analyzed and determined as a new variety of sericite, resulting possibly from the alteration of a feldspar, and which is accompanied by another mineral^ 

regarded by him as probably talc. Mr. Tassin's analysis and note 

follow:

M Parisite and beckelite contain the rare elements cerium, lanthanum, and didymium.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 51

. Analysis of yellow foliated mineral (specimen D, XXVI, I05a, 1905).

Silica (S10») _______________ 53.28 

Alumina (A12O8 )____________________________ 23.06 

Ferric oxide (Fe2O3 )_____________-________ .10 

Ferrous oxide (FeO)__________ 4.30 

Magnesia (MgO) 4.09 

Soda (^a3O) ___________________________ .65 

Potash (K2O)___________________________ 8.90 

Water (H20)________________________ 6.00

The mineral is secondary mica, probably derived from feldspar (although this 

Is merely a conjecture), and will approximate sericite in composition. It occurs 

in fine scales, occasionally compacted and then resembling serpentine. Luster, 

pearly; color, greenish yellow; hardness, 2.5; specific gravity, 2.79 at 20° C. 

It is associated in the vein with quartz, pyrite, purple fluorite, and another 

mineral which has a greasy luster and contains magnesia but which it was 

impossible to separate in a state of sufficient purity for analysis. This last 

mineral I believe to be talc.

At the Galvin quarry, in Quincy, Mass, (p. 325), the granite is cut 

at intervals of 2 to 10 feet by quartz veins up to 1 inch thick, each of 

which occupies the center of a belt of light granite 10 inches wide. 

Similar veins occur at intervals of 2 to 25 feet at the Field & Wild 

quarry (p. 326).

At the Blanchard quarry, in Uxbridge, Mass. (p. 352), the granite 

gneiss is crossed by veins of medium smoky quartz banded lengthwise with feldspar (specimen D, XXX, 114, c) and measuring up to 

3 feet in thickness. The feldspar bands are 0.2 to 0.5 inch wide and 

(he quartz 0.5 to 1.5 inches.

At the Milne quarry, at Barre, Vt., veins of smoky quartz with 

diagonal fractures occur at intervals of 3 feet. The granite for 0.2 

inch next to the veins is largely feldspar. Along the edge of the vein 

there are bands of fibrous muscovite and in places streaks of granulated quartz.

BASIC DIKES.

Dikes of dark-greenish hard, dense rock (diabase, rarely basalt) 

are of very common occurrence in the granite quarries of Maine and 

Massachusetts. The courses of some of these dikes and their relations 

to the joints are shown in figures 4, 23, 44, 61, 63, 67, 71, 74, 75, 76, 

77, 84. Some of them are represented in Plates VIII, 5, XVI, Z?, 

and XXVII, A, B.

The following observations were made on the Maine dikes: 

The dikes are vertical or nearly so and range in width from 1 inch 

to 7 feet or more, cutting the granite sheets with mathematical definiteness. Plate XVI, B, shows one of these dikes on Mount Desert, 

which has a course N. 15° W. and has been faulted from east to west, 

or west to east, along a gently inclined sheet with a displacement of 

16 inches. A few feet beyond this point the same dike has been
52 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

faulted along a northeasterly vertical joint, with a displacement of 

5 feet. Although it might seem that this dike was injected into the 

granite before the sheet structure was formed, it is quite possible that 

the sheet structure preceded the dike and that later faulting affected 

both the sheets and the dike, cracking the dike along the sheets where 

it did not actually fault the dike.

Most of these dikes are so firmly welded to the granite that hand 

specimens one-half granite and one-half diabase are readily obtained. 

Thin sections of the glassy rims of dikes at Bryant Pond and Fryeburg show that the dike sent out microscopic branches for short distances into the granite, in places surrounding some of its quartz particles. A dike at the Dunbar Bros.' quarry, near Sullivan (p. 231), 

16 to 18 inches wide, has a 0.25-inch border of light-green epidote, 

derived from the alteration of its glassy rim. These glassy borders 

are due to the rapid cooling of the material at its contact with the 

cold granite. A few typical thin sections of these dikes will be described in detail.

The center of a 7-foot dike at the Mosquito Mountain quarry, near Frankfort 

(p. 258), shows a network of minute lath-shaped crystals of lime-soda feldspar 

(labradorite) partly altered to a white mica, in the meshes of which is a green 

hornblende; also some magnetite in fine particles, and pyrite, with accessory 

titanite, apatite, and secondary epidote.

A 4-inch dike at the Havey (Whaleback) quarry, in North Sullivan, shows a 

groundmass of fine hornblende and feldspar (plagioclase), in incomplete crystals, with magnetite and thinly disseminated larger crystals of hornblende and 

Hine-soda feldspar (labradorite), some large quartz particles, and a little pyrite. 

One feldspar crystal is almost completely altered to a white mica.

A 2i-foot dike at the Campbell & Macomber quarry, on the west side of Somes 

Sound, on Mount Desert (p. 223), shows a groundmass of fine hornblende and 

feldspar (plagioclase) in incomplete crystals, with magnetite (?), pyrite partly 

altered to limonite, and lime-soda feldspar '(labradorite). Some of the particles of the feldspar measure 0.1 inch in length by 0.02 inch in width and are 

largely altered to kaolin and a white mica. The hornblende in all these dikes 

is regarded as a product of the alteration of augite.

The geologic age of these dikes has not been precisely determined. 

They are considerably more recent than the granite they traverse or 

the dikes of aplite and pegmatite which cut the granite. In Plate 

VIII, B, is shown one of these diabase dikes crossing both a vein of 

pegmatite and a mass of diorite ("black granite"), at Eound Pond, 

in Lincoln County, Maine.95 (See p. 249.)

The following observations were made in the granite quarries of 

Massachusetts:

At the Granite Railway quarry, in West Quincy, there is a 15-foot 

diabase dike striking about N. 75° W. in which the feldspar is altered

95 Some of the dikes of that part of the coast have been described by P. Bascom : On 

some dikes in the vicinity of Johns Bay, Maine: Am. Geologist, vol. 23, pp. 275-280, pis. 

9-11, 1897. See also Keeley, P. J., Notes on some igneous rocks at Ogunquit, Maine, and 

Pigeon Cove, Mass.: Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc., vol. 66, pt. 1, pp. 3-8. 1914.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 53

to a white mica. It has a greenish rim, in which the augite is all 

chloritized. At the Merry Mount quarry, on the North Commons, a 

5-foot dike, striking about north, appears to be a garnetiferous biotite 

lamprophyre.

The conspicuous feature of the Rockport quarries on Cape Ann is 

the large number of basic dikes that traverse them. The geology of 

Cape Ann has been interestingly described by Shaler and Tarr.98 

The entire Cape is represented on Shaler's map (PI. LXXVII) as 

of granite but traversed at very frequent intervals by diabase dikes 

and at a few points by quartz porphyry dikes. The basic dikes may 

be Triassic. They range from 0.25 inch to 40 feet in width. Of 361 

observed by Shaler and Tarr 266 lie in the northwest quadrant and 

more than half in the 45° between north and northwest. Those 

writers conclude from numerous observations of dike and joint 

courses that the number of dikes does not appear to have been determined by the number of incipient fissures afforded by the joints in 

other words, " that the conditions which guided the direction of the 

dikes were probably due to some feature or condition not inherent in 

the joints themselves." Some of these dikes are shown in Plate 

XXVII, A and B. Their courses are given in the quarry descriptions. One attains a thickness of 18 feet. They are mostly diabase 

(soda-lime feldspar, augite more or less altered to hornblende, magnetite, and biotite). One was found to contain both augite and hornblende but no mica. The dike matter was erupted through deeply 

parted joints. Contemporaneous with them was the irregular-shaped 

injection described beyond and shown in Plate XXVII, B.

The Pigeon Cove diabase porphyry quarry is on a dike of altered 

diabase porphyry, 18 feet wide, which was represented by Shaler 97 

and Tarr as exposed for half a mile on the hillock west of Pigeon 

Cove, with a N. 21° W. course, also as reappearing in Rockport O.T5 

mile west of Gap Head with a N. 9° W. course. Washington 9S refers 

to this dike as cutting the quarry pit at Pigeon Cove and describes it 

microscopically as a labradorite porphyry.

Plate XXV, #, from a photograph of a polished ball 2 feet 7 

inches in diameter, quarried and finished by Fuller, Foley & Co., of 

West Quincy, shows its general character.

This diabase porphyry (specimens D, XXIX, 89, a, b) has a very 

dark green or black fine-grained groundmass, with porphyritic feldspars of medium greenish-gray color, measuring from 0.2 to 4.42 

inches in length by about 0.78 inch in width. Many of the crystals 

are from 1 to 2 inches long. Their striation shows plainly.

M See Shaler, N. S., The geology of Cape Ann, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Survey Ninth Ann. 

Rept., pp. 529-611, 1899.

07 Op. cit., p. 60.9, pi. 77.

68 Washington, H. S., The petrographical province of Essex County, Mass.: Jour. 

Geology, vol. 7, p. 290, 1899.
54 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The groundmass consists of the following minerals, in descending order of 

abundance: Lime-soda feldspar (andesine-labradorite) partly micacized, augite 

largely altered to a green hornblende and chlorite, biotite (black mica), magnetite, and apatite ; rarely a little secondary calcite.

A dike of unusual form, composed of fine-grained black hornblende diabase, is exposed at the bottom of the Kockport Granite 

Co.'s " Deep Pit," near Bay View, on Cape Ann, 195 feet below the 

surface, as shown in Plate XXVII, Z?, and in more detail in figure 3. 

It dips north. Its original upper surface, 30 feet above its present 

surface, is reported as not over 8 feet in diameter. As shown in 

Plate XXVII, 5, the quarry is traversed by two intersecting basic 

dikes. The one nearest to this mass, 10 feet west of it, is not a hornblende diabase (ophitic texture with hornblende and biotite), but a 

lamprophyre without biotite (porphyritic texture with augite). The 

large dike on the east side, which from its dip must traverse the

granite about 80 feet east of 

the mass, proves to be also 

a hornblende diabase. The 

connection of the central 

mass will, therefore, if excavations proceed deep enough, 

very probably be found to be 

with the dike on the east,

FIGURE 3. Diagrammatic sketch of horizontal not with that On the west. 

cross section of injection of hornblende diabase at Deep Pit granite quarry, near Bay Thin sections of the flueView, on Cape Ann, Mass. Length, north to grained rim Of one of the dikelets

greatest size. °f the granite next to it bring

out interesting facts. The rim

sends out branches 0.125-0.25 millimeter long into the granite. In places both 

rocks are dovetailed into each other. The rim consists of minute roundish 

particles of hornblende and incipient crystals of feldspar and fine particles 

of magnetite. There are crowds of apatite crystals along the contact and a 

little secondary calcite. In one place the hornblende and magnetite of the 

dike are thickly disseminated in the granite; in another both rocks are 

merged in one containing the minerals of both.

This diabase mass appears to have been injected at the time of the 

intrusion of the other diabase dikes of the Cape and to owe its shape 

to an irregular east- west fissure with a northern inclination. That 

the intrusion probably took place under considerable pressure and 

heat is shown by the commingling of the minerals of both rocks along 

their contact.

Some interesting dikes were found in the quarries of Uxbridge, 

New Bedford, Fall River, and Hingham. The elongated porphyritic 

biotite granite gneiss of the Blanchard quarry in Uxbridge (p. 353) is 

cut by an amphibolite dike up to 18 inches thick, the schistosity of
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 55

which strikes at an angle of 33° with that of the inclosing gneiss. 

This dike consists of feather-rimmed crystals of amphibole up to 

1 inch in length in a matrix of biotite with interspersed quartz grains 

and minute slender crystals or strings of lenses of zoisite. In places, 

however, along the edges the matrix is of quartz, biotite, epidote, 

and oligoclase-andesine. The dike was originally a porphyritic mica 

diorite. It cuts dikes of pegmatite and of aplite.

At the Sullivan quarries, near New Bedford (p. 285), is an interesting complex of dikes of various sorts and ages whose courses are 

shown in figure 4. The rock is a slightly gneissoid biotite-muscovite 

granite of light pinkish-gray color.

The central dike A, with northeast course and up to a foot thick, is a darkgreenish chlorate schist (specimen D, XXX, 121, c) consisting of chlorite, 

probably after hornblende, in parallel arrangement, ruicacized ptagioclase, 

quartz, and microcline. Its 

accessory minerals are pyrite, 

magnetite, purple fluorite, apatite, and biotite, and its secondary minerals epidote, carbonate, and hematite from the 

magnetite. This dike was evidently originally a diorite. 

Dike B, on the south wall, with 

a N. 70° E. course and a dip of 

60° N. 20° W., over 2 feet thick, 

is a dark-grayish mica diorite 

schist (specimen 121, d), consisting, in descending order of 

abundance, of andesine, biotite. 

epidote, and muscovite. This 

was originally a mica diorite. 

Dike C, on the north wall, 

with a N. 60° E. course and vertical dip, up to 3 feet thick, is a black finegrained mica diorite schist (specimen 121, f), consisting, in descending order 

of abundance, of biotite, oligoclase, microcline, quartz, and epidote. This also 

was originally a mica diorite. It differs from dike B in being more micaceous 

and in containing no muscovite. The edge of this dike (specimen 121, g), for 

a thickness of a few inches, consists of brecciated grayish feldspars up to 0.3 

inch in diameter in a matrix of biotite. At the extreme edge this breccia 

passes into a mass of the same feldspar with a little quartz and still less 

biotite. The more glassy rim of the dike resisted the pressure which brecciated 

its inner border and converted its central part into a schist. Dike D, near the 

west wall, with a northwest course and steep dip, 3 inches thick, is pegmatite. 

It intersects the central chlorite schist (diorite) dike. Finally, dike E, on the 

west wall, with a N. 10° E. course, up to 2 feet thick, is a diabase (specimen 

121, e) with ophitic texture, consisting, in descending order of abundance, of 

andesine, pyroxene, serpentine (probably after olivine), and magnetite or 

ilmenite with a little carbonate and biotite. TMs was presumably an olivino 

diabase.

The evidence from these dikes shows that the" granite was injected 

with dikes of diorite and mica diorite. Later both the granite and

FIGCRB 4. Structure and dikes at Sullivan quarries, 

New Bedford, Mass.
56 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

the dikes were crossed by pegmatite. After dynamic metamorphism 

had altered the diorites to schists they were traversed by a diabase 

dike in which the only change has been the serpentinization of the 

olivine and the micacization of the andesine.

Another basic dike in these quarries is an altered but not metamorphosed lamprophyre, in the gneissoid biotite granite of the Beattie & 

Wilcox quarry, at Fall Eiver (p. 283), which Whitman Cross, of this 

Survey, determines as vogesite. It has much augite and brown hornblende, biotite, and magnetite in a feldspathic base, probably of 

orthoclase, also a few porphyritic crystals of olivine altered to serpentine.

There is also a slightly altered diabase dike crossing the aplite of 

the Miller quarry, in Hingham (p. 338).

The reddish biotite granite of the Bedstone quarry, at Westerly, 

E. I., is cut by a 6-inch .dike of porphyritic olivine diabase, probably 

of Triassic age. Near by in the same granite is a vertical meandering mass of coarse biotite schist with kaolinized feldspar which is 

either a basic segregation elongated in the direction of.the flow or 

else a very ancient metamorphosed dike.

BASIC SCHISTOSE DIKES.

The dikes ordinarily occurring in granite are either acidic, including pe'gmatite, aplite, and granite proper, or basic. If a granite after 

the intrusion of such dikes is itself subjected to metamorphism so as 

to become schistose that is, a gneiss then these various dikes will 

also become more or less schistose. In the granite of Milford, Mass., 

however, there are schistose basic dikes without an equally gneissic 

or a parallel gneissic structure in the granite.

At the Cutting quarry (fig. 82) the west wall is formed by a vertical dikelike mass of biotite schist 2 feet thick striking N. 25° W. 

The east wall is formed by a heading of almost identical strike, N. 

20° W., but dipping 70° E. As shown in the figure, neither of the 

flow directions nor the trend of rift or grain corresponds to the strike 

of -the schist dike. The only corresponding structure is that of the 

heading and the inclosing walls of the dike. At the West quarry, 1-| 

miles south-southwest of the Cutting quarry, there are two dikes of 

similar schist, one striking N. 67° W. and dipping 65° NNE., the 

other striking about N. 45° W. with nearly vertical dip. The nearest 

parallel structure is a joint striking N. 60° W. and dipping 47° SSW. 

At the Massachusetts Pink quarry 0.6 mile southwest of the Cutting 

quarry, there is another schist dike, 2 feet thick, striking N. 3° W. 

and dipping 55° E., without other corresponding kinds of structure. 

The general schistosity of all these dikes is parallel to the joint faces 

which inclose them, and no merging between granite and schist was 

observed. Emerson and Perry (p. 340) note the rudely parallel film?
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 57

of biotite in the granite, which give it a gneissoid look but which 

seem to be partly due to flow structure, and they note the undulatory 

extinction of the fractured quartz particles as showing a state of 

strain. The granular structure of the quartz areas is very noticeable 

on a polished face, and this very possibly resulted from the pressure 

which converted the dikes into schist.

In thin section the fine-grained dark greenish-gray schist of the Cutting 

quarry dike is seen to consist of biotite, quartz, epidote in roundish grains 

from the alteration of feldspar, and a little pyrite. The slightly more greenish 

schist of the dike at the West quarry consists of hornblende, quartz, biotite, 

epic'ote, and zoisite from alteration of feldspar, a brownish cloudy mineral 

(leucoxene?), and pyrite altered to limonite. Both are evidently altered dikes 

of mica diorite that is, diorite schist.

Emerson and Perry regard these dikes as a " basic differentiate of 

the Milford granite" (p. 340, footnote 51).

At the Sullivan quarry, in New Bedford, Mass. (p. 285, fig. 4), a 

very slightly gneissoid biotite-muscovite granite is cut by a mica 

diorite schist dike, the schistosity of which was evidently also due to 

the pressure of the dike walls. In these places the dike material was 

intruded between parted joints in the granite. It is evident that the 

change of the eruptive into schist and the alinement of its particles 

with reference to the inclosing walls were brought about chiefly by 

compression which, although sufficient to metamorphose the dikes, 

affected the granite but slightly; nor was the vertical pressure sufficient to plicate the dike or its inclosing walls.

Thus a basic dike traversing a mass of granite in a highly inclined 

position may under lateral compression become schistose without the 

inclosing granite acquiring a corresponding schistosity.

Soon after the first publication of the above description Clough, 

Crampton, and Fleet, of the British Geological Survey, found similar 

dikes in Scotland which they define as foliated by dynamic metamorphism under the pressure of the inclosing granite.09

EFFECT OF BASIC DIKES ON GEANITE.

Generally these dikes produced little or no effect upon the granite 

into which they were injected, but in some places the heat of the dike 

material developed minute cracks in the quartz and feldspar, in which 

secondary minerals were formed, darkening the granite, or minute 

particles of hematite were disseminated in the feldspars, reddening 

the stone. In other places the granite on either side of the dike 

became closely fissured in a direction parallel to it.

Thus at the Eobertson quarry, in Franklin, Maine, the granite for 

a space of 10 feet on each side of a vertical 3-foot diabase dike is

80 See Clough, C. I., Crampton, C. B., and Fleet, J. S., The augen gneiss and Molne 

sediments of Ross-shlre: Geol. Mag., new ser., decade 5, vol. 7, pp. 337-345, 1910.
58 COMMEBCIAL GRANITES OP NEW ENGLAND.

altered from medium to dark gray and the rock is filled with close 

joints dipping at low angles. In thin section the quartz particles and 

some of the feldspars are crossed by roughly parallel cracks 0.25-1.25 

millimeters apart.

At the Flat Ledge quarry, in Rockport, Mass., the granite on 

either side of a diabase dike is darkened. A thin section of the 

darkened rock shows it to be crossed by minute parallel or converging fractures, 0.004^0.04 inch apart. The intervening space 

is crowded with angular slivers, the walls of the fractures are coated 

with chlorite, and the adjacent feldspars are altered to mica.

At the Tonella (King) quarry, in Milford, N. H., the granite is 

cut by a 2-foot 6-inch dike of augite camptonite. For 8 feet on one 

side of the dike the granite has a marked pinkish tint due to minute 

specks of hematite in the feldspar. At the Pease quarry, in the same 

town, the granite has been reddened and darkened for a thickness 

of 50 feet, apparently by basic dikes. (See p. 185.)

The light-gray granite at the Bailey quarry, in Allenstown, N. H. 

(p. 193), is cut by a hornblende diabase dike 3 to 4 feet thick, and the 

granite for 14 feet on one side and 2 feet on the other has become 

greenish gray owing to the slight chloritization of its plagioclase 

feldspars.

The granite for a foot on each side of a basic dike in Ryegate, Vt., 

has close joints parallel to the dike. C. H. Richardson has published a photograph of a zone of laminated (close-jointed) granite 

adjacent to a basalt dike exposed in a newly opened quarry in 

Woodbury, Vt.1

SEGREGATIONS ("KNOTS"). 

BASIC SEGREGATIONS.

Quarrymen know too well that granite is commonly disfigured 

by gray or black "knots" of circular or oval outline, ranging in 

diameter from 0.5 inch to 3 feet and exceptionally even 10 feet. 

These were studied by geologists long ago. They are finer grained 

than the granite in which they occur, contain nearly 10 per cent less 

silica, much more black mica or hornblende (which accounts for their 

darkness), and a little more soda-lime feldspar, and their specific 

gravity is about 0.09 per cent higher.2

In none of the knots is there a definite boundary separating them 

from the granite, except such as is caused by the change in the pro1 See Vermont State Geologist Ninth Kept., pi. 67, a, 1914; also p. 151 of this bulletin.

2 Phillips, J. A., On concretionary patches and fragments of other rocks contained 

in granite: Geol. Soc. London Quart. Jour., vol. 36, pp. 1-22, pi. 1, 1880. Merrill, G. P., 

On the black nodules or so-called inclusions in the Maine granite: U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc., 

vol. 6, pp. 137-141, 1883. Grimsley, G. P., Basic segregations: The granites of Cecil 

County in northeastern Maryland: Am. Soc. Nat. Hist. Jour., April and July, 1894. 

Daly, R. A., Basic segregations: The geology of Ascutney Mountain, Vt.: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 209, p 1G4, 1903.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 59

portionate abundance of the darker minerals. The cause of knots is 

not perfectly understood. They are collections (segregations) generally of the darker, heavier iron-magnesia minerals that were formed 

before the rock passed into a crystalline state.

Plate XIII, J., shows 12 knots in the vertical cuts at Crabtree & 

Havey's quarry, in Sullivan, Me. As the strength and durability 

of the stone are in no wise affected by the " knots," the blocks containing them are used for curbing, crossings,»or other constructions 

where color is not taken into consideration.

A thin section of a very dark gray knot from th's quarry shows a much 

greater abundance of biotite than the granite. The feldspar and the biotite 

particles In the knot measure up to 0.5 millimeter (0.02 inch), whereas in the 

granite the feldspar measures up to 2.25 millimeters and the biotite up to 

0.76 millimeter.

A segregation from the Palmer quarry, on Vinalhaven, Maine, is of mediumgray shade, with a very fine grained groundmass inclosing porphyritic buffpinkish feldspars and smoky quartz particles up to about 0.25 inch in diameter. The groundmass consists of quartz, potash feldspar (microcline), sodalime feldspar, black mica, and hornblende in particles ranging in size from 

0.075 to 0.5 millimeter. The porphyritic particles are of quartz, potash feldspar, or soda-lime feldspar, and hornblende, and measure from 0.75 millimeter up.

A very dark, almost black knot from the Sands quarry, also on Vinalhaven, 

consists of crowded particles of hornblende and biotite, which compose onehalf the knot, the rest being mostly soda-lime feldspar and quartz. A spherical knot at the same quarry was 2£ feet in diameter; a similar one, at the 

Webster quarry, also in Vinalhaven, was 5 feet in diameter. One at the 

Mount Waldo quarry, 6 by 3 feet, consists of a medium-gray groundmass with 

porphyritic feldspars up to 0.75 inch and biotite scales up to, 0.05 inch. One at 

the Andrews quarries, near Biddeford (p. 275), is 10 feet long. At another 

Biddeford quarry the knots are egg-shaped and occur in clusters. At the Tayntor quarry, in Hallowell, there is a belt 5~£o,25 feet wide, with a course N. 10° 

E., in which knots are abundant. This crosses the flow structure, which strikes 

]ST . 35° W.

The segregations in the granite exposed in the quarries at Quincy, 

Mass., are of three kinds:

One is very fine grained, aplitic, dark bluish gray, with a matrix of potash 

feldspar, quartz, and more or less soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclasenlbite), with particles from 0.025 to 0.3 millimeter, containing porphyritic 

crystals of aegirite (with some riebeckite) up to 0.84 by 0.09 millimeter, which 

appear as if corroded. Zircon, magnetite or ilmenite, and abundant apatite 

occur as accessories. There are also minute crystals of riebeckite and titanite, 

with secondary limonite and carbonate. The two other kinds belong in the 

acidic group described beyond.

The dimensions of the large knots given in the quarry descriptions 

were obtained from the foremen. It is assumed that the knots are 

segregations, not inclusions. The dimensions range from 0.5 inch 

to 2 feet by 1 foot 6 inches, 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches, 3 feet 

by 4 inches, and 6 feet by 2 feet. The knots are usually small and 

roundish or elliptical.
60 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

ACIDIC SEGBEGATIONS.

Segregations in granite consist generally of the darker, more ferruginous minerals, but some are lighter or of the same shade as the 

surrounding granite. Among these are two varieties in the Quincy 

granite.

Those of one variety are medium grained and medium gray, lighter or of the 

same shade as the inclosing granite. These are identical with the granite, but 

the orthoclase tends to complete its crystals. One such knot contains a complete 

section of an aegirite crystal in the center of a quartz area many times its 

size. Another has secondary orange fibrous hornblende growing on aegirite. 

Zircon and fluorite are accessory. The other variety comprises some muddy 

yellow to greenish knots consisting of potash feldspar (orthoclase) minutely 

intergrown with soda-lime feldspar, in twins from 0.2 to 1 millimeter long, 

and quartz with aegirite and riebeckite, which usually appear to fill spaces between the other minerals. The soda silicates are more or less altered to fibrous 

muscovite and carbonate; the feldspars are also streaked with white mica and 

contain secondary epidote. The usual magnetite, apatite, and riebeckite are 

present.

Segregations are not uncommon in the granite of Rockport, Mass.. 

but at Halibut Point, the extreme north end of Cape Ann, in the 

.Babson Farm quarry, there is one of unusual character. It is 8 by 4 

by 2-| feet and consists mainly of feldspar and quartz. The feldspar 

is a somewhat kaolinized light-grayish potash feldspar (microcline) 

minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) and 

containing a few particles of quartz. The cleavage of the feldspar 

has in places a marked curvature. The quartz is amethystine smoky, 

in particles up ^to 2 feet across, and has cavities from 0.00285 to 

0.0285 millimeter in diameter. In the center of this knot is a mass, 

6 by 2 inches, of a yellow-brownish mineral of the augite group, 

which Johannsen determines as bronzite, a silicate of magnesia with 

60 per cent of silica and 40 per cent of magnesia.

ORBICULAR GRANITE.

The white quartz (muscovite-biotite) monzonite of Bethel, Vt., is 

crossed on the east side of the Ellis quarry (see p. 158 and fig. 36) 

by a belt a few feet thick which has a marked flow structure consisting of vertical micaceous bands 0.5 inch or less wide, a foot or more 

apart, and with a northerly strike. The micas in these bands tend 

to arrange themselves about the quartz and feldspar particles and 

are roughly parallel. Near the granite surface there is a branching 

mass of wrinkled bronze-colored micaceous material a foot thick 

lying in the plane of flowage. Biotite appears to be the chief constituent in this mass. In thin section it consists of coarse stringers 

of an olive-greenish biotite, more or less completely surrounding 

particles of quartz and soda-lime feldspar. There are also small
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 61

scales of muscovite penetrating the quartz and feldspar particles. 

In this same flowage belt there are crowds of elliptical discoid nodules of bronze-colored mica from 0.5 to 2 by 1.5 inches and about 

0.2 inch thick. The surfaces of these disks are either longitudinally or concentrically corrugated. Most of these nodules are discoid, 

but some of the smaller ones are nut shaped, resembling those in 

the well-known butternut granite of Craftsbury and Northfield, Vt.3 

Aside from their discoid form, the noticeable features of the Bethel 

nodules are that they lie in sheets parallel to the flow structure and 

that the major axes of the disks are parallel to the micaceous flowage 

bands. Plate III, 4, is made from a photograph of a hand specimen 

containing one of the larger disks. The white quartz monzonite of 

.Plymouth, Vt. (p. 161), also contains a few of these discoid nodules.

The attention of geologists was first called to the nodular granite 

of Craftsbury ("Craftsbury pudding granite") by Hitchcock and 

Hager in 1861. It was next described by Hawes in 1878* and in 

greater detail by Chrusthov in 1885,5 and again by the same geologist 

in an elaborate monograph in 1894.° He found that the nodules contained over twice as much calcite as the granite. As both the granite 

and the nodules of Craftsbury differ from those of Bethel, his inferences do not exactly apply to the Bethel nodules. But a conclusion 

of Frosterus from the study of a nodular granite in Finland applies 

well to that of Bethel and shows the real significance of its nodules. 

It is that the nodules are basic segregations lying in a more basic 

part of the granite, indicating that the orbicular structure is simply 

a basic flowage band (" Schliere ") and that the nodules themselves 

lie in this as still more basic segregations.7

The nodules in orbicular granite vary greatly in composition, size, 

and structure. Orbicular granites have been described from Bohemia, California, Corsica, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, 

North Carolina, Norway, Ontario, Portugal, Ehode Island, Sardinia, 

Scotland, and Sweden. The literature of the subject is already 

large, embracing 47 papers and probably more.8

3 See Hitchcock, Edward, and others, Report on the geology of Vermont, vol. 2, pp. 

563, 504, 721, 1861; also Dale, T. N., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 275, p. 90, 1906; Perkins, 

G. H., Vermont State Geologist Fifth Kept., p. 108, pi. 32, flg. 2, 1906.

* Hawes, G., Geology of New Hampshire (by C. H. Hitchcock), vol. 3, pt. 4, p. 203, 

pi. 11, flg. 4, 1878.

5 Chrusthov, K. D., Note sur le granite variolitique de Craftsbury en Amgrique: Soc. 

min. France Bull., vol. 8, pp. 132-141, 1885.

6 Ueber holokrystalline makrovariolitische Gesteine: Acad. imp. scl. St.-P£tersbourg 

MSm., ser. 7, vol. 42, No. 3, Pudding granit von Craftsbury, Vt., pp. 132-146, pi. 2, 

fig. 9, and pi. 3, flg. 22, 1894.

7 Frosterus, Benjamin, Ueber ein neuos Yorkomnis von Kugclgranit unfern Wirvik bei 

Borga in Finland, nebst Beinerkungen iiber ahnliche Bildungen: Min. pet. Mitt., vol. 13, 

pt. 3, p. 187, 1893.

8 See Zirkel, F., Lehrbuch der Petrographie, 2d ed., vol. 2, Kugelbildung, pp. 50, 51, 

1894; also Rosenbusch, H., Mikroskopische Physiographic der Mineralien und Gesteine, 

4th ed., vol. 2, Kugelstruktnr, pp. 85-94, 1907.
62 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

GEODES.

Small cavities lined with crystals occur in granite. They are uncommon in the New England quarries, but at the Bodwell Granite 

Co.'s quarry, near Jonesboro, Maine (p. 268), there are several about 

a foot in diameter, lined with quartz crystals and epidote. The center 

of some of these is filled with calcite in very obtuse rhombohedra 

half an inch across. The large aplite vein at the same quarry has 

many irregular openings lined with crystals of feldspar and muscovite. At the Machias Granite Co.'s quarry, near Marshfield, Maine 

(p. 271), there are several geodes up to 6 inches in diameter, lined 

with crystals of feldspar and amethyst, with the central space filled 

with chlorite, epidote, fluorite, and calcite.

At the Eedstone quarry, Conway, N. H. (p. 168), there are 

lenticular geodes, mainly of intergrown quartz and feldspar surrounded by a half-inch band of aplite. These geodes are lined with 

crystals of smoky amethystine quartz and orthoclase incrusted with 

chlorite and calcite. Some obtuse rhombs of calcite are 0.5 inch wide.

Such cavities are attributed to bubbles of steam, or gas that were 

in the rock while it was molten and that gave room for the growth of 

crystals of the minerals of the granite and its accompanying fluorite 

and later became filled with secondary chlorite, epidote, and calcite.

INCLUSIONS.

Not to be confounded with " knots," although some of them are 

equally dark and occur near by, are irregular or angular particles of 

various rocks generally schistose, which the granite incorporated into 

itself during its intrusion. They can usually be distinguished from 

the knots by their different microscopic texture.

Inclusions are important, for they are specimens of the rocks that 

originally overlay the granite and they indicate the relative age of 

the intrusion. The process of the formation of an inclusion of 

mica slate is shown in figure 11.

In Connecticut, at the Stony Creek quarries, the inclusions consist 

of diorite gneiss and mica diorite gneiss. At the Hoadly Point east 

quarry an inclusion of mica diorite gneiss appears to have been elongated in the direction of the flow structure. Inclusions abound at the o

Millstone quarry (p. 396). One of banded biotite gneiss, 20 by 8£ 

inches, is shown in figure 84, £>. Another of the same gneiss, 20 by 20 

feet, has a very iregular outline, with small outlying fragments and 

adjoins a 6 by 3 foot mass of pegmatite with particles as much as 5 

inches across. This mass and a smaller inclusion are shown in figure 

90, d. The granite is somewhat banded about the large inclusion 

Another, near the northwest end and bottom of the quarry, measures 

35by 25 feet. It is a black diorite gneiss (specimen D, XXX,6, h)
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. xx 63

consisting of oligoclase-andesine, hornblende, quartz, and biotite, with 

accessory titanite. It is crossed by quartz veins, some of which start at 

the granite, others within the granite. A vertical pegmatite dike, 3 to 

5 feet wide, in the upper granite mass referred to, contains an inclusion of biotite gneiss about 5 feet by 6 inches, with its long axis 

in vertical position. (See fig. 90, a.)

In the Maine quarries the inclusions range from an inch to 40 feet 

in length. Part of the jagged lower edge of an inclusion in granite 

at Jb'reeport (p. 211) is shown in Plate XV, B. It is a mass of biotite 

schist between 30 and 40 feet long and 3 feet thick, striking north 

and dipping 35° E. In quarrying, this mass has been cut from east 

to west. Under the microscope this is a coarse biotite-quartz-feldspar (oligoclase) schist, probably of sedimentary origin.

The following inclusions were noticed in the Massachusetts granite 

gneiss and granite quarries:

The muscovite-biotite granite gneiss of the Rafferty quarry, in 

Groton (p. 308), contains several inclusions, the largest of which, 

triangular in outline, measures 30 feet on one side and 8 feet on 

another. This rock (specimen D, XXX, 100, a) is a dark-gray 

biotite granite gneiss with porphyritic feldspars up to 0.6 inch. Its 

quartz is granulated like that of the inclosing gneiss. Both gneisses 

are crossed by pegmatite dike, and aplite occurs also in both.

The muscovite-biotite-quartz monzonite gneiss of the Palmer 

quarry, in Westford (p. 312), has a lenticular inclusion, 3 feet by 3 

inches, of very fine grained, evenly foliated quartz-biotite schist with 

some cloudy particles (much kaolinized feldspar?) also a little muscovite and zoisite. This rock may be of sedimentary origin. The 

gneiss at the Merrill quarry, in the same town (p. 310), also contains 

small dark finely banded inclusions.

The quartz monzonite of Barker Hill, in West Townsend (p. 314), 

has inclusions up to 4 feet across of a fine-grained biotite gneiss, 

probably a quartz-mica diorite gneiss like those in the quartz monzonite of the O'Rourke quarry, in Brookline, N. H., about 5 miles to the 

northeast (p. 192).

The fine-grained muscovite-biotite granite of Becket (p. 281) contains an 8 by 10 foot inclusion of a coarse muscovite-biotite granite 

gneiss.

The following inclusions occur in the New Hampshire granite 

quarries: At Concord, in the center of the now abandoned Crowley 

quarry is an inclusion of dark banded biotite-muscovite-oligoclase 

gneiss of slight purplish hue. It was originally 30 feet high and 

pointed at the top. It measures 30 feet in diameter at the base, which 

is nearly round on one side but rectangular on the other. A 2-inch 

pegmatite dike crosses the schistosity of the gneiss but ends abruptly 

at the granite contact. Another part of this inclusion consists of por-
64 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

phyritic granite with feldspars an inch long. At Milford, in the 

Daniels quarry, a roughly diamond-shaped inclusion of gneiss, over 

3 feet in diameter, has a flow structure about it parallel to its surface, 

showing that while the plastic material was adjusting itself to the 

foreign body a zonal rearrangement of the mineral constituents of 

the granite took place.

Among the notable features of Vermont granite quarries are the 

schist inclusions. Those at Barre have been briefly referred to by 

Finlay.0 Eighteen schist inclusions were noticed by the writer in 

the Barre quarries. There are three at quarry 32 (PI. II); one of 

these, 25 by 10 by 10 feet, has a foliation striking N. 30° W. and dipping 60° E.; another is 20 by 8 by 5 feet. The granite is slightly 

darker for a space of 7 feet from these inclusions. At quarry 25 

several measure u-p to 8 by 2 feet. At quarry 8 two are 10 by 6 by 2 to 

3 feet. One at quarry 6 is 20 by 5 feet. One at quarry 10 is 30 by 3 

feet, tapering. The largest was at the Boutwell quarry, No. 1> 

measuring 57 by 10 by over 6 feet, with a foliation striking N. 10° E. 

and dipping 55° W. Another, 10 by 8 feet, has a foliation striking 

north and dipping west. Some of these do not seem to have suffered 

much horizontal displacement, for their foliation nearly agrees with 

that of the schist capping. In others it differs greatly.

The larger Boutwell quarry inclusion was examined in detail. Parts of it 

are lustrous dark-gray muscovite-biotite-quartz schist spangled with biotite 

flakes 0.15 inch long and with garnets measuring about 0.05 inch. Parts of it 

consist of small beds of medium greenish-gray fine-grained quartzite (grains 

up to 0.2 inch) alternating with dark beds of quartz-biotite schist. The quartzite 

bands contain plates of green hornblende (up to 0.75 by 0.37 millimeter) and 

larger garnets which inclose the quartz grains of the rock. The schist bands 

contain similar plates of biotite lying transverse to the bedding and the foliation. Both kinds of bands contain lenses of carbonate (up to 0.37 millimeter) 

arid irregular particles and crystals of zoisite and epidote. As the schists of 

Barre away from the granite are spangled with various minerals (see p. 123) 

it is hardly possible to determine which if any of the isolated minerals in this 

mass was formed at the time of the granitic intrusion. The hornblende and 

garnet may have been. A few inches of the under side of this inclusion consist 

of interbanded granite and schist, the schist having evidently at the time of 

the intrusion been broken into slivers along its schistosity, and the semiliquid 

granite having been forced in between them. The .specimen in Plate III B, 

at the left, is from this point. It shows two minute dikes of granite, 0.5 to 

1.2 inches wide, penetrating the schist and ramifying. The main dikes follow 

the foliation, but the minor branches form very acute angles with it and 

taper out. A thin section made across orie of these little dikes and the inclosing 

schist shows the former to be the typical biotite granite of Barre and the 

latter a quartz-muscovite-biotite schist spangled with biotite plates (up to 0.1 

inch). The quartz of the granite shows marked strain effects. The demarcation between granite and schist is sharp, and no effect of granite upon schist 

appears.

 Finlay, G. I., The granite area of Barre, Vt.: Vermont State Geologist Third Kept., 

p. 51, 1902.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 05

At the Bailey quarry (No. 6, PI. II) an inclusion lies very 

near the schist capping. As the bedding of the inclusion strikes 

nearly east and that of the capping N. 20°-60° E., the inclusion has 

been revolved. Both capping and inclusion have been shattered and 

injected with aplite and pegmatite.

At the Morrison quarry, on Blue Mountain, in Ryegate, two schist 

inclusions were noticed measuring 8 by 4 feet and 3 feet by 1 foot. 

The edge of the larger one is injected with granite, which fills lenticular spaces, as shown in Plate III, #, at the right. In another 

specimen the schist has sharp plications, 5 inches high, with lenses 

of smoky quartz parallel to them, but the nearest edge of the inclusion is nearly a plane surface.

A thin section, 1.6 by 0.7 inch, across the edge of this inclusion shows a 

little granite dike, the quartz monzonite of the quarry, 0.3 to 0.6 inch thick, 

with schist on both sides. The schist is a quartz-microcline-biotite schist with 

a little muscovite and rare grains of oligoclase. It has lenses of biotite and 

muscovite in which large scales of each mica lie at right angles to one another. 

The sheets of cavities in the quartz of the granite are about parallel to the 

course of the dikelet and the foliation of the schist. Two other sections of 

the schist show much apatite in minute crystals and rare particles of allanite. 

The sheets of cavities in the quartz particles of the schist are at right angles 

to its foliation and do not penetrate the quartz of the granite.

Although not connected with any quarry certain granite boulders 

on a shoulder of Miles Mountain, in Concord, in northeastern Vermont,10 are of interest because of their inclusions of sedimentary 

schist still preserving bedding planes and cleavage foliation.

The general inferences from all these observations of inclusions 

are as follows:

Inclusions in granite rock may consist of any igneous or sedimentary rock intruded by the granite.

The ragged edges of schistose inclusions and the interbanding of 

granite with slivers of schist afford evidence of the lacerating effect 

of the intrusion upon such rocks.

The effect of heat upon the minerals of included metamorphic 

rocks was very slight indeed.

Inclusions in granite are likely to be associated with pegmatite 

and aplite.

The plastic granite in adapting itself to rigid inclusions of lower 

temperature usually rearranged its mineral constituents in zones 

about the inclusions, as in flow structure.

GNEISSIC STRUCTURE.

Gneissic structure consists of an alinement of the constituents of a 

granite in more or less parallel planes, giving to the rock a schis-

» See Dale, T. N., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 589, p. 54, 1915. 

105709 23 6
66 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

tosity, as shown in Plate XXIX, A* so that it can be split into 

irregular, slablike pieces of minute or larger dimensions. "*

According to Gregory," the sheets may be all of the! same material or may 

be of different materials; for instance, sheets consisting largely of biotite and 

feldspar may alternate with sheets that are prevailingly quartz. Granite 

gneisses have been formed from granites, the change being chiefly a rearrangement of the mineral particles. The micas and other minerals are drawn out 

along well-marked planes, and new micas, both muscovite and biotite, have 

been produced. Gneiss may also contain tourmaline, garnet, and other minerals 

that are not generally found in granite. The difference in appearance between 

the granite and the gneiss will depend on the amount of metamorphism 

chemical and crystalline action under moisture, heat, and compression the 

rock has undergone. Occasionally the two types will appear in the same quarry, 

as in the Stony Creek region [Connecticut].

The general cause of gneissic structure is crustal compression.

RUSTY STAIN AND ITS CAUSES.

Eusty (limonite) staining ("sap") along the upper and lower 

parts of the sheets and also along the joints and headings is common 

in granite quarries, although some quarries are almost entirely free 

from! it. The concentric inward growth of " sap" from the close 

joints of a heading is well shown in Plate XVII, B. The zone of 

stain along the sheets is from half an inch to 12 inches, exceptionally 

even 24 inches, wide on each side of the sheet parting. Its width, however, decreases gradually from the surface sheets downward. In places 

the " sap " consists of two parts an outer dark brownish zone from 

0.75 to 1.5 inches wide, and an inner more yellowish zone from 0.25 

to 0.5 inch wide Generally, however, the stain diminishes gradually 

from without inward.

When the stone is intended for facing or trimming buildings the 

presence of "sap " is a serious matter, as the stained edge of each 

block must be split off, which adds somewhat to the cost of production. This stain has been supposed to be always due to the oxidation 

of the ferruginous minerals of the granite, biotite, hornblende, magnetite, and pyrite, but some thin sections do not bear out this theory.

Thus one from the Tayutor quarry, near Hallowell, Maine, shows that the. 

stain has insinuated itself into the cleavage planes and cracks of the feldspar 

and muscovite and in the cracks of the quartz, forming minute deposits of limonite therein, but the biotite scales and magnetite particles are generally unrelated 

to the stain. A section, taken from the "top" of the Hopewell quarry, in 

Sullivan, Maine, where the fresh rock has a bluish tinge and the " sap " a general 

buff color, shows that the staining extends along the cleavages and fissures 

and in the spaces between the minerals, but that it does not appear in connection with the biotite scales, although it is increased by the magnetite 

particles. A section from the upper part ot High Isle, south of Rockla'nd, 

Maine, where the dark " sap " is 1 inch wide and an inner lighter part is 0.2 inch

"Gregory, H. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 484, pp. 16-17, 1913.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 67

wide, shows a series of roughly parallel cracks crossing the " sap " vertically, 

with subsidiary transverse cracks. These cracks and the cleavages of the 

feldspar and the spaces between the minerals are stained, but the staining has 

no connection with the biotite, and some large particles of magnetite are 

scarcely touched by it. (See fig. 5.)

Limonitic stain is very abundant in the quarries at Rockport, 

Mass., where its brightness has led to the architectural use of the 

stone showing it. Thin sections of the Rockport " sap " show the 

stain along the boundaries of particles and in all cleavage and rift 

cracks as well as in streaks across them. It is conspicuous about 

hornblende and magnetite particles. The stain has also proceeded 

from the cracks inward into 

the intervening areas. The 

zonal arrangement of the 

stain is also noticeable. 

The medium gray of the 

fresh granite becomes at 

first greenish toward the 

surface; this is followed by 

a zone of deep yellowbrown; and that in turn 

by a much lighter yellowbrown. The greenish zone 

is that of advancing limonitization, the next of maximum stain, and the outside is that of delimonitization, or deoxidation due 

to organic acids, and made 

still lighter by the greater 

kaolinization of the feldspars of the surface. In 

some Rockport specimens this outer paler zone is covered by an extremely thin crust of bright yellow-brown, as if a secondary infiltration of limonite had taken place after the deoxidation. Although in 

the granite of Rockport the ferruginous minerals have furnished 

some of the stain, it is doubtful whether they could have supplied 

enough to color so many sheet and joint surfaces so intensely.

A specimen of granite from the Dell Hitchcock quarry, Quincy, 

Mass., has a rim of "sap" from 1 to 1.5 inches wide, of which the 

inner tenth to three-tenths is dark brown and the rest light brown. 

The inner boundary is very uneven, the rusty part having encroached 

upon the granite in roundish protuberances. Some of the limonite 

streaks start from aegirite particles. In a piece from the Wigwam 

quarry the stain proceeds from magnetite particles and not from the

FIGUUB 5. Minerals in thin section (3.76 by 4.23 

millimeters=0.15 by 0.17 inch) of biotite 

granite from High Isle in Knox County, Maine, 

showing " sap." The ramifications of " sap " 

(limonite stain) across and around feldspar 

and quartz particles (marked f and q) are independent of the biotite and magnetite particles. 

Fine-lined parts are biotite; fine-dotted areas 

are titanite; large black masses are magnetite. 

Some of the borders of quartz particles are 

shown by dotted lines.
68 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

black silicates, but some of the magnetite particles are within crystals of riebeckite. In a specimen from the pea-green granite of the 

Lepage quarry, out of a rusty band 1.5 to 2 inches thick, an inner 

0.2 inch is deep brown, but the fresh granite next to it is dark-greenish. The rest, or outer part, ranges from a very light brown to 

cream-colored at the surface. The stain proceeds from the black 

silicates and from the vicinity of zircon crystals, many of which are 

associated with iron in some form. An aegirite crystal is one-half 

hematite. The central parts of others are altered to limonite before 

the outer. A thin section of discolored granite from Westerly, 

R. I., also shows the rust stain arising from biotite and magnetite 

particles (p. 413).

In one of the fine-grained granites of Milford, N. H. (Hayden 

quarry, now abandoned), there are scattered porphyritic crystals of 

black mica up to 1 inch long, 0.5 inch wide, and very thin, around 

which, after exposure, a circle of slight limonitic stain 20 inches in 

diameter appears on the rift surface. The biotite probably contains, 

as usual, small particles of magnetite.

Another kind of limonitic staining, even more serious in its consequences, appears on fresh faces of granite, either in the quarry 

or after its removal. This consists of sporadic rusty stains from 

0.5 to 1 inch in diameter, arising from the oxidation of minute 

particles of some undetermined ferruginous mineral, possibly allanite. Such stains generally, however, arise from pyrite.

Daly 12 describes a bluish-gray syenite from Windsor, Vt. (feldspar, quartz, hornblende, augite, biotite), that after 24 hours' exposure assumes a greenish tinge, which eventually becomes more or 

less brownish. He has demonstrated by experiment with oxygen 

that this change is due to the oxidation of minute blackish granules 

of ferrous oxide within the feldspar, giving a yellow which, in combination with the original bluish tint of the feldspar, produces a 

green. The large columns of the library of Columbia University, 

in New York, are made of this rock. The quartz diorite of Alfred, 

Maine'(P- 272), becomes greenish after one or two years' exposure; 

and the gray hornblende granite of the Blood Ledge quarry, in 

Rockport, Mass. (p. 300), becomes olive-green in three or four hours 

after wetting.

Some of the green granites, as shown on page 76, owe much of 

their color to limonite stain proceeding from minute allanite crystals. 

(See fig. 6.)

Rusty discoloration in granite is thus of five kinds that due to 

the infiltration of ferruginous water; that due to the oxidation of 

the generally disseminated ferruginous minerals (biotite, hornblende,

12 Daly, R. A., The geology of Ascutoey Mountain, Vermont: U. S. Geol. Surrey Bull. 

209. pp. 51-53, 1803.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 69

aegirit'e, magnetite, and pyrite) 13 by nonferruginous water; that due 

to the oxidation of sporadic ferruginous minerals; that due to the 

oxidation of ferrous oxide within the feldspars; and finally that 

due to limonite from the alteration of the iron compounds in minute 

crystals of allanite. Of course, some rusty stain may have arisen 

from several of these sources combined.

The water that produces the rust-colored bands reaches the sheet 

partings through the intersecting joint partings and then travels 

between the sheets and permeates the lower surface of the overlying 

sheet and the upper surface of the underlying sheet by capillary 

attraction.

General Grant's tomb in New York is an unfortunate example of 

the discoloration of granite after its exposure to the weather. 

Neither the chemical analysis of the stone nor its appearance in the 

quarry or under the microscope affords any explanation of this 

change. (See under North Jay, Maine, pp. 212-214.) That the discoloration followed certain structural planes in the rock is evident, 

because the zones of stain are parallel to the axes of some of the columns but at right angles to those of others. It is also evident that 

some of the columns were cut parallel to the structure and others 

at right angles to it, a difference which makes the discoloration still 

more conspicuous. The only two structures are the rift, which is 

horizontal, and the flow structure, which is in gently inclined undulations. It may be surmised that in that -portion of the quarry 

which furnished the stone for the tomb there was more iron in the 

form of pyrite or magnetite than there was in the samples of the 

stone the chemical, microscopic, and geologic study of which is here 

reported; and that upon continued exposure the oxidation of these 

iron compounds produced enough limonitic stain to discolor both 

walls and columns. This stain followed the arrangement of the 

pyrite and magnetic grains, which was probably in the direction of 

the flow structure.

Limonitic stain along the sheet surfaces may be removed by natural causes. At the Frazer quarry, on Blue Mountain, in Eyegate, 

Vt. (p. 115), there is a band of rusty stain along the base of a 

sheet 12 feet thick dipping 25° down the hill. The band, which is 

an inch wide, is separated from the lower surface of the sheet by 1 

or 2 inches of clear granite. A careful examination of the specimen 

shows that all the minerals in the rusty band are stained a medium

13 The rust-stained joint faces of aplite at Hingham, Mass. (p. 338), are probably due 

to the oxidation and hydration of its abundant pyrite as well as of its magnetite. Alien 

J. Howe (Geology of building stones, p. 360, London, 1910), states that "well-crystallized pyrite In a fresh granite is not a source of much danger, but It, like all other 

iron compounds, may produce, by oxidation and hydratlon, either local spots or a uniform 

tinge of iron stain, in accordance with its distribution in Isolated crystals or In uniformly scattered granules."
70 COMMERCIAL, GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

brown, and that the space below it, although of the same color as 

that above it, yet has dots 0.1 inch wide of very dark brown. A thin 

section of this part shows limonite proceeding from biotite and allanite crystals. A thin section of the clear granite above the band 

shows no limonite whatever about a crystal of allanite. There seems, 

therefore, to have been a partial delimonitization of the lower part of 

the zone of " sap," which may be attributed to organic acids in the 

water circulating between the sheets after that which produced the 

stain.

At the old Crabtree quarry, east of Minturn, on Swans Island, in 

Maine, the limonitic band, about an inch thick, is 2 inches above the 

bottom of the sheet, owing to such delimonitization.

DECOMPOSITION. 

GENERAL FEATURES.

Notwithstanding the strength and durability of granite, it is liable, 

under certain conditions and in the course of long time, to decompose 

into a clayey sand. This is the result of its physical, mineralogical, 

and chemical constitution and properties. One of the most striking 

illustrations of decomposition is the occurrence in some of the Maine 

quarries of " beds " of sand or decomposed granite within the fresh 

granite, either between the sheets away from headings or within the 

headings and along or across the sheets. Thus at the Palmer quarry, 

in Vinalhaven, 20 feet below the surface in the face of the quarry, 

there is a bed of granite sand 18 inches thick between two sheets, 

which at that point dip about 10° into the hill. On the southeast side of the Longfellow quarry, near Hallowell, some of the 

sheets within a wide heading include granite sand beds about 10 

inches thick. At the Shattuck Mountain quarry, near Eed Beach, a 

6-foot heading includes a vertical layer of granite sand 8 inches 

thick. Specimens taken from these various sand beds show that the 

disintegration begins with microscopic fractures, or in some places 

the enlarged rift cracks, producing the " shake " structure described 

on page 39, and is followed by more or less kaolinization of the 

feldspars. This process consists in the loss 'of alkali and the taking 

up of water, resulting in the passing, of the feldspar into a white 

clay (kaolin).

The joint and sheet structure affords ingress to surface water, 

which contains its usual percentage of carbonic acid, and the " rift'"' 

structure facilitates the kaolinization of the feldspar on either side 

of the sheet parting by this water. As the feldspars pass into clay 

the rock crumbles into sand consisting of quartz, mica, and kaolin 

and of feldspar in various stages of kaolinization. In some places 

within the range and depth of frost a large part of this work may
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 71

have been done by frost. The sand would there be mainly the product of the " shake " structure.

Along the Maine coast the surface of granite ledges bear in protected places an inch or so of granite sand, which represents surface 

disintegration since the postglacial submergence.

In regions that have not been swept by a continental glacier any 

granite mass would be covered with the products of the decomposition of its own surface. In the Tropics the abundant rainfall and 

the organic acids from a luxuriant vegetation materially hasten the 

decomposition, and granitic rocks in such regions are for these 

reasons often covered with many feet of sand and soil. 14

Walther,15 in an interesting work on erosion in the Egyptian desert, 

describes the effect of the weathering of a certain gray granite in the 

Sinaitic peninsula as the excavation of a series of circular holes, 1 

to 8 inches in diameter and 4 to 20 inches deep, in the sides of the 

sheets. He attributes these holes to chemical action upon the feldspars in shady depressions where rain, dew, and rock moisture are 

less easily dried up, aided by the wind-blown sand of the desert. 

He also (p. 363) attributes exfoliation of granite in the desert, in 

which the folia measure 0.2-0.6 inch in thickness, to differences in 

temperature causing unequal expansion of the outer surface cooled 

at night and the inner one still preserving the heat of the previous 

day.

The incipient stage of weathering may be observed in any longexposed granite ledge in the milky whiteness of the feldspars. This 

change usually attacks the soda-lime feldspars first. The black mica, 

owing to its content of iron oxide, is also liable to early decomposition. The process of weathering, as it affects the rock as a whole, 

involves the following chemical changes: A loss of lime, magnesia, 

potash, and soda; a gain of water, and a relative gain of silica, alumina, and iron oxide that is, relative to the reduced weight of the 

weathered rock. The subject of weathering of granite is fully treated 

in the writings of Merrill,10 Keyes,17 and Watson.18

The changes in granite after it has entered into buildings or other 

structures are less marked than those in the natural rock, because 

the blocks are not then traversed by anything analogous to sheet and

u Branner, J. C., Decomposition of rocks in Brazil: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 7, 

p. 31, 1890.

15 Walther, Johannes, Die Doniidation in der Wiiste und ihre geologlsche Bedeutung: 

TC. sachs. Gesell. Wiss., Math.-phys. Classe, Abh., vol. 16, pp. 367, 368, Leipzig, 1891.

10 Merrill, G. P., Disintegration of the granite rocks of the District of Columbia: Geol. 

Soc. America Bull., vol. 6, p. 321, 1895 ; also A treatise on rocks, rock-weathering, and 

soils, pp. 206-214, 236, 244, 245, 257, New York, 1897.

17 Keyes, C. R., The origin and relations of central Maryland granites: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Fifteenth Ann. Kept., p. 725, pis. 42-45, 1895. See also Iowa Acad. Sci. Proc., 

vol. 1, pt. 3, pp. 22-24, vol. 2, pp. 27-31, pis. 2-4, 1895.

15 Watson, T. L., A preliminary report on a part of the granites and gneisses of Georgia, 

pp. 299, 300, 308, 329, 331, 333, 1902.
72 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

joint structure, and also because the years of historic time are few 

compared to those of geologic time. Much has been written on the 

decay of granite in monuments and buildings.19 Such decay is mainly 

attributable to microscopic fissures produced by the unequal and 

repeated expansion and contraction of the different minerals of the 

granite under changes of solar temperature. In countries where the 

winter temperature is very low the action of frost within such fissures 

powerfully assists the process of disintegration. Thus the obelisk 

now in New York suffered more from three years' exposure to our 

climate than it had during over 3,400 years in Egypt, although the 

fissures along which frost operated were started long before it reached 

this country. A minor factor in decay is the chemical action of 

water along fissures.20

The results of some recent studies on the weathering of ancient 

granite monuments in Egypt 21 show the durability of this stone in 

terms of years in that climate. It was found that in southern Egypt 

obelisks dating from 588 to 2100 B. C., or from 2,504 to 4,016 years 

old, showed no perceptible disintegration or even incipient exfoliation on southern exposures, but that farther north, at Luxor, Thebes, 

and Gizeh, and in the Museum at Cairo the granite (chiefly that of 

iSyene) of pyramids, statues, and temples, dating from 318 to 

2850 B. C., or from 2,234 to 4,766 years old, showed an average rate 

of disintegration and exfoliation ranging from nearly 0.04 to 0.08 

inch per 1,000 years. The maximum rate in the temple at Karnak 

was about 0.2 inch per 1,000 years, and the minimum rate so slow 

as to be imperceptible in 3,000 years.

All the causes of decay referred to operate more effectively in 

coarse granites than in fine ones. Merrill points out that the reason 

for the greater resistance to weathering offered by sawn or polished 

surfaces than by cut or hammered surfaces is that the latter are full 

of minute fractures parallel to the surface, produced by tool impact, and that these fractures facilitate scaling.

OVOIDAL WEATHERING.

Shaler 22 called attention to spheroidal weathering in the granite of 

Rockport, and gave a plate showing " decomposition boulders," 

which are the result of the progress of decay working inward from

" Julien, A. A., The durability of building stones in New York City: Tenth Census, 

vol. 10, Granite, pp. 370-371, 1884. Merrill, Geo. P., Physical, chemical, and economic 

properties of building stones: Maryland Geol. Survey, vol. 2, Granite, pp. 92-94, 1898. 

Also Merrill's Stones for building and decoration, 3d ed., Weathering of .granite, pp. 

434, 435, 1903.

20 Julien, A. A., A study of the New York obelisk as a decayed boulder: New York Acad. 

Sci. Annals, vol. 8, pp. 93-166, 1893.

21 Barton, D. C., The disintegration of granite in Egypt: Jour. Geology, vol. 24, pp. 

386-391, 1916.

25 Shaler, N. S., The geology of Cape Ann, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Survey Ninth Ann. Kept., 

p 567, pi. 51, 1889.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 73

both sheet and joint surfaces. This is not unusual in granite regions. 

A fine illustration of the concentric surface weathering of granite 

in the Sierra Nevada was given by Turner.23 This decay is mainly 

due to the chemical processes described under " Decomposition" 

(p. 70). Spheroidal weathering in granite may, however, be partly 

of different origin. The writer many years ago made some colored 

sketches of a concentric cylindrical structure in granite at a railroad cut at Unter Brambach, in Saxony, in which the surfaces an 

inch or two apart were coated with limonite stain. The cylindrical 

forms, although brought out by weathering, were apparently due 

to internal structure. Of like structural origin are also the concentric shelly spheroids of granite about an. inner concretion of 

mica, a foot in diameter, in central Bohemia described by Jokely.1*

P. A. Wagner 25 attributes spheroidal weathering in a South 

African granite to spheroidal contraction during cooling.

Plate XXIX, B, represents an ovoid mass of extremely fine 

quartz monzonite (45 by 33| by 25 inches) from the Bedstone quarry, 

near Westerly, E. I. (p. 413). This mass came from a point 30 feet 

below the surface within a heading 40 feet wide at the north end 

of the quarry, where much decomposition had taken place. As 

there are no indications at any of the Westerly quarries of an 

original spheroidal structure, this mass must be classed with those of 

Cape Ann, but the decomposition, instead of working on five sides 

of an exposed mass, has operated on the sides of a block formed 

by intersecting .joints and sheets considerably below the general 

surface, and the egg shape is due to the unequal spacing of these 

partings.

SPECIAL FEATURES.

The following ten sections include certain geologic and petrographic features of granite which, although of scientific interest, 

hardly come under any of the previous headings.

PEGMATITE DIKES IN GROUPS.

The granite of Milford, N. H., is crossed by the usual pegmatite 

dikes, but at several quarries instead of being single or ramifying the 

dikes occur in parallel sets of 3 to 12 and have sinuous courses. This 

grouping is exceptional in the New England quarries. At the old 

Field quarry, near the village, the individual dikes measure 0.25 to 1 

inch in width and number up to 10 in a set, and the sets recur at inter21 Turner, H. W., Rocks of the Sierra Nevada: U. S. Geol. Survey Fourteenth Ann. 

Rept., pt. 2, p. 481, pi. 53, 1894.

24 Jokfily, Johann, Geognostische Verhaltnisse in elnem Thelle des mittleren Bohmen: 

K.-k. geol. Relchsanstalt Jahrb., vol. 6, p. 375 and figure, 1855.

n Wagner, P. A., Negative spheroidal weathering and jointing in a granite of southern 

Rhodesia: Geol. Soc. South Africa Trans., vol. 15, pp. 155-164, pis. 18-21, 1913.
74 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

vals of 15 to 20 feet. At the abandoned Hayden quarry, a mile south, 

such dikes 0.25 to 1 inch wide and up to 12 in a group, recur at intervals of 20 to 30 feet. At the Young quarry, midway between these 

localities, the sets consist of 3 to 8 dikes up to 3 inches thick and recur 

at intervals of 20 feet. The dikes here meander and unite in the 

most intricate manner, occupying bands of granite 5 to 10 feet thick, 

which in quarrying have to be discarded. Somewhat similar dikes 

were noted in a small quarry 3 miles northeast of Lewiston, Maine, 

where a fine-grained biotite gneiss is traversed in a space of 30 feet 

by 27 pegmatite dikes, 1 inch to 2 feet thick, all dipping 80°.

It is difficult to explain the grouping and spacing of these dikes 

without supposing some periodicity in the application of the tension 

that made openings for them. The sinuosity of the courses of such 

dikes has been regarded as evidence that the openings were the result 

of tensile rather than of compressive or other strain.

MUSCOVITE VEINS.

At some of the quarries in Concord, N. H., the muscovite-biotite 

granite is traversed here and there by what quarrymen term "sand 

streaks " or " sand seams." These are veins of white mica, 0.1 to 0.4 

inch wide, with a border of quartz and feldspar about 0.1 inch wide 

on each side. The mica plates measure up to 0.07 inch in diameter. 

Some of these veins, however, consist almost entirely of mica plates 

without any regular arrangement, attain a thickness of 1-| inches, and 

have mica plates up to 0.2 inch.

Veins of kindred but not identical character were observed at 

Milford, N. H. At the disused Field quarry muscovite veins 0.5 inch 

wide, with a central parting, recur at intervals of 15 to 20 feet. 

They strike like the pegmatite dikes referred to on page 73 and are 

discontinuous, not exceeding 6 feet at a stretch and being in places 

but a few inches. At the neighboring quarries of the Milford Granite 

Co. there is a heading striking N. 30° E., the joints of which inclose 

segregation veins of muscovite and quartz, the quartz in the center. 

These are from 0.1 to 0.5 in^ch wide and the granite is discolored 

bright reddish up to 0.5 inch on each side. The biotite is also 

chloritized.

It will be noticed that these Concord and Milford veins differ in 

that the former usually have muscovite in the center and the latter 

quartz. Both kinds of veins may be attributed to the percolation of 

mineral solutions along fissures. In either kind the outer mineral 

was deposited first. The proximity and parallelism of many of these 

veins to pegmatite dikes suggest that although deposited from solutions they were probably intimately related to the pegmatite dikes 

and were formed at the same time. In that case the heading referred 

to at Milford antedates the sheet structure.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 75 

ZEOLITE VEINS.

At the McGaughey quarry, in Mystic village, in Groton, Conn, 

(p. 388), the quartz monzonite has two zeolites. A vertical "blind 

seam," striking N. 60° E., proves to be a veinlet, 1 millimeter wide, 

of a fibrous light-brownish zeolite (natrolite?), with a more minute 

parallel branch, 0.5 millimeter away, of another zeolite near stilbite. 

This mineral has replaced some of the adjoining oligoclase-andesine 

and also sends microscopic veinlets across quartz particles. The 

granite is discolored for 0.5 inch on either side of the veinlet. A 

vertical pegmatite dike strikes N. 30° W.

MINERAL VEINS.

The presence of mineral veins in granite has no special significance in a work on granite, but in the one case noted the course 

of the vein was governed by that of a group of joints ("heading").

At the Roxbury quarry, Conn. (p. 3T2), owing to the proximity 

of a vein of siderite which was formerly mined, three veins, each 

riot over 8 inches thick, consisting of siderite. pyrite, chalcopyrite. 

galena, and secondary quartz coating crystals of siderite, occur 

within and parallel to three vertical headings.

FELDSPARS. 

ORIGINAL AND SECONDARY COLORS.

Although the shade of a granite is large!)' determined by that of 

its quartz particles and the relative abundance and size of its black 

mica scales, its general color is almost invariably determined by that 

of its feldspars. The colors of feldspars in commercial granite are so 

varied as to be an object of interest not only to the geologist but to 

the quarryman and the architect.

The New England granites described in this bulletin have feldspars of 11 colors bluish, greenish, olive-green, pea-green, cream 

color, lavender, buff, pinkish buff, reddish, and greenish brown. 

Some are colorless and transparent or milk-white, others are dark 

or light gray, and the colored ones may be either transparent, translucent, or opaque. The relative opacity is determined mainly by 

degree of kaolinization and micacization.

In some granites the origin of the color is not easily determinate. 

Thus the feldspar of the granite of Concord, N. H., is translucent, 

with a slight bluish tinge, but the sections show no mineral which 

would produce such a tinge. Tn other granites, however, the results of microscopic examination are more satisfactory. Thus one of 

the granites of Rockport, Mass. (p. 298), owes its greenish tinge to 

chlorite scales and limonite stain. The granites of Milford, Mass.
76 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

(p. 342), have a delicate pink orthoclase and a yellow-greenish 

plagioclase. The greenish tint is due to innumerable minute crystals 

of epidote and a few scales of chlorite. The smallest of these epidote 

crystals measure about 0.001 millimeter. The orthoclase is much 

kaolinized, and the cause of the pinkish tinge is not apparent but is 

supposed to be due to the presence of infinitesimal particles of reddish hematite (Fe2 03 ).

The reddish biotite granite of the Bedstone quarry at Westerly, 

R. I. (p. 412), contains a pinkish potash feldspar and a cream-colored 

plagioclase, both translucent and more or less micacized. They 

are both stained reddish here and there by hematite (Fe2O3 ) proceeding from the oxidation of magnetite particles (Fe3 04 ). This 

shows how the reddish color may be brought about. A similar 

reddening of the feldspar along the joint faces at Redstone, N. H., 

is due to hematite plainly proceeding from magnetite particles 

(p. 168).

The olive-green granite of Rockport (p. 293) contains a grayish 

olive-green orthoclase which appears crowded with opaque particles, the largest of which measure from 0.0028 to 0.014 millimeter. 

There is yellow limonitic (Fe409Ha ) staining both along the rift 

cracks and about the opaque particles, some! of which may be ferrous iron (FeO) and others kaolin. This limonite stain, in connection with an original bluish tinge unaccounted for, produces 

the olive-green. This granite contains also biotite and allanite. The 

similar olive-green granite from Redstone, N. H. (p. 168), owes its 

green tinge more to the color of the quartz than to that of the feldspar. The feldspar is a medium bluish gray with an occasional 

yellow-stained cleavage or rift crack. The limonite stain here 

clearly proceeds from the alteration of somewhat abundant particles 

and crystals of allanite,26 as shown in figure 6, and also from particles of hornblende.

Daly 27 has shown experimentally that the green color which appears soon after exposure in the granite of Windsor, Vt., is due to 

the oxidization of extremely minute blackish granules of ferrous 

oxide in the feldspars and to the combination of the yellowish-brown 

color from the limonite thus produced with the bluish gray of the 

unaltered feldspar.

The bluish and greenish tints of the medium to dark gray feldspar of Quincy granite (p. 317) are due to finely disseminated crystals of bluish riebeckite, measuring from about 0.001 to 0.1 milli20 See glossary (p. 407), also Iddings, J. P., and Cross, Whitman, On the .widespread 

occurrence of allanite as an accessory constituent of many rocks: Am. Jour. Scl., 3d ser., 

rol. 30, pp. 108-111, 1885.

* Daly, R. A., The geology of Ascutney Mountain, Vt.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 209, 

1903.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 77

meter in length by about 0.001 millimeter in width, and to innumerable still more minute particles of grass-green aegirite.

This bluish-greenish gray feldspar of Quincy granite assumes very 

different colors as the result of various alterations. In some places 

it becomes cream-colored, in others a delicate pea-green, or pink to 

pinkish gray or dark greenish-brownish gray, in others a light 

olive-gray, and in still others it becomes spotted with a deep red. 

The mode of these occurrences, the appearance of the changed feldspars in thin section, and probable causes of the changes are set 

forth below.

At the Galvin quarry, in 

Quincy (p. 325), the granite on 

either side of the quartz veins, 

which contain a little ilmenite 

and carbonate, is changed for 4 

inches from its usual bluish gray 

to cream-color. At the Field & 

Wild quarry, also in Quincy 

(p. 3£6), these veins are bordered 

by 3-inch zones of greenish, pinkish, or light-grayish discoloration. The cream and light gray 

seem to be due not so much to the 

kaolinization of the feldspars 

and to limonite stain from the 

ilmenite of the vein as to a 

diminution of certain minute 

black particles which abound 

in the unaltered feldspar. The pinkish color is due to hematite and the greenish to aegirite and the removal of the riebeckite. 

The reduction of the black particles and any kaolinization of 

the feldspars along these veins must be attributed to carbonic 

acid waters, and these must either have come from below with 

the silica of the vein or from above by infiltration along the vein 

courses.28

At the Cashman quarry, in West Quincy (p. 331), the granite at 

both the north and the south ends, to a depth of over YO feet from 

the rock surface, has delicate pea-green feldspars, but normal gray 

granite occupies the center of the quarry. Similar pea-green feldspar occurs on the south side of the Lepage quarry (p. 330), in West 

Quincy, to a depth of 30 to 40 feet, and at one of the Winquist

FIGURE 6. Part of a thin section of green 

biotite-hornblende granite from Redatone, Conway, N. H., enlarged 315 diameters, showing a crystal of allanite 

with radiating cracks, which are filled 

with yellowish limonite stain, also bands 

of such stain apart from these cracks. 

The dotted areas are quartz, the rest 

feldspar. Such crystals in part account 

for the color of the rock.

28 Van Hise, C. R., A treatise on metamorphism: U. S. Geol. Survey Hon. 47, pp. 

720-728, 1904.
78 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

t

quarries on the North Commons (p. 324), to a depth of 125 feet from 

the rock surface. This pea-green tint seems to be due mainly to 

the presence of minute particles and crystals of light-green aegirite, 

and secondarily to the absence or removal of the minute riebeckite 

crystals. There is also here and there a secondary light yellowishbrown hornblende in minute prismatic crystals. This granite has 

the appearance of having undergone alteration of one or two kinds. 

Some structural feature seems necessary to account for the separation of two vertical belts of light-green granite by a normal gray 

one at the Cashman quarry.

A pink granite occupies one-half of the Savo quarry (p. 331), in 

West Quincy, to a depth of 30 feet, and the pea-green granite the 

other half. The feldspars of the pink stone have been kaolinized 

and made pink. The larger riebeckite and aegirite particles have 

passed into masses (pseudomorphs) of quartz, magnetite, and carbonate, with some epidote and chlorite. Magnetite crystals are conspicuous in them. The minute crystals of riebeckite have disappeared. These changes in the feldspar and the ferro-soda silicates 

could be explained by access of carbonated surface waters and metamorphic action. The color of the feldspar must be attributed either 

to the reduction of limonite particles or to the oxidation of magnetite.

At the Sartori quarry, in Quincy (p. 335), the feldspar has become 

largely kaolinized and micacized and also somewhat stained with 

hematite. It has lost its translucence and acquired a dull greenishbrown hue. The black silicates have passed largely into an aggregate of biotite, magnetite, carbonate, and quartz, and there are no 

minute riebeckite crystals in the feldspars.

At the Eogers quarry, in West Quincy (p. 333), the feldspars at 

the south end and west side become a light olive-gray after exposure. 

In thin section faint yellowish limonite stain appears along the rift 

and grain and along cleavage and irregular cracks. The yellow of 

the stain combined with the bluish green of the riebeckite yields an 

olive-gray. In one section bright limonite stain is seen to ramify 

from the large particles of intergrown riebeckite and aegirite.

At several Quincy quarries some of the granite is spotted with 

deep cherry-red and muddy olive-colored stains up to an inch in 

diameter. These stains surround the larger riebeckite and aegirite 

particles, from which they penetrate the adjacent feldspars. In 

thin section many of the feldspars are seen to be permeated by 

bright red hematite stain, ramifying within them from the cleavage 

and rift cracks, as shown in figure 7. This stain is also accompanied 

here and there by yellowish limonite stain probably of later date; 

and there are long, slender greenish particles up to 0.33 by 0.0002 

millimeter, which are all parallel in the same feldspar crystal.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 79

Radiating needle-like and fibrous felty crystals of secondary yellowish or muddy green hornblende are attached to the riebeckite and 

aegirite particles. Some of the aegirite crystals are completely 

altered to chlorite, magnetite, and quartz. The immediate cause of 

the staining of the feldspar and of the formation of the fibrous 

hornblende is thus the alteration of the riebeckite-aegirite particles, 

but the cause of that alteration is not so apparent. Their alteration 

to magnetite, alone, implies metamorphism. At the Cashman quarry, 

already referred to, some of this altered aegirite and feldspar was 

found next to a steep heading, and at the Hardwick quarry the granite within a heading has a hematitic color. These occurrences suggest that the change in the black silicates may have been brought 

about by access of surface 

water along joint planes, hydrating and oxidizing the iron 

of the silicates, and that the 

granite thus stained by limonite has become reddish as the 

limonite under metamorphism 

became reduced to hematite. 

It is also possible that, the 

black silicates having under 

metamorphism passed partly 

into magnetite, this may by oxidation have yielded hematite. 

This reddening of the feldspar also characterizes the

FIOUEK 7. Thin section of altered Quincy 

granite, enlarged 62£ diameters, showing 

hematite stain in the feldspar. The large 

particle from which streams of stain, proceed Is aegirite. Its altered parts are 

shaded.

gray granite of two of the

quarries at Milford, N. H. (pp. 185, 187), for a thickness of 10 to 

50 feet from its contact with.basic dikes. The change takes place 

chiefly in the soda-lime feldspar, which is also much kaolinized. The 

source of this hematite is probably the magnetite particles.

CUT SURFACES.

In studying the " black granites " it was found that if one of two 

of identical shade is a diorite that is, a granite with only a sodalime feldspar and the other a normal biotite granite that is, a 

granite with very little soda-lime feldspar and considerable potash 

feldspar the cut surface of the diorite will be very much lighter 

than that of the normal granite, and this was attributed to some 

optical property of the soda-lime feldspar. (See PL XXII, A.)

It has also been found that the pinkish and grayish quartz morizonites of Westerly, R I., Milford, N. H., and Waterford and Groton, Conn., in which the soda-lime feldspar is in excess of .the potash
80 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

feldspar, cut lighter than normal granites even of lighter tint. The 

very dark gabbros, syenites, diabases, and norites also cut light, as 

shown in Plates XXII, B, and VII, B. Dr. G. P. Merrill suggests 

that the optical property involved here is the multiple twinning of 

the soda-lime feldspar, which must greatly facilitate its breaking 

up under the hammer and thus increase the diffusion of light. As 

the dark purplish porphyritic rhyolite ("granite") of Montello, 

Wis., in which potash feldspar makes up half the rock and which 

has no other feldspar, hammers quite as light as the Westerly quartz 

monzonite, this shows that the same effect may be produced in some 

other way.20

GRANITIC QUARTZ.

TEXTUEE.

The observations here brought together show that granitic quartz 

is far from possessing the homogeneous texture popularly attributed to that mineral. Not only is the quartz likely to contain cavities 

with or without vacuoles, as was shown on page 18, in intersecting 

sheets related to rift and grain cracks, but it also contains minute 

opaque particles, particularly abundant in smoky quartz. Some 

of it abounds in hairlike crystals, probably of rutile. The quartz 

of some granites shows by its behavior in polarized light that the 

arrangement of its molecules has been disturbed by mechanical strain. 

In three Massachusetts granites, Milford, Fall Eiver, and Quincy 

Goldleaf quarry, and in that of Lebanon, N. H., this strain has 

been carried far enough to granulate the quartz. The granules 

generally measure under 1 millimeter in diameter.

COLORS.

The quartz of the granites described in this bulletin ranges from 

colorless, transparent or milky, to blue, amethystine smoky or milky, 

greenish smoky, rose-colored, and smoky of various shades. At Redstone, N. H. (p. 168), an amethystine smoky quartz has become greenish by the coating of its rift and grain cracks with limonite. Colorless quartz has the fewest cavities or particles. The smokiness appears to be due to minute black particles, but the microscope fails 

to show the cause of the blue, rose, and amethystine tints.30

The results of recent investigations by Watson and Beard 31 and 

those of previous writers quoted by them show that the amethyst

88 See Buckley, E. R., On the building and ornamental stones of Wisconsin : Wisconsin 

Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 4, p. 94, pi. 5, 1898.

80 Rosenbusch, H., Mikroskopische Physiographic der Mineralien und Gesteine, 4th ed., 

rol. 1, pt. 2, Granlt Quarz, pp. 93, 94, 1905.

u Watson, T. L., and Beard, R. E., The color of amethyst, rose, and blue varieties 

of quartz: U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc., rol. 53, pp. 553-563, 1917.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 81

tint is due to manganese oxide, the rose tint to some organic substance, and the blue may be due to the reflection of blue light waves 

from abundant minute colorless prisms of rutile (titanium dioxide), 

whose width is a fraction of the length of light waves.

OLIVE-GREEN GRANITE.

The peculiar olive-green of the green granites of New England is 

due to changes both in the feldspar and the quartz as explained on 

page 76. The following description of a thin section of the green 

granite of Kedstone, N. H. (p. 168). is typical of most of them.

There is a faint yellowish limonitic stain along the rift and grain cracks of 

the quartz, along these and the cleavage planes of the feldspar, and along 

borders of all particles. This stain is deeper in the quartz because there are 

more cracks in it, arid this, in combination with its original slightly amethystine hue, gives the quartz a greenish tint; and this yellow stain also, in connection with the original slightly bluish gray of the feldspars, gives them in places 

a greenish color.

Olive-green granites occur also at Rockport (p. 293), Peabody (p. 

287), and Lynnfield (p. 288), Mass.; at Kilkenny, N. H. (p. 176); and 

on Mount Ascutney, in Windsor, Vt. (p. 162). That of Rockport is a 

hornblende granite, that of Redstone a biotite-hornblende granite, 

that of Kilkenny an augite-biotite granite, and that of Windsor a 

hornblende-augite granite. The green granite of Peabody and Lynnfield (pp. 287-289) is also a hornblende-augite granite but contains 

less quartz and more dark silicates. It is analogous to the riebeckiteaegirite granite of Quincy, but its black silicates contain very little 

or no soda.

Washington 82 refers to this green granite in these words:

The rocks belonging to this class were first noticed by Wadsworth in 1885 

and were later described more in detail by Sears. Rosenbusch has expressed 

the opinion that these are related to the akerite type of syenites, a keen observation which my study of the rocks fully confirms. These rocks are found 

chiefly in the eastern part of Essex County, in Essex, Beverly, Manchester, 

Gloucester, and on Cape Ann. * * * The color even of the freshest specimens is greenish, which varies in shade from a dark greenish black to a light 

shade of greenish gray.

In common with the green granites of Rockport and Redstone, that 

of Peabody and Lynnfield contains considerable allanite, to the oxidation of which the green color is partly due.

MINERALS ON JOINT FACES.

Many granite joint faces are coated with secondary minerals 

hematite, pyrite, limonite, calcite, epidote, chlorite, stilbite, quartz,

83 Washington, H. S., The petrographical province of ESsex County, Mass.: Jour. 

Geology, vol. 6, p. 787, 1898. See also Sears, J. H., The physical geography, geology, 

mineralogy, and paleontology of Essex County, Mass., pp. 178, 190, Salem, Mass., 1905.

105709 23 7
82 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

and muscovite. All these may owe their origin to alteration of the 

minerals of the granite, but where calcite occurs in considerable 

quantity, as in the unusual and interesting granite found at the W. B. 

Blaisdell quarry, in Franklin, Maine, described under'" Sub joints," 

on page 39, it very probably came from originally overlying calcareous rocks. But these may not have been those intruded by the 

granite.

Some of the joint and even sheet faces in the quarries at Quincy, 

Mass., are coated with a blue-black mineral with a peculiar sheen due 

to fibrous structure parallel to the face and with a bluish-gray streak. 

Such black faces can be seen at the Dell Hitchcock, Field & Wild, 

Granite Railway, and Rogers quarries and at the Mount Pleasant 

quarry in Milton. (See PL XXIV.) On one side of the Mount 

Pleasant quarry both sheet and joint faces are thus coated, and at the 

Rogers quarry such black joint faces, spaced from 6 inches to 4 

feet, make up a heading. These bkck joints are commonly intermittent, however, extending only a few yards or even inches at a stretch.

A thin section cut diagonally to one of these joints and its parallel subjoints 

shows six meandering or intersecting cracks, 0.125 to 1.25 millimeters apart, 

filled with crystals of riebeckite (a dark-blue soda hornblende), the smallest of 

which are 0.02 and the largest 0.1 millimeter long, together with fibrous white 

mica, limonite, and very little carbonate. The granite between these fissures 

is broken up here and there into minute angular fragments and the feldspar is 

granulated. The cement of this microscopic breccia is also riebeckite, the 

crystals of which lie with their axes either parallel to the fracture or across 

them or even projecting into the feldspar fragments. Some of the feldspars 

next to the joint are unusually crowded with riebeckite crystals, which probably 

originated in the same manner and at the same time as those within the joints.83

The secondary and relatively recent origin of this riebeckite is 

evident, and its formation by segregation from the ferro-soda silicates 

of the granite seems also quite probable.

James P. Smith 34 has explained the alteration of a certain California arkose (decomposed granite or diorite) and a sandstone, with 

varying proportions of impure clay, into schists consisting largely of 

glaucophane (a soda hornblende closely related to riebeckite) as due 

to a process of recrystallization under heat and pressure.

At the Linehan quarry, in Peabody, Mass., the hornblende-augite 

granite has joints coated with hornblende and calcite.

In the riebeckite-coated joints and sheets of Quincy and the 

hornblende-coated joints of Peabody some transfer of material into 

the joint spaces must also have taken plar e. The presence of these 

minerals shows that the granite was subjected to a certain amount

83 This and the occurrence of secondary riebeckite in rift and grain cracks, mentioned 

on p. 317, partly confirm the suspicion expressed by A. Sauer as to the origin of this 

mineral. See Deutsch. geol. Gesell. Zeitschr., vol. 40, p. 145, 1888.

* Smith, J. P., Paragenesis of the minerals in the glaucophane-bearing rocks of California : Am. Philos. Soc. Prbc., vol. 45, p. 183, 1906. See also summary, idem, pp. 

238, 240, 1906.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 83

of metamorphism after the development of its sheet and joint 

structure.

Some joint faces at Milford and Becket, Mass., and Concord and 

Redstone, N. H., present different features. At the East quarry, 

Milford (p. 347), the parted joint which forms the west wall is 

filled with a fine-grained greenish, brownish, and cream-colored mass 

with transverse and longitudinal slickensided cracks. In thin section this proves to be a brecciated granite cemented with calcite, 

chlorite, fibrous muscovite, and limonite. The amount of calcite 

in this mass is so considerable that it seems improbable that the 

granite alone could have supplied it.

At the quarry of the Hudson & Chester Granite Co., in Becket 

(p. 280), some of the joint faces of the bluish-gray muscovite-biotite 

granite are dark greenish for 0.12 inch from the face. The granite 

in this zone has been altered by the formation of fibrous mica with 

limonite stain along cracks transverse to the face and along feldspar cleavages and by the formation of mica in the feldspars and 

of calcite both in the lime-soda feldspars and between the particles. These secondary minerals added to the original ones make 

these small rims very complex.

At the Upper or Granite Railway quarry of John Swenson, at 

Concord, N. H. (p. 200), joints with a N. 65° W. course and short 

parallel subjoints are coated with minute quartz crystals and obtuse 

calcite rhombs standing, edgewise on the joint face, and also here 

and there with the beginnings of 2-inch cubes of deep purple and 

white fluorite. Similar fluorite occurs exceptionally within the 

granite near the face.

At .Kedstone, N. H. (p. 168), the light-pink granite for an inch 

back of one of the major joints is a yellowish pink with patches 

of grass-green, while the face itself is pale brick-red, rust-colored, 

bluish, and grass-green. Thin sections show the feldspars much 

altered to white micas and crossed by veinlets of them. They are 

also kaolinized and stained pink by hematite from the magnetite 

particles. There is some carbonate, limonite, chlorite, and epidote.

At the Sands quarry, in Vinalhaven, Maine, one of the joint faces 

bears very minute crystals of stilbite, a hydrous silicate of alumina, 

lime, and soda,35 also hematite.

While nearly all the secondary minerals in these joint coatings 

(chlorite, epidote, muscovite, hematite, limonite, calcite, stilbite, 

and quartz) may be accounted for by processes of "deep-seated 

weathering" that is, by the alteration, largely chemical, of the 

minerals of the granite itself the fluorite was probably brought 

from the same source as the granite itself but at a later time, and 

the calcite from once overlying calcareous sedimentary beds.

«* Determination by W. T. Schaller, of the United States Geological Survey.
84 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Large areas of the joint faces in the Longfellow quarry, at Hallowell, Maine, are coated with dendrites (frostlike crystals) of iron 

oxides and probably maganese oxides from surface infiltration.

CONTACT PHENOMENA.

Iii the 425 granite quarries of New England contacts of the granite 

with the rock intruded by it were observed in the following townships and are mentioned in the quarry descriptions on the pages 

given: Jn Connecticut, in Groton (p. 386), East Lyme (p. 389), Mystic 

(p. 388), Seymour (p. 384), Stonington (p. 392), Thomaston (p. 373), 

and Waterford (Millstone and Waterford quarries, pp. 396, 398); in 

Maine, in Bristol (Eound Pond, p. 249), Freeport (p. 211), and 

VValdoboro (p. 250, fig. 57) ; in Massachusetts, in Becket (p. 280) and 

.North Acton (p. 308); in New Hampshire, in Manchester (p. 195) and

w. E.

FIGURE 8. Contact of quartz monzonite on the west side of Ellis quarry, Christian Hill, 

Bethel, Vt., showing relations of zone of fine granite to coarse granite and to bedding 

and cleavage of schist.

Milford (p. 180); in Khode Island, in Charlestown (p. 415) and 

Westerly (p. 411); in Vermont, in Barre (p. 132), Bethel (p. 159), 

Hardwick (p. 120), and Plymouth Xp. 160).

Out of all these contacts a few are of special petrographic or 

structural interest, and these will be described in some detail.

PETROGRAPHIC RELATIONS.

Bethel, Vt. The white granite at Bethel, Vt. (p. 156), appears to 

be encircled by a zone of finer-grained light buff-graj' granite, which 

is about 40 feet thick. Both rocks are quartz monzonites, but the 

finer contains more biotite scales than the coarser, and the scales are 

mostly very minute and evenly distributed. On the west side of 

the Ellis quarry the plane of contact between the coarse and the fine 

granite strikes N. 15° W. and dips 60° E. The fine-grained granite 

is in contact on the west with a finely plicated, very fine grained 

quartz-muscovite-biotite schist, and this granite is finer grained at 

its contact with the schist than it is 20 feet away. The plane of 

contact strikes and dips about like that between the two granites,
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 85

and the plications of the schist run parallel to this plane but are 

crossed by a slip cleavage striking N. 70° W. and dipping 25° WNW. 

The relations are shown in figure 8. Figure 9 shows how the granite 

has been molded by the minute wrinkles in the schist. The schist 

contains a few small garnets and plates of magnetite. In the glassy 

zone the particles range from 0.009 to 0.03 millimeter. In the next 

the pdrphyritic feldspars measure as high as 0.92 by 0.5 millimeter. 

There are thus four grades of texture in the granite the glassy, 1 to 

2 millimeters thick; the very fine (porphyritic, at least toward the

FIGUHH 9. Camera lucida drawing of enlarged thin section -across contact of schist and 

granite at Bethel, Vt., shown in diagram in figure 8. A, Fine granite with some 

larger porphyritic feldspar and biotite scales. The finer undistinguishable particles 

of matrix are not shown. B, Zone, 1 to 2 millimeters wide, of glassy material with 

but few quartz and feldspar particles and biotite scales (in black) ; most of the latter 

with their long axis parallel to the general contact surface ; a few at right angles 

to it. A fracture with limonite stain crosses this zone. C, Sharply plicated schist 

of fibrous muscovite with a little biotite and much quartz (unshaded particles). The 

two shaded particles are nonmetallic opaque mineral.

glassy), about 20 feet wide; the fine, with feldspar and mica not over 

1 millimeter, about 20 .feet wide; and the coarse, with feldspars up 

to 0.4 and 0.5 inch and mica to 0.3, over 200 feet wide.

Baive, Vt. At the Anderson quarry, Barre, Vt. (No. 8, PI. II, also 

p. 132), the granite contact with schist and slate is finely exposed. 

The under surface of the schist is coarsely serrate, forming as it were 

a series of folds, which, however, are not structural, The granite is
86 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

darker for a space of 25 feet from the schist, and a pegmatite dike, 

1 foot thick, borders one of the schist tongues. (See fig. 10.)

In the southern corner of this quarry pieces of the mica slate have 

scaled off from the mass and been carried a few inches into the

granite. (See 

fig. 11.) At this 

point the schist is 

a purplish - gray, 

very quartzose 

mica slate of 

quartz - feldspar - 

biotite, in places 

with m u s co v i t e 

also, in others 

without feldspar.

FIGDRB 10. Diagrammatic sketch showing relations of granite Grenerallv the 

and mica schist and slate at Anderson quarry, Barre, Vt. rork rp«?prnhlp<s

the mica slates used for whetstones. The slate has little dikes, 

of pegmatite which start from the granite surface with a thickness 

of 0.5 inch and taper out at a distance of 4 feet. The course of these 

dikes has no reference to the cleavage of the slate, and their thickness is very irregular. The pegmatite 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of quartz, orthoclase, microcline, oligoclase-albite, and biotite. 

The quartz has cavities in sheets, some 

parallel to the dike, others across it. 

Minute particles of slate are here and 

there included in the pegmatite. The 

slate within a few inches of the granite is marked by very fine grained 

oval greenish-white spots, 0.1 to 0.5 

inch and rarely 4 by 2 inches. These 

lenses lie with one of their major axes 

in the plane of the slaty cleavage. In 

some the biotite is zonally arranged, 

or the lens has a flange of biotite extending considerably beyond it and 

parallel to the slaty cleavage.

Small lenses (0.15 to 2.2 by 0.1 to 1 millimeter) were found in thin section to consist of granitic quartz with biotite and muscovite scales transverse or diagonal to the longer axis of the lens, and to be surrounded by a zone, 0.11 millimeter wide, of apatite particles. One has a little pyrite; another has apatite 

disseminated throughout it; another a little carbonate. The schist for a little 

space about the lens is finer grained than it is farther away. The little dikea 

do'hot show apatite except in-rare, very minute prisms. Such dikes and lenses 

are shown in figure 12.

Slate

FIGUKK 11. Details at contact of 

mica slate and granite at south 

corner of Anderson quarry, Barre, 

Vt., as viewed along the strike of 

cleavage.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION". 87

These lenses have usually been regarded as the result of vaporous 

impregnation from the granite along the cleavage foliation.38 The 

slate about the lenses shows dark intersecting streaks which are due 

to more or less complete fractures lined with chlorite with a wide 

border of very minute undeterminable black particles.

At the Bailey quarry (No. 6, PL II) the contact is somewhat obscured by an inclusion which lies very near the schist capping. The 

schist, which is like that of the large inclusion at the Boutwell 

quarry, described on page 64, consists of little beds of whitish quartzite dotted with greenish hornblende and a few garnets, alternating

en Ko Vz 3 Inches

Spec. 0. xxix

FIGDRB 12. Specimen of purplish-gray mica slate with minute dikes of pegmatite and 

lenses of apatitic granite, obtained near contact with granite at Anderson quarry, 

Barre, Vt. Cleavage parallel to length of block. At bottom several lenses (enlarged 

one half) from other side -of same specimen, showing biotite flanges and relation to 

cleavage.

with little beds of quartz-biotite schist spangled with biotite scales. 

These beds are crossed by large and minute dikes of pegmatite. 

Some of them, only 0.3 to 0.4 inch wide, run transverse to the bedding 

for a space and then subdivide to pass at right angles within one of 

the little beds. Small hand specimens combining both transverse and 

longitudinal dike courses can be obtained here. The aplite here has 

a matrix of quartz, oligoclase-albite, microcline, in particles measur89 Vogt regards apatite in veins as having been formed by pneumatolytic agencies. 

Vogt, J. H. L., Ueber die durch pneumatolitische Processe an Granitgebundenen Mineralneubildungen: Zeitschr. prakt. Geologic, 1894, p. 458; Die Apatit-Ganggruppe: Idem, 

1895, pp. 367, 444, 465. Barrell describes the occurrence of apatite in a banded hornstone at contact with granite. He attributes this apatitization to pneumatolytic impregnation. See Barrell, Joseph, Geology of the Marysville mining district, Mont.: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 57, pp. 128, 130, 1907. For the formation of apatite at 

contact of diabase and granite, see p. 54 of this bulletin.
88 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

ing 0.25 to 0.1 millimeter, with porphyritic feldspar and quartz measuring from 0.25 to 1 millimeter.

Woodbury, Vt. The contact of granite and schist is finely exposed on the northwest side of Eobeson Mountain, Woodbury, Vt., 

along the granite railroad. The axes of the schist folds strike N. 

70° W. and pitch 30° S.; the axis of the hill runs about N. 70° E. 

The plane of contact appears to be about parallel to the strike. The 

schist is of two sorts. One is a dark, rather coarse biotite-muscovitequartz schist with minute black particles and speckled with lenticular biotite plates (up to 0.75 by 0.25 millimeter) lying across 

the schistosity of the rock. Some plates have a nucleus of magnetite. There are also a few lenses of pyrite. The other sort, a 

thin bed of which touches the granite, is a dark bluish-gray'calcareous muscovitic quartzite with abundant slender flattish sixsided prisms (up to 2 by 0.34 millimeters) of a light-colored amphibole. These are evidently the product of contact metamorphism. 

The granite sends little pegmatitic dikes into the schist. At the 

Webber quarry, north of the mountain, the capping is similarly 

injected.

Conclusions. All these contact phenomena lead to the following general inferences:

The 40-foot zone of fine-grained granite, with its three grades of 

texture, which intervenes between the coarse granite and the schist 

at Bethel, shows the effect of more rapid cooling upon texture. The 

material nearest the schist is glassy, but that farthest away is coarsely 

crystalline. The semiliquid condition of the granite when it met 

the schist is shown by its having been molded by the delicate plications of the schist.

That the granite intrusion at Barre was accomplished under 

great pressure is indicated by the intrusion of minute granitic dikes 

into such narrow transverse and longitudinal fissures in the schist 

and slate.

That the granitic intrusion at Barre was also attended by sufficient 

heat and moisture to inject quartz, feldspar, biotite, pyrite, and 

apatite (constituents of granite) in vaporous condition into the 

cleavage foliation of the slate is shown by the position and character 

of the lenses described. The formation of these lenses also affected 

the texture of the slate.

At Woodbury the same causes sufficed to produce minute amphibole prisms within a calcareous quartzite along the granite contact.

The phenomena at these contacts of granite with slate and schist, 

although on so small a scale, are scientifically related to the famous 

Sea Point locality in- South Africa, about which at least 10 geologists
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 89

have written from 1813 to 1914.37 The granite there not only sends 

out large and small dikes of both coarse and fine granite into the 

slate, but the slate has become impregnated with feldspar forming 

crystals up to 2 inches in length. In places the slate has been metamorphosed into a gneiss; both small and large pieces of slate have 

also been incorporated in the granite; and in places the rock is a 

complete mixture of slate and granite.

STRUCTURAL RELATIONS.

Waterford, Conn. At the Millstone quarry, Waterford, Conn, 

(p. 396), the granite is capped on the northeast wall by several masses 

of gneiss up to 25 feet thick with a foliation striking N. 70° W. and 

dipping 25° N. 20° E. At the shore south of the quarry the same gneiss 

strikes N. 85° E. and dips steeply north, with pegmatite dikes 2 to 

3 feet thick. The plane of contact between the granite and the gneiss 

remnants is in some places vertical, in others horizontal or gently 

inclined, the original complete outline of that plane 

having evidently 

been very irregular. In the central 

embayment, 15 to __________________________ _

20 leet 01 granite FlGURE i3._gection Of Waterford quarry, Waterford, Conn. 

OVerlieS a Sagging Total length, 265 feet.

strip of the gneiss

5 to 10 feet thick. Large dikes of pegmatite, starting at the contact, 

penetrate the gneiss, and in places the gneiss is cut up by an intricate 

network of pegmatite and aplite dikes. One of these pegmatite dikes 

contains a fragment of the gneiss 5 feet long, in vertical position. 

(See fig. 90.)

 At the Waterford quarry (p. 398) the granite occurs in two dikelike masses, 30 and 40 feet thick, alternating with three masses of 

granite gneiss, the central one of which is 20 to 30 feet thick, all striking N. 80° E. and dipping 30°-45° S. 10° E. The relations are shown 

in figure 13. The gneiss foliation strikes N. 45°-60° W. and dips 

about 40° NE. but in places is nearly horizontal. The two granite 

masses are apparently connected in the center of the quarry by a 

small dike of the granite crossing the gneiss mass, as shown in figure

07 Some of the more important of these papers are:

Darwin, Charles, Observations on the volcanic islands visited during the voyage of 

H. M. S. Beagle, together with some brief notices on the geology of Australia and the 

Cape of Good Hope, pp. 148-152, London, 1844.

Cohen, E., Geognostische-petrographische Skizzen aus Siid Africa: Neues Jahrb., 1874, 

pp. 477-503.

Hatch, F. H., and Corstorphine, G. S., Geology of South Africa, pp. 36-41, London, 

1905.

Schw.arz, E. H. L., The Sea Point granite-slate contact: Geol. Soc. South Africa Trans., 

vol. 16, pp. 83-38, 1914.
90 COMMERCIAL ' GRANITES' 'OF- NEW'-ENGLAND.

Water Water

FIGURE 14. Relations of granite and granite gneiss 

in center of Waterford quarry, Waterford, Conn.

14. This gneiss (specimen D, XXX, 5, c, Mamacoke gneiss, No. 36 

of the State preliminary geologic map) is a black and white banded 

fine-grained quartz monzonite gneiss, consisting, in descending order

of abundance, of light 

smoky quartz, milkwhite oligoclase, very 

little microcline, and 

biotite. The g r a n i t e 

sheets, 1 to 9 feet thick, 

are lenticular, irregular, 

dipping south and southeast at 15°-22°. The 

sheet structure of the 

gneiss is not continuous 

with that of the granite, 

as shown in figures 14 

and 15, evidently having been set up before the intrusion of the 

granite.

Waldoboro, Maine. At the Waldoboro quarry, Waldoboro, MaineT" 

the original contact of the upper part of the granite mass with the 

lower part of the remnant of the schist mass, which once overlay that 

region and into which the granite was intruded, is exposed. (See 

PI. XVII, A, and p. 250.) This schist is an amphibole-biotite-quartz 

schist containing some andesine feldspar, also accessory titanite and 

zircon. It is a metamorphosed rock, probably of sedimentary origin. 

At the opposite or southwest end of the quarry (see fig. 16) the relations between the schist and granite are very complex, and in places 

a considerable mass of pegmatite intervenes. The granite sends small 

dikes into the schist and also contains inclusions of it. The granite 

was erupted after or during the folding of the schist, otherwise 

it would have become a gneiss.

MilfoTd.N.H. 

At the southwest 

corner of the 

Pease quarry, at 

Milford, N. H. 

(p. 185), mica diorite gneiss, about 6 

feet thick, overlies 

the fine-grained 

quartz monzonite, as shown in figure 17, with a foliation striking 

N. 75° W. and a dip of 20° S. The granite has a flow structure about 

parallel to the contact surface, but sheet structure crosses both gneiss 

and granite and flow structure and postdates them all.

FIGURE 15. Discordant sheet structure in granite and granite 

gneiss on south wall of Waterford quarry, Waterford, Conn.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 91

At the quarries of the Milford Granite Co., now idle (p. 189), there 

is a working face on the west about 1,000 feet long. At its south and 

north ends granite and gneiss contacts are finely exposed. The finegrained quartz mouzonite is overlain by 

about 15 feet of gneiss. 

with a foliation striking N. 75° W. and dipping 75° SW. Plate 

VIII, /i, shows tha contact at the north end 

of the cut, The sheet 

structure is lenticular 

horizontal but does not 

continue into the gneiss, 

which seems to have an 

independent and discontinuous sheet structure of its own. The 

gneiss varies greatly in 

texture, composition. 

and color. In some places it is coarse, black, biotitic, and hornblendic; in others medium grained, gray or white, and more quartzose 

and feldspathic. It appears to be a quartz-mica diorite gneiss but 

contains streaks of a finely banded light-greenish fine-grained rock, 

which in thin section shows quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclaseandesine), augite, hornblende, and biotite and thus appears to be a 

quartz-augite diorite gneiss. There are also dikes of pegmatite starting from the surface of the granite and tapering out in the gneiss.

FIGURE 16. Schist at southwest end of Waldoboro 

quarry, Waldoboro, Maine. Total height, 45 feet. 

The coarse material, between the two inclusions, is 

pegmatite. The finer is muscovite-biotite granite.

FIGURE 17. Section showing relations of granite and gneiss at the Tease quarry, near 

Milford, N. H.; height, 10 feet. The flow structure is parallel to the contact surface, 

and sheet structure traverses both rocks.

Westerly amd Charlestown, R. I. At the Catto quarry in Westerly, 

-K. 1. (p. 412), the granite is a quartz monzonite. The sheets, from 

6 inches to 10 feet thick, dip north at low angle. The east face of 

the quarry shows the relations of the granite to overlying granite
92 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

gneiss. (See fig. 18.) This strip of gneiss extends the entire width 

of the quarry, with a foliation striking N. 65° W. and dipping 

65° NNW. As the granite crops out in places above the gneiss, this 

may be a very large inclusion, but it probably came from immediately under the original capping. The gneiss is so broken up 

here that hand specimens, half granite and half gneiss, with granite 

cutting the gneiss foliation, can be readily obtained. The gneiss is 

rather fine grained and consists of dark-gray very biotitic bands, 

0.1 to 0.3 inch wide, alternating with light-gray bands that contain 

little biotite and with very light bands in which biotite is altogether 

lacking.

At the Klondike quarry (p. 415), in Charlestown, near Bradford 

Station, R. I., the fine-grained quartz monzonite is overlain on the

s west side by 50 feet 

of medium-grained 

biotite gneiss with 

porphyritic lenticular potash feldspars (microcline) 

up to 1.5 inches

long, most of them 

rimmed with white 

soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase - andesine). The foliation 

of this gneiss is 

about horizontal. 

As shown in Plate 

XXXIV, J., the contact between the granite and gneiss dips 

somewhat steeply, and sheet structure crosses both granite and 

gneiss at a lesser angle. There are also dikes of pegmatite beginning at the contact and tapering upward in the gneiss. On the 

east side the same gneiss underlies the granite, the granite intrusion 

having apparently reached the present surface in a dikelike mass, 

the sides of which dipped about 30° S. and cut a mass of porphyritic 

biotite granite gneiss. The granite mass is about 75 feet thick, 

measured at right angles to its inclination. The foliation of the 

gneiss is not far from horizontal. On the south side the sheet 

structure extends into the gneiss, as shown in Plate XXXIV, J., and 

figure 93 (p. 416). Fifteen feet below the gneiss the granite contains 

one or more angular inclusions of finely banded biotite gneiss. Three 

years after the writer's visit the excavation showed the quartz monzonite dike narrowing downward, so that the figure requires some 

modification.

FIGURE 18. Diagram of east face of Catto quarry, Westerly, 

R. I., showing granite overlain by a mass of biotite granite 

gneiss, each with its own. sheet structure, also vertical 

joints in the granite. Length, 65 feet; height above quarry 

water, 50 feet.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 93

Conclusions. These structural contact phenomena lead to the following inferences:

Flow structure in places is parallel to the under surface of the 

intruded rock.

Sheet structure is quite independent of flow structure.

In some places sheet structure was set up in the granite gneiss of 

the capping prior to the granitic intrusion, b'ut in others (Pease 

quarry, Milford, N. H.; Klondike quarry, Charlestown, E. I.) the 

sheet structure of the granite passes into the intruded gneiss and is 

of later date than the intrusion itself.

The contact surface in places is rudely serrate or otherwise irregular from the ruptures caused by the intrusion, and large fragments 

of the intruded rock evidently dropped into the plastic granite.

The intrusion of a granite gneiss by a gneissoid granite indicates 

two periods of intrusion and two of metamorphism at the same 

locality.

The thinness of the schist or gneiss (in places only 25 feet) now 

capping the granite indicates the erosion 6l at least several hundred 

feet of the capping since the intrusion took place. (See p. 4.)

Pegmatite and aplite dikes usually originate at the surface of the 

intruding granite and penetrate the intruded mass. Pegmatite also 

collects along the intruded surface and about the inclusions.

PLICATED GNEISSIC TEXTURE.

Under metamorphism a granite passes into a granite gneiss (p. 65) 

that is, from a massive cr}T stalline to a schistose condition. If this 

schistose granite is subjected to lateral compression its foliation will 

become plicated, and if the pressure continues the plications may 

even be faulted. An interesting example of this is seen at the West 

quarry, on Hoadly Neck, in Branford, Conn. (p. 381), and is shown 

in figure 19. The original granite was very coarsely porphyritic, 

and the feldspars have become lenses up to 3 inches in length. The 

little folds are up to 10 inches in width and are faulted.

"BLACK GRANITES."

CLASSIFICATION.

The term "black granites," although sufficiently descriptive for 

general commercial purposes, includes a variety of rocks of different 

character, origin, and appearance gabbros, diorites, diabase, etc. 

They have, however, three mineralogic features in common they 

contain comparatively little or no quartz, their feldspar belongs entirely or almost entirely to the series which contains both soda and 

lime, and they contain a considerable amount of one of the pyroxenes, 

or hornblende or biotite, and magnetite, which accounts for the general darkness of their shade or their greenish color.
94 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND. 

ORIGIN.

The gabbros and diorites are more or less granitic in texture, as 

they crystallized under conditions resembling those which attended 

the formation of granite. But the diabase was in part erupted 

through narrow fissures, forming dikes or sheets, and at many places 

reached the surface, always crystallizing with comparative rapidity.

Diabase, however, occurs in Vinalhaven, Maine, as stated by George 

Otis Smith, " in large bodies which have the form of neither dikes

___^ -^r-^r^^s^s^g-* .;?^^~<* , * -- £ ?' f--^-S 

^^-^^t^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"!§ " c^-^ ., ^~^i?~ x* *^_^y^ -^^*^'Z ^- _-w^*^ -^- x^^*> *."*'' z.~ir s=~

^=^^^^^2

v / -o^ y.s ^t^&s&yzz.-

^^-<^-^^

FIGURE 19. Lower: Block of plicated blotite granite gneiss from West quarry, Hoaclly 

Point, Branford, Conn. Upper: Plicated and faulted band of fine biotite granite gneiss 

within the coarser gneiss of same quarry. Hammers 20 inches long. (From photographs.)

nor sheets, being, in fact, part of the same masses as the diorites and 

gabbros."

MINERAL AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.

Gabbro consists essentially of a lime-soda feldspar and one or 

both of the varieties of pyroxene known as diallage and hypersthene. 

Diallage is a foliated silicate of iron and lime with about 12 per 

cent of magnesia; hypersthene is a silicate of iron with about 24 per 

cent of magnesia. Each of these minerals crystallizes differently. 

Rock that contains hypersthene is called a norite; rock that contains 

both hypersthene and diallage is a hypersthene gabbro. If the mineral olivine (a greenish silicate of iron with 50 per cent of mag-
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 95

nesia) is present ateo/.the name olivine may be prefixed to the rock 

name. The accessory minerals in gabbros are ilmehite (a titariate 

of iron), magnetite, pyrite, apatite, biotite, garnet, and rarely quartz 

and metallic iron. The secondary minerals that is, those derived 

from the alteration of the primary ones are hornblende, chlorite, 

epidote, zoisite, analcite, serpentine, a white mica, and calcite. The 

percentage of silica in gabbros varies a little on each side of 50. 

Iron oxides and lime average 9 per cent each; magnesia, 6 per cent.

Diorite consists essentially of feldspar (of the series containing 

lime and soda) and hornblende with biotite, or biotite alone. Quartz, 

augite, and potash feldspar may or may not be present. The accessory minerals are magnetite, pyrite, titanite, zircon, apatite, garnet, 

and allanite. The secondary minerals are epidote, chlorite, a white 

mica, and calcite. If quartz is present the rock is called a quartz 

diorite. If black mica or augite are-the preponderating iron-magnesium silicates the rock is a mica diorite or an augite diorite. In 

diorites the silica ranges from about 49 to 63 per cent, but in quartz 

diorite it rises to about 69 per cent, which is the minimum in granite. 

The iron oxides range from 0.52 to 9.70 per cent, the magnesia from 

less than 1 to more than 11 per cent, but usually from 2 to 7 per cent.

Diabase consists essentially of a feldspar of the series containing 

lime, or soda and lime, together with a pyroxene (usually augite, a 

silicate of alumina, lime, magnesia, and iron), which, however, is 

frequently altered to hornblende or other secondary minerals; also 

magnetite or ilmenite, or both. Olivine may or may not be present, 

and some specimens contain a little quartz. The accessory minerals 

are orthoclase, biotite, pyrite, hypersthene, and apatite. The secondary minerals are hornblende, a white mica, chlorite, epidote, serpentine, and calcite. The percentage of silica in diabase ranges from 

about 45 to nearly 57, of iron oxides from about 9 to 14, and of magnesia from 3 to 9.

These " black granites," as will be seen by the foregoing descriptions, are distinguished chemically from the ordinary granites by 

their,low percentage of silica (45 to 67 per cent), their high maxima 

of iron oxides (9 to 14 per cent) and of magnesia (9 to 11 per cent), 

and mineralogically by their dominant feldspar not being a potash 

feldspar, and generally also by their considerable content of the 

darker iron-magnesia minerals.

TEXTURE.

The general texture of the " black granites " corresponds in grade 

to that of the fine and medium granites. In the diorites the arrangement and order of c^stallization of the minerals always correspond 

to those of the granites described on page 10. In some of the gabbros
96 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

this is also true, but in others and in diabase the arrangement greatly 

differs. The feldspars are in needle-like crystals, between which the 

pyroxene has afterward crystallized (ophitic texture).

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES.

Aside from their great toughness, the diorites and the granitic gabbros probably differ but little in physical properties from granites of 

the same grade of texture. By reason both of their peculiar texture 

and their mineral composition, the diabases and gabbros with 

ophitic texture should differ considerably in physical properties 

from the granites. As these stones are rarely used in large buildings, 

owing to the difficulty of quarrying them either in blocks of sufficient 

size or at low enough cost, data as to their compressive strength and 

other useful physical properties are not available.

The specific gravity of gabbro ranges from 2.66 to about 3, that 

of diabase from 2.7 to 2.98, and that of diorite averages 2.95. In 

these rocks it thus usually exceeds that of granite.

As the " black granites " are used chiefly for monumental purposes, 

and particularly for inscriptions, their color, susceptibilty to polish, 

and the amount of contrast between their cut or hammered and 

their polished surfaces are the physical properties of chief economic 

importance.

Merrill 3S explains the cause of these contrasts very satisfactorily:

The impact of the hammer breaks up the granules on the immediate surface, so that the light falling upon it is reflected instead of absorbed, and the 

resultant effect upon the eye is that of whiteness. The darker color of a 

polished surface is due merely to the fact that, through careful grinding, all 

these irregularities and reflecting surfaces are removed, the light penetrating 

the stone is absorbed, and the effect upon the eye is that of a more or less 

complete absence of light, or darkness. Obviously, then, the more transparent 

the feldspars and the greater the abundance of dark minerals, the greater will 

be the contrast between hammered and polished surfaces. This is a matter 

worthy of consideration in cases where it is wished, as in a monument1, to 

have a polished die surrounded by a margin of hammered work to give contrast

The ordinary granites, while taking a high polish, do not afford 

such strong contrasts between hammered and polished surfaces as 

the " black granites." In some black granites this seems clearly to 

be due to their larger percentage of the black minerals,^but in others, 

as some of the quartz diorites, in which the black minerals do not 

exceed those in some gray granites, the cause of this marked contrast must be sought in some optical property of the soda-lime feldspar and in its relative abundance.

88 Merrill, G. P., The physical, chemical, and economic properties of building stones : 

Maryland Geol. Survey, vol. 2, p. 64, 1898.
SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION. 97

TEXT-BOOK REFERENCES ON GRANITE AND " BLACK

GRANITES."

As the matter contained in the foregoing pages may not fully provide answers to all questions arising in the minds of persons interested 

in tracing the phenomena in granite quarries to their causes, the 

names of a few reliable general works in English on the subjects considered are here given.

DANA, J. D., Manual of mineralogy, 13th ed., by W. E. Ford, New York, 1912. 

DANA, E. S., Textbook of mineralogy (with treatise on crystallography). 

GEIKIE, ARCHIBALD, Textbook of geology, 4th ed., London,' 1903.

Granite, etc., pp. 89, 90, 203-209, 402-415, 715-809; gabbro, pp. 231, 232,

256; diorite, p. 223; diabase, p. 233; basalt, p. 234. 

HARKER, ALFRED, Petrography for students; an introduction to the study of

rocks under the microscope, 4th ed., Cambridge, England, 1908.

Granites, pp. 27-41; gabbros, pp. 67-83; diorite, pp. 54-66; basalts, pp. 

188-203.

HATCH, F. H., The petrology of the igneou's rocks, 7th ed., London, 1915. 

JOHANNSEN, ALBERT, Essentials for the microscopical determination of rockforming minerals and rocks, Chicago, 1922.

KEMP, J. F., A handbook of rocks for use without the microscope, 3d ed., New 

York, 1904.

The granites, pp. 33-38; gabbros, pp. 72-74; diorites, pp. 60-62; diabases, 

pp. 70-72.

LTJQUER, L. M., Minerals in rock sections, revised ed., New York, 1908. 

MERRILL, G. P., A treatise on rocks, rock weathering, and soils, 2d ed., New 

York, 1906.

Igneous rocks, pp. 52-60; granites, pp. 61-64; diorites, pp. 76-77; diabases,. 

pp. 82, 85; basalts, pp. 86, 87; weathering, pp. 150-273. 

PIRSSON, L. V., Rocks and rock minerals; a manual of the elements of petrology

without the use of the microscope, New York, 1908. 

' 105709 23 8

PART UNECONOMIC DISCUSSION. 

GENERAL FEATURES.

The practical side of the granite industry will now be considered. 

A list of the more important works on granite quarries and quarrying and other matters of economic character will be found at the 

end, together with a glossary of both scientific'and quarry terms.

TESTS OF GRANITE.

The testing of granite is a subject of considerable importance, as 

may be seen by its literature given on pages 464-467. As pointed 

out by Merrill, there is danger of attaching undue importance to 

tests of compressive strength alone, the results of which almost invariably far exceed the generous margin allowed by architects 

beyond that required by the weightiest structures. On the other 

hdh'd, there is danger of losing sight of several other qualities which 

ought to be carefully tested and upon which the economic value of 

granite in part depends. The following tests include all the kinds 

made at European testing institutions or recommended by American authorities,, as well as some suggested by the writer's investigation of New England granites:

Chemical analysis. Chemical analysis is made in order to determine the amount of iron and lime or to detect anything abnormal in 

the composition.

Determination of CaCOy Tests are made to determine the presence of lime not combined with silicates in order to ascertain the 

percentage of CaCO3 (lime carbonate) present. This is done by 

powdering and treatment with warm dilute acetic acid.

Test for discoloration. The method applied by Daly * seems to 

be well adapted for the test for discoloration. A piece of fresh 

rock is immersed in a stream of carbon dioxide gas for 20 minutes 

and then kept in an atmosphere of that gas for 24 hours. Another 

piece of fresh rock is placed in an atmosphere of purified oxygen 

overnight and then exposed for 30 minutes to a temperature of 150° 

C. (302° F.). Any discoloration due to the carbonization or oxidation of the minutest particles of any mineral would be sure to show 

itself under these tests.

Mineral composition. The mineral composition is determined by 

the microscopic examination of a considerable number of typical

'U. S. Geol. Survey, BulL. 209, p. 52, 1903. .

99
100 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

thin sections. All the mineral constituents are noted, and for the 

fme-textured granites the average size of the mineral particles is 

estimated. Any peculiarities of texture, rift, etc., can also be noted. 

Proportions of minerals. The method devised by Rosiwal,89 of 

the Austrian Geological Survey, by which the approximate proportions of the chief minerals (feldspar, quartz, mica, hornblende) 

and their average size can be determined, consists in tracing a network of lines intersecting one another at right angles upon a polished granite surface, at intervals so great that no two parallel lines 

will traverse the same mineral particle. The total length of the 

lines is measured, then the diameters of all the particles of each 

kind of mineral are added separately and their proportion to the 

total length of the lines obtained. The average size of the particles 

of each mineral can be also calculated from the same measurements. 

Although this method was designed primarily for application to the 

coarse and medium granites, it ca'n be extended also to the finer ones 

by drawing the lines upon camera-lucida drawings made from thin 

sections of such granites under polarized light. Certain microscope 

attachments have made this work less laborious. As the quartz is 

the source of the vitreousness of the rock the determination of its 

amount is important.

Polish. Besides the manifest object of the test for polish it also 

facilitates exact descriptions of color and comparisons between different granites. The size of the mica plates determines the brilliancy and durability of the polish more than their number does 

that is, a considerable number of very minute mica plates is not 

objectionable.

Hardness. As pointed out by Hawes,40 the hardness of certain 

granites is not due entirely to the quartz, which is always equally 

hard and brittle and which the tools do not cut but crush, but to the 

feldspar, which is of variable hardness and, it might be added, has 

different cleavages, and the proportion of which in relation to quart/ 

also varies. Rosiwal,41 adopting a principle established by Toula, 

takes a piece of smooth unpolished granite of about 2 grams weight 

and rubs it with emery (of 0.2 millimeter diameter of particle) 

upon a glass or metal plate for six or eight minutes until the emery 

loses its effectiveness. The granite is then weighed again and its 

loss of volume calculated. He found, assigning to emery an arbitrary value of 1,000 as representing its average hardness, that granite

80 See Rosiwal, August, Ueber geometrische Gesteinsanalysen ; ein einfacher Weg zur 

ziffermiissigen Feststellung des Quantitatsverhaltnisses der Mineralbestandtheile gemengter Gesteine: K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt Verb., vol. 32, pp. 143-175, 1898.

"Hawes, G. W. (edited by Merrill), Granite; Building stones of the United States and 

statistics of the quarry industry: Tenth Census, vol. 10, pp. 16-18, 1888.

*l Neue Untersuchungsergebnisse iiber die Harte von Mineralien und Gesteinen: K.-k, 

geol. Reichsanstalt Verb., 1896, p. 488.
ECONOMIC DISCUSSION. 101

from nine localities showed the following degrees of hardness: 31.7, 

38.1, 41.7, 44.8, 48.4, 50.7,' 52.9, 56.6, and 67.1. The extremes of these 

figures show that some granites have a general hardness more than 

twice as great as others.

J. F. Williams 42, proposed to determine the relative hardness of 

granites by noting the rate of penetration of a drill of a given diameter, or by measuring the distance to which such a drill will penetrate 

without being sharpened, or the amount of surface of rough-pointed 

granite which can be reduced to a bush-hammered surface per hour. 

Since the introduction of pneumatic drills and surfaces these methods 

can be easily applied. .

The United States Bureau of Standards expects to devise a machine for the satisfactory determination of the relative hardness of 

building stones.

C'ompressive- strength. The methods of testing the strength of 

building stones have grown in precision. The first requisite is that 

the cubes to be tested should be sawed by diamond saws and not 

hammered out. The next is that the direction of both rift and grain 

should be indicated thereon, and that three cubes should be tested, 

one with pressure applied parallel to the direction of the rift, one 

with pressure applied parallel to that of the grain, and the third 

with pressure applied at right angles to rift and grain. Where the 

rift and grain are pronounced the three results will differ. Compressive strength is now tested by the United States Bureau of Standards, both dry and wet, after two weeks' immersion in water, and, 

also after 10 to 30 freezings and thawings.

Transverse strength. The transverse strength should be tested 

both across the rift and with it, these directions being indicated on 

the block by the quarry foreman. The length of the span, the 

breadth and depth of the piece, and the weight of the load are taken 

into account in arriving at the modulus of rupture, given in pounds 

per square inch.

Tensile strength. The test for tensile strength is useful in some 

building stones, particularly those designed for delicate carving. 

Small blocks are sawn out shaped somewhat like the figure 8 and 

pulled apart. The results are given in pounds per square inch. Of 

course, in a granite the results would differ if tension were applied 

with the rift or the grain or diagonal to both.

Porosity. Buckley 43 points out that the danger from frost depends 

not upon the amount of absorption but upon the size of the pore 

space. Rocks with large pore spaces stand frost better than those

43 Igneous rocks of Arkansas : Arkansas Geol. Survey Ann. Kept, for 1891, vol. 1, p. 41, 

ISO].

43 See Buckley, E. R., Building and ornamental stones of Wisconsin, pp. 68, 69, 372-376, 

.400, 413, 189S.
102 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

with small ones, because they do not retain the water that they 

absorb. Tests of porosity are therefore important. Buckley used the 

dry and saturated weights obtained for the samples used in computing the specific gravity.

The difference in these weights was multiplied by the specific gravity of the 

rock. This amount was added to the dry weight, giving the sum. The difference of the dry and saturated weights multiplied by the specific gravity of the 

rock was then divided by the sum. This last result is the actual percentage 

of pore space compared with the volume of the sample tested.

Absorption. The Bureau of Standards gives the results of tests 

of water absorption in percentage by weight. Buckley 44 describes 

a method of testing absorption.

Behavior under fire. The test for behavior under fire is best applied to saturated specimens, which are then exposed in a laboratory 

furnace to a temperature up to 1,500° F. and the effect noted. Some 

of them can be allowed to cool gradually, but others should be immersed quickly in cold water; or they may be exposed to high temperature while under compression and then cooled slowly or quickly.45

Recent studies of the cause of the disintegration of granite under 

fire by Sosman 46 and Tarr 47 show this cause to be twofold (1) the 

wedging and straining consequent on the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the constituent minerals; (2) a like effect due to 

the " rapid volume increase of quartz as its 575° inversion point is 

approached and by its final sudden increase in volume at 575°."

Specific gravity. The specific gravity is the weight of the stone 

at 16° C. compared with that of the same volume of distilled water 

at 4° C. All air should first be removed from the piece to be tested 

by boiling in distilled water. The specific gravity is also required 

for the test of porosity.

Weight per cubic foot. The weight of the dry stone per cubic 

foot is obtained by multiplying its specific gravity by the weight of 

a cubic foot of water, but from this there should be deducted "the 

weight of a quantity of stone of the same specific gravity equal in 

volume to the percentage of the pore space in the stone." 48 This 

gives the actual weight of the stone free from interstitial water.

G'oeffiGient of expansion. Finally, it may be desirable to obtain 

the coefficient of expansion of a granite intended for some particular 

construction. The expansion of certain granites was determined at

"Idem, pp. 396-398.

«Idem, pp. 73, 411.

"Day, A. L., Sosman, R. B., and Hostetter, J. C., The determination of mineral and 

rock densities at high temperatures: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 37, pp. 1-39, 1914. 

Sosman, R. B., A study of some heating tests: Econ. Geology, vol. 11, pp. 86, 87, 1916.

" Tarr, W. A., A study of some heating tests, and the light they throw on the cause 

of thei disaggregation of granite: Econ. Geology, vol. 10, pp. 348-367, 1915; vol. 12, p. 

280, 1917.

48 Buckley, E. R., op. cit., p. 70.
ECONOMIC DISCUSSION. ' 108

the Watertown Arsenal by hot and cold water baths. The stones V .'-,-', . .

thus tested were afterward subjected to the test of transverse' 

strength, when it was found that they had lost 16.9.3 per cent of their 

original strength.49 ' . "' , A list of the various tests applied to building' stones by (jrerman 

testing institutions is given by Herrmann.50

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF NEW ENGLAND GRANITE

QUARRIES.

In Vermont the granite quarries lie all in the eastern half of the 

State and from,the Canada line to Brattleboro. In New Hampshire 

they are on the northwest and southeast sides of the White Mountains, also about Concord and near the Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts lines. In Maine the quarries are scattered along the coast 

and on its islands from the New Hampshire to the New Brunswick 

line; a very few are 40 to 55 miles inland. In Massachusetts, with 

unimportant exceptions, they all lie in the eastern half of the State, 

from New Bedford to Cape Ann. In Connecticut the quarries are 

mostly along the Sound, with a few in the western part of the State, 

along Connecticut River and the Ehode Island border. In Khode 

Island they are almost entirely near Block Island Sound and the 

Connecticut line.

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE QUARRIES, GRANITES, AND

PRODUCT.

METHOD OF TREATMENT.

The States will be taken up in the following geographic order: 

Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 

Rhode Island. The quarries will be taken up by counties in alphabetic order and by townships. The particulars of each quarry will 

be given in the following order:

1. Name and location of quarry; name and office address of operator.

2. The granite (specimen No.), its trade and technical names; its color, 

texture, minerals, estimated mineral percentages; its chemical composition and 

physical qualities, as shown by any available analyses or tests.

3. The quarry, date of opening, and approximate dimensions.

4. Rock structure, comprising sheets, joints, headings, their strike, dip, and 

spacings; courses of rift, grain, flow structure, dikes, and veins; dimensions 

of " knots," width of discoloration. Where the structure is complex, a diagram 

of the courses is given.

5. Transportation, method, and distance to dock or railroad.

6. The product, its uses, and the names and location of a few specimen 

buildings and monuments.

49 Report of the tests of metal, etc., made with the United States testing machine at 

Watertown Arsenal, Mass., p. 320, (1895)-1896.

60 Herrmann, A., Steinbruchindustrie und Steinbruchgeologie, pp. 10 et seq., Berlin, 

1899.
104 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry descriptions for each State are preceded by a section 

on the geographic distribution of its quarrying centers, accompanied 

for several of the States by a map and followed by a chapter on the 

geologic relations of the granites. In some cases, however, instead 

of a State map, a map showing the location of the quarries in each 

important quarrying center precedes the description of its quarries, 

and the geologic relations of the granite of that center are also considered separately.

An economic classification of all the granites of New England 

appears at the end of the descriptions in tabular form (pp. 419-435). 

In one table the trade name, general color and tint, shade, grade 

of texture, and scientific name of each granite are given in separate 

columns, and also page references to the detailed descriptions. In 

another table most of the granites are classified by color and shade.

VERMONT. 

DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRANITES AND QUARRYING CENTERS.

Not until a contour map of the mountainous portions and of the 

eastern half of Vermont is completed and a careful geologic survey 

based upon such a map is made will the geographic distribution and 

extent of the granite areas of the State be accurately known. According to the geologic map of Vermont traced and compiled by 

the authors of the State report of 1861 51 and also according to the 

geologic map of Orange and parts of Washington and Windsor 

counties by C. H. Richardson,52 a series of granite areas, varying 

greatly in size but mostly small, extend in a north-northeasterly 

direction between the central Green Mountain axis on the west and 

Connecticut River on the east for almost the entire length of the 

State.

The distribution by counties of all the granite-quarrying centers 

and prospects of Vermont described in this bulletin is shown in 

Plate I. At the extreme north end of the State, in Orleans County, 

granite is quarried in Derby, east of Lake Memphremagog. Near 

the northeast corner of Caledonia County, the next county south, 

the're is a granite quarry in Newark; and there are several quarries 

in Kirby, about 14 miles south of Newark. There are also several 

quarries near the western corner of this county, 20 to 23 miles west 

of Kirby, in Hardwick; and the quarries of Ryegate and Groton lie 

near its southern edge. In Washington County, the southern half

"Hitchcock, C. H. and E., jr.. and Hager, A. D., Report on the geology of Vermont, 

vol. 2, pi. 1, 1861. This map, valuable as it is, can to-day hardly be regarded as more 

than a reconnaissance map. Some of its granite areas are wrongly located, and granite 

has been -found where the map does not show any.

"Richardson, C. H., The terranes of Orange County, Vt.: Vermont State Geologist 

Hept., 1002, pis. 9, 9a.
VERMONT. ' 105

of which adjoins Caledonia on the west, there are three groups of 

quarries, the Woodbury quarries, at the north, and east of them a 

quarry in Cabot; south of Woodbury the quarries in Calais; and 

20 miles southwest of Woodbury and 8 miles southeast of Montpelier, the quarries of Barre, which is the chief granite-producing 

center of the State. A few of the Barre district quarries lie south 

of the Orange County line. About 20 miles southwest of Barre 

is the granite prospect of Kandolph, in Orange County. In the 

northern part of Windsor County is the small but important white 

granite area of Bethel; 10 miles southwest of it is a quarry in 

Eochester; 21^ miles nearly south-southwest of Bethel is another but 

very small white granite area in Plymouth, and 33 miles southeast 

of Bethel and near the Connecticut is the green syenite of Mount 

Ascutney, in Windsor and West Windsor. Finally, in Windham 

County, toward the southern border of the State, 37 miles southsouthwest of Ascutney, near Brattleboro and the Connecticut, are 

the light-granite quarries of Dummerston.

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS OF VERMONT GRANITES.

The contact of the granites of Bethel, Barre, and Woodbury with 

schist or slate and the inclusions of these rocks in the granites of 

Barre and Kyegate have already been described (pp. 84, 88, 64). 

The granite of Bethel contains inclusions of very fine black biotiteorthoclase-oligoclase schist quite unrelated to the schist and slate surrounding that granite (pp. 155, 158). As is shown on page 160, the 

granite of Plymouth is surrounded by and in contact with schist. 

On Buffalo Hill, in Hardwick, the granite is in contact with a biotitequartz schist.

The general inference from these contacts and inclusions is that 

the gray biotite granite of Barre, Calais, and Woodbury, the white 

quartz monzonite of Bethel and Plymouth, the gray biotite granite 

of Ryegate, and the light and dark gray quartz monzonites of Derby 

and Hardwick were intruded into certain mica schists and mica slates 

which are metamorphosed clayey and sandy sediments. Whether 

the intrusion of granites as diverse in character as those of Barre, 

Bethel, and Hardwick took place at the same time can not yet be 

determined. The green syenite (hornblende-augite granite) of 

Mount Ascutney, in Windsor, is in contact with a mass of schist 

which crops out'along the base of the mountain a little below the 

Norcross quarry and has been carefully traced by Daly 53 on three 

sides of the syenite mass and mountain. He has also described the 

changes brought about in the schist by the intrusion of the syenite 54

63 Daly, R. A., The geology of Ascutney Mountain, Vt.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 209, 

pi. 7, 1903.

54 Idem, pp. 33, 34.
106 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

and shows a biotite granite intrusive in the syenite on the eastern 

flank of the mountain.

In view of the certain amount of pressure needful for the slow 

cooling and crystallization of granite the schist masses intruded by 

these various granites must have been thicker than they now are. 

The exposure of the present granite surfaces has been brought about 

by the erosion of the schist masses.

Views have changed as to the age of these schists. On Hitchcock 

and Hager's map the granite areas are represented as surrounded by 

" calciferous mica schist" which was regarded as not later than 

Devonian.55 Richardson 50 in his papers and map subdivided the 

" calciferous mica schist" belt of Hitchcock and Hager into a calcareous formation (in places a marble but containing schist phases) 

which he finally designated Waits River limestone, and an overlying noncalcareous schist, the Vershire schist. He associates the latter formation with a certain belt of slate that flanks the central 

Green Mountain axis on the east, extends from Lake Memphremagog 

south to Barnard, and includes the roofing slate of Northfield and 

Montpelier. This slate he finally designated the Memphremagog 

slate. About 3 miles west of the head of Lake Memphremagog, at 

Willards Mill, Castlebrook, Magog, Province of Quebec, this slate 

bears abundant graptolites of lower Trenton age.

In 1912 Richardson 57 announced the discovery in Irasburg of a 

basal Ordovician conglomerate, and in a more recent paper,58 in referring to the same locality, he reports pre-Ordovician granites intruding Cambrian sedimentary rocks, and also announces the discovery of Ordovician graptolites, with determinations by R. Ruedemann, in the calcareous or noncalcareous sedimentary rocks of Newport, Irasburg, Craftsbury, Hardwick, Woodbury, Calais, Mont 

pelier, and Northfield, establishing the Ordovician age of the slate 

belt from Lake Memphremagog to Northfield and Barnard. He 

also found Ordovician graptolites in the slates of Barre. 'The conclusion is thus reached that the mica schists and mica slates intruded by the granites of Newport, Hardwick, Woodbury, Calais, 

Barre, and Bethel are very probably all of Ordovician age. 

Richardson is careful to state, however, that although the intruded 

rocks are Ordovician the intrusion may not have taken place until

» Op. cit, vol. 1, p. 470.

M Richardson, C. H., The Washington limestone in Vermont: Am. Assoc. Adv. Scl. Proc., 

vol. 47, pp. 295-296, 1898; The terranes of Orange County, Vt.: Vermont State Geologist 

Third Rept., pp. 84, 97, 98, pi. 9, 1902; The areal and economic geology of northeastern 

Vermont: Vermont State Geologist Fifth Rept., pp. 86, 90, 1906; The geology of Newport, 

Troy, and Coventry: Vermont State Geologist Sixth Rept., pp. 274-279, 1908.

87 Richardson, C. H., The terranes of Irasburg, Vt.: Vermont State Geologist Eighth 

Rept., p. 151, 1912.

88 Richardson, C. H., The geology of Calais, East Montpelier, and Berlin, Vt.: Vermont 

State Geologist Tenth Rept., pp. 112-145, 1916.
VERMONT. 107

post-Devonian time that is, during the second crustal movement 

and metamorphism after the deposition of the Ordovician sediments.

Daly,59 basing his opinions on Richardson's results and inferences, 

regards the schist of Mount Ascutney as of Trenton or pre-Trenton 

age and the intrusion of the syenite as " of later date than the last 

great period of rock folding which has affected the Ascutney region," 

and says that " the balance of probability makes it of post-Carboniferous and pre-Cretaceous age."

Evidences are not wanting in the composition and microscopic 

structure of the granites and in their larger structures as exposed 

at the quarries that since their intrusion they have been subjected to 

one and possibly several crustal movements. (See pp. 127, 128,153.)

The basic dikes that traverse the granite or their inclosing schists 

at Barre, Groton, and Mount Ascutney are of later, possibly Triassic, 

date.

OUTLINE OF EARLIER HISTORY OF VERMONT GRANITES.

The general earlier history of the granites and associated rocks of 

eastern Vermont may be tentatively put in the following simple 

form :

1. In Algonkian time there was a period of sedimentation followed by the intrusion of granitic rocks into the sedimentary beds. 

These granities are the present gneisses of the Green Mountain range.

2. At the end of Algonkian time a crustal movement metamorphosed the Algonkian sediments into schists and quartzite and the 

granites into gneisses. This movement was accompanied by folding 

and elevation. The earlier mountain system of the State was thus 

formed.

3. In early Paleozoic time a large area of Algonkian rocks was 

submerged and received sediments resulting from the erosion of 

Algonkian land masses, together with calcareous sediments largely 

of organic origin.

4. At the end of Lower Cambrian time a minor crustal movement 

took place, subjecting the Lower Cambrian beds to erosion, followed by a resubmergence at the beginning of Ordovician time. 

Evidence of this movement is obscured in many places by the effect 

of the crustal movement noted below (5).

5. At the end of Ordovician time a crustal movement took place, 

metamorphosing the Cambrian and Ordovician sediments into schist, 

quartzite, slate, and marble, and powerfully folding and also elevating 

them. The later mountain system of the State was then formed. 

Some of these schists and slates are those which now surround the 

granite areas.

*"0p. cit, pp. 20, 21.
108 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

6. After a long interval, probably at the end of Devonian or 

Carboniferous time, another crustal movement occurred, accompanied 

by the intrusion of the Ordovician schist mass by granitic material 

in a state of fusion with superheated water. The intrusion produced in places further changes in the schist and also injected it with 

dikes of pegmatite. Fragments of the schist became included in the 

granite.

f. Not long after the crystallization of the granite it was traversed by. granite dikes (pegmanite and aplite).

8. Mount Ascutney shows two intrusions, one of the Ordovician 

schist by the syenite, and a later one of the syenite by a biotite granite. The age of the last is quite uncertain.

9. The schist and granite masses were traversed, possibly in Triassic time, by basic dikes (diabase, etc.).

10. Atmospheric erosion of the Paleozoic schists and slates, begun 

at the close of Ordovician time, .has finally removed those parts of 

the schist mass which covered the granite domes. This process of 

erosion has been accelerated by successive uplifts.

THE GRANITE RAILROADS.

The granite industry of Vermont owes no small part of its present 

prosperity to " granite railroads," which connect not only groups of 

quarries but every quarry in each group with the main line, although 

these quarries are situated at considerable elevations and are inconveniently related to cne another. Plate II shows the intricate character of the granite railroad about Millstone Hill near Barre; figure 

20 gives a general idea of that connecting Kobeson Mountain in 

Woodbury with Harclwick, and figure 35 that leading from Christian 

Hill to Bethel.

THE QUARRIES, THEIR GRANITE AND FINISHED PRODUCT.

CALEDONIA COUNTY. 

HARD WICK.

Perkins, in 1906, called attention to a fine light granite quarried in Hardwick by the Northern Granite Co., from which more than 50 statuettes had 

been cut. He also mentioned granite quarries at Mackville, a mile south of 

Hardwick village, as then operated by the same company.00 As these quarries 

were not in operation in 1907 they were not vis'ted by the writer.

C. H. Richardson,01 in a paper .on the geology and mineralogy of Hardwick 

and Woodbury, gives a geologic map of Hardwick showing three granite areas, 

one north of the village. (West H 11 and Tuckerville area), one south of it 

(Mackville area), and one \vest-southwest of it which includes Buffalo Hill and 

the Mack quarries.

00 See Perkins, G. H.. Vermont State Geologist Fifth Kept., p. 105, 1906. 

61 Vermont State Geologist Ninth Kept., pp. 294-336, pi. G4, 1914.
U. 8. OEOLOOIOAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE I

O R\O (ffMn\nchester

AS S A. C H U S E T T S

« Granite quarries 

In some.places groups of2tc20

MAP OF VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE SHOWING LOCATION OF GRANITE QUARRIES.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE II

Approximate location 

of top of Millstone Hill

© 

About 1200 ft. above Barre

INDEX TO QUARRIES 

1 Kouttvcll

2. Brno

3. Milne & Wylie

4. Empije, darls 

fi Man & Cordon 

(I Bailey

7 Rare Granito Co.

8 AndtTixin

0 Stephen & G»'mini

'0 Jones, light, old

1. Jones, light, new

2. Barclay

3. Acme

4 Wctmore 6 Morec

5. Smith, upicr

6. DufTee 

7 Smith, tow 

K Sanguinctti 

9. Miltolone

1025ft. 

above Barre

a Cnntxm

22 Barre Gianlte A Quun> Co.

23 Walkci

?/l. Wells Loincon

2f' Truneau

» Cenaoliiisted

87. McDonald & Culler

2& Ir.rra & Cruikchank

29. CapiliJ

8P, Cmiyellard

81 Mclver A Molhcson

82 ttemifnd

33 Ham

:« Milne

Sb. Brjrt M«num

36 Empiri. fcjht

!f Stratton

W. Junes, dailt

3U Jonrs, tmall, darlt

40 IVie

4) U. S. Quarries and Granite 

Coin'tniction Co. Not oix-ratt'd 

t^ onu Granite 

Ca Nrtuctrated

500____1000 1500____2000 2500 FEET 

Quarry elevations from Barre Railroad map 

Ward Crosby.C.E.

Copyrighted Jan,1907, by Walker & Galliaon 

and published here with their permission

MAP OF BARRE, VT., SHOWING LOCATION OF GRANITE QUARRIES.
VERMONT.

In 1915 the Northern Granite Co., 168 College Street, Burlington, operated 

a small quarry south-southeast of Hardwick village, producing fine dark granite 

on its south side and fine light granite on its north side. The stone is used for 

monuments. The quarry has been idle since 1915.

FIGUKB 20. Map compiled from various sources showing approximate locations of granite 

quarries in Woodbury, Washington Co.unty, Vt. Quarries : 56, Fletcher; 57, Woodbury 

Granite Co.; 61, Carter; 62, Carson; 63, Ainsworth; 65, Vermont White; 67, Webber, 

new; 68, Webber, main; 69, Imperial Blue; 70, Old Quarry; 72, Leach; 73, Chase.

The Buffalo Hill quarry is on Buffalo Hill, about 2$ miles S. 60° W. from 

Hardwick village and about 500 feet above it. (See map, fig. 20.) Operator, 

Hardwick Granite Co., Hardwick. Idle since 1917.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 58, a and d), "dark-blue Hardwick," is a 

quartz monzonite of dark-gray shade, a little darker than " dark Barre " and a 

trifle lighter than "dark Quincy." Its texture is medium, with feldspars up to
110 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

0.3 inch and mica to 0.2 inch, generally even grained but with sparse clear porphyritic feldspars up to 0.4 inch, inclosing the feldspars, quarts, and mica. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are smoky quartz with hairlike 

crystals of rutile, with cavities In sheets parallel to rift cracks and with another 

shorter and rarer set at right angles to the first; milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine), much kaolinized, somewhat micacized and 

epidotized, and containing calcite; in about equal amount with this feldspar 

a clear to bluish-white potash feldspar (microcline with a little orthoclase), 

some of it kaolinized, some inclosing particles of all the other constituents; 

olive-colored biotite (black mica), with1 a little musco'vite or'bleached biotite. 

Accessory: Pyrite, magnetite, apatite, zircon (crystals), and allanite. Secondary : Kaolin, a white mica, epidote, and calcite. The soda-lime feldspar is 

radially intergrown with quartz.

The stone effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test. " 

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method gives these 

results with a mesh of 0.4 inch and a total linear length of 38.8 inches: Feldspar, 62.05; quartz, 21.75; mica (biotite), 16.20.

The average diameter of all the particles by the same calculation is 0.093 

inch; that of feldspar, 0.106 inch; of quartz, 0.122 inch; and of mica, 0.052 inch.

This is a bright stone with strong contrast between the white feldspar and 

black mica. It takes a fair polish and hammers light with marked contrast to 

the polished face, which shows some pyrite and less magnetite.

The quarry, opened about 1887, was in 1907 a small irregular opening 20 to 

30 feet deep. ' It is. a ''boulder quarry" without sheets.

Rock structure: Joint systems (a), strike N. 30° W., dip 35° W., spaced 

about 10 feet; (b), strike N. 45° E., dip 40° NW., spaced about 10 feet; (c), 

strike N. 25° W., dip 50° to 75° NE., spacing irregular. The rift is reported 

as vertical with N. 50° E. course, and the grain as about like joints (a), but 

neither is marked. There are some white, probably feldspathic, and black 

biotitic "streaks," really veins, with curving course. Rusty stain up to 6 

inches thick appears on joint faces.

Transportation, by cart, 2£ miles, to Hardwick.

The product is used for monuments, particularly for polished and rock-faced

work.

KIBBY.

The quarries in Kirby are all on Kirby Mountain, in the eastern part of the 

township, about 9 miles.northeast.of .St. Johnsbur-y. (See niap,-..fig. 21.)

The Grout quarry is on the south side of Kirby Mountain, 2^ to 3 miles 

N. 20° W. of North Concord and about 450 feet above the station there. (See 

fig. 21.) Operator, A. Rossi, North Concord. _

Grout quarry gray granite (specimen D, XXIX, 76, a) is a biotite granite of 

light to medium, slightly bluish-gray color and of medium inclining to fine, 

even-grained texture with feldspars, up to 0.25 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to translucent potash 

feldspar (microcliue, with inclusions of the other constituents, and also orthoclase), light smoky quartz with cavities in sheets with a set of cracks parallel 

to them, milk-white soda-lime feldspar Kalbite to oligoclase-albite) much 

kaolinized and with some white mica, biotite (black mica), and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Zircon is an accessory mineral. Neither magnetite 

nor pyrite was detected: Secondary minerals, kaolin and a white mica. No 

effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a bright .stone, but the. fineness of its;mica and. the light shade of its 

quartz preclude strong contrasts.
VEBMONT. Ill

The quarry, opened about 1899, consisted in 1907 of two openings, 

the northern and upper one 40 by 25 feet and 10 feet deep; the lower 

one 70 feet square and 3 to 5 feet deep.

Rock structure: The 

sheets, 6 inches to 4 feet 

thick, but obscure in the 

upper opening, strike N. 

55° E. and dip 25° SE. 

Joints (a), vertical, strike 

N. 25° W., spaced 1 foot 

to 2 feet 6 inches to 50 

feet; (b) strike N. 85° E., 

dip 55° N., forming the 

south wall, spaced 6 to 8 

feet; (c) strike N. 80° W., 

dip 40° N. 20° E., spaced 9 

feet The rift is reported 

as vertical, with N. 70° E. 

course, and grain as horizontal. The flow structure, consisting of streaks 

of biotite, is parallel to 

the rift. There are some 

biotitic knots. Rusty stain 

is confined to-, the surface 

and the thinnest sheets 

next to it.

Three aplite dikes, 1 foot 

to 6 feet 6 inches thick, 

strike N. 80° E. This aplite is described on page 45.

Transportation, by cart, 

5 to 6 miles, to rail at 

Concord.

The product was used 

for monuments. Quarry 

operated in 1915 but reported abandoned in 1916.

The Burke quarry is on 

the west foot of Kirby 

Mountain, about 1,000 feet 

N. 60° E. from the Kearney 

Hill quarry and 2& miles 

roughly N. 50° W. from 

North Concord. (See fig. 

21.) Operator, Kirby 

Granite Co. (W. J. Chapman), East Burke. Idle 

since 1916.

The granite (specimen 

D, XXIX, 78, a) is a quartz 

monzonite of light to medium gray color, and of medium inclining to fine, even-grained texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.25 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are light smoky quartz with hairlike crystals > of rutile, 

and sheets of cavities with cracks parallel to them; milk-white soda-lime feldFIGUKB 21. Map of Kirby, Burke, and Newark, Vt. 

From Beers's Atlas. Quarries : 74, Packer; 76, Grout; 

77, Kearney Hill; 78, Kirby Granite Co.
112 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

spar (oligoclase) much kaolinized and micacized, with some carbonate and 

epidote, and in places intergrown with quartz in vermicular structure; clear 

to scarcely bluish potash feldspar (nu'crocline with inclusions of oligoclase, 

quartz and mica, also orthoclase micacized) ; biotite (black mica) some of it 

chloritized; and muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Very little magnetite, 

apatite, zircon, and rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, epidote, zoisite, 

carbonate, and chlorite. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This stone closely resembles that of the Grout quarry in its color and weakness of contrasts.

The quarry in 1907 measured about 175 by 100 feet and from 10 to 20 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: Between this and the abandoned Kearney Hill quarry 

there is an outcrop of schist, either an inclusion or the original schist capping, 

which strikes N. 15° E. The sheets, from 1 to 5 feet thick, dip 10°' S. There 

are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 25° to 30° W., dip 30° W., forms the 

east wall, recurs 100 feet west, and has some parallel subjoints; (b), discontinuous, strike N. 5° W., dip 65° E. to 90°, spaced 100 feet; (c), discou- 

' tinuous, strike N. .75° E., vertical, spaced 2 to 50 feet. The rift is reported 

as horizontal and marked, and the grain as vertical with N. 70° E. course 

Biotitic knots up to 2 inches across. There is little or no rusty stain below 

the top sheet.

Transportation, by cart 5$ miles to rail at Concord.

The product is used for rough and cut monuments.

NEWARK.

The Packer quarry is in the eastern part of Newark, on the west side of a 

ridge between Center or Island Pond on the west and the East Branch of 

the Passumpsic on the east. This ridge lies north of Burke Mountain and 

southeast of Ball Hill. There is a marked east-west sag in the ridge. The 

opening is a little north of the sag on a gently sloping bench below the steeper 

part of the ridge and 363 feet above Center Pond, about east-southeast from 

its south end. (See map, fig. 21.)

The quarry, idle since 1915, hag been operated by the Newark Granite Co. (address H. D. Packer), West Burke.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 74, b), "Newark pink." is a biotite granite 

of light p'nkish-gray color and of coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.8 inch and mica to 0.15 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are light pinkish-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), 

some of it intergrown with soda-lime feldspar or with inclusions of it, slightly 

kaolinized; medium smoky quartz with cavities in sheets; cream-co-ored, in 

Pjlaces slightly greenish-gray striated soda-lime feldspar (alb'te to oligoclase, 

albite), much kaolinized, and with some white mica and carbonate; biotite 

. (black mica), some of it chlorit:zed. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, titanite, and 

allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, epidote, and calcite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method, with a mesh 

of 0.6 inch and total linear length of 46 inches, yields these results: Feldspar, 

64.80; quartz, 30.30; mica, 4.64; magnetite, 0.26. The average diameters of the 

particles obtained from the same calculation are: Feldspars (adding 20 per 

cent to the number as an estimate of the uncounted soda-lime particles), 0.162 

inch; quartz, 0.106 inch; mica, 0.0406 inch. Average diameter of all particles, 

0.123 inch.

The rock effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, chemist 

of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.23 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in
VERMONT. 113

warm dilute acetic acid (10 per cent), which indicates a content of 0.4 per cent 

of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate, calcite), the presence of which is also shown by 

the microscope.

The contrasts in this granite are chiefly between the smoky quartz and the 

combined feldspars. It has very sparse porphyritic feldspars up to 1.5 by 0.5 

inch, but these are hardly numerous enough to impart to it a technically porphyritic texture. The polished face shows magnetite in minute particles and 

very few of pyrite. The polish is fairly good, the mica particles, although 

somewhat large, not being very abundant.

Rock structure: The sheets on the steeper, higher part of the ridge, 110 feet 

above the bench carrying the outcrop sampled, are from 3 to 6 feet thick and 

not far from horizontal. Joints (a) strike N. 30° E., dip 70° W.; (b) strike 

N. 5° AV., vertical. The rift is possibly east-west and vertical. The granite for 

a thickness of 110 feet and presumably to the top of the ridge is the same as 

that described, but recent prospecting, it is claimed, indicates the presence of 

finer-grained granite between the opening sampled and the pond.

The nearest railroad is 8 miles away.

^ 3 f 3 Miles N

isXTV <> rotOiiPoifit\ \ >«\

~^>V^1 / i I !'- '' '^ ^l( 1 -T- /f - r.A

/r/; . /^ _ )A w '' N * ; '_ 

15 ; G R^\"O TST/O / NA-l'-i^ffi^-Mt?, fe '"""^^f^w ^ui --''' / ^"-ir^^t%>>, .J

T O P SHAM/

FIGCRB 22. Map of Ryegatc, Groton, and part of Topsham, Vt. From Beers's Atlaa. 

Quarries : 80, Benzie; 87, Ricker.

RYEGATE. 

TOPOGRAPHY.

The Byegate quarries are on the southwest and northeast sides of Blue 

Mountain, a northwest-southeast ridge about 5 miles west of Connecticut River, 

in the east-central part of the town. (See maps, PI. I and fig. 22.)

GENERAL GEOLOGY.

A mica schist crops out in the village of South Ryegate with a very steep 

dip and appears to continue 3 miles north onto a bench on the southwest side 

of Blue Mountain and 770 to 800 feet above the village. The granite extends

105709 23 9
1.14- COMMERCIAL GRANITE^ 0,F NEW ENGLAND.

frp(m t^e back or .northeastern, part of. the bench., to the top of the, ridge. r At 

a.point.aJboijt; J7Q feet^abqve^i^^ijlage the. foliation, ;a,n.d. bedding of the. schist 

strike N.'50° W. and dip 55° NE. In places the schist is coarse and, speckled, 

but wjth it is, interbedde.d a^very^quartzoze -mica slate (quartz-.biotitermusc.ovite-epidote). .. : .j-;; ,. .,^-.',1.- r ' -.rr vv. .in-.. . ' =. .M....V

'.- . <i! v '" ';' ' i" "(:- < ' >:! '" ( : "s '!- ' L'I-' ;'' . ..'.; '." "' ' , The granites p'f .Blue Mountain are, quartz inonzonites and. biotite granites. 

of light and medium, more or less bluish ^ray color, and rpf medium., very rarely 

fine to . medium, even-grained texturej anji'ap ^e^.^hieflyr -for..rojijgji.( pr. 1 ^anime'red m'p( hifments! ^il the quart-z monzpnitgg .pf Ryegaite,;o,ught , to,, cut light. _

' >"' r '- ' '' : GEOLOGY OF RtEG'ATE 1 QUAILS. ' ,./ .'',"'' '/' . ',.

The Inclusions of -schist in ^',Ryegate -granite-" -hawe. already -"been -.described 

on page 65 an/3; showo.in Plate III, B, .at, the' right. The'Sheets, from: 6' inches' 

to 12 feet thick, are in some places horizontal and in others dip 'from' 5" 'to '25° 

S. 25°, 45°, 60° W., also gently south andrS. 45° E., on the -southwest -side'" of 

the mountain. Their relation to that slope of the mountain is apparent at 

the Frazer quarry and on the ridge northeast of the Italian quarry for some 300 

feet above it ; but at the Rosa quarry, on the other side of the axis of the 

ridge, the sheets range from horizontal to 10° E., thus indicating a broad 

anticlinal sheet structure. There are four sets of joints,- or two sets each 

with its complementary one. The strikes are uSL 70°-90° W., N. 5° E., N. 

50° W., and N. 30° E. The flow structure, shown by biotitic streaks, strikes 

N. 70° W. and dips 20°-25° N. 20° E. The rift is reported as vertical with 

north -south or N. 55° E. course, and the grain as horizontal. A 22-inch basic 

dike crosses the granite on the northeast side with a N. 65° W. course. The 

granite for a foot on either side 'of it has sub joints 0.5 to 3 inches aparfl 

parallel to the dike. Small pegmatite dikes have N.. §0° " W. and N. 15° E. 

courses. '.'.-

The Gibson quarry; is on the southwest" side of Blue Mountain, 940 feet 

above the village of South Ryegate. Operator, Ryegate Granite Works Co., 

South Ryegate. _

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 81,. a, from upper sheets), "Ryegate," is 

a quartz monzonite of light to medium" gray shade" and medium, even-grained 

texture with feldspars up to ^0.4 inch and mica to 6.1 .inch. ( .Its constituents, 

in ' desdehdl'ng "order of a'biiiridahcei a^^yery, 'iighVsjnoky quartz with fluidal 

and other cavities in sheets and a set of cracks parallel thereto, also with 

traces of another set of sheets ate'Tig&trangles to these; milk-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase) slightly kaolinized with a little white mica and 

epidote, some of it intergrown with1 q'u&itz ' in vermicular structure ; bluish 

potash feldspar (microcline, also orthoclase) similarly c intergrown ; , bio,tite 

(black mica) and : 'a' little mus(iovite'of r' bleached bibtite. / Accessory : ' Titanite, 

zircon crystals, apatite,' 'and p!yrite. '" Secondary : ''Epidote, kaolin, and white mica. - ' :: ; : ' ' ' ''' '"'' ' " ' ' ; ' ' ' : - [''' ' 

The rock does not effervesce .with. ;.cold dilute muriatic acid. Its contrasts 

are weak.

.The quarry, ;0pened:;in 1906, was about 200 feet square and from 2 to 4 feet 

deep in: 1907, .: -. : .-.:!'i i . : - - ' , i ;.: -' .

.RftCk structure: The sheets, 6. inches to'4:feet thick," dip 15° S. ;25°' W. and 

are normal. There is but one set of joints, strike east, vertical, at irregular
and dips^O^p.^o;-^;^.^^

vertical pegmatite dik^,strike ;^,J 3.5 0 (lEK . ;i i ll[ ;; !,.,. .., . .,, ! (J!) i t.,u], ., ( ,. f! 

...^ansp^^io^.b^^ gpuJh^y^ga 

lower. .Th,e iftodiict; is, .us^ed, forljpqqpm,ei?is.,apd/,baJ?eS;MapdM;tp $pjn.e, 

building. . ,,.,, H!) .,, ,.../, ,.,,; .,;.,., , | ; r, .,._.[ . i;,,, ; >.,, rc.irii-Mi., tnoit; 

The »tgr.risp4i gpf^jry i$.,9n the sout]jW;e^gidepf,9/lHe (Ml9^tajn,[i,

,.,of South R,yegat,e,aj)fl (about^7QO f,ee,t; southeast

_ 

x iP. , ^^y . 32,'

., . .,.,,,, ,,-..:., ., . T .. ;.'.; ,, , :,,,;lltl >ls , - ;,;,

: T|jiis sfope ^ idep)t;(^l j \y{ itl>, 4$$^ qf af he, j^^Oft quarry;,.) but [its-. 

a. W% s^rpei',,,;^, .,.,,.., (.,-; ., - !.-,;,,., ( ;^i ,(.,y : ,.;.,-» Ji WLsi'ti 

, f -Tb_e qif^rvy,,. opened, riu4^9P, .meajsprjed ^out ..flOjO. ,by ^

' ' '' ' ''' '

trucljuve^.^be sheets,; ,1 rtp. A ,^et,l:th|pk, ,di:p..>fery. gently,, south ^ 

southeast. There are two sets of joints (a),

is disconti^upu^ja^d.spaqef] very. Jrr'e.gujarly. ^-The^jft is reported a,s iver^i 

^orth-south, and the; gram 'as^liorizpntal.. Schist ipelusions, S.feetjb 

a.n(J &$% fatfhi We' i Ae^ri.be,d , pp .^ges, . 21 ,qi$; ,65n ; , ^ Spej'a.lso, ,PV IIJJ, 

right.) Small pegmatite veins, "tight sets," are bordered with large 

spots and^mu^y^^^.^,,,,,^,^, .)flo>. , ,,. !() (). inj/i>1 .,,,, l() ,;vj)1,)lfi( .

-to S,eu$h/Ryeg3.1;fi!r i94^ee^ili(?w1er..J<)ll ; ,, ,

 ; i >} 

'

abpye th^vijlage.pf o^th.Byegate.^d a.^pp^eet 1?, ffl* W

The granite is a quartz monzonite of light to medium gray shade aj 

^y^lpiiWftl^rft,,^

The quarry opened in May, 1907, measured in August abpu^.j?^, by,4PQ; 

and-abput 5.feet-in,depth7). .j.. T;:;H t , ; r,, i; . .... . ;,;; ; {,.. ,,.., .,;.-,,. ,,-;:? 

Rock structure: The sheets, 10 inches to 5 feet thick, dip,,90°aW|.

a§, verbal AvittijIp-pS^B.; -cpi]r^e pud the .grai^.as hprjzpnjal, jau 

: TM^P^ttct is^arjed^ m^es^ 

niered.,.monuiq nts.,. : ;;, : , ., . , ,

s; , gpup, (qf . e, ^puriitaiQ, . abpijt.^SQ jf ;abpy? South. $£fig9tai ' It; 

i,S;^OiJplig;err pgeratftd, ..^..(| [J.^H-IOV .j vxi'^U) 't.U ID >.;!; > i[|[/:x -jifl nO .((;) ui 

The granil;ft.,,(sEec^mpn,.y^)^I^,. !85, |) b). l is(a rqu?|r^ymon?on,^e ;pf; V

with feldspars up to^j^nqh.ia^^cft^qjp.^ji^h-^M,., j.,,,, | m-->!in,ii!il -lo'i )) ):.( : While the general shade of this stone differs but little from that of the Morrison and Gibson quarries, the contrasts between its minerals are much more 

marked.

*'d?h^ qua'rry<in'easuresiabbut)!300 feeVisq'uar^ahcf f rbrii' 5 'to 20 'f efe't^n dep"t'nT

 " 'llodk- structiirfe :' Ttife shee'ts'are'' iiWttnialf''I>1 'tAl( if& 'fett 1 tni'C^ v d1pp'irigi '2'5°"SvV: . 

There is: bu>t : one::jpfcts-fe1trike'^N. ^'- W.', 'dip 'SS^iSTv 20*; E: ;A::now' structure'ol1 

biotitic streaks and sheets strikes N. 70° W. and dips 45° N. 20o;ifo.( ! ) frii{he( w'eslJ
116 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

half of the quarry this is so prominent as probably to detract from the value of 

the stone. Rusty stain along the sheet surfaces is up to 3 inches thick. (See 

on the natural removal of this stain by organic and carbonic acids, p. 69.)

The product had to be carted 3£ miles to South Ryegate.

The Rosa quarry is on the northeast side of a southeast spur of Blue 

[Mountain, about 300 feet below its top and in line with its main axis. This 

quarry is about one-third of a mile by road from the Frazer quarry and about 

1,100 feet above South Ryegate. Operator, Rosa Bros., South Ryegate.

The granite is of two kinds. The first, "fine gray" (specimen D. XXIX, 

79, a), is a biotite granite of medium-gray shade and of fine, inclining to medium, 

even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its 

general shade is a trifle darker than that of the quartz monzonite of the Gibson 

quarry. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are translucent to 

very light bluish-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline) ; light smoky 

quartz with haiiiike crystals of rutile, and fluidal and other cavities in sheets 

with cracks parallel thereto; whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), slightly 

kaolinized, micacized. and epidotized, in places intergrown with quartz in 

vermicular structure; biotite (black mica) ; and a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Accessory: Apatite, zircon crystals, titanite. Secondary: Kaolin, a 

white mica, epidote, limonite.

W. T. Schaller, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this stone contains 0.03 

per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which 

indicates the presence of 0.05 per cent of OCO3 (calcium carbonate). No 

carbonate was detected in thin section, nor any effervescence with muriatic-acid 

test.

The fineness of the texture of this stone precludes mineral contrasts.

The other granite (specimen D, XXIX, 79, b), "coarse gray," is a biotite 

granite of medium bluish gray color, and medium, even-grained texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica to 0.15 inch. This is1 also a trifle darker than 

that of the Gibson quarry. Its constituents are like those of the fine gray, 

with the addition of calcite and more biotite. The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

Its contrasts are stronger than those of the quartz monzonites of the Morrison 

and Gibson quarries.

The quarry, opened in 1906, measured in 1907 about 150 by 75 feet and from 

10 to 25 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 10 feet thick,'are horizontal or dip to 10° E. 

There are three sets of joints (a), strike east, dip 65° S., forms a 3-foot-wide 

heading on the north; (b), strike N. 70°-80° W., dip 40° N. 10°-20° E., spaced 

1 to 25 feet, coated with epidote and slickensided; (c), strike N. 5° E., vertical, 

one only. The rift is reported as vertical with N. 60° E. course, and the grain 

as horizontal. The fine granite (specimen 79, a) occurs only north of heading (a). On the south edge of the quarry a vertical basic dike, 22 inches thick, 

strikes N. 65° E. (See p. 114.) Rusty stain measures 1 to 2 inches.

The product is carted nearly 4 miles to the cutting shed at South Ryegate and 

is used for hammered and rock-faced monuments and bases.

GROTON.

The Benzie quarry is in Groton about a mile S. 25° W. from the Wells 

River Bridge at Groton and 300 feet above it, and about 4$ miles S. 85° W. 

from Blue Mountain, is Ryegate. (See fig. 22.) Operator, Bonazzi Quarry Co. 

(Inc.), Montpelier.
VERMONT. 117

The granite (specimen D. XXIX, 80, a), "Vermont blue," is a quartz monzonite of medium, very bluish gray color, and even-grained medium inclining to 

fine texture. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear 

colorless to very light smoky or very light bluish quartz, with few cavities 

and brightly polarizing rift and grain cracks; translucent light-bluish sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), somewhat kaolinized and with white fibrous mica, 

also a white mica in small scales, and some calcite; a little clear potash feldspar (microcline, also orthoclase), with inclusions of oligoclase, quartz, and 

biotite; biotite (black mica); and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. 

Some of the feldspars are minutely intergrown with quartz in vermicular 

structure. Accessory: Titauite, pyrite, zircon crystals, apatite, allanite. Secondary : Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, leucoxene. Effervesces with 

muriatic-acid test.

This stone is brilliant and markedly bluish, but its mineral contrasts are feeble.

The quarry, opened in 1896, 

measured in 1907 about 200 by 

175 feet and from 40 to 60 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets are 

normal, 1 to 10 feet thick, and 

range from the horizontal to a very 

low dip north and also east. The 

structure is shown in figure 23.

There are three sets of joints 

(A), strike N. 55° E., vertical, 

spaced 15 to 50 feet, forms a 

rusty heading on the west wall, with short vertical subjoints at

FIGUUE 23. Structure at Benzie quarry, 

Groton, Vt.

angles to it; (B), strike N. 50° E. (diagonal to quarry), dip 60°

right 

S. 50°

E., discontinuous and at irregular intervals: (C), strike N. 20° W. and 

vertical, discontinuous and rare. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the 

grain as vertical, with N. 55° E. course. There is a coarse " shake " structure 

in bands up to a foot thick parallel to the sheets, at points 25, 40, and1 60 

feet below the surface. (See p. 39.) There are biotitic masses on the west 

side parallel to joints (A), the course of which is also that of the grain, 

and thus also that of the flow. On the west wall is a dike of quartz monzonite 

(specimen D, XXIX, 80, b) 5 feet thick, of medium bluish-gray color and 

very fine, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.1 and mica mostly 

under 0.5, exceptionally 0.1 inch. Its constituents are the same as those 

of the main granite. There are two dikes of similar quartz monzonite, but 

of dark, slightly bluish-gray color and extremely fine texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.06 (exceptionally 0.1) and mica to 0.04 inch. These dikes are 6 and 2 

inches thick, strike N. 5° and 20° E., and dip 70° E. and 90°. Several pegmatite dikes, 1 to 6 inches thick, cross the entire quarry, cutting the first granite 

dike, some striking N. 17° W., others in various directions. There is also 

a 3-inch diabase dike on the west wall. It contains porphyritic augite crystals, 

some of which have been replaced by quartz or calcite or chlorite. A compressive strain is reported here as from all directions. Rusty stain is only 

an inch thick on sheets 10 feet below the surface.

The product was carted 1£ miles to the cutting shed at Groton. It was used, 

for monuments and buildings. The fine stoue of the granite dike was used
COMMERCIAL GRAttSS NEW ENGLAND.

f OP ii^eeial': 'Orders' aDd^catfved'i'w'o'rkf ' > ESanf^Ms' aire 'the" ; 'Dfavisorii'ia<5ntini^nt 

at Wdofl"sville',r rNi:'Hr.i, an&the Dr;-g.r N.

-£[>()« iiaij/ld-Ju^iF jno-wlwurrj ;«I-»J;T' a in^ Jmr, fih rab'j : ;' .)<; /Ijdv.'ji'f i . /.!:: 

.<rTtoe ajoaaiJiiesJiO'X70fa'ng i.iCoUutyaa're;;chie%-to'--WilliarQstdwii) bufcla's' these 

elMelyfftadjQinfithose'ioJfi Ba-rre';>Ias shown! uon .fehermaJpj'ftheyi will iibe- considered 

inucojaitreietii®iv)with:;.<3ie Bar-Be :>i[ia4'Wfies[-|iv(S£Cew^iJ p .141i> )o (A?tqnaTcy)iEjQi'bps'haui

 iji.'iDifii'i-jY ni xhi;ni; lijrtf nv/o-iyiyjni vloiuitini '/us n'JKtffciil'j't 9fi) 10 'j(i(D>.

-';yH .')) u/;II/« .'))Hr.q/i .n'j;^v;;-) n;J?95S^IW'Mv.(r .olumiiT : riohw.wA .o >ii.'1''J."fJK

-in- ./; >! ;i "li'iv/ .'; .ni!o:;>I : v;;.' 'i.:;. 

Granite was formerly quarried at two pwnts i^n, Tonsh^m. ( On.e, .was ver^

neac^the village of South^/kyegate, the other on Pine Mountain r a"l)OutVs9uth; 

sbu^hj^ast of Grotpn}.0 ^Hitchcock and Hager's geiolQgic.j.map^.'rejDi'e.sent^. a 

grarifte^-aTrea extending ^rom Groton into Top^hani',.,bu.ti"it^eeDa^, tqo.^a^rj w.ep^.

The Bicker quarry/is in Topsham at the we'st 'foot of ^Pjn^ i 

roughly about- V5i miles west-southwest of B.hie| Mountain, ^ njil.es "' 

of the Benzie qvu;arr,y( and 2J miles south-sO|Uth^ast o^ i3ri>^.pp ' ^n 

above it. (See fig. 22.J Quarry abandoned,'"'.,, ',' ^ . /" ,' ^ f;rf ..

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 87, a), "Pine Mountain," is 

monzonite of medium\ bli^h^ray color an^., medi.vim^ . 

texture with feldspar \u^> to^jt^inch and mj^a tq^fi-jl Jin( 

clear porphyritio7 feldspars fi^Jffi^g^ all the.^hg^ ,j?^e 

stone is not quite so bluish as th^t^r^ie ,B'enzie. auaijj-y., j^j .rp1tj 

its feldspars <s6eru to bev^-as '

Effervesces with muriatic-acid test. >'ni!>n 1<? ;- 

''rs e:tin'ance th..'?

Its contrasts are greater than those of the 

?flto

),, 5.Wp,,N;{17p,0i, fEJ,tl uVer.tjf

.^p^^p/jkin^ ^a,Qp onlijt]lfii?j.eas.tlfis 2Q

r ! 9'i«-I I'iin ar;oH.i;-J.m«if) .!; ) ! i-'.v

-> tMcJV.**7!:W/^idfi?4o9a^sfiifi?g

j%., : 4fi«0f >>Xif(! T^'ie iP® ^fSfJs flff

i^.hfi.s^ia^^^ 

ickfjSti'ik^ ?ji|,j25,cj,\y,. .Apljite dikesi.up, to, 1, inq^,thip}c.

*-\ii')\i\ i>.i[»-j t:il .ibui r.O vJJjjiioi-t(j')-;x9 .«':.() -lylijii; 

sfli AlP^i ^=}»H^r)» 9iH ^frtofti^ %^Aowi?F- 10 

^ ic.'lfjil'n rlliv/ /nrj1x')1 9Jtil vl'jnio'itx') fi/i/j -jtoltr) v,i;Tn-ifoi';I(f v.Itrf'rfila .jf-iuf) 'to 

1: f.(U! f) 'Vi/! H0>!il> oH-uIT .- ; >/<; i-^o^fj^^'fjjfii ( f.O xHiifroiliiO')'/')) 1)0.0 ot qn

lie'^fieth^^li^ a^'ffie- vvM^b^cli' d^Wnite ^IVeVr'^^M'pbi &i:§W^t ^i,1 

T ' ''^soUthv^s^^ftiie '^nnoirijl 

lifft'i)s> 5n tn^ai^^fi! fit! K

fig. 38? ^

K

te GsoJpgistilP 

G. H., Mineral resources of Vermont, for 189&-1900, p. 75.)
-; - : r^ . : ' 119

r According' to}' the S&ite 'geologic map1 'ofr 1861 this"granlrte^Kbaid 'MWftie 

west side or the w#sterri':belt of-'"clay slate1 ,?-btit' no granite i§'sh'bwn'bn^tie 

map'in* this town.-':>''' '" > ' - '!<:. . v'W'.r" . . !-; .; »/ 

 The-granite (specimen D, XXIX, 160; a,'ana'b^ffi'nei whitg :g¥ailite; ; is'a'quariz 

monzonite of etxremely light gray shade without any mica spots. ! Tt 'is'-li'gftte'r 

than ^r>ummerstb'fl'wMte "'-but 1 hbt"a& white as tttat'bf Bethel''wHeri'tne"'rough 

fffces'-are 'ebmpared; aM Its slight grayn!ess :hasM a'' tirige of green in it: 'Tts"t'6xture is even grained :arid"fine,ll \Vith f61dspa*s} near^"airiinder O.i'inch and none 

:oter 0.15 Inch1 ; Its constituents,' in descending order of abundance','-are inilkwhite striated soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), some of it'ltitergrdwn With potash' ferd"spa'r: -(micrbcline)[ the'latter' forming, 'howeVbr/but a 

'small portion Of 'the pfirticV'.^^^^-!^ fel<fspatf: is'mofe"'dr less' Kftoli-nized 

and micacized'); clear' colorless -'qtfailtfc with' fliiidalrislhd b'ther'-cavities/'rafeTy 

With hairlike'-crys'tals 'of :rutiie;'very-little separate'potash 1 'feldspar ; (microcline) in minor particles; and 'inuscpvite (white ! hiica)''in'scales iip ;to 6:Si7 

milllriieter.' The accessory minerals 'are zircon, apatite;1 and futile'.' 'No mag- 

-netite 6ri)yrite''Wa[s de'tec'ted.'"-Se'c6hdary'miiiefa.1s,'kablin', a'white mica',1 'r'a'ther 

abundant'epidote; and zdisite'in irregular"particles -up'tb '0.5 millimeter,"exceptiohklly 0.75; millimeter,'accounting for'tKe'^greenish tinge "(this is ; realty tlie 

fifth niiheral'-in tfi'dei? 6f abundati'6'e) ;''a! ' little! 'ca'fc'ife andj( rare 'cMorite/fecdfes 

up to 0.22, exceptionally'0.75 rMlimeter/r^irif&'rc'irfg the'gr^enisTi tinge:'" "'"

An estimate'of the niineM pe'fleetttages 'fhade by apWirfg the'Rosiwal m'e'tho'd 

tP 'a camera1 ' lucidk dMwirigof a^thiri'se'ctioi e^large'd 40'diameters'yields these 

restllts; with'J a mesh' of-l'ln'ch'.a'fid a" totaT'linear lehgfeh'of '34 inchfe'sV'l^erds^air, 

76.5; quartz,: 21.2; micai, 2.8.' : The aVter^ge''diameter' of ''the particlS -oWained 

from1 the-saxhe calculation is 0.0049 inijh'f that fo^: 'the fel'd^f',1 -'0.0083'tnch'j 1 'of 

the quaTt^, 0!0032 "inch | 'and" of the 'mica, 0.0024 i'riclir '' 'lj ' "" » ' '">*

The stb'ne' effe'rVfesdes 'sliglitly '^th'toufiatic-acid' t'est.: " ::W.' l T;-'Sbhalle'r; % ' :a 

cheihist' P'f Oiig-'SUi^'ey,l! fi'nas that; it ;;c6iitains 0.3T per -cent''t)f Ca'0 ; '(lime) 

soluble in'wariii ailUte"f(lO'i)er cent) 5 aceti'c''acid, wh'ic'h indicates 'a! "cbnteritl bf 

0.66 p'er" cent of GaGO's'Xcalcium"caroohate','caltite); and7 this 1 niln'era"l! ; afeo' appears'in thin sedti'oii.' ""' - "-'i"' 1 ' '"> :> -«. ; .o-,r: i, nr r t : f.-njum 

1 The' stone-take's a Mgh y'dlish,' o\^in'g to the abs'efric'e'of all"but 'Very'minute 

mica plates. Being a quartz monzonite and also fred1 from;! niica st)ofis,f: it''will 

probably hammer quite" as whitii ''as"tHei "(l1uarrtz ihoh^onitfe frdM?; Bethel: 1 '"The 

hand specimeri§: ^h(VW'ti'acfe'S''ofdrfft or flbw strtfcturei'" ' ''« " ' " ''»'' ! fll: '

There are no data as: to'W&'bf'outcr6pjlor ; a'fe to Str-u'ctu're.' The principal 

Pperiirig is 6& by SO' feet. There was no"quarrying in -1916." : '" '"- ' ""'

')' t -t'^i)' 1 " ')" ' . i"ii'<-)>'(r" 1 J if

The Lacasse quarry, formerly owned by the Newport"Gra'riite '&., 'is'' iiea'r 

"the eenter; of the to\vn Of EJerby and aJJiJiit '4 miles1 'roughly 'ei'sl; of th:e<:ci1 of 

Newport, on Ld.1ie'!M'emphr;emagog. (^efe map, Pi.'ll] ''Operktor, A. 

Granite Co., Newport. , . '?;'' : ". ^ '"'^^.

The granite (specimen D, #XIK, 75 a)'j''^" Derby graj*,''' 1JS fa quartz 'iHrfn^nl 

:with' Doth bibtite' Rn^'&uscPvite1, of light biuish'-gr'ay cofor aniS "eveii-^rafned, 

 mediuni inclined to fine textluriej wi'th fefdstJars up to O.^'and'O.S i'rich arid'mic'a 

to' 0.16' in£h. its constituent'^, in" descending order of abundance,' are" ll'gljt 

sm'oty Quartz with 'nalrlfke'cfystals''^ 1Mtil4,HfflWM!l 'iintf oth:er davittesf'in 

sheets w,ith, ( .crocks para'li^.ijo^i^ .c^ear to 

bluish nnll&jvyhite ; rStrJjat_edi . s»d9,rlime.-fel(3spar,,,u('OHgocl9ise)) mostly- r muqh 

kaolinized and somewhat micacized, also intergrown in places with quartz In
120 COMMEKCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

vermicular structure; clear to translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; biotite (black mica); and muscovite 

(white mica). Accessory: Apatite, titanite, allanite, rutile. No magnetite or 

pyrite was detected. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, and calcite from 

chemical test.

There is no effervescence with dilute muriatic-acid test, but W. T. Schaller, a 

chemist of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.05 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble 

in warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates the presence of 

nearly 0.09 per cent of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate, calcite), which is slight 

indeed.

The shade of this stone is between that of " light Barre " and of the granite 

of Hallowell, Maine. It has more black mica than " light Barre " and stronger 

contrasts. This stone should hammer lighter than a biotite-muscovite granite.63

The quarry, opened about 1880, measured in 1907 about 300 feet N. 45° W. by 

250 feet N. 55° E. and averaged 20 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 18 feet thick, dip 20° S. 55° W. They " grow 

together " that is, sheet structure is undeveloped in the western part of the 

quarry making masses 22 to 25 feet thick. One set of vertical joints, discontinuous, strikes N. 55° W., is spaced 10, 30, and 100 feet, and forms a heading on the north wall. At the northeast corner there is a trace of a transverse 

set. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical with N. 55° 

E. course. Both are marked. Flow structure, consisting of muscovitic and 

biotitic bands, is vertical with N. 50° E. course. The muscovite scales in these 

bands measure up to 0.25 inch. There are very irregular biotitic surfaces in 

the eastern part of the quarry, resembling tree roots in form. Associated with 

them are nonmicaceous lighter tortuous bands. These are presumably irregularities in the flow structure. A " shake structure " up to 5 inches thick 

occurs on some sheet surfaces, and the rock there is passing into sand. The 

contact here has been alluded to on page 105. A north-south compressive strain 

was reported by the foreman. There is no stain on the sheet surfaces.

The product is carted 4 miles to the railroad at Newport. It is used for 

monuments and buildings. Specimen: The prison-ship martyrs' monument in 

Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, N. Y. Height, 150 feet, shaft 18 feet in diameter 

at base and 14 feet at top.

The Parmenter quarry is in Derby Township, near Beebe Plain, close to 

the Canada line and about a mile east of Lake Memphremagog. (See PI. I.) 

Owner, W. H. Parmenter, North Derby. Abandoned in 1920.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 72, a), a light granite, not examined 

microscopically, is either a biotite granite or a biotite-quartz monzonite of 

very light gray color and even-grained medium texture, with feldspars up to 

0.3 inch and micas to 0.2 inch. Its constituents are slightly bluish milkwhite feldspars, light smoky quartz, and biotite (black mica). It effervesces 

slightly with acid test.

In general shade this granite is lighter than that of North Jay and darker 

than that of Bethel, or nearly the same as " West Dummerstou white " but 

with more conspicuous black micas.

The quarry in 1909 was 40 by 25 feet in area and 10 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 5 feet thick, are insufficiently exposed but 

appear to undulate horizontally. Joints (a) strike N. 50° W., dip 60° SW., 

spaced 10 to over 20 feet; (b) strike N. 30° E., dip 80° S. 60° E., one only. 

The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain vertical with N. 50° E. course.

63 See a reference to this stone and quarry in Richardson, C. H., The geology of Newport, Troy, and Coventry : Vermont State Geologist Sixth Kept., p. 280, pi. 58, 1908.
VERMONT. 121

In a larger quarry on the Canadian side, a few hundred feet from the other, 

formerly worked by the same operator, granite of the same mass and character 

]iiis sheets 10 feet thick and a flow structure with N. 60° W. course.

The product is carted half a mile to a siding on the Canadian Pacific Railway at North Derby and is used for hammered monuments or bases. The 

quarry was idle in 1916.

BARTON.

In 1913 a specimen was received by this Survey from Milo J. Owen, of 

Barton, as occurring within that township.

The granite (specimen D, XXXV, 109, a) is a medium to dark-gray aplite 

(p. 42) with a groundmass of fine particles ranging from 0.05 to 0.17 millimeter in diameter and inclosing porphyritic feldspars (milky oligoclase to 

oligoclase-andesine) from 0.37 to 1.25 millimeters, quartz (smoky?) up to 

0.87 millimeter, and biotite (black mica) up to 0.75 millimeter.

As aplites occur in dikes and are a little harder than granite the economic 

value of this aplite will depend upon the width of the dike, the relative cost of 

cutting it, and also, of course, the spacing of the joints and sheets.

The Barnard quarry is in the township of Barton. Operator, John M. 

Barnard, E. D. 1, Barton. Quarry idle.

The granite (specimen D, XXXVIII, 26, a), "Barton," is a biotite granite 

of medium gray shade and of medium texture, with feldspars up to a trifle over 

0.2, inch and biotite (black mica) to 0.05 inch.

It does not effervesce with muriatic-acid test. It is a bright granite without 

marked contrasts.

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless potash "~~ 

feldspar (microcline), pale smoky quartz with cavities in sheets, clear to milky 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), somewhat kaolinized, biotite, and very 

little muscovite. Accessory: Apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, cal- ' 

cite.

The quarry is 300 by 100 feet and up to 9 feet deep. .

The product is used for monumental work. /

AVASHINGTON COUNTY. 

BARRE AND WILLIAMSTOWN.

The quarries of Williamstown, in Orange County, will be described in connection with those of Barre, as they belong to the same group and their granite 

is continuous and identical.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The city of Barre lies about 5 miles southeast of Montpelier (see PI. I), and " , 

the Barre quarries are 3 miles farther southeast, near the southeast corner of 

the township of Barre, and a few of them are in Williamstown, in Orange 

County, which adjoins Barre on the south. The city of Barre lies on Stephens 

Brook, a tributary of the Winooski, which empties into Lake Champlain. 

About half a mile southeast of Barre this brook receives a tributary from the 

southeast, known as Jail River. Some 2^ miles southeast of the city this river 

flows through a canyon-like gorge between flat-topped masses of sand, clay, and 

boulders over 200 feet thick. A little north of Jail River at this point a roundish granite mass, known as Cobble Hill, rises to a height of 1,000 feet (by 

aneroid) above the city, and 2 miles about southwest of this hill and a little 

south of the river another granite mass, known as Millstone Hill, rises to a
122 COMMERCIAL GRANITES' OF NEW ENGLAND.

 height of 1,20'd feet above the city. In 1907 56 quarries' we'fe^roftp'Sd about 

"these1 two granite' masses4, and "of 'these' &2l "were1 about ' Millstdne'' Hlll.'; The 

section (fig. '24) will' serVe to convey a general idea of the' surface features 

'described. "The locations' and designations" of the" l Mlll'stbtfe Hil'l quarries' are given in 'Plate if: ' ' "' " ' '"'- ' r' l! fc> ;: ' '- _ " ' ' '

GENERAL GEOLOGY.

The geology 'of the granite area of Barre was last treated by George I. Finlay.«*' ' '-' ' "' "'/ *' ""'" " ;''' '" ' ' : W ' :- His map shows that he regards th'e: two granite hills 'as ''parts' of one -granite 

area, with: a north-northeast trend, over 4' miles long 'by 1'i miles wide,' surrounded 'by slate and schist. Its representation bn: the State geologic map 

of 1861 is not far different The /writer's time 'was too short to enable him 

to trace the boundaries of _ the granite "and schist, nor was a'" map suitable 

for such purpose available. Finlay represents a schist tongue' crossing Millstone fill! fliagondhy'irom ndrthwe^t to ' southeast : and Cobble Hill as all 

granite, 'but th'e writer found schist 'on' the north side of the top of the Cobble, 

without, however, 'deter mining '"it's 'northern limit" The schist capping also 

crops out at' Jdries'Brbs.^and Barbliy's''^iia'r'ri'esVafso¥e'kr' it:he^MTa%r'-& Gordon 

quarry (Nos. 10, 12, 26 in PI. II), and;in Websteryille.: ' Some ol these schist

.24.-r-General topographic section through.granite mass.6JE Baure, Vt.. Scale; about

-'.-.;f--- i ' ; ": ' 400 feet to 0.1. inqh. ,-",:;.. .> .-,.,- .. .:; 

masses are probably lesser bands still lying on t the granite, which Finl'ay 

states were too small to "enter on^ his. small-scale map. The strike of the 

foliation of the schist about the quarries varies' fromJ 'n'orth to N. 60° E., 

and the dip is steep west QE..90 0 . Jn a .group of quarries south-southeast of 

Millstone Hill it strikes uniformly N. 30b -35° E.

These are the chief geWogtc^daftffes o*f:.-thg.iBAfire district. Four formations are represented (1) the schist, a metamorphosed marine argillaceous 

and calcareous sediment of'unknown' thickness,' underlying the city and surrounding the granite'"area; "(2) "the' granite^''of igh'e'ous 1 origin', intruded 'in 

the schist and forming two domes, 2 miles apart,' with an intervening' depression, which in consequence o'f T the1 -"''erosion of the schist now project 

through it; (3) certain dark basic dikes of_later date cutting the granite 

and the schist also;'(4) finally, niasse's of sand]-'flay, and bdulders1,'Over 200 

feet thick in the'hollow between ^he: dome's;'of glaciai 1 origin- overlying trie 

schist and part of the granite. ;; '"' '' ' ; ' J/ ''" ' ' " : ' " 

The geologic age : of schist and granite 'have been discussed on page 106, and 

their probable history was sketched on pa'ge'107.' " 7 ' ' ' ' ' f ' '

As manjr as seven" different sets' of surface foriiis irav'e existed here 

(1)" the original1 surf ace1 'bf'thd sediments of clay and sand before their 

emergence4 from the ;' sea;' '(2)' the : siirrfa''de of -"those" sediments after their 

inetamorpnism "intb : schist and 'before 1 the" granitic intrusion; (3) the 'surface 

of the "schist mass" ais' moflifie'd by :the grahiti'c intrusion; (4) the surface Of

, M The-granite-.a Eea'of ! Barre', Vt.: Vormonf State tGeologist' Third Rept.,. p!p. 46^59, 

pi. 4, 1902.
the ;sc1iist'and granite masses wKl'ch resulted'from the long period of preglacial 

e'roslon';"'(5J) ''tlie/'originftl 'surface 'of the superimposed glacial'-deposits;-(6) 

thejsurface' o^f,1 the''glacial''deposits' 'as modified' 'by glacial-late' levels; (7) the 

stfrfaces" pro'duceS" in' bbth'unmodified arid -modified- gla'cial 'deposits bypostglticial'Tstreiims. It 'is 'assumed :in this outline 'that :any modifications' of the 

eroded.rock surface by the glacier were unimportant, and the surface of the ide'sheet'4teeff;haV h^ ' < '.> -: "' ->-- 

"'TTlie present Surface"'M evidently'x>f 'complex l brlgin.' Parts of it were formed

gorge; 1 . ,,., rr ... ..,...,., ...... .. ., . .-

hn'e gla'cidt'tlepbsits haVe a nearly"- level surfa'cV Which--'is probably due to terra'cih'^'by a glacial'lake 1 (-6)': These1 oppo'si'te terraces may have been coiri'inuous, 'but tn'e gorge iitselr"is-partly'6r entirety"the result of the cutting of tl\e 

teVrac'ed glacial1 deposits''(f)'. 1 ' In'-"places the processes' of (7) have'-exposed'the 

sdiistslii'Mce formed by (5)'and :made: small inroads upon it. * -"- " -' 

15 Tlie.' schis't 'of 'Barre ; Varie's : miich"incharacter.' :A few observation's' Were 

m'aiae'knd specitn'ens Collected! ; 'inyjniaiiyr places iir ;cohtains lenses and beds of

* (r '. ''I' * r *,,. »',. i-' r"

calcareous quartzose rock.; 'On Sro^ok'Avenue1, in the 'northwestern part' of the cityr, 

a'Wask'^f this; i-bck'dips S'O^^foi^O6 'about sbutb!west,: but With; traces of plicated 

beddirfgln the bt)'pb^ite-direiiti'6ri.'^ it is a'vetyQiEir'k^My'frne-grained quartzose 

crystalling'limestobe^'^He'sedtioris7 show'Quartz particles urj'to' 0.24 millimetet 

in1 a ^nient'bf cal<5ite ! plite¥ with1 'rare muscOVi'te scale's and'm'a'n'y minute black 

'(caifSbriabeou^?)';: parttcles1.^ !At"the" :;Tbther're'nd' : bf ^h'^'cit^y.-'-neai^-'the-'covered 

Wid!ge'bv'er Jail1 Ri^er^itH^^d1 very fifie blacl^:robfihg-sla't'e-lwith mi'hute ^secon'daty 

pi'lck'tiorfs 'and 'sji^ngle1i! 'with '6la'cTi tabula^ -crystal's1 up-to^Oli iridiiracrbss, 'p'rdbatfl'y1/oft il'm^riit1'ei.f Therteicr'oilcop'e< 'shows'it f6"ber'fe muscbvite-<iuarlz s'la'te wiih 

a ifttlB' bi'6t'ite r and> 'ctiirorTteV/:Pa'rt'Of' the'"&M<Trorp is 'a: mtisdovite sch'i'st.With

(P'l. li!jr a gr'aMiti^dike 'S^feef thick Wo'sSes1 the^schistv 1 This proves

be; a light-gtay "iQiie-texirared ^^ pbrphyri'tic ; i)iotite 'granite' differing ' from -Barre 

gfriarii;te ^nalnlj/ ^in 1 texture: There - are' here; ftri'd thWe ivithirf ''tfre' 'granite ' ao'ea ' '

Strips' of 'schist'' Whic'h1 are" parts' of th'6; b¥igi'rial ck^jrpihg' lef f by ' erosion1; 'Ther6 

areaWo blocl£s'of schist'Hvithin fhe gr^iiite ( iiiclusi'ons)" 'Which probably drbpped 

irijtb^th^'rising'semiliquid^granite'ffbni the -tinaerside- of" the fractured capping. 

Tn'esd itre" deiscrib'ed more'ftiily^ on 'pagte's '''' - l ' '- '- ) 'v ' - ? " 'r "''" ' ' '

,- +_ .., . .^ ^ _ . r ie1 granite Ibelohg' to . .___ 

_ ;' bfr the :ft>feriod of intrusion, after 'tn~e: ''consolidation''of the' gt'anite':' The 

basic dikes'described'oti-pkge 128- and referred' to by Pinlay w 'belong to- a 'Still 

la'tef darfe.'^fee describes as T canipton'ite''a ^-fo^t dike which cross'6s: 'the"schist 

just sotitrTb'f Barrie 'o'A fhe"road'tio'Sou1:h'Barre, and he'iilUstrates itfe Spher6idal weathering."' "' ? -' : 'i li -° it:;: ' ?-"-i.-:ii-v ."tf :->.-.-!- ; .' . r.-: .-.'i.-..-. :r -r-iw ' 

.'"''. ' .'. *' .'> -v."1 ' .-; .. -.' '.- ' ' 'TO '.; nli''i!i'..' ~n<,'<' »'-.' ' ^ : - ' v ^

, . , , . , BABRE GRANITE. " '* '^Ti'/Ml" .;. . .:;: .- -. ::{; ,':!.;;:,: 1< ^.-i-y. 'U'*"J ^Jl/u'I*'. .' >* si-.'-''>.'s. :' ; /»!..';; «

Barre granite is knovyn commercially as "dark Barre,'''' |i;nSe'dlii*m Ba'rre," 

a:nd ": l'iglit' ! Ba'ri'e7' Jwitii^ some exceptibh'al '"very dark Barre "'and- " white 

B'Hri-e."'' ft appears: to %' everywhe're ti ^i'btite : granite' in1 Which" -the brthodase 

is considerably kaolinized and micacized, but the microcline is fresh. The dark 

stone of the Milne & Wylie qua;rry~aniqL~ol^the~J6ne~si,Quarry shows so great a 

coin^a^l: ; belwe^n,', its ^Ka,i?iin.ered' and !pqUshed.. fa.ces.Vas^ ib(r iEJdicat'e that the 

amount o.f;:s.oda-rlime feldspar-iniitjis larger than., it, jg in the -other, gran', tes Qf

88 Op. cit., pp. 49, 50, pi. 6.
124 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Barre or in biotite granites generally, anil the thin sections show considerable 

plagioclase altered like the orthoclase. But AVhitman Cross,06 of this Survey, 

found a specimen of " dark Barre " quarried by Wells, Lamson & Co. to be a 

typical biotite-rnuscovite granite in which the amount of plagioclase (soda-lime 

feldspar) was so small as to place it among the accessory constituents. (See 

p. 138.)

The various shade and color designations of this granite are due in part 

to the different degree of kaolinization and micacization of its orthoclase 

feldspar, causing it to range from a translucent bluish gray to milk-white, 

and in part also to the varying content of black mica. Technically its colors 

are here defined as (1) very light gray (Wheaton quarry, abandoned), equivalent to that of North Jay, Maine; (2) light inclining to medium, slightly bluish 

gray (Jones light quarry), between that of North Jay and of Hallowetl, 

Maine; (3) light medium bluish gray (Smith upper quarry), between that of 

Hallowell, Maine, and Concord, N. H.; (4) medium bluish gray (Duffee 

quarry), a trifle darker than "Concord granite"; (5) dark inclining to 

medium bluish gray (Bruce quarry) ; (6) dark bluish gray (Marr & Gordon 

quarry) ; (7) very dark bluish gray (Marr & Gordon quarry knots), equivalent 

to "dark Quincy." The chief product consists of (3), (4), and (5). The dark 

shades occur near the Williamstown line, the light near the top of Millstone 

Hill on its south and southwest sides, and also about three-fifths of a mile 

south-southwest of the top. The cause of this distribution is not evident.

Its texture ranges from fine to medium that is, with feldspars up to 0.2 and 

0.4 inch, generally, however, not exceeding 0.2 inch, few reaching 0.3 inch 

so that it may be generally designated fine inclining to medium or medium 

inclining to fine. But the light granites of the Millstone quarry, on Millstone 

Hill, and of the Wheaton quarry, on Cobble Hill, are of medium texture, 

with feldspars to 0.4 inch. Its mica particles range up to 0.1 and 0.2 inch, 

but in the " very dark " to 0.3 inch.

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are (a) clear colorless 

or bluish to translucent and milk-white potash feldspar (orthoclase, kaolinized, 

and micacized, and less of clear microcline) rarely intergrown with a little 

soda-lime feldspar; (b) light smoky quartz, showing optical effects of strain, 

rarely with rutile needles, generally with fluidal and other cavities in sheets, 

and with rift cracks parallel to or coinciding with them, and in some sections 

with another set of fewer and shorter sheets of such cavities at right angles 

to the other and with grain cracks parallel to them (in one place the rifl 

cracks extend into the feldspar and are there filled with fibrous muscovite) ; 07 

(c) translucent to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to oligoclase and oligoeluse-andesine), some of it with flexed twining lamellae, more 

or less kaolinized and micacized, and in places with calcite; (d) biotite (black 

mica), some of it chloritized; (e) a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory minerals, pyrite, magnetite, titanite, allanite, apatite, zircon, rutile. 

Secondary, calcite (abundant within the orthoclase), one or two white micas, 

epidote, and chlorite. Minute veinlets of quartzi, of calcite, and of epidote 

occur exceptionally.

An estimate of the mineral percentages made by the Rosiwal method on a 

piece of " dark " yielded these results: Feldspar, 65.522; quartz, 26.578; mica, 

7.900.

00 See U. S. Geol. Survey Nineteenth Ann. Kept., pt. 6, continued, p. 224, 1898.

87 Fin lay (op. cit., p. 54) describes these rift cracks as crossing from one quartz crystal 

particle to another without interruption and as containing arborescent crystalline growths, 

possibly of manganese dioxide.
VERMO.NT. 125

All the Barre granites effervesce with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, 

chemist, of this Survey, finds that the " light Barre " contains 0.49 per cent of 

CaO (lime), soluble in warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, and the dark 0.63 

per cent, indicating a content of 0.87 and 1.12 per cent of CaCOa (calcium 

carbonate, calcite), respectively; the presence of this mineral is also shown by 

the microscope.

Finlay's analysis of the darker granite from the area south of Millstone Hill 

is given here for reference.68

Analysis of " dark Barre " granite.

Silica (SiO2 )______________-______________ 69.89

Alumina (A1203 )_________________________ 15.08

Iron sesquioxide (Fe2O3 )_____-______________ 1.04

Iron oxide (FeO)_________________________ 1. 40

Magnesia (MgO) _________________________ .06

Lime (CaO)____________________________ 2.07

Soda (Na20) ___________________________ 4.73

Potash (K2 0) __.._______________________ 4.29

Water uncombined (H20 at 110°)_______________ .31

Water combined (ELO ignition)_________________ .23

Phosphorus pentoxide (P2 0B )___ ___-_____'. Trace.

99.76

W. C. Day found the specific gravity of "dark Barre" and "medium Barre" 

to be 2.662 to 2.672, and its crushing strength to range from 14,968 to 19,957 

pounds to the square inch. (See p. 139.) L. P. Kinnicutt in 1908 found that 

100 pounds of Barre granite absorbs 0.294 pound of water. (See p. 157.)

Barre granite is mostly monumental, but some is building granite. The light, 

medium, and dark monumental stone, although brilliant in the rough, has weak 

mineral contrasts, but these are stronger on the polished face of the dark. The 

white of the more kaolinized and micacized orthoclase feldspars and the black 

of the mica, and the combined bluish gray of some of the feldspar and smoke 

color of the quartz form three distinct shades, but owing to the fineness of the 

texture these merge a few feet away, and the white alone shows against a darkgray ground. " Light Barre" granite is never polished but is hammered, 

because of the feeble contrast between the polished and cut surface, but the 

dark is often used for polished work. Its polish is fair, and the contrast 

between the polished and cut face is more marked along the hard way than in 

the rift or grain directions. In the stone from the Milne & Wylie and Jones 

dark quarries this contrast is so marked as to imply the presence of considerable soda-lime feldspar, for the contrast is almost as great as in a quartz monzonite. The polished face shows pyrite and a little magnetite.

GEOLOGY OF BAKRE QUABRIES.

The granite was observed in contact with the schist at six quarries (PI. II. 

Nos. 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 20). The results of a study of the contact phenomena at 

two of these quarries are given on pages 85-88.

The schist inclusions have already been dwelt upon (pp. 64-65). At two 

quarries (PI. II, Nos. 6, 32) these inclusions and the schist capping have been 

penetrated by minute dikes of granite and pegmatite proceeding from the 

granite. At one of these quarries the granite is darkened for a space of 7 feet 

from the inclusion.

cs Op. cit., pp. 55, 56.
1,26 COMMERCIAL GRANJTES. OF NEW ENGLAND.

The sheet structure pf. Millstone,,HiU,appears to f^or.m.,a,,,mp.re or less:unsymmeitrical flatfish-dome. The central, part, of this, dome is .exposed &t.-the 

Wetrnore & .Morse .quarry..(PL ...li,';'%>.,14),I ..where, the ; sheet$ dip froni.^h^ 

horizontal both, eastward and..^vestwa^rd,, 10°. Wes^-sou.th\y,est;.qf.jtha.tj pojnt 

and lower downs at the Smith"uppej. quarry ,(PI IIv .^o. .ip), ^ej;..^.!^0.-^ 

SW., and so also in the Duffee quarry; still farther down," at the.^niilihjl^y^ 

quarry. ((.P1.. :JI,. No,.17), .they dip^O."^ 0 SW. .On the northeast .side.at;,the 

Bond & Whitcomb quarry '(Pi! II, No. 19), the sheets dip lovvty?, th'e.no^the.a.st^ 

and at the next quarry (PI. II, No. 26) 15° E.; at the Canton quarry "(No.'21) 

10° N., but at the Barney quarry.-^No: 20) 10^ NE. and NW. At the Walker 

quarry (No. 23) lovv east and northeast. An east-northeast to. west-northwest 

section of the hill passing through the quarries'named would thus give a general 

low anticlinal. The" sheets of Cobble "Hill also form a" d;ome, for/at the 

Wheaton quarry, north-northwest "of the "toprthey dip 10° NW. and &NE., but on 

the southwest side of"the Mil, at the Wildbur quarry, they dip 60° S". 75° W., and 

at the Bianchi quarry, farther south; 35^ S.50" W:~ But the sheet structure half 

a mile southeast of Millstone Hill "("Jones and Consolidated quarries) and toward 

the Williamstowh line is too complex to unravel. The sheets are lenticular and 

normal at only"21 out of the 41 "quarries'"visited.. These 21 quarries.include, 

besides those named above, the~smaU group' of quai-ries in' the northwest ^corner 

of the area mapped (PI. II), also the Milne & Wylie, Anderson, and Wells-Lamson quarries, and the Pirie, in Williamstown. In the re'mairiihg 20 quarries 

the sheets are more or less irregular or absent. In some places the lenses are 

very short and thick; in others, as in the large Jones Bros, quarry, there are 

O.nly traces of sheets!. In several quarries, as the Manufactur.ers and Anderson 

quarries, the sheets "grow on" that is, the sheet partings stop"laterally, leaving the center or half bf the quarry Ay.ithout sheets. Figure 27 shows close 

joints without sheets in one part of the .quarry,"and sheets without joints in 

the'adjoining part. In several quarries sheet, structure stops vertically, at 

depths of 20, 25;.'^^ 35. feet from the rock surface for example, at the Barclay,' 

Capital, and Milne quarries. At'the Smith 'lower quarry there'i's a massi'SS' 

feet'thick without sheets; at'the Bruce, one such of' 48 feet; at another, pf 

40 feet; and at the Marr & Gordon, of 80 feet'. At one of the Boutwell quarries 

there is a lens ' (" bouldbr ")' about 33 feet' thick estimated to '(Contain about^ 

500,000 cubic feet. At some quarries there is., no'trace of/sheet'structure.' 

This incomplete development of sheet structure, is the chief .difficulty in quarrying at Barre'. Wherever low-dipping joints occur these are utilized as sheets, 

but where such'joints are'wanting'horizontal channeling has ,to be resorted to,! 

which is expensive. The sheets range from 6 inches to 30'feet in thickness. At' 

the WellS-Lamson quarry the ."toe-nail" structure'intersects, the sheets.'. At 

one quarry a sheet surface is'siic^eh'sided. " ' "' ' ' '.' ' ' ' '"

During the last 10 years the. jlep'tli 1 of some of ! the 'quarries has greatly increased. The bottom of some of the Bbutwell, Milne & Varnum Co.'s quarries' 

is 200 feet below the rock surface. In spme places the limit of sheet structure 

seems to have been almost reached.

There are ten. sets of joints (a),- strike N. 5°'W.. to N. 10° E.; _(b) ;N. 

15°^20° ;E.;. (c) N.:30°-40°.R; (d) N. 45>55° E/; (e) ;N,-:60«°-700 -E;.; .<;f.y. 

N. 75°-^0° E.; (g) N. 60°-80° W..; (-h) N. 45°-500 W.; (i): N. 30°-40° W,; 

(j) N. .10°-25°: ,W. Of these (cy occurs at .21 and (f) at-18 quarries. The 

next most frequent are (e) artd.fjU-),. e;ach at 10 quarries, anft Q*) at 8. These 

Joints diYide,.themselves!in.to. five .complementary ..sets that: is, sets-at-right 

angles to one another and presumably-due to: .the same 'strain. ;These sets 

consist of (a) and (f), (b) and (g), (c) and (h), (d) and (i); and. (e)l 

and (j). The spacing-of the joints ranges from 1 -to 200 feet; In 26 quarries
v, .-.; -; : , ... VERMONT..; ; ../..-. ...i,,i.,..v. 127

the spacing.ranges -from a minimum of 1 to 8,feet tq a maximum,of 20 to 50 

feet; in 18 quarries from a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 100 to.2^00 feet. 

Many,.of. the joints are.intermittent,or, discontinuous. . Abnormal relatipns.pf 

joints and.jsfreetsare-.shown[in.figure 28.. 'Income,,quarries joints qf.tjie same 

strike incline in opposite directions, as shown in figure 26.

 Some-joints-are .cqated-.with,limonite. and. calcitei others, with a greenish, 

usually slickensided--film. ; of muscovite, secondary quartz;, and chlorite. Back 

of it;the.feldspars are .microscopically brecciated and cemented with fibrous 

muscovite, also.minutely veined with calcite and quartz.. These veins run at 

right-angles to the face. .Some joint faces are very uneven, and'-their minor 

protuberances are sliekensided. .Other .joint, faces are coated with somewhat 

large muscovi^e scales.. The slickensides of -joints, usually have their furrows 

pointing in the direction of., the dip -of jthe joint, indicating motion up or down 

along .the dip. , : _ . .v. , , .'.' 

Headings are .numerous and usually rusty. On the northwest wall of the 

Marr; .&. Gordon. ;quarry the.central .part (-25 feet)..of a, heading striking N. 

35? .K. branches off to the north west ; and at. ^nother quarry (p. 143) a heading 

undulates back and forth laterally. . , Flow structure is rarely observable. At the. Wells.-J^anison quarry (PI. II, 

No. 24) a 12-inch band of darker granite shows the flow.to have been N. 70° 

E.>. with an inclination of .60° N.; 20° W., On Cobble Hill (Bianchi quarry) 

it, is about-north .and vertical. ,At the Barney quarry for a .space,.of .15 feet 

from the contact, with schist the granite is coarse and fine in alternating 

bands. . . . , - . -

Segregations are uncommon..- At. the Sanguinettl quarry (PI. II, No. 18) 

the grani,te is concentrically banded in a pear-shaped mass, 1 and 2 feet in 

its diameters. Biotitic-knots are, rare and small. One 1.5 by 0.5 inch was 

noted. .Possibly the. darker, more, biotitic, irregular roundish portions of 

the granite near, the schist contacts, at the. Marr . £ .Gordon and Jones dark 

quarries (pp. 130, 141) are of. the.nature^ of the segregations...

The rift as reported by foremen is everywhere vertical, and the grain in 

all but two quarries .is horizontal.. The course of the. rift about. Millstone Hill 

and 4n Williainstown .appears to range from N. 30° E. to N. 60° ,E., and on. 

Cobble Hill from N. 50°, E. .to N. -75,°- E.. .In the .group of quarries about the 

Boutwell and Bruce quarries and the adjoining ones in Williamstown the rift 

is N. 50°-60° E., but; near the top; of Millstone Hill (Duffee, Millstone) it is 

N. 30°-40° E. At the Capital and Barre quarries (PI. II, Nos. 29, 33) it is 

reported as ^varying in, different blocks. At the Anderson .quarrj (No. 8) it is 

reported as N. 60° E-, and the grain,. here; better than rift, as dipping 20° N.; 

but at the Jonegilight quarry,, only 1,500 feet,away, the rift is : reported as N. 

35° -E. and the grain as horizontal At the Pirie quarry, the grain is reported 

a$ dipping .35°. :N. ,,. ;> . . , ' '. . ': .

.P^gm.Oitite dikes are not abundant..; One at the Pir}e ;quarry is described 

on page-49.; those, at the Anderson .quarry,on page 85 (fig.,-10.), and those at 

the Bailey quarry on page 49./; .. . , . , ;

Aplite occurs in irregular veinlike masses in contact with schist inclusions 

at two quarries. Specimen D, XXIX, 14, a, from the Jones dark quarry, is 

of light medium bluish to greenish gray color and of very fine texture, with 

mica up to 0:05 inch, rtfe other minerals not dis'tinguisrxable-. In'thin-section 

it consists -bf1 ' microcline, kaolinized albite 'to 'oligbciase-albite,'- and -quartz 

with a little'biotite, some of it1 :chloritized, and'stifl less muscovite or bleached 

biotite. -It contains allanite and carbonate. Specimen 44, c, from the Bailey 

qua'rry, is of light medium purplish gray color and of porphyritic: texture. It
128 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

consists of light purplish-gray to milk-white feldspar, clear quartz, and black 

mica. The particles of the matrix are from 0.025 to 0.1 millimeter in diameter. 

The porphyritic crystals (mostly oligoclase-albite, some with zonally arranged 

quartz, rarely microcline) measure from 0.25 to 1 by 0.5 millimeter. Pyrite 

is accessory.

Quartz veins from 0.05 to 2 inches wide of pegmatitic origin are more 

abundant. One at the Milne quarry is described on page 51.

Basic dikes were noted at seven quarries. At three (Jones light, Capital, 

and Mclver & Matheson) the exposures may all belong to one dike, which would 

thus be half a mile long; and as two others (Barney and Walker quarries) 

are clearly the same dike, thus 800 feet long, only four dikes were actually 

observed. The long one is from 2 feet 6 inches to 9 feet thick, with a N. 40°-45° 

E. course and vertical. The other, from 1 to 2 feet thick, has a N. 35°-40° 

E. course. One at the Millstone quarry, up to 2 feet thick, has a N. 25° 

W. course and weathers spheroidally. One at the Bianchi quarry, on Cobble 

Hill, is 6 inches thick, with a N. 55° E. course. Two of these dikes were examined in thin section. The dike rock of the Jones light quarry is a darkgreenish diabase of very fine texture (labradorite, augite, magnetite, apatite 

needles, secondary calcite). Its augite is altered to a chlorite-like mineral giving the greenish color. The Millstone dike rock appears to be an altered camptonite of very dark gray color and porphyritic texture, with very fine matrix 

(plagioclase, micacized, kaolinized, and with calcite, magnetite in crystals, and 

skeleton crystals). The porphyritic crystals or masses appear to be hornblende more or less altered -to chlorite and calcite; one is replaced by quartz.

At three quarries the granite within 1 to 2 feet of these dikes is crossed by 

vertical subjoints 1 to 6 inches apart parallel to the dike wall; and the granite 

scales off along them. These subjoints are to be regarded as the effect either 

of the heat of the dike or of the strain which accompanied its intrusion.

A north-south compressive strain is reported at the Bruce and Wells-Lamson 

quarries, and an east-west one at the Canton quarry.

Rusty stain along sheet surfaces varies greatly in amount. In many 

quarries it does not exceed 6 inches in thickness; in others it reaches 12, 16, 

and 18, and in one place 24 inches, but that was confined to the upper sheets. 

Generally it is confined to the lower surfaces of sheets. On joint faces it is 

from 6 to 24 inches and abounds on headings.

In concluding this part of the subject attention is recalled to the evidence 

of minor mineral and structural changes brought out in this and the previous 

section. The rift and grain cracks in the quartz, the straining of the quartz 

as shown by its optical behavior, the bending of the twinning lamellae of 

the soda-lime feldspars, the formation of minute veins of secondary quartz, 

calcite, and epidote, the brecciation of feldspars and the formation of fibrous 

muscovite and of chlorite and of little veins of quartz and calcite in consequence of motion along joint planes, the formation of subjoints near basic 

dikes all these facts point to crustal movements of different dates, some 

probably preceding the sheet and joint structure, others subsequent to it.

QUARRIES.

The Boutwell quarry is about south of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. 

(See PI. II, No. 1.) Operator, Boutwell, Milne & Varnum Co., Montpelier.

The granite, chiefly "dark Barre" (but also some "dark medium" and 

"medium"), is a biptite granite of dark inclining to medium bluish-gray 

color and of fine, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch and 

mica to 0.1 inch. Its color, texture, constituents, and qualities correspond 

to those of the " dark " of the Bruce quarry, described on page 131.
VERMONT. 129

JO)

The quarry, opened about 1886, is. somewhat T-shaped, measuring about 

600 feet in a N. 80° E. direction by 60 feet north and south at the east end 

and 120 feet at the west end, with a 150-foot square extension on the north 

side, but only 150 feet from the west end. Its depth in 1907 was from 50 to 

100 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets are irregular, 4 to 30 feet thick, striking N. 30° 

E. and also east-west and dipping 10°, 20°, and 35° N. 30° W. and north. 

Joint, rift, and dike courses are given in figure 25.

Joints (A) dip 55°-70° S. 10° W., are spaced 5 to 50 feet, and form the north 

and south walls of the main part. They are mostly limonitic .or slickensided 

with a lustrous greenish coating, described on page 127. Joints (B) are vertical, discontinuous, only a few feet long, form small headings, and are coated 

with calcite and limonite to 0.25 inch. One at the southeast comer dips 60° N. 

40° W. (C) dips 10° S., exceptional, only a few feet long, with lustrous coating, as under (A). The rift is reported as vertical, and the grain as horizontal. 

Three large schist inclusions measure respectively 55 by 10 by over 6 feet, 

20 by 4 by 3 feet, and 10 

by 8 feet. The first has 

been described on page 64. 

. A minute vein (a) of muscovite and quartz dips 50° 

E. The granite parts along 

it. Vein (b) is scarcely 

0.05 inch.wide, but has a 

border of dark bluish green 

(chloritic) or brown (limonitic), 0.25 .inch wide on 

either side. (See further 

p. 74.) The " sap " is from 

8 to 12 inches thick on the 

lower surfaces of sheets 

and is conspicuous in the 

headings.

Product: As the stone is sold by the company in rough blocks, there are no 

records of the monuments made of its blocks. The monolithic Smith obelisk 

at Sharon, Vt, came from this quarry.

The Milne & Wylie quarry adjoins the- Bruce quarry on the south and 

lies about south of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See PL II, No. 3.) 

Operator, Boutwell, Milne & Varnum Co., Montpelier.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 11, a, b, c), "dark Barre," is a biptite 

granite of dark bluish-gray color, a trifle darker than that of the Bruce quarry, 

and of even-grained fine inclining to medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 

inch and mica to 0.12 inch. Its constituents are the same as those of the Bruce 

and Marr & Gordon quarry stone described on pages 130,131, but it contains considerable soda-lime feldspar, more or less kaolinized and micacized and with 

calcite. Its strong contrasts of shade between cut and polished faces also indicate the presence of an unusual amount of soda-lime feldspar for a biotite 

granite. It effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yields the

following results with a mesh of 0.2 inch and a total linear length of 66.6

inches: Feldspar, 65.522; quartz, 26.578; mica, 7.900. The average size of all

the particles obtained from the same measurements, adding 50 per cent to the

105709 23 10

FIGURE 25. Structure at Boutwell quarry, Barre, \7 t.
130 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

number of feldspar particles for the unseparated second feldspar, proves to be 

0.069 inch, that of the feldspar 0.074 inch, the quartz 0.079 inch, and the mica 

0.033 inch.

The polished face shows a little pyrite and less magnetite. The cut or hammered hard-way face is as light as the cut face of the Jones " light Barre," 

thus affording a very marked contrast with the polished face. The mineral 

contrasts are weak in the rough stone, but stronger on the polished face, white, 

black, bluish-gray, ajid smoke color being easily distinguished in it within a 

distance of 2 feet. The polish is fair.

The quarry, opened about 1887, was in 1907 about 400 feet from east to west 

by 200 feet across, but with a mass 100 by 50 feet projecting into the quarry 

from the east wall.-

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 30 feet thick, dip 20°-30° NW. Joints, one 

set only, strike nearly east, dip 60°-70° S., form the north and south walls and 

n heading which constitutes the projecting mass on the east wall. These joints,

being spaced 3 to 20 

feet, cut up the sheets. 

The Empire dark 

quarry is southwest 

of the Milne & Wylie 

quarry and about 

south-southwest 

of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre, 

just north of the 

Williamstown line. 

(See PI. II, No. 4.) 

Operator, Boutwell, 

Milne & Varnum Co., 

Montpelier.

The granite is like 

FIGURE 26. Structure on west wall of Empire dark quarry, that from the Bruce 

Barre, Vt. quarry, described on

page 131.

The quarry, opened about 1888, is about 375 feet in a N. 75° E. direction by 

200 feet across and in 1907 was from 75 to 120 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 18 feet thick, are somewhat irregular, dipping low, rarely 40°-45° N. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 65°-7Q* 

E., dip 65°-70° S. 15° E., spaced 4 to 25 feet, forms a heading on the north wall, 

a 10-foot one on the south wall, and a 25-foot one in the middle. This set exceptionally dips 65°-70° N. 15° W., forming with the rest a V-shaped heading 

in the center of the quarry, as shown in figure 26. The faces of (a) are coated 

with limonite and bordered with its stain. The other set (b) is exceptional, 

strike N. 15° W., vertical. The rift and grain are as at adjoining quarries. 

There are three schist inclusions on the east wall, the largest 20 by 10 feet.

The Marr & Gordon quarry is east-southeast of the Empire quarry and 

about south-southwest of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre, just north of the 

Williamstown line. (See PI. II, No. 5.) Operator, Boutwell, Milne & Varnum 

Co., Montpelier.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 8, b, bb, d), "dark Barre" (derrick 9),is a 

biotite granite of dark bluish-gray color and of even-grained fine texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are clear bluish to translucent and milk-white potash feldspar (orthoclase, kaolinized and micacized, with a little clear microcline), some 

of it with minutely intergrown soda-lime feldspar; light smoky quartz, with
VERMONT. 131

cavities in sheets and showing marked optical effects of strain; translucent to 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine) rarely with 

curved twinning lamellae, more or less altered; biotite (black mica), rarely 

chloritized; very little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, magnetite, zircon, titanite, apatite. Secondary: Calcite (in orthoclase), kaolin, one 

or two white micas, and chlorite.

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, a chemist of 

this Survey, finds that it contains 0.63 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in warm 

dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 1.12 per cent of 

CaC03 (calcium carbonate, calcite) ; the presence of this mineral is also shown 

by the microscope.

This granite is regarded by the firm as harder and darker than the " dark " 

from its other quarries. It resembles that of the Milne & Wylie quarry 

(p. 129) but when polished shows somewhat higher mineral contrasts. It takes 

a fair polish. The polished face shows some pyrite and magnetite.

At the west end of the quarry, near the contact of granite and schist, is a 

mass (so-called knot) of still darker granite of sufficient size for commercial 

use. This "very dark Barre " (specimen D, XXIX, 8, a) is a biotite granite 

of very dark bluish-gray color, much darker than the " dark " and as dark as 

"dark Quincy " (p. 321) and of fine inclining to medium, even-grained texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.2 inch and mica to 0.3 inch. Its constituents are the 

same as those of " dark Barre," specimen 8, b, etc., but the biotite is much 

more abundant. The second feldspar is oligoclase-albite. The stone effervesces 

with muriatic-acid test.

Rock structure: In the main opening the sheets are unusually irregular. At 

the east end they are 18 to 20 feet thick, but in the northwestern part for a depth 

of 80 feet there are none. In the small opening the sheets are more regtilar and 

from 4 to 14 feet thick. There is but one set of joints, strike N. 35° E. and vertical, forming a 20 to 25 foot heading on the northwest wall, also the northwest 

wall of the smaller opening, where it recurs at intervals of 3 to 10 feet. The 

heading in the main quarry branches off diagonally to the northwest, forming a 

band 20 to 30 feet wide, about halfway down the quarry. This unusual structure 

Indicates complex strains. At the top of the west end the granite is in contact 

with a quartz-biotite schist spangled with biotite scales. The two rocks are 

firmly welded together in places across the foliation of the schist. Near this 

schist the granite is much darker from more abundant and larger biotite 

scales. (See p. 25.) The outline of the darker stone is irregular. The rift 

is reported as vertical, with N. 55° E. course, and the grain as horizontal.

The Bruce quarry adjoins the Boutwell on the southwest and lies about 

south of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 2). Operator, 

Boutwell, Milne & Varnum Co., Montpelier.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 12, a), "dark Barre," is a biotite granite 

of dark inclining to medium bluish-gray color, and of even-grained fine texture, 

with feldspar up to 0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are translucent bluish-gray to milk-white potash feldspar (orthoclase, kaolinized and niicaci/ed, and a little clear microcline, one 

such orthoclase inclosing a fresh microcline) ; light smoky quartz, with cavities 

in sheets and with cracks parallel to them (the quartz shows optical effects of 

strain) ; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), more or less altered, 

rarely with bent twinning planes; biotite (black mica) ; and a little muscovite 

or bleached biotite. Accessory: Titanite, magnetite, pyrite. Secondary: Not 

a little calcite within the orthoclase, kaolin, one or two white micas. The 

stone effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.
132 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Its mineral contrasts are feeble owing to fineness of texture and the lightness 

of quartz. There is some contrast between the polished- and cut faces along 

the hard way.

The quarry, opened in 1890, measured in 1907 about 250 feet in a N. 80° E. 

direction by 125 feet across and 60 to 100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 4 to 10 feet thick, dip 5°-10° N. At the bottom 

is a mass 48 feet thick without sheets. There are three sets of joints (a), 

strike N. 80° E., with varying dip, forms the south wall and an 8-foot heading 

on the north wall, spacing 10-20 feet, but makes wedge-shaped masses owing 

to varying dip; (b), diagonal, "slide," strike N. 40° E., vertical, at northwest 

corner, with uneven slickensided face; (c), strike N. 20° W., dip 70° N. 70° 

E., one in center. The rift and grain are as at Boutwell quarry- A heavy 

north-south compressive strain is reported.

The Bailey quarry is southeast of the Milne & Wylie quarry and about 

south of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 6.) Idle but 

owned by the Boutwell Co.

The granite, "dark Barre," is a biotite granite of dark color and fine 

even-grained texture, similar to that of the Bruce and Milne & Wylie quarries.

The quarry in 1907 was about 135 by 75 feet and from 10 to 35 feet in 

depth.

Rock structure: The sheets are imperfectly developed. There are two sets of 

joints (a), strike N. 20° W., dip 70° N. 70° E., spaced 3 to 20 feet; (b), strike 

N. 60° E., dip 75° S. 30° E., spaced 2 to 6 feet, occurs on the west side only. 

There the granite is in contact with schist which has a foliation strike of N. 60° 

E., dip of 35° N. 30° W.; also one of N. 20° E., with vertical dip. At the 

northwest corner is a schist inclusion 26 by 5 feet, with a foliation striking 

N. 85° W. and a dip of 55° N. Dikes large and minute of pegmatite and aplite 

penetrate the schist capping and the inclusion rendering the relations intricate. Some of the details are given on page 87.

The Anderson quarry is about S. 10° E. of the top of Millstone Hill, in 

Barre, 1,800 feet northeast of the Williamstown line. (See PI. II, No. 8.) 

Abandoned but described on account of its great geologic interest.

The granite is a biotite granite of gray shade and fine even-grained texture.

The quarry, opened about 1892, measured in 1907 about 200 feet in a N. 

45° W. direction by 150 feet across and from 50 to 75 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The granite on the southeast and northeast sides 

and on the west of the south corner is capped by schist and slate 

up to 15 feet thick, with a cleavage and schistosity striking N. 30° E. 

and dipping 55° N. 40° W. The relations of granite and slate are shown in 

Figures 10 and 11, and the contact phenomena have been given on page 85. 

The sheets, 1 to 15 feet thick, dip 20° NW. There are three sets of joints 

(a), strike N. 50° W., dip 75° N. 50° E., occurs on the southwest side only; (b), 

strike N. 5° E., dip 70° E., spaced 6 to 15 feet; (c), strike N. 60° E., dip 75°, 

spaced 3, 15, and over 25 feet. The rift is reported as vertical, with N. 60° 

E. course; the grain as dipping with the sheets 20° NW., and as easier than 

the rift. A 1-foot pegmatite dike borders one of the schist masses, as shown 

in figure 10. At the east sido there are two schist inclusions, measuring 10 

by 2 to 3 feet and 6 by 2 feet, respectively, besides minor fragments.

The Stephen & Gerard quarry is 600 feet north of the Anderson quarry 

and south to south-southeast of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. . (See 

PI. II, No. 9.) Operator, Standard Granite Co., Barre.

The granite, reported by the firm as " medium Barre," is a biotite granite of 

gray shade and of even-grained, fine texture. For descriptions of " medium
VERMONT. 13$

FIGURE 27. General structure at Stephen & Gerrard quarry, Bnrre, Vt.

Barre " see page 124. The quarry in 1907 measured about 175 feet in a N. 30° 

E. direction by 150 feet across and from 20 to 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets are undeveloped in the west half of the quarry, 

but closely spaced joints there serve the quarrymen instead. Rift and joint 

courses are shown in figure 27 and the complex relations on the north wall in 

figure 28. There are four sets of joints (A), dip 35° S. 40° E., spaced 3 to 17 

feet; (B), vertical, spaced 

30, 40, to 90 feet, forms the 

south wall; (C), diagonal, 

dip 35° E., one only in east 

half; (D), vertical, forms 

heading on south wall. The 

granite is in contact on the 

west side and southeast corner with schist which has a 

foliation striking N. 30° B. 

and dipping 50° N. 60° W. 

Kusty stain is from 1 to 6 

inches thick on sheet and 

joint faces.

The Barre Granite & 

Quarry Co.'s quarry is about 

000 feet north of the Canton 

quarry, and in about that direction from the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. 

(See PI. II, No. 22.) Operators, E. L. Smith & Co., Barre.

The granite, " light Barre," is a biotite granite of light-gray shade like that 

previously described.

The quarry, opened in 1904, was estimated in 1907 as measuring about 300

feet in a N. 22° E. direction by 150 feet across, and in 1918 was 100 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, are normal and dip very low

southeast. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 15° E., vertical, dip 55°

E. on the southeast 

and northeast walls, 

spaced 10, 20, to 100 

feet; (b), strike N. 

30°-35° W., dip 75° 

N., 60° E. and vertlc a 1, discontinuous, 

one on and one near 

the south wall. The 

rift is reported as 

vertical with N. 30° 

E. course, and the 

grain as horizontal. 

The product is 

used for monuments

and buildings. The stone for the Vermont capitol at Montpelier came largely 

from this quarry.

The Jones Light quarry is about south-southeast of the top of Millstone 

Hill, in Barre. (See PI. II, Nos. 10 and 11.) Operator, Jones Bros. Co., Barre,, 

Vt., and Boston, Mass.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 27, b), "light Barre," is a biotite granite 

of light, very slightly bluish-gray color. Its position among the light granites 

is between that of North Jay, Maine, which is very light gray, and that of

28. Structure on north wall of Stephen & Gerrard 

quarry, Barre, Vt.
134 COMMERCIAL .GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Hallowell, Maine, which is light, inclining to medium. Its texture is even 

grained, fine inclining to medium, with feldspar up to 0.2 inch, rarely 0.3 inch, 

and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

clear colorless to bluish translucent and milk-white potash feldspar (orthoclase, 

kaolinized and micacized, with fresh microcline) ; very light smoky quartz 

with sheets of cavities with brightly polarizing rift or grain cracks parallel to 

or coinciding with them; translucent to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite, more or less altered), rarely with bent twinning planes; biotite 

(black mica), some of it chloritized; very little muscovite or bleached biotite. 

Accessory: Magnetite (very little) and zircon. Secondary: Calcite, usually in 

the orthoclase, kaolin, one or two white micas, and chlorite.

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, chemist, of 

this Survey, finds that it contains 0.49 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in warm 

dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.87 per cent of 

CaCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite), the presence of which is also shown in 

thin section.

The mineral contrasts are feeble, and so are those between cut and polished 

faces. The stone is used for rough, hammered, and carved monumental work.

The quarry consists of two openings. The main and older one in 1907 

measured over 550 feet in a N. 35° E. 

direction by 60 to 200 feet across, and 

in 1918 was 125 feet deep. A later one, 

300 feet N. 30° E. from the north end 

of the other, was about 200 feet square 

and 50 feet deep. '

Rock structure: Joint, rift, and dike 

courses are shown in figure 29. Sheet 

structure is hardly developed or very 

irregular. Traces of sheets dip 10° W. 

On account of this much horizontal 

channeling has to be done. There are 

six sets of joints (A), diagonal and 

vertical; (B), also vertical, spaced 20 

to 30, 50 feet and over; (C), dip 45° 

S. 45° E., discontinuous, occurs here 

and there in north part of quarry; (D),dip 45° W., undulating, occurs with (C) ; 

(El), in new opening, dip 45° N. 65° E., spaced 3 to 50 feet, forms a heading at 

northwest corner; (F), in new opening, dip steeply N. 58° E. There is a schist 

capping on the west wall of the main opening 10 to 20 feet and more thick, and 

on part of east wall, and also forming the east wall of new opening. Its foliation strikes N. 35° E. and dips steeply to 90°. The schist is said to continue indefinitely on the east and also to be at least 150 feet wide on the west 

Rift is vertical and good, the grain horizontal. A vertical diabase dike, 8 feet 

thick, crosses the north half of the main quarry diagonally, and also the schist 

capping. (See, further, p. 128.) Thirty feet below the granite surface is a 

schist inclusion 30 feet long and up to 3 feet thick, tapering.

The product is used for rough and hammered face and carved monuments. 

The following specimen monuments combine the product of this quarry with 

that of the firm's dark quarry described on page 141: Soldiers and sailors' monument, Angola, Ind.; Ohio and Iowa State soldiers' monuments, Chattanooga, 

Tenn.; Governor Curtin monument, Bellefonte, Pa.; State soldiers' monument, 

York, Pa.; Hearn monument, with monolithic spire 53 by 4 by 4 feet, Woodlawn, N. Y.; Rouse mausoleum, Winchester, Va.; Krueger mausoleum, Newark,

FIGURE 29. Structure at Jones 

quarry, Barre, Vt.

Light
VERMONT. 135

N. J.; Gary mausoleum, with roof stones of the " light," 35 by 9 feet 6 inches 

by 1 foot 6 inches each, Wheaton, 111.; Goodall monument, Sanford, Maine.

The Wetmore & Morse quarry, 1,007 feet above the city, lies in a saddle 

about south-southeast of the top of Millstone Hill and about 200 feet below it. 

(See PI. II, No. 14.) Operator, Wetmore & Morse Granite Co., Montpelier.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 19, b), "light Barre," is a biotite granite 

of light, medium, slightly bluish-gray color (darker than that of the Jones 

Light quarry and that of Hallowell, Maine, but lighter than "Concord granite") 

and of even-grained fine inclining to medium texture, with feldspar up to 

0.3 inch and mica not over 0.1 inch. Its constituents, qualities, etc., are 

identical with those of specimen 18, a, from the Smith Upper quarry described 

beyond. The quarry yields also some " medium."

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, chemist, 

of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.49 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in 

warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, indicating a content of 0.87 per cent of 

CaCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite); the presence of this mineral is also shown 

in thin section.

The quarry, opened about 1875, measured in 1907 about 610 feet in a N. 60° 

E. direction by 100 to 200 feet across and in 1917 had reached a depth of 

150 feet in some places and 100 feet in others.

Rock structure: The sheets are from 1 to 28 feet thick. The quarry cuts 

the axis of the hill so as to show the arching of the sheets on the northnorthwest wall. They are horizontal in the center at the top and dip 10° B. 

and W., but in the center at the bottom they dip 15° SSW., .showing the dome 

structure of the hill. There are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 60° E., 

vertical and steep S. 22° E., forms part of the south-southeast wall; (b), 

strike N. 82° E., dip almost 90°, forms part of the north-northwest wall; (c), 

strike N. 35° W., vertical, occurring only in the north half of the quarry, 

coated with chlorite and sericite; (d), strike N. 30° E., dip 45° N. 60° W., 

greenish, slickensided. The rift is reported as vertical with northeasterly 

course, and the grain as horizontal. Rusty stain is up to 2 feet thick on 

upper sheets, but disappears entirely below.

The stone of this company's quarries has gone into the following monuments: That to Admiral Schley in Arlington Cemetery, Washington; that to 

Andrew J. Frame at Waukesha, Wis.; and the Everitt mausoleum at Bennington, Vt.

The Smith Upper quarry, southwest of and below the last, is S. 32° W. 

of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 15.) Operators, E. L. 

Smith & Co., Barre.

The granite (specimen D, XIX, 18, a), "light Barre," is a biotite granite of 

light, medium, slightly bluish-gray color (darker than the " light" of the Jones 

quarry and that of Hallowell, Maine, which are light inclining to medium gray, 

but lighter than that of Corcord, N. H., which is medium gray) and of evendrained fine inclining to medium texture, with feldspar up to 0.3 inch and mica 

not over 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

clear colorless to translucent bluish and milk-white potash feldspar (orthoclase, 

Icaolinized and micacized, with a little fresh microcline); light smoky quartz with 

cavities in sheets with cracks parallel to or coinciding with them; translucent 

.to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite more or less altered), rarely 

with flexed twinning planes; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized and with 

opidote; a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, magnetite, 

titanite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Calcite, generally in the orthoclase, kaolin, 

one or two white micas, chlorite, and epidote. It effervesces slightly with 

muriatic-acid test.
136 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The mineral contrasts are feeble.

The quarry is very irregular in outline, measuring about 400 feet in a N. 30° 

E. direction by 200 feet across and about 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 10, rarely 20 feet thick, are horizontal at the 

north end but elsewhere bend over to the southwest 10° to 15°. Joint and 

rift courses of this and Duffee and Smith Lower quarries are combined in 

figure 30. There are two sets of joints (A), vertical, forming headings on the 

northwest and southeast walls; (B), dip 75° SW., spaced 10 to 30 feet and over. 

The rift is reported as vertical and grain as horizontal. Rusty stain 1 to IS 

inches thick, but little of it on the upper surfaces of sheets.

The product is monumental stone. Specimens from all the quarries of E. L. 

Smith & Co. are: Tuxbury exedra at Saco, Maine (see PL IV) ; pedestal of 

equestrian statue of St. Louis (erected by W. R. Hodges) and Lemp mausoleum, 

St. Louis, Mo.; Cluett obelisk, with 44-foot shaft, Hegeman mausoleum, Woodlawn Cemetery, Troy, N. Y.; Fleischmann mausoleum, Cincinnati; Kaufman 

mausoleum, Marquette, Mich. 

This company also furnished the stone for the Barre post office.

The Duffee quarry is westN northwest of and lower than

the Smith Upper quarry and 

southwest of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See 

PL II, No. 16.) Operators, 

E. L. Smith & Co., Barre.

The granite (specimen D, 

XXIX, 17, a), "medium 

Barre," is a biotite granite 

of medium bluish-gray color 

(a trifle darker than "Concord granite") and of evengrained fine texture with feldspars up to 0.2 inch and mica 

rarely to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are translucent bluish to milk-white potash feldspar (orthoclase, 

kaolinized and micacized, with a little fresh microcline) ; light smoky quartz 

with cavities in sheets and with cracks parallel to them, also showing optical 

effects of strain; translucent to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclasealbite, more or less altered), some of it with curving twining planes; biotite 

(black mica), some of it chloritized; a little muscovite or bleached biotite. 

There are microscopic veins of epidote, of quartz, and of calcite. Accessory: 

Allanite, zircon, probably also magnetite and pyrite, although not in section. 

Secondary: Calcite, usually in orthoclase, kaolin, one or two white micas, 

epidote, quartz, chlorite. The stone effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid 

test. The quarry produces some " dark " also.

The mineral contrasts are weaker than in the "dark" or in the "light" of 

the Jones or Smith Upper quarries, because of greater fineness of mica and 

more bluish cast of feldspar.

The quarry is estimated as about 400 feet east to west on one side and 300 on 

the other by 200 feet across and about 75 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 12 feet thick, are somewhat regular, dipping 

15° SW., with the rock surface. There are four sets of joints (see fig. 30) 

(A), dip 75° S. 60° E., forms a 15-foot head through the center of the 

quarry and is spaced 10 to 100 feet; (B) dip 60° N. 55° E., one only in

FIGURE 30. Structure at Smith Upper, Smith 

Lower, aaid Duffee quarries, Barre, Vt.
VERMONT. 137

southwest part; (C) dip 60° S. 40° E., one on south wall; (D) clip S. 43° W., 

one on southeast wall. The rift is reported as vertical and the grain as horizontal.

The Smith Lower quarry is west northwest of the Duffee quarry near 

the foot of Millstone Hill and S. 60° W. from its top, in Barre. (See PI. 

II, No. 17.) Operators, E. L. Smith & Co., Barre.

The granite, " medium Barre," is identical with that of the adjoining Duffee 

quarry described above. The quarry also yields some " dark."

The quarry is estimated as about 250 feet east to west by 200 feet across, 

and 150 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 15 feet thick, dip 20°-30° SW., but in the 

 lower part is a mass 58 feet thick without sheets. Joint and rift courses 

are shown in figure 30 (A), dip 80° S. 60° E., forms the east wall and a heading on the southwest wall, and recurs 20 feet south of the north wall; (B), dip 

50° NNW. (two of this set, 8 feet apart, are in the southeast corner) ; (C), 

dip 40° N. 55° E., one only, discontinuous, on northeast wall. Rift and grain 

as at adjacent quarries.

The Millstone quarry is N. 40° E. from the top of Millstone Hill and 200 

feet below it, or 1,000 feet above the city, in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 19.) 

Operators, E. L. Smith & Co., Barre.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 26, a), "coarse light Barre," is a biotite 

granite of light-gray shade, owing to more biotite a trifle darker than the 

" light" of Jones quarry, and of even-grained medium texture with feldspars 

up to 0.3 inch, exceptionally 0.4 inch, and mica to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless to milk-white potash 

feldspar (orthoclase, kaolinized and micacized, with a little fresh microcline, rarely inclosed by the orthoclase) ; light smoky quartz with cavities 

in sheets, with rift cracks parallel to them, also showing optical. effects of 

strain; whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine) more or 

less altered; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; a little muscovite 

or bleached biotite. Accessory: Titanite. Secondary: Calcite, generally within 

the orthoclase, kaolin, one or two micas, chlorite. The stone effervesces with 

cold muriatic-acid test.

Tliis is a light constructional granite.

In another opening a little north of the main one the stone (specimen 

D, XXIX, 26, b) " medium Barre," is a biotite granite of medium gray color 

and fine texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch, rarely 0.3 inch, and mica not 

over 0.1 inch. Its constituents are the same as in the coarser granite, except 

that the soda-lime feldspar is oligoclase and some of the orthoclase is fresh. 

The stone effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.

This is a monumental granite.

The main quarry, opened in 1902, measured in 1907 about 200 feet in a N. 

35° E. direction by 150 feet N. 25° W., and in 1917 was about 50 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets are regular, 6 inches to 7 feet thick, and dip 

gently northeast. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 25° W., vertical, 

forms the northeast wall and a heading 75 feet from the southwest wall; (b), 

strike N. 35° E., vertical and steep N. 55° W., one only, forming the north 

wall. Some of the joint faces are coated with muscovite scales. The rift is 

reported as vertical with N. 35°-40° E. course, and the grain as horizontal. 

For spaces 1 to 2 inches wide the granite has very little biotite, and the average 

size of feldspars is there greater. A basic dike, described on page 128, runs 

parallel to the north wall and a little back of it. It is 2 feet thick but tapers 

out at heading (a). Rusty stain does not exceed 1£ inches on sheet surfaces.
138 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The Barclay quarry is the S. 35° W. continuation of the large Jones Light 

quarry, as shown on Plate II, No. 12. Operator, Standard Granite Co., Barre.

The granite, " light Barre," is a biotite granite of light, slightly bluish-gray 

color and even-grained fine inclining to medium texture, identical in every 

respect with that of the Jones light quarry described on page 133, but the 

lower part of the quarry is said to have yielded " medium Barre " granite.

The quarry in 1907, 220 by 100 feet, was about 75 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 12 feet and over in thickness, dip 

20° N.W., but sheet structure terminates at a depth of 35 feet. Joints and rift 

are the same as in the Jones Light quarry. The granite is capped.1 by schist 

on the northwest side. The schist is spangled with minute crystals of biotite 

and with a few garnets.

The product is used for monuments and memorial chapels. Specimens are 

the Robert Burns statue and pedestal, Barre, shown in Plate V, A; First 

North Dakota soldiers' memorial, St. Paul, Minn.; Indian massacre memorial, 

Serena, 111.; Wade memorial chapel, Cleveland, Ohio; Hancock (canopy) 

memorial, San Francisco, Calif.; Doctor Kimball memorial, Concord, N. H.; 

General Thomas (shaft) memorial, Springfield, Ohio; Senator Dillon shaft, 

Davenport, Iowa.

The Sunnyside quarry is in line with the Barclay. It is operated by the 

Sunny side Granite Co., Barre.

The Wells-Lamson quarry is 640 feet above the city and about northeast 

of the top of Millstone Hill. (See PI. II, No. 24.) Operator, Wells-Lamson 

Quarry Co., Barre.

The granite, " light and medium Barre," is a biotite granite of light medium, 

slightly bluish-gray, or of medium bluish-gray color, and of even-grained fine 

inclining to medium or fine texture. It is reported as identical in quality 

with the " light" and " medium " of the Smith Upper and Duffee quarries described on pages 135, 136. The following result of a microscopic examination of 

" dark " granite from this quarry, made by Whitman Cross, of this Survey, was 

published in 1898: 68

" Messrs. Wells, Lamson & Co.'s dark granite is a fine, even-grained, typical 

granite containing two micas (biotite, muscovite), sometimes called granite 

proper. The constituents of importance are quartz, orthoclase, microcline, biotite, and muscovite. The first three occur in wholly irregular grains interlocking in a very complex manner. The micas are in small leaves between and penetrating the other minerals to some extent. Muscovite apparently occurs in two 

forms, one corresponding to the biotite, as seemingly primary, and the other in 

small flakes in the orthoclase, and clearly a secondary mineral. Accessory constituents are oligoclase, albite(?), titanite (sphene), and apatite. There is an 

almost total absence of magnetite or other iron ore. Biotite is slightly changed 

to green and probably yields chlorite in some samples. The orthoclase gives 

way to an aggregate of fine muscovite leaves, also varying much in different 

samples, no doubt. Both quartz and biotite show that the rock has endured 

considerable pressure, the former by the ' undulatory extinction' it exhibits, and 

the biotite by the curved and bent lamellae. The pressure did not extend to a 

crushing of the grains or any banded structure. In the feldspars is some calcite 

filling small cracks. On the basis of this examination I should estimate it at 

quartz 30 to 35 per cent, orthoclase 30 per cent, microcline 20 to 25 per cent. 

Much of the iron is present in the ferrous or unoxidized condition."

89 See U. S. Geol. Survey Nineteenth Ann. Kept., pt. 6, continued, p. 224, 1898.
VERMONT. 139

A chemical analysis of the " dark " from this quarry made by William 0. 

Day at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, published in the same place, is repeated here for reference.

Analysis of " dark Barre " granite.

Silica (Si02 )___________________________ 69.56 

Alumina ,(A12 03 )_________________________ 15.38 

Iron sesquioxide (Fe20s) ____________ _-____ 2.65 

Magnesia (MgO) _ _______________ Trace.

Lime (CaO)___________________________ 1.76 

Soda (Na2 0)____________________________ 5.38 

Potash (K,0)___________________________ 4.31 

Manganese (Mn)_____ __________°_________ Trace.

Loss on ignition, COS , and moisture_____>______ _ 1.02

100.06

Day also made the following physical determinations of " dark " and " medium " from this quarry: 70 Specific gravity, dark, 2.672; medium, 2.662; water 

absorbed, dark, 0.121 per cent; medium, 0.129 per cent; crushing strength, dark, 

16,719 to 19,957 pounds; medium, 14,968 to 17,856 pounds.

The quarry, opened about 1885, was estimated in 1907 as measuring about 

400 feet in a N. 25° W. direction by 300 feet across and from 50 to 60 feet in 

depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 15 feet thick, dip gently southeast 

and N. 65° E. On the west side the lenses are very short. There is one sharply 

curving " toenail" 10 feet high, intersecting the sheet structure. There are 

three sets of joints (a), strike N. 65°-70° E., dip 40°-60° N. 27° W., spaced 

25, 50, and 200 feet; (b), strike N. 30° E., vertical, forms a small heading on 

south edge only; (c), strike N. 45° E., vertical, forms a heading on the north 

wall and is spaced 200 feet and over. The rift is reported as vertical (probably N. 30° E.), and the grain as horizontal. A 12-inch band of darker 

granite strikes N. 70° E. and dips 60° N. 20° W., marking the direction of 

the flow. Schist crops- out close to the south wall and continues in that direction. A north-south compressive strain is reported.

The product is used for monuments and buildings.

The Consolidated quarry is 860 feet above the city and N. 75° E. from 

the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 26.) Operator, Wetmore 

& Morse Granite Co., Montpelier. Idle since 1920.

The granite, " light Barre," is a biotite granite of light medium, slightly 

bluish color like that of the Wetmore & Morse and Smith Upper quarries, and 

of even-grained fine inclining to medium texture. (See p. 135.)

The quarry was estimated in 1907 as measuring about 300 feet from north 

to south by as much across and in 1917 was from 75 to 100 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 15 feet thick, the thicker ones generally 5 

to 10 feet, in places irregular, dip 15° E. There are four sets of joints, as 

shown in figure 31 (A), dip 35° N. 40° W., one on the west wall, and a heading 

at the southeast corner; (B), dip 75° W., one at the southeast corner; (C), 

dip 50°-SO° N. 20° W., forms north and south walls and small heading 30 

feet west of the south wall; (D), dip 75° N. 60° E., one crosses the quarry 

from the northeast corner. The rift is reported as vertical and the grain 

as horizontal.

70 Idon\ pp. 225, 226.
140 COMMERCIAL GRANITES. OF NEW ENGLAND.

The Empire Light Granite quarry is about 800 feet east-southeast of the 

Milne quarry, on the north side of the southern road from Websterville to East 

Barre. (See PI. II, No. 36.) Owners, E. L. Smith & Co., Barre.

The granite, " light and medium Barre," is a biotite granite of light medium 

and medium, slightly bluish-gray color, and of even-grained fine inclining to 

medium texture. (See p. 124.)

The quarry, opened about 1889, was estimated in 1907 as about 375 by 200 

feet and from 10 to 50 feet deep. It was not operated in 1917.

Rock structure: The sheets are normal, 1 to 16 feet thick, dipping 10° SE. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 70° E., dip 53° S. 20° E., spaced 

10 to 50 feet and over; (b), strike northwest, dip 75° SW., discontinuous, 

spaced 100 feet and over. The rift is reported as vertical with N. 35° E. 

course, and the grain as horizontal.

The Milne quarry is on the south side of the southern road from Websterville to East Barre and 0.9 mile east-southeast of the top of Millstone Hill,

in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 34.) 

Operator, Boutwell, Milne & 

Yarnum Co., Moutpelier.

The granite, " light and medium Barre," is a biotite 

granite of light medium and 

medium bluish-gray color, and 

of even-grained fine inclining 

to medium texture. (See 

pp. 135-136.)

The quarry was estimated 

in 1907 as measuring about 

250 feet in a north-northwest 

direction by 250 feet across 

and from 55 to 70 feet in depth. 

Rock structure: The sheets, 

1 to 6 feet thick, are about 

horizontal or dip 20° E., but disappear 25 feet below the rock surface, where 

low-dipping joints are used by the quarrymen instead. There are four sets of 

joints, as shown in figure 32 (A), vertical, dip 20° and 40° N. 60° W., forms the 

east-southeast wall, spaced 3 to 150 feet, coated with coarse scales of muscovite; 

(B), dip 40° NW., discontinuous, spaced 15 to 150 feet; (C), dip 70° S. 15° ' 

E., spaced 2 to 20 feet and over, but stop 20 feet down; (D), dip 75° S., one 

only, at the south corner. The rift is reported as vertical with N. 35° E. 

course, and the grain as horizontal. There are veins of smoky quartz up .to 

2 inches thick, at intervals of about 3 feet, dipping 60°. Some with another 

strike are part pegmatite. The microscopic structure of this quartz has been 

described on page 51.

The Straiten quarry is about li miles east-southeast of the top of Millstone 

Hill, in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 37.) Operator, George Straiton Quarry Co., 

Barre.

The granite, " light and medium Barre," is a biotite granite of light medium 

and medium gray shade and of even-grained fine inclining to medium texture ' 

like that previously described.

The quarry, opened in 1905, measured in 1907 about 100 feet square and 

averaged 10 feet in depth.

FIGOKE 31. Structure at Consolidated 

Barre, Vt.

quarry,
VERMONT. 141

12L W.- E.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, vary from horizontal to a 

dip of 10° about south. There is but one set of joints; strike N. 65° E., dip 

55° S. 25° E., spacing 1 to 20 feet. The stain is up to 6 inches thick. 

The product is used for buildings and monuments.

The Jones Dark quarry is in Williamstown" (Orange County) but adjoins 

the Empire quarry in Barre. (See PI. II, No. 38.) Operator, Jones Bros. Co., 

Barre, Vt, and Boston, Mass.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 13, a), "dark Barre," is a biotite granite 

of dark bluish-gray color, a trifle darker than that of the Bruce quarry, and 

of even-grained fine inclining to medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 

inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents are identical with those of the 

Milne & Wylie quarry stone described on page 129. It effervesces with muriatic 

acid test. . -

The polished face shows pyrite and a little magnetite. The polish is fair. 

Its cut hard-way face is as light as that of the " light Barre," and thus in 

marked contrast to its polished face. Its mineral 

contrasts and qualities are 

identical with those of the 

Milne & Wylie quarry stone 

(p. 129), but its texture, particularly its mica, appears 

to be a little finer.

The quarry, opened about 

1886, was estimated in 1907 

as measuring about 300 feet 

in a N. 80° E. direction by 

250 feet across and in 1917 

was 125 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 

2 to 20 feet thick, are irregular and undulating. There 

is one mass 28 feet thick. There are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 80° 

E., vertical, forms headings on north and south walls, is spaced 5 to 30 feet, 

and hits rusty faces; (b), strike N. 15° W.f vertical, usually discontinuous 

vertically, spaced 10, 20, 30, and 200 feet; (c), strike east, dip 55° S., discontinuous, one only in southern part; (d), str.'ke N. 55°-55° E., dip 37° S. 37° E., forms 

a small heading north of the south wall. The rift is reported as vertical, with 

course of about N. 55° E., and the grain as horizontal. A schist inclusion in 

the west wall is 30 feet long with a foliation striking N. 50° E. There are also 

masses of darker granite of roundish outline up to 3 feet in diameter, like those 

in the Marr & Gordon quarry (p. 131). Rusty stain is up to 6 inches thick on 

sheet surfaces. .

The Pirie quarry is in Williamstown (Orange County), nearly 1£ miles 

south-southwest-of the top of Millstone Hill. (See PI. II, No. 40.) Operator, 

.Tiim't's K. Pirie estate, Barre.

 The granite, "dark Barre," is a biotite granite of dark, slightly bluish-gray 

color and of even-grained fine inclining to medium texture like that of the 

Barre quarries described on page 124.

The quarry, opened in 1882, was estimated in 1907 as measuring 350 feet in 

a northeasterly direction by 100 and 250 feet across, and from 30 to 100 feet 

in depth.

FIGUHE 32. Structure at Milne quarry, Barre, Vt.
142 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Rock structure: The sheets are normal, 1 to 12 feet thick, and dip 10°-30° 

NNW. Joint, rift, and dike courses are shown in figure 33. Joint set (A), dip 

60° S. 27° E., forms part of the west wall and a rusty heading across the center 

of quarry; (B), dip 55° S. 55° E., forms the east wall, spaced 1 to 20 and over 

50 feet, also very rusty; (C), dip 55° E., only three, spaced 10 feet; (D), about 

vertical, discontinuous, spaced 30 feet. The rift is reported as vertical, and 

the grain as dipping about 35° N. 30° W. A 3-foot 6-inch pegmatite dike 

dipping 65° S. 25° E. crosses the center of the quarry and sends out tapering 

branches up to a foot in length. (See, further, p. 49.) Stain up to a foot thick 

is mostly confined to the underside of sheets.

The AVildbur quarry is on the west side of Cobble Hill. 600 feet above the 

city and N. 35° E. from the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. Operators, Wildbur 

Bros. & Bessey, Barre. Idle since 1909.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 31, a), "light Barre," is a biotite granite 

of light medium gray shade (like Jones "light Barre") and of even-grained

fine inclining to medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 

inch and mica to 0.1 inch. 

The mica is finer and more 

abundant than in the stone 

of Wheaton quarry. Its constituents are identical with 

those of Jones "light Barre" 

described on page 133. A 

clear microcline incloses an 

altered orthoclase. The 

quart^ shows effects of strain 

and conspicuous rift cracks 

parallel to or coinciding with 

sheets of cavities. Some of 

these cracks polarize brightly 

and continue into the feldspars, where they are clearly filled with fibrous muscovite. The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry was estimated in* 1907 as measuring 100 feet east and west by 

75 feet across. It had a working face 80 feet high on the east.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, becoming thicker eastward, 

appear to belong to the outside of an arch or dome striking here N. 10°-20° 

W. and dipping 60° S. 75° W. One set of joints only strike N. 75° E., 

dip 70° S. 15° E., spaced 8 to 30 feet and over. The rift is reported as vertical 

with N. 75° E. course; and the grain as horizontal. 

The product is used for monuments and buildings. 

This quarry was idle in 1916.

The Barre Medium quarry is about 500 feet southeast of the Milne quarry.

(See PI. II, No. 35.) Operator, Barre Medium Granite Co., Barre. Idle in 1922.

The granite, " medium and light Barre," is a biotite granite of medium and

light medium bluish-gray color and even-grained fine inclining to medium

texture like that described on pages 135-136.

The quarry, opened in 1906, was estimated in 1907 as measuring 200 feet 

from north to south by 150 feet across and from 10 to 25 feet in depth.

Rock structure: Sheets 6 inches to 5 feet thick, increasing in thickness downward, dip low southeast. No joints had been found. The rift is reported as 

vertical with N. 60° E. course, and the grain as horizontal.

FIGURE 33. Structure at Pirie quarry, Williamstown, near Barre, Vt.
VERMONT. 143

The McDonald & Cutter quarry is east-northeast of the top of Millstone 

Hill, east of the main street of Websterville, in Barre. (See PL II, No. 27). 

Operator, Wetmore & Morse Granite Co., Barre.

The granite is mostly " light Barre " with some " medium." It is a biotite 

granite of light medium or medium, slightly bluish-gray color and of evengrained fine inclining to medium texture, like those described on pages 135-136.

The quarry was estimated in 1907 as measuring about 200 feet in a N. 20° 

W. direction by 175 feet across and from 65 to 110 feet deep.

Hock structure: The sheets, in places imperfectly developed1 , from 3 to 30 

feet thick, undulate horizontally. There are masses 40 feet thick without 

sheets. There are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 10-15° W., vertical, 

forms the east and west walls, spaced 10 to 30 feet; (b), strike N. 40°-45° E., 

vertical, spaced 1 to 30 feet; (c) forms an irregular rusty heading at the 

northeast end, strike N. 15° E. and dip 70° E., but undulating along the strike. 

" Stain " is up to 14 inches thick.

The Capital quarry is 750 feet south-southeast of the McDonald & Cutter 

quarry and southeast of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See PL II, No. 29.) 

Operator, Consolidated Quarry Co., Barre. Idle in 1921 and 1922.

For the granite, see under foregoing quarry. ,

The quarry was estimated in 1907 as measuring 150 feet in a northeast direction by 100 feet across and 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: This is a " boulder " quarry. The sheets, 6 inches to 4 feet 

thick but extending to a depth of only 20 feet, dip about 10° SE. There are 

three sets of joints (a), strike N. 65° E., dip 55° S. 25° E., spaced 3 to 10 

feet, on south side only; (b), strike N. 35° E., dip steep N. 55° W., discontinuous; (c), strike northwest, dip 70° NE. spaced 5 to 20 feet. A basic vertical 

dike, 2 to 6 feet thick, with northeast course, forms the northwest wall. It 

weathers spheroidally. The rift is reported as varying in different blocks.

The Canton quarry is about 450 feet east-northeast of the Millstone quarry 

and northeast of the top of Millstone Hill, in Barre. (See PL II, No. 21.) 

Operators, E. L. Smith & Co., Barre.

The granite, " medium and light Barre," is a biotite of medium and 

light bluish-gray color, like those already described.

The quarry was estimated in 1907 as measuring about 300 feet in a northeasterly direction by 200 feet across and from 35 to 60 feet in depth. 

. Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 14 feet thick, are normal and dip 10° N. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 37° W., dip 80° N. 53° E., forms 

the east wall and a heading on the west wall, spaced 5 to 50 feet; (b), strike 

N. 35° E., dip 55° S. 55° E., spaced 10 to 25 and 200 feet, slickensided in 

the direction of dip. The rift is reported as vertical with N. 42° E. course, 

and the grain as horiontal. A marked east-West compressive strain is shown 

in the faulting of channel cores.

CABOT.

The town of Cabot adjoins Woodbury on the southeast and Waldeu on the 

northeast.

Lambert's prospect is in the northern corner of the township, on the east 

side of a north-south ridge, roughly about 4 miles east of Robeson Mountain in 

Woodbury and about 700 feet above Woodbury Pond. (See fig. 20.) It is on 

the farm of Myron Goodnough, near the Walden line, on the South Walden road 

which leads from Cabot to Hardins. Operator, Cabot Granite Co. (Joseph Lambert), Hardwick.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 59, a), " dark gray," is a quartz monzonite of 

dark bluish-gray color (as dark as "dark Barre") and of even-grained fine
144 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

texture with feldspars and niica up to 0.2 inch, the latter rarely 0.3 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear quartz with fluidal and 

other cavities in sheets and with rift cracks, parallel to them filled with fibrous 

muscovite and extending into the feldspars; bluish-gray to milk-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase, but little kaolinized, micacized, and with calcite) ; 

bluish-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase, kaolinized and micacized, with microcline) ; greenish biotite (black mica) ; and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, titanite, apatite, and allanite (a crystal 0.33 by 0.09 

millimeter rimmed with epidote). Secondary: Calcite, epidote, kaolin, and 

one or two white micas. Effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.

This stone is a little finer textured than some of the " dark Barre " and more 

micaceous. Its mineral contrasts are more marked owing to its feldspars being 

whiter and less bluish and its quartz not smoky. It ought to hammer light.

The quarry was opened in 1904. A little work was done in 1907 and more 

later, but operations were suspended in 1915.

The sheets in 1907 were not yet sufficiently exposed to show their thickness. 

There are five sets of joints (a), strike N. 85° E., dip 75° N.; (b), strike 

N. 55° W., dip 55° S. 35° W.; (c), strike N. 65° E., dip 25° NNW.; (d), strike 

N. 5° E., vertical; (e), strike N. 60° E., dip 75° S. 30° E.

CALAIS.

The town of Calais adjoins Woodbury on the southwest. The quarries are at 

Adamant (formerly known as Sodom), in the west corner of the town and 6 

miles north-northeast of Montpelier. (See PI. I.) The quarries lie along a 

N. 30° E. line on the southeast side of a granite ridge. The granite is a biotite 

granite of medium and light-gray shade and fine texture. Of geologic interest 

is the absence of sheet structure and the occurrence of graphite in connection 

with the quartz veins. Schist crops out below the quarries at the village, with 

a foliation striking N. 20° E. and dipping 55° W.

The Patch quarry is within half a mile of Adamant, in Calais. Operator, 

Hughes Granite & Quarry Co., Montpelier.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 52, a) " medium gray," is a biotite granite 

of medium, slightly bluish-gray color and of even-grained medium texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.3 inch, rarely 0.4 inch, and mica up to 0.1 inch. The 

larger feldspars are crystallized about the quartz and mica up to 0.1 inch. 

The larger feldspars are crystallized about the quartz and mica and give the 

stone a somewhat porphyritic texture. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are clear colorless potash feldspar (orthoclase, somewhat kaolinized and micacized, with microcline) with inclusions of the other constituents; 

clear, colorless quartz with but few cavities; bluish to milk-white soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase-albite more or less altered) ; biotite (black mica) ; and 

a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Apatite and zircon. Secondary : Kaolin, calcite, and white mica. It effervesces slightly with muriatic 

acid test.

This granite is of the same shade as " medium Barre" but of less bluish 

and more greenish tinge. Its mineral contrasts are stronger and its texture a 

little coarser. Its large clear feldspars give brilliancy to its rough surface.

The quarry, opened about 1893, was estimated in 1907 as measuring 250 

feet from north to south by 150 feet across and from 20 to 50 feet in depth.

71 See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 589, pi. 1 (map of Vermont with township lines), 1915 ; 

also Vermont State Geologist Tenth Rept., pi. 38 (geologic sketch 'map of Calais, by 

C. H. Richardson), 1910.
VERMONT. 145

Rock structure: Sheet structure is absent. There are two sets of joints 

(a), utilized as sheets in quarrying, strike N. 85'° E., dip 50° S., spaced 2 

to 17 feet and slickensided in a southwest direction; (b), strike like (a), dip 

40° N. to 90°, spaced 20 to 75 feet, in places discontinuous. The rift is reported as striking N. 30° E. and dipping 50° N. 60° W., and the grain as 

striking and dipping as joints (a). The "sap" is 4 inches thick on joint 

faces. A small vein of smoky quartz parallel to joints (a) contains large 

limonite particles from the alteration of some iron mineral. The slickensided 

face of this vein is graphitic.

Transportation, by cart, 7 miles to Montpelier.

The product is used for monuments and finds a market chiefly in the Middle 

West.

The Lake Shore quarry is about 1,200 feet S. 32° W. from the Patch quarry, 

near Adamant, in Calais. It was abandoned before 1915.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 53, a) is a biotite granite of light inclining 

to medium gray shade and of even-grained fine texture, with feldspars up to 

0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 inch, rarely 0.2 inch. The larger feldspars are crystallized about the quartz and mica, giving the stone a somewhat porphyritic 

texture. Its constituents are identical with those of the Patch quarry stone, 

except that it contains secondary epidote in particles up to 0.5 millimeter. It 

effervesces slightly with cold dilute muriatic acid.

This stone is a trifle darker than "light Barre" and a trifle lighter than 

" medium Barre." Its shade corresponds to that of the granite of Hallowell, 

Maine, but its contrasts are stronger. Its other qualities are identical with 

those of the Patch quarry stone.

The quarry in 1907 was about 300 feet long in a N. 60° W. direction by 

250 feet across and from 20 to 40 feet deep.

Rock structure: Sheet structure is undeveloped. There are three sets of 

joints (a), utilized as sheets in quarrying, strike N. 80° E., dip 80° S., 

spaced 1 to 18 feet; (b), strike N. 75° E., dip 30° N. 15° W., only two on 

south wall; (c), strike N. 20° E., dip 30° W., discontinuous, at intervals of 

20 feet and over. The rift was reported as having a N. 20° E. course and 

dipping 70° N. 20° W.

WOODBTTRY.

TOPOGKAPHY.

The township of Woodbury lies northeast of Calais, northwest of Cabot, 

and southwest of Hardwick. Its principal quarries are on the southeast 

flank of Robeson Mountain, about a mile east of Woodbury Center and 3 

miles north-northeast of Woodbury (Sabins) Pond. (See maps, PI. I and 

fig. 20.) Robeson Mountain is a ridge about a mile long with an axis curving from N. 80° E. to S. 70° W. Its top is 300 to 400 feet above the hollows 

on either side and 930 feet above Woodbury Pond and about 1,100 feet above 

the railroad at Hardwick.. Granite has also been quarried on the ridges on 

the northwest and southeast sides of Buck Pond and on the rising ground 

at the head of the hollow on the north side of Robeson Mountain. This 

mass is continuous with the ridge southeast of Buck Pond. Granite has also 

been quarried on the north and northeast foot of Nichols Ledge, a bold cliff 

about 3 miles N. 70° E. from Robeson Mountain and 740 feet above Woodbury Pond, in the east corner of the town east of Nichols Pond. The granite 

mnsses referred to are all within an area of about 3* miles square, occupying 

the northeastern part of the town. 

105709 23 11
146 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

GENERAL GEOLOGY.

In the Vermont report of 1861 all the central and eastern part of the town 

appears as " calciferous mica schist." A belt of " clay slate " is represented 

as crossing the western part of the town in a north-northeastern direction.

In Richardson's sketch map of the geology of Woodbury 72 the granite 

mass in the northeastern part of the town is represented as bordered on three 

sides by Ordovician limestone, although the granite is in contact with schist 

at several points. This is explained on page 314 of his paper in these words: 

" On Robeson Mountain in Woodbury the original capping of the granite mass 

contained both calcareous and noncalcareous beds of sediments. The calcareous outcrops now predominate, and therefore no phyllites appear in this 

area on the areal map."

Schist crops out on the northwest side of Robeson Mountain with a bedding strike of N. 70° W. and vertical dip and north pitch; also on the westsouthwest side with a N. 67° E. strike and a dip of 55° N. 23° W. This would 

indicate a synclinal structure for the schist of this mountain. Schist also 

crops out near the quarries on the rising land north of the mountain, and 

appears also to cap the ridge east of the north end of Buck Pond. This is a 

muscovite-quartz-biotite schist with interbedded calcareous quartzite. The 

contact of schist and granite on Robeson Mountain has been described on 

page 88. The mountain appears to be an oblong dome in structure with an eastnortheast to west-southwest axis, the sheets of which, horizontal at the top, 

bend over to 15° to 20° on the northwest and southeast sides, although in 

places still covered by schist. Nichols Ledge is another conspicous eminence 

in the same granite mass. The granite of the top is coarsely porphyritic, with 

feldspars an inch long, but at its-north and northeast foot there is a granite of 

fine texture, possibly a dike in the coarser. The foliation of a schist mass back 

of the Webber quarry, between Buck Pond and Robeson Mountain, strikes 

N. 20° E.

" WOODBURY GRANITES."

The "Woodbury granites" are all biotite granites either of more or less 

bluish-gray color, ranging from dark to light, or else of a cream-tinted light 

gray, and ranging in texture from very fine to medium. They fall into four 

kinds, but, taking account of minor differences, into nine varieties. Most of 

them possess in large masses one general characteristic: They carry sparse 

more or less incomplete crystals up to an inch across of clear potash feldspar 

formed about the other minerals. There is some parallelism between these 

crystals, for seen at a certain angle the cleavage planes of adjoining crystals 

reflect the light alike.

The granites of Robeson Mountain range from light to medium gray in 

shade and from medium to fine, inclining to medium, porphyritic in texture. 

Their constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to translucent 

bluish potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), rarely somewhat kaolinized, 

its large particles with inclusions of biotite, quartz, and soda-lime feldspar; 

light to medium smoky quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile and fluidal and 

other cavities in sheets in two rectangular sets parallel to rift and grain cracks, 

respectively (some of the rift cracks extend into the feldspars and are filled 

with fibrous muscovite) ; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclasealbite), more or less kaolinized, micacized, and .with calcite and in places 

epidote; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; a little muscovite or

» Vermont State Geologist Ninth Kept., pi. 53, 1914.
VERMONT. 147

bleached biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, titanite, zircon, apatite, rutile. Secondary: 

Kaolin, a white mica, epidote, zoisite, calcite, limonite. Some of the feldspars 

are minutely intergrown with quartz in vermicular structure.

Two estimates of mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method average as 

follows: Feldspar, 64.35; quartz, 29.15; mica, 6.48.

One chemical test (p. 148) shows it to contain 0.16 per cent of CaO (lime), 

soluble in warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, indicating a content of 0.28 

per cent of CaCOa (lime carbonate, calcite).

The general differences between the three varieties of granite on Robeson 

Mountain are these: In the stone from the Fletcher quarry the feldspar and 

quartz areas are rather large and well defined by differences of shade. In the 

stone from the Woodbury Lower quarry the quartz areas are finer, fewer, and 

less smoky. In the " Bashaw" the texture is finer and contrasts weaker 

than in either of the others.

The dark gray of the Drenan (65, a) and Webber (67, a) openings is of 

dark bluish-gray color and fine texture, with feldspars to 0.2 inch and mica 

to 0.1 inch. Its composition is identical with that of the granite of Robeson 

Mountain, but its quartz is clear and its feldspar is albite to oligoclase-albite. 

Its general shade is like that of " dark Barre," but its texture is finer.

The stone from the Nichols Ledge quarry is of light inclining to medium 

bluish-gray color and of very fine to fine texture, with feldspar to 0.15 and 

mica to 0.1 inch, with a few larger porphyritic clear feldspars. This is lighter 

and finer than the last. Its quartz is clear with apatite needles, and its second 

feldspar is oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine.

The stone of the Imperial Blue quarry (specimen 69, a, of 1907) is of 

medium to dark bluish-gray color and of fine to medium texture.

Finally, there is the very light, slightly cream-colored constructional granite 

of the Vermont White quarry, very near locality 65 (specimen 66, a, of 1907), 

which is of medium texture and speckled with black mica. Its quartz is 

smoky.

The minor differences in these granites appear in the descriptions of the 

stone of each quarry.

GEOLOGY OF WOODBTJBY QTJABEIES.

The usual range in thickness of sheets is from 2 to 8 or 20 feet; the extremes are 1 to 40 feet. The double sheet structure at the Fletcher quarry 

lias already been described on page 36 and is shown in Plate VI, B. The 

secondary, nearly horizontal set is from 5 to 9 feet thick. It recurs in the lower 

part of the main quarry of the Woodbury Granite Co. There is a northeast to 

southwest compressive strain at the Fletcher quarry near the axis of the 

mountain, parting and extending the upper sheets.

The joints divide themselves into six sets (a), strike north to N. 10° E., 

with its complementary set (b), N. 85°-90Q E.; (c), strike N. 20°-30° E., with 

its complementary set (d), N. 50°-65° W.; (e), strike N. 200-30" W.,, with its 

complementary set (f), N. 60°-65° E. The spacing of these joints ranges 

from 2 to 200 feet but is mostly from 10 to 40 feet. Headings, 3 to 30 feet 

wide, of set (a) are spaced 30 to 50 feet on Robeson Mountain. The rift is reported as vertical with courses of N. 15°, 26°, 35°, and 60° E., and the grain 

as uniformly horizontal. At one quarry the rift has to be followed closely in 

winter, but the rock is reported as splitting with equal facility in any direction 

in summer.

Flow structure appoars with a dip of 50" SW. There is an irregular banding at one of the Drenan openings caused by unequal distribution of biotite.
148 COMMEECIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The schist capping is exposed at another of the Drenan openings, and the 

100-foot mass of schist at the back of the Webber quarry is either part of the 

same or a very large inclusion. The schist inclusions on Robeson Mountain, 

25 and 8 feet long, are referred to on page 150. A small light-greenish calcareous inclusion at the -Ainsworth quarry proves to be chiefly crystalline 

calcite with quartz particles under 0.1 millimeter, together with apatite and 

secondary epidote and zoisite, and has veinlets of epidote, quartz, and calcite. 

This appears to have originally been a quartzose marble, and its interest lies 

in its evidence of the presence of calcareous rocks here prior to the granite 

intrusion.

There are biotitic segregations up to 2 feet in diameter. Small pegmatite 

dikes at the Chase quarries, near Buck Pond, strike about north, and a 4-inch 

quartz vein on the northwest side of Robeson Mountain strikes N. 35°-40° E.

QUABBIES.

The Fletcher quarry is on Robeson Mountain near its west-southwest end 

and on its southeast side, in Woodbury. (See fig. 20.) Operator, E. R. 

Fletcher, Woodbury.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 56, a, c), "Woodbury gray," is a biotite 

granite of light-gray shade (between "light Barre" and the granite of Hallowell, Maine, and of medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica 

to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to 

translucent bluish potash feldspar (orthoclase, some of it minutely intergrown 

with plagioclase, also microcline), the larger particles with inclusions of biotite 

and soda-lime feldspar; medium smoky quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile 

and cavities in two sets of rectangular sheets, with rift and grain Cracks parallel 

to them; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) much kaolinized, 

somewhat micacized and epidotized, and with calcite; biotite (black mica) 

some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: 

Pyrite, titanite, zircon, apatite, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, 

epidote, zoisite, calcite, limonite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yields these 

results with a mesh of 0.5 inch and a total linear length of 46.5 inches: Feldspar, 63.11; quartz, 31.22; mica, 5.67. The average diameters of the particles 

by the same calculation are, feldspars (adding 20 per cent to number for 

plagioclase), 0.103 inch; quartz, 0.1 inch; rnica, 0.029 inch.

The stone effervesces very slightly with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, 

chemist, of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.16 per cent of CaO (lime) 

soluble in warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 

0.28 per cent of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate, calcite) ; the presence of this 

mineral is also shown by the microscope.

This is a brilliant granite with marked mineral contrasts. The quartz and 

feldspar areas are rather large and well defined. The polish is poor owing 

to the large size of the micas. The polished face shows some pyrite.

The quarry, opened about 1887, was estimated in 1907 as measuring 300 

feet in a northwesterly direction, or across the ridge, by 300 feet along it, 

and from 20 to 40 feet in depth. It was really the beginning of a cross section of the ridge and dome and this fact has greatly facilitated quarrying 

operations.

Rock structure: The complex sheet structure here has already been described (p. 36) and is shown in Plate VI, B. The primary sheets, 1 to 5 

feet thick, are horizontal at the northwest (upper) side of the quarry, but 

gradually bend over and dip 20°-30° SE. at the southeast (lower) side. The
VERMONT. 149

secondary set, 5 to 9 feet thick, dips 5 6-10° about west, across the other. There 

are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 30° E., vertical, spaced 6 to 30 feet 

and over; (b), strike N. 65° E., dip 75° N. 25° W., cine only, iu southeast 

part; (c), strike N. 20° W., vertical, spaced 2 to 15 feet. There are no 

headings. Some of the joint faces are greenish, probably from chlorite. The 

rift is reported as vertical with N. 35° E. course, and the grain as horizontal. 

Flow structure consists of biotitic streaks of irregular course. Biotitic knots 

from 1 to 3 inches across are reported. There is a marked northeast-southwest compressive strain in the upper part of the quarry, raising the sheets 

and even forming new sheet partings. There is no rusty stain whatever on 

sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by siding from the Hardwick & Woodbury Railroad, which 

brings the stone 8 miles to the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad. 

(See fig. 20.)

The product is used for monuments and buildings. Specimens: Base of the 

General Sherman monument, Washington, D. C.; Cranclall monument, Crandall 

Park, Glens Falls, N. Y.; Fort Meigs monument, Toledo, Ohio (100 feet high) ; 

Englewood National Bank, Chicago; Lincoln Savings Bank, Louisville, Ky.; 

Plymouth Building, Minneapolis, Minn.; Courthouse, Omaha, Nebr.; Old National Bank, Spokane, Wash.

The four Robesoii Mountain quarries of the Woodbury Granite Co. are 

roughly from 1,400 to 2,100 feet N. 80° E. from the Fletcher quarry, in Woodbury. (See fig. 20.) Operator, Woodbury Granite Co., Hardwick.

The granite is of two sorts. Specimen D, XXIX, 57, b, and c, " Woodbury 

gray," is a biotite granite of medium-gray shade and medium texture, with 

feldspar up to 0.3 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are clear colorless to translucent bluish potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase), somewhat kaolinized; light smoky quartz with 

hairlike crystals of rutile, and cavities in sheets with rift and grain cracks 

parallel to or coinciding with them; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

considerably kaolinized but not micacizecl or epidotized, in places intergrown 

with quartz in vermicular structure; biotite (black mica); and a little inuscovite or bleached1 biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, apatite, zircon, rutile. Secondary: 

Kaolin and zoisite. Carbonate and epidote were not detected. There Is no 

effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method with a mesh 

of 0.3 inch and a total linear length of 38.1 inches yielded these results: 

Feldspar, 65.6; quartz, 27.1; mica, 7.3. The average diameters of all the particles by the same calculation is 0.084 inch; that of the feldspar (adding 

20 per cent to the number for the plagioclase as in calculation for average 

diameter), is 0.105 inch; quartz, 0.074 inch; and mica, 0.025 inch.

This stone to the eye is like that of the Fletcher quarry, except that its 

quartz particles are a little finer, less numerous, and less smoky. Its mineral 

contrasts are therefore weaker. The polish is poor, owing to abundant and 

rather large mica scales, but the contrasts on the polished face are strong. 

It shows a little pyrite.

The second sort (specimens D, XXIX, 57, a and d), "Woodbury Bashaw," 

is a biotite granite of medium-gray shade (about like that of "Concord 

granite" but more bluish and with more contrasts), and of fine inclining to 

medium texture with feldspars up to 0.2 inch and. mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to translucent bluish, 

potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), light smoky quartz with cavities 

in two sets of rectangular sheets, with rift and grain cracks parallel to them, 

respectively, the rift cracks extending into the feldspars and filled with fibrous
150 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

muscovite; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), much micamed, with 

epidote and calcite. also intergrown with quartz in vermicular structure; 

biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, zircon crystals, apatite. Secondary: A white 

mica, epidote, calcite, chlorite. The stone effervesces slightly with muriaticacid test.

This is a monumental granite. Its mineral contrasts are not as marked 

either in the rough or the polish as in the " Woodbury gray." This is due 

to the feldspars being less kaolinized and thus less white. Its texture is 

finer and it polishes better. The polished face shows a little pyrite.

Three compression tests of the " Woodbury gray " made for the firm at the 

United States Arsenal at Watertown, Mass, (test No. 13261), yielded these 

results: First crack, 199,000, 181,000, 168,000 pounds; ultimate strength, 22,460, 

19,850, 20,110 pounds; average, 20,806 pounds per square inch.

The quarries consist of four openings. Their dimensions were estimated in 

1907. The main and western one, made in 1880, beginning at the south foot 

of the ridge, extends about 500 feet along it and 400 feet northward up its 

side, with an average depth of 50 feet. The " upper quarry," above and north

of the main one, is about 200 

feet square, and its north 

side is at the top of the 

hill nearly 300 feet Irgher 

than the lower edge of the 

main quarry. The third 

opening, about 800 feet east 

of the main one, made in 

1906, is about 325 by 70 feet 

and from 10 to 30 feet deep. 

This produces the finer monumental ' granite, " Woodbury 

Bashaw," described on page 

149. The fourth is a small 

opening made in 1907. about 

200 feet northwest of the 

third.

Rock structure: The sheets at the top of the upper quarry and of the ridge 

are horizontal. In the third opening they are from 2 to 13 feet thick, ill 

defined, and about horizontal. In the main quarry they range from 2 to 18 

feet, exceptionally 23 feet and even 40 feet, curving over from the horizontal 

to dip 20° S. They are intersected by a horizontal set. (See pp. 36,148.) The 

joint courses (shown in fig. 34) are four (A), dip 60°-£5° N. 35° E. (some 

vertical, discontinuous), spaced 20 to 40 and 200 feet; (B), vertical or dip 

75° W., discontinuous along the dip, in third opening spaced 10 to 30 feet, but 

in main quarry mostly headings, five in all, 3 to 30 feet wide and 30 to 50 

feet apart; (C), vertical, discontinuous, and much more open than (A) or 

(B); (D) is spaced 2 and 10 to 40 feet. The rift is reported as vertical, and 

the grain as horizontal but not marked. The rift has to be followed closely 

in winter, but In summer the rock splits almost any way. There are two 

schist inclusions in the main quarry, 25 by 10 feet and 8 feet by (?), also 

some smaller ones. Rusty stain is 1 to 18 inches thick on sheet surfaces.

The product Is used both for buildings and monuments. Specimen buildings: 

Pennsylvania capitol, Harrisburg; Cook County courthouse, Chicago; base 

course and 36 interior polished columns of Kentucky capitol, Frankfort; City 

hall, Cleveland, Ohio; Hotel Pontchartrain, Detroit, Mich.; Mercantile Trust

FJOUHE 34. Structure at Woodbury Granite Co.'s 

quarries, on Robeson Mountain, Woodbury, Vt.
VERMONT. 151

Co. Building, St. Louis, Mo.; main entrance, State capitol, Boise, Idaho; 

Mandell residence, Boston; post office, New Bedford, Mass. Specimen monuments: Navy memorial (obelisk), national military park, Vicksburg, Miss.; 

soldiers and sailors' monument, Bloomington, 111.; memorial archway, Port 

Huron, Mien.; clock on the Green, Waterbury, Conn.

The adaptability of this granite for carving is shown in Plate V, B. representing a panel on the Cook County courthouse.

The Imperial Blue quarry is on the southeast side of Buck Pond, in 

Woodbury Township. (See map, fig. 20, p. 109, quarry 69.) Operator, Woodbury Granite Co., Hardwick.

The granite (specimen D, XXXVIII, 21, a, b), "Imperial blue," is a biotite 

granite of medium to dark bluish-gray color and of fine to medium texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.2 inch (a few porphyritic ones to 0.4 inch) and mica 

to 0.1 inch.

Its constituent minerals, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline), with inclusions of plagioclase and biotite; 

slightly bluish quartz; slightly milky soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), 

somewhat kaolinized, with oriented inclusions of muscovite; biotite; muscovite. 

Secondary: Kaolin, carbonate. Slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a monumental granite of bluish-gray tint. It takes a fair polish.

The quarry, reopened since 1907, has a working face about 100 by 150 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 5 to 8 feet thick, dip low to the south. One 

set of joints strikes about east; another about north.

The stone is used entirely for monuments and thus far for tombstones and 

small memorials.

The Vermont White quarry lies about midway between Robeson Mountain and Buck Pond (see map, fig. 20, locality 65), in Woodbury Township. 

Operator, Woodbury Granite Co., Hardwick.

The granite (specimen D, XXXVIII, 22, a, b), "Vermont white," is a biotite 

granite of general very light cream color and of medium-coarse texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.3, exceptionally 0.5 inch and sparse black mica to 0.15 inch. 

Its quartz is pale smoky and feldspars clear to milk-white and light cream 

color. The mica on near view is in strong contrast to the other minerals. The 

granite is a brilliant rock in the rough; its polished face is noticeably darker. 

* Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless potash 

feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), pale smoky quartz with cavities in 

sheets; milk-white to cream-colored lime-soda feldspar (oligoclase), generally 

kaolinized, some of it altered to a white mica, some with oriented inclusions 

of muscovite; biotite; muscovite. Secondary: Kaolin, carbonate, a white mica. 

Some effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

Rock structure: The quarry face is about 500 by 200 feet. Richardson 73 

mentions inclusions of limestone and schist up to 30 by 15 feet, also a dike 

of amygdaloidal basalt with a zone of closely cleft granite beside It, the 

structure having probably resulted from the intrusion. (See further p. 58.)

The product is used chiefly for buildings. Specimens: Northwestern Mutual 

Life Insurance Building,74 Milwaukee, Wis.; Museum of Fine Arts, Minneapolis, 

Minn.; soldiers and sailors' memorial, Wichita, Kans.; Bridgeport Trust 

Building, Bridgeport, Conn.

The Ainsworth quarry is on the northeast foot of Robeson Mountain, in 

Woodbury, about 1,000 feet northeast of the railroad. (See fig. 20.) Operator, Andrew A. Ainsworth, Hardwick. Quarry abandoned.

"Vermont State Geologist Ninth Kept., pp. 323, 324, pi. 67, A, 1914. 

74 This edifice has 10 Corinthian columns of this granite, five stories high.
152 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The granite is a biotite granite similar to that of the main quarry of the 

Woodbury Granite Co. (p. 149).

Rock structure: The sheets are from 15 to 20 feet thick. There are very 

dark gray knots up to 2 feet by 1 foot, with half-inch porphyritic feldspars, 

much fine biotite, and not a little pyrite. A small inclusion of fine-grained 

quartzose marble was noticed on page 148.

The Drenan quarries are in Woodbury, on the rising land north of the 

east end of Robeson Mountain, about 150 feet above the north spur of the 

Hardwick & Woodbury Railroad. (See fig. 20.) They are not in operation.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 65, a, 1907), is a biotite granite of dark 

bluish-gray color and fine texture, with feldspar up to 0.2 inch and roica to 

0.1 inch, but with some large clear sparse porphyritic feldspars formed about 

the other minerals. As nfany of these have their cleavage parallel, the rough 

rock face seen at a certain angle has a brilliant sheen. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are clear colorless to translucent bluish potash 

feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), slightly kaolinized, with inclusions of 

biotite, quartz, and soda-lime feldspar; clear colorless quartz with cavities 

in sheets; bluish milk-white soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), 

kaolinized and micacized, also with calcite; biotite (black mica); and a 

little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, apatite, zircon. Secondary : Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, zoisite. Effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

This is a monumental granite of the same color as " dark Barre " but of finer 

texture. It is darker than any of the granites of Robeson Mountain.

The Webber quarries are in Woodbury, still farther north of Robeson 

Mountain, on a mass continuous with that on the southeast side of Buck Pond. 

(See fig. 20.) They are not in operation.

The granite of the main opening (specimen D, XXIX, 68, a, 1907) is a 

biotite granite of light bluish-gray color and of medium inclining to fine texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica to 0.15 inch. It is slightly more bluish 

and finer textured than the gray of the main quarry of the Woodbury Granite 

Co. and lighter in shade than their " Bashaw " and a trifle darker than " light 

Barre." Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to 

translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), slightly 

kaolinized, with inclusions of biotite, quartz, and soda-lime feldspar; light 

smoky quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile and cavities in sheets; milk-white 

soda-lima feldspar (oligoclase-albite), kaolinized and micacized and with 

calcite, with rims radially intergrown with quartz; biotite (black mica), .some 

of it chloritized; a little muscovite pr bleached biotite. Accessory, magnetite, 

rutile. Secondary, kaolin, a white mica, calcite, chlorite, epidote. Scarcely 

any effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The stone of an opening made in 1907 (specimen D, XXIX, 67, a) is a biotite 

granite of dark bluish-gray color and of fine texture, with feldspar up to 0.2 

inch and mica to 0.1 inch, and with sparse clear porphyritic feldspars up to 0.3 

inch, with inclusions of quartz and mica. This granite, as to its constituents, Is 

identical with that of the Drenan quarry (specimen 65, a) described above, and 

it has the same peculiar sheen. Its soda-lime feldspar is oligoclase-albite. It 

effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

The Nichols Ledge Carter quarry, no longer operated, is at the northwest 

foot of Nichols Ledge in the east corner of the town of Woodbury. (See fig. 20.)

The granite (specimen D, XIX, 61, b) is a biotite granite of light inclining 

to medium bluish-gray color and of fine to very fine texture, with feldspars up 

to 0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 inch, also with larger porphyritic clear feldspars 

formed about the other minerals. It is finer textured than the stone of the new
VERMONT. 153

Drenau and Webber openings (p. 152) and of lighter shade. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless potash feldspar 

(orthoclase and inicrocline) ; clear quartz with apatite needles and some cavities in sheets; bluish to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclaseandesiue), but little kaolinized; olive-colored biotite (black mica) ; and a little 

nmscovite or bleached biotite. Some of the feldspar is minutely intergrown 

with quartz. Accessory: Titanite, apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, epidote, calcite. 

No effervescence with muriatic-acid test. 

The sheets are up to 2 feet thick. There are some biotite knots.

WINDHAM COUNTY. 

DUMMERSTON.

The Dumiuerston granite area lies o£ miles north-northwest of Brattleboro 

and is shown on the State geologic map of 1861 as surrounded by " calciferous 

mica schist," with a belt of " clay slate " east of it along the Connecticut. The 

quarries and prospects are in the southern part of the town, on the sides of 

Black Mountain, and also half a mile south-southwest of it. (See PI. I.) Black 

Mountain, as shown on the United States Geological Survey's topographic map 

of the Brattleboro quadrangle, is on the east side of West River, 4 miles west of 

Connecticut River. This is a roundish granite mass, probably of dome structure, a square mile in area, 919 feet above West River and 1,269 feet above sea 

level. The sheets on its southwest side dip 30° to 40° about west, and in its 

northwestern part, about 350 feet above the river, 30° N. 30° W., A mass of 

sheets, about 35 feet thick at the foot of the mountain, does not appear to be 

normally related either in the thickness of its sheets or in their attitude to the 

sheets above it. These thin sheets may be of more recent origin than the others 

or may be separated from them by a fault. The effect of compressive strain 

upon sheets in part of this quarry has been referred to on page 30 and illustrated in Plate VI, A.

The granites of Dummerston are quartz monzonites of very light gray and 

light bluish-gray shade and of even-grained medium or medium inclining to 

fine texture.

The Black Mountain quarry is at the southwest foot of Black Mountain, 

three-quarters of a mile south-southeast of the village of West Dummerston, 

in Dummerston, and 5 miles north-northwest of Brattleboro. Operator, 

Presbrey-Leland Quarries (Inc.), 681 Fifth Avenue, New York.

The granite, of two sorts, chiefly "Dummerston white" (specimen D. 

XXIX, 90, b), is a quartz monzonite of very light gray shade, speckled with 

bronze-colored mica (muscovite and biotite), and of even-grained medium 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are clear to pale smoky quartz, showing 

effect of strain, with hairlike crystals of rutile and a few fluidal cavities in 

sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-albite), some 

of it with flexed twinning planes, kaolinized and micacized; clear potash feldspar (microcline and othoclase) ; muscovite and less biotite, apparently intergrown and bent or twisted with fibrous muscovite stringers extending out 

from them into and between the other particles. Accessory: Apatite, rutile. 

Secondary: Kaolin, white micas, epidote, zoisite, calcite. There are crush 

borders about the quartz and feldspar particles.

This stone effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, 

chemist, of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.07 of CaO (lime) soluble in 

warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.125
154 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

per cent of (JiiCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite) ; the presence of this mineral 

is also shown by the microscope.

A compression test, made on a 4-iuch cube at the United States Arsenal at 

Watertown, Mass., in 1905, showed the first crack at 308,000 pounds, and an 

ultimate compressive strength of 27,810 pounds to the square inch.

This is a building granite of medium grain and very light shade, between 

that of North Jay, Maine, and that of Bethel, Vt, in whiteness.

The other granite (specimen D, XXIX, 90, a), "dark blue," is a quartz 

monzonite of light inclining to medium bluish-gray color and of even-grained 

fine inclining to medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch and mica to 

0.1 inch. Its constituents are identical with those of the "white" (specimen 

90, b), but its oligoclase-albite is bluish and less altered, and its mica is nearly 

all muscovite. It shows less calcite in thin section and does not effervesce 

with muriatic-acid test.

This is a monumental granite of light bluish-gray tint and without mineral 

contrasts.

The quarry, opened about 1877, was estimated in 1907 as measuring about 

1,200 feet in a N. 20° W. direction along the base of the mountain, by 200 

feet across and from 15 to 50 feet deep. It was reopened in 1921.

Rock structure: The sheets for a thickness of 25 to 35 feet above the road 

level and for a length of 100 feet are 6 inches to 2 feet thick and horizontal 

or slightly inclined west. Below the road level they measure up to 14 feet in 

thickness and dip 20° W., although horizontal for short spaces. Above this 

thin-sheeted mass they dip 30°-40° W. and are considerably thicker. At the 

north end of the quarry compressive strain forms new thin sheets and parts 

them. (See p. 30.) There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 15° E., vertical, spaced 7 to 30 feet; (b), strike N. 20° W., dip 80° N. 70° E., only one, at 

the south end. Flow structure strikes N. 22° E. and dips 80° N. 68° W. The 

rift is reported as vertical with N. 15° E. course and the grain as horizontal. 

Both are good. The gneissic structure is parallel to the " hard way." Pegmatite dikes from 0.25 to 3 inches thick, with large light bluish-gray unstriated 

feldspars, strike N. 10° E. The light-bluish granite occupies 350 feet of the 

north end of the quarry, the rest of it being " white." Knots are rare and up 

to 6 inches across. Rusty stain, up to 3 inches wide on the upper sheets, is 

generally absent from the lower ones.

The product is used for buildings, monuments, and street work. Specimens: 

Post office at Troy, N. Y.; Diamond Bank, Pittsburgh, Pa.; McFadden Building, Chicago, 111.; Royal Baking Powder Building and Plaza Hotel, New York 

City.

The Clark quarries are east of West Dummerston village, on the northwest 

side of Black Mountain. Operators, James Clark & Son, West Dummerston. 

Idle in 1921 and 1922.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 91, a) from the lower quary is a quartz 

monzonite of very light gray shade, with conspicuous black mica, and of evengrained medium inclining to fine texture, with feldspars up to 0.25 and 0.3 inch 

and mica to 0.15 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

light smoky quartz showing effect of strain, and with some cavities in sheets; 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), kaolinized, micacized, and 

with calcite, also intergrown with quartz in vermicular structure; clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline and othoclase), with inclusions of the other 

feldspar and mica; biotite (black mica) ; muscovite or bleached biotite.

This differs from the " white " of the Black Mountain quarry in that the 

biotite is more prominent and the fibrous muscovite is absent.

The stone from the upper quarry appears to be exactly like the " white " of 

the Black Mountain quarry (p. 153).
VERMONT. 155

The lower opening is about 150 feet above the river bank, and the upper about 

330 feet. Both are small.

Rock structure: The sheets of the upper opening are from 6 inches to 2 feet 

6 inches thick; those of the lower 10 to 12 feet. They strike N. 60° E. and 

clip 30° N. 30° W.

The Bailey prospects are on the west side of West River about a mile 

south-southwest of the Black Mountain quarry, in Dummerston. Owner, 

David J. Bailey, R. D., Brattleboro. Idle in 1921.

The granite from an opening about 200 feet above the road to Brattleboro is 

a quartz monzonite of light-gray shade and medium inclining to tine evengrained texture, with feldspars up to 0.25 inch and mica mostly under 0.05 inch 

and more thickly disseminated than in the " white " of the Black Mountain 

quarry. Its constituents are the same as in that stone, but the quartz is more 

smoky, the mica mostly biotite. The fibrous muscovite and crush borders are 

lacking.

This stone is of slightly finer texture and, owing to the smokiness of its 

quartz and the distribution and amount of its biotite, of slightly darker shade 

than the " white." It is lighter than " light Barre."

The opening represented by this specimen measured in 1907 200 by 15 feet, 

with a working face of 10 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, up to 8 feet thick, dip 20°-25° N. 35° W. A 

granite ledge a little north-northwest of this quarry is crossed by a* dike of 

fine granite, 30 feet wide, with a N. 10° W. course and dip of 50° W. It is of 

medium bluish-gray color and of very fine even-grained texture, with feldspar 

and mica up to 0.05 inch. In thin section its particles range from 0.074 to 

1.1 millimeters in diameter. It is a quartz monzonite'of similar composition 

to that of West Dummerston. Its mica is chiefly biotite. Feldspar and quartz 

are intergrown and have crush borders. The soda-lime feldspar is bluish gray 

and scarcely altered.

This fine granite, although probably harder than ordinary granites, may be 

found of economic value.

WINDSOR COUNTY. 

BETHEL.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL GEOLOGY.

The State map of 1861 represented a small granite area in the east corner 

of the town of Bethel, surrounded by " calciferous mica schist," with a northsouth belt of " clay slate" a little west of it. This granite is on Christian 

Hill, an elongated mass rising about 350 feet above the adjacent hollows, 

about 2 miles north of Bethel village and east of White River. Its general 

position is shown on the map (fig. 35).

The granite exposure is reported as at least half a mile long from north to. 

south. Its width at the quarries is about 550 feet, with a border of finer less 

whitish granite on either side about 40 feet wide. The entire width between 

the schist on the east and west is not far from 625 feet, but there is said to 

be another narrower belt of granite several hundred feet east of the main one 

protruding through the schist. The mica schist immediately west of the granite 

strikes N. 10° W. and dips 57° E.; that east of the granite (a garnetiferous 

mica slate), with 12-inch calcareous beds, strikes north to N. 5° E. and is 

vertical. The mica schist, in places chloritic, north, of and near Bethel, strikes 

X. 10°-15 8 W. and is vertical. While the main granite mass, from its lateral 

zones of finer granite, would appear to be a truncated arch or dome, its sheet 

structure all dips east, from 15° to 45° on the east and 30° on the west. The
156 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

vertical north-south flow structure with its alined discoid nodules of muscovite 

has been described on page 60, and the details of the contact of granit<- and 

schist are given on page 84 and shown in figures 8 and 9.

" BETHEL GRANITE."

The following description is based on specimens, rough and polished, and thin 

sections from both the Woodbury and Ellis quarries, which are but a few feet 

apart in one mass of contemporaneous origin and of identical composition and 

texture.

10 Miles

FIGURE 35. Map of Bethel, Randolph, and Rochester, Vt. From Beers's Atlas. 3, Woodbury quarry; 4, Ellis quarry; 90, Liberty Hill quarry; 100, Beedle's prospect.

The granite of Bethel (specimens D, XXIX, 3, n, p, and 4, a, b), "Bethel 

White," is a quarta monzonite of slightly bluish milk-white color, with grayish 

spots up to 0.3 inch, and of coarse inclining to medium texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.4 and 0.5 inch and mica to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are clear colorless or rarely bluish quartz, with hairlike 

crystals of rutile, and with fluidal and other cavities in sheets, with rift 

cracks parallel thereto; bluish milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

slightly kaolinized and micacized; clear potash feldspar (orthoclase, slightly 

kaollnized, with very little microcline); muscovite (white mica) ; and very 

little biotite (black mica). Accessory: Apatite, titanite, zircon, and rutile.
VERMONT. 157

No magnetite or pyrite was detected. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, 

epidote, zoisite in some abundance, and very little calcite.

The stone does not effervesce with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, chemist, of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.07 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in 

dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.125 per cent 

of CaCOa (calcium carbonate), which is very slight.

A chemical analysis made for the former owners of the Ellis quarry by 

Charles F. McKenna, of New York, in 1903, is given here for reference.

Analysis of "Bethel granite."

Silica (Si02 )___________________________ 77.52

Alumina (Al20a)_________________________ 16.78

Iron oxide (FeO)_________ ____________ .84

Magnesia (MgO) _______ ____________ . 32

Lime (CaO)___________________________ 2.56

Soda (NaaO)_ .________ ____ ____ 1.21

Potash (KaO) _____1___ _ _ ______ .62

Loss on ignition ___ _____ ________ . 33

100.18

Three compression tests (No. 13261) made at the United States arsenal at 

Watertown, Mass., yielded these results (direction of rift in blocks not stated: 

First crack, 287,000, 301,000, 272,000 pounds; ultimate strength, 33,120, 34,350, 

81,990; average, 33,153 pounds per square inch.

The stone is regarded as relatively hard by workmen. Its grade of whiteness is shown by these comparisons: The " white " of North Jay Maine, is, 

technically, very light gray. iThe "white" of West Dummerston is a trifle 

lighter, that of Randolph (p. 118) lighter yet, and that of Bethel still lighter, 

strictly white mottled with gray. Its white is more blue than that of ordinary Vermont white marble but is closely allied to its blue variety, though not 

its bluish gray. Owing probably to the abundance of its soda-lime feldspar, 

its hammered face is considerably whiter than its rough face, and 

the hammering also diminishes the prominence of the gray micaceous spots. 

It takes a high polish, but the effect is to make the mica spots more conspicuous than they are even on the rough face. The polished specimens handled 

by the writer do not show any pyrite or magnetite. Plate VII, A, representing a carved eagle, shows how the whiteness of the stone has overcome 

the effect of the coarseness of its texture. Although this granite is remarkably free from iron, its recent use in large edifices shows that extreme care 

should be exercised in handling it to prevent its absorbing rusty water, cement 

water, or other discoloring liquids.

Leonard P. Kinnicutt, of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in December, 

1908, made the following determinations of absorption in " Bethel" and other 

trrunites. by W. F. Hillebrand's method, for Norcross Bros. Co., of Worcester, 

Mags.:

Water absorbed by 100 pounds of 'various granites.

° Pound:

" Bethel granite "________ _ __ 0. 470

"New Westerly," Milford, N. H__^_______________ .420

Hallowell, Maine_____________________ _ . 405

Concord, N. H_____________________________ .371

Westerly, It. I___________.______________ __ . 340

Milford, Mass_____________________ ______ . 340

Barre, Vt _____________ ____ ______ .294
158 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

QUARRIES.

The Ellis quarry is on the east side of Christian Hill, about 2 miles north 

of Bethel village, in Bethel Township. (See fig. 35.) Operator, Woodbury 

Granite Co., Hardwick. Idle in 1922. 

The granite has been described above.

The quarry, permanently opened in 1902 but in a small way many years 

earlier and abandoned, was estimated In 1907 as being about 1,000 feet long 

from north to south, and for the southern three-fifths of its length 150 feet 

wide, but for the remainder 400 feet wide. Its depth was 5 to 40 feet, averaging about 15 feet. Its west edge is about 80 feet higher than its east edge.

Rock structure: The sheets. 6 inches to 12 feet thick but mostly 1 to 2 feet, 

strike N. 10° W. and on the west side of the north end dip 30° E. but on the 

east side 15° E. For some not apparent reason the sheets thicken more rapidly 

at the east side and south end than in any other part of this or the adjoining 

quarry. Joint, grain, and flow courses of this and the Woodbury quarry are 

shown in figure 36. Joint set (A) is vertical, forms a heading at north end, 

recurs at two intervals of 80 feet; (B) is diagonal to the quarry and vertical, one

only, about the middle of the 

side, but discontinuous. 

Compressive strain affects 

east-west channels more than 

north-south ones. Flow structure, marked at the east side 

and south end, consists of 

micaceous (muscovite) 

streaks up to 0.5 inch wide 

;md sheets of discoid nodules 

of muscovite, also of a 

branching mass, 12 inches 

thick, largely mica, and is 

vertical with north course. 

(For details see p. 60 and PI. 

Ill, A.) The rift is reported 

as horizontal and the grain as 

vertical, with N. 17° E. course, thus intersecting the flow structure at an acute 

»ngle. A few pegmatite dikes, up to 5 inches thick, have an east-west course. 

A quartz vein up to. 1.5 inches wide strikes N. 80° W. and dips 65° S. 10° W. 

Some minute muscovite and quartz veins strike N. 30°-35° W. and dip 60° S. 

58° W. There is one light-gray knot 10 by 8 by 2 inches; also an inclusion, 

21 by 12 by 5 inches, of fine-grained syenite gneiss consisting of orthoclase, 

biotite, epidote, and a little oligoclase, with titanite and leucoxene but with little 

or no quartz. There is no rusty stain on sheet surfaces. The relations of the 

coarse white granite to the fine light buff-gray granite and the contact of the 

latter with the schist have been described on page 84 and shown in figures 

8 and 9.

The Woodbury quarry is 50 feet north of the Ellis quarry, on the east side 

and top of Christian Hill, about 2 miles north of Bethel village, in Bethel Township. (See fig: 35.) Operator, AVoodbury Granite Co., Hardwick. Idle in 1922. 

The granite has been described on page 156.

The quarry, opened in 1902, was estimated in 1907 as measuring about 500

feet from north to south by 200 feet across and from 5 to 30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 8 feet thick, are normal, dipping

about 1510 E. At a small opening about 300 feet north of the main one and

FIGURE 36. Structure at Ellis aud Woodbury quarries, Bethel, Vt.
VERMONT. 159

on the east side of the highest part of the hill the sheets dip 45° E. There 

are two sets of joints (courses shown in fig. 34) (A), vertical, forms a 10- 

foot heading on the south wall between this and the Ellis quarry; (B), also 

vertical, is discontinuous si ml spaced 10 to 40 feet. An east-west compressive 

strain is reported by the foreman. The rift is reported as dipping less than 

15° E., and the grain as vertical, with nearly east-west course. Very few 

of the discoid micaceous nodules referred to on page 60 occur. About 40 

feet of fine buff-gray granite with schist farther east correspond to the same 

rocks on the west side of Ellis quarry. There is no rusty stain on sheet surfaces except near the heading.

The product of both quarries is used for buildings and monuments. Specimens : Capitol of Wisconsin at Madison; American Bank Note Building, New 

York (PI. VII, A, represents a carving of this granite over the entrance); 

Theodore N. Vail residence, Morristown, N. J.; Mary Ann Brown Memorial 

Library, Providence, R. I.; State library and city hall, Hartford, Conn.; the 

post office, Union Station, and first and second stories New National Museum, 

Washington, D. C.; Franklin Savings Bank, Greenfield, Mass.; Congdon residence, Duluth, Minn.; Eddy Memorial, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, 

Mass.; Swope Memorial, Swope Park, Kansas City, Mo.

ROCHESTER.

The Liberty Hill quarry is 3 miles south of Rochester village (the west 

terminal of the White River Valley Railroad), on the Rochester-Pittsfield 

town line. The outcrop extends into the town of Pittsfield, in Rutland 

County. (See fig. 35.) Operator, Liberty Hill Granite Corporation, Rochester. 

Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 99, a, b) is a quartz monzonite of slightly 

greenish-white color with conspicuous brilliant muscovite spots up to 0.5 inch 

across and of coarse texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch. These mica spots, 

being collections of mica scales, have a peculiar sheen. As they are not over 

0.04 inch thick and lie with their flat sides roughly parallel, the rock has a 

somewhat gueissoid texture. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are milk-white to slightly greenish soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclasealbite), somewhat kaolinized and with thickly disseminated white mica scales 

up to 0.15 millimeter long and not a few plates of calcite; clear colorless to 

pale-bluish quartz, rarely with hairlike crystals of rutile, and with fluidal 

and other cavities in two rectangular sets of sheets, one set with many more 

cavities than the other; muscovite (white mica) in large flakes and aggregates. Orthoclase may be present in small amount but was not detected. 

There is no microcline.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yields these 

results with a mesh of 0.5 inch, total linear length of 35.5 inches, and on 

face at right angles to gneissoid structure: Feldspar, 62.1; quartz, 29.6; 

muscovite, 8.3. The average diameter of all the particles obtained from 

the same measurements proves to be 0.34 inch; that of feldspar, 0.194 inch; 

quartz, 0.106 inch; and mica, 0.538 inch.

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. W. T. Schaller, chemist, 

of this Survey, finds that it contains 1.38 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in 

warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 2.46 per 

cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite) ; the presence of this mineral is 

also shown in thin section.

This is a building granite of extremely light greenish-gray color, with striking contrasts produced by large mica spots, the brilliancy of which on the 

fresh rift face is almost metallic. Whether its somewhat gneissoid texture
160 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

and its content of nearly 2.5 per cent of lime carbonate are serious obstacles 

to its use for building can be determined only by compression tests and by continued exposure to the weather.

In 1909 the corporation was filling a contract for the base course for the 

gymnasium of Dartmouth College at Hanover, N. H.

Although the outcrop is 3 miles from Rochester station, its distance from 

the nearest point on the railroad is only about a mile, and a siding is reported 

to have been constructed.

PLYMOUTH.

The State geologic map of 1861 shows a small granite area in the township 

of Plymouth. (See PI. 1). Albert D. Hager 75 found the locality by tracing 

glacial boulders, and described its geologic relations in these words:

"We have seen but one case in the State where granite is found in the 

talcose schist formation, and it is a small outcrop about 60 rods [990 feet] 

in length and in the widest part not more than 10 rods [165 feet] in width, 

situated in the northern ^part of Plymouth. * * * The outcrop is evidently a protruded mass forced up through the schist rock. The strata of 

the schist are parted, and the intervening space filled with granite. At the 

south end of the outcrop the exact limit of the granite can be seen, the slate 

being parted and appearing above and^ below the granite. The strike of the 

schist over the granite is N. 10° W. with a dip from 40° to 50° E. The dip of 

the schist below the granite is a little less than that above. * * * Fragments of schist occur in the granite. These fragments are the same as the 

rock in which the granite is found. The edges and corners of the fragments 

are not worn, but appear to have become embedded in the matrix of granite 

when the latter was in a plastic state; but from this mass there are several 

offshoots or spurs running off at right angles across the strata of schist, as 

shown in the dikes in the cut and filling fissures that appear to have been made 

at the time the granite was erupted. These spurs, some five or six in number, 

vary in thickness from 1 to 10 inches."

The writer made a brief visit to this locality in June, 1916. It is about 

2 miles N. 7° E. of Plymouth (Church), between the 1,500 and-1,600 foot 

levels as shown on the United States Geological Survey's topographic map 

of the Woodstock quadrangle, on the south side of Morrison Hill. It is 

reached by a small road running northwestward from the Pinney Hollow road 

at a point If miles north-northeast of Plymouth or 4£ miles southwest of 

Bridgewater. The outcrop is five-eighths of a mile from the main road.

The hillside has become thickly wooded since Hager's visit, and a talus 

hides part of the outcrop, so that only approximate measurements were practicable in the time at the writer's disposal. The length of the granite lens 

from northwest to southeast is not less than 450 feet, its width is 150 to 200 

feet, and the height exposed on the hillside about 40 feet. The sheets, 3 to 5 

and even 10 feet thick, strike N. 25° W. and dip 50° S. 65° W. Sericite 

schist, abounding in quartz lenses and presumably of Cambrian age, crops 

out northeast of and above the granite with a strike of N. 50° W. and a 

dip of 50° N. 40' E.70 Southeast of the granite the schist strikes N. 40° W.

75 Hitchcock, C. II. and E. jr., and Hager, A. D., Report on the geology of Vermont, 

vol. 2, pp. 740, 741, 18G1.

70 The strike of N. 10° W. given by Ilager represents the normal westerly extreme of 

the strike of the Cambrian schist of the region.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

.-). OKUir.ULAR GRANITE FROM KLLIS QUARRY, 

BETHEL, VT.

The nodules ore mninly Muscovite, generally corrugated, 

and lie with their major axes in the plane of flow structure.

B. MICA SC
r. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

CARVED EXKDRA OF Llf.IIT BARRE GRAN

cl Kin-ics of K. I,. Suiilli \ C.i>., llnrrr. Vl. Kr.'i-lcil ill S
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

,!. STATUE OF ROREKT BIIHXS AT HARRE, VT. 

Li-rht Burrc granite frci.n BiirclHy ([iiiirry.

B. CAHV

Flanking ent
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE VI

A. BLACK MOUNTAIN QUARRY, WEST DUMMERSTON, VT., SHOWING 

THIN SHEETS OF GRANITE FORMED SINCE THE OPENING OF THE 

QUARRY HY NORTH-SOUTH COMPRESSIVE STRAIN.

Hammer about 30 inches long; head 6 inches long.

B. DOURLE SHEET STRUCTURE AT FLETCHER QUARRY, RORKSON 

MOUNTAIN, WOODBURY, VT., LOOKING SOUTHWEST.

One set of sheets curves southeastward; another set, intersecting the first, dips 5°-10°

S. 70° W.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 73S PLATE VII

X. CARVING OF COARSK WHITE QUAKTZ MONZONITE FROM 

BETHEL, VT.

Over entrance to American Bunk Note Co.'s building. New York City.

n. MONUMENT OF DARK-GREEN HORNBLENDE-AUGITE GRANITE . 

(SYENITE) FROM MOUNT ASCUTNEY, VT.

Showing contrast between polished (black) and hammered (white, but really light firuy) 

surfaces. Sixe about 5 feet 8 inches by 2 feet 6 inches.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. CONTACT OF GRANITE (QUARTZ MONZONITE) WITH 

GRANITE GNEISS AT MILFORD GRANITE CO.'S ABANDONED QUARRY, MILFORD, N. H., LOOKING WESTNORTHWEST.

Showing pegmatite dikes in gneiss and sheet;slruclure in both rocks but not connected.

K. QUARTZ 

Cut by small 

base dike p
VERMONT. 161

and dips 40° N. 50° E. On the northeast the granite is in contact with the 

overlying schist and a small dike of fine-grained granite (probably aplite) 

projects from the granite into the schist a few feet. The lower southwestern 

contact is covered by talus in which some quarrying has been done.

The granite (specimens D, XXXVII, 145, a-d), "Plymouth white," is a 

quartz rnonzonite of fine granitic texture (grade 3) with feldspars under 0.5 

centimeter (0.2 inch). The feldspars are milk-white, exceptionally remotely 

pinkish, and become more white on continued exposure. The quartz is very 

faintly smoke-colored, and the mica mostly very light. There are some discoid 

nodules of mica up to 0.75 inch in diameter, the granite be.ing thus in places 

slightly orbicular like that of Bethel. (See p. 60.)

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase-albite), somewhat kaolinized and micacized (many of the mica 

scales, being oriented, are presumably interpositions), with some epidote and 

calcite; quartz with rutile needles and fluidal cavities with vacuoles; potash 

feldspar, generally clear (microcline and orthoclase, some of the latter minutely 

intergrown with plagioclase) ; rnuscovite; and epidote. Some of the grains of 

oligoclase-albite are intergrown with microcline. Accessory, apatite and rutile. 

Secondary, kaolin, epidote, a white mica, and calcite.

In 1895 a small Episcopal chapel of this granite was erected in the Ottaquechee Valley, in Sherburne Township. The blocks were not squared. 

After 20 years of exposure the stone showed no signs of discoloration and at a 

little distance appeared like white marble.

Although the areal exposure of this granite is small its depth is, of course, 

unlimited, but its workable thickness below should be tested. Core-drilling 

through the schist 100 feet back from its boundary with the granite would also 

determine whether the schist covering may not at some points be sufficiently thin 

to warrant quarrying through it, and the available granite area may thus be 

really larger than the exposed surface of the lens.

The distance of the " Plymouth granite " to the nearest railroad, which is at 

Woodstock, is 13 miles by road, and the drop is to the 700-foot level, or about 

850 feet.

The economic possibilities of this granite lie mainly on the very great rarity 

of really white granite in the United States.

WINDSOR. 

TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL GEOLOGY.

The State map of 1861 shows a granite area in the southern parts of Windsor 

and West Windsor and the northern part of Weathersfield. The geology of this 

area has been made known by R. A. Daly " in an elaborate report already cited. 

His map (PL VII) shows that Mount Ascutney, which lies about 5 miles southwest of Windsor village and rises 2,800 feet above the Connecticut and 3,100 

feet above sea level, consists mainly of a mass, about 2$ miles square, of 

greenish hornblende-augite granite (syenite) intrusive in schists, which crop 

out along its base, and also containing inclusions of the schist. But adjoining 

this syenite on the west is an area of still older gneisses, which are intruded by 

a mass of gabbro and diorite about 2 by 1$ miles in area. That this intrusion 

is older than that of the syenite is shown by the fact that dikes of the syenite 

penetrate it. The syenite of Mount Ascutney was itself in turn intruded by a

"U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 209, 1903. 

105709 23 12
162 COMMERCIAL GRANITES jOF NEW ENGLAND.

very irregular mass of biotite granite characterized by abundant dark segregations (knots) and covering about a square mile. This granite was formerly 

quarried, and monuments of it can be seen in the Windsor cemetery.

" WINDSOR GRANITE."

\

"Windsor granite,"_^Ascutney green" (syenite, nordmarkite phase of Daly, 

specimens D, XXIX, 88, a, 89, a-d) is a hornblende-augite granite which when 

first quarried is of dark bluish-gray color but after very brief exposure becomes 

dark olive-green. Its texture is medium to coarse, with feldspars up to 0.3 and 

0.5.inch and black silicates to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, as made out from the study of four thin sections, two from each 

quarry, are dark olive-green potash feldspar (orthoclase), minutely or obscurely 

intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (certainly oligoclase in two of the slides), 

with cleavage planes stained with limonite; dark smoky quartz with cavities 

(apparently without vacuoles, some of them of quartz crystal form) in streaks 

and sheets and crossed by intersecting cracks filled with limonite stain; green 

hornblende; augite, associated with or inclosed by the hornblende; biotite in 

very small quantity, in three slides none. Accessory: Titanite, magnetite or 

ilmenite, zircon, apatite, and allanite. Secondary: Limonite and white mica in 

the feldspar. .

The cause of the change in the color of the feldspar and thus of the granite 

upon exposure has already been referred to (p. 76). It does not effervesce 

with muriatic-acid test. It is very hard and has a metallic ring under the 

hammer. It is brilliant in the rough from the cleavage faces of the large feldspars. Their shade is so dark that the black silicates appear only on close 

inspection. Owing to its extremely small content of mica it takes a very high 

polish, quite as high as that of the granite of Quincy. Its polished face is much, 

darker than its rough face, but the hammered or cut face, being of medium 

greenish gray, is much lighter than either, so that lettering or carving stands 

out boldly on the polished face. (See PI. VII, B.) It is best adapted for 

internal decorative use.

The following analysis was made by W. F. Hillebrand:

Analysis of " Windsor" hornblen'de-augite granite (syenite).

Silica (SiO2 ) ___________________________ 65,43

Alumina (A12O3 )___________________________ 16,11 

Ferric oxide (Fe2O3 )___________________ 1.151 

Ferrous oxide (FeO) ____________________ 2.85]

Magnesia (MgO) _________________-___ .40

Lime (CaO)____________________________ 1.49

Soda (Na2O)___________________________ 5.00

Potash (K2O) ___________________________ 5.97

Water (H2O) above 110° C___________________ .39

Water (H2O) below 110° C__________________ . 19

Titanium dioxide (Ti02 )________________________ .50

Zirconium dioxide (Zr02 )_____ __ _ .11

(Phosphoric oxide) (P2O3 )__________ ___ _ .13

Chlorine (01) ________________________ .05

Fluorine (F)_____________ _ ___ _ .08

78 U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 209, p. 59, 1903.
VERMONT. 163

Iron disulphide, pyrite (FeSO_________________ 0.07 

Barium oxide (BaO)_______________________ .03 

Manganese oxide (MnO) __________________ .23 

Strontium oxide (SrO)_____________________ Trace. 

Lithium oxide (LLO)___________________Strong trace.

100.18 

0=F, Cl______________..______________ .04

100.14

Total sulphur (S)__________________________ .036 

Specific gravity___________________________ 2. 659

QTJARKIES.

The Mower quarry is on the west side of Mount Ascutney nearly ]£ miles 

south of Brownsville and 580 feet above it, in West Windsor. (See map, PI. I.) 

Operator, Ascutney Mountain Granite Co., Windsor. Quarry abandoned.

The granite, already described, has received the trade name of "bronze vein 

green."

The opening, made in 1906. was in 1907 about 50 feet square and averaged 10 

feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 10 feet thick, are horizontal or dip 5° W. There 

are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 85° E., vertical, spaced 2 to 38 feet; 

(b), strike N. 30° Ev dip 75° S. 60° W., one forming the east wall; (c), strike 

N. 55° W., dip 65° N. 35° E., one forming the south wall. The rift is reported 

as vertical with N. 85° E. course, and the grain as horizontal. There is a black 

bronzy streak dipping 45° E., possibly of the black silicate, and showing the 

direction of flow. Light rusty-brown and cream-colored discoloration is 0.5 inch 

thick on the joint faces. In thin section some of the iimonite stain of this rim 

proceeds clearly from particles of magnetite (or ilmenite), augite, and allanite.

The product is used mainly for dies, wainscoting, and indoor columns. Specimens: The two monolithic sarcophagi in the McKinley mausoleum at Canton, 

Ohio. When finished these measured 8 feet 10 inches by 4 feet 4 inches by 2 

feet 6f inches. The covers measured 9 feet 4$ inches by 4 feet 8| inches by 1 

foot 3J inches. The monument (PI. VII, B) shows the contrast between cut and 

polished faces,, the black representing what is a dark olive-green and the white 

what is a medium greenish gray.

The Norcross quarry is on the north side of Mount Ascutney on the 1,350- 

foot level, about 950 feet above Windsor village, a little over a mile east-southeast of Brownsville, in Windsor. (See PI. I.) Operator, Norcross Bros. Co., 

Worcester, Mass. This quarry has been operated only occasionally and is now 

abandoned.

The granite has been described on page 162.

The quarry is about 200 feet from east to west by 40 feet across and has a 

working face 60 feet high on the south, with a rugged cliff above it, making a 

total face of 80 to 90 feet above the quarry bottom and road.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2, to 10 feet thick, are horizontal or clip 10° N. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 75° to 80° E., vertical, spaced 2 

to 10 feet-; (b), strike N. 5° W., vertical, spaced 5 to 30 feet, with a heading 

10 feet wide through the center of the quarry. The splitting has been done in 

the direction of (a), which is the rift direction at the Mower quarry and presumably here also. There are many dark streaks. A 4-foot dike crosses the 

quarry parallel to and within heading (b). This appears to be also a horn-
164 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

blende-biotite granite. It is of medium greenish-gray color and of medium inclining to fine texture, with feldspars mostly under 0.2 inch, rarely 0.4 inch, 

and black silicates mostly under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are greenish medium-gray potash feldspar with obscurely Intergrown soda-lime feldspar, kaolinized; smoky quartz, more of it than in the adjacent granite; finely striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) ; hornblende ; a little biotite. Accessory: Magnetite or ilmenite, titanite, and allanite. 

Secondary: Kaolin.

The sheet surfaces, chiefly owing to the kaolinization of the feldspar, are discolored to a medium, slightly greenish gray, and the joint faces are similarly 

discolored but have a limonitic border. The discoloration is from 1 to 1.5 

inches thick.

Transportation by cart to rail at Windsor.

The product has been used for monumental and decorative purposes. Specimens: Sixteen polished columns (24 feet 9i inches by 3 feet 7 inches) in Columbia University Library, New York; monument to General G6mez in Cuba; 

a die in the Benuington monument; 34 large columns in the Bank of Montreal; 

columns and die of W. C. T. U. fountain, Orange, Mass.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

DISTRIBUTION OF GRANITE-QUARRYING CENTERS.

Plate I shows the location of the granite-quarrying centers and 

of the isolated quarries in New Hampshire.

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS OP NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANITES.

In view of the transition from the older views as to the origin of 

granite to the more matured views of to-day and also the substitution 

of more exhaustive methods of geologic exploration for the necessarily more cursory methods of the past, it does not seem advisable 

to undertake to transcribe here an outline of the complex and uncertain geologic relations of New Hampshire granites from geologic 

literature. Instead of that, a summary of the geologic observations 

made at all the quarries of each quarrying center or district will be 

given. These facts will ultimately fit into the final geologic mapping 

and history of the State, whatever these may prove to be.

THE QUARRIES, THEIR GRANITE AND FINISHED PRODUCT.

OARROLL COUNTY. 

CONWAY.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The Conway .quarries are near North Conway, some of them on the 

east and west sides of the Saco Valley. The Redstone quarries, on the 

east, are at the south foot of a series of summits ranging from 1,550 to 2,375 

feet above sea level (Black Cap, Middle Mountain, and Rattlesnake Mountain), 

known collectively as the Green Hills; and the White Mountain quarry on the 

west, is on a 765-foot lenticular granite mass lying about 2 miles S. 25°-45°
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 165

E. of the granite domes known as White Horse and Cathedral ledges. Also 

belonging to this group of quarries is the Pletcher quarry, in the town of 

Madison, which adjoins Conway on the south. This quarry lies southeast of 

Moat Mountain and about 2$ miles southwest of Conway Corners. (See 

fig. 37.)

GEOLOGY OF THE QUARRIES.

The geologic feature of general interest in Conway granites is their marked 

rift and grain and the manifest relation of these to the sheets of microscopic 

cavities, as shown in figure 1 and described on page 17. The rift is reported

Contour interval 20 feet

Quarry site Roads

FIGUBE 37. Map of part of Conway, N. H., showing location of granite quarries. 1, 

Redstone red granite quarry; 2, Bedstone green granite quarry; 3, White Mountain 

quarry. The boundary between pink and green granite is shown by dotted line.

as uniformly horizontal, and the grain as vertical with N. 80°-90° W. course. 

Another feature is the contiguity of a yellowish-green biotite-hornblende 

granite to the pink biotite granite at Redstone. (See fig. 37.) Between the 

500 and 800 foot levels the boundary has a N. 23° E. course and is said to 

continue in that direction toward Rattlesnake Mountain. Although the feldspars of both these granites are equally kaolinized, their original colors probably differed as greatly as their present ones. The feldspar of the green 

stone seems to have been a bluish gray and that of the pink probably clear 

and colorless or slightly pinkish. Their present colors are due to the formation of limonite in the green and hematite in the pink. This limonite is
166 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

largely traceable to somewhat abundant nllanite and to the hornblende; the 

hematite may be attributed to the oxidation of magnetite or of ferrite in 

infinitesimal particles in the feldspars. These two granites side by side represent originally different materials, and the line of their contact indicates the 

direction of their flow. A 20 by 30 foot segregation or dike of porphyritic 

biotite-hornblende granite, and geodes, coated internally with calcite rhombs 

and chlorite, should also be noted as occurring at the red quarry. The joint 

systems at the four quarries have courses of N. 70°-90° W., N. 35° W., N. 15° 

B., and N. 30° E. The sheets dip gently east and west from the axis of the 

ridge.

QUABEIES.

The Bedstone pink quarry is in the town of Conway, about 3 miles S. 

35° E. of North Conway, on the base of Redstone Ledge, one-third of a mile 

N. 50° E. of Redstone station on the Maine Central Railroad, and 180 feet 

above it. (See North Conway topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey; also 

fig. 37.) Operator, Maine'& New Hampshire Granite Corporation, North Jay, 

Maine.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 35, a, b, j, k), "Conway pink," is a 

biotite granite of light pinkish-gray color with large dark-gray and small 

black spots. Its texture is even grained, coarse, and with feldspars up to 

0-75 inch, exceptionally 1.25, and black mica up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are a light pink, nearly opaque potash feldspar (orthoclase, mostly twinned), minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar; smoky amethystine quartz with cavities up to 0.012 millimeter, in 

sheets, intersecting at right angles and parallel to rift and grain cracks 

(see fig. 1 and p. 17) ; translucent very light gray to milk-white striated sodalime feldspar (oligoclase-albite); and biotite (black mica), but little of which 

is chloritized. The orthoclase is much kaolinized; the oligoclase less so. The 

orthoclase in places surrounds oligoclase; in one specimen a small crystal of 

orthoclase is inclosed by oligoclase, and that has a zone of orthoclase about 

it. Accessory: Magnetite (ilmenite?), pyrite, apatite, fluorite, and zircon. 

Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, titauite (leucoxene), calcite, and hematite stain 

mostly combined with the kaolin and only visible under incident light.

Estimates of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yield the following results:

Estimated mineral percentages in "red f/ranite" of Redstone, N. H.

1

62.60

31.00

6.40

100.00

2

68.00

26.30

^ 7ft

100. 00

3

65.30

28.65

5.55

1. Specimen cut at right angles to both rift and grain; mesh 0.8 inch, total linear 

length 39.2 inches.

'2. Specimen cut parallel to rift showing larger feldspars; mesh 1.2 inch, total linear 

length 28.8 inches.

3. Average of both estimates.

An analysis of this granite, made for the firm in 1898 by Franklin C. Robinson, State assayer of Maine, is here given merely for reference.
NEW HAMPSHIEE. 167

Analysis of " red gra/nite " from Redstone, N. H.

Silica (Si02 ) ___________ ___ _-__ 71.44 

Alumina (A12O8 ) ________________-_______ 14.72 

Iron sesquioxide (Fe20a) 2.39 

Iron oxide (FeO) ________________________ .46

(Total iron oxides, 2.85.)

Magnesia (MgO) ________________________ .96. 

Soda (Na2O) ___________________________ 7.66 

Potash (K2O) __________________________ .89 

Hare elements, mostly titanium and zirconium dioxides

(TiO2 and Zr02 ) _______________________ . 78 

Manganese, sulphur, calcium, phosphates__________ Traces. 

Loss at red heat (mostly water)- _ i ___ .61

99.91 

Specific gravity, 2.685.

W. T. Schaller, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 

0.16 per cent of CaO (lime), soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates 

a content of 0.267 per cent of CaOOa (calcium carbonate); the presence of this 

carbonate is also shown by the microscope.

A test made at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass.. in 1887, 

gives this granite a compressive strength of 22,370 pounds to the square inch.

The stone takes a high polish, but the large size of its mica scales is not 

favorable to the durability of the polish under long-continued outdoor exposure. Polished faces show some magnetite. As the relative amount of gray 

to pink feldspar is small, the contrast is mostly between the pink feldspar 

and the smoky amethystine quartz, which is very pleasing. The minor spots 

of black mica give it still more character. This is a constructional granite 

but is also, by its polish and contrasts, adapted to internal decorative uses.

The quarry, opened about 1887, measured in 1906 about 500 feet from east 

to west by 300 feet across and from 30 to 80 feet deep, with a working face 

80 feet high on the north.

Rock structure: The sheets, 4 to 30 feet thick, are normal and arch across 

the axis of the hill, dipping 15° E. in this quarry. There are three sets of 

joints (a), strike east, vertical, spaced 5 to 40 feet, not everywhere continuous; 

(b), strike N. 35° W., dip 80° S., forms a heading in the west part but does 

not recur; (c), strike N. 15° E., vertical, recurs"at 160 feet. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical with east-west course. Both 

are marked and appear as delicate cracks in the quartz particles on polished 

surfaces parallel to the " hard way." This interesting textural feature is 

fully discussed on page 17 and is illustrated in figure 1. There are small 

dikes of deep pinkish aplite (fine texturecl, particles 0.185-0.555 millimeter) 

consisting of pinkish orthoclase, clear quartz, clear oligoclase, and very little 

biotite, with secondary muscovite and hematite stain. In the eastern part 

of quarry is a mass about 30 feet from north to south by 20 feet from east 

to west and with an exposed depth of 10 feet, which may be a very large knot 

or possibly the upper part of a dike oval in cross section. Streaks of black 

mica 10 feet long radiate from its upper surface, also irregular pegmatitic 

bands with small dark-gray knots. Its matrix (particles 0.074 to 0.59 millimeter) is of mediuni purplish-gray color and incloses porphyritic light pinkish 

feldspars up to 0.7 inch, light smoky quartz to 0.03 inch, and black silicate 

to 0.2 inch. The matrix itself consists of orthoclase, quartz, oligoclase-albite,
168 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

hornblende, and biotite, with accessory magnetite, apatite, fluorite, titanite, 

and zircon. The large feldspars are orthoclase with intergrown oligoclase and 

quartz.

There are elliptical and spherical knots from 0.5 inch to 14 inches in diameter 

of exceedingly fine, very dark gray, large biotitic material with sparse porphyritic feldspars. Lenses of pegmatite up to 2 feet by 6 inches also occur, ami 

lenticular geodes, mainly of intergrown quartz and feldspar surrounded by 

a half-inch band of aplite. These geodes are lined with crystals of smoky 

amethystine quartz and orthoclase incrusted with chlorite and calcite. Some 

obtuse rhombs of calcite are 0.5 inch wide. Joint (c) is coated with epidote 

and chlorite, and the granite for 0.5 inch back of it is much altered to kaolin 

and mica and stained by hematite and limonite. (See p. 83.) Rusty stain is 

an Inch thick along sheet surfaces, but up to 4 inches along the joints.

The product is used mainly for buildings. Specimens: First National Bank, 

Chicago; First National Bank and Hamilton County courthouse, Cincinnati; 

Wisconsin Telephone Co.'s building, Milwaukee, Wis.; Franklin Savings Bank 

and McAlpin Hotel, New York; Temple Bar Building, Brooklyn; Union Station, 

Pittsburgh; city hall, Lowell, Mass.; base of Longfellow monument, Portland, 

Me.; State library, Concord, N. H. (the pilasters and trimmings of "Concord 

granite," the columns at entrance of polished green granite from the next 

quarry, and the rest of "Conway pink").

The Redstone green quarry, operated by the same company, is about 800 

feet west-northwest of the pink quarry, described above, and about 140 feet 

above Redstone station. (See fig. 37.)

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 36, a, b, c), "Redstone green granite," 

is a biotite-hornblende granite of dark-yellow greenish color with black spots. 

Its texture is even grained, coarse, with feldspars up to 0.8 inch and mica to 

0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are mediumgray potash feldspar (orthoclase) with some yellow-green stained cleavage 

faces (this feldspar is always minutely intergrown with lime-'soda feldspar, 

oligoclase-albite, some of it is twinned, and it is all much kaolinized); dark 

yellow-green smoky quartz with cavities in two or three sets of intersecting 

sheets with rift and grain cracks parallel to two of them and in places coinciding with them (see p. 17) ; very little separate soda-lime feldspar (oligoclasealbite), slightly micacized; biotite (black mica) and hornblende, some of it 

corroded. Accessory: Magnetite (ilmenite?), fluorite, allanite (mostly in 

biotite), and zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, epidote in 

veinlets, chlorite, and limonite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages, obtained by the Rosiwal method, 

yields the following results with 0.5-inch mesh and total linear length of 71 

inches: Feldspar, 54.79; quartz, 38.26; mica (biotite), 6.95.

An analysis made for the firm by Franklin C. Robinson, State assayer of 

Maine, in 1899, is given here merely for reference:

Analysis of "green granite" from Redstone, N, H.

Silica (SiO.)____________________________ 70.42

Alumina (AUOs)____________________ ___ 14.64

Iron sesquioxide (FeaOs)____________________ 1.54

Iron oxide (FeO)__ _____ ____________ 2.34

(Total iron oxides, 3.88.)

Magnesia (MgO) _____________________ ____ 1.20

Soda (Na2O) ____________________________ 7.80

Potash (K2O) ___ ____ ________________ .71
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 169

Rare elements, mostly titanium and zirconium dioxides

(Ti03 and Zr02 ) _______________________ 0. 48 

Manganese, sulphur, calcium, and phosphates_______ Traces. 

Loss at red heat, mostly water________________ . 61

99.74 

Specific gravity, 2.634.

It will be noticed, on comparing the amounts of iron oxides in this and the red 

granite (p. 167), that this exceeds the other by 1 per cent, which is attributable 

to its larger content of hornblende and allanite and of the limonite proceeding 

therefrom.

When first quarried this stone is more greenish than after a few years' exposure, when its feldspars become more grayish, but its general color is even 

then still markedly greenish. The cause of this change is not apparent, for 

organic acids do not reach the quarried blocks. It takes a high polish, but its 

large mica plates furnish vulnerable points of attack by the weather under prolonged exposure. The polished face shows a little magnetite. The contrasts 

are weaker than in the red granite, owing to the darker shade of its feldspar. 

Whether in the rough or polished, its color is striking. Though not unsuitable 

for purposes of construction, it is a coarse decorative granite well adapted for 

sheltered positions.

The quarry, opened about 1887, measured in 1906 about 150 feet north to 

south by 100 feet across and up to 50 feet in depth, which is the height of the 

working face on the north. It is worked at intervals only.

The sheets, 11 inches to 14 feet thick, dip about 15° W. Joint sets, rift, and 

grain are the same as in the red quarry.

The product is used for buildings and polished columns. Specimens: Union 

Arcade Building, Pittsburgh, Pa.; front of the first three stories of Fidelity 

Mutual Life Insurance Building, Philadelphia; interior columns, post office, 

Washington, D. C.; exterior columns, Dime Savings Bank, Detroit, Mich.; 

interior columns, Missouri capitol, Jefferson City, Mo.; exterior columns, First 

National Bank, Bridgeport, Conn.; also in Baxter Building, Portland, Maine.

The White Mountain quarry is in the town of Conway, If miles southwest 

of North Conway, on the west side of a hill between Saco River and Moat 

Brook, southeast of White Horse Ledge. (See fig. 37.) Owner, Henry A. 

Hitner's Sons Co., Pennsylvania Building, Philadelphia.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 38, a, b) is a biotite granite of medium 

pinkish buff-gray color with black spots. Its texture is even grained, coarse, 

with feldspars up to 0.8 inch and mica to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are pinkish-buff potash feldspar (orthoclase) in 

twins and minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), also 

intergrown with quartz and kaolinized; amethystine quartz with cavities in 

sheets intersecting at right angles, those in the rift direction being very close 

together; slightly greenish gray soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), also intergrown with quartz, kaolinized, and partly micacized, in places inclosed in 

orthoclase; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Fluorite, 

allanite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, chlorite, and limonite and 

hematite stain.

This is a coarse constructional granite with good rift.

The quarry, not operated since December 1, 1903, lies between the 645 and 

735 foot levels, measures about 400 feet N. 75° W. by 250 feet across and from
170 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

35 to 90 feet in ijepth, The top of the working face is 30 feet below the top of 

the hill.

Rock structure: The sheets, from 3 to 30 feet thick, are horizontal or dip 

low.north and also south. Joints (a) strike N. 30° B., dip 60° N. and 90% 

spaced 20 to 70 feet. Joints (b) strike N. 70°-80° W., vertical, spaced 2 to 

50 feet.

Rusty stain is from 1 to 8 inches thick on the sheets and up to 2 feet along 

the joints.

Transportation by private siding, If miles long, from main line of Boston & 

Maine Railroad. (See fig. 37.)

This quarry was opened by the contractors for'the Boston dry dock at the 

Charlestown Navy Yard, in which the stone was used.

MADISON.

The Fletcher quarry is in the town of Madison, about 2$ miles southwest of 

Conway and 1 mile about west of the main line of the Boston & Maine Railroad. (See PL I.)

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 37, b, d) the more pinkish variety is 

a biotite granite of light pinkish-gray color, mottled with dark purplish gray 

and with small black spots. Its texture is even grained, coarse, with feldspars up to 0.7 inch and mica to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are a light pinkish-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase, 

mostly, twinned), minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspare (oligoclasealbite) and considerably kaolinized; dark amethystine smoky quartz with 

cavities; translucent slightly greenish-white striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), partly micacized; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. 

Accessory: Magnetite and allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, and 

chlorite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages, by the Rosiwal method yields the 

following results with mesh of 0.5 inch and total linear length of 20 inches: 

Feldspars, 67.20; quartz, 28.60; mica (biotite), 4.20.

E. C. Sullivan, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 

0.25 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates 

a content of 0.44 per cent of CaCOs (lime carbonate).

This is a coarse-textured constructional granite of warm tint, possessing 

marked contrasts of color, which come out strongly on the polished face 

(delicate pink, mottled with purplish smoke and dotted with black). The 

somewhat large mica scales are not favorable to the durability of the polish 

under long-continued outdoor exposure.

The less pinkish variety (specimen 37, a) is like the other except in that 

the orthoclase is more nearly cream-colored. Apatite and zircon appear among 

its accessory minerals. Its contrasts are, if anything, a trifle more marked 

than those of the other.

The quarry, opened between 1888 and 1891, abandoned before 1917, is at 

the east foot of a granite bluff 200 feet high, which also has a steep south 

side. It is about 500 feet square, with an extension on the bluff where there 

is a working face 100 feet high. Its depth is from 15 to 50 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 20 feet thick, are horizontal but dip 10° 

E. to ENE. There are two sets of .joints (a), strike N. 80° W., vertical 

spaced 5 to 100 feet, forms a 10-foot heading in the north half of quarry 

and another at the. north wall; (b), strike N. 15° E., vertical, spaced 5 to 

100 feet, forms a heading on the east side. The rift is reported as horizontal 

and the grain as vertical, with N. 80° W. course. The pinkish variety oc-
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 171

curs on the south side, and the lighter variety on the north. Rare granitic 

dikes, 1 to 6 inches wide, consist of a groundmass of medium-gray shade and 

fine to uiedium texture (orthoclase, microcliue, oligoclase-albite, quartz, and 

biotite), spangled with biotite and with porphyritic pinkish feldspars up to 

0.4 inch. Rusty stain is from 1 to 4 inches thick on upper sheets, decreasing 

below. Joint faces are coated with epidote.

Transportation, by a siding 1 mile to niaiu line of Boston & Maine Railroad.

In 1906 the stone was used for certain piers on the Boston & Maine Prison 

Point Street Bridge, at Easto Cambridge, Mass., and also for a bridge at South 

Acton, Mass. Specimen monument: Dudley Porter memorial fountain, Haverhill, Mass.

CHESHIRE COUNTY.

FITZWILLIAM DISTRICT. 

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The granite of the Fitzwilliam district, Cheshire County, occurs in an area 

extending a little into the State of Massachusetts, designated by Emerson " on 

the geologic map of that State " Fitzwilliam granite (white inuscovite-biotite 

granite)." and regarded by him as of late Carboniferous or post-Carboniferous

age.

QUARRIES.

The Webb Fitzwilliam quarry is half a mile south of Fitzwilliam Depot, in 

Filzwilliam Township. (See Monadnock topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) 

Operator, Webb Granite & Construction Co., 40 Crescent Street, Worcester, Masa

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 66, a), "Fitzwilliam Webb," is a muscovitebiotite granite of light, very bluish gray color and of even-grained fine texture, 

with feldspars and micas under 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending-order 

of abundance, are clear, colorless to translucent bluish potash feldspar (microdine and orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; clear colorless quartz with cavitiea 

and hairlike crystals of rutile; "clear to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoelase), some of it slightly kaoliuized and niicacized; inuscovite (white mica) in 

large scales; and biotite (black mica) in more abundant and much smaller 

wales. Accessory: Magnetite (very little), apatite, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, 

ji white mica. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry, opened before 1829, measured in 1909 about 1,300 feet in a N. 

HO 0 E. direction by 200 feet in width for half of its length and by 250 feet for 

the rest, and from 6 to 35 feet in depth.

Ruck structure: The sheets are 6 inches thick at the top and 3 feet at the 

bottom, the greater part, however, being thin ones. They dip 15° NW. at the 

northwest side but turn, dipping northeast on the northeast side of the hill. 

The general structure of the hill is thus that of either a dome or an anticline. 

There are only five joints set (a), of four joints, near the northeast end of 

the quarry, strike N. 20° W., dip 90° or steep, spaced 5, 20, and 100 feet; (b), 

near the southwest end of the quarry, strike N. 40° E., dip 70° N. 50° W. The 

rift is reported as striking N. 55°E. and dipping 35°-40° N. 35° W., and the grain 

ns dipping 80° S. 35° E. In working the rock is split along the grain. Many 

dikes of garnetiferous pegmatite, from an inch to 2 feet thick, strike north or 

north-northwest and dip 90° or 20° E. In places the pegmatite is associated with

70 Emerson, B. K., Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island : U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 

r.97, pi. 10, p. 238, 1917.
172 COMMERCIAL, GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

aplite. Small aplite dikes, 1 to 2 feet apart, strike east. All these dikes throw 

considerable stone into the second class. No rusty stain nor segregations were 

observed.

Transportation, by a 7,000-foot siding to Fitzwilliam Depot, besides 1,500 feet 

of subsidiary siding in the quarry.

The product was used mainly for buildings and monuments. Specimens : 

City hall, Newark, N. J. ; approaches and base of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston. The smaller sheets were used for paving.

This quarry was abandoned before 1917.

The Victoria White (formerly Silver White) quarry is a quarter of a mile 

northeast of Fitzwilliam Depot, in Fitzwilliam Township. (See Monaduock 

topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, Milford Pink-Victoria White 

Granite Co., Milford, Mass.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 68, a, b), "Victoria white," is a biotitemuscovite granite of light bluish-gray color and of even-grained, very fine 

texture, with feldspars under 0.1 inch and micas to about 0.05 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless to translucent bluish potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline) ; very light smoky 

quartz with cavities and hairlike crystals of rutile; clear to milk-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), very little kaolinized, some small mica crystals; 

biotite (black mica) ; muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Rutile. Secondary: 

Kaolin, calcite. Effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test. Polished face 

shows neither pyrite nor magnetite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the application of the Rosiwal 

method to a camera lucida drawing of a thin section enlarged 40 diameters 

yields these results with a mesh of 1.8 and a total linear length of 43.2 

inches :

Estimated mineral percentages in Fitzwilliam granite from Victoria White

quarry.

Quartz _____________________________ . 43. 66 

Potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) __ 32.22) ._ 

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) __________ 13.52] 

Black mica (biotite) ___ _ ___________ 5. 88 1 1Q 6Q

White mica (muscovite) ______________ 4. 72 j

100.00

The average diameter of the particles, obtained from the same calculation. 

is 0.00668 inch.

Prof. Leonard P. Kinnicutt, of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, by a 

test made December 11, 1908, for the Norcross Bros. Co. in Worcester, found 

that 100 pounds of Fitzwilliam granite quarried at this or the Snow Flake 

quarry absorbed 0.382 pound of water.

This is a delicate bluish-gray fine-grained stone, well adapted for fine work. 

Its particles are so fine and its minerals so evenly distributed that aside from a 

fine mottling, visible only near by, its color is uniform. It takes a good, 

polish.

The quarry, opened about 1904, was in 1909 about 300 feet square and 40 feet 

deep.

Rock structure : The sheets consist of short lenses at the surface but are not 

well marked below. The quarry is probably near the lower limit of 'sfheet 

structure. There are no joints, but here and there a fracture crosses one 

sheet only. One such fracture strikes N. 40° E. and dips 60° N. 50° W. The
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 178

rift is reported as horizontal and the grain as vertical, with a nearly east-west 

course. Pegmatite dikes up to 1 foot thick strike N. 30° W. and N. 60° W., 

with steep dips. Biotitic segregations are rare and up to 4 inches across. 

There is little or no rusty stain on sheet surfaces.

The product is used for monuments. Specimens: Pylon monuments and 

approach to Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Plaza; Katherine Sefton Page 

Memorial, Auburn, N. Y.; L. C. Smith mausoleum, Syracuse, N. Y.; industrial 

monument by Zolnay, New Bedford, Mass.; C. W. Post mausoleum, Oak Hill 

Cemetery, Battle Creek, Mich.; Lilly exedra, Anderson, Ind.

The Snow Flake quarry is two-fifths of a mile northeast of Fitzwilliam 

Depot and three-fourths of a mile south of Fitzwilliam village, in Fitziwilliam 

Township. (See Monadnock topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Owner, 

Victoria White Granite Co., Keene, N. H.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 67, a), " Snow Flake," is a biotite-mnscovite 

granite of light inclining to medium gray shade and of porphyritic texture, 

with fine matrix (micas under 0.1 inch) and feldspars to 0.5 inch. Its constituents, In descending order of abundance, are faintly greenish clear potash 

feldspar (microcline in twins with crush borders, also orthoclase), some of 

the microcline intergrown with quartz, some slightly kaolinized; light smoky 

quartz with cavities, generally in sheets, and hairlike crystals of rutile; 

clear to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), some of it minutely 

intergrown with quartz (vermicular structure), some of it a little kaolinized; 

biotite (black mica); and muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Apntite, 

zircon, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, limonite from biotite. No effervescence 

with muriatic-acid test.

The fineness of the mica deprives the stone of strong contrasts, and the 

porphyritic texture is discernible only on close inspection.

The quarry, opened between 1885 and 1887, was in 1909 about 300 feet square 

and 40 to 70 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 10 to 20 feet thick, are about horizontal but 

irregular. There is but one joint. The rift is reported as horizontal and the 

grain as vertical, with about east-west course.

Transportation, by siding to Fitzwilliam Depot.

The product has been used for buildings.

The following are specimens of the combined product of this and the Victoria White quarry: Art Museum, Toledo, Ohio; law building of University 

of Iowa, Iowa City; post offices at Muskegon, Mich., Chippewa Falls, Wis., 

Grand Island, Nebr., Decatur, 111., Bedford, Ind., Mayfield, Ky., Devils Lake, 

N. Dak., Allentown, Pa., and Ithaca, N. Y.; and Wysong residence, corner 

Seventy-sixth Street and Seventh Avenue, New York City.

This quarry has not been operated since it passed into the hands of its 

present owners.

The Emerson quarry is 2 miles northeast of Fitzwilliam Depot, in Fitzwill'ain Township. Operator, Paul Drewes, Fitzwilliam Depot. Idle in 1922.

(See Monadnock topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.)

The granite is a muscovite-biotite granite, a trifle lighter and coarser textmvd than the "Victoria white" (p. 172).

The quarry measures about 1,000 feet square and 50 to 70 feet in depth.

The Yon quarry is about 1£ miles south-southeast of Fitzwilliam Depot and 

half a mile east of South Pond (Laurel Lake), in Fitzwilliam Township. 

(See Winchendon topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, Edward 

Yon & Son, Fitzwilliam Depot.

The granite, " white," resembles the other light bluish-gray muscovite-biotite 

granites of this township,
174 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry, opened about 1897, has been regularly operated since 1908.

The product is used mainly for buildings and monuments, also for curbing.

The Thompson quarry is about 2 miles northeast of Fitzwilliam Depot, iu 

Fitzwilliam Township. (See Monadnock topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) 

Operator, E. M. Thompson, Fitzwilliam Depot.

The quarry was opened in 1900.

The granite is a muscovite-biotite granite of medium grayish shade and 

fine even-grained texture with feldspars up to 0.2 inch, muscovite and biotite 

to 0.1 inch. _,

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless 

potash feldspar (orthoclase and niicrocline), with inclusions of plagioclase 

and intergrown with quartz; pale smoky quartz with rutile needles; clear to 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (probably oligoclase) ; muscovite and biotite. 

No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The Webb Marlboro quarry is !£ miles north-northeast of Webb station 

(Marlboro depot), in Marlboro Township. (See Mouadnock topographic map, 

U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, Hildreth Granite Co., Boston, Mass.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 69, a), "Marlboro," is a biotite-muscovite 

granite of light inclining to medium, very bluish gray color and of evengrained fine texture, with feldspars and micas up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless to translucent bluish 

potash feldspar (microcliue), intergrown with quartz, circular in cross section and slightly kaoliuized; clear colorless quartz with cavities in sheets 

and hairlike crystals of rutile; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

somewhat kaolinized and with small plates of muscovite; biotite (black mica) ; 

muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Apatite, zircon, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, calcite. Effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry, opened before 1849, was originally about 950 feet long by. about 

700 feet wide but in 1909 measured about 750 feet in a north-northeasterly 

direction by 200 feet across and average 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 6 feet thick, but not over 2 feet iu 

the upper half of the quarry, are normal and horizontal, but dip low northnortheast at the north end of the quarry and turn to dip low south-southwest 

at the south end. The thinness of the sheets and the compressive strain prevent channeling, so dynamite is used. Two vertical joints near the north 

end, with N. 60° E. strike, extend off and on for 50 feet. On the extreme 

east side a joint striking N. 50° E. and dipping 50° NW. extends only 100 

feet. . Flow structure is very marked on sheet surfaces at the west side. It 

consists of alternately more or less biotitic planes striking N. 30° E. but also 

curving, varying much in width and resembling a gneiss foliation. On the 

east side flow structure has a N. 35° E. course. There is an inclusion or an 

irregular biotitic flowage band, 4£ feet long, 1 foot wide, and oval in cross 

section. The rift is reported as horizontal and the grain as vertical, with 

N. 22° E. course. A thick pegmatite dike crosses the center of the quarry 

with N. 55° W. course. There are smaller pegmatite dikes and streaks of 

like course in the northern half of the quarry. There is no rusty stain on 

sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by 4 miles of siding from Webb station.

The product is used mainly for buildings, curbing, and paving. Specimens: 

The lower seven stories of the Marshall Field Building, Chicago; First 

Congregational Church, Nashua, N. H.; Soldiers' monument, Fitzwilliam village, N. H.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. . 175

The Troy quarry is three-fourths of a mile east-southeast of Troy station, 

in Troy Township. (See Monadnock topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) 

Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 70, a), ''Troy white," is a muscovite-biotite 

granite of light inclining to medium bluish-gray color and of even-grained fine 

texture, with feldspars under 0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are clear bluish potash feldspar (microcline, 

generally in twins, intergrown with quartz, circular in cross section, also 

orthoclase) ; clear colorless quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile and cavities 

in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), some of it minutely 

intergrown with quartz, generally kaolinized and a little unearned, and with 

calcite; nmscovite (white mica) ; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. 

Accessory: Magnetite (very little), pyrite, apatite, rutile. Secondary: Calcite, 

a white mica, chlorite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the application of the Roslwal 

method to a camera lucida drawing of a thin section, enlarged 25 diameters, 

yields these results with a mesh of 1 inch and a total linear length of 59 inches, 

from which, however, areas of mixed particles too fine for measurement and 

having a total linear length of 18.28 inches had to be deducted, leaving as the 

total length of measured particles 40r72 inches:

Estimated mineral percentages in " Troy granite."

.Quartz _______________________________ 44. 94 

Potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase)____ 31.231 

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite)________ 13.06J 

White mica (muscovite) _________________ 8>22

. Black mica (biotite)__________________ 2.55

100.00

The following analysis, made for the Troy White Granite Co., the last operators, by Prof. L. P. Kinnicutt, of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in 1891, 

is given here for reference:

Analysis of " Troy ivMte granite?'

Silica (SiCM _____________________________ 73.15

Alumina (AUO3 )___________________________ 17.04

Lime (CaO)____________________________ .81

Magnesia (MgO) _________________' _ ___ __ .'30

Potash (K2O)___________________________ 574

Soda (Na2 0) ___________________________ 2.05

Loss and undetermined_____________________ . 91

100.00

Prof. Kinnicutt, by a test made December 11, 1908, found that 100 pounds of 

this granite absorbs 0.269 pound of water, as compared with 0.371 pound for 

the same weight of " Concord granite" and 0.420 pound for 100 pounds of 

quartz monzonite from the New Westerly quarry at Milford, N. H. (p. 188).

The following compression test on a 6-inch cube was made at the United 

States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., April 15, 1891 (No. 7419) : First crack at 

525,000 pounds, total 630,100 pounds; ultimate strength per square inch, 17,950 

pounds.

This stone is harder than many other granites. It lends itself well to fine 

carving, as rs shown by the garland of roses so finely executed by Joseph Cara-
176 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

belli, of New York, on the Hawgood monument at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland. Ohio.

The quarry, opened about 1859, measured in 1909 about 300 feet in a N. 15° E. 

direction by 180 feet across and from 50 to 70 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 15 feet thick, clip 10°-15° W. There 

are two sets of joints (a), strike-N. 77° W., dip 65° .S. 13° W.; (b), strike 

about north, one only, on the east wall. The rift is reported as horizontal, and 

the grain as vertical, with N. 15° E. course. There are biotitic segregations up 

to 2 inches in diameter. Rusty stain is generally absent, but one sheet surface 

showed 6 inches of it. An east-west cornpressive strain is noticeable.

Transportation by an electric siding, 4,230 feet long, operated by a 40-horsepower gasoline engine.

The product is used about equally for buildings and monuments. Specimens: 

Worcester County Institution for Savings, Worcester, Mass.; Bank of Pittsburg, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Howard Savings Institution, Newark, N. J.; Metropolitan 

Savings Bank, Baltimore; steps and approaches to Library of Congress, Washington ; steps and approaches to New York Library; Hawgood monument and 

Mark Hanna mausoleum, Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio; James Lister 

monument, Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, R. I.; Albert Wyckoff mausoleum, 

Woodlawn Cemetery, New York.

COOS COTJNT3T. 

KILKENNY.

The Kilkenny quarry is in Kilkenny Township, about 19 miles N. 28° W. 

from the top of Mount Washington and about 5 miles N. 79° E. from Lancaster 

station and 940 feet above it, on the southwest side of a ridge. (See PI. I.) 

The quarry has been idle for a number of years.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 73, b), is an augite-biotite granite of dark 

olive-green color, a little lighter than the green granite of Mount Ascutney, 

Vt, and considerably darker than the green granite of Redstone, N. H., and 

Rockport, Mass. (pp. 168, 293). It becomes lighter that is, more yellowish 

brown on continued exposure. The polished face is a dark olive-smoke color. 

Its texture is even-grained medium, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch and black silicnte to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are medium 

olive-greenish potash feldspar (orthoclase), intergrown with soda-lime feldspar 

(probably albite) in alternating bands (microperthite), the feldspar sections 

almost all nearly rectangular; black (in thin section green) augite; biotite 

(black mica); greenish hornblende; rare grains of quartz with sheets of 

cavities; very little separate soda-lime feldspar (probably albite). Accessory: 

Magnetite, titanite, apatite. Secondary: Limonite from magnetite and biotite 

following the banding of feldspars. This is conspicuous in long-exposed specimens. No effervescence with muriatic acid test.

The olive tint, as in other green granites, is probably due to the combination 

of limonite with the originally bluish color of the feldspar. The stone takes 

a high polish, but some blocks are streaked either from flow structure or 

from veinlets.

The quarry (the upper and more recent of two openings) is about 50 feet 

square and 10 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, dip 30° SW. Joints (a), 

strike N. 45° W., vertical, spaced 6 to 30 feet; (b), strike N. 65° E., vertical 

or steep southwest, one only on northwest side, slickensided. Minute veins 

run parallel to joints (b), spaced 6 inches to 3 feet and more, and disfigure that
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 177

part of the rock. An aplite dike, 2 inches wide, strikes east. Rusty stain 

on sheet surfaces is not over an inch thick.

The quarry road to the highway at the foot of the ridge is over half a mile 

long. There is a disused lumber-railroad bed from the Boston & Maine Railroad 

at Lancaster, within a mile of the quarry.

Some steps on the south side of the Lancaster House in Lancaster are made 

of the granite.

STARK.

The Dawson. quarry is in Stark Township, 3 to 4 .miles due east of Groveton 

station, on a north-south ridge about 800 feet above the station. (See PI. I.) 

Operators, Gushing & Frizzell, Groveton. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 74, a, e), "Stark," is a biotite granite ot 

medium pinkish-gray color (a trifle darker than "Concord granite") and of 

even-grained medium texture, with feldspars under 0.4 inch and micas to 0.2 

inch, exceptionally 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, 

are pinkish potash feldspar (orthoclase), obscurely intergrown with plagioclase 

(probably oligoclase-albite) and much kaolinized; medium smoky quartz with 

cavities in sheets, a few in a set at right angles to the others; pinkish sodalime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) ; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; 

and rarely a scale of bleached biotite or muscovite. Accessory: Magnetite, 

allanite, apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, limonite, epldote, chlorite. 

No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yields these 

results with a mesh of 0.3 inch and a total linear length of 66.4 inches: Feldspar, 70.14; quartz, 27.15; mica, 2.71.

This is a constructional granite of dull pinkish color and feeble contrast, 

which, however, may become stronger as the quarry deepens.

The quarry, opened before 1897, measured in 1909 about 50 by 30 feet and 8 

to 20 feet in depth. , ,

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick, are horizontal. One set 

of vertical joints strikes N. 80° W. and is spaced 20 feet. There are traces 

of a north-south set. A few discontinuous ones strike N. 50° E. There are 

fine-grained light-gray and also black segregations, some of the latter with biotite and quartz inclosed in whitish lenses.

The quarry is operated only in winter, on account of the economy of sledding 

the stone to Groveton rather than carting it over bad roads.

The product is used for trimmings. Specimens: Trimmings of courthouse, 

Berlin, N. H., and of several buildings in Lancaster, and a monument in the 

cemetery at Groveton, N. H.

The firm also opened another quarry in the same stone about a mile north, 

in Stark. It is near the Grand Trunk Railway and thus has better shipping 

facilities.

GRAFTON OOTJNTY.

CANAAN.

The Mascoma quarry is on the top of a knoll 1$ miles north-northeast of 

Enfleld station, in Canaan Township. (See Hanover topographic map, U. S. 

Geol. Survey, also geologic map of Hanover and Lebanon, N. H., by C. H. Hitchcock, Vermont State Geologist Eighth Rept, pi. 46, 1912.) Operator, Norcross 

Bros. Co., Worcester, Mass. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 77, a, b. c), "Mascoma," is a biotite 

granite gneiss of light buff-gray color speckled with black, and of even-grained, 

105709 23 13
178 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

somewhat gneissoid coarse texture, with feldspars up to 0.7 inch and mica 

aggregates to 0.4 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

very light buff-gray (almost cream-colored) potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; light smoky quartz, coarsely granulated, with 

cavities in sheets and cracks parallel thereto; milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), much intergrown with quartz minutely circular in cross-section, 

generally kaolinized and micacized; biotite (black mica)', some of it chloritized; 

and very little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, titanite, 

apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, chlorite, calcite, rare limonite stain, and probably hematite. It effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

This is a constructional granite, in some respects resembling that of Milford, 

Mass. (p. 342). It takes a fair polish, and the polished face shows some magnetite. The contrasts are chiefly between the black mica and the other minerals.

The quarry, opened in 1907, measured in 1909 about 147 by 70 feet and 

5 to 25 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick and over, are about 

horizontal, forming short lenses. There are three sets of joints: (a), strike 

N. 50° E., dip 70° N. 40° W., spaced 2 to 25 feet, forms a heading at the 

northwest corner; (b), strike N. 80° W., dip S. 10° W., spaced 2 to 25 feet; 

(c), strike N. 65° E., dip 60° N. 25° W., spaced 4 to 8 feet and more. Flow 

structure strikes north. In the center of the quarry is a flowage band with 

more pinkish feldspars. The rift is reported as horizontal and the grain 

as vertical, with N. 32° W. course. A pegmatite dike (smoky quartz and 

feldspar) up to 5 inches thick strikes northeast. There are lenses or veins 

of smoky quartz up to 4 inches thick. Biotitic knots measure up to 6 inches 

across. There is hardly any rusty stain along the surfaces of lower sheets, and 

on joint faces it is not over 2 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart 2 miles to Enfleld station.

The ^product is used mainly for buildings. Specimens: Tercentennial commemorative monument, Jamestown, Va.; lower stories of Slater Building, 

Worcester, Mass.; Plain Dealer Building, Cleveland, Ohio; Carnegie Institute, 

Pittsburgh, Pa.; Royal Bank of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

LEBANON.

The Lebanon quarry is at the east foot of Quarry Hill, on the west side of 

and close to the Hanover-Lebanon road, l£«miles north of Lebanon village, in 

Lebanon Township. (See Hanover topographic map, TJ. S. Geol. Survey; also 

geologic map of Hanover and Lebanon, N. H., by C. H. Hitchcock, Vermont 

State Geologist Eighth Rept., pi. 46, 1912.) There are some now disused quarries of the same granite higher up on Quarry Hill. Owner, Rockport Granite 

Co., Rockport, Mass. Quarry idle.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 76, a, b), "Lebanon pink," is an epidotic 

biotite granite gneiss of light, faintly pinkish and greenish gray color, speckled 

with greenish black, and of gneissoid coarse texture, with feldspars up to 0.7 

inch and mica aggregates to 0.4 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are light-pinkish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase, some 

minutely intergrown with plagioclase), more or less kaolinized; clear colorless 

quartz, -with cavities and few hairlike crystals of rutile, finely granulated; a 

little greenish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to albite), much kaolinized 

and epidotized; biotite (black mica), usually associated with epidote and 

some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, titanite. Secondary: Epidote, kaolin, calcite, a white mica,
NEW .HAMPSHIRE. 179

 chlorite. Epiclote is fifth in order of abundance. In places the feldspars are 

surrounded by crushed feldspars and epidote. Effervesces with muriatic-acid 

test.80

This is a constructional granite of mixed greenish and pinkish tint and 

gneissoid texture, resembling in some respects the granite of Milford, Mass., 

and also that of the Mascoma quarry. The polish is poor, owing to the presence of large mica aggregates. The polished face shows magnetite and pyrite.

The present quarry was hardly fully opened in 1909. The opening measured 

then 150 by 50 feet and up to 10 feet in depth.

Eock structure: The sheets, 5 to 10 feet thick, are about horizontal. There 

are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 43 W., vertical or steep northeast, also 

35° NE., spaced 10 to 20 feet; (b), strike N. 25° E., dip 70° S. 65° E.; (c), 

strike N. 15° W., dip 55° S. 75° W., spaced 10 feet and more; (d), strlfce 

N. 80° E., dip 40° N. 10° W., faced with secondary muscovite, spaced 9 feeC 

and more. The rift is probably horizontal. Dikes of light-pinkish aplite up 

to 3i inches thick range from the horizontal to a dip of 30° W. Light and 

dark segregations are up to 4 inches across. Rusty stain on sheet surfaces 

is not over 2 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart li miles to rail at Lebanon.

The product is used for buildings. Specimens of the same granite but largely 

from now disused openings are the following: India Building, Boston; two 

stories (polished) of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Building, on 

Chestnut Street, Philadelphia; two stories of the Borden Building, Hudson 

Street, New York. The stone has also been used to some extent in the chapel, 

hospital and Butterfield Memorial buildings of Dartmouth College, at Hanover, N. H.

HAVERHILL.

The Pond Ledge quarries are on the southeast side of the domelike granite 

mass known as Briar Hill, about a mile from Haverhill Center and about 3 

miles east of Black Mount station (North Haverhill), in Haverhill Township. (See PL I.) Briar Hill lies about N. 60° W. of Black Mountain. 

Operator (1909), Jessman Granite Co., North Haverhill. Quarries abandoned.

The granite from the southwestern quarry (specimen D, XXX, 75, a), 

" Pond Ledge gray," is a biotite-muscovite granite of light inclining to medium 

gray shade, and of even-grained fine texture, but with sparse porphyritic 

clear feldspars up to 0.4 Inch and mica under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase); clear colorless quarta with cavities and hairlike crystals 

of rutile and granulated; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), 

kaolinized, micacized, and with calcite; biotite (black mica), some of it 

chloritized; muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Magnetite, titanite, apatite, 

zircon, allanite, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, epidote, 

chlorite. Effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

The granite from the northeastern quarry (specimens D, XXX, 75, b, c), 

" Pond Ledge pink," is a biotite-muscovite granite of light pinkish-gray color 

and even-grained fine texture, but with sparse porphyritic feldspar up to 0.3 

inch and micas to 0.1 inch, rarely 0.2 inch. Its constituents are identical with 

those of the gray (specimen 75, a), but the secondary minerals include some 

hematite, which produces the pinkish tint.

80 A full microscopic description of this granite was given by J. P. Iddings in U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 150, p. 353, 1898. He regards the epidote as mostly primary. (See 

in this connection Butler, B. S., Pyrogenetic epidote: Am. Jour. Scl., 4th ser., vol. 28, 

pp. 27-32, 1909.)
180 COMMEECIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

This stone takes a good polish. It is said to lose some of its pinkish tint 

on continued exposure.

These " quarries " merely utilize the talus of Briar Hill that is, material 

already quarried by glaciers, frost, etc. The blocks are attacked at two 

points about 1,000 feet apart

Rock structure: The structure above the talus is not clear. The sheets on 

top of the hill are said to be horizontal and to range from 6 Inches to 10 

feet in thickness. On the side above the talus some steep joints or sheets 

strike nearly with the face of the cliff and are spaced 20 feet and .more. 

There are also gently northwestward-dipping planes, possibly headings. The 

two granites are reported as merging into each other, the rift as dipping 

gently northwest, and the " head grain " as forming an angle of 75° to 80* 

to it. Knots are 2 inches across. Rusty stain is an inch thick on sheets, 

rarely 6 to 8 inches.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to rail.

The product is used for monuments at Bath, Lisbon, Haverhill, and HaverMll Center cemeteries.

\ HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. 

[ ' ; MILFOED DISTRICT.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The Milford quarries lie within a radius of 4 miles northwest, southwest, 

and south of Milford Village. The region about Milford, as shown on the 

Milford topographic map published by the United States Geological Survey, 

is marked by hills and short ridges, from 440 to 760 feet above sea level, 

trending north or north-northeast. The highest of these hills are Burns 

Hill (720 feet) and Badger Hill (760 feet), southwest of the village, 

and Federal Hill (700 feet), southeast of it This hilly surface is, however, 

bisected east and west by the valley of Souhegan River, which hereabouts 

flows between the 206 and 240 foot levels. The locations of the quarries are 

shown on the map (fig. 38). None of them are above the 400-foot level, or 

130 feet above the bench mark at Milford Village.

GEOLOGY OF QUABBIES.

The most interesting geologic features of the Milford granite quarries are the 

contact phenomena and inclusions. The former have been fully described on 

page 90 and are illustrated in figure 17 and Plate VIII, A. At these places remnants of the gneisses which once probably overlay the granite mass of the entire region are preserved. As these gneisses are evidently themselves granitic 

rocks which under powerful compression have undergone chemical and textural 

changes and become schistose, we are led to conclude that the Milford region 

has been the scene of two intrusions of rock material in molten condition, with 

an intervening period of metamorphism. The gneiss now capping the granit§ 

at the quarries of the Milford Granite Co. (p. 91) represents the earlier granitic 

rock metamorphosed, the presence of which supplied part of the pressure that 

made possible as granite the stone now quarried. The strike of the gneiss foliation, N. 75° W., furnishes a clue to the direction from which came the compression that metamorphosed the earlier granite. It is assumed, of course, that 

these few feet of gneiss are but the shreds of a mass which originally measured 

hundreds of feet in thickness but which was eroded mainly in preglacial time. 

The pegmatite dikes, which, apparently starting at the contact, run up into the
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 181

gneiss, were probably formed at the time of the intrusion of the underlying 

granite. This original gneiss of the region is also exposed at the Tonella quarries. (See pp. 186-187.) At two quarries fragments of coarse biotite gneiss 

occur as inclusions in the granite. (See pp. 64, 187.) These probably formed 

part of the same overlying gneiss, which, indeed, they closely resemble. This was 

fractured by the vertical and lateral strain accompanying the intrusion, and

Quarry site Roads

FIGURE 38. Map of vicinity of Milford, N. H., showing location of granite quarries. 

1, New Westerly; 2, Carlton; 3, Bishop; 4, Comolli; 5, Paradise; 6, Tonella; 7, Souhegan; 8, Lovejoy; 9, Pease; 10, Kittredge; 11, Tonella Old; 12, Hayden; 13, Young; 

14, Milford Granite Co., south opening; 15, Milford Granite Co., north opening.

fragments fell into the rising semiliquid fused mass. There is also at several 

quarries a marked banding in the granite, with ^ourses of north, N. 15°, 20°, 

50°, 70° E., and N. 75°-80° W., which must have been caused by the granite current (flow structure).

Flow structure about an inclusion at the Daniels quarry has been described 

on page 64 and the occurrence of pegmatite dikes in groups on page 73. The
182 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

courses of pegmatite dikes at the quarries are N. 20°, 25°, 30°, 75° E. and N. 

20°, 25°, 50°, 65° W. These must be attributed to a secondary intrusion in 

the grairte in openings possibly due to contraction. The pegmatites thus represent a third access of heated matter to this portion of the crust. Finally, the 

basic dikes, noted on pages 184, 185, 187, represent a fourth and probably much 

later injection of rock material in molten condition. The effect, direct or indirect, of these dikes in reddening the adjacent granite is very noticeable (see 

pp. 185, 187) and appears to be due to the hematitization of the feldspars either 

by the oxidation of magnetite by water or by the deoxidation of limonite by 

heat. The most abundant set of joints strikes N. 70°-85° W., its complementary 

set striking N. 10°-30° E. Others strike north, N. 35°-40°, 45°-50°, 60° D., and 

N. 30°, 50°, 60° W. The rift is reported at all the quarries as either horizontal 

or inclined at a very low angle south or S. 70° W. or west. The grain is reported as vertical or dipping 70° N. with a course of N. 60°-90° W., in one 

place N. 80° E. The sheets are from 3 inches to 30 feet thick.

" MIIJfORD GRANITE."

The following combines all the more detailed descriptions of specimens and 

thin sections given on pages 183-190.

The granites of Milford, N. H., are quartz monzonites of light, medium and 

dark-gray shade, in places of a slight bluish, pinkish, or buff tinge, and always 

spangled with black mica. The texture of all except one is even grained and 

very fine to fine, with feldspars and mica in the very fine up to 0.1 inch and 

in the fine to 0.2 inch. The constituents of these monzonites, in descending 

order of abundance, are clear to slightly smoky quartz with cavities (in sheets) 

up to 0.008, 0.017, 0.03 millimeter, and in some quarries with hairlike crystals, 

probably of rutile; clear colorless to milk-white, bluish, greenish, or pinkish 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), somewhat kaolinized and micacized; clear 

colorless to milk-white, bluish, greenish, pinkish, or cream-colored potash feldspar (microcline with or without orthoclase), in places slightly kaolinized and 

micacized; black mica (biotite), some of it chloritized or bleached. Both 

feldspars are iutergrown with quartz circular in cross section. Accessory: 

Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, zircon, allanite, and rutile. Secondary: Chlorite, 

two white micas, carbonate, kaolin, limonite, and hematite.

Estimates of the mineral percentages by the application of the Rosiwal 

method to camera lucida drawings of three thin sections of the very fine Milford granite from three widely separated quarries (pp. ISO, 188, 190) yield the 

following results:

Average estimates of mineral percentages in monumental granite of

Milford, N. H.

Quartz_____________________________:_ 27.09

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase)_______________ 34.03

Potash feldspars (microcline 14.15; orthoclase 15.57)___ 29.72

Black mica_________ _ - _______ 8. 58

Magnetite __________ _ _________ . 25

Minor accessories_________ _ __ __ . 33

100.00

As the percentages of quartz, soda-lime feldspar, and mica varied considerably in the separate estimates, the averages for these minerals are more 

trustworthy.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 183

The average diameter of the particles in these three granites, as determined 

by the same method, is 0.0095 inch, which is about the same as the average 

of three'"blue granites" of Westerly, R. I., given on page 407 as 0.0099 inch.

Messrs. Sullivan, Schaller, and Steiger, chemists, of this Survey, found that 

granite from five Milford quarries contained from 0.11 to 0.26 per cent of CaO 

(lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, or an average of 0.16 per cent, which 

indicates a content of 0.19 to 0.46 per cent, or an average of 0.29 per cent, of 

CaCOa (calcium carbonate). The presence of this carbonate is also shown 

by the microscope and by effervescence with muriatic acid test.

The finer " Milford" granites, which are properly monumental granites, 

take a high polish, to which the fineness of the mica contributes. The hammered face of these quartz monzonites offers a considerable contrast to the 

polished face, owing to their large percentage of soda-lime feldspar.' The 

particles are so fine that the only contrast, that between the mica and the 

other particles, is visible only at a short distance. In the coarser " Milford " 

granites, in which the mica measures 0.2 inch in two of its diameters, this contrast is more marked. The chief characteristics of all these finer granites are 

the uniformity and delicacy of their shade or tint, the variety of tints obtainable at the different quarries, and the adaptability of the stone for fine carving. The coarser " Milford " granites are entirely constructional.

QUARRIES.

The Lovejoy quarry is in Milford, about 2 miles S. 25° W. of Milford village, 

on the 380-foot level, on the southwest side of an oblong hill 440 feet high. 

(See fig. 38.) Operator, Lovejoy Granite Co., Milford.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 51, b), "Milford, N. H.," is a quartz 

monzonite of light-gray shade spangled with black mica. Its texture is even 

grained, fine, inclining to medium, with feldspars and mica up to 0.2 inch. It 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of a milk-white potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase) ; in almost equal amount a clear to milk-white 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), partly kaolinized and micacized; light smoky 

quartz; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Allanite, zircon, apatite. Secondary: Chlorite, two white micas, kaolin, carbonate, and 

hematite.

George Steiger finds that this granite contains 0.14 per cent of CaO (lime) 

soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates the content of 0.25 per cent of 

CaCOs (calcium carbonate) ; the microscope also shows the presence of a 

carbonate. Effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry, opened about 1886, measured in 1906 477 feet N. 35° E. by 150 

feet across and from 5 to 20 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, from 3 inches to 10 feet thick, but mostly up to 

5 feet 6 inches, dip 5°-10° E. or SE. There is but one set of joints, vertical, 

strike N. 85° W., recurs at intervals of 40, 100, and 330 feet, and forms a 4 to 

10 foot heading 140 feet from the north end. The rift is reported as horizontal 

but tending to incline with the sheets, the grain as vertical with east to west 

course. In summer the rock splits without reference to rift and grain. A flow 

structure, shown by more micaceous bands alternating with some 2-inch white 

bands, strikes N. 40° W. and dips 25° NE, Pegmatite dikes, up to 2 inches thick, 

strike N. 65° W., exceptionally N. 25° E. They consist of half-inch particles 

of clear to milky striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), light smoky quartz, 

and black mica with magnetite and pyrite. There are no knots. Rusty stain 

is light and up to 6 and 18 inches thick, but is not present on all sheets.
184 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Transportation, as shown on the map (fig. 38), by siding from the Boston & 

Maine Railroad.

Specimen structures: Pier 4 of Haverhill Bridge, Essex County, Mag's.; piers 

4 and 6 of the railroad bridge at the same place; trimmings of Maje'stic Theater, 

Chicago; and Fergusou mausoleum at Kensico Cemetery, New York.

The Kittredge quarry is in Milford, about \\ miles S. 15° W. of Milford 

village, on the 360-foot level of the same hill as the Lovejoy quarry but on the 

opposite side. (See fig. 38.) Operator, Edward L. Kittredge, Milford.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 50, b) is a quartz monzonite of light-gray 

shade, with very slight bluish tinge apparent when the stone is in large masses, 

spangled with black mica. Its texture is even grained, fine, inclining to medium, 

with feldspars up to 0.2 and mica to 0.1 inch. In four thin sections the particles 

do not exceed 2.96 millimeters, or 0.012 inch, and most of them are not 2.2 milimeters, or 0.08 inch. At very rare intervals porphyritic feldspars occur up to 

1* inches in diameter. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

very slightly bluish milk-white potash feldspar (microcline intergrown with 

quartz, and orthoclase) ; in almost if not quite equal amount clear colorless to 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), partly micacized and kaolinized; 

light smoky quartz with sheets of cavities and rift or grain cracks parallel to 

them; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, 

allanite, zircon, and apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, white mica, and 

limonite. In the upper sheets the stone is of light cream color owing to limonite 

proceeding from magnetite and allanite particles.

This is a constructional granite closely resembling that of the Lovejoy quarry, 

on the other side of the hill, but with slightly finer mica scales and a more 

bluish tinge. It effervesces very slightly with muriatic-acid test.

A very fine monumental granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 50, a), forming a 

band 20 feet wide at the south end of the quarry, is also a quartz monzonite 

of light-gray shade with very slight bluish tinge and spangled with fine black 

mica. Its texture is very fine, with feldspars measuring up to 1.85 millimeters 

and the mica 0.74 millimeter. The constituents are like those of the coarser 

stone, but the potash feldspars appear to predominate.

The quarry, opened about 1890, measured in 1906 800 feet from north to 

south by 200 feet across and from 5 to 40 feet in depth. The working face is 

on the southwest.

Rock structure: The sheets are lenticular, from 4 inches to 2 feet 10 inches 

thick, and dip at a low angle north and east. There are three sets of joints 

(a), strike N. 22° E., vertical, forms a heading 5 to 7 feet wide on each side 

of a basic dike; (b), strike N. 70° W., vertical, spaced 200 feet; (c), strike N. 

45° E., dip 55° N. 45° W., exceptional. The rift is. reported as horizontal, and 

the grain as vertical with a N. 80° E. course. A flow structure marked by 

parallel bands of black mica strikes N. 20° E., also N. 50° E., with a dip of 20° 

NNW. and NW. A basic dike, a foot thick, striking N. 22° E. and vertical, 

forms the east wall. This is related to joint system (a). Pegmatite dikes, 1$ 

to 3 inches thick, strike N. 20° and 50° W., forming in one place a network 

with meshes 15 feet square.

Transportation, by siding from Boston & Maine Railroad (fig. 38). Seveneighths of the product consisted of paving, curbing, flagging, and crossings; 

the rest is dimension stone and bases for monuments.

The Pease quarry is in South Milford, about 1* miles S. 25° W. of Milford 

village, on the 350-foot level, on the same hill as the Lovejoy and Kittredge 

quarries. (See fig. 38.) Operator, Pease Co., Nashua.

The granite in the east half of the quarry is a quartz monzonite of light-gray 

shade with very slight bluish tinge apparent only in large masses of the
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 185

stone, and spangled with black mica. Its texture is fine inclining to medium, 

with feldspar and mica up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents are identical with 

those of specimen 50, b, from the Kittredge quarry (p. 184).

The granite from the west half of the quarry (specimen D, XXVIII, 64, a) 

is a quartz monzonite of light buff-gray color spangled with black mica. Its 

texture is even grained, fine inclining to medium, with feldspar and mica up 

to 0.2 inch. Its .constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light 

smoky quartz with cavities in sheets, many parallel; clear colorless to milkwhite soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase); light buff-gray potash feldspar (microcline) ; both feldspars somewhat kaolinized and micacized; and biotite (black 

mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, and zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, white micas, chlorite, and carbonate. It effervesces slightly 

with muriatic-acid test.

This is a constructional granite of warm tint with conspicuous small black 

micas.

The quarry* opened in 1886, measured in 1906 about 600 feet east-west by 

400 and 300 feet from north to south, and from 35 to 60 feet in depth.

Hock structure: The sheets are lenticular, from 2 to 22 feet thick, and have 

a slight northerly dip. There are two sets of joints (a) strike N. 15° E., 

vertical, spaced 50 to 200 feet, forms headings on west wall and 200 feet east 

of it next to the dikes; (b) strike N. 80° W., dip 75° S., spaced 5 to 50 feet, 

occurs on north and south walls. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the 

grain as vertical with N. 65° W. course. A flow structure, shown by biotitic 

bands, alternating with more feldspathic and quartzose ones, strikes N. 70°-75'J 

W. and dips 25° S. This is conspicuous on the south side, but at the southwest 

corner, where the granite is overlain by a gneiss, as shown in fig, 17 (p. 191), 

the flow structure has a N. 70°-75° E. course and dips 20°-25° S. Theistrike 

of the gneiss is N. 75° W. and the dip 20° S. This gneiss consists of light-gray 

to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), smoky quartz, biotite, with magnetite, apatite, and zircon. It is thus a mica diorite gneiss. There are two 

basic dikes striking N. 15° E. and vertical; one, 4 feet thick, makes the west 

wall; the other, 12 to 18 inches thick, forms a jog 200 feet east of it. Within 

50 feet of the thicker dike the granite passes from a light buff gray to a medium 

pinkish-gray, "Milford pink," owing to the darkening of the feldspars and to 

hematitic stain. These dikes are also the probable cause of the difference between the color of the granite in the westeimftnd eastern halves of the quarry, 

the amount of hematitic stain increasing with the nearness of the dikes. (See 

pp. 184-185.) A 4-inch pegmatite dike strikes N. 65° W. and consists of quartz, 

white feldspar, and biotite, the particles being up to 2 inches in diameter. 

Rusty stain up to 2 inches thick occurs on some sheets only. 

Transportation, by siding from Boston & Maine Railroad. 

The product is used for bridges and buildings and the waste for paving. 

Specimen building of " pink stock"; Thayer Memorial Library, Franklin, Mass.; 

railroad bridge, Neponset, Mass.; and Piers 12, 25, 26, and 32 on the Prison 

Point Street Bridge (Boston & Maine Railroad), East Cambridge, Mass.; and 

east side coping of Atlantic Avenue Bridge, Boston.

The Tonella old quarry is in Milford, 1£ miles south of Milford village. 

(See fig. 38.) Quarry no longer operated.)

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 54, a, b) is a quartz monzonite of lightgray shade (without either bluish or greenish tinge), with very minute black 

spangles. Its texture is fine, even grained, with feldspars up to 0.15 inch, 

and black mica in slender scales but exceptionally over 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are very light smoky quartz with 

hairlike crystals, probably of rutile, and cavities in sheets; clear colorless to
186 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) slightly kaolinized and micacized; 

very light gray potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), mostly intergrovra 

with quartz, circular in cross section, and some of it very slightly kaolinized; 

and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, zircon, 

allanite, apatite, and rutile. No pyrite detected. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, 

and two white micas.

An estimate of the mineral percentages, made by applying the Rosiwal 

method to a camera lucida drawing of a thin section enlarged 40 diameters, 

yields the following results with a mesh of 1.7 inches and a total linear length 

of 42 inches: Quartz, 36.76; soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 29.16; potash 

feldspars (microcline 14.00, orthoclase 13.58), 27.58; black mica, 6.50. The 

average diameter of the particles obtined by the same method is 0.011 inch.

This is a fine-grained monumental granite, in shade a trifle lighter than the 

granite of Hallowell, Maine, but not as light as that of North Jay, Maine. It 

takes a high polish. The only contrast, visible but a few feet off, is between 

the black mica and the combined quartz and feldspars. The polished face 

shows many minute particles of magnetite.

The quarry, opened in 1900, measured in 1906 about 300 feet north and south 

by 100 feet across and is now 75 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 14 feet thick, are lenticular, horizontal, and 

regular. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 85° W., Vertical or steep 

south, spaced 20 to 50 feet, forms a heading 3 feet wide, 125 feet from the 

south end; (b), strike N. 35-40° E., vertical, intermittent and confined to 

upper sheets, forms a heading on the east wall, and recurs 30 feet from west 

wall. From the large blocks of gneiss attached to granite lying on the dumps 

and from the occurrence of this gneiss in a much weathered condition in or under 

the drift on the edge of the quarry it is evident that the rock surface originally 

included a mass of gneiss which either capped the granite or formed a large 

inclusion in its upper part. This gneiss is coarse, biotitic, with lenses of pinkish potash feldspar (microcline) bordered with clear to milk-white soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase). Its quartz is smoky. Accessory: Pyrite, magnetite, 

allanite, and zircon. The rift is reported as horizontal and the grain as vertical, 

with N. 85° W. course. There are no dikes, veins, or knots. Rusty stain 

occurs only along the headings, where it is 6 inches thick. This quarry is remarkably free from the commonjstructural difficulties.

Transportation, by cart, half a^finite to railroad for rough stock, but 2 miles to 

cutting shed for blocks to be finished.

The product was used principally for monuments, and the waste for paving. 

The firm made a specialty of fine carved work. Specimens: the Morgenthaler 

monument, Greenwood Cemetery, Hamilton, Ohio. This is a 5-ton block, 6 

feet high, with a delicately carved branching ivy vine entwined about a cross, 

all in high relief on a roughly chipped face. The carving, having been done 

with hand instead of pneumatic tools, is sharp.

The Tonella King quarry is 2£ miles S. 25° W. of Milford village. (See 

fig. 38.) Operators, Tonella & Sons, Milford.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 55, a) is a quartz monzonite of medium 

buff-gray color spangled with fine black mica. Its texture is generally evengrained and fine, with feldspar up to 0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 inch, but wiith 

rare porphyritic light-pinkish feldspars an inch in diameter. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are light amethystine to pale smoky quartz; 

clear colorless to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), partly kaolinized 

and micacized; light-buff to cream-colored potash feldspar (microcline, 

much intergrown with quartz, circular in cross section) ; and black mica, 

some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, allanite, apatite, and zircon.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 187

Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, chlorite, hematite from magnetite, and 

limonite from allanite.

In general color this rock resembles specimen 64, a, of the Pease quarry 

(p. 184), but its mica scales are finer.

A finer granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 55, c) from the upper part of the 

quarry is also a quartz monzonite of medium buff-gray color, spangled with 

extremely fine mica. Its texture is even grained, very fine, with feldspars 

up to 0.1 inch and mica rarely over 0.05 inch. Its constituents are the same 

as those of the other.

A pinkish granite (sp'ecimeu D, XXVIII, 55, d) 8 feet thick, on the south 

side of the dike described beyond, is of pinkish medium-gray color, like that 

adjoining the dike in the Pease quarry (p. 185). It is the same granite as 55, a, 

described above, but its oligoclase contains hematite, and its potash feldspars 

are also pinkish, owing to the dike.

The quarry, opened in 1905, measured, in 1906, 100 feet north and south by 

80 feet across, and is now 75 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 18 inches to 6 feet thick, are lenticular and 

horizontal or rdip as high as 20° E. Only one set of joints, strike N. 30° W., 

dip 35° W., spaced 5 to 20 feet. The granite is capped on the east and west 

sides by about 5 feet of coarse biotite gneiss, but on the west this is overlapped 

by 2 to 3 feet of granite, and so the gneiss may be merely a large inclusion. 

This gneiss (specimen D, XXVIII, 55, b) consists of pinkish potash feldspar 

(microcline) and milk-white soda-lime feldspar, both intergrown with quartz; 

smoky quartz with cavities in sheets; and biotite. The foliation of the gneiss 

strikes about N. 45° W. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as 

vertical, with N. 80° W. course. A flow structure shown by more biotitic 

streaks and planes strikes north and dips 20° W. The band of fine-grained 

granite, 2 feet thick at the top (specimen 55, c), lies in the flow direction. On 

the south side a vertical dike of augite camptonite 2 feet 6 inches thick strikes N. 

10" E. This consists of soda-lime feldspar (andesine), augite, brown hornblende, 

magnetite in octaliedra and skeleton crystals, apatite in slender prisms all 

through the feldspar, and pyrite, together with secondary chlorite and carbonate 

from alteration of augite. Specimens of product: Hudson Monument, Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minn., and Gareiss Monument, Chicago.

The Souhegan quarry is 2$ miles S. 12° E. from Milford village and threefifths of a mile southwest of Federal Hill. (See fig. 38.) Operator, SmalleySouhegan Granite Co., Milford.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 53, a, b, c) is a quartz monzonite of 

dark-gray shade with very slight pinkish tinge and very fine scales of black 

mica. Its texture is even grained and fine, with feldspar and mica not over 

0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light smoky 

quartz with few cavities, some in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), slightly kaolinized and micacized; colorless to dull greenishgray potash feldspar (microcline), intergrown with quartz, circular in cross 

section; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, allanite, and zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, 

chlorite, carbonate, and some irregularly disseminated hematite stain which 

gives the pinkish hue.

George Steiger, of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 0.26 per cent 

of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content of 

0.46 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate) ; the presence of this carbonate 

is also shown by the microscope and by muriatic-acid test.

The stone takes a high polish and offers a notable contrast of shade between its hammered and polished faces. The polished surface shows rare
188 COMMEKCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

particles of pyrite along with the usual abundance of magnetite particles. 

The only contrast between its minerals, that between the black mica and the 

general color of quartz and feldspar, is visible but a few feet off.

The quarry, opened in 1896, measured in 1906, 150 by 50 feet and 10 to 25 

feet in depth..

Rock structure: The sheets, generally normal and from 6 inches to 5 feet 

thick, dip low west and south, but are intersected by sharply curved planes, 

"toe nails." There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 80° W., vertical, 

occurs only in the southern part; (b), strike N. 22° E., vertical, forms headings 

on the east and west walls and recurs discontinuously at intervals of 10 feet. 

There is a rhomb-shaped inclusion at the south end, about 3 feet 6 inches 

across, of very coarse biotite gneiss, consisting of milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase-andesine), smoky quartz, and biotite, with a little copper pyrite. 

There is some banding in the granite parallel to the surface of the inclusion. 

(See p. 64.) The rift is reported as in places horizontal but generally dipping south at a very low angle, and the grain as vertical with N. 70° W. course. 

A pegmatite dike, up to 2 inches thick, with a little magnetite, strikes N. 30° E 

Rusty stain on the sheet surfaces is up to 6 inches thick. -=-

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to cutting shed on siding of Boston & 

Maine Railroad.

The product is used for monuments.

The New Westerly quarry is 2£ miles northwest of Milford village. (See 

fig. 38.) Operator, Ne^ Westerly Granite Co., Milford.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 60, a, b), " New Westerly blue," is a 

quartz monzonite of medium slightly bluish-gray color, spangled with fine black 

mica. Its texture is even-grained, fine, inclining to medium, with feldspar and 

mica up to 0.2 inch and a marked parallelism in the mica scales. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light smoky quartz with cavities up to 0.008 millimeter in sheets; slightly greenish-blue soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), partly kaolinized and micacized; slightly pinkish-gray potash 

feldspar (microcline, some twinned) ; biotite, (black mica), some of it chloritized. Both feldspars are intergrown with quartz. Accessory: Magnetite, 

pyrite, allanite, apatite, and zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, two whi'.e micas, 

chlorite, hematite, and carbonate.

An estimate of the mineral percentages, obtained by applying the Rosiwal 

method to a camera lucida drawing of part of a thin section, enlarged 40 

diameters, yields the following results with a mesh of 1.5 inches and a total 

linear length of 34.5 inches: Quartz, 17.10; soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

45.22; potash feldspars (microcline 15.59; orthoclase 15.71), 31.30; black mica 

(biotite), 5.74; magnetite, 0.64. The average diameter of all the particles, 

obtained by the same method is 0.009 inch.

George Steiger, chemist, of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 0.12 

per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.21 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate) ; the presence of this carbonate is shown by the microscope and by muriatic acid test.

The stone takes a high polish, which brings out the greenish and reddish 

tints and darkens the general color so that it becomes a medium greenish gray. 

The polished face shows a few grains of magnetite and rare ones of pyrite.

The quarry, opened in 1876, measured in 1906 about 150 feet from east to west 

by 100 feet across and from 15 to 65 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 30 feet thick, increasing in thickness

'downward, dip south at a low angle. There are two sets of joints (a), strike

N. 10° E., dip 60° E. and 90°, spaced 3 to 50 feet, forms a heading on east side;

(b), strike N. 75°-SO° W., vertical, spaced 30 to 40 feet, forms a heading on
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 189

the south side. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical 

with a N. 80° W. course, but it is so feeble that the stone can be split almost 

as well across it.

Transportation, by cart about 2f miles to cutting shed and railroad at 

Milford.

The product is used for monuments.

The Milford Granite Co.'s quarries are a mile southeast of Milford village 

and 130 feet above it, on the east side of a hill. (See fig. 38.) The quarries 

are abandoned.

The granite generally is like that of the Young quarry, described on page 190.

The quarries comprise two openings, along a N. 20° E. line. The southern 

opening is about 120 feet N. 20° E. by 60 feet across and is 40 feet deep. The 

northern opening, separated from the other by an interval of 150 feet, is about 

900 feet N. 20° E. by 50 to 75 feet across and from 10 to 30 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, are lenticular and horizontal. 

Joints, strike N. 10°-30° E., vertical, spaced 1 to 5 feet, form headings on the 

east and west walls of both quarries and in center of southern one. Some of the 

joints of these headings are " sand seams," or veins up to half an inch thick of 

a central band of quartz crystals with borders of muscovite. (See p. 74.) 

The granite of the west wall of both quarries is overlain by a mass of manycolored banded gneiss, 12 to 16 feet thick, with a foliation striking about N. 

75° W. and dipping 75° S. with injections of pegmatite starting at the contact 

and tapering out within the gneiss. (See PI. VIII, A, and p. 91.) There is 

much variety in the composition and texture of the gneiss. The quartz of the 

finer augite c'.iorite gneiss has cavities, up to 0.047 millimeter, in sheets intersecting at right angles. The granite on either side of the muscovite veins in 

the heading is much reddened for half an inch; the biotite is mostly chloritized, 

the oligoclase is much kaolinized and micacized, and much limonite and hematite stain proceeds from particles of magnetite and pyrite.

The Carlton quarry is 2 miles northwest of Milford village. (See fig. 38.) 

Operator, C. V. Carlton, Milford. Idle since 1913.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 61, a) appears to be also a quartz monzonite, but probably with more of the potash feldspar. Its color is medium 

pinkish gray, spangled with black. Its texture is porphyritic; the groundmass 

is fine, with feldspar and mica up to 0.1 inch and the isolated feldspars up to 

0.4 and exceptionally 1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light smoky quartz with hairlike crystals, probably of rutile, and 

cavities in sheets, with rift cracks parallel to them; light pinkish-gray potash 

feldspar (microcline), intergrown with quartz, circular in cross section, inclosing particles of soda-lime feldspar, and somewhat kaolinized and micacized, 

making up part of the groundmass and also the porphyritic crystals; in almost 

equal amount a milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), somewhat kaolinized, micacized, and intergrown with quartz; and biotite (black mica), some 

of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, allanite, and rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, two white micas, chlorite, and hematite.

At the north corner of the quarry there is a band of quartz monzonite of 

medium slightly bluish-gray color, with fine black mica, like the stone of the 

Neu Westerly quarry described on page 188.

The chief product of this quarry differs from all the other granites of Milford, N. H., by its marked porphyritic texture. It is a constructional granite.

The quarry, opened in 1881, was in 1906 about 110 by 100 feet and averaged 

30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 16 feet thick, dip west at a low angle. There 

are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 50° W., about vertical, spaced 20 to 60
190. COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

feet, forms a heading on the west side and the east wall; (b), diagonal, strike 

north, dip 75° E., one joint only. The rift is reported as slightly inclined to the 

west, and the grain as dipping 70° N. Flow structure, shown by streaks of black 

mica, also by the band of fine granite, strikes N. 70° E. and dips 40°-50° N. 20° W. 

Rusty stain is up to 8 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart, 2 miles to Milford.

The product is used mostly for street work in Boston and Cambridge.

The Young quarry is li miles southeast of Milford village and three-fourths 

mile southwest of East Milford, or Laurel post office. (See fig. 38.) Operators, 

Young's Sons & Co., Milford.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 52, aa, c), "dark-blue New Westerly," 

is a quartz monzonite of general dark-gray shade (neither bluish, greenish, 

nor pinkish but smoky), with very fine black spangles. Its texture is even-grained 

and fine, with feldspar up to 0.1, rarely 0.15 inch, and mica to 0.1 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are very light smoky quartz, 

with cavities; slightly greenish-gray soda-Mine feldspar (oligoclase), somewhat 

kaolinized and micacized; clear, colorless to grayish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), very slightly kaolinized; and black mica, some of it 

chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, allanite, and zircon. Secondary: White mica, kaolin, chlorite, carbonate, and a little hematite and 

limonite stain, the latter about the allanite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages obtained by applying the Rosiwal 

method to a camera lucicla drawing of part of a thin section enlarged 40 diameters yields these results with a mesh of 2 inches and a total linear length of 

34 inches:

Estimated mineral percentages in granite from the Young quarry, Milford, N. H.

Quartz_,_____________________________ 27.40 

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase)______________ 27.70

Potash feldspars (microcline 12.87, orthoclase 17.41)____ 29.28 

Black mica (biotite)_____________________ 13.51 

Magnetite _______________________________ . 11

Allanite_______________:_______________ 1.00 

(Accessory, 1.11.) 

fl 100.00

The percentages of magnetite and allanite are not perfectly reliable, for a 

slight shifting of the mesh would have changed the figures for one or both, 

but as representing together the accessories they are not far from the truth. 

The average diameter of all the particles, by the same method, is 0.0084 inch.

W. T. Schaller, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 0.18 

per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.32 per cent of CaCOa (calcium carbonate) ; the presence of this 

carbonate is also shown by the microscope and by muriatic-acid test.

A crushing test, made for the firm by Prof. Ricketts, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N. Y., is reported as showing an ultimate crushing strength of 24,950 pounds to the square inch.

The stone takes a fine polish. The polished face shows some magnetite 

and a little pyrite. There is much contrast of shade between the hammered 

and the rough or polished face, the hammered face being light, slightly bluish 

gray. The contrast between the minerals, not visible at a distance, is between the black mica and the general color of the others.
SEW HAMPSHIRE. 191

The quarry, opened in 1886, a plan of which is shown in figure 39, had 

in 1906 a length of 370 feet, a width of 75 to 100 feet, and an average depth 

of 50 feet. Only the northwest bend was being worked in 1906.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 10 feet thick, are lenticular and generally 

horizontal. Joint courses are given in figure 39. (A), vertical, forms a 

heading at the west end, and recurs 70 feet east only; (B), dip 40° N., spaced 

5 to 10 feet, and occurs only at the northwest corner. The rift is reported 

as horizontal, but with a slight inclination. There is no perceptible grain. 

Flow' structure, shown by biotitic streaks, strikes N. 15° E. and dips 45° W. 

The marked feature of this quarry is the recurrence, at intervals of 20 feet, 

of dikes of pegmatite and aplite, already described on page 73. These dikes 

are from 0.25 to 3 inches thick, occur in sets of three to eight, with a N. 25° 

W. course and a vertical dip. A few strike N. 25° E. and dip 40° ESE. They 

consist of cream-colored oligoclase, smoky quartz, cream-colored 

or pink microcline, and biotite, 

with magnetite, allanite, and zircon. The biotite crystals measure 

up to 2 inches in length. Rusty 

stain is up to 8 inches wide on 

sheet surfaces. Joints A are 

coated with pyrite, which has 

mostly passed into limonite.

Transportation, by cart threefourths mile to cutting shed, on 

the Boston & Maine Railroad, 

with siding to quarry.

The product is used for monuments, the stained and veined 

parts and small sheets for paving. Specimens: Mrs. R. J. i 

Stark monument, Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, N. Y.; Mrs. J. Craig monument, 

Rural Cemetery, Albany, N. Y.

BROOKLINE.

The O'Rourke quarry is at the east end of Brookline village, in Brookline 

Township. (See topographic map of Groton quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) 

Operator, O'Rourke & Magner Quarrying Co., Brookline, N. H., also 73 North 

Street, Salem, Mass. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 87 a), "Brookline," is a quartz monzonite 

of medium buff-gray color and of even-grained fine texture, with feldspars 

and micas under 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, 

are light smoky quartz with cavities; cream-colored soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), kaolinized and micacized; clear to translucent whitish potash 

feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), intergrown with quartz, circular in 

cross section; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite 

or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: 

Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, chlorite. No effervescence with muriatic-acid 

test.

This is a fine-grained monumental granite closely related to that of Milford, 

in the same county. It cuts light.

The quarry, opened in 1909, is on a bare ledge measuring 200 feet in a N. 20° 

E. direction by 100 feet across.

FIGURE 39. Structure and plan of Young 

quarry, Milford, N. H.
192 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, dip mostly east at low angles. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 20° E., vertical, spaced 6 to 

12 feet, forms a small heading on the west side; (b), strike N. 80° W., 

vertical, spaced 25 feet and more. The rift is reported as horizontal, and 

the grain as vertical. Inclusions of gneiss up to 6 by 3 feet occur. (See 

p. 63.) Rusty stain is 2 inches thick on surface sheets, but very little on the 

lower ones.

Transportation, by cart three-fourths of a mile to the railroad.

The product is used for monuments and trimmings. Specimens: Simon 

Cottan and Philip Sheridan monuments, St. Mary's Cemetery, Salem, Mass. 

The quarry was not operated in 1916.

The Fessenden quarry is one-eighth of a mile west of South Brookline 

station, in Brookline Township. (See Groton topographic map, U. S. Geol. 

Survey.) Operator, John R. Richards, Brookline.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 88, a, b), "Brookline," is a quartz 

^monzonite of medium, faintly pinkish-gray color and of even-grained fine 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.15 inch and micas to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are very light smoky quartz with cavities 

and hairlike crystals of rutile; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

kaolinized and micacized; slightly pinkish potash feldspar (microcline and 

presumably orthoclase); biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and 

a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, zircon, 

allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, white micas (one in veinlets), hematite and 

limonite stain, chlorite, calcite. Very slight effervescence with muriatic-acid 

test.

An estimate of the mineral percentages, made by applying the Rosiwal method 

..o a camera lucida drawing of a thin section enlarged 40 diameters, yields these 

results with a mesh of 2 inches and a total linear length of 48 inches:

Estimated mineral percentages in "Brookline" quartz monzonite from Fessenden quarry.

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase)__________ 38.79] 

Potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase)___ 22.92 j 61>71 

Quartz _________________________ 32.20 

Black mica (biotite)__________________ 5.08;

K 04

White mica (muscovite) or bleached biotite___ .16; 

Magnetite ______________________:___ . 85

100.00

The average diameter of the particles calculated from the same measurements proves to be 0.0097 inch.

This is a fine-grained monumental granite, related to that of Milford, in the 

same county. Its color is warmer than that of the rock from the O'Rourke 

quarry, but the granites are the same. It takes a high polish and like other 

quartz monzonites cuts light.

The quarry, opened in 1909, was about 80 by 50 feet and up to 8 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 3 feet thick, range from the horizontal to a 

gentle easterly dip. There are two sets of joints (a) strike N. 30° E., vertical, 

one only in center; (b), strike N. 75° W., vertical or steep, spaced 10 to 20 feet. 

The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical, with N. 20° E. 

course. There are inclusions of coarse gneiss and granite up to 21 inches in 

diameter. (See p. 63.) Rusty stain on top sheets is not over 2 inches thick.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 193

Transportation, by cart one-eighth mile to railroad.

The product is used for monuments and has'been shipped to Pepperell and 

Clafemont, N. H.; Quincy, Mass.; Ohio; and Pennsylvania.

NASHUA.

The Stevens quarry is near West Hollis Street, in Nashua, 2£ miles westsouthwest 'Of the confluence of Nashua and Merrimac rivers. (See Manchester 

topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, Nashua Granite Co., 254 tyain 

 Street. Nashua. Idle in 1921.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 86, a) is a niuscovite-biotite granite gneiss 

of light-gray shade and of gneissose medium texture, with feldspar under 0.4 

inch (rarely 0.7 inch) and micas under 0.2 inch. The rift is at right angles to 

the foliation. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are milky 

potash feldspar (microcline, some of.it kaolinized, and orthoclase) ; light smoky 

quartz, with hairlike crystals of rutile and granulated (particles 0.05 to 0.25 

millimeter across) ; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), 

much kaolinized and somewhat micacized; muscovite (white mica) in plates

and stringers, which with the granulated quartz surrounds the larger feldspars; 

biotite (black mica), a little of it chloritized. Accessory: Garnet, apatite, 

rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, white micas, chlorite. No effervescence with 

muriatic-acid test.

The quarry, opened about 1840, measured in 1909 about 175 feet in a northeasterly direction by 125 feet across and from 10 to 20 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 6 feet thick, dip 10° SE. There are 

two sets of joints (a) strike northeast, vertical, spaced 5 to 20 feet, forms a 

heading on the northwest wall, one 15 feet from the southeast wall, and a discontinuous one on the northeast wall; (b) strike N. 60° W., vertical, less 

abundant, and at irregular intervals. The foliation strikes N. 67° E., dips 90°, 

and has micaceous faces. The rift is horizontal, the grain is parallel to the 

foliation, and the hard way is vertical with northwest strike. A pegmatite 

dike up to a foot thick, on the northeast side, strikes northeast. A pegmatite 

lens, 30 by 3 to 4 feet, has the same strike.

Transportation, by siding from Boston & Maine Railroad.

 The product is used for trimmings and curbing, for which its foliation and 

marked rift well adapt it.

MERRIMACK COUNTY. 

ALLENSTOWN.

The Bailey quarry is in Allenstown, 2 miles about north-northeast of Suncook station. Operator, Charles A. Bailey, Suncook.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 81, a, b), "Allenstown," is a muscovitebiotite granite of light-gray shade and of even-grained medium texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica to 0.2 inch, rarely 0.3 inch. In places, owing 

to flow structure, it is more micaceous than in others. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase (?) ; very light smoky quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile 

and cavities in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), kaolinized and micacized; muscovite (white mica) ; biotite (black mica). Accessory: 

Apatite, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite. It effervesces 

slightly with muriatic-acid test. 

105709 23 14
194 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry, opened about 1874, is on the northwest side of a low granite dome 

and measures about 500 feet in 'a northeasterly direction by 250 feet across and 

from 20 to 60 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 6 feet thick, dip gently northeast 

and northwest. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 60° E., vertical, 

rare; (b), strike N. 60° W., vertical, forms a heading 40 feet wide within 200 

feet of the northeast end of the quarry. The rift is reported as horizontal, and 

the grain as vertical, with N. 60° E. course. A hornblende diabase dike 3 to 4 

feet wide crosses the quarry lengthwise within 75 feet of the working face, with 

a N. 60° E. strike and vertical or steep dip. The granite is darker for 14 feet 

on one side of the dike and 2 feet on the other. (See p. 58.) Three pegmatite 

dikes, 14 inches to 5 feet thick, strike about N. 60° W. and dip 45° N. 30° E. 

to 90°. Some of the granite near the heading of set (b) is porphyritic and has 

large micas. A flow structure appears also in places. Biotitic knots measure 

to 5 inches.

Transportation, by siding a mile to Suncook Valley branch of the Boston & 

Maine Railroad.

The product is used partly for trimmings but mainly for curbing, paving, 

foundations, and crushed stone for concrete. Specimens: Weston Observatory, 

foundation and trimmings of Coolidge mill and New Manchester mill of Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., Manchester.

HOOKSETT.

The Shirley quarry is near Merrimack River in Hooksett, 6 miles north of 

Amoskeag, Manchester, Operator, George H. Shirley, 255 Front Street, Manchester.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 80, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite of very 

light gray shade and medium texture, with feldspars and micas up to 0.3 

inch, the white mica in rhombic crystals. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are milky potash feldspar (microcline), slightly kaolinized; clear 

colorless quartz with cavities; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), 

much kaolinized and somewhat micacized; muscovite (white mica), mostly in 

rhombic crystals; biotite (black mica). Accessory: Magnetite, apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite. The stone effervesces with muriaticacid test.

The quarry, opened in 1891, was not visited by the writer.

The stone is brought down Merrimack River 6 miles in a steam tug to the 

cutting yard at Amoskeag and carted to its destination.

The product is used for curbing, steps, trimmings, and underpinning. Specimens : Trimmings on Amoskeag School and on Manchester Street Railway car 

barn.

MANCHESTER.

The Bodwell quarry is about 2$ miles east-northeast of the city hall in 

Manchester. Operator, John McCarthy, near R. D. 9, Manchester.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 83, a) is a biotite granite of light inclining 

to medium gray shade and of even-grained medium texture, with feldspars up 

to 0.3 inch, exceptionally 0.5 or 0.7 inch. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are clear colorless to translucent potash feldspar (microcline), 

intergrown with quartz, circular in cross section, slightly kaolinized and micacized ; light smoky quartz with cavities in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase-andesine), some of it much kaolinized and micacized; biotite (black 

mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, white micas, calcite, chlorite. Much effervescence with muriatic-acid test.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 195

The quarry, opened about 1879, measured in 1909 about 350 feet in a N. 70° E. 

direction by 65 feet across and 20 to 40 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 6 feet thick, dip 5° S. There is one set of 

Joints only, strike N. 35° W., vertical, spaced irregularly. The rift is reported 

as horizontal and the grain as vertical, with N.- 57° E. course. The quarry is 

walled on its longer sides by banded quartz-mica diorite gneiss of varying texture and pegmatite lenses. The gneiss foliation strikes N. 45° B. There are 

tongues and inclusions of this gneiss in the granite. Rusty stain is 2 to 3 inches 

thick on sheet surfaces.

The product is used locally for foundations and curbing. The quarry has not 

been operated for several years.

The Kennard Ledge quarry is 1$ miles about northeast of the city hall 

in Manchester. Operator, Evariste Dipnne, 368 Lake Avenue, Manchester. 

Quarry idle.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 82, a) is a biotite granite of medium buffgray color and of even-grained medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch, 

rarely 0.4 inch, and micas under 0.2 inch. The mica scales lie parallel to the 

rift. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are greenish-gray 

potash feldspar (microcliue), slightly kaolinized; medium smoky quartz with 

cavities in sheets; buff-gray soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), some of 

it much kaolinized and micacized; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; 

and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Pyrite, magnetite, 

allanite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, chlorlte, calcite. 

There is no effervescence with the muriatic-acid test.

The quarry, opened about 1879, measured in 1909 about 300 feet from east to 

west by 150 feet across and 60 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 9 feet thick, dip low north on the north 

side and low south on the south side. There is but one set of joints, strike N. 

17° W., vertical, spaced 14 to 22 feet, forming a heading 20 feet wide on the 

south side. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical, with 

east to west course, both marked. The north wall of the quarry is gneiss with 

thick dikes and lenses of pegmatite. The foliation strikes N. 80° E. The south 

wall is of like gneiss. The granite thus appears to be a dike 150 feet wide with 

north to south strike, cutting a granite gneiss with a nearly east to west foftation. Stain is up to 8 inches thick on sheet surfaces.

The product is used locally for trimmings, curbing, and foundations, for 

which its marked rift and grain well adapt it.

r ; , CONCORD.

, " ' ' TOPOGRAPHY.

The Concord quarries are on the east side and top of a north-south ridge 

known as Rattlesnake Hill, which is said to attain an elevation of 580 feet above 

the high-water mark of Merrimack River; and they lie within a radius of li to 

2 miles from about N. 25° W. to N. 50° W. of the statehouse. Some of them are 

at the foot of the ridge on North State Street at about the level of the city; 

others are from 70 to 360 feet above it.

GEOLOGY OP THE QUARRIES.

The salient geologic feature is the occurrence here and there within the 

granite of inclusions of coarse and fine banded gneisses from a few inches to 30 

feet in diameter. The largest of these (see p. 63) is a bright, dark biotitemuscovite gneiss with fine bands of varying shades, according .to the proportions of the micas or of the quartz and feldspar. Its feldspar is a soda-lime
196 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

(oligoclase-albite to oligoclase), and the accessory minerals are garnet, zircon, 

apatite, etc. Others are biotite gneisses and consist of alternating bands of very 

light feldspathic quartzose rock and of dark, coarse, and very fine micaceous 

schist, the particles of the schist not exceeding 0.02 inch. The geologic age 

of these gneisses is uncertain.- The pegmatite dike that traverses this large 

inclusion seems, from its relation to the granite, to have been formed before 

the block was surrounded by granite. Of general interest is also the occurrence of fluorite on joint faces, referred to on page 63, which implies deepseated origin of the solutions out of which it crystallized and raises the question whether the associated calcite and quartz may not have come from the 

same source.

Joint planes at the Concord quarries may be divided into eight sets, of which 

those occurring at the largest number of quarries strike N. 15° E., N. 20°-30° E., 

N. 60°-65° E., and N. 60°-75° W. Of less frequent occurrence are those striking N. 10° W., N. 45° W-., N. 80° E., and east. The number and variety of fractures within one of the headings at the Granite Railway quarry indicate the 

localization and sharpness of the strain which produced the heading.

Flow structure appears at only one quarry, where it is vertical with a 

N. 60° W. course. The rift is reported as either horizontal or inclined 5°-15° 

N. 65°-75° W. or S. 45° W., and the grain as vertical, with east-west course, 

but exceptionally N. 45° E., N. 70° E., or N. 80° W. The effect of heat and 

cold on the quality of rift and grain is recognized, and also the fact that the 

degree of dip of rift is affected by the direction in which the sheet is split. 

If the splitting is done from the north or south, the rift will prove horizontal, 

but if from the west it will be inclined. Whether the east-west compressive 

strain that affects Rattlesnake Hill has anything to do with this deflection is 

uncertain.

There are pegmatite dikes with courses of N. 30° E., N. 45° E., N. 45° W., 

and N. 85° W., and segregations of very fine porphyritic granite. (See p. 201.)

" CONCORD GRANITE."

The following combines all the more detailed descriptions of rough and polished specimens and thin sections given on pages 197, 199.

" Concord granite" is a muscovite-biotite granite of medium bluish-gray 

color. The significance of the term " medium gray" becomes apparent upon 

comparing the terms applied to the principal light granites of New England. 

The granite of Hallowell, Maine, is light gray; the " white granite " of North 

Jay, Maine, is very light gray; and the granite of Bethel, Vt, is white mottled 

with gray. The general shades of these light or whitish granites form a 

descending series in which " Concord granite " stands fourth, the granite of 

Bethel, Vt., being white with a mottling of shade. The texture of " Concord 

granite " is fine to medium, somewhat porphyritic, with sparse slender, isolated 

feldspars up to 0.5 inch. Although the micas occur in very minute particles, 

especially the biotite, they measure up to 0.2 inch and exceptionally 0.4 inch. 

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are slightly bluish translucent potash feldspar (microcline, usually in longish twins, and some orthoclase), inclosing particles of quartz and of soda-lime feldspar (in some specimens these minerals with biotite are zoually arranged within a crystal of 

feldspar) ; clear to pale amethystine quartz with hairlike crystals, probably 

of rutile, and with cavities in sheets which in some sections are parallel; 

milk-white striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), more or less kaolinized and centrally micacized; white potash mica (muscovite) ; and black mica 

(biotite), some of it chloritized, generally in smaller scales than the muscovite.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 197

In some specimens the mica plates have their flat sides parallel to the rift 

direction; in some the biotite appears to predominate over the muscovite, possibly owing to the different alinement of its scales, Accessory: Magnetite, 

apatite, zircon (some in doubly terminated slender prisms), and rutile. Purple and white fluorite occurs here and there on and near joint planes. Calclte 

and quartz are associated with it on these joints. Secondary: Kaolin, muscovite in veinlets, a white mica without potash, chlorite, and calcite.81

But one chemical analysis of " Concord granite " is available. That is given 

on page 199. Tlie specific gravity of the stone was determined by Crosby as 

2.64 and 2.65, averaging 2.65, or 155.6 pounds per cubic foot.

George Steiger and W. T. Schaller, chemists, of this Survey, find as the 

result of two tests that " Concord granite " contains from 0.15 to 0.17 per cent 

of CaO (lime) soluble in hot. dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content of 

0.26 to 0.30 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate), and the microscope also 

shows the presence of carbonate.

Two tests of compressive strenglh, made at the United States arsenal at 

Watertown, Mass., show a compressive strength of 30,830 pounds to the square 

inch with pressure applied at right angles to the rift, and of 23,860 pounds with 

pressure applied parallel to the rift. There is thus a loss of 12.5 per cent of 

compressive strength in the rift direction. A more recent test made at the 

same place gave this stone a compressive strength of 23,670 pounds, direction 

of rift and grain not stated.

The polish of " Concord granite " is fair, but the abundant mica plates and 

the size of some of them do not favor the durability of the polish under longcontinued outdoor exposure. The muscovite appears much darker when polished. No pyrite was detected in the polished specimens or thin sections, although the chemical analysis indicates its probable presence. There is considerable contrast between the rough and hammered faces. The general bluish 

cast of the granite is marked, particularly on the polished face, but the rough 

face becomes lighter on continued exposure. There is some variation in the 

amount of mica apparent on the different faces of a block, as well as a difference in the actual amount of black mica and in the sparseness of the large 

feldspars in the stone from different quarries. Only on close, inspection do 

strong contrasts appear between the bright muscovite plates, the fine black 

biotite scales, and the glassy feldspar.

QUABBIES.

The New England Granite Works quarry is in the upper part of Rattlesnake Hill, roughly northwest of Concord. Operator, New England Granite 

Works, 20 Ferry Street, Concord.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 39, a, b, f, g), "Concord granite," is a 

muscovite-biotite granite, of medium bluish-gray color and fine to medium, 

somewhat porphyritic texture, with sparsely disseminated larger feldspars up 

to 0.4 inch (exceptionally 0.5 inch) and micas from very minute size up to 

0.2 inch (exceptionally 0.4 inch). It consists, in descending order of abundance, 

of a slightly bluish translucent potash feldspar (microcline, mostly in long 

twins, less orthoclase), inclosing quartz and soda-lime feldspar particles; clear 

to faintly amethystine quartz with abundant hairlike crystals, probably of 

rutile, also with sheets of cavities; milk-white more or less kaolinized and 

micacized soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-abite) containing rare particles of

81 A microscopic description of Concord granite by G. W. Hawes will be found in his 

Mineralogy and lithology of New Hampshire, which forms vol. 3, pt. 4, of C. H. Hitchcock's Geology of New Hampshire, 1878.
198 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

carbonate, probably calcite; white potash mica (muscovite); and black mica 

(biotite), mostly In smaller scales than the muscovite or with their flat sides 

at right angles to the muscovite scales. Accessory: Magnetite (some within 

biotite), apatite, zircon, and rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, muscovite in veinlets, 

white mica without potash, and calcite.

George Steiger, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 

0.15 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates 

a content of 0.26 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate); the presence of this 

carbonate is also indicated by the microscope.

A test of the compressive strength of this granite, made at the United States 

arsenal at Watertownr Mass., in 1907, gave the following results: A cube of 

approximately 2-inch edge showed the first crack at 86,000 pounds and was 

crushed at 94.200 pounds, thus having an ultimate compressive strength of 

23,670 pounds to the square inch. It does not appear whether the pressure 

was applied in the rift or grain direction.

The granite of this quarry appears to be. more biotitic and to have its larger 

feldspars more sparse than the stone of the other Concord quarries.

The quarry, opened in 1812, was in 1906 about 350 feet from northeast to 

southwest, by 300 feet across, and had a working face on the southwest 130 

feet in height.

Rock structure: The sheets, from 6 inches thick in the upper 30 feet of the 

working face to 40 feet at the bottom, dip 10'-15° SE. Some of the sheets, 

owing to their freedom from rusty discoloration, are regarded by the foremen 

as of recent origin and are called " strain sheets;" and even now a northwestsoutheast compressive strain occasionally extends these sheets. (See p. 32.)

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 62° E., vertical, forms headings 

on the northwest and southeast sides and recurs in the middle, but is apt to 

be discontinuous; (b), strike N. 45° W., dip 35° NE., represented by only two 

on the northwest wall 5 feet apart. The rift is reported as horizontal, and 

the grain as vertical and exactly east-west. Two 6-inch pegmatite dikes, 20 

feet apart, and several an inch thick traverse the quarry vertically with a 

N. 30° E. course. The thick ones are banded, consisting of a central 1$ to 2 inch 

band of aplitic material with a half-inch border on one or both sides made up 

of coarse pegmatite, milk-white oligoclase and microcline, and smoky quartz.

Very fine garnets occur throughout these dikes, some in bands, and here and 

there a small beryl. There are also half-inch muscovitic veins, " sand streaks " 

(p. 74), striking N. 45° W. and consisting of a central band of muscovite and 

quartz, with borders of quartz and feldspar. Gray and black knots of the 

micas measure up to 6 by 5 inches. Light rusty stain measures from 6 inches 

to 2 feet on the sheet surfaces, but for 100 feet vertically in the center of the 

quarry the sheets have little or none of it.

Transportation, by track five-eighths mile to siding of Boston & Maine 

Railroad.

The product consists mainly of building stone. Thin sheets and waste furnish about 100,000 paving blocks annually as a by-product. Specimen structures: The four outer walls and the covered driveway of the Congressional 

Library and the outside and inner court walls of the basement of the United 

States Senate Office Building, Washington; Blackstone Library, Chicago; Bankers Trust Co., Wall Street, and Christian Science Church, New York; Camden 

County courthouse, Camden, N. J.; city and county building, Pittsburgh, Pa.; 

Adelphia Hotel, Philadelphia; Assabet River bridge, Northboro, Mass.; Early 

Settlers monument, Galveston, Tex.; receiving tomb, Greenwood Cemetery, 

Wheeling, W. Va.; Stassforth mausoleum, Evergreen Cemetery,. Los Angeles, 

Calif.; New Hampshire Historical Society Building, Concord, N. H.
' NEW HAMPSHIBE. 199

The Granite Railway or Upper Svvenson quarry 83 (of Concord) is on 

Rattlesnake Hill, about N. 40° W. from the statehouse at Concord and 200 feet 

above it. Operator, John Swenson Granite Co., Concord.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 40 c, e), "Concord granite," is a muscovite-biotite granite of medium bluish-gray color and fine to medium, somewhat porphyritic texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and mica plates to 0.2 

inch. Feldspar appears to be relatively more abundant and biotite less so than 

in the stone of the New England Granite Works quarry. In other respects the 

two granites are identical. A section cut at right angles to the rift shows 

that the mica plates, both black and white, lie with their flat sides parallel 

to the rift.

The following analysis of this granite was made by Sherman & Edwards, 

chemists, from a " thoroughly composite sample carefully selected" by 

W. 0. Crosby, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This analysis 

forms part of a report made by him for the firm in 1907, and is published here 

merely for reference.

Analysis of "Concord granite" from Swenson quarries.

Silica (SiOa )_- _ _______________ 74.47

Aluinina (AUOs)_________________________ 14.15

Iron sesquioxide (FeaOs) _ _ _ 1.16

Iron oxide (FeO) _ _ 1.21

Magnesia (MgO)__ ______ ____ ___ .63

Lime (CaO)___________________________ 1.70

Soda (NaaO)___________________________ 1.97

Potash (K2O)_____ ________________ 4.14

Sulphur, (S) _____ __________________ . 27

Carbonic dioxide (C0a ) ____ . 25

Water not combined (HaO) __ .06

Water combined (HaO) __________________ .20

100.21

Crosby, in the same report, gives two determinations of specific gravity 

as 2.64 and 2.66, average 2.65, which is equivalent to 155.6 pounds to the 

cubic foot.

 W. T. Schaller, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 

0.17 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates 

the presence of 0.30 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate).

Compression tests made at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., 

in 1906 show it to have an ultimate compressive strength of 30,830 pounds to 

the square inch with pressure applied at right angles to the rift, but of 

23,860 pounds with pressure applied in the direction of the rift, the rift thus 

weakening the stone 12.5 per cent when pressure is applied parallel to it.

The quarry, opened in 1863, measured in 1906 about 500 feet in a northnortheasterly direction by 400 and 200 feet in width and from 10 to 100 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets are irregular, lenticular, 4 inches to 14 feet 

thick, but mostly from 2 to 7 feet, and dip northwest at a low angle. There 

are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 20° E., dip 70°-75° E., spaced 10 to 100 

feet, forms the west wall and a heading 50 feet wide on the east side; (b),

82 This quarry owes Its first name to the fact that It was originally operated by the 

Granite Railway Co., of Qulncy, Mass., referred to on p. 329.
200 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

strike N. 65° W., vertical or dip 75° S., spaced 10 to 300 feet, forms the north 

wall arid a heading 6 to 15 feet wide on that side. The rift is reported as 

dipping 15° W., with a strike of N. 5°-10° E., and the grain as vertical east-' 

west. In summer time it is not necessary to follow the grain closely in 

splitting. There are pegmatite dikes up to li inches wide. Segregations of 

the micas are said to be very rare and to measure only 4 inches. Rusty 

stain is up to 8 inches wide, but confined to the proximity of headings. iA 

little east-west compressive strain is reported. The joint faces of headings 

(b) are dull greenish, owing to chloritization of biotite and the formation of 

fibrous muscovite in the feldspar and between the particles. The soda-lime 

feldspars also contain chlorite and carbonate. Other joint faces of the same 

set carry secondary quartz and calcite crystals and apparently also fluorite, 

deep purple and white. (See p. 83.)

Transportation, by cart one-third mile to cutting sheds on siding of Boston 

& Maine Railroad.

The product is used for buildings and monuments. Specimens: Institute 

of Arts and Sciences, Manchester, N. H.; city hall and Christian Science 

Church, Boston; Northampton County Savings Bank, Easton, Pa.; Lehigh 

County courthouse, Allentown, Pa.; Medico-Chirugical Hospital, Eighteenth 

and Cherry streets, Philadelphia; post offices at Dayton, Ohio, Lincoln, Nebr., 

Adrian, Mich., and Hammond, Ind.; pedestal of the Monaghan monument, 

Spokane, Wash.; New Hampshire soldiers' monument, Vicksburg, Miss.; 

pedestal and exedra of McKinley memorial, McKinley Park, Chicago; and 

electric station of New York Edison Co., East Thirty-ninth Street, New York. 

The Lower Swenson or Hollis quarry is about 600 feet northeast of the 

last and 70 feet below it. It is operated by the same company.

The granite is identical with that of the upper quarry, just described. The 

quarry, opened about 1864, measured in 1906 about 450 feet north and south 

by 300 feet across and from 40 to 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 35 feet thick, are irregular, lenticular, 

and horizontal or dip 15° W. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 25° E., 

dip 65°-70° E., spaced 10 to 50 feet, forms headings on the west and east sides 

and another 50 feet of the west wall; (b), strike N. 65° W. to east-west, about 

vertical, spaced 20 to 75 feet, forms the northeast wall. There are several 

inclusions of banded gneiss; one 3 feet 6 inches by 2 feet; another, originally 

much larger, now measures 4 feet 6 inches in diameter and is roughly quadrangular. Part of this is pegmatitic and part a biotite gneiss, with soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase-andesine) and garnets. In the finer parts the particles 

do not exceed 0.37 millimeter in diameter. The rift and grain are reported 

as the same as at the upper quarry. One-inch pegmatite dikes cross the quarry 

diagonally, Rusty stain on the upper sheets is up to 8 inches thick. The granite 

along heading (a) on the west wall is much kaolinized and in places very 

limonitic. The surfaces have frostlike crystallizations (dendrites), probably 

of limonite also.

The product of this quarry has been combined with that of the Upper 

Swenson quarry.

The Fox quarry is on Rattlesnake Hill, 110 feet above North State Street. 

N. 43° W. from the statehouse, and about half a mile N. 40° E. from the New 

England Granite Works quarry. Operator, Thomas Fox, 272 North State 

Street, Concord. Idle in 1921.

The granite, " Concord granite," is a muscovite-biotite granite of medium 

bluish-gray color and fine to medium, somewhat porphyritic texture, resembling 

that of the Upper Swenson quarry more than that of the New England Granite 

Works quarry. (See p. 199.)
NEW HAMPSHIEE. 201

The quarry, opened in 1884-85, a plan of which is given in figure 40, measured 

in 1906 about 200 feet and 300 feet by 175 feet across and from 40 to 70 

feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 20 feet thick, are, for this region, exceptionally regular, and dip 10° SW. There are three sets of joints. (See fig. 40.) 

A, vertical to steep, east-southeast, spaced 3 to 30 feet, forms east and west walls 

and the headings on the east side and center. B, vertical to steep, east, spaced 

10 feet and over. C. spaced 10 to 70 feet, apt to be discontinuous. The rift is reported as dipping 5°-H7 0 SW., and the grain as vertical, with a N. 70° E. course. 

The stone splits more easily along the rift in winter than in summer* In the 

northern part a 10-foot band of granite, without the bluish tint of the rest, 

strikes N. 60° W. and dips 90°. The cause of the difference is not clear, unless 

it is the micacization of the potash feldspar. This band contains zonally 

arranged particles of quartz and oligoclase. Its course presumably indicates 

the flow direction of the granite. On one or both sides of it is an inch vein 

of muscovite. Pegmatite dikes are up to 1$ inches thick. There are spheroidal 

segregations, from 6 inches to 3 feet by 2 feet 6 inches, of a porphyritic granite 

of bluish-gray color, darker thaji 

any " Concord granite^" The matrix is fine-textured (particles 

0.18 to 0.74 millimeter) ; the feldspars measure up to 0.4 inch and 

the mica to 0.2 inch. The constituents are the same as those 

of " Concord granite." The sheet 

surfaces are mostly free from 

rusty stain, and it is said never 

to exceed 4 inches in thickness. 

One of the joint faces carries 

chlorite, calcite, and pyrite.

Transportation, by cart onefourth mile to siding of Boston & 

Maine Railroad, or three-fourths 

mile to cutting shed.

The product is used for buildings and monuments. Specimens: Church of 

Christ, Scientist, Sheldon Library, St. Paul's School, Concord; soldiers' monument, Warner, N. H.; Carpenter tomb, Manchester, N. H.; entrance to Forest 

Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, N. Y.

The Perry quarry is on Rattlesnake Hill, N. 50° W. from the statehouse 

and 360 feet above North State Street. This is the most southerly of the 

Concord quarries. Operators, Perry Bros., Concord.

The granite, "Concord granite," is a medium bluish-gray muscovite-biotite 

granite of fine to medium, somewhat porphyritic texture, closely resembling 

that of the New England Granite Works quarry described on page 197.

The quarry, opened in 1873, measured in 1906 250 feet N. 75° W. by 125 

to 250 feet N. 10° E., and from 60 to 100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 18 feet thick, are about horizontal. There 

are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 10° E., dip steep east, spaced 5 to 20 

feet; (b), strike N. 75° W., vertical, spaced 18 to 35 feet; (c), strike N. 30° 

E., dip 50° E., spaced 200 feet; (d), strike N. 45° W., dip 75° S. 45° W., occurs 

only at the northeast corner. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain 

as vertical, with N. 80° W. course. A 4 to 5 inch pegmatite dike has a N. 85°

FIGURE 40. Structure and plan of Fox quarry, 

Concord, N. H.
202 COMMEECIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

W. course and vertical dip. Rusty stain does not exceed 4 inches and is absent 

from some sheets.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to cutting shed on Boston & Maine Railroad.

The product is used mostly for monuments. Specimen: George Fogg monument, Blossom Hill Cemetery, Concord.

. The Henneberry quarry is on Rattlesnake Hill, one-fourth mile \vest of 

North State Street and 70 feet above it, at a point one-fourth mile north of 

the State prison. Operator, Thomas Fox, 272 North State Street, Concord. 

Idle in 1921. - " The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 49, a, c), " Concord granite," is a muscovite-biotite granite of medium bluish-gray color and fine to medium, somewhat 

porphyritic texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and white mica scales up 

to 0.2 inch. This stone resembles more closely that of the New England 

Granite Works quarry than that of the Swenson quarries, being more micaceous 

and less feldspathic than the latter, but the black mica scales are generally 

finer than in the former, so that it has a larger number of fine particles. The 

constituents are the same as in the sections described on pages 197, 199.

The quarry, opened-in 1900, was in 1906 ajjout 200 feet N. 25° E. by 100 

feet across and from 50 to 65 feet deep. f

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 15 feet thick, are somewhat irregular and 

horizontal or dip 17°-30° NE. There are two sets of joints (a), discontinuous, strike N. 25° E., spaced 3 to 15 feet, forms a heading at the northeast 

end; (b), strike about northeast, diagonal, spaced 12 to 25 feet. The rift is 

reported as horizontal or nearly so, and the grain as vertical with a northeast 

strike. Three garnetiferous pegmatite dikes, 1 to 4 inches thick, in a space 

of 2$ feet, strike about N. 45° W. and dip 60° SE. Rusty stain is about 4 

inches thick on sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart, one-eighth mile to Boston So Maine Railroad.

The product is used entirely for monuments. Specimens: Fay sarcophagus, 

Dewitt, Iowa; Sielaff sarcophagus, Milwaukee, Wis.; Raines sarcophagus, 

Memphis, Tenn.; McElwee sarcophagus, Homer, 111.; Alten cross, Elyria, Ohio; 

Crippen sarcophagus (elaborately carved), Blossom Hill Cemetery, Concord.

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY. 

ATTBTJEN.

The Auburn quarry is 7 miles east of Manchester, in the township of 

Auburn. Operators, Perry Bros., Concord.

The granite (specimens, D, XXVIII, 46, a, b), "deep-pink Auburn," is a 

quartz monzonite of medium pink-buff color with very fine black dots. Its texture is fine, with feldspar and mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are slightly pinkish potash feldspar (orthoclase and 

microcline) ; almost if not quite as abundant, clear to milk-white soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase), some of it kaolinized and micacized; smoky quartz; and 

biptite (black mica), some of it chloritized and bleached. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, and zircon. ' Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, chlorite, and 

hematite stain.

The stone takes a fair polish, and the hammered face by its lightness offers 

not a little contrast to the rough and polished faces. It is used for monumental work.

STRAFFORD COUNTY. 

ROCHESTER.

The Langmaid quarry, in Rochester Township, 5 miles northwest of Dover, 

is no longer operated.
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 203

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 84, a) is a biotite granite of very light gray 

shade, with close dark specks, and of even-grained medium texture, with 

feldspar up to 0.3 inch and micas to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are clear to translucent potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase) ; medium smoky quartz with cavities in sheets and; hairlike crystals 

of rutile; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), most of it kaolinized and micacized; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little 

muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, rutile. Secondary: 

Kaolin, a white mica, chlorite, calcite. It effervesces slightly with muriatic 

acid test.

This is a constructional granite with marked contrast of shade between its 

smoky quartz and milk-white feldspar.

The quarry, opened before 1879, measured in 1909 about 300 by 90 feet and 

from 12 to 15 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, are horizontal. There are 

three sets of joints a longitudinal, a transverse, and a diagonal set spaced 

generally 10 -to 20 feet. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as 

vertical, with north-south course. There are several pegmatite dikes about 

a foot thick. Rusty stain is 1 to 3 inches but in places 8 inches thick on 

sheet surfaces.

Transportation," by cart 5 miles to Dover or Rochester.

The product was used for bases, trimmings, and faces. Specimen: Some of 

of the trimmings of the courthouse at Dover, N. H.

SULLIVAN COUNTT. 

STTNAPEE.

The Spectacle Pond quarry is at the southeast corner of Sunapee Township, 

about a quarter of a mile south of Spectacle Pond and the same distance southwest of Edgemont (formerly Mount Sunapee) station. (See Sunapee topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.)

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 78, a) is a biotite-muscovite granite of light 

buff-gray color and of even-grained fine texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch, 

rarely 0.25 inch, and micas under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) ; 

light smoky quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile and with cavities in sheets 

and cracks parallel thereto; cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), 

more or less kaolinized and micacized; biotite (black mica); muscovite (white 

mica). Accessory: Garnet, apatite, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin,'a white mica. 

No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a fine-grained monumental granite. Its color may be less buff and 

even bluish farther below the surface.

The quarry, when opened in 1909, was 75 feet square and 3 to 8 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, dip 15° about northeast. There 

are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 10° E., dip 80° W., spaced 5 to 10 feet, 

forms a heading on the east side; (b), strike northeast, dip 65° NW., spaced 

10 to 25 feet, forms a heading at the southwest corner; (c), strike N. 30° E., 

dip 70° N. 60° W., forms a heading 10 feet wide through the middle of the 

quarry. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical, with 

nearly east-west course. A quartz vein up to 5 inches thick crosses the middle 

of the quarry, with N. 70° E. strike. Rusty stain is up to 4 inches thick on 

sheet surfaces. The quarry is no longer operated.
204 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The Perry Sunapee quarry is on the top of a 200-foot knoll half a mile 

west of Burkehaven, on Lake Sunapee, and three-fourths of a mile south-southeast of Sunapee village, in Sunapee Township. (See Sunapee topographic map, 

U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operators, Perry Bros., Concord.

The granite (specimens, D, XXVIII, 47, a, b), "light Sunapee," is a biotitemuscovite granite of a light-gray, slightly bluish color and very fine to fine 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.15 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase, the latter with hairlike crystals, probably of rutile, both being 

intergrown with quartz circular in cross section) ; clear colorless quartz, also 

with rutile needles; translucent to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclasealbite), somewhat kaolinized and intergrown with quartz; biotite (black mica) ; 

and muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Magnetite, garnet, zircon, and rutile. 

Secondary: Kaolin and carbonate.

This, as will be seen by comparing the descriptions, is finer grained than 

41 Concord granite." It lends itself well to fine carving. Its particles are too 

fine to afford contrasts. It takes a fair polish.

The "black granite" (specimen t), XXVIII, 48, a, b), "black pearl" or 

" dark Sunapee," is a quartz diorite of very dark bluish-gray color and fine, 

inclining to medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are clear colorless to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine to andesine), but little kaolinized, rarely intergrown 

with quartz; biotite (black mica); clear colorless quartz (possibly equal in 

amount to feldspar) ; and titanite. There is so much of this molasses-colored 

mineral present that it is easily seen with a loop. Accessory: Magnetite 

(ilmenite?), pyrite, allanite, and zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, epidote (about 

allanite), calcite, and hematite. It effervesces slightiy with muriatic acid test.

When polished the rock appears black mottled with white. The polish is 

poor owing to the large size and abundance of mica. It shows magnetite and 

a little pyrite. The hammered face is light gray and thus is in marked contrast 

to both rough and polished faces. The stone is used for monuments and is 

suitable for inscriptions.

The quarry, opened in 1869, measured in 1906 about 150 by 100 feet and from 

15 to 30 feet in depth..

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick, are undulating. There 

are no joints. The rift is probably horizontal, and the grain vertical, with N. 80° 

W. course. A pegmatite dike up to 30 inches thick, strike N. 50° E., vertical or 

steep, forms part of the east wall. A 3-foot dike striking about east forms the 

north wall. Other pegmatite dikes up to 6 inches thick, strike N. 50°-70° E.. 

recur at intervals of 5 to 20 feet. A vertical porphyritic granite mass, also 

striking N. 30° E., forms the west wall. Two large inclusions of quartz-mica 

diorite gneiss occur near the south end of the east wall, apparently in a coarser 

granite. The larger, 10 feet long and of very irregular outline, is' crossed by 

meandering quartz veins. These inclusions appear to lie not within the fine granite of the quarry but within a coarser granitic rock adjoining or crossing it. The 

diorite consists of andesine, biotite, quartz, and titanite. The other inclusion 

back of the northeast corner of the quarry is of similar rock but contains 

hornblende. These diorites resemble that of specimens 48, a, b, described above. 

A disused quarry of that rock occurs a little north of the Perry light-granite 

quarry. A coarse porphyritic granite occurs also on the same hillock. A little 

west of Sunapee on the road to Newport a coarse porphyritic granite, a finegrained granite, and a dark schistose rock all occur in a single outcrop. The 

relations of the diorite gneiss to the fine and the coarse granite were not 

further investigated.
MAINE. 205

Transportation, by cart more than 3 miles to Sunapee station, on Claremont 

branch of Boston & Maine Railroad.

The product is used for monuments, which are finished at the firm's cutting 

shed at Concord. The quarry is operated only occasionally.

MAINE. 

THE OCCURRENCE OF GRANITE IN MAINE.

By GEORGE OTIS SMITH. 

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

Areally, granite is perhaps the most abundant rock in Maine. 

Slates, schists, sandstones, and limestones of various types occur in 

the different sections of the State, but the mountains and hills of 

the interior and the islands and headlands of the coast for the most 

part all exhibit slopes and cliffs of massive granite. Even where the 

 exposures are of other rock varieties the notable abundance of granite dikes and quartz veins indicates the presence of granite at no 

great distance. Not only is this rock most conspicuous, but its importance in both the geology and the industry of the State can 

hardly be overestimated.

The areal distribution of the granite is somewhat irregular, as 

may be noted on the map accompanying this report (PL IX). Three 

general granitic regions may be distinguished for convenience of 

description that of the western tier of counties, that of the eastern 

part of the State, and the Mount Katahdin area, in the north-central 

part of the State. In addition to these larger regions there should 

also be mentioned three small areas in Lincoln, Kennebec, and Somerset counties, which are intermediate in position between the three 

main regions.

The granite areas of the western region are not widely separated, 

and the largest of these areas as outlined on the map is not all 

granite, although, as will be explained in a later paragraph, the 

intrusive granite forms the larger part of the rock exposed within 

these limits. The northernmost of these granite masses is exposed 

in the elevated country that forms the divide between the Chaudiere 

drainage basin on the Canadian side of the international boundary 

and the headwaters of Androscoggin and Dead rivers in the northern part of Franklin County. South of this is a much larger area 

of granite, extending from the western part of Somerset County 

across Franklin into Oxford County and including prominent 

peaks, like Mount Bigelow and Saddleback Mountain, as well as the 

rugged country south of the Eangeley Lakes. South of this is a large, 

irregular-shaped area of metamorphic rocks gneisses and schistsmore or less thoroughly impregnated with granite, which extends
506 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

southward and eastward through seven counties, reaching the coast 

at Casco Bay on the west and Penobscot Bay on the east. Southwest of this area is a mass of granite, which constitutes the eastern 

extension of the White Mountain massif of New Hampshire and 

reaches the coast at Casco Bay, Cape Porpoise, and York Cliffs.

The Mount Katahdin area of granite lies wholly within the forested region of northern Maine, and therefore its exact boundaries 

are unknown. At the northeast end of the area is the highest elevation in the State, Katahdin, 5,268 feet above the sea, a typical 

granite mountain. To the southwest, possibly connected with this 

area, is the granite near Lake Onawa, where the rock is well exposed 

in a deep cut of the Canadian Pacific Kailway.

In the eastern counties three extensive granitic areas may be distinguished. Of these the northernmost extends southwestward from 

New Brunswick across the northern portions of Washington and 

Hancock counties into Penobscot and is almost wholly forested 

country. Southeast of this is the horseshoe-shaped granitic area of 

Hancock County, which crosses into Washington County near Cherryfield. On the west the outlying Mount Waldo mass may represent an 

extension of the same granite, although connecting exposures along 

Penobscot River below Bucksport have not yet been observed. In the 

Hancock County area the granite can be traced from the shore of 

Eggemoggin Reach northward along a line of prominent hills, which 

are best seen from the Maine Central Railroad near Green Lake. 

North of Aurora these granite hills have less relief, but east of that 

place the belt extends southward with increasing ruggedness of topography, Tunk Mountain, near the Washington County Railroad, being 

characteristic of this southern portion. The other area of granite in 

eastern Maine is the belt extending from New Brunswick across the 

St. Croix, thence southwestward to the coast at Addison, and thence 

along the coast to Penobscot Bay. Within this belt are included several large islands Swans, Deer, and Vinalhaven and the mountains of Mount Desert owe their topographic prominence to the 

massive character of the granite composing them.

Of the smaller areas of granite not included within the three groups 

described above, that in Lincoln County comprises the town of Waldoboro and islands at the head of Muscongus Bay. The HallowellAugusta area in Kennebec County, the North Jay and Phillips area in 

Franklin County, and the Hartland and Norridgewock areas in Somerset County represent the larger of many small intrusive masses of 

granite in central Maine. With these should be mentioned the granite occurring in Aroostook County, about 12 miles west of Houlton.

In the preparation of the map (PI. IX) showing the distribution 

of the granite, as described above, the data used have been largely the
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE IX 

67°

 sry~" ""- « \ V 

'V«->*>v.. fCl» > I ^\*t ^ PCJart!"

>fS||^A.ixTb|i'lo r 0**x £/M-

"iFtotol 7 iElfer?"*? saaifcyggfepfuj&IHeadt____ __ V J_ I hl>?IFmtUB&IK.M f^~^Jl ft t^fz^lf ^ """" ' " " - 

.T>T- i ,' !/ / '«' ) ; U ^asco/v-4.ty.r^ "

\i'/ V ' \ '.«'' ;ip^»«"«?Vm 

?r: Aivttt-i! ii " Bocftfcj.,:! r _. ...! ,t D=.,.Ke.;.

, : '

Areasof granitic rocks Areas of slate and

(granite, pegmatite, di- schist injected by gneiss

orite, igneous gneiss, and pegmatite, and small

etc.) with occasional areas> of granite and

small masses of slates diorite. 

and schists.

Area! geology by George Otis Smith, E. S. Bastin, and C- W. Brown 

Quarry locations by T, Nelson Dale

MAP SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF GKANITE AND RELATED ROCKS IN MAINE

1922
MAINE. 207

results of areal mapping for folio publication by E. S. Bastin, 

C. W. Brown, and the writer, and of general reconnaissance by the 

writer, assisted by Mr. Bastin. In the more northern areas the work 

by H. E. Gregory and the earlier mapping by C. T. Jackson and 

C. H. Hitchcock have been utilized to supplement this recent work. 

Mr. Brown also contributed the results of recent observations in the 

.vicinity of Mount Katahdin.

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

Wherever the granites of Maine have been studied in any degree 

of detail, their relations are plainly those of intrusion into part, at 

least, of the adjacent formations. Evidence that the granite is the 

younger rock is found in the tendency shown by some of the granite 

areas (see PI. IX) toward elongation in a northeast-southwest direction, parallel to the general trend of the main structural features of 

the region, but more conclusive evidence is found in the fact that 

the granite actually cuts across the bedding of the! sedimentary 

rocks and has in some localities produced in them a very consider-* 

able amount of alteration. Bordering the granite in Franklin 

County, for example, and in some other parts of the State are 

andalusite schists which plainly represent sedimentary strata metamorphosed by the granite. In many regions, as will be described 

later, tho granite masses are bordered b}T gneisses which were formed 

by the injection of granitic material along the foliation planes of 

sedimentary schists. Thus the general relations throughout the 

State suggest that the granites are relatively the younger rocks.

The feature which is perhaps the most significant in the geologic 

relations of the granites to the other rocks of the State is the great 

contrast between the sharpness of certain granite borders and the 

indefinite character of others. In the vicinity of Bluehill and 

Brooksville, in Hancock County, for example, the contact is absolutely sharp, pure granite being succeeded within a foot by schists 

unmixed with granite. Along such sharp borders, too, the granite 

usually preserves its normal texture up to the very contact, and the 

surrounding rocks show almost no effects of contact metamorphism. 

In striking contrast to this are the broad contact zones which characterize most of the granite masses lying farther west. In the Eockland region, i'or example, the Sprucehead-Clark Island granite 

area is bordered on the northwest by a zone 3 to 4 miles in width 

in which sedimentary slates and schists are intimately associated 

with injection gneisses, basic granites, fine-grained granite, pegmatite, diorite, gabbro, and diabase. These igneous rocks were plainly 

derived from the granitic magma and are- most abundant in those 

portions of the contact zone which lie nearest to the areas' of pure
208 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

granite. A granite area near South Penobscot, in Hancock County, 

is almost completely surrounded by a border zone from one-fourth 

mile to 1£ miles in width in which the rocks are largely diorite and 

gabbro with small amounts of igneous gneiss and fine-grained 

granite.

Some hint as to the cause of this contrast in the character of 

granite borders in different regions is obtained from a study of the. 

rocks in the southwestern part of the State, especially in Sagadahoc, 

Cumberland, and Oxford counties and the southern part of Kennebec County. Here, as indicated on the map (PL IX), there are considerable areas which contain no large continuous masses of normal 

granite but in which the prevailing sedimentary schists have been 

invaded in the most intimate manner by dikelike or irregular masses 

of pegmatite and fine-grained granite and in many places have been 

given a gneissic texture by the injection of granitic material. The 

areas of intrusion and injection pass gradually into the larger 

areas of nearly pure normal-textured granite shown on the map. 

To explain such intimate injection and intrusion in areas far removed from any outcropping masses of pure normal granite it 

seems necesary to assume that a granite mass underlies these rocks at 

no great distance below the present surface and that such invaded 

areas constitute in reality portions'of the "roof" of great granite 

batholiths.

It seems almost certain that the escape of gases and water vapor 

and the differentiation of basic rocks from the granitic magma would 

proceed much more rapidly from the upper surface of a buried 

magma than from its sides. It is to be expected, therefore, that portions of the "roof" of such granite masses should be particularly 

characterized by the abundance of pegmatites, diorite, gabbro, etc., 

and by notable contact metamorphism of the sedimentary rocks 

through which these forced their way. The sharpness of other 

granite contacts is readily explained by supposing that they represent the side contacts of the granite batholiths, where the gases and 

water vapor escaped from the magma laterally in much less volume 

and where the accompanying metamorphic effects were very much 

less than at the upper surface.

The geologic history of the great granite intrusions of Maine may 

therefore be summarized as follows:

All the granite masses now exposed solidified below the surface 

as it existed at the time when they were intruded. The depth at 

which they solidified varied in different places. Erosion gradually 

removed the rocks covering some of the masses and has in some 

places even revealed their deeper portions, so as to show the sharp 

lateral contacts. In other places all or a part of the " roof " of the
MAINE. 209

granite masses still remains. The present land surface therefore 

truncates the various granite batholiths at different horizons. It is 

highly probable that a further erosion of 500 to 1,000 feet would 

expose much larger areas of granite than now appear.

All the granites of Maine were formerly supposed to have been 

intruded during a single great period of igneous activity and to be of 

the same general geologic age. This conclusion was based on their 

general lithologic similarity and on the presumed continuity, at no 

great depth below the surface, with the granite of neighboring areas, 

as stated above. There is little doubt, for example, of the contemporaneity of the granite of the Perry Basin, on the eastern border 

of the State, with that of Vinalhaven, as a belt of granite extends 

with slight interruptions from one of those localities to the other. 

It was thought, therefore, that the greater part of the State is underlain by a huge granite batholith with an irregular upper surface, 

exposed by erosion in many areas but elsewhere covered by uneroded 

portions of the "roof."

The age of the belt of granite just mentioned is approximately 

known, as the Silurian strata of the Perry Basin district contain no 

pebbles of granite, but such pebbles, plainly derived from the neighboring granite masses, are abundant in the conglomerate at the base 

of the Perry formation, which is of late Devonian age. The granite 

is therefore late Silurian or early Devonian, and this conclusion is 

strengthened by the evidence in the Vinalhaven district, where the 

granite is intruded into surface volcanic rocks of Niagaran age.

In southwestern Maine, however, the rocks into which most of the 

granites are intruded are now believed to be Carboniferous, because 

of their strong lithologic similarity to the Carboniferous strata of 

central Massachusetts and their virtual continuity with those strata 

across southeastern New Hampshire. Hence most of the granites 

of that part of the State are much younger than those of the 

 eastern part. At present, therefore, although all the granites of 

Maine are regarded as of Paleozoic age, they are thought to be 

separated into at least two eruptive groups, one middle Paleozoic 

and the other probably late Paleozoic.

DISTRIBUTION OF GRANITE QUARRIES.

The map (PI. IX) shows the location of the principal quarries and 

groups of quarries and prospects, which include 115 separate openings, and also the relation of these to the rock areas described above by 

Doctor Smith. A number of unimportant paving-block and underpinning quarries have been overlooked or intentionally omitted. A 

typical one-man paving-block quarry which from its changing location is called in Maine " a motion " is shown in Plate XVIII, B. 

105709 23 15
210 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Quarries of granite proper. With the exception of the important 

quarries at Hallo well, Kennebec County, and North Jay, Franklin 

County, and the minor ones at Fryeburg and Bryant Pond, Oxford 

County, Pownal, Cumberland County, Norridgewock and Hartland, 

Somerset County, Oak Hill and Lincolnville, Waldo County, and 

Dedham, Hancock County, all the granite quarries of Maine are 

along the seaboard, either on islands or on bays or navigable rivers, 

or within 4 miles of them. The inland quarries are all on railroads 

or within a short distance of them. The distance to rail from a few 

quarries is 3 miles, from one 5 miles, but as the product of these 

quarries is used entirely for monumental work the cartage is a matter 

of less moment. The Maine granite industry may be said to have 

its center in Penobscot and Bluehill bays and the islands about them. 

A line drawn from Clark Island, south of Rockland, north-northeast 

to Frankfort, thence about east to Franklin, in Hancock County, 

thence southwest ward through Bar Harbor, and thence around the 

islands southwestward back to Clark Island, would embrace an area 

of about 1,200 square miles, which would include the bulk of the 

granite industry.

Quarries of " black granite" Of the total number of quarries, 

18 are of " black granite," although a few obscure ones may have been 

overlooked. Their location is shown by a separate symbol on the 

map. They are in York, Lincoln, Waldo, Penobscot, and Washington counties. Of these only the Addison (Washington County), 

Vinalhaven (Knox County), and Kound Pond (Lincoln County) 

quarries are at tidewater, but as the " black granites " are used only 

in small quantities for expensive work the cost of transportation ia 

a minor consideration.

THE QUARRIES, THEIR GRANITE AND FINISHED PRODUCT.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

BRTOSWICK.

The Grant quarry is in the town of Brunswick, 3 miles west of Brunswick 

village, on the south side of the Maine Central Railroad, on the Merrlman farm. 

It has not been operated for many years.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 110, a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade and fine, even-grained texture, in which the particles of quartz measure 

up to about 0.4 inch and those of feldspar and mica up to 0.15 inch. Its minerals, in descending order of abundance, are potash feldspar (both microcline 

and orthoclase), quartz, a feldspar with both lime and soda (oligoclase-albite), 

and biotite, with rarely a scale of muscovite. The orthoclase has inclusions 

of quartz, circular in cross section, and the second feldspar is greatly altered. 

Accessory: Zircon.

The opening measures about 75 by 50 feet by 5 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 12 inches thick, dip not higher than 5°. 

The joints strike N. 55° W. and N. 60° E. A marked flow structure is indicated
MAINE. 211

by alternating light and dark bauds, due to varying amounts of black mica, 

and also by tlie parallelism of the longer axes of the larger feldspar crystals 

and biotite plates. Its strike is N. 35° W. The upper sheet shows much 

discoloration.

Transportation, by team to railroad near by.

Product: The chapel of Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, was built of the 

same granite, but from another opening, referred to by George P. Merrill" 

as also furnishing the stone for the First Parish Church, in Portland.

FREEFORT.

The Preeport quarry is half a mile southeast of Freeport station, on the 

Maine Central Railroad, on the east side of a hillock 80 feet high, with northeast-southwest axis. Operator, Long & Saunders Quarries Co., Quincy, Mass. 

Quarry idle since 1913.

The granite specimen D, XXVII, 127, a) is a biotite-niuscovite granite of 

medium-gray shade with a slight bluish tinge and very fine, even-grained texture, with particles ranging from 0.36 to 1.28, and, exceptionally, from 0.18 to 

2.5 millimeters in diameter. Its minerals, in descending order of abundance, 

are potash feldspar (microcline, orthoclase), smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), black mica, and white mica. The soda-lime feldspar is considerably altered to kaolin and a white mica, and both feldspars often have intergrowths of quartz circular in cross section. The rock contains accessory apatite. It takes a fine polish. The specific gravity was reported by F. L. Bartlett, 

of the Maine State assay office, as 2.627. It is free from pyrite.

The quarry, first opened in 1886, measured in 1905 about 600 feet from northeast to southwest, by 100 feet across, with a working face 55 feet high.

Rock structure: The granite at the northeast end of the quarry is capped by 

about 5 feet of schist, and in its center the excavation, in proceeding in a direction parallel to the axis of the hill, has bisected an inclusion of this same 

schist 3 feet thick and about 40 feet long, dipping 35° E. to a point 30 feet! below the surface of the granite. This schist inclusion is described on page 63. 

1 See also PI. XV, B.) About 150 feet southeast of it is another inclusion of similar material. The presence of these inclusions necessarily involves some dead 

work and waste. The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, increasing in thickness downward, dip up to 10° SE. and 10° NW. One set of joints, strike east, spaced 

20 to 50 feet, forms the northeast wall. Another set, strike N. 75° W., spaced 

3 to 30 feet. The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, striking east. A few 

knots, up to 12 inches across, of muscovite, quartz, and feldspar. No " sap."

Transportation, by cart half a mile to railroad or three-fourths mile to dock.

The fine texture of the stone makes it particularly well adapted for monuments. Among the monuments made of it are the Humboldt monument in 

Chicago and the Scott monument in Pittsburgh, Pa. The front of the Maine 

building at the Chicago World's Fair, afterwards removed to Poland Springs, 

Maine, and the polished tanks at Poland Springs also came from this quarry.

POWNAL.

The Pownal quarry is in the southern corner of the town of Pownal, 2i 

miles north-northeast of Yarmouth Junction on the Maine Central and Grand 

Trunk railroads. Operator, Fred C. Greene, Freeport.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 123, a) is a biotite granite of light-gray 

shade and very fine, even-grained texture, most of the particles ranging from

"U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 6, p. 171, 1883.
212 COMMERCIAL GEANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

0.25 to 0.75 millimeter in diameter. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of very slightly smoky quartz, potash feldspar (microcline), soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica, with accessory zircon, apatite, and magnetite. The oligoclase is much altered to a white mica, and the microcline haa 

intergrowths of quartz, circular in cross section. The polish is inferior to that 

of the Freeport stone.

The quarry, opened in 1880, measured in 1905, 300 by 200 feet and averaged 

3 feet in depth.

Rock structure: Flow structure at one point consists of a lamination dipping 10° E., with thin black streaks of matted biotite scales. The sheets, 4 

inches to 4 feet 8 inches thick, dip 10°-15° SE. in broad undulations. They 

have been tested with core drills to a depth of 60 feet and the lowest sheets 

found to be 6 feet thick. Vertical joints, striking N. 50° E., recur every 30 or 

35 feet. The rift is horizontal and the grain is vertical, striking east. A 12- 

inch basic dike crosses the northwest half of the quarry with a N. 50° E. course. 

A pegmatite dike, 4 inches thick, occurs at the west end of the quarry. Theru 

are neither knots nor rust stains nor " sap."

Transportation, by cart 2 A miles to dock or railroad.

Product, specimens: Baker mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery; hotel at 

corner of Seventieth Street and Central Park; Van Norden Trust Building, 

corner of Sixtieth Street and Fifth Avenue; French monument, Calvary 

Cemetery, New York. This quarry has not been in operation since 1915.

WESTBROOK.

Pride's quarry is in the town of Westbrook, 3$ miles northeast of Westbrook (Saccarappa) and a quarter of a mile north of Prides Corners. Operator, 

James H. Pride, R. D., Woodford.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 140, a) is biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade with conspicuous black mica and fine, even-grained texture (particles 

measuring up to 0.1 inch across), consisting, in descending order of abundance, 

of potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, a little sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), and biotite with accessory apatite. The biotite 

scales are generally parallel.

The quarry, opened in 1898, measured in 1905 200 by 100 feet and about 6 

feet in depth.

Rock structure: There is a marked flow structure, dipping in places 30° 

E., which gives the granite the appearance of a gneiss. The sheets, 6 

inches to 2 feet 6 inches thick, dip up to 5°. A heading on the east side strikes 

N. 10° E. and dips 55° W. The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, striking 

east. A basic dike, 12 inches thick, striking N. 50° E., forms the west side of the 

quarry. Sap from 1 to 3 inches wide in upper sheets, but none 5 feet down.

Transportation: The nearest railroad is at Westbrook, 3$ miles away.

Product: Curbing and bases of monuments for local demand.

FRANKLIN COUNTY. 

JAY.

The Maine & New Hampshire Granite Corporation's quarries are at 

North Jay.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 118, a) is a biotite-muscovite granite of 

very light gray shade ("North Jay white") and fine, even-grained texture, 

m which the particles range from 0.36 to 3 millimeters in diameter. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of potash feldspar (microcline and
MAINE. 213

orthoclase), clear quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black mica (biotite), 

and white mica (muscovite), together with accessory garnet, niagnet'te, and 

apatite. The general whiteness of this rock is due to the quartz not being 

smoky as in most granites, and also to the whiteness of the feldspars, which 

is thus visible through the quartz. The feldspars are mostly unaltered. The 

following chemical analysis of this granite, made by E. T. Rogers, was reported 

by Prof. John E. Wolff 84 in 1892.

Analysis of granite from quarry at North Jay.

'Silica (SiO«)____________________________ 71. 54 

.Titanium dioxide and Fe2O8 (?)________________ .84 

Alumina (A12O8 )_____________-________-____ 14.24 

Ferric oxide (FeaOs)__________________-___ .74 

Ferrous oxide (FeO)________ _________ 1.18 

Lime (CaO)____________________________ .98 

Magnesia (MgO) _ .34 

Soda (Na 2O)____________________________ 3.39 

Potash (KaO)___________________________ 4.73 

Water (H20) at red heat__,________________ .61 

Sulphur (S) ____________________________ Trace. 

Carbon dioxide (C03 )______________________Trace.

98. 59

The same analyst finds the specific gravity 2.639. A test of the compressive 

strength of this granite, made for the company at the Watertown Arsenal in 1892, 

shows that the cube cracked at 15,720 pounds to the square inch and was destroyed at 16,310 pounds to the square inch. An earlier test of the same granite 

with somewhat different results was made at that arsenal on May 6, 1882." It 

does not take a very good polish owing to the abundance of mica and the large 

size of its plates. The " North Jay " granite was also described by M. E. Wadsworth " in 1878.

The quarry, opened in 1872, consists of three openings, known us the " upper," 

" lower," and " boulder." The upper quarry measured in 1905 about 425 feet 

from north to south by 200 feet from east to west and had an average depth of 

20 feet. The lower quarry, adjacent on the west, measured 500 feet from 

north to south and 350 feet from east to west with an average depth of about 

35 feet. These openings are on the west side of a north-south ridge. The 

boulder quarry, a little north of the other two, is about 150 feet square and 20 

feet deep. The upper and lower quarries are separated by a mass 10 feet thick, 

consisting of two large apllte dikes with north-south strike.

Rock. structure: In the center of the lower quarry there is a lamination in 

folds 20 feet broad and 3 feet high occasioned by the parallelism and abundance 

of biotite plates along certain planes. Some of these planes show evidence of 

friction along them. There is also a north-south vertical structure associated 

with the dikes of aplite between the two quarries. The sheets are 4 inches 

to 6 feet thick. In the upper 25 feet the sheets are thin, but below that 

they become gradually thicker. In cross-section they feather out alternately, 

or " toe in." (See glossary, p. 471.) At the top of the hill and at the east side 

of the upper quarry they are horizontal, but on the west side they curve over

84 See U. S. Geol. Survey Nineteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 6, continued, pp. 218. 219, 1898. 

8B U. S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Kept., pt. 5, continued, p. 961, 1897. 

"Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. Proc., vol. 19, pp. 237-238, 1878.
214 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

westward, dipping 5°-10°, and possibly a little more in the lower quarry, governing the slope of the hill. At the north side of the lower quarry is a heading 

striking N. 50°-60° E., dipping 60° and also 90°. The courses of the various 

Joint sets and dikes are shown in figure 41. Of joints (B) there are four discontinuous ones in a space of 50 feet in the upper quarry. The rift is horizontal, and there is no grain. The pegmatite dikes consist of milk-white potash 

feldspar (microcline) and soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), smoky quartz, biotite, and muscovite, and measure up to 2 feet 6 inches. Knots are exceptional 

and measure up to 12 inches across. Heading (A) is covered with liraonite from 

oxidation of pyrite. Kusty stain is noticeably absent from the sheets. .

Transportation, by gravity track to Maine Central Railroad, 1,300 feet 

distant and 300 feet down.

The product is used for monuments and buildings. Specimens: General 

Grant's tomb. Riverside Drive, New York; Richard Smith soldiers and sailors' 

memorial gateway at Fair-mount Park and the Penn Mutual Life Insurance 

Co. Building, Philadelphia; Hahnemann monument, Washington; city hall,

(C) W.-E.

FIGURE 41. Structure at Maine & New Hampshire Granite Corporation's quarry at North

Jay, Maine.

Portland, Maine; Chicago & Northwestern Railway Building and Field Annex 

Building, Chicago; Union Trust Building, South Bend, Ind.; Exchange National 

Bank Building, Tulsa, Okla.

Rough stone, paving blocks, and crushed stone are important by-products.

HANCOCK COUNTY. 

BLUEHILL.

The White quarry, in the town of Bluehill, U miles east of Bluehill village. 

Operator, .Jesse B. Park (Inc.), 1328 Broadway, New York. Idle since 1913.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 36, a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray, 

slightly bluish color and of coarse (on the medium side) even-grained texture. 

The feldspars measure as much as 0.5 inch, and some of them a little more. 

The rock consists, in descending order of abundance, of potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black 

mica (biotite), together with accessory zircon and magnetite. The feldspar 

is slightly bluish. The contrast in shade between the polished and rough sur-
MAINE. 215

face is marked, but the mica plates are sufficiently large and numerous to 

prevent a perfect polish. Although the texture of this stone is coarsish, it 

Is sufficiently fine to be well adapted for fluted columns and capitals. A test 

of its compressive strength made at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, 

Mass, (test 9087, 1893) gave an ultimate strength of 29,420 pounds to the 

square inch under pressure applied at right angles to the rift. A similar test 

made by the engineering department of the School of Mines of Columbia 

University, in New York, gave an ultimate strength of 29,681 pounds.

The quarry, opened about 1855, measured in 1905 300 by 350 feet and from 

15 to 45- feet in depth.

Rock structure: The striking geologic feature is the rectangular curved joint 

described on page 37 and shown in Plate XIV, B. The sheets, 3 to 10 feet thick, 

dip from 10° to 15" W. and SW. The joint courses are shown in figure 42. 

Joints (A) recur every 100 feet and form a heading at right of curved joint, as 

shown in Plate XIV, B. The rift is vertical, with a course N. 50° W., not very 

pronounced. There are small dikes and thick lenticular knots of very fine 

grained bluish-gray aplite. Dark-gray knots measure up to 10 by 4 inches. Sap

FIOUBB 42. Structure at White quarry, Bluehill, Maine. The rectangular Joint In shown

by tbe dotted line.

is confined fo the upper sheets, and does not exceed 2 inches in width. There 

are no rust spots.

Transportation, by team to docks, one-third mile.

The product is used for buildings and monuments, and the waste goes into 

paving blocks. Specimens: Woman's Hospital, New York; Mercantile Trust 

Co. and Caledonian Insurance Co. buildings, St. Louis; basement story of 

District of Columbia Municipal Building; First Day and Night Bank, Delamar 

and Brokaw residences, New York; chemical laboratory of Pratt Institute, 

Brooklyn, N. Y.; chemical laboratory of Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J.; fountain with large monolithic bowl, Deep River, Conn.

The Chase quarries are in the town of Bluehill, 3 miles east of Bluehill 

village.-and north of Woods Point. They are no longer operated.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 38, a) is a biotite granite of medium to 

light-gray color and coarse even-grained texture, the feldspar measuring up to 

0.8 inch in length. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

and black mica (biotite), with accessory magnetite. The feldspars are milky
216 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

white with a slight bluish tinge. The contrasts between the feldspar, quartz, 

and biotite are marked, more so than in the stone of the White quarry, because 

the feldspar is whiter, the quartz more smoky, and the biotite a trifle coarser. 

The following chemical analysis of this granite, made in 1896 by Ricketts & 

Banks, of New York, is inserted here merely for reference:

Analysis of granite from Chase quarry, near BlueMll, Maine.

Per cent.

Silica (Si02 )___________________________J 73.02 

Ferrous oxide (FeO)______________________ 2.59 

Alumina (A1203 )_________________________ 16.22 

Manganous oxide (MnO)____________________ Trace.

Lime (CaO)____________________________ 0.94 

Magnesia (MgO)_ ____________________ Trace. 

Potash (K20)__________________________ 3.42 

Soda (Na2 0)____________________________ 3.60 

Sulphur (S)____ ______________________ None. 

Loss and undetermined_____________________ 0. 21

The same firm also made a test of this granite (test 16606,1899), which showed 

that it has an ultimate compressive strength of 23,400 pounds to the square inch.

The quarry, opened in 1872, consists of several openings on the top and eastern slopes of a hill rising 220 feet above the sea in a distance of three-fourths 

mile.

Rock structure: The sheets are up to 8 feet thick and are either horizontal 

or dip at a low angle. Vertical joints strike N. 50° W. and N. 40° E. The 

rift is vertical, with a north strike. There .are some small dikes of aplite and 

dark-gray knots. Sap occurs in the upper sheets several inches thick. In one 

of the openings the stone has occasional light rust spots 0.5 inch in diameter, 

due to the oxidation of some ferruginous mineral in very minute particles.

Transportation, by cable road 1,400 feet from the main quarry to cutting shed 

and by locomotive track, 650 feet more, from shed to dock.

The product was used for buildings. Specimens: New York Stock Exchange, 

Lying-in Hospital, Manhattan Trust Building, and Grand Union Hotel, Fortysecond Street, New York; the General Thomas monument and the trimmings 

to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Washington; the League Island Dry 

Dock; and the post office at Harrisburg, Pa.

The Ohase monumental granite: About 350 feet east.of the upper opening 

is an area about 200 feet square, of a medium bluish-gray fine-textured, porphyritic biotite-muscovite granite (specimen D, XXVI, 39, a). The particles 

range from 0.07 to 1.1 millimeter in diameter, averaging about 0.37 millimeter. 

The isolated feldspars measure up to 0.25 inch across. The minerals, in descending order of abundance, are potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), 

smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black mica (biotite), and white 

mica (muscovite), with accessory magnetite. The feldspars are bluish gray. 

They have considerable intergrown quartz, and the rock is generally harder 

than the adjacent granite, which it probably traverses as a large dike. It has 

been quarried occasionally for local monumental use.

SOUTH BROOKSVILLE.

The Bucks Harbor quarries are at Bucks Harbor, South Brooksville. Operators, John T. Brady & Co., 103 Park Avenue, New York.

The granite from an opening half a mile southeast of South Brooksville, 

(specimen D, XXVI, 46, a) is a biotite granite of light grayish-buff color with
MAINE. 217

conspicuous black mica, and is of coarse, inclining to medium, even-grained 

texture. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a light cream-colored potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, a milk-white 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), with accessory magnetite. The oligoclase is partly altered to kaolin and a white mica. A little 

pyrite was found at {lie quarry.

The granite from an opening one-fourth mile northeast of South Brooksville 

(specimen D, XXVI, 47, a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray shade, with conspicuous black mica, and coarse, even-grained texture. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a very light gray potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), slightly smoky quartz, a little soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and 

black mica (biotite).

Both of these granites are bright from the contrasts of their minerals.

The quarries consist chiefly of two openings, one lying half a mile southeast 

of the village measured in 1905 200 feet by 100 feet and 5 to 20 feet in depth; 

the other, one-fourth mile northeast of the village, was about 200 by 100 feet 

and from 5 to 10 feet deep.

Hock structure: The sheets at these quarries, 2 to 8 feet thick, are either 

horizontal or dip 10°-15° W. Joints at the first opening strike N. 40° W., dip 

75° SW., and recur at intervals of-15 feet or more; also NB., dipping 75° S. 40° 

W. to 90°. The rift is vertical, striking N. 30° E. The sap is confined to the uppermost sheets.

Transportation: The company owns two granite wharves, which afford 12 

feet of water at low tide.

The quarries were idle in 1917.

DEDHAM.

The Brown quarry is in the town of Dedham, 1$ miles east of Holden 

station (East Holden post office) on the Maine Central Railroad, on the northeast side of a hill 840 feet above sea level N 

and having a northwest-southeast axis. 

Operator, William J. Brown, East Holden. Idle since 1913.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 108, 

a) is a biotite granite of dark--gray 

matrix with light-grayish feldspars and 

of very coarse porphyritic texture, with 

some evidence of distortion and crushing 

of its feldspars. These measure up to 

1.5 inches in diameter, and the black 

mica up to 0.3 inch. The feldspars are 

generally twinned and .in places of oval 

or roundish outline. The rock consists, 

in descending order of abundance, of potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), 

smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together 

with accessory zircon, apatite, and secondary magnetite and chlorite. The 

quartz contains needles of rutile(?). The orthoclase crystals contain zonally 

arranged quartz grains and biotite scales, and some of them are thinly rimmed 

with oligoclase or intergrowu with it. Many small grains of quartz in the 

matrix indicate crushing. The oligoclase is partly altered to kaolin and a white 

mica.

FIGUBE 43. Structure at Brown quarry, 

Dedbam, Maine.
218 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The rock takes a fine polish, but the durability of the polish under outdoor 

exposure is doubtful, owing to the large size of the mica scales.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 6 feet thick, dip 15° SSE. Joint courses 

are given in figure 43. Joints (A) recur at intervals of 100 to 200 feet; (B) at 

intervals of 75 feet or more. The rift is horizontal. Aplite dikes, 1 to 4 inches 

thick, cross the grain at a high angle. No knots are in sight. Sap, 1 to 2 

inches thick, is confined to the topmost sheet.

Transportation, by cart 1$ miles to cutting shed at Holden station.

The product was used for bridge work.

FRANKLIN.

The Robertson quarry is in the town of Franklin. Operator, Harvey B. 

Robertson, North Sullivan.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 71. a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade and of coarse, inclining to medium, even-grained texture, with whitish 

feldspars up to 0.5 inch in diameter. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), slightly smoky 

quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), with accessory magnetite and pyrite. The slight contrast between the shade of the quartz 

and that of the feldspar and the small size of the biotite scales produce a general lack of brilliancy in the rock.

The quarry, opened in 1892, measured in 1905 300 feet from north to south 

by 300 feet from east to west and 5 to 15 feet in depth. It is drained by two 

siphons 800 and 1,000 feet long.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 8 feet thick, are mainly horizontal but on 

the west side dip 10° W. The courses of joints and dikes are given in figure 44.

Grain W. - £..

Dike W.-E1. S. wall

FIGURE 44. Structure at Robertson quarry, Franklin, Maine.

Joints (A) recur at irregular intervals. The rift is horizontal, and the grain is 

vertical, striking east-west. Aplite dikes are 2 to 8 inches thick, and the granite. 

for about a foot on each side of them is close jointed. Knots are rather 

abundant and up to 2 feet across. The north-south joint face carries some pyrite. 

Sap is 2 to 3 inches thick along the sheets. No rust spots were detected. A 1-foot 

diabase dike, with its rim altered to epidote, forms the west wall of the quarry, 

and a 2J to 3 foot dike forms the south wall. For a space of 10 feet on each 

side of this dike the shade of the granite has been changed to a dark gray, 

and the rock is filled with close joints of low dip. The microscope shows that
MAINE. 219

the quartz particles and some of the feldspars are crossed by more or less 

parallel cracks, from 0.25 to 1.25 millimeters apart.

Transportation, by cart If miles to dock in bay.

The product is used for curbing, both straight and circular, and for paving 

blocks and *' random " stone.

The Bragdon quarry is in the town of Franklin. Operator, L. C. Bragdon, 

Franklin. Idle since 1919.

The granite is a biotite granite of medium-gray shade and medium, evengrained texture like that of the Crabtree & Havey quarry .(specimen D, XXVI, 

69, a), in Sullivan (p. 219). Molybdenite was found in it.

The quarry measured in 1905 300 feet from north to south by 150 feet from 

 east to west and 10 to 20 feet in depth and is drained by a siphon pipe.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 6 feet thick, dip 10°-15° W. Joints strike 

N. 12° E. and are spaced 150 feet. A 6-inch basic dike striking N. 12° E. 

forms the west wall. Another, a foot thick, strikes almost due east.

Transportation, by cart 2 miles to wharf.

The product is used for curbing (both straight and circular), paving blocks, 

and " random " stone.

FIGURE 45. Structure at T. M. Blaisdell quarry, East Franklin, Maine.

The T. M. Blaisdell quarry is in East Franklin, 1 mile above the head of 

navigation. Operator, T. M. Blaisdell, East Franklin.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 76, a) is a biotite granite; of a medium to 

dark gray shade and medium even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.25 

inch in length. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of potash feldspar (microcline and orthclase), slightly smoky quartz, lime-soda feldspar 

(oligoclaae to oligoclase-albite), black mica (biotite), together with accessory 

magnetite and zircon. The effect of the slightly bluish-gray color of the feldspar and the light smokiness of the quartz is to prevent any contrast ;of shade 

between these two minerals and also to darken the general color of the 

stone.

The quarry, opened about 1875, measured in 1905 200 by 300 feet and was of 

varying depth. The working face on the north was 53 feet high.

Rock structure: The sheets, from 2 to 13 feet thick, dip 10° NEj Owing to 

compressive strain, on the removal of load in quarrying, the bottom, sheet 

rises half an inch from the underlying one. The joint courses are shown in 

figure 45. (A) forms a heading on the northwest and southeast sides. . (C) 

dips in places 45° N. The rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical, striking
220 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

northwest. Several parallel dikes of aplite up to 2 inches thick dip southwest 

at a low angle. In one 5-foot mass there are five of these. Sap is confined to 

the upper sheets. Black knots up to 8 inches across.

Transportation, by cart a few hundred feet, thence by lighter a mile to 

schooners.

The product is used for curbing, paving, bridges, docks, and " random."

The W. B. Blaisdell quarry is in the town of Franklin, on the southeast 

side of Sullivan River. Operators, W. B. Blaisdell & Co., Franklin.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 78, b) is a biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade and medium, inclining to coarse, even-grained texture. It consists, in 

descending order of abundance, of potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), 

smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, ssircon, apatite, and secondary cpidote and 

chlorite. The oligoclase is partly altered to a white mica. The feldspars are 

grayish and are therefore of almost the same shade as the quart/, which deprives ihe rock of marked contrast?. It is a little lighter than the specimen 

76, a, of the T. M. Blaisdell quarry, and is said to be a little softer. E. Ct

Grain W.-E.

z\ / ^^^>a//

o\ / ^"^^^

n / ^^^^-

FIGURE 46. Structure at W. B. Blaisdell quarry, East Franklin, Maine.

Sullivan, of this Survey, has tested the granite with warm dilute acetic acid 

and finds that it contains 0.15 per cent of CaO (lime), much MgO (magnesia), 

and 0.104 per cent of C02 (carbon dioxide). If all the CO2 were allotted to 

CaO it would give 0.24 per cent of CaC03 (calcium carbonate) as the content in 

the granite.

The quarry, opened about 1875, measured in 1905 300 by 250 feet and 15 to 35 

feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 to 7 feet thick, generally dip northwest at 

low angles. There is some "toeing in," owing to the overlapping of lenses. 

Joint and vein courses are given in figure 46. (A) forms a heading on the 

east side of quarry; (B) is on the north, and south sides and is coated with 

calcium carbonate (calcite), as described on page 39. The heading on the south 

has four joints 3 feet apart. (C) is coated with pyrite. The rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical eastward. The sap is from 1 to 3 inches thick. 

There are some knots up to 6 inches across.

Transportation, by " lifters " drawn by horses 1,000 feet to schooners at dock.

The product is used for curbing (both straight and circular) and paving.
MAINE. 221

The Bianchi quarry lies between Mill Pond and Great Pond roads in West 

Franklin. Owner, Emerald Granite Co. (Stephen Bianchi), 46 Cornhill, Boston. 

Idle in 1921 and 1922.

The granite (specimen D, XXXVIII, 25, a), "Emerald granite," is an altered (saussuritized) gabbro (determination by E. S. Larsen, of this Survey) 

of very dark greenish-gray color. It consists of a plagioclase feldspar near 

labradorite and of hornblende after pyroxene with very little pyrite. It takes 

.a high polish. The polished face is black, irregularly speckled with pale bluegreenish gray, and cuts almost white.

This " black granite " is very suitable for inscribed monuments.

The Bradbury quarry is in West Franklin, near the north end of Grape 

Pond. Operators, F. Bradbury & Sons, West Franklin.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 77, a) is biotite granite of dark-grayish, 

slightly purplish color and of very coarse, somewhat porphyritic texture, with 

feldspars up to an inch in diameter and black mica plates up to 0.1 inch. It 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of a grayish-purplish potash feldspar 

(orthoclase and rnicrocline), smoky quartz, yellowish-white soda-lime feldspar 

(basic oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, 

apatite, zircon, and secondary chlorite. Many of the grayish-purplish potash 

feldspars are rimmed with the yellowish oligoclase and are also intergrown 

microscopically with a plagioclase feldspar and with quartz. This granite is 

very striking in the contrasts of its minerals. Its quartz and feldspars take a 

high polish, but the large biotite scales are not favorable to the durability of 

the polish under outdoor exposure.

The quarry is triangular in area, each side of the triangle measuring in 1905 

about 75 feet, and its depth in places 15 feet, which is the height of the working face.

Rock structure: The sheets, 10 feet thick, are about horizontal. Joints striking N. 70° W. and dipping high recur at intervals of 5 feet or more. There 

are a few knots.

Transportation, by cart to railroad about 900 feet.

The product has been used for railroad culverts.

LONG ISLAND (BLACK ISLAND).

The Black Island quarries are in the northeastern part of Black Island, 

which lies south of Mount Desert, in the town of Long Island. Operator, in 

1905, Black Island Granite Co., New York.

The quarries, opened in 1892, consist of two openings. The upper one, about 

one-fourth mile south of the dock at the northeast corner of the island, 

measures 500 by 300 feet and from 10 to 40 feet in depth; the lower one, 

known as the " Redcliffr," a little south of the dock, is about 100 feet square.

Specimen D, XXVI, 31, a, from the upper quarry, is a biotite granite of 

light pinkish-gray color and medium, inclining to coarse, even-grained texture. 

It consists, in descending order of abundance, of potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase), smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and very little 

black mica (biotite), together with accessory titanite and magnetite. Both 

feldspars are light pink. Some of the potash feldspar is rimmed with oligoclase, 

which in places is part altered to kaolin and a white mica. The rock presents 

but faint contrasts of color and, owing to the small quantity of its mica, 

must needs take a very fine polish.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 39, a), " Redcliff," of the lower quarry is 

a biotite granite of medium pinkish-gray color and medium, inclining to coarse, 

even-grained texture. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of potash 

feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligo-
222 COMMERCIAL, GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

clase), and very little black mica (biotite), together with accessory titaniter 

magnetite, and zircon. Both feldspars are pinkish. The oligoclase is largely 

altered to kaolin and a white mica. Its small content of mica must make this 

granite suspectible of high polish.

Rock structure: At the upper Quarry the sheets, 8 inches to 5 feet thick, are 

horizontal, with minor undulations. Vertical joints strike N. 70° W., and 

recur at intervals of 100, 200, and 250 feet The rift is parallel to these, but 

feeble. Sap, 3 inches thick, is confined entirely to the upper sheets. At the 

Redcliff quarry the sheets, up to 6 feet thick, bend over from the horizontal 

to 25° N. and NB. Vertical joints* strike N. 77° E., recur at intervals of 50 feet. 

Another set, strike N. 35° E., abounds at the sides of the quarry but is scarce 

in the center. Joints of this strike are numerous along the north shore of 

the island. The rift is vertical, with a N. 77° E. course.

The product of the upper quarry was used for buildings, and its thin sheets for 

paving. That of the Redcliff qiiarry was used for monuments and columns. 

Specimen: Park Building, Brooklyn, N. Y.

The quarries are now abandoned.

MOUNT DESEKT.

The Hall or McMullen quarry is in the town of Mount Desert, southeast 

of the village of "Hall Quarry" and four-fifths mile north of the Robinson 

Mountains. Operator, Booth Bros. & Hurricane Isle Granite Co., 208 Broadway, New York.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 55, aa) is a biotite granite of general lightbuff grayish color and coarse, inclining to medium, even-grained texture. It

Wall

FIGUKB 47. Structure at McMullen quarry, Mount Desert Island, Maine. The section 

shows the " toeing in " of sheets, probably by faulting along the joints.

consists, in descending order of abundance, of buff potash feldspar (orthoclase 

intergrown with plagioclase), smoky quartz, milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory apatite and a 

little secondary calcite within the oligoclase. The contrasts resulting from the 

different colors of the four minerals are attractive and must come out still 

more strongly on the polished surface. E. C. Sullivan, of this Survey, finds 

that it contains 0.014 per cent of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and that warm dilute 

acetic acid dissolves traces, of CaO (lime) and MgO (magnesia). This per-
MAINE. 223

centage of C02, if all allotted to CaO, would imply the presence of 0.03 per cent 

of CaCOs (calcium carbonate). The microscope also shows the presence of a 

carbonate in very minute quantity.

The quarry, opened about 1880, measured in 1905 250 feet from north to 

south by 250 feet from east to west and was 50 feet deep at the west side.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 12 feet thick, dip 5°-10° N., S., and E. 

They are faulted along some of the N. 25° W. joints, resulting in a toeing in 

of the sheets, which necessitates quarrying from west to east that is, toward 

the hade of the faults, as shown in figure 47. The courses of the joints are 

shown in the same figure. (A) forms a heading on the west, dip 80° W.; (B), 

dip. 65° S., forms a heading on the north and recurs at middle of quarry; (C), 

dip 75°-80°NW., forms a heading on the south and recurs at irregular intervals. The rift-is horizontal and the grain strikes about east. Sap along 

some of the sheets is 3 inches thick and exceptionally 18 inches. The granite 

along joints (A) and (B) for the space of a foot is bright reddish. (See p. 81.) 

The faces are greenish, probably from chlorite and epidote. Dark-gray knots 

measure up to 6 inches in diameter.

Transportation, by track 800 feet to wharf, which is accessible to schooners 

of 20 feet draft.

Product specimens: United States mint, Philadelphia; basement of New York 

customhouse; Brooklyn anchorage to Manhattan Bridge; and bridge over the 

Potoinac at Washington.

The Campbell & Macomber quarry is in the town of Mount Desert, half 

a mile north of the top of Robinson Mountain, at its foot, and two-fifths of a 

mile south of Hall Quarry village. This quarry is owned by Hale & Hamlin, 

of Ellsworth, Maine, but is no longer operated.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 56 a), "Somes Sound pink," is a biotite 

granite of light pinkish-gray color and medium, inclining to coarse, even-grained' 

texture. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a delicate pink 

potash feldspar (orthoclase, with very little microcline), smoky quartz, milkwhite soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with 

accessory magnetite, zircon, and apatite. It takes a fine polish. This stone 

differs from that of the McMullen quarry in the tint of its orthoclase.

The quarry, opened about 1880, measured in 1905 150 by 200 feet by 20 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 6 feet thick, dip 10°-15° E. and exceptionally 

are thinner at the bottom than at the top of the quarry. The joints strike east, 

N. 12° E., and N. 52° E. The rift is horizontal, and the grain N. 75° E. A diabase dike, 2£ feet wide, strikes N. 20° W. at the west side of the quarry. This 

is described on page 52. There are a few knots, but no sap.

Transportation, by cart 1,600 feet to wharf on Somes Sound.

Specimen buildings: Crocker residence, Darlington, N. J.; Danforth Library, 

Paterson, N. J.; First National Bank, Baltimore, Md.; Phrenix National Bank, 

Hartford, Conn. .

The Snowflake quarry is on Mount Desert, about a quarter of a mile northwest of Halt Quarry village. Operator, Alien Granite Co., Mount Desert. 

Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 58, a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade and fine texture, with porphyritic pinkish feldspars up to 0.4 Inch in diameter. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of pinkish potash feldspar 

(orthoclase), smoky quartz, white translucent soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite. The orthoclase 

is Intergrown with a plagioclase.

The quarry was in 1905 about 200 feet square and 5 to 10 feet deep.
224 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick, are horizontal. Joints 

forming a heading on the east side strike N. 20° W. and dip 75° W. A diabase 

dike, 6 to 10 inches thick, with course N. 20° W., traverses the entire quarry.

The product is confined to paving blocks, which are carted about half a mile 

to the wharf.

The Alien quarry, of the same concern as the Snowflake quarry, lies a 

quarter of a mile east of it. The granite closely resembles that of the Snowflake. The sheets are 6 inches to 3 feet thick. Plate XVI, B, shows the sheets 

crossed by a diabase dike, which has a N. 15° W. course and is faulted in two 

directions. (See p. 51.) There are geodes of pink feldspar, quartz, and epidote.

The Graves Bros, quarry is on Mount Desert, in the northern part of 

the village of Northeast Harbor; address, Northeast Harbor. This quarry is 

worked only occasionally, for underpinning. It is mentioned here on account of the exceptional character of the stone among Maine granites. This 

granite (specimen D, XXVI, 64, a) is a hornblende granite of general darkgray shade and medium even-grained texture, consisting, in descending order 

of abundance, of greenish-gray and pinkish potash feldspar (orthoclase and 

microcline), with intergrown soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), smoky 

quartz, and dark-green hornblende, together with accessory magnetite, apatite, 

and secondary chlorite. The feldspar is largely altered to a white mica. A 

similar granite occurs also 1£ miles west-northwest of it, at the Carroll quarry, 

in the town of Tremont, at the south foot of Dog Mountain. (See p. 233.)

The quarry measured in 1905 100 by 50 feet and 10 feet in depth. The sheets 

are up to 6 feet thick and dip 5°-10° W. There is much discoloration.

STONINGTON DISTRICT. 

DISTRIBUTION AND GEOLOGY OF THE QUARRIES.

The granite industry which centers in Stonington is distribute:! over an 

area of about 4 miles square. (See map, fig. 48.) Some of the quarries are 

,*i Deer Isle, others are south of it, on Crotch Island, so named from the inlet 

which divides it, and the rest are on neighboring islets.

The southern half of Crotch Island, which measures about 1,500 feet from 

north to south, shows sheet structure very clearly. (See PI. X, B.) The sheets 

slope northwest and southeast at angles of 10°, 15°, 20°, and 25° from its 

central part (140 feet above sea level), where they are horizontal. The eastwest vertical joints are conspicuous from a distance. The Goss quarry has cut 

into the center of the arch and also on either side of it, while the Ryan-Parker 

quarry (PI. XI, A) on the south is on the southeast slope of the sheets 

and of the hill. In the northern half of Crotch Island, at the lower quarry 

of the Sherwood Co., the coarse granites are in contact with a fine-textured 

one, which is also exploited. The contact line is vertical, but the sheets traverse both granites indifferently. The Stonington quarries embrace several 

varieties of granite.

QUARRIES .

The Ryan-Parker quarry is on Crotch Island, in its southeastern part, at 

Thurlow Head. (See fig. 48.) Operator, Crotch Island Granite Co., Grand 

Central Terminal, New York. Idle since 1916.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 20, a), "Crotch Island," is a biotite granite 

of lavender-tinted medium-gray color and coarse, even-grained texture. It 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of very light lavender-colored 

potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), smoky quartz, milk-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), and a little mica (biotite), rarely a plate of musco-
MAINE. 225

vlte, together with accessory magnetite, titanite, zircon, and pyrite, partly 

altered to lirnonite. The potash feldspars measure up to 1 inch, and many 

of them are twinned and intergrown with a plagioclase. The biotite plates 

do not exceed 0.1 inch across. The oligoclase is generally much altered to a 

white mica and kaolin and forms rims about many of the pale lavender orthoclase crystals.

E. C. Sullivan, of this Survey, determined the presence Of 0.44 per cent of 

CO, (carbon dioxide) and of 0.08 per cent of CaO (lime) and a little MgO

68°40'

Z miles

Contour interval 20 feet

FIGURE 48. Map showing location of quarries about Stonington, Maine. (Reduced from 

topographic map of Deer Isle quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.)

(magnesia) extractable with dilute acetic acid. To allot all the CO* to the 

CaO would give 0.10 per cent of calcium carbonate in the granite.

This is a very handsome granite. It is coarse-textured and is therefore 

largely used for massive construction. Its polished surface is attractive on 

account of the contrasts between pale lavender, white, and black particles, and 

it is therefore in demand for base courses and wainscoting.

The quarry, opened about 1880, measured in 1905 about 700 by 30Q feet, and 

from 20 to 75 feet in depth, averaging about 35 feet. (See PI. XI, A.)

Rock structure: The sheets vary and increase in thickness downward and 

dip 20°-25° SE. Joint courses are shown in figure 49. (A) dips 80° and forms 

105709 23 16
226 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

a heading on the north, and (B) also forms one. Both (A) and (B) are infrequent. The rift is vertical and trends N. 60° W. Sap is 6 to 12 inches thick 

on either side of joint (B).

Transportation to wharves is by means of gravity on tracks 75 and 100 

feet long.

The product is used chiefly for massive construction and for buildings. 

Specimens: Piers of Blackwells Island Bridge and retaining wall of Riverside 

Drive, New York.

N

(A) W.-E1

FIGDBB 49. Structure at Ryan-Parker quarry, Crotch Island, Maine.

The Goss quarry is on Crotch Island, adjacent to and north of the RyanParker quarry, on Thurlow Head. (See fig. 48 and PI. X, B.) Operator, 

John L. Goss Corporation, Stonington.

The granite is a biotite granite, identical with that of the Ryan-Parker 

quarry (specimen 20, a), described on page 224.

The quarry, opened about 1872, measured in 1905 about 350 feet square, 

with a maximum depth of 120 feet and a minimum of 10 feet

(A) W.-E.

FIGURE 50. Structure at Goss quarry, Crotch Island, Maine.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 30 feet thick, increase rapidly in thickness 

downward. They are horizontal in the center of the quarry, but south of it dip 

up to 20° SB. and north of it as steeply to the northwest. The joint courses 

and rift are shown in figure 50. Of (A) there are only two or three in the 

quarry. Their faces are coated with epidote. There is no sap.
MAINE. 227

Transportation, by three tracks one 100, one 400, and one 500 feet long 

from quarry to dock; cars propelled by cable engines.

The product is used chiefly for bridges and buildings. The small beds are 

worked iato paving blocks.

Specimens: Post office, Lowell, Mass.; courthouse, Dedham, Mass-; Merchants National Bank, New Bedford, Mass.; Larz Anderson Bridge, Cambridge, Mass.; picture gallery of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pilgrim 

Monument, Provincetown, Mass.; public library, Lacouia, N. H.; Ninth Regiment Armory, trimmings of University Heights Bridge, New York; Rockefeller 

fountain, Pocantico Hills, N. Y.; National Security Bank, Los Angeles, Calif.

The Benvenue quarry was opened by the Benvenue Granite Co. in 1906 on 

the west side of Crotch Island, but the company went out of business in 

1915. The granite is identical with that of the Ryan-Parker and Goss 

quarries.

The Sherwood quarries are north of Mill Cove, Crotch Island. Operator, 

S. Clinton Sherwood, 14 Wall Street, New York. (See fig. 48 for location of 

quarries.) Idle since 1907.

The granite of the lower and northern quarry (specimen D, XXVI, 25, a) 

is a biotite-rnuscovite granite of light-gray shade, with a very slight buff

FIGURE 51. Relations of fine biotite-muscovite graiilte (B) to coarse blotite granite (A 

and C) and of sheet structure to both at north end of Sherwood lower quarry, Crotch 

Island, Maine. Length, 9 feet.

tinge, and of very fine texture, most of its particles ranging in size from 

0.11 to 1.1 millimeters, the average diameter being about 0.45 millimeter. There 

are, however, a few quartz particles and feldspar crystals 0.25 inch across, 

and of the latter rarely 0.5 inch in length, so that the rock has a porphyritic 

texture. The constituents', arranged in descending order of abundance, are 

potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), black mica (biotite), and white mica (muscovite), together with 

accessory magnetite and secondary epidote. The oligoclase is largely altered 

to a white mica and kaolin, and all the feldspars are in places intergrown with 

quartz circular in cross section.

The lower quarry, opened in 1889, is triangular in area; in 1905 each side was 

75 feet long and 40 feet deep, two of them working faces.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 8 feet thick, cTp 5°-10° W. Joints, dipping 70° S. to 90° and striking N. 75° E., recur at intervals of 1 to 10 feet. 

The rift is vertical, with strike N. 60° W., as at the south quarries of the cove. 

The relations of this fine granite at the north end of the quarry to the coarse
228 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

granite of the island are shown in figure 51* The fine granite probably 

represents a later eruption through the coarser. (See p. 34.)

Transportation, by track 100 feet to wharf.

This quarry is worked.only on special orders.

The product is used for monuments, bases, etc.

The granite of the same firm's upper quarry, opened in 1890 (specimen D, 

XXVI, 26. b), is a Motite granite of general pinkish-buff color and coarse evengrained texture, consisting of p'nkish-buff potash feldspar, smoky quartz, 

cream-colored soda-lime feldspar, and black mica. The potash feldspar 

measures up to an inch or more in length, and the blotite scales 0.1 inch. This 

stone appears to be identical with that of the Latty quarry on Green Isle 

(specimen D. XXVI, 28, a).

The upper quarry, in 1905 was 200 by 100 feet and averaged about 15 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, dip 5°-10° E. and W. Vertical 

joints strike N. 50°-60° W. and parallel to the rift. For a space of 50 feet 

across the middle of the quarry these recur at intervals of 2 to 8 feet). 

Another set, less numerous, strike N. 25° W. and dip 60° E. There is an 

irregular .tapering dike of .pegmatite; with pink and white feldspar, biotite, 

and muscovite. The sheets in the upper part of the quarry have " shakes" 

for 2 to 3 inches from their surface.

Transportation, by cable and engine along 900-foot track to dock ou east 

side of island.

The product consists of random stone.

The St. Helena quarry is on St. Helena Island (see map, fig. 48) 2 miles 

southeast of Stonington. Operators, Benisch Bros., 895 Jamaica Avenue, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. Idle since 1917.

The granite is reported by the operator as like that of the Goss quarry on . Crotch Island, described on p. 226.

Product, specimen: Marine wireless operators' monument, New York.

The Latty quarry is in the southeastern part of Green Island, 1 mile southeast of Stonington. (See map fig. 48.) Operator, Latty Bros. Granite Co., 

Stomngton. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 28, a) is a biotite granite of pinkish-buff 

color and coarse, even-grained texture, cons'sting of a pinkish-buffi potash 

feldspar, smoky quartz, cream-colored soda-lime feldspar, nnd black mica. 

The pota*sh feldspar measures up to an inch, and the biotite up to 0.15 inch 

in diameter. The stone appears to be identical with that of the upper quarry 

of the Sherwood Co., on Crotch Island.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 feet to 6 feet 8 inches thick, dip gently southeast. There are vertical joints striking N. 45° W., spaced 6 to 12 feet, alsd 

forming a heading. The rift is vertical, with course N. 60° W.

The quarry was opened in the spring of 1905.

Transportation, by a 100-foot track to wharf.

The Stonington quarry is on the west shore of Spruce Island, 3£ miles eastsoutheast of Stonington. (See map, fig. 48.) Quarry opened in 1905, now 

abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 27, a) is a biotite granite of pinkish-buff color 

and very coarse, semiporphyritic texture. It consists of a pinkish-buff potash 

feldspar in crystals measuring up to 1.25 inches in diameter, smoky quartz, 

cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) in particles and crystals up to
MAINE. 229

0.5 inch in diameter, and black mica in scales measuring up to 0.15 inch across. 

The contrasts between the two feldspars and the mica are strong. The smoky 

quartz is a little darker than the potash feldspar*. Some of the pinkish-buff 

feldspar is rimmed with the cream-colored one.

Rock structure: The sheets, 5 to 8 feet thick, dip about 40° W. Vertical 

joints strike N. 45° E., N. 45° W., and N. 80° E.

The Moose Island quarry is in the southeastern part of Moose Island, threefourths mile west-southwest of Stonington. (See map, fig. 48.) Operator, John 

L. Goss Corporation, Stonington.

The granite is a biotite granite identical with that of the Goss and RyanParker quarries on ^Crotch Island (specimen D, XXVI, 20, a), described'on 

page 224.

The quarry, opened in 1873, measured in 1905 600 by 200 feet and averaged 

about 17 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 7 feet thick, dip 5°-10° E. Vertical joints, 

strike N. 80°-85° W., recur at intervals of 200 feet and form a heading on north 

side of quarry. There is no perceptible rift, and the rock does not split well

FIGURE 52. Structure at Settlement quarry, on Deer Isle, near Stonington, Maine.

when frozen. The 15-inch aplite vein, described on page 43, has a N. 80° W. 

course. Sap, 1 to 2 inches thick, is confined to the upper sheets.

Transportation, by track 200 feet to wharf.

Specimen structures: Gate house at Central Park and steps of Columbia 

University, New York; trimmings of Hampton Dormitory, Cambridge, Mass.

The Settlement quarry is on Deer Isle, on Settlement Hill east of Webb 

Cove, 2 miles northeast of Stonington. (See map, fig. 48.) Owner, Rodgers 

Granite Corporation, 271 West One hundred and twenty-fifth Street, New York,

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 22, a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray, 

slightly lavender tint, blotched with cream white, and of coarse texture. It 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of a very light lavender-colored 

potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, slightly creamcolored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with 

accessory magnetite, titanite, and apatite and secondary chlorite. Some of the 

potash feldspar is rimmed with oligoclase. The feldspars measure up to 1 inch, 

and the biotite plates are under 0.1 inch. The contrast between the two feldspars 

and the mica is strong, but that between the quartz and the potash feldspar is 

feeble.
230 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry, opened in 1900, consisted in 1905 of two quarries one near the 

top of the hill, 500 by 400.feet and 10 to 18 feet in depth; the other, on its 

west side, 600 by 60 feet and up to 14 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 16 feet thick, dip 10°-15° N. and S., 

away from the top of the hill. Joint courses are shown in figure 52. (A) 

occurs but once; (B) recurs at intervals of 500 feet. The rift is vertical, 

with a course of N. 60°-65° W. There are granite dikes 4 to 12 inches thick. 

(See description on p. 41.) Knots are rare and small. Pyrite occurs very 

rarely.

Transportation, by locomotive and 2,500 feet of track. The distance from 

upper quarry to cutting shed is 1.000 feet, and from cutting shed to wharf is 

600 feet.

The product is used for massive construction. Specimens : Dry dock, Norfolk, 

Va.; base and approach for addition to Bancroft Hall, United States Naval 

Academy, Annapolis, Md.; fish pier, Boston; sea wall, Providence, R. I.; retaining wall, Riverside Di.ive (One hundred and thirty-eighth Street to end) ; 

Brooklyn and Manhattan approaches and piers to Manhattan bridge, New 

York. Quarry now leased to Geo. A. Fuller Co., New York, and supplying part 

of the stone for the new courthouse in New York.

STTLLIVAN.

The Crabtree & Havey quarry is in the town of Sullivan, three-fourths 

mile from Sullivan River. Operators, H. H. Havey & Co., North Sullivan.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 69, b) is a biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade and fine to medium even-grained texture. It consists, in descending 

order of abundance, of milk-white potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), 

smoky quartz, milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite. The stone from the lower sheets is 

a trifle darker than that described above, which represents the stone of the 

upper sheets. The difference lies in the feldspar.

The quarry, opened in 1865, measured in 1905 300 feet from north to south, 

200 feet from east to west, and 10 to 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 8 feet thick, dip 10° W. and NW. In the 

center of the quarry they have a lenticular form (PI. XIII, A, B). Vertical 

joints strike N. 80°-85° W., forming a heading on the north, also N. 10°-20° 

B., bounding the quarry on the east. A diabase dike, 3 feet wide, occurs on the 

west side, faulted in two piaces with a displacement showing a thrust from 

the east. The rock contains many knots, some of them 6 inches and a few 

3 feet in diameter. Sap occurs along the sheets, but not invariably.

Transportation, by cart three-fourths mile to wharf.

The product is used mainly for curbing and crossings. The small beds go 

into paving blocks.

The Stimson quarries are in Sullivan. Operator, Ernest C. Gordon, Sullivan.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 67, (a) is a biotite granite of mediumgray shade and fine to medium even-grained texture, consisting, in descending order of abundance, of gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), 

smoky quartz, grayish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica 

(biotite), together with accessory magnetite. The biotite plates measure up 

to 0.15 inch across. Contrasts are slight, owing to similarity in color of quartz 

and feldspar.

The quarries consist of three openings, the main one of which is 200 feet 

square and from 15 to 30 foet deep.
MAINE. 231

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, are horizontal, with slight 

undulations. Vertical joints strike N. 65° W., forming headings on the 

north and south sides, also north, and are coated in places with pyrite. The rift 

is horizontal. A vertical dike of aplite 1 foot 7 inches thick has a N. 10°-15° W. 

course. The amount of sap is small. Dark-gray knots up to 2 inches and 

exceptionally 7 inches in diameter occur.

The product is carted half a mile to a wharf.

The Dunbar quarry is 2^ miles northwest of Sullivan village, in the town 

of Sullivan. Operators, Dunbar Bros., Sullivan.

The granite is a biotite granite of medium-gray shade and coarse inclining 

to medium even-grained texture like that of the Robertson quarry, in Franklin, 

described on page 218.

The quarry, opened in 1901, measured in 1905 250 by 100 feet and 4 to 8 

feet in depth.

Rock structure: Sheets, 2 to 12 feet thick, undulate with a general easterly dip 

of 10°. Vertical joints strike N. 80 85° E., forming a heading on south side 

of quarry, and N. 60° B. with a heading; also exceptionally N. 5°-10° E. The 

rift is horizontal. A diabase dike, 8 to 16 inches thick, has a course N. 20°-25° 

E. and rims of epidote, as described on page 52. There is little or no sap, and 

knots are fe*w.

Transportation, by cart 1£ miles to wharf.

The product is random stone, curbing, and paving.

Hooper, Havey & Co.'s quarry is in North Sullivan. Address, North 

Sullivan.

The granite is a biotite granite of medium-gray shade and fine to medium 

even-grained texture, like that of the Crabtree & Havey quarry (specimen 

D, XXVI, 69, a, described on page 230.

The quarry, opened about 1894, measured in 1905 300 by 150 feet by 15 to 

20 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 6 feet thick, are gently undulating and 

horizontal. Vertical joints strike N. 20-25° E., forming the west side of quarry, 

and also east, forming a heading on its north side. The rift is horizontal, and 

the grain vertical, east-west. The rock is evidently under a compressive eastwest strain, as it tends to fracture in a north-south direction across the grain, 

without regard to knot holes. The knots are small.

Transportation, by cart half a mile to wharf.

The product is random stone and street material, and curbing (straight and 

circular), crossings, and paving blocks.

The Pettee quarry (black-granite) is three-fourths mile north of East 

Sullivan, on the road to Tunk Pond. Owner, J. A. Pettee, East Sullivan.

This rock (specimen D, XXVI, 80, b) is a mica-quartz diorite of very dark 

gray shade and fine to medium texture with occasional porphyritic whitish 

feldspar up to 0.25 and rarely 0.5 inch. It consists, in descending order of 

abundance, of white translucent soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), 

black hornblende, opalescent quartz, black mica (biotite), and magnetite, together with accessory titanite, apatite, and pyrite. It takes a fine polish, and 

the contrast between polished and cut surfaces is marked. The diorite of East 

Sullivan is referred to by W. O. Crosby 8I in a paper on the geology of Frenchmans Bay.

The quarry, which is only 15 by 15 feet and 8 feet deep, is on the west side of 

a knoll 20 to 25 feet high.

Rock structure: Vertical joints, strike N. 25° W. and N. 85° W., recur at 

intervals of 1 to 5 feet. The rock splits in these directions, also horizontally.

"Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. Proc., vol. 21, p. 110, 1880.
232 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

There are whitish bands or veins 0.5 inch thick, consisting almost entirely of 

the feldspar and quartz.

This stone is quarried occasionally in small blocks for monuments.

The Sinclair prospect (black-granite) is li miles north of East Sullivan, 

on Herbert and Thaddeus Sinclair's (formerly Smith Bean's) farm, near 

Charles Dowel's sawmill.

This rock (specimen D, XXVI, 82, a) is a mica-quartz diorite of almost 

black shade, with white blotches, of medium to coarse porphyritic texture. It 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of bluish opalescent quartz, whitish 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), and potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), black hornblende, and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, pyrite, titanite, and apatite. Some of the feldspars measure 

nearly an inch in length.

The ledge is exposed for a length of 50 feet north-south and a height of 20 

feet. A vertical joint strikes N. 20° W. An opening 10 by 5 feet and 5 feet 

deep was made here in 1902.

SWANS ISLAND.

The Baird quarry is on Swans Island, east side of old harbor, not quite 1 

mile east of Swans Island village and three-fourths mile southeas^ of Minturn. 

Operator, Matthew Baird Contracting Co., 433 East Ninety-second Street, New 

York. Idle since 1917.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 34, a) is a biotite granite of medium pinkishbuff color and of medium inclining to coarse even-grained texture. It consists, 

in descending order of abundance, of a pinkish-buff potash feldspar (orthoclase 

and microcline), smoky quartz, a milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite and, rarely, a little 

greenish hornblende. The potash feldspars are intergrown with plagioclase 

and measure up to 0.5 inch or more, but most of the biotite is considerably 

under 0.1 inch. The stone takes a good polish, but the contrast between the 

polished and rough surface is feeble, owing to the smallness of the biotite scales. 

The contrasts are mostly between the quartz and the feldspars. The company 

reports a test of crushing strength between 18,000 and 19,000 pounds to the 

square inch.

The quarry, opened in 1901, measured in 1905 500 by 250 feet, with an average 

depth of 15 to 18 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 7 feet thick, dip 15° S. Vertical joints, 

striking N. 45° E., recur at intervals of 50 feet; others, striking N. 80° W., recur 

but twice as continuous joints. The rift is vertical north-south. Sap is confined 

to the sheets of the upper 3 feet. No knots or veins.

Transportation, by gravity and cable on track 1,200 feet to wharf.

The product is random, dimension, and paving stone, which go to New York, 

where the firm has its cutting works.

The Toothachers Cove quarry is near the end of that cove, in the western 

part of Swans Island, 1$ miles north-northwest of Swans Island village. 

Quarry disused in 1905; also in 1917.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 33, a) is a biotite granite of medium pinkishgray color and coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.75 inch and 

biotite fully 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of lightpink potash feldspar (orthoclase), smoky quartz, cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite 

and titanite. The orthoclase is intergrown with plagioclase. The oligoclase is 

altered to a white mica. The contrasts between the four minerals are marked.

The quarry in 1905 was 50 by 25 feet, with a working face 20 feet high. There 

are two other small openings.
MAINE. 233

TREMONT.

The Carroll quarry is in the town of Tremont, on Mount Desert Island, 

at Southwest Harbor. Operator, John Carroll, Southwest Harbor.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 65, a) is a hornblende granite of pinkishgreenish medium-gray color and medium even-grained texture, consisting, in 

descending order of abundance, of pinkish-greenish potash feldspar (inicrocline), smoky quartz, very dark green hornblende, and very little black mica 

(biotite), together with accessory magnetite and zircon and secondary chlorite. 

The microcline is intergrown with quartz and soda-lime feldspar (oligociaseandesine) and is largely altered to kaolin and a white mica. This granite is 

like that of the Graves quarry (specimen D, XXV, 64, a, p. 224) but is fresher.

The quarry is 100 feet from north to south by over 30 feet from east to west 

and in 1905 had a working face on the east 15 feet high. The sheets, 6 inches 

to 3 feet thick, are horizontal at the north end but dip 10° S. at the south end. 

Vertical joints strike N. 75° E'. and N. 50°-55° W. Knots are abundant and 

are up to 2 feet in diameter.

The quarry is worked only occasionally, and the stone is used locally for 

foundations.

KENNEBEC COUNTY.

. HALLOWELL.

The Stinchfteld quarry is in the town of Hallowell, 2$ miles northwest of 

the city of Hallowell, on the southern part of Lithgow Hill. (See map, PI. IX.) 

Operator, Hallowell Granite Works, C. B. Paine, receiver, Hallowell.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 111, a), "Hallowell," is a biotite-muscovite 

granite of light-gray shade and fine texture, with porphyritic feldspars usually 

about 0.25 inch in diameter. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of 

slightly bluish translucent potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), smoky 

(light) quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) of the same color as the other, 

black mica (biotite), and white mica (muscovite), together with accessory 

garnet, zircon, and apatite. The oligoclase is usually undergoing alteration 

to kaolin and a white mica and contains intergrowtbs of quartz circular in 

cross section. Exclusive of the porphyritic feldspars, the general diameter of 

the particles ranges from 0.25 to 1.0 millimeter, averaging about 0.65. Themicas are thickly disseminated. The stone takes a fine polish and the polished 

face has a slight bluish tinge. A microscopic description of " Hallowell granite " 

will be found in Men-ill's " Stones for building and decoration," pages 63, 64.

E. C. Sullivan, of this Survey, found that this granite contains 0.060 percent of COa (carbon dioxide) and that warm dilute acetic acid dissolves 0.08. 

per cent of CaO (lime) and a trace of MgO (magnesia). If all of this CO2 

is assigned to the CaO, the rock contains 0.14 per cent of CaCOa (calcium car-, 

bonate). The lime extracted by this process is in addition to that combined with 

silica in the soda-lime feldspar. The thin sections from the Tayntor quarry 

stone, which is essentially the same, show a little carbonate (see p. 235), and the 

same mineral must occur also in this granite, but in very minute quantity.

A test of the crushing strength of this granite made by Ricketts & Banks, 

yielded the following results:

Pounds per 

square Inch.

First cube___________________________ 19,260 

Second cube______ __ _____ __ 15,730

Average______________ ______ ___ 17, 495
234 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The difference in the two cubes is attributed to some imperfection in the 

second one.

The quarries were opened about 1826. The Stinchfield quarry measures 600 

feet from northeast to southwest by 400 feet across and in 1905 was 30 to 60 

feet deep. (See PI. XII, JS.) The Longfellow quarry (not in operation, but 

filled up to 20 feet with water), southwest of the Stinchfield and communicating with it, measures about 400 by 200 feet and from 50 to 70 feet in depth. 

The stripping comprises up to 20 feet (increasing northwestward) of yellowish 

sandy clay with small boulders near the top.

Rock structure: The most striking features in these quarries are the gradual 

increase in the thickness of the sheets downward (partly shown in PI. XII, B), 

from 4 inches to 14 feet, and the evidence of strain afforded by the numerous 

headings and joint systems shown in figure 53, also the evidence of weathering 

afforded by the decomposition and discoloration along these headings. The 

sheets range from the horizontal to an inclination of 15° NE. Many of them 

stop at the joints, probably owing to faulting; some taper out and overlap. 

Plate XVII, B, a view of a part of the northwest wall of the Longfellow quarry,

FIGURE 53. Structure at Stinchfield and Longfellow quarries, near Hallowell, Maine.

shows the intersection of headings of joint systems (C) and (D). Joints (A) 

are spaced from 10 to 15 feet. (B) forms a heading 50 feet wide on the southeast wall, weathered yellow to a depth of 50 feet from the rock surface. Joints 

(C) are spaced from 5 to 70 feet. In a 2-foot heading of (C) on the southwest 

wall the joints recur at intervals of 2 inches to 0.5 inch and are coated with 

quartz crystals. Joints (D) form two headings, 10 feet wide, on the southeast 

wall, containing a bed of sand a foot thick and 30 feet deep or long. Joints (E) 

are discontinuous and grooved and polished from motion. Large areas of 

some of the joint planes in the Longfellow quarry are covered with frostlike 

crystallizations of oxides of iron and probably of manganese. The rift is horizontal; the grain is vertical, N. 25° W., but feeble. A 2-foot pegmatite dike 

contains milk-white oligoclase, smoky quartz, muscovite, biotite, and 1-inch 

garnets. Knots occur up to 0.75 inch across, exceptionally 1 by 3 inches. The 

sap is very marked along the joints and up to a foot thick. The concentric 

growth of ferruginous stain is shown in the heading photographed.
MAINE. 235

Transportation, by cart 2^ miles to railroad or to wharf on Kennebec River 

at Hallowell, accessible to schooners of 3.2-foot draft.

The product is used for buildings and sculpture. It lends itself remarkably 

well to delicate ornamental work and statuary, as is shown by Plate XX, a 

reproduction of a photograph of a panel at the entrance to the Bank of Commerce in New York, and by Plate XXI, representing a statue on the Hall of 

Records in the same city. In 1905 about seven-eighths of the product went 

into building and one-eighth into carved work. Speciment buildings: Capitol, 

Albany, N. Y.; Marine National Bank, Buffalo, N. Y.; Hall of Records (including its statuary), Brooklyn Savings Bank, New York; Masonic Temple, Boston; 

academic and library buildings, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.; 

vestibule of Terminal Station, Chicago; Northwestern Insurance Co.'s building, Milwaukee; Savings Bank, Bangor, Maine. Specimen monuments and statues : Statue on Pilgrim monument, Plymouth, Mass.; national monument, Yorktown, Va.; New York State monument, Gettysburg, Pa.; soldiers' monument,

w- and strain fractures

FIGURE 54. Structure at Tayntor (Melvin) quarry, near Hallowell, Maine.

New Haven, Conn.; Richard M. Hunt monument, Central Park, New York; battlefield monument, Trenton, N. J. In 1922 the quarry was leased to Geo. A. 

Fuller Co. and was supplying part of the stone for the new courthouse in 

New York.

The Tayntor quarry (Melvin quarry) is in the town of Hallowell, 2 milea 

north-northwest of the city of Hallowell. It is now owned by the Hallowell 

Granite Works, but has not been operated for several years.

The granite, " Hallowell," is a biotite-muscovite granite of light-gray shade 

and fine (but porphyritic) texture, identical with that of the Longfellow and 

Stinchfielcl quarries (specimen D, XXVI, 111, a), described on page 233. The 

general diameter of particles, exclusive of the porphyritic crystals, ranges from 

0.25 to 1.25 millimeters. One of the small porphyritic oligoclase crystals measuring 2.25 millimeters in diameter shows calcite between its cleavage planes. 

Calcite appears also independently in plates up to 0.5 millimeter across. E. C. 

Sullivan, of this Survey, found that it contained 0.146 per cent of CO2 (carbon 

dioxide) and that warm dilute acetic acid extracted 0.24 per cent, of CaO 

(lime) and no magnesia. The C02 found corresponds to 0.33 per cent of CaCO»
236 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

(calcium carbonate). The difference in the result of the test of this and the 

test of the Stinchfield quarry stone may not hold good of the stones in general. 

The average of both tests, or 0.235 per cent for the lime carbonate of both 

stones, may be nearer the truth.

The quarry, opened before 1840, measured in 1905 520 feet N. 30° W. to S. 

20° E. by 275 feet across and from 10 to 40 feet in depth. The deeper part of 

it is 275 by 150 feet and 40 feet deep.

Rock structure: In places there is a vertical flow structure with course N. 

35° W., and where it occurs it is the direction of easiest fracture. The sheets 

measure 1 foot to 6 feet 6 inches (the thicker being the lower ones), and are 

horizontal. The joint and dike courses are shown in figure 54. (A) recurs at. 

intervals of 20 to 200 feet, and forms one heading, which does not extend beyond a depth of 15 feet from the rock surface. (B) in places dips steep north,, 

recurs at intervals of 10 to 40 feet, and forms headings in the northern half 

of quarry. The rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical, N. 70° W., but feeble. 

Figure 54 shows the courses of the pegmatite dikes; (a) dips 45° N. and is 4- 

inches thick, (b) dips 65° E. and is 3 inches thick, (c) dips N. and is 3 inchesthick. Pegmatite lenses 2 feet thick also occur. In the northern part, of the 

quarry there is a band of dark knots, from 5 to 25 feet wide, with a N. 10° E. 

course, but the rest of the quarry is free from knots. The glaciated surfaces, 

and the sheet surfaces are free from sap except near the headings, where it. 

extends for 6 inches from each sheet and joint face. The granite is here under 

compressive strain, for the cores between the contiguous borings made in. 

channeling become crushed, and on two occasions spontaneous vertical eastwest fractures 40 feet long occurred through a sheet 4 feet inches thick, diagonal to two rectangular " channels."

Transportation, by rail 2 miles to cutting shed at dock.

The product was used for monumental work. Specimens: General Slocun* 

monument, Gettysburg, Pa.; State of Maine monument, Andersonville, Ga.;. 

New York State monument, Lookout Mountain (Craven House), Tenn.; soldiers' monument, Pittsfleld, Maine; Dunlap mausoleum (Corinthian style, 

16 by 28 feet) and Ziegler mausoleum (Grecian Doric style, 25 by 34 feet, afterthe temple at Paestum), Woodlawn Cemetery, New York; General Miles 

mausoleum, Arlington, Va.

o 

KNOX COUNTY.

MUSCLE RIDGE PLANTATION.

The High Isle quarry is in Muscle Ridge Plantation, 9$ miles south-southeast of Rockland. Operators in 1905, William Gray & Son, Philadelphia, Pa.. 

Quarry now idle.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 18, a) is a biotite granite of slightly 

pinkish medium-gray color, with conspicuous black mica and of medium tocoarse, even-grained texture, the feldspars measuring up to 0.5 inch and most, 

ef the biotite scales up to 0.1 inch, but some 0.2 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a delicate pink potash feldspar (orthoclase and 

microcline), smoky quartz, milk-white, very slightly bluish soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, apatite, and secondary chlorite. The oligoclase is in some places partly altered1 

to a white mica. The contrasts between the minerals are rather marked, but: 

the polish is not very satisfactory, owing to the large size of the biotite scales.

The following chemical analysis and determination of specific gravity weremade for the firm by Prof. James F. Kerap, of Columbia University:
MAINE. 237

Analysis of granite from High Isle quarry.

Per cent.

Silica (SiOa )_____________________________ 74.54

Alumina (AUOs)____-____________________ 13.30

Ferrous oxide (FeO)__________ ________________ .79

Ferric oxide (Fe2O8 )_______________________ .92

Lime (CaO)____________________________ 1.26

Magnesia (MgO) ________-______-______ .009

Manganese (Mn) ___ _ :__ __ __ ___ .51

Sulphur (S)____________________________ .038

Soda (Na.0) ___________________________ 3.69

Potash (K.O) _____________-____________ 5.01

100.067

Loss on ignition, 0.55.

Specific gravity, 2.641, equal to 165.06 pounds per cubic foot. 

The results of three crushing tests (laboratory Nos. 1759 to 1761) on 2-inch 

cubes bedded with plaster of Paris, made at the engineering laboratory of

FIGURE 55. Structure at High Isle quarry, Knox County, Maine.

Columbia University for the firm, are as follows: First crack at 100,000 to 

126,300 pounds. Ultimate strength in pounds per square inch, 25,880, 32,360, 

32,495, 33..085.

The quarry, opened about 1894, consists of five openings, each about 100 feet 

square, with a m'aximum depth of 50 feet'and an average depth of about 17 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 14 feet thick, are lenticular, tapering, and 

curve over^ to the northwest and southeast at low angles. (See PL XVI, A.) 

Joint courses are shown in figure 55. (A) is prominent and forms a heading 

on the south side of the island, shown in Plate XVI, A. (B) dips 40° SE., 

occurs but occasionally, and is discontinuous. (C) also forms a heading. (D) 

dips 65° SW. and is also prominent. The rift is vertical, with east-west course. 

Irregular horizontal dikes of pegmatite, up to 2 inches thick, consist of the 

same minerals as the granite a pink orthoclase and microcline, smoky quartz, 

cream-colored oligoclase, and biotite. Sap occurs along the sheets and joints 

(A) and (C), and markedly at the surface, in places up to a foot in thickness. 

(For details see p. 66 and fig. 5.) Along some of the headings of (A) the 

granite is weathered to a sand at a depth of 20 feet.
238 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Transportation, by gravity and track 650 feet to wharf.

The product was used for buildings. Sundry small buildings and bridge seats 

for the Pennsylvania Railroad have been made of this stone; also the new 

Wanamaker store in Philadelphia.

The Dix Island quarries are in Muscle Ridge Plantation, half a mile southwest of High Isle. Owner, Thomas Dwyer, Two hundred and sixteenth Street 

and Broadway, New York. Quarries abandoned.

Six openings were operated extensively in 1880 by the Dix Island Granite 

Co., which employed 1,400 men when filling large contracts. These quarries 

furnished material for the United States Treasury Department extension at 

Washington, the basement of the Charleston customhouse, the New York and 

Philadelphia post offices, and the trimmings for the New York Metropolitan 

Museum of Art. Only an occasional block is now quarried. There is a wharf 

with 12 feet of writer at low tide.88

The granite (specimen. D, XXVI, 19, a) is a biotite granite of somewhat 

dark-gray shade and of medium to coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.5 inch and many fine biotite scales rarely over 0.1 inch. It consists, in 

descending order of abundance, of delicate pink potash feldspar (orthoclase 

and microcline), smoky quartz, a very slightly bluish-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite and 

apatite. The oligoclase is partly altered to a white mica and rarely contains 

a little caU-ite. The biotite is here rind there interleaved with muscovite. The 

chief difference between this and the " High Isle granite " is that in this the 

biotite scales are generally smaller and much more abundant, w'lich darkens 

the shade of the rock and diminishes the contrast between the minerals.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 10 feet thick, dip 20°-40° S. i'n places. 

Headings strike N. 80° E. and N. 35° W.

SOUTH THOMASTON.

The Sprucehead quarry is on Sprucehead Island, in the town of South 

Thomaston. about 10 miles south of Rockland. Owner, Bodwell Granite Co., 

Rockland. Quarry disused since 1910

The rock (specimen D, XXVI, 10, a), "Sprucehead," is a quartz monzonite. 

with conspicuous black, white, and gray particles and of medium to coarse, 

even-grained texture. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of translucent white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), milk-white potash feldspar (microcline), smoky quartz, black mica (biotite), and black hornblende, together 

with accesory titanite, magnetite, pyrite, zircon, apatite, and secondary epidote. 

Zonal structure is common in the oligoclase. The contrasts between the black 

minerals, the smoky quartz, and the feldspars are very marked.

The quarry in 1905 was about 27SL.feet by 250 feet and had a maximum 

depth of 55 feet and on average depth of about 27 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, from less than a foot to 13 feet thick, lie horizontal or dip 10°-15° NW. and SW., intersectingsthe surface, which dips gently 

sou then st. The sheets are irregular in thickness, owing to the tapering out of 

the lenses, but, in general, increase in thickness downward. Joints and dike 

courses are shown in figure 56. (A) recurs frequently on the north side of the 

quarry, but two joints are 50 feet apart and have greatly facilitated the 

opening of the quarry. (B) dips 70° N. and traverses the entire quarry. The 

rift is vertical with a N. 60° E. course. Knots and dikes occur. Sap Is 3 

Inches thick on the sheet surfaces.

88 These quarries are referred to by J. E. Wolff in Tenth Census, vol. 10, pp. 119, 120. 

1888, and by G. P. Merrill in Smithsonian Inst. Ann. Kept., 1889, pt. 2, p. 416.
MAINE. 239

Transportation, by cart 300 feet to wharf.

Specimen buildings, etc.: Carnegie Library, Allegheny, Pa.; post office and 

customhouse, Atlanta, Ga.; columns of Auditorium Building, Chicago; Mutual 

Life Insurance Co.'s building and National City Bank, New York; post office 

(exterior), Bar Harbor, Maine.

The Weskeag quarry is in the town of South Thomastou, 1 mile west of 

Pleasant Beach and 7 miles south of Rockland. Quarry disused since 1914.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 142, a) is a biotite-muscovite granite of 

slightly bluish medium-gray color and of medium to coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and mica to 0.15 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of light-bluish potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), smoky quartz, bluish, or white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black 

mica (biotite), and white mica '(muscovite), together with accessory garnet, 

magnetite, and apatite. The oligoclase is partly altered to kaolin and -a white 

mica. Thin sections show a marked rift.88 The stone takes a fine polish, but

FIGURE 56. Structure at Sprucehead quarry, Soutb Thomaston, Maine.

the abundance and size of the mica plates are not favorable to the durability 

of the polish under outdoor exposure.

The quarry, reopened in 1905, covered then about an acre of ground with an 

average depth of 20 feet.. The sheets are horizontal and tapering, lenticular. 

Joints strike N. 80° E. and dip 80° S. Rift is vertical and strikes N. 80° B. 

Grain is horizontal.

Transportation, by cars and horsepower on track half a mile to wharf near 

Birch Point.

ST. GEORGE.

The Clark Island quarry is on Clark Island, in the town of St. George, 

about 12 miles south-southwest of Rockland. Owner, Rodgers Granite Corporation, 271 West One hundred and twenty-fifth Street, New York.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 12, a) is a biotite-muscovite granite of 

bluish, medium-gray color and of fine to medium even-grained texture, with 

feldspar up to 0.25 inch and mica under 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending 

order of abundance, of light-bluish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), clear or very slightly smoky quartz, light-bluish soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), black mica (biotite), and white mica (muscovite), together with

89 See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 313, fig. 1, 1907.
240 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

accessory garnet, zircon, apatite, and secondary chlorite. The oligoclase is 

partly altered to a whi'.e mica and includes a little carbonate. .The quartz 

contains hairlike crystals of rutile. In general, as the quartz is so nearly clear, 

the bluish tint of the feldspar dominates and the contrast is mostly between it 

and the thickly disseminated black mica. It takes a very fine polish.

E. C. Sullivan, of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.218 per cent of Cd 

(carbon dioxide), and that warm dilute acetic acid extracts 0.24 per cent of 

CaO (lime), and much MgO (magnesia). Figuring the COs to both CaO and 

MgO, this would give 0.43 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbona(e) and 0.06 per 

cent of MgCOs (magnesium carbonate). The thin section also shows carbonate.

The quarry, opened about 1870, measured in 1905 500 by 300 feet, with a 

maximum depth of 50 feet and an average of 25 feet.

Bock structure: The sheets, 2 to 10 feet thick, strike N. 30° W. and dip 20° 

E. and -on the east side of the quarry 20°-30° W. Vertical joints strike N. 

65°-70° W. and recur at intervals of 10 to 20 feet. The rift is vertical, with 

a N. 85° W. course. There are. two dikes of coarse pegmatite, up to 6 inches 

thick, one striking N. 15° W., the other N. 40° E. They consist of feldspar, 

quartz, muscovite, biotHe, black tourmaline, and red garnet. The usual sap 

occurs along the sheets.

Transportation, by horse power on track 900 to 1,200 feet to wharf.

Specimen buildings: Post offices, Hartford, Conn., and Buffalo, N. Y.; Standard Oil Building; New York.

The McConchie quarry (black-granite) is in the town of St. George, about 

three-fourths mile north of Long Cove quarry. Quarry idle.

The rock (specimen D, XXVI, 16, a:), "Crown black grani'.e," is a norite of 

very dark gray shade and fine to medium texture, consisting, in descending 

order of abundance, of an unaltered colorless to snioky feldspar containing 

both soda and lime (andesine to labradorite), hypersthene partly altered to 

brown hornblende, black mica (biotite) in scales up to 0.2 inch, and magnetite, 

together with accessory pyrite.

The quarry, opened in 1888, was in 1905 about 50 feet square and from 10 

to 15 feet deep.

The stone has to be carried 10 miles to the cutting works at South Thomaston, 

although the quarry itself is within one-fourth mile of seaboard.

Specimen structures: Soldiers' monuments at Warren and Union, Maine,

The Long Cove quarry is near both Tenants Harbor and Long Cove, in the 

township of St. George, about 13 miles southwest' of Rockland. (See Rockland topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, Booth Bros. & Hurricane Isle Granite Co., 208 Broadway, New York.

The granite is a biotite-muscovite granite of bluish medium-gray color and 

of fine to medium even-grained texture like that of the Clnrk Island quarry, 

described on page 239. Tests of its compressive strength made by the Columbia 

School of Mines are reported by the firm to have shown an ultimate crushing 

strength of 22,000 pounds to the square inch, but the original report of these 

tests has been misplaced.

The quarry, opened about 1873, measured in 1905 about 1,000 feet from north 

to south by 500 feet from east to west and from 20 to 75 feet in depth, averaging about 40 feet. This is the only quarry in New England in which tunneling is resorted to in the use of explosives.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 13 feet thick, are horizontal or dip 

10°. Joints and dike courses are shown in figure 57. (A) recurs at intervals of 

2 to 30 feet, (B) dips 25°, (C) dips 65° NE. The east end of the quarry is
MAINE. 241

much broken up by the closeness of joints (A) and the thinness of the sheets 

for a considerable distance below the surface. The rift is vertical, with N. 

80°-90° W. course. There is a horizontal dike of pegmatite up to 9 inches 

thick at the north end of the quarry; another, divided into many parallel ones, 

strikes N. 70° W. and dips 70° N. These dikes all consist of white feldspar, 

quartz, muscovite, black tourmaline, and garnet. Sap is up to 18 inches thick 

along sheets and joints.

Transportation, by inclined track 900 feet to wharf.

The product is used chiefly for monuments and goes chiefly to Greenwood 

and other cemeteries near Brooklyn, N. Y. The small beds and waste are 

worked into paving blocks. Specimen buildings, etc.: Post office, Albany, N. Y. ; 

Bates Building, Philadelphia; and part of Saratoga monument.

FIGURE 57. Structure at Long Cove quarry, St. George, Maine.

The Willards Point or Wildcat quarry is on Tenants Harbor, in the township of St. George, about a mile south of the Long Cove quarry. Operator, St. 

George Granite Co., 90 West Street, New York.

The granite is a biotite-muscovite granite like that of the Long Cove and 

Clark Island quarries (p. 239).

The quarry, opened before 1873, measured in 1905 about 200 by 100 feet, 

with an average depth of 20 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 3 feet thick, are nearly horizontal. There 

are four sets of joints (a), strike nearly due east; (b), strike N. 55° W.; (c), 

strike N. 70° E.; (d), strike N. 70° W. The rift is east-west. Pegmatite dikes, 

(5 to 12 inches thick, strike N. 30° W. and N. 50° W.

The quarry is only 300 feet from the dock.

Although the Rockland post office was made of this granite it is now used 

entirely for paving.

VINALHAVEN AND HTJKRICANE ISLANDS.

Vinalhaven and the adjacent islands have been known collectively as the

Fox Islands, and their granite as " Fox Island granite." The granite industry

of these islands is distributed over an area about 5 miles from east to west by

4 miles from north to south. The locations of the quarries are shown on the

105709 23 17
242 COMMERCIAL GEANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

map (fig. 58). Some of them are near the center of Vinalhaven Island. 

The Palmer quarry is on the west shore; the Black and Webster quarries are 

on the east shore; the Sands, Harbor, and Armbrust quarries are on the 

south shore, near Vinalhaven village; and the Pequoit and Duschane Hill 

quarries lie east of the village near the east shore. There are some minor

Contour interval 20feet

58. Map showing location of quarries on Vinalhaven and adjacent islands, known 

collectively as " Fox Islands," Maine. (From Vinalhaven topographic map, U. S. Geol. 

Survey.)

quarries ("motions") on Barton, Cundell, and Green Islands, and a large 

quarry on Hurricane Island. As will be seen from the descriptions, there is 

little difference between the coarse granites of the Hurricane Island, Sands, 

Harbor, Armbrust, Black, Webster, and Palmer quarries, but the granites of 

the Duschane Hill and Pequoit quarries are fine textured, as is also that from 

an abandoned opening in Vinalhaven village.
MAINE. 243

Plate X, A, shows the conspicuous east-west jointing in the granite on 

Heron Neck, at the south end of Green Island. The same system of joints 

recurs on Hurricane Island and at the Sands and Armbrust quarries.

The Sands quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, at the northeast side of 

the head of-Sand Cove. (See maps. PI. IX and fig. 5S). Operator, Bodwell 

Granite Co., Rockland. Idle in 1922.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 1, b) is a biotite granite of general pinkishbutt color and of coarse, even-grained texture, the feldspars measuring up to 

0.75 inch (rarely 1 inch) and the biotite scales up to 0.2 inch. It consists, in 

descending order of abundance, of a pinkish-buff potash feldspar (chiefly orthoel ase with some microcJine), smoky quartz, milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, 

zircon, and apatite. The orthoclase here and there contains irregular areas 

of carbonate and is intergrown with a plagioclase or rimmed with oligoclase. 

The oligoclase is partly altered to kaolin and a white mica. Pyrite is found by 

the quarrymen in rare and minute particles, and molybdenite occurs occasionally 

in half-inch scales. E. C. Sullivan, of this Survey, finds that this granite conFIGURK 59. Structure at Sands quarry, "Vinalhaven, Maine.

tains 0.034 per cent of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and that warm' dilute acetic acid 

extracts 0.07 per cent of CaO (lime) and a trace of MgO (magnesia). 

This, if the C02 is allotted to the CaO, shows a percentage of 0.08 of CaCO3 

(calcium carbonate), the presence of which is also indicated by the microscope. 

The stone takes a fine polish, but the size of the mica plates does not favor 

the durability of the polished face under continued exposure. The contrasts 

of color and shade are chiefly between the two feldspars and the black mica.

The quarry, opened before 1860, measured in 1905 about 500 feet from northeast to southwest and about the same distance from northwest to southeast, 

and was 20 to 75 feet deep, averaging about 40 feet. The exacavation has not 

only cut down a granite hillock but has extended below the general land level. 

Plate XIV, A, shows the south-southeast end of the quarry.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 20 feet thick generally, however, from 2 

to 10 feet lie flat along an east-west axis for a width of about 200 feet but 

on either side curve over gently to the north and south, with dips of 5°, 10°, 

and 20°. The joint and vein courses are shown in figure 59. Joints (B) form 

the northwest and southeast walls of the quarry. Joints (C) are coated in places
244 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

with crystalline calcite to the thickness of 0.25 inch, or with hematite, chlorite, 

and stilbite in microscopic films. (Determination of stilbite by W. T. Schaller, 

of this Survey.) The rift is vertical, with a N. 80° W. course. The "hard 

way " or " cut off" is N. 10° E. Blocks 65 and 120 feet long have been obtained by splitting along the rift. The thickness and curvature of the sheets, 

the intersecting joint face, and the channeling along the " cut off " are shown 

in Plate XIV, A. Dikes of grayish aplite, described on page 43, are 1 to 7 

inches thick. There are some dark-gray knots (see p. 59) of more biotitic 

granite, up to 2 feet in length and 4 inches in width, and some of spheroidal 

form, with a diameter of 2$ feet. Sap is 4 inches thick on either side of joints 

(A), (B), (D), and also along the sheet surfaces. The unhewn weathered 

surface about the quarry passes into a granite sand, with little or no staining 

by limonite.

Transportation, by railroad 500 feet to wharf, which admits schooners and 

barges of 1,500 gross tons capacity.

The product is used for docks, bridges, piers, buildings, and monuments. 

The thin sheets and much of the waste are made into paving blocks 12 by 4 by 

7 to 8 inches. Plate XIX, A, shows how the granite of this quarry lends itself 

to coarse sculpture. Specimen structures made exclusively of Sands quarry 

granite: Post Office Department building, Washington; Masonic Temple, 

Philadelphia; savings bank, Wilmington, Del.; board of trade building, Chicago; post office and customhouse, Brooklyn; General Wool monument, Troy, 

N. Y.; Manhattan Bank, New York. The Sands quarry and the Palmer quarry 

together furnished all the stone for the customhouse in New York.

The Palmer or Wharff quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, on the west 

side, opposite Leadbetter Island. (See map, fig. 58.) Operator, Bodwell Granite Co., Rockland. Idle in 1922.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 2, b) is a biotite granite of general pinkishbuff color and of coarse texture, the feldspar, measuring up to 0.75 inch and 

the biotite scales up to 0.2 inch. It is identical with that of the Sands quarry 

-(p. 243), except that the potash feldspar is a little more pinkish buff and the 

white soda-lime feldspar is of a slightly greenish tinge. The general tone of 

the color is " warmer." The thin section shows rarely a little hornblende.

The quarry is on the west side of a ridge 100 feet high. It measured in 

1905 about 500 feet square, with an average depth of 25 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets dip 10° W. in the front (western) part of the 

quarry, but gradually turn at the back or working face to 10° E. They are 4 

to 15 feet thick. About 20 feet below the top of the quarry face is a bed of 

granite sand,. 18 inches thick, parallel to the sheets, already referred to on 

page 70. The principal joints, which strike N. 80° W. and dip 80° S., form a 5- 

foot heading at the south end of the quarry and recur but once or twice. The 

rift is vertical, striking N. 10° E. Owing to the structure here, it is usual to 

blast by lewis holes along the grain (east-west) and then to split by plug 

drilling along the rift; in this way thick sheets can be split along the grain a 

distance of 200 feet. One block loosened measured 300 feet along the grain 

by 120 feet along the rift and was 15 feet thick. Dikes of aplite are rare. 

A knot from this quarry is described in detail on page 59. Sap is up to 6 inches 

thick along sheet and joint surfaces. It is intense in color at the surfaces.

Transportation, by rail 700 feet to wharf, where the blocks are taken on 

schooners either to the cutting sheds at the Sands quarry or directly to market.

The product is used chiefly for bridges and buildings, and the waste is made 

into paving blocks. This quarry, in common with the Sands quarry, furnished 

the material for the New York customhouse. It supplied also eight columns, 

51J to 54 feet long by 6 feet in diameter, for the Cathedral of St. John the
MAINE. 245

Divine in New York. It was intended that they should each be of one piece, 

but as both the direction of the rift at the quarry and architectural principles 

required that they be cut with their long axes at right angles to the rift, the 

strain in the great lathe came upon the weakest part of the stone. However, 

as the first stone put into the lathe broke with a long diagonal fracture, it 

became evident that the chief difficulty was that the stone had been subjected 

to too great a torsional strain by the application of rotary power from one 

end only. It therefore became necessary to make each column of two sections, 

each about 26 feet long. -Plate XIX, B, shows the lathe with the first fulllength column in it and three others as originally prepared for it.

Among the structures made of this granite since 1905 are the Chicago & 

Northwestern Railroad station, Chicago; State Savings Bank, Lansing, Mich.; 

West Street Building (two stories polished), United States Realty Building, 

115 Broadway, and 97 per cent of the main piers (above foundation) of Hell 

Gate Bridge, New York.

The Webster quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, on the north shore of 

" Pleasant River." at the end of Winter Harbor, in the northern part of Vinalhaven Island. (See fig. 58.) Operators in 1905, A. M. Webster & Co., Vinalhaven. Quarry now abandoned.

The granite is a biotite granite identical with that of the Palmer quarry, 

described above.

Rock structure: The sheets, 5 to 10 feet thick, dip 10°-15° N. 30° E. Vertical joints strike N. 30° W. and N. 60° E. The rift is vertical, with N. 30° W. 

course. There are some knots. A spherical one is 5 feet in diameter. Sap 

is 3-inches thick along sheets and joints.

Transportation, by a graded track 200 feet to wharf admitting schooners 

of 300 to 350 long tons. Plate XVIII, A, shows the quarry and a schooner 

laden with granite.90

The product, shipped in the rough, was used for buildings in New York and 

Boston.

The Black (Pleasant River) quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, on the 

south shore of Pleasant River, at the end of Winter Harbor, in the northern 

part of Vinalhaven Island. Operator, Joseph S. Black, Vinalhaven. Idle since 

1912.

The granite is a biotite granite, identical with that of the Palmer quarry, 

described on page 244.

The quarry, opened in 1896, measured in 1905 300 feet in a N. 40° W. direction by 200 across with a working face 45 feet high.

Rock structure: The umvorked surface above the quarry is very free from 

joints, knots, and veins. The sheets, 10 to 12 feet thick, are horizontal at the 

working face or back of the quarry but at the front dip lO^lS" W. Vertical 

joints strike N. 20° E. The rift is vertical, with course N. 40° W. Knots are 

from 6 inches to 2 feet 6 inches in diameter.

Transportation, by a 350-foot track, with a grade of 10 feet, to wharf.

The product is used for building, the waste for riprap. The quarry has 

furnished material for the dry dock at Portsmouth, N. H., and the Rain 

Island Lighthouse.

The Pequoit quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, 1| miles east-northeast 

of Vinalhaven village, on Vinalhaven Island. (See fig. 58.) Owner, Booth 

Bros. & Hurricane Isle Granite Co., 208 Broadway, New York.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 7, a) is a biotite-hornblende granite of 

medium-gray shade and fine, even-grained texture, with porphyritic feldspar

90 Mr. Webster built his own schooners and sailed them himself, laden with his own 

granite, quarried by a partner.
246 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

up to 0.25 inch in length. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a 

translucent whitish potash feldspar (orthoclase, with a very little microcline), 

smoky quartz, a whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black mica (biotite), 

and dark hornblende, together with accessory magnetite, titanite, and apatite. 

The orthoclase is here and there intergrown wifti a plagioclase. The orthoclase is in places altered to kaolin and a white mica and includes occasionally 

some carbonate. The porphyritic crystals are .orthoclase.

The quarry, opened in 1887, consisted in 1005 of two openings, each about 

250 feet square and about 10 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 6 feet thick, dip 10°-15° N. 80° W. Vertical 

joints, strike N. 80° W. and N. 5°-10° E. The rift is vertical, striking N. 

5°-10° E.

The product is carted one-third mile to the narrows and there shipped.

The product consists entirely of paving blocks (10 to 14 by 4 to 5 by 6 to 7 

inches).

The Duschane Hill quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, li miles east of 

Vinalhaven village, on Roberts Harbor. (See fig. 58.) Operator, Roberts 

Harbor Granite Co., Vihalhaven.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 8, a) is a biotite granite of medium buff-gray 

color and of fine to medium porphyritic texture, with most of the feldspar about 

0.2 inch long, but some 0.33 or 0.5 inch long. The rock consists, in descending 

order of abundance, of a buff-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase), smoky 

quartz, a buff-gray soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), 

together with secondary chlorite. The orthoclase is intergrown with plagioclase, and the oligoclase is partly altered to kaolin and a white mica.

This stone is used entirely for paving blocks.

The Bodwell openings (black-granite) are in the town of Vinalhaven, in 

the diabase area west of Sand Cove. Operator, Bodwell Granite Co., Rockland. Idle in 1922.

This rock (specimen D, XXVI, U, a) is an olivine norite of almost black 

shade and of fine texture, consisting, in descending order of abundance, of 

a network of usually slender crystals (from 0.37 to 1.66 millimeters in length) 

of grayish unaltered lime-soda feldspar (labradorite to bytownite), filled 

with hypersthene, greenish olivine, black mica (biotite), and magnetite. It 

takes a very fine polish and cuts white. It is not obtainable in very.large 

blocks. This stone is referred to by George P. Merrill. 81

The Indian Creek quarry is on Indian Creek in the township of Vinalhaven, 

about half a mile from Vinalhaven village. (See fig. 58.) Operators, 

J. Leopold & Co., 233 Broadway, New York.

The granite is reported by the Office of Public Roads, Department of Agriculture, as a light-gray biotite granite of medium grain, with a compressive 

strength of 21,220 pounds to the square inch.

The quarry was opened in 1909.

The product is used entirely for curbing and paving.

The Armbrust quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, between Carvers Harbor and Indian Creek, south of Vinalhaven village. Operator, Crown Hill 

Granite. Works, Vinalhaven.

The granite is a biotite granite similar to that of the Sands quarry described 

on page 243.

The quarry consists of numerous openings on several sides of a hillock 100 

feet high. It has not been operated since 1907.

91 Tenth Census, vol. 10. p. 24.
MAINE. 247

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 15 feet thick, are mainly horizontal but 

on the east side of the hill dip 10° S. Vertical joints strike N. 75°-80° W. 

and N. 30°-35° E. There is no marked rift, but a vertical mass 4 feet thick, 

striking N. 65° W. across the hill, has a horizontal rift and greatly facilitates 

quarrying, as it serves the purpose of a channel.

Transportation: The product was carted in 7 to 10 ton loads one-fourth to 

one-half mile to a wharf on Carvers Harbor.

The product consisted entirely of paving blocks.

The Hurricane Island quarry is in the town of Vinalhaven, in the southeastern part of Hurricane Island. (See map, fig. 58.) Operator, Hurricane Isle 

Quarries Co., Rockland. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 4, a) is a biotite granite of general pinkishbuff medium-gray color and of coarse, even-grained texture, the feldspars 

measuring up to 0.75 inch and the biotite scales up to 0.2 inch. It is identical 

with that of the Sands quarry, described on page 243. The potash feldspar is 

perhaps a trifle more pinkish buff than that of the Sands quarry but not 

quite so much so as that of the Palmer quarry- These distinctions, however, 

are small and may not hold throughout the quarries, although they characterize 

the typical specimens selected for the writer by the superintendents of the 

respective quarries.

The following chemical analysis of granite from Hurricane Island waa 

made by Ricketts & Banks, of New York, for the firm (No. 16073), and is 

inserted here for reference merely.

<3

Analysis of granite from Hurricane Island.

Silica (Si02 )____________________________ 70.94 

Alumina (Al,03 )_________________________ 15.68 

Ferrous oxide (FeO)_______________________ 2.29 

.. Lime (CaO)_____________________________ 1.23 

Magnesia (MgO)________________________ __ .19 

Manganese oxide (MnO)_________________ __ .13 

Soda (NasO)____________________________ 3.58 

Potash (KsO)___________________________ 5.54 

Sulphur (S) total_________________________ .05 

Carbon dioxide (C02 )_______________________ None. 

Loss and undetermined ________________ _ _ . 37

100. 00

A compression test made by Prof. Ira H. Woolson, of the Columbia School of 

Mines,93 showed an ultimate crushing strength of 19,583 pounds to the square 

inch.

The quarry, opened about 1876, measured in 1905 500 feet along the rift (N. 

85° W.) and had an average width of 150 feet. It lies on the south side of a 

ridge 100 feet high with a west-northwest axis. The greatest depth of working 

face was 105 feet and its average about 50 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 20 feet thick, curve over on both the north 

and the south side of the ridge, with a dip of not less than 10°. Seen from the 

western spur of the island, two 20-foot sheets form the upper part of the hill; 

beneath these, however, is a much thicker sheet, which at the east-southeast 

end of. the hill and quarry measures fully 60 feet too thick for economic work02 Day, W. C., U. S. Geol. Survey Twentieth Ann. Rept., pt. 6, continued, p. 391, 1899 

(test No. 1709).
248 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

ing. These sheets are shown in Plate XII, A, as seen looking northwest. This 

abnormally thick sheet is referred to by Merrill.93 The sheets are traversed by 

three sets of joints, as shown in figure 60. (A) dips 50°-55° W.; (B) is vertical; 

and (C), which is diagonal to (A) and (B), dips 40° NE. The rift is vertical, 

with N. 85° E. course. The east-west system (B), which is parallel to the rift, 

reappears on Heron Neck, as shown in Plate X, A. (B) and (C) are both shown 

on Plate XII, A. The (B) surfaces are, in places, coated with epidote. Occasional knots occur.

Transportation, by track 400 feet to dock.

The product is used for buildings and monuments. The waste goes into paving 

blocks. Specimen buildings: Suffolk County courthouse, Boston; St. Louis 

post office and customhouse; two buildings for the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Md.

Rift

FIGURE 60. Structure at Hurricane Island quarry, Knox County, Maine.

LINCOLN COUNTY. 

BRISTOL.

The Bound Pond quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Bristol, onefourth mile east of Round Pond village, and west of Muscongus Island. Operators, Peter Svensen & Co., Round Pond. Quarry idle in 1916.

The rock (specimens D, XXVII, 126 a, 126 b) is a quartz diorite of very darkgray and medium-gray shades and of fine, even-grained texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.2 inch. The darker variety consists, in descending order of abundance, 

of bluish-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), clear quartz, black 

mica (biotite), potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), and magnetite, 

together with accessory titanite, zircon, and apatite and secondary calcite. 

The lighter variety consists of the same minerals, but with less biotite, so that 

it changes place with the potash feldspar in order of abundance. Both varieties 

take a fine polish and offer a very marked contrast between the polished and 

cut or hammered surface. Granite of the same shade affords no such contrast.

The quarry, opened in 1885, consists of two adjacent openings along a northwest-southeast line. The upper, or northwestern one, was in 1905 100 feet square; 

the lower, 400 feet northwest-southeast by 100 feet across, but with a central

83 Smithsonian Inst. Ann. Rept., 1889, pt. 2, p. 415.
MAINE. 249

part 37 feet wide on each side that is, 175 feet wide. These openings ranged 

in depth from 10 to 65 feet.

Rock structure: Considerable scientific interest attaches to the geologic relations at this quarry, as may be seen by the references to them on pages 48, 52. 

This quarry has been described by J. E. Wolff.M The diorite underlies a mass 

of schist which strikes N. 15° E. and is traversed by dikes and lenses of coarse 

pegmatite. It also includes a tongue of this schist and is traversed by dikes 

of pegmatite, and itself in turn is traversed, as is also its pegmatite, by a 

diabase dike. (See PL VIII, B). Thus the schists are older than the diorite, 

and the dike is later than the diorite and its pegmatite. The joint and dike 

courses are shown in figure 61. The sheets, 1 to 12 feet thick, dip 10° S. and also 

10° E. and are traversed by joints (A), which recur at intervals of 5 to 42 

feet, and (B), which recur but once or twice. There are bad headings on the 

northeast side of the quarry. The pegmatite dikes send out small branches. 

Sap, only 1 Inch thick, occurs along the sheets. Knots up to 6 by 2 inches are

FIGURE 61. Structure at Round Pond diorite quarry, Bristol, Maine.

rare. The general result of this complex structure is that it is difficult to obtain 

many large blocks.

Transportation, by cart about 300 feet from lower quarry and 800 to 1,000 

feet from upper one to wharf in Muscongus Bay.

The product is used mostly for small monuments, which are shipped to New 

York without the lettering. (See PL XXII, A). The waste goes into paving 

blocks. Specimen monuments: Die of Maine monument at Andersonville, Ga.; 

base and die of General Sheridan monument in National Cemetery at Arlington, Va.

WALDOBORO.

The Waldoboro quarry is in the town of Waldoboro, li miles north of 

Waldoboro village, on the Boston & Maine Railroad. Operator, Booth Bros. 

& Hurricane Isle Granite Co., 208 Broadway, New York. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 109, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite of 

medium-gray shade (a trifle darker than " Hallowell granite" and still darker 

than "North Jay granite") and of fine, inclining to medium, even-grained 

texture, some of the feldspars measuring up to 0.25 inch, but the particles 

generally ranging from 0.36 to 2.56 millimeters in diameter. It consists, in

M Details of Maine granit? quarries: Tenth Census, vol. 10, p. 121, 1888.
250 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

descending order of abundance, of a whitish translucent potash feldspar 

(orthoclase and raicrocline), smoky quartz, whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), white mica (muscovite), and black mica (biotite), with accessory 

garnet. Many of the feldspars are intergrown with quartz in particles circular 

in cross section. Some of the mica plates are bent, indicating slight (secondary) motion. E. C. Sullivan, of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 

0.045 per cent of CO2 (carbon dioxide) corresponding to a content of 0.10 

percent of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate), and that warm dilute acetic acid extracts 

from it 0.11 per cent of CaO (lime). This granite contains sporadic particles 

or crystals, up to 0.25 or even 0.5 inch in diameter, of a milk-white mineral, 

which weathers readily, becoming yellowish and powdery, and finally leaves 

cavities. George P. Merrill, head curator of geology at the United States 

National Museum, finds it to be a feldspar lying between albite and oligoclase 

that is, containing between 6 and 11 per cent of soda, therefore a little more 

soda than the soda-lime feldspar of the granite itself, which is 5 to 5.5 per 

cent and says that the powdery material is very near kaolin. But he does not 

regard his results as perfectly satisfactory, nor does he understand why such 

a feldspar should weather so readily. The slightly higher percentage of soda 

indicated does not seem to him an adequate cause for the weathering, although 

minerals rich in soda weather with comparative facility. Workmen report 

that when first decomposing this mineral protrudes beyond the granite surface. 

The following analysis of the granite was made by Ricketts & Banks, of 

New York, for the firm (No. 16074), and is given merely for reference:

0 Analysis of granite from, Waldoboro quarry.

Silica (SiO,.)_____________________________ 73. 48

Alumina (AUOa) __________________________ 15.26

Ferrous oxide (FeO)______________________ 1.42

Lime (CaO) ____________________________ .88

Magnesia (MgO)_________________________ .09

Manganese oxide (MnO)____ ___ __ _ .10

Soda (Na2O)____________________________ 3.12

Potash (K2 0)__________________________ 5.66

Sulphur (S) total________________________ Trace.

Carbon dioxide (CO-)______________________ None.

100.01

A test (No. 1714) of compressive strength of "Waldoboro granite" made 

by Prof. Ira H. Woolson, of the Columbia University School of Mines,95 shows 

a crushing strength of 23,111 pounds to the square inch.

The quarry, opened in 1860, measured in 1905 400 feet N. 52° E. to S. 52° W, 

by 140 feet across, and was 60 to 85 feet deep.

Rock structure: The geologic relations at this quarry are of no little interest, 

as will be seen by the references to it on pages 48 and 91. The granite is in 

contact with the schist mass, which originally covered it and which at all the 

other Maine quarries, except those at Freeport and Round Pond, has been 

removed. On the northeast side of the quarry a mass of schist striking N. 72° 

W. and dipping 45° N. 28° E. and also 90° overlies the granite which sends 

small dikes into it. The contact between the two rocks as it appears at the east 

corner of the quarry is shown in Plate XVII, A. At the southwest end of the 

quarry two schist masses are partly included in the granite, and a large peg86 Day, W. C., U. S. Geol. Survey Twentieth Ann. Kept, pt. 6, continued, p. 391, 1890.
MAINE. 251

matite mass intervenes, as is shown roughly in figure 16. The sheets, 1 to 7 feet 

thick, lie mainly horizontal but dip 5° W. in the upper part of the quarry. 

The joint and dike courses are shown in figure 62. Joints (A) dip 60° SB. and. 

form both longitudinal walls of the quarry, a heading on the northwest side, 

and recur at intervals of 40 feet. Joints (B) dip 85° N. and recur at intervals 

of 100 feet. The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, with strike N. 60° W. 

Pegmatite dike (a) is 5* inches thick; dike (b) is 12 inches thick. Sap is 

confined to the upper sheets. Knots are very exceptional.

That the granite is under compressive strain is shown by the closing up 

of the channels when' the cores are taken out, and also by spontaneous north 

to south fissuring.

Transportation, by cart 1,300 feet (and 120 feet down) from quarry to mill, 

thence by cars 19 miles to wharf at Rockland. The distance from the quarry 

to tidewater at Waldoboro is only H miles, but the water there is only 11 

feet deep at high tide.

The product is used for buildings and monuments but not for polished 

work. The small sheets and waste are used for paving and road ballast.

(Bl W.- E

FIGUUK 62. General-structure at Waldoboro quarry, Waldoboro, Maine.

About 250,000 paving blocks were shipped annually, mostly to Philadelphia. 

Specimen buildings: Buffalo Savings Bank; Armory, boat house, and cadets' 

quarters at United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.; Crockett monument at Acorn Cemetery, Rockland, Maine; Chemical National Bank, " platforms" for sidewalk around Schwab Building, and Riverside Drive, New York. 

This quarry was not operated in 1916.

WHITEFIELD.

Jevvott's quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Whitefield, li miles 

southeast of Whitefield village (Kings Mills). Quarry abandoned.

The rock (specimen D, XXVII, 113, a) is a quartz diorite of very dark gray 

shside with a bluish tinge, and of fine to medium, even-grained texture and flow 

structure, with feldspars up to 0.25 inch in diameter. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of bluish milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclaseamlesine), black hornblende, quartz in amount. almost if not quite equal to 

that of the hornblende, black mica (biotite), and accessory magnetite, titanite, 

zircon, apatite, and secondary epidote. The stone takes a fair polish.
252 COMMEECIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry, opened in 1885 for monumental work, consists of two adjacent 

openings, one 50 by 25 feet, the other 60 by 30 feet. In 1905 these were 6- 

and 8 feet deep, respectively.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 8 feet thick, dip 25°-30° NB. Vertical or 

steep joints strike N. 10° W. and N. 42° W. The rift is vertical, with N. 

10° W. course, and the grain is parallel to the sheets. The sap is 3 inches 

thick along the joiats. There is one aplite dike up to 4 inches thick. Biotiteknots occur occasionally.

The quarry is worked only at intervals, and the stone is used for monuments 

locally.

OXFORD COUNTY. 

FRYEBURG.

The Eagle Gray quarry is in the town of Fryeburg, at the northeast foot 

of Starks Hill, about 1£ miles south of Fryeburg village. Operator, Eagle 

Gray Granite Co., Fryeburg.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 124, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite of 

medium-gray shade and of general medium, even-grained texture, with feldspar

FIGURE 63. Structure at Eagle Gray quarry, Fryeburg, Maine. The black bands are basic 

dikes, and those with a pattern, arc pegmatite.

0.25 inch in length and mica up to 0.2 inch. It consists, in descending order of 

abundance, of slightly cream-colored potash feldspar (orthoclase), smoky 

quartz, slightly cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), white mica 

(muscovite), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory garnet and 

zircon. The contrasts are chiefly between the cream-colored feldspar and the 

smoky quartz and the brilliant muscovite plates. The large size of the mica 

plates is unfavorable to tbe durability of its polish under outdoor exposure.

The quarry, opened in 1903, was in 1905 about 150 feet square by 3 to 12 

feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 10 feet thick and becoming thicker southwestward, dip less than 10° NE. There are no joints, but there are several 

pegmatite and diabase or basalt dikes, already referred to on page 52 and 

shown in figure 63. These generally have a northwest-southeast course. 

The pegmatite is very coarse, affording incomplete crystals of orthoclase 1 

foot long and biotite crystals 3 inches long. Mingled with the pegmatite are 

irregular bands of whitish garnetiferous aplite. The absence of joints and the
MAINE. 253

abundance of dikes are the chief obstacles here. The rift is horizontal and 

marked, 'but there is no grain. Sap, 0.5 inch thick, is confined to the top 

sheet.

Transportation, by cart two-fifths mile to Maine Central Railroad.

The product is used for buildings and for bases to monuments. Specimen 

building: Granite part of the public library at Oonway, N. H.

The quarry was not operated in 1916.

OXFORD.

The Roy quarry is in the town of Oxford, three-fourths mile from Oxfox'd 

village. Idle since 1906.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 121, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite of 

medium cream-gray color and of medium, inclining to coarse, even-grained 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.4 inch in diameter. It consists, in approximate 

descending order of abundance, of a cream-colored potash feldspar (orthoclase 

and microcline), smoky quartz, cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

white mica (muscovite), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory 

apatite. Some of the joint planes are coated with coarse fibrous muscovite in 

parallel arrangement.

Tlrs quarry, opened in 1898, covers about 5 acres and has a working face 40 

feet deep. It is worked only occasionally. The product is used for rough 

foundations and trimmings. The trimmings on the Catholic Church at Berlin, 

Maine, and the McGillicuddy Block at Lewiston are of this granite.

WOODSTOCK.

The Bryant Pond quarry is in the town of Woodstock, half a mile south 

 )f Bryant Pond station, on the east side of the Grand Trunk Railway. Operator, Grand Trunk Railway; address, Master of Bridges and Buildings, Grand 

Trunk Railway, Montreal, Canada.

The rock (specimen D, XXVII, 122, a) is a quartz diorite with conspicuous 

black particles on a bluish-white rather than a yellow-white ground, and 

of medium even-grained texture and flow structure, with feldspars and 

black minerals up to 0.3 inch in diameter (rarely 0.4). It consists, in descending order of abundance, of white translucent soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to 

oligoclase-andesine), clear quartz, black mica (biotite), and black hornblende, 

together with accessory garnet, titanite, zircon, apatite, and a little secondary 

epidote. Some of the feldspars are partly altered to a white mica, and some 

have borders radially intergrown with quartz.9" The clearness of the quartz 

and the translucent whiteness of the feldspar result in the apparent merging 

of the two minerals, and as the biotite and hornblende are both black the only 

contrast in the rock is that between black and white. There is a marked contrast between the hammered and rough surfaces, attributable to the presence 

of soda-lime feldspar alone. (See p. 79.) The flow structure, where marked 

gives the rock a gneissoid aspect.

The quarry, opened about 1864, is 150 feet from north to south by 250 feet 

from east to west and from 10 to 50 feet deep. It is on the west side of a 

north-south ridge.

Rock structure: There is a marked flow structure, in some places horizontal 

and parallel to the rift but in others very irregular. The sheets, 1 to 6 feet

89 Michel levy's " structure vermiculfie." See Carte g6ol. France Bull. 36, vol. 5, 

pp. 27-28, fig. 5, 1894.
254 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

thick, are horizontal or slightly undulating on the quarry face, but at the 

west side dip 20°-30° W. They increase in thickness downward and at the 

bottom of the quarry appear to run out ("grow on"), making quarrying in 

that direction increasingly difficult. A vertical joint, striking N. 35° E., is 

coated with crystalline calcite and epidote. The rock adjacent to it for an inch 

or two contains much pyrite and also chlorite, probably derived from the alteration of hornblende. The rift is horizontal, and the grain is vertical north-south, 

but disappears on the west side. Vertical basalt or diabase dikes, with 

northeasterly courses, form' the north and south walls of the quarry, 4 feet and 

22 inches thick, respectively. A 5-inch dike occurs 25 feet north of the south 

wall. A thin section of a half-inch branchlet from this dike is described on 

page 52. Sap is confined to the upper sheets. There are some knots.

The product is used entirely for bridges and stations on the Grand Trunk 

Railway. Specimen buildings: Vestibule, first story, and trimmings of station 

at Portland, Maine; station at Battle Creek. Midi.

PENOBSCOT COUNTY. 

HERMON.

The Hermon Hill quan-y ("black granite") is on Hermon Hill, 5$ miles 

northwest of Bangor. Owner, Dr. H. F. Hanson, Bangor.

This black granite (specimen D, XXVI. 106, c) is an altered diabase porphyry 

of dark-green color and fine texture, with porphyritic crystals of black hornblende up to 0.75 inch in diameter. The rock consists, in descending order of 

abundance, of hornblende, calcite, a much altered feldspar (plagioclase), and 

magnetite, together with secondary actinolite, fibrous serpentine, and chlorite. 

It contains sufficient calcite (calcium carbonate) to make it effervesce with, 

cold dilute hydrochloric acid. It takes a very fine polish and cuts very light, 

but the presence of "the calcite exposes it to attack by the carbonic acid of the 

atmosphere. It is therefore more suitable for indoor work. Ora W. Knight,87 

State assayer of Maine, reports that it contains a very small amount of platinum which is very irregularly and unevenly distributed.

Rock structure: The outcrop is about 200 feet from northeast to southwest 

by 40 to 50 feet across and occurs in a chloritic quartzose shale striking N. 

45° E. In places, however, there intervenes a granite porphyry containing 

crystals of orthoclase largely altered to muscovite, chlorite, and biotite. The 

sheets, from 6 inches to 6 feet thick, dip 30° S. 60° E. Vertical joints strike N. 

60° W., forming a heading on the northeast, and recur at 20-foot intervals, 

also striking N. 20° W. and spaced from 2£ to 8 feet. Both show marks of 

slippage. There is also a diagonal set striking N. 45° W. and dipping 45° SW., 

recurring irregularly. The rift seems to be parallel to the sheets. Sap occurs 

along the joints. There are quartz veins parallel to the sheets and rift.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to Maine Northern Seaport Railroad or 5$ 

miles to Bangor.

The quarry is worked only occasionally.

The product is used for dies, memorial tablets, and wainscoting. Specimen 

monuments: Die on soldiers' monument at Hermon; about 20 dies in Mount 

Hope and in Mount Pleasant cemeteries at Bangor; dies at cemetery at 

Springfield; cornerstone of Catholic Church at Orono; keystone, etc., at Lord 

Hall, University of Maine.

OT Letter addressed to Dr. Hanson Oct. 3, 1905.
MAINE. 255

PISCATAQUIS COUNTY. 

GUILFORD.

The Queen City quarry is 3$ miles from Foxcroft, in Guilford Township. 

Last operator, Queeu City Granite Co., Bangor. Quarry idle in 1918.

The granite (specimen D, XVII, 107, a) is a biotite-rnuscovite granite of 

light-gray shade and medium to coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up 

to 0.5 inch in diameter and biotite scales up to 0.15 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of very slightly bluish-white potash feldspar (microeline), smoky quartz, a whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black mica (biotite), and much less white mica (muscovite), together with accessory magnetite. 

The oligoclase is partly altered to a white mica. As the feldspars are of 

similar color and the muscovite is present in small amount the contrasts are 

between the feldspar, smoky quartz, and biotite, and they are marked.

The quarry measured in 1905 100 by 50 feet, with a maximum depth of 70 

feet, averaging about 35.

The stone was used for building. The trimmings of a brick building erected 

in 1899 for the Bangor Theological Seminary and those of the Stetson Block 

at Bangor are made of it.

The Brawn quarry is 1 mile distant from the Queen City, in the same 

township. Operator, H. A. Brown, Foxcroft. The granite resembles that of 

the Queen City quarry- Quarry temporarily idle in 1918.

SOMERSET COUNTY. 

HARTLAND.

The Hartland quarry is in the town of Hartland, near Hartland village, 

on the Sebasticook & Mooseh'ead Railroad. The quarry, prior to 1905, had 

been operated by Joseph H. Baker. Property reported as owned by the Linn 

estate.

The rock (specimen D, XXVII, 141, a, collected by Dr. George Otis Smith), 

is a quartz diorite with conspicuous black particles on a more bluish than 

yellowish-white ground, of medium to coarse, even-grained texture with flow 

structure. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a translucent 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), very slightly smoky quartz, black 

mica (biotite), black hornblende, and accessory titanite and magnetite. Some 

of the feldspars are cloudy from incipient alteration.

NORRIDGEWOCK.

The Dodlin quarry is in the town of Norridgewock, on the northeast side 

of Dodlin Hill, 2$ miles south of Norridgewock village, and has a northnortheasterly axis and a height of 350 feet above the general level and of 650 

feet above the sea. Although this quarry is now disused, it is described because of its geologic interest.

The rock (specimens D, XXVII, 116, a, 116, b) is a quartz ruonzonite of 

two shades. Specimen 116, a, is a general medium gray with conspicuous 

black particles on a white ground; and specimen 116, b, is a general light gray 

with much finer black particles on a ground of mixed white and gray. Both 

rocks have a like texture, medium inclining to fine, with porphyritic crystals 

of white feldspar up to 0.5 inch. In the darker rock (116, a) the biotite 

scales measure up to 0.1 inch; in the lighter rock they rarely attain 0.05 inch. 

Both varieties consist, in descending order of abundance, of a slightly bluish 

milk-white soda feldspar (oligoclase) and, in equal or slightly less amount, a
256 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

whitish potash feldspar (microcline) ; quartz, almost clear in the darker 

rock (116, a) and light smoky in the lighter one (116, b); and black mica 

(biotite) (considerable in 116, a, but much less in 116, b); with accessory 

magnetite, titanite, zircon, and pyrite, and secondary epidote and white micas. 

Some of the feldspars are radially intergrown with quartz.

The quarry, opened about 1885, measured in 1905 400 feet from north-northwest to south-southeast by 250 feet across, with an average depth of 30 feet.

Rock structure: There is a vertical northeast-southwest flow structure 

indicated by the dividing line between the dark and light granite (shown in fig. 

64), and also in the light and dark banding of some of the lower sheets. The 

sheets, 2 inches to 16 feet thick, dip about 5° E. In the southern part of the 

quarry they are up to 2 feet thick, but in the northern part 2 to 16 feet. The 

joints are parallel to the flow and spaced 200 feet. From the relation of the 

thickness of the sheets to the joint spaces, both in this quarry and in two 

adjacent openings, it appears that in places thin sheets, in others thick sheets, 

continue downward in alternating vertical zones, and that thin sheets are 

also likely to occur on both sides of the vertical joints for a few feet. These 

exceptional relations are probably due to vertical faulting. A small horizontal

displacement in a vertical flowage band is 

evidently due to faulting at right angles to 

the other. The rift 

is horizontal, at right 

angles to the flow. 

The grain is vertical 

and parallel to flow 

and jointing. " Shake " 

structure occurs along 

the sheets near headings. (See p. 39.)

The product was 

used mainly for 

buildings. Specimens: 

Post office, Muskegon,

Mich.; Merrill Library, Norwood, Mass.; Catholic Church, Lewiston, Maine; 

courthouse, Bangor, Maine; insane asylum (annex), Augusta, Maine.

The Lawton quarry is in the town of Norridgewock, on the northwest side 

of Dodlin Hill, 2£ miles south-southwest of Norridgewock. Operator, F. S. 

Lawton, Norridgewock. Idle since 1917.

The rock is a quartz monzonite of medium-gray and light-gray shade and 

medium and porphyritic texture, identical with that of the Dodlin quarry.

The quarry, opened before 1845, consisted in 1905 of two openings measuring 

200 by 100 and 300 by 200 feet and 5 to 10 feet deep.

Rock structure: The same flow structure occurs as at the Dodlin quarry, 

on the other side of the hill. The sheets, up to 5 feet thick, average 3 to 4 

feet and roll over the hill with a dip of 10° both north and south. Between 

some of the ordinary sheets there are unusual ones, 0.5 inch thick, which in 

large slabs are flexible. Whether this was in part due to incipient disintegration was not determined. The lenticular form of the sheets gives them 

the appearance of being very irregular in thickness. Vertical joints, strike N. 

60°~65° E., recur at intervals of 10 to 50 feet. The rift is horizontal, and the

FIGURE 64. Diagrammatic sketch showing junction of light 

and medium-gray granites (quartz monzonites) and the 

lateral change in thickness of sheets at the Dodlin quarry, 

near Norridgewock, Maine.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

A. EAST-WEST JOINTS IN GRANITE ON HEKON NECK, AT SOUTH KND OF GH

MAINE, LOOKING FROM HURRICANE ISLAN

-B. SOUTH HALF OF CROTCH ISLAND, STONINGTON, MAINE, LOOKING 

Showing concentric sheet structure crossed by vertical east-west joints. Goss quarry a
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XI

A. SHEET STRUCTURE AT RYAN-PARKER QUARRY ON CROTCH 

ISLAND, MAINE, LOOKING SOUTHWEST.

The lower sheet is 25 feel thick and is split along the rift.

B. EAST SIDE OK \1OSO1 ! I'd \1OI.VI'AI\, KHANKFOHT, MAINE, LOOKING NORTHWEST.

Showing sheet and dome structure, also erosion of sheets.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XII

A. HURRICANE ISLE QUARRY, MAINE, EAST END.

Showing lower 60-foot sheet overlain by 20-foot sheet and crossed by vertical eastwest joint and by diagonal joint.

II. STI!SCHKIELI) QUARRY, HALLOW ELL, MAIM-:, LOOKING WESTNORTHWEST.

Showing sheels increasing in thickness downward, crossed by joint (C) and overlain by

glacial drift.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XtH

A. SHEET STRUCTURE ON SOUTH SIDE OF CHABTREE & HAVEY 

QUARRY, SULLIVAN, MAINE.

The cuts are along the grain ami "hard way" and show nine black segregations or

" knots."

Ji. EAST WALL OF CRABTREE & HAVEY QUARRY, SHOWING LENTICULAR 

FORM OF SHEETS IN VERTICAL CROSS SECTION ON A JOINT FACE.

The form of these sheets accounts for the irregularity of thickness shown in A.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XIV

X. SANDS QUARRY, VINALHAVEN, MAINE, LOOKING S. 80° E.

Showing curvature of the sheets, an intersecting joint face, and the channeling along the 

"hard way," or N. 10° E.

B. WHITE QUARRY, BLUEfflLL, MAINE, LOOKING N. 10° W.

Showing lenticular sheets crossed by a vertical joint curving from N. 50° W. to N. 50° E. 

The black vertical streaks are underground water issuing from between the sheets.
II. 8. GEOI.OOICAI, StTRVEY BULLETIN ~3S PLATE XV

A. EFFECT OF COMPRESSIVE STRAIN ON THIN SHEET OF GRANITE 

GNEISS, ROCK CHAPEL HILL, LITHONIA, GA.

Width of iirch, 1-1 feet; height, 9 inches. Photograph hy G. K. Gilhert, U. S. Geol. Survey.

B. LOWER EDGE OF SCHIST INCLUSION IN GRANITE AT QUARRY IN 

FREEPORT, MAINE.

Showing ragged edge of partly detached piece of the biolite schist, also smaller fragments. The hlack streak on the granite is rusty stain from the schist.
U. -S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XVI

.1. HIGH ISLE QUARRY, MUSCLE RIDGE PLANTATION, MAINE, LOOKING

EAST.

Showing sheets crossed by a N. 75° W. heading.

X. ALLEN QUARRY, WEST SIDE OF SOMES SOUND, MOUNT DESERT, 

MAINE, LOOKING N. 15° W.

Showing thin lenticular sheets crossed by small vertical diabase dike faulted on fourth 

sheet from bottom, with a displacement of 16 inches along the sheet.
V. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

-I. EAST COHNKII (IF WALDOHOHO (.IIIAHHY, W Al.l >OH< )H( >,

MAINE.

Showing contact between granite with horizontal sheets and schist strata dipping east-northeast.

/>'. NOMT

Showing intersec

i\. 65° E.; a

sheet aud join
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 733 PLATE XVIII

A. WEBSTEH QUARRY, ON PLEASANT RIVER AT END OF WINTER 

HARROR, VINALHAVEN, MAINE, LOOKING WEST.

A typical tidewater quarry. Granite-laden schooner at right. Pholograph by 

Merrithew.

B. A TYPICAL MAINE PAVING-BLOCK QUARRY, CALLED A "MOTION."

Operated by one man provided with a tent, rarely with very small hand derrick. Photograph by Merrithew.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY HUI.LETIX 73S PLATE XIX

A. LINTEL FOR NEW YORK CUSTOMHOUSE.

Carved of coarse biotite granite from the Sands quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine. Left part 

unfinished. Photograph by Merrithew.

P.. MONOLITHIC COLUMNS FOR THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE 

DIVINE AT NEW YORK.

Coarse biotile granile from Palmer quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine. Length, 51 feet 

6 inches; diameter, 6 feet. One column in lathe.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN7 738 PLATE XX

PANEL AT ENTRANCE OF NEW YORK BANK OK COMMEHCK. 

Carved of fine biotite-muscovite granite from Stinchfield quarry, Hallowell, Maine.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XXI

STATI i: AT IIAI.L OK HIOCOHDS. MOW voiik.

Fine biolite-rnuscovile ^ranile from Stinchfiehl <)iiarry, Hallowell, Maine.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

.1. MONUMENT OF QUARTZ DIORITE FROM ROUND 

POND QUARRY, MAINE, READY FOR SHIPMENT.

Showing contrast between cut and polished faces.

13. MONUMENT 

Showing co
MAINU. - 257

 grain vertical, with course N. 60° K. Knots, both light and dark, are rare. 

Sap occurs along the sheets up to 6 inches in thickness. A 6-inch dike of white 

aplite strikes N. 80° W., glaciated with the granite at the surface (specimen 

D, XXVII, '116*, c). 

'Transportation, by cart 3 miles to railroad at Norridgewock.

The product is used for buildings, bridges, and monuments to supply local 

demands. Specimen: Town bridge at Bingham, Maine.

The Taylor quarry is in the town of Norridgewock, on Dodlin Hill, about 

one-fourth mile north of the Lawton quarry. Operators, D. E. Taylor1 & 

Son, Norridgewock. Idle since 1916.

The granite (specimen, D, XXVII, 117, a) is a bibtite-muscovite granite of' 

light-gray shade and very fine, even-grained texture. The particles' range from 

O.H to 1.1 millimeters, exceptionally 2.19 millimeters, and average about 0.50

 millimeter. They consist, in descending order of abundance, of a slightly bluish 

milk-white potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), clear quartz, sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), black mica (biotite), and very little white mica 

(mnscovite), together with accessory magnetite and apatite.

This is a small opening, from which stone is obtained occasionally for monumental purposes.

WALDO COUNTY. 

FBANKFOKT.

The Mosquito Mountain quarry is in the town of Frankfort, on top of 

Mosquito Mountain, 2 miles S. 10° B. of Frankfort village. This mountain is 

a granite dome rising 545 feet above tidewater; close by, with a steep ea st 

face shown in Plate XI, B. Operator, 1905, Hayward Pierce, Frankfort. 

Quarry not operated since 1912 and now abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 52, a) is a hornblende-biotite granite of 

general medium-gray shade and of porphyritic texture, with milk-white feldspar crystals from 0.5 inch to 1.5 inches in diameter in a gray matrix of 

medium texture, with black minerals up to 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending 

order of abundance, of milk-white potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), 

smoky quartz, milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black hornblende, 

and black mica (biotite), together with accessory titanite, magnetite, and apatite, 

and a little secondary chlorite, epidote, and carbonate (calcite or dolomite). 

The porphyritic feldspars are generally twins. E. 0. Sullivan, of the United 

States Geological Survey, finds that this granite contains 0.1 per cent of COS 

(carbon dioxide) and that warm dilute acetic acid extracts 0.07 per cent of CaO 

(lime) and a trace of MgO (magnesia). Figuring the C0» to both QaO and 

MgO this would give 0.13 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate) and 0.08 

per cent of MgCOa (magnesium carbonate). The microscope alsd shows carbonate.

A test of the compressive strength made of this granite in connection with 

its use for the U. S. dry docks at Kittery, Maine, reported by the owner of the 

quarry, gives it an ultimate crushing strength of 32,635 pounds to the square 

inch.

The quarry was opened before 1837 on the east side of the mountain. The 

'later opening on the top measured in 1905 1,000 by 500 feet, with a maximum 

depth of 25 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 15 feet thick, dip gently northwest 

and east from the summit of the dome, and below, on the east side, they dip 

-45°, as shown in Plate XI, B. Some of the upper sheets taper out at. the sidoa 

105709 36 18
258 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

(See, further, p. 31.) Vertical joint and dike courses are shown in figure 65. 

The rift is horizontal, and the grain is vertical, with strike N. 80°-85° W. 

Some of the joint surfaces are coated with secondary chlorite and pyrite. A 

dike of quartz monzonite, 10 feet thick, dips 40° E. (See p. 41.) There are 

branching dikes of aplite from 1 to 3 feet thick. At the south end of the quarry 

a diabase dike 7 feet thick crosses from east to west. (See p. 52.) Somewhat 

abundant knots up to a foot in diameter and of circular or elliptical cross section occur. Sap is up to a foot thick in the upper sheets but absent lower down.

Transportation, by about 7,000 feet of track and gravity cars from quarry to 

cutting shed and wharf on Marsh River (South Branch Stream), which admits schooners of 14-foot draft

The product was used for bridges and buildings, and the small sheets and 

waste for paving. Specimens: Post office at Lynn, Mass., and part of that at 

Chicago, 111.; New York Central Railroad bridge across Harlem River.

The Mount Waldo quarry is in the town of Frankfort, on the north spur 

of Mount Waldo, 660 feet above sea level, one-third mile southwest of Frankfort village. The geographic relations of Mosquito Mountain and Mount Waldo

FIODRH 65. Structure at the Mosquito Mountain quarry, Frankfort, Maine.

to Penobscot River are shown on the U. S. Geological Survey's Bucksport topographic map. This quarry was operated by the Mount Waldo Granite Works, 

Frankfort, but has been idle since 1914.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 53, a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade and tine even-grained texture, with feldspar up to 0.2 inch and biotite 

scales up to 0.1 inch. The finer particles range from 0.36 to 1.46 millimeters in 

diameter. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), smoky quartz, gray soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with*accessory magnetite, titanite, 

and secondary chlorite. The oligoclase is partly altered to kaolin and a white 

mica. A coarser and lighter granite (specimen 53, b) from this quarry is a 

biotite granite of light-gray shade and medium, inclining to fine, even-grained 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch and biotite scales up to 0.1 inch, consisting, in descending order of abundance, of white potash feldspar (orthoclase 

and microcline), smoky quartz, white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and 

black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, titanite, and secondary 

chlorite. The oligoclase is partly altered to kaolin and a white mica. This
MAINE. 259

variety is In places coarsely porphyritic. George P. Merrill °8 refers to the two 

"Mount Waldo granites." A test of the compressive strength of Mount 

Waldo granite, made at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 

3900,"9 yielded the following results with 2-inch cubes:

Test of Mount Waldo gr anile.

No. of test.

11055..................................

11056..................................

11057..................................

11058..................................

Direction of pressure.

At90° to rift. .........

.....do................

Parallel to rift.........

.....do................

Specific 

gravity.

2.037

2.655

2.662

2.649

First 

crack.

Pounds.

120.000

123.300

107,400

112,600

Total 

pressure 

applied.

Pounds.

128,400

132, 500

122,600

117,900

Ultimate

strength 

per 

square

inch.

Pounds.

31,782

32.635

30, 197

29,183

The quarry, opened before 1851, measured in 1905 800 feet from north to 

south by 400 feet from east to west and from 10 to 30 feet in depth.

FIGURE 66. Structure at the Mount Waldo quarry, Frankfort, Maine.

Rock structure: There is a vertical dike of the coarser and lighter granite 

(specimen 53, b) 200 feet or more wide, having a course N. 20° W., with 

the darker granite (specimen 53, a) on both sides of it, the relations indicating vertical flow structure. The longer axes of many of the feldspars lie 

about north-south. The sheets, 8 inches to 8 feet thick and lenticular, dip 

10° E. The joint, courses are shown in figure 66. There is only one joint of (A). 

(B) recurs at intervals of 40 feet; (C) at intervals of 20 to 40 feet or more. 

The rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical, striking N. 85° W. The granite 

is under compressive strain from east-northeast to west-southwest, causing 

north-northwest to south-southeast vertical fissures the entire length of the 

quarry. This Assuring has occurred in summer time and has been accompanied by an explosive noise. The sheets are very free from sap. Knots 

are exceptional, but one near the junction of the fine and medium granites 

measures 6 by 3 feet and consists of a medium gray aplite, with porphyritic

98 Collection of building and ornamental stones in the United States National Museum : 

Smithsonian Inst. Ann. Kept., 1889, pt. 2, p. 415.

w Reilly, J. W., Ordnance Dept., Tests of Metal, etc., 1900, p. 119, 1901.
260 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

whitish twinned feldspars up to 0.75 inch in length and biotite scales up to 

0.05 inch.

Transportation, by two graded tracks, each 1,200 feet long, operated by 

gravity from the quarry part way down the hill to the power house, thence 

by a cable road (Roebling engine) 1£ miles to the wharf, which is accessible 

to schooners of 15-feet draft.

The product is used for buildings. The small sheets and waste are made 

Into paving blocks. Specimen buildings: Milwaukee, Cleveland, Indianapolis, 

and Jersey City post offices; Philadelphia Mint; new municipal building, 

New York; Public library, St. Louis; post office, Bangor, Maine.

LINCOLN.

The Lincolnville quavry is in the town of Lincoln, near the north end of 

Lake Megunticook. Operator, W. E. Dornan, East Union.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 50, a) is a muscovite-bioti'e granite of 

light-gray shade and fine, inclining to medium, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch, muscovite to 0.15 inch, and biotite to 0.1 inch. The finer 

particles range from 0.18 to 1.83 millimeters in diameter. The rock consists, 

in descending order of abundance, of slightly bluish-white potash feldspar 

(orthoclase and microcline), smoky quartz, whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), white mica (muscovite), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory apatite. The oligoclase is much altered to kaolin. The feldspars generally are intergrown wit}* quartz in particles that are circular in cross section. 

The stone takes a fair polish with a bluish tinge, but the size of the muscovite 

p»ates is against the great durability of the, polish under outdoor exposure.

The quarry opened about 1875, measured in 1905 100 by 50 feet and waa 

28 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 to 15 feet thick, dip 25° S. Vertical joints, 

strike N. 60°-65° W., recur at intervals of 8,14, and 23 feet; also a single joint, 

strike N. 60°-65° E. Another one strikes N. 60° W. and dips 60° SE. The rift 

is vert cal, with strike N. 60°-65° W. Sap is faint and 4 to 8 inches thick 

along the sheets. Knots, up. to 8 by 0.5 inch, are rare.

Transportation, by cart 5 miles to e.lec'.ric railroad, thence 8 miles to Maine 

Central Railroad.

The product is used locally almost entirely for monuments. Specimen: 

Trimmings to Carlton Block, Rockport, Maine.

The Heal quarry (" black granite") is in the town of Lincoln, about 2 miles 

from the bridge over the outlet to Tilden Pond and about 3$ miles from the 

shore of Penobscot Bay. Operator, A. S. Heal, Belfast. Quarry abandoned.

This rock is an olivine norite of almost black shade, with glistening surfaces, 

and of medium texture. The polished surfaces show a brilliant dark olivegreenish mineral. Under the microscope this rock consists of interlacing 

slender crystals of a translucent lime-soda feldspar (labradorite, with 10 to 14 

per cent of lime), the spaces between which have been filled with the following 

minerals, in descending order of abundance: Greenish hypersthene (see p. 94), 

black hornblende, greenish olivine, black mica (biotite), and magnetite, with 

accessory pyrite and secondary chlorite and serpentine. The stone takes a 

brilliant polish and under sunlight shows the greenish hypersthene. The hammered or cut surface is very light, as shown in Plate XXII, B.

The quarry, opened in 1903, measured in 1905 30 by 40 feet and about 10 

feet in dep'h. It is worked only occasionally. The stone has to be carted 7 

miles to Belfast to be cut. It is used for dies and tablets for local demand and 

is admirably adapted for these purposes.
MAINE. 2G1 

SEARSPORT.

The Bog Hill quarry is in the town of Searsport, on Mount Ephrainl 

(Bog Hill), about 5 miles north-northwest of Senrsport village and 2 miles east 

of Swanville.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 51, a) is a biotite granite of light-gray 

shade and porphyritic texture, with feldspars up to 1.5 inches in diameter, in a 

groundmass of medium texture, with biotite scales up to 0.2 inch. It consists, 

in descending order of abundance, of a whitish potash feldspar (orthoclase and 

microcline), smoky quartz, whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black 

mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, titanite, zircon, apatite, andl 

secondary chlorite and epidote. The porphyritic orthoclase crystals, generally 

twinned, are intergrown with oligoclase and quartz. Some have a zonal structure indicated by inclusions of quartz and oligoclase. The oligoclase is partly 

altered to kaolin and a white mica.

The quarry is 200 feet from north to south by 50 feet from east to west and 

averages about 5 feet in depth.

. Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 4 feet thick, dip 10° S. 30° E., and are 

crossed by steep joints striking N. 75° W., forming headings at the south side, 

and one in the center. Some black knots up to 2 inches across; also pyrite 

crystals on the joint faces.

This stone has been used for monuments and buildings in Belfast and for 

paving blocks, but the quarry is abandoned. The product had to be carted 5 

miles to Searsport.

SWANVILLE.

The Oak Hill quarry is in the town of Swauville, on Oak Hill, about 6 

miles north-northwest of Belfast. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 49, a) is a biotite granite of slightly bluish 

dark-gray color and fine even-grained texture, with particles ranging generally 

from 0.25 to 1 millimeter in diameter and an occasional feldspar up to 2.5 millimeters or 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of slightly 

bluish-white potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), smoky quartz, slightly 

bluish-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite). The 

feldspars are intergrown with quartz and the oligoclase is here and there partly 

altered to a white mica. The stone takes a very fine polish, to the durability of 

which the fineness of the mica contributes.

The quarry, opened about 1872, consists of several openings, the largest of 

which is 175 by 100 feet, with a working face 60 feet high.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 4 feet thick, dip 10° W. Vertical or steep 

joints, strike N. 80° \V., recur at intervals of 10 and 20 feet and form headings 

on the north side. Sap 2 inches thick occurs along the sheets. There are some 

knots up to 2 inches across.

Transportation, by cart one-fourth mile to a siding from Sargents Crossing 

on the Maine Central Railroad.

The product is well adapted to monumental uses. The stone is the darkest of 

the fine-textured granites of the State (compare Freeport, p. 211; Pownal,. 

p. 211; and Sherwood, p. 227) and is finer textured than the blue granite of 

Westerly, R. I. This quarry was formerly leased to the New England Granite 

Co., of Westerly.
262 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

ADDISON,

The Pleasant River quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Addison 

at Dalotville, on the east side of Pleasant River Bay. Operator, Pleasant River 

Granite Co., Addison. Idle in 1921 and 1922.

This rock (specimen D, XXVI, 93, a) is an hyperstliene-olivine gabbro of 

almost black.shade and of medium ophitic texture, with black particles up to 

half an inch and slender wh'.tish crystals. The polished surface is jet-black 

mottled w.th a little white. Under the microscope this rock consists, in descending order of abundance, of slender whitish transparent crystals of a 

feldspar (with both lime and soda, andesine-labradorite) intricately interlaced, the spaces between which are filled with a dark-brownish diallage (see 

p. 94), black mica (biotite), a little hypersthene, and greenish olivine, together 

with secondary magnetite, a white mica, and calcite. The diallage is altered 

along its edges to hornblende. The stone takes a very fine polish, and the 

hammered or cut surface is almost white. It is referred to by George P. 

Merrill 3 and by John E. Wolff? It was reported to the company by John S. 

Newberry in October, 1890, as withstanding a pressure of 22,410 pounds to the 

square inch. Its weight is given by the firm as 184 pounds to the cubic foot.8

The quarry, opened about 1885, in 1905 measured 75 by 50 feet with a working face about 50 feet high. It is on the south side of .an east-west ridge 70 

feet high, the upper 5 to 10 feet of which consists of morainal sand and boulders.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 17 feet thick, undulate from the horizontal to 

a dip of 10° E. Vertical joints, strike N. 80° E., recur at intervals of 5 to 10 

feet and form a heading on the south; a set striking N. 35° W. recurs at 

intervals of 20 to 30 feet, forming a heading on the west. There are also several irregular fractures. The rift is vertical east-west, and the grain is horizontal. There are 10 feet of stained and fractured rock at the top, but sap is 

usually hardly an inch in thickness. Dikes of whitish quartz monzonite, described on page 61 of Bulletin 313, are 1 to 14 inches thick. There is also a more 

or less horizontal light and dark banding, due to alternating changes in the 

amount of feldspar.

Transportation, by cart on a track 300 feet from quarry to mill and 300 feet 

thence to wharf on Pleasant River.Bay.

The product is used for monuments and interior decorations. The dimensions 

of the blocks are limited by the spacing of the joints and sheets. The usual 

sizes shipped measure 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches by 1 foot and also 3 to 

6 feet by 1 foot by 1 foot. The largest block shipped measured 6 feet by 4 

feet 6 inches by 4 feet 6 inches.

Specimen work: Base of wainscoting in the city hall at Philadelphia; 

tablet with Welsh inscription in Washington Monument, Washington, D. C.; 

Danforth monument, Morristown, N. J.; Zeller monument, Lewisburg, Pa.; 

Center monument, Greewood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y.; mantlepiece in public 

library at Machias, Maine; memorial to Architect French in New York.

The Thornberg quarry (" black granite ") is in the town of Addison, 3 miles 

south of Addison village. Operator in 1905, A. M. Thornberg, Addison; quarry 

not operated in 1916.

1 Tenth Census, vol. 10. p. 24, 1884.

2 Idem, p. 116.

s Newberry's report will be found in U. S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Kept., pt. 5, 

continued, p. 961, 1897.
MAINE. 263

The rock (specimens D, XXVI, 94, a and 94, aa) is a hypersthene gnbbro of 

almost black shade and of medium ophitic texture. There are two varieties 

a dark one, which is externally identical with that from the Pleasant River 

quarry, and a lighter one, in which the white mottling due to the feldspar is 

a little more abundant. Under the microscope this stone is generally identical 

with that of the Pleasant River quarry, except that in this one the feldspar 

is labradorite and there is no oliv.'ne. This, however, may not be characteristic 

of the rock as a whole. A little accessory pyrite and apatite and a good-sized 

particle of secondary epidote were also found in the " Thornberg" gabbro. 

The stone takes a very fine polish, and the hammered or cut surfaces are 

almost white.

The Black Diamond quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Addiscm, 

on Yoho Bay. Operator, Maine Black Diamond Granite Co.

The rock (specimen D, XXVI, 91, a), known as "Indian Black Diamond 

granite," is a hypersthene gabbro of very dark gray shade, with .slight 

brownish tinge, and of fine to medium ophitic texture, consisting, in descending order of abundance, of a whitish soda-lime feldspar (andesine) in not 

greatly elongated crystals, brownish diallage (partly altered to hornblende), 

black mica (biotite), a little hypersthene, and quartz, together with accessory 

magnetite. Where most exposed the ledge has turned a little brownish and 

weathered spheroidally. A polished block, reported as from this quarry and 

shown torthe writer in a stonecutter's yard at Quincy, Mass., had become 

pitted from exposure, but monuments erected 20 years or more ago in New 

York City are reported to be in good condition.

The quarry in 1902 was 200 feet square and from 10 to 20 feet deep. It has 

a track 600 feet long to a wharf which, admits schooners of 11 feet draft. The 

older part of the quarry has been worked down to sea level, but a large supply 

of stone lies to the east in a rising ridge.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 8 feet thick, are horizontal or dip 20° Nj. 

Vertical joints, strike N. 80° E., recur at intervals of 5 to 20 feet, and a set 

striking N. 30° W. recurs at intervals of 2 to 10 feet. There is rarely a set. 

striking N. 45°-50° W.

BAILEYVILLE.

The Hall quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Baileyville, at the 

north edge of Meddybemps Lake, 5 miles southwest of Baring, on the Washington County Railroad, about 7 miles southwest of Calais. Operator in 1905, 

F. H. Hall, Calais. The quarry is no longer operated.

The rock (specimens D, XXVI, 98, b, d) is a norite of brilliant luster; very 

dark gray shade without any yellowish tinge and of coarse texture and marked 

rift, with jet-black particles up to 0.5 inch in diameter in a network of translucent whitish feldspar. Under the microscope it consists, in descending order 

of abundance, of elongated transparent crystals of feldspar (with both soda 

and lime, andesine-labradorite) interlaced, but parallel in the flow and rift 

direction, with the intervening spaces filled with hypersthene (partly altered 

to brown hornblende), magnetite, and black mica (biotite), together with accessory calcite and a white mica derived from the partial alteration of a few of 

the feldspars. The hypersthene and hornblende constitute the conspicuous 

black particles seen with the unaided eye. In the lighter bands of the rock 

the feldspar largely crowds out the hypersthene. The content of magnetite is 

so great that large blocks of the rock deflect the magnetic needle. Mr. Hall 

stated that the stone endures the fire and water test very well; that its compressive strength, as determined by the Watertown Arsenal testing machine, is 

22,500 pounds to the square inch, and that an assay by Carmichael, of Boston,
264 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

shows it to contain a small percentage of gold. The papers that give formal 

evidence of these results, having, unfortunately, been misplaced, can not be 

cited here. The stone takes a high polish, and the hammered and cut surfaceis almost white. It is very tough but splits with facility along the rift.

The quarry, opened in 1902, consists of two adjacent openings on the northeast side of a northwest-southeast ridge over one-fourth mile long and about 

50 feet high. These openings measure 60 by 25 feet and 35 feet iu depth and: 

50 by 20 feet and 20 feet in depth, respectively.

Rock structure: The upper 8 feet of the working face is traversed by lightgray more feldspathic bands 0.25 to 2 inches thick, constituting a flow structure parallel to the sheets, which are from 1 to 6 feet thick and dip about 

15' SW. Vertical joints strike northeast-southwest, cross the ridge at intervals of 6 inches to 7 feet, and form a heading in the smaller northwesterly 

opening. The rift is parallel to the sheets. The structure along this ridge is 

unusually favorable for quarrying.

Transportation, by cart 5 miles to Baring, on the Washington County 

Railroad.

. Specimen monuments: A monument erected by Stephen A. Lovejoy at MelroseCemetery, Melrose, Mass.

The Tarbox quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Baileyville, about 

900 feet northeast of the Hall quarry, described above, at the north edge of 

Meddybemps Lake, 5 miles southwest of Baring, .on the Washington County. 

Railroad, and about 7 miles southwest of Calais. Operator, Redbeach GraniteCo., Redbeach.

This rock is a norite identical with that of the Hall quarry. It appears to 

belong to an outcrop northeast of and parallel to the ridge referred to.

CALAIS.

Gardner's prospect ("black granite") is in the town of Calais, on St.. 

Croix River, 6 miles south of Calais, north of road to Redbeach. Owner,. 

Lorenzo Gardner, Calais. .

This rock (specimen D, XXVI, 100, a) is a quartz diorite of very dark gray 

(not bluish) shade and fine, even-grained texture, consisting, in descending 

order of.abundance, of a whitish,soda-lime feldspar (andesine) considerably 

altered to a white mica, hornblende partly altered to chlorite, quartz, black 

mica (biotite), and magnetite, together with accessory titanite, pyrite, and 

apatite and secondary calcite. It takes a high polish, and the hammered and 

cut surfaces are very light. The stone is suitable for monumental work. Dr. 

George Otis Smith, who visited the Gardner prospects in 1903, states that 

" pink granite occurs intrusive in the dioritic rock .in such a manner that both 

kinds ofjstone could be quarried from the same opening." One part of the 

dioritic rock he found in thin section to be in reality a diabase.

The Mingo-Bailey quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Calais, 

about 6 miles south of Calais, on the southwest side of the road to Redbeach, 

on the north side of an east-west ridge, near top. Operators, Mingo, Bailey 

& Co.^ Redbeach.

The rock (specimen D, XXVI, 103, a) a norite, is almost black with a slight 

greenish tinge and of fine to medium even-grained ophitic texture. It consists, 

inr descending order of abundance, of a whitish soda-lime feldspar (andesine) 

considerably altered to a white mica, hypersthene (some of it partly or entirely altered.to fibrous actinolite),, magnetite, and black mica .(biotite), with 

accessory pyrite. . The stone takes a fine polish and affords a very light hammered or cut surface.
MAINE. 265

The quarry measured 50 by 15 feet and up to 20 feet in depth in 1905. The 

sheets are about 10 feet thick. Vertical joints, strike about east to west, recur 

at intervals of 1 to 3 feet.

The quarry is worked only occasionally, and the stones are carted to the 

company's cutting shed, near Redbeach, on St. Croix River.

The Beaver Lake quarry ("black granite") is in the town of Calais, near 

the north end of Beaver Lake, 4 miles west of Red Beach village. Operator, 

Maine Red Granite Co., Red Beach. Quarry idle.

The rock (specimen D, XXVI, 96, g) is a mica-quartz diorite of general darkgray shade (black mottled with white and gray) and of coarse to medium 

porphyritic texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch in diameter. It consists, in 

descending order of abundance, of a grayish feldspar containing both soda and 

lime (andesine-labradorite), black hornblende, black mica (biotite), magnetite, 

and a little quartz, together with accessory pyrite, calcite, and apatite. The 

feldspar is partly altered to kaolin and a white mica, producing the milky-white 

psirts of the feldspars seen in the polished specimen, and some of the hornblende is fibrous. The stone takes a 

high polish and when hammered or cut 

has a very light surface.

The quarry, opened in 1885, measured in 1905 250 feet from north-northen st to south-southwest by 75 feet 

across and had a working face on the 

east 30 feet in height.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches 

to 7 feet 6 inches thick, dip 15° W. 

and are lenticular. The upper 10 feet 

of the face consists of shattered surface 

rock and includes a bed 1 foot thick of 

sand, due to interstitial weathering. 

The courses of joints and dikes are 

shown in figure 67. (A) recurs at 

intervals of 2 to 10 feet, (B) at intervals of 10 feet, (C) still less frequently.' FIGURES 67. Structure at the Beaver 

There are also irregular joints, which Lake diorite quarry, Calais, Maine, 

break the rock up into irregular blocks.

A dike of pinkish aplite, 4 to 8 feet thick, runs the entire length of the quarry 

on the west. A 1-inch dike of white aplite dips 15° S. Similar dikes recur at 

frequent intervals. Some strike north and curve. A dike of olivine basalt occurs also on the west side or front of the quarry and is crossed by branches 

from the large dike of pinkish aplite. The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, striking north-northeast. Thus, altogether, the structure and injections 

are complex and render the quarrying of large blocks difficult. Notwithstanding this, blocks of 9 by 9 feet by 20 inches have been obtained, and one 12 by 

12 by 6 feet was in sight in 1905.

Transportation involves cartage of 4 miles to the company's cutting mill at 

Red Beach and a farther cartage of one-fourth mile to a wharf on St. Croix 

River.

The product is used entirely for monuments, of which the soldiers' monument 

at Calais is a specimen.

The Shattuck Mountain quarry is in the town of Calais, 3 miles westsouthwest of Red Beach village, on Shattuck Mountain. Operator, Maine Red 

Granite Co., Red Beach. Quarry idle.
266 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 104, b), " Shattuck Mountain," is a biotite 

granite of dark reddish to greenish-gray color and medium to coarse, evengrained texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and sparsely disseminated biotite 

under 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a reddish potash feldspar (orthoclase), smoky quartz, greenish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, apatite, and 

secondary chlorite. The oligoclase is here and there partly altered to a white 

mica. The smallness and sparseness of the micas are favorable to the durability of its polish.

The quarry, opened in 1890, consisted in 1905 of three openings on the south 

side of an east-west ridge. The principal opefiing measured 50 by 25 feet 

and from 10 to 20 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 5 to 7 feet thick, are horizontal or dip south 

at a small angle. Joints, strike N. 25° E., dip 70° NNW., recur at intervals 

of 10 to 22 feet and form headings on the north and south sides of the quarry. 

Another set, strike N. 40° W., dip 65° W., forms a heading on the east side 

and recurs in middle of quarry. The heading of the first set on the north 

is about 6 feet thick and includes a bed of clayey sand 8 inches thick. It has 

three sets of subjoints, one striking N. 40° E., dipping 55° SE., spaced 2 to 12 

inches; another striking N. 50° W., vertical, spaced 6 inches to 2 feet; and 

another striking N. 609 E., vertical, spaced 4 to 12 inches. The rock has no 

rift. The weathering of this granite has been referred to on page 70.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to Red Beach, on St. Croix River.

The product is used for ornamental and monumental work. Specimens: 

Four fluted columns 22 by 3 feet, in the courthouse at Marquette, Mich.

The Mingo-Bailey quarry is in the town of Calais, 1$ miles north-northwest of Red Beach. Operators, Mingo, Bailey & Co., Red Beach. Quarry 

abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 102, b) is a biotite granite of dark-reddish 

color speckled with pale greenish and of medium, even-grained texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.4 inch and sparse biotite under 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, "of a dark-pinkish potash feldspar (orthoclase), 

very smokjr quartZj'a pale.-yell'owish to greenish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) 

considerably altered to a white mica, black mica (biotite), and accessory magnetite and zircon. The rock takes a high polish that exhibits marked contrasts 

between the two feldspars and the smoky quartz. The smallness and sparseness 

of the biotite scales favor the durability of the polish. The stone is of a lighter 

red than that of the Shattuck Mountain quarry, but is darker than that of the 

Maine Red Granite Co.'s " old quarry. "

The quarry is 25 feet square by 8 feet deep.

Transportation, by cart 1$ miles to wharf at Red Beach.

The product is used entirely for monuments.

The Maine Red Granite Co.'s quarry is in the town of Calais, three-fourths 

mile west of Red Beach. Operator, Maine Red Granite Co., Red Beach. Quarry 

idle.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 97, a) is a biotite granite of general brightpinkish-gray color 'and 'medium, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 

0.4 inch and sparse biotite scales under 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending 

order of abundance, of a pinkish potash feldspar (orthoclase), smoky quartz, 

cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite and zircon. The oligoclase is partly altered 

to kaolin and a white mica. The stone takes a high polish, the durability of 

which is favored by the sparseness and smallness of the mica scales. In 

weathering about the quarries the feldspars whiten from increasing kaoliniza-
MAINE. 267

tion. The contrasts are chiefly between the two feldspars and the smoky 

 quartz. This type of " red grauite" is the brightest of those occurring in 

Maine.

The quarry consists of two openings, one known as the " old quarry, " opened 

in 1876, and a new one adjacent to it. The new one was in 1905 about 150 feet 

square by 20 to 50 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, G inches to 5 feet thick, dip 10°-30° SB. Joints, 

strike N. 80° W.. dip steep north, recur nt intervals cf 1 to 5 feet. Others, strike 

N. 40° E., dip 80° SE., recur at intervals of 6 inches to 5 feet. The faces of this 

set are coated with calcite and epitlote. There is no rift whatever. It is evident from the frequent recurrence of both sets of joints and the small range 

in thickness of the sheets that the conditions are not favorable for quarrying 

large blocks. John E. Wolff 4 refers to the structure of " Redbeach granite."

Transportation, by cart, three-fourths mile to wharf on St. Croix River. The 

company's cutting and polishing works are one-fourth mile west of Red Beach.

The product is used entirely for monumental and ornamental work.

The Bed Beach Granite Co.'s quarry is in the town of Calais, on Cooks 

Mountain, 8 miles southeast of Calais, about 1,000 feet southwest of road to 

Red Beach. Operator, Red Beach Granite Co., Red Beach.

The granite is a biotite granite of general bright pinkish-gray color and 

medium even-grained texture like that of the Maine Red Granite Co.'s quarry 

near Red Beach, described on page'266, and of the Bodwell Granite Co.'s abandoned quarry on Cooks Mountain.

The quarry, opened in 1895, is 50 by 25 feet and from 5 to 20 feet deep. 

The sheets, up to 5 feet thick, dip north at a low angle. Vertical joints strike 

N. S0°-90° E., forming numerous headings. There is no rift.

Transportation, by cart over half a mile to wharf on St. Croix River at 

Red Beach.

The product is used for buildings and monuments. Specimens: Red granite 

in two corner wings of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York; 

pedestal to General Grant's monument at Galena, 111.

JONESBORO.

The Fish quarry is, in the town of Jonesboro, 1 mile northwest of Jonesboro 

village. Owner, N. W. Fish, Jonesboro.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 87, b) is a biotite granite of lavender 

medium-gray color and medium, even-grained texture, with feldspars generally 

up to 0.4 inch (exceptionally 0.5 inch) and sparsely disseminated biotite up to 

0.1 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a pale lavendercolored potash feldspar (orthoclase), smoky quartz, milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and a little black mica (biotite), together with accessory 

magnetite and secondary epidote, zoisite, and calcite. The feldspars are considerably altered to white micas, and the biotite is also largely altered to chlorite. 

This stone resembles that of the Goss and Ryan-Parker quarries of Crotch 

Island (p. 224) in the lavender tint of its orthoclase, but its texture is finer. 

Their resemblance may be found to be still greater in lower and fresher sheets.

The quarry, a small opening about 300 feet northwest of Mr. Fish's house, 

has been, worked only occasionally. The sheets are up to 5 feet thick and lie 

horizontal.

The Bodwell-Jonesboro quarry is in. the town of Jonesboro, 2 miles east 

of Jonesboro village. Operator, Bodwell Granite Co., Rockland.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 86, h), "Jonesboro red," is a biotite granite 

of general medium pinkish-gray color and of coarse, inclining to medium, even-

' Tenth Census, vol. 10, p. 116, 1888.
268 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

grained texture, with biotite sparsely disseminated and up to 0.05 inch in. 

diameter. It consists, in descending -order of abundance, of pinkish potash, 

feldspar (orthoclase), smoky quartz, cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and a little black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite and 

secondary white mica, kaolin, and chlorite. The orthoclase is intergrown with 

plagioclase, and the oligoclase is here and there largely altered to a white mica 

and kaolin and the biotite to chlorite. The contrasts are chiefly between the 

two feldspars and the smoky quartz. The stone takes a fine polish, the durability of which is favored by the smalluess of the biotite scales.

The quarry, opened about 1875, measures about 700 feet N. 80° B.-S. 80° 

W. by 200 feet from north to south, and has a depth of 10 to 33 feet. Its area 

is irregular, as shown in figure 68. Its drainage requires occasional pumping.

Rock structure: This quarry shows a greater variety of dike courses than any 

other of the Maine quarries. The sheets, 6 inches to 5 feet thick, are horizontal, with slight undulations. The joint and-dike courses are shown in figure 

68. (A) recurs on the north and south sides of the quarry and in the middle,, 

and forms a heading on the south; (B) forms a heading on the northwest side;

PIGUBB 68. General plan and structure at the Bodwell quarry, Jonesboro, Maine.

(C) appears on the south wall, intersecting the heading; (D) dips steeply 

south, and also intersects the south wall. The rift is vertical, with strike N. 

70° W. There are two dikes of reddish aplite (a), one 6 feet thick, another 4 

feet thick; a third (ft), also reddish, is 3 to 6 feet thick; a grayish aplite dike 

(c), 1 to 1J inches thick, can be traced from 200 to 300 feet, cutting all the other 

dikes. Thin sections of (a) are described on page 44. Knots occur up to 12 

by 8 inches, but rarely. There are geodes and short veins, containing quartz, 

epidote, and calcite. (See p. 62.) The sheet surfaces are in places coated with 

epidote from the alteration of feldspar. John E. Wolff 8 has referred to the 

" Jonesboro red granite " and some of its peculiarities.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to wharf on Englishmans Bay. The stone 

.is shipped to Vinalhaven for finishing.

The quarry is not in operation for want of demand for granite of this color, 

but it is in good operating condition.

The product has been used for buildings. Specimens: Customhouse and post 

office, Buffalo, N. Y.; Methodist Book Concern Building; Havemeyer residence,

8 Tenth Census, vol. 10, p. 116, 1888.
MAINE. 269

Fifth Avenue and Sixty-sixth Street, New York; customhouse and post office, 

Tall River, Mass.; Western Savings Bank Building, Philadelphia; and (since 

1905) National Bank of Commerce, Kansas City, with two 2-story fronts with

 carved and polished surfaces; Dimock family mausoleum (Egyptian style), 

New London, Conn.

The Booth Bros. Jonesboro quarry, in the town of Jonesboro, is 1£ miles

 east of Jonesboro village. Operator, Booth Bros. & Hurricane Isle Granite Co., 

208 Broadway, New York. 

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 85, b), "Jonesboro red," is a biotite granite

 of general medium pinkish-gray color and coarse, inclining to a medium, evengrained texture, with sparsely disseminated biotite up to 0.05 inch in diameter. 

It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a pinkish potash feldspar 

(orthoclase), a little less pink than that of specimen 86, h, from the Bodwell 

quarry, smoky quartz, cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black 

mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite and secondary white micas, 

zoicite, and chlorite. The orthoclase is here and there intergrown with a 

plagioclase. The oligoclase is largely altered to a white mica and kaolin, and 

the biotite to chlorite. The contrasts are between the two feldspars and the 

smoky quartz. The stone takes a high polish, the durability of which is favored 

by the smallness of the biotite plates. Its general Color is not quite so pinkish 

as that of the Bodwell quarry.

The following chemical analysis of tins granite was made by Ricketts & 

Banks, of New York (No. 16072), and is given here merely for the purpose of 

reference:

Analysis of granite from Jonesboro quarry.

Silica (SiO2 )___________________________ 72.97

Alumina (AUOa)______..___-______________ 14. 63

Ferrous oxide (FeO)_ ____________________ 1.73

Lime (CaO) ___________________________ 1.-48

Magnesia (MgO)_________________________ .27

Manganese oxide (MnO)___________________ .10

Soda (Na_0)____________________________ 3.28

Potash (KzO)________________ ____________ 5.18

Sulphur (S)______-____________________ .03

Carbon dioxide (C02 )________________._______ None.

Loss and undetermined_______________________ . 33

100.00

The quarry is of triangular area, about 10 by 75 by 75 feet and 30 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 5 to 10 feet thick and lenticular, lie horizontal 

or dip 5° NW. or 5° SE. A vertical joint, strike N. 60° W., forms the wall on 

the southwest. A set striking N. 35°-50° E. forms headings on the northwest 

and southeast and recurs at intervals of 5, 10, 20, and 70 feet. Its faces 

are coated with hematite. The rift is vertical, with strike N. 60° W. The grain 

is horizontal. Knots are small and infrequent. Sap up to 3 inches th'.ck is confined to headings. The structural conditions are unfavorable for quarrying 

large blocks.

Transportation, along a track one-third mile to wharf on Englishmans Bay.

The quarry is not in operation.

The product has been used for building.
270 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

JONESPORT.

The Minerva Cove quarry is in the town of Jonesport on the north sideof Head Harbor Island, about 3£ miles southeast of Jonesport. Quarry no 

longer operated.

The granite (specimens D, XXVI, 88, a, and 88, b) is a biotite granite which 

in the lower sheets is of general dark reddish-gray color, with both a pinkish 

and a greenish feldspar, but in the upper sheets has a white instead of a 

greenish feldspar. It is of coarse, even-grained texture, the feldspars up toan inch in length and the biotite up to 0.2 inch. It consists, in descending 

order of abundance, of pinkish potash feldspar (orthoclase with a little microdine), smoky quartz, dull greenish or milk-white soda-lime, feldspar (oligoclase) and black mica (biotite) in conspicuous flakes, together with accessory 

magnetite, pyrite, titanite, and apatite. The orthoclase, generally in twins, is 

intergrown with plagioclase. The oligoclase is largely altered to white mica 

and kaolin, particularly in the upper sheets, where it has passed from green 

to white. The quartz is cloudy from the presence -of multitudes of irregular 

bubbles, the largest of which measure 0.01 millimeter, or about 0.0004 inch in 

length. It is also traversed by irregular fissures containing sericite. Some of 

the pinkish orthoclase is rimmed with white or greenish oligoclase or completely envelops a greenish oligoclase crystal. The contrasts are feeble in 

the granite of the lower sheets, owing to the darkness of the oligoclase and 

quartz, but are marked in that of the upper sheets, the four minerals all differing in shade.

The quarry consists of five, openings (1) 100 by 25 and 14 feet deep; (2) 

50 by 25 and 40 feet deep; (3) 300 by 70 and 35 feet deep; (4) triangular, 100 

by 150 by 75 feet deep, with working face 35 feet high; (5) 50 by 25 and 20 

feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets at the upper opening, 2 to 22 feet thick but 

usually 5 to 15 feet, dip 10° NE. Vertical joints, striking N. 10° E. or north 

form a heading on the east and recur at intervals of 5 to 10 feet. Another set 

strikes east and dips 60° S., and one which may belong to it strikes N. 80° W. 

and dips 90°. The rift is horizontal; the grain vertical, striking north. Dikes 

of aplite up to an inch thick have N. 60° E. courses.

Transportation, by cart 700 feet and 50 feet down grade from upper opening to wharf. From the opening at the wharf stones are loaded by derricks 

directly on schooners.

The product was used for buildings. Specimens: Colorado Building, at 

Fourteeth and G Streets, Washington; State armory, Providence, R. I.; power 

house of the Metropolitan Street Railway (Interurban), Ninety-fifth to Ninetysixth Streets and First Avenue to Hudson River, New York.

The Hardwood Island quarry is in the town of Jonesport, on Hardwood Island, which lies 3* miles southwest of Jonesport village. Operator, 

Rockport Granite Co., Rockport, Mass.

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 90, a), " Moose-a-bec red," is a biotite 

granite of general dark reddish-gray color, with a white and a pinkish feldspar; 

and of coarse, even-grained texture, like that of specimen 88, a, from Head 

Harbor Island, described above, but with an occasional isolated feldspar.

The Rosiwal method was applied to a specimen of this granite with a 

polished face 5 by 3 inches. The size of mesh was 0.9 inch; total length of 

lines, 40.20 inches. Owing to the irregular massing of the feldspar in the 

specimen a second test was made with the short set of lines shifted onefourth inch, and the long set adjusted accordingly. The results of both tests 

were averaged for the final estimate.
MAINE. 271

Sizes and percentages of minerals in granite froin Hardwood Island, as determined by the Rosiwal method.

Mineral.

Reddish orthoclase ............................................

Milk-white oligoclase. ..........................................

First test.

Inches. 

10.12 

8.00 

1.72 

20.30

40.20

Second 

test.

Inches. 

12.46 

8.24 

1.54 

17.96

40.20

Averages.

Inches. 

11.29 

8.12 

1.63 

19.16

40.20

Per cent. 

28. 85 

22.45 

4.05 

44.65

100.00

Percentage of both feldspars, 51.30.

This granite takes a fine polish, in which the .contrasts between the" pinkish 

and white feldspars and the black mica stand out on the background of smoky 

quartz. Some of the pinkish feldspars are bordered by the white. The large 

size (usually 0.1 inch) of the biotite scales is against the durability of the 

polish under long-continued outdoor exposure.

The quarry measured in 1905 150 by 60 feet and 15 feet in depth, but its 

bottom was between tide levels. There is no stripping.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 10 feet thick, are horizontal but in places 

curve seaward. Joints, strike N. 75° W., dip 65° S., recur only at rare intervals. Others, strike N. 45° W. and vertical, recur at intervals of 18 feet 

and over. The rift is vertical, with strike N. 10° E. Dikes of aplite up to 

6 inches thick strike N. 25° W.

Transportation, by lifting the blocks onto the wharf, which is 125 feet from 

the quarryThe product is used for buildings. Specimens: Wainscoting and stairway 

in main entrance to Suffolk County Courthouse, Boston; the American Baptist 

Publication Society Building, Philadelphia; 25 columns in the Catholic Cathedral in Newark, N. J.; Germania Life Insurance Building, New York; Miami 

Hotel, Dayton, Ohio; Cuyahoga Hotel, Cleveland, Ohio; Old State National 

Bank, Evansville, Ind.; city baths, Kansas City, Mo.

MARSHFIELD.

The Marshfleld quarry is in the town of Marshfleld, 3 miles north of 

Machias. Operators, Butler & Berry, Machias. ^-^^S ^x

The granite (specimen D, XXVI, 84, b) is a biotite granite of medltimfpinkiiSigray color and of medium to fine, even-grained texture, with feldspars from 

0.1 to 0.4 inch and sparsely disseminated biotite under 0.1 inch in diameter. 

It consists, in descending order of abundance, of pinkish potash feldspar 

(orthoclase), smoky squartz, cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

and a little black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, titanite, 

and zircon and secondary kaolin, white micas, and chlorite. The orthoclase is 

Intergrown with plagioclase, the oligoclase is much altered to kaolin and a 

white mica, and the biotite is partly chloritized. Molybdenite occurs here and 

there. The granite is slightly less pinkish than that from the quarry of 

Booth Bros, at Jonesboro (specimen 85, b). The contrasts are also reduced 

by the greater fineness of the particles. It takes a fine polish, the durability 

of which is favored by the sparseness and smallness of the biotite scales.

The quarry, opened about 1894, measured in 1905 200 by 150 feet and 

2 to 10 feet in depth.
272 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, dip irregularly up to 10° SW. 

and NW. Vertical joints, strike N. 55° E., form headings on the north and 

south sides. Another set, strike N. 60° W., dip 70° SW. to 90°, forms headings near the east side and recurs at intervals of 10 to 50 feet. A third and 

diagonal set, strike No. 85° E., dip 55° N., recurs irregularly. There is some 

" toeing in " of sheets, probably owing to faulting along the set of joints striking N. 55° E. The faces of the second set are coated with' epidote, and those 

of the third with pyrite. The rift is horizontal. There are geodes (up to 6 

inches thick) of orthoclase and oligoclase, smoky quartz, amethyst, and pyrite 

filled with calcite, epidote, and chlorite. Sap is 2 inches thick in the upper 

sheets only.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to railroad or wharf at Machias.

The product is used for monuments and buildings. Specimens: Basement 

front and steps of E. S. Draper residence, Beacon Street, Boston; also monuments for Boston and for local demand.

MILLBRIDGE.

The Millbridge quarry is in the town of Millbridge, near Millbridge village, 

in the southwestern part of Washington County. Operators, Swanton & 

Wallace, Millbridge. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 143, a) is a biotite granite of medium 

buff color and of medium, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch 

(exceptionally 0.5 inch) and biotite scales under 0.1 inch. It consists, in 

descending order of abundance, of a buff-colored potash feldspar (orthoclase), 

smoky quartz, very slightly greenish-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and 

black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite and apatite. The 

quartz has numerous very irregular bubbles up to 0.028 millimeter in length. 

The orthoclase is intergrown with a plagioclase. Granulation ("crush borders ") occurs along the contacts of the feldspars with one another. The 

stone takes a high polish, the durability of which is favored by the smallness 

of the biotite scales.

Some tests of a Millbridge granite, quarried at White Rock Mountain by S. L. 

Treat & Co., were made in 1895 by the United States Ordnance Department at 

the Watertown Arsenal.8 These give it a shearing strength of 2,820 pounds, a 

transverse strength of 2,069 pounds, and a compressive strength of 19,917 pounds 

to the^square inch.

i/The-Millbridge quarry was not visited by the writer, and the firm failed to 

reply to questions as to dimensions of quarry and product.

YORK COUNTY. 

ALFRED.

The Bennett quarry is in the town of Alfred, 1 mile southwest of Alfred 

village, south of the Portland & Rochester Railroad, at the north foot of a 

480-foot hill. Operators in 1905, Bennett Bros, Alfred. Quarry no longer 

operated.

The rock (specimen D, XXVII, 153, a) is a quartz diorite of slightly greenish 

dark-gray color, with 'conspicuous black mica, and of medium, even-grained 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.25 inch and biotite scales under 0.2 inch. It 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of a grayish soda-lime feldspar

 Tests of metals, etc., for 1895, pp. 319, 325, 344, 409, 1896.
MAINE. 273

(oligoclase), black mica (biotite), quartz (smoky or milky), dark hornblende 

and magnetite, with accessory titanite, zircon, apatite, and secondary epidote 

and a white mica. The oligoclase is often in good-sized twins and is intergrown with orthoclase and quartz and generally cloudy and altered by a white 

mica. The only contrast in this stone is that between the gray of the feldspar 

and quartz and the black of the mica. After one or two years' exposure the 

feldspar loses its slightly bluish tinge and assumes a greenish one, which is 

attributed to the oxidation of its ferrous oxide. (See further p. 76.)

The quarry, opened prior to 1875, measured, in 1905, 60 by 150 feet and up to 

30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, up to 12 feet thick, and inclined, are crossed by 

vertical joints, strike N. 70° E., recurring at intervals of 10 feet and forming a 

heading 8 feet wide in' center of quarry. Another set, also vertical, strike N. 

20°-25° W., recurs at intervals of 20 feet. The rift is horizontal, and the grain 

vertical, with strike N. 70° E. The sap is 2 inches thick along the sheets. A 

vertical bed of sand, 6 inches thick, lies in the central heading.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to Alfred railroad station.

The product was used for curbing and buildings. Specimen: Parsons Memorial Library, Alfred village.

BERWICK.

The Spence & Coombs quarry (" black granite ") is in the town of Berwick, 

1} miles southeast of North Berwick village and station. Operators, Perry 

Bros., Concord, N. H.

This rock (specimen D, XXVII,'139, a) is a gabbro of very dark olivebrownish color and medium ophitic texture, consisting, in descending order of 

abundance, of longitudinal crystals of grayish olive-brownish lime-soda feldspar 

(labradorite) between which are particles of diallage, black mica (biotite), 

magnetite, and a little pyrite, together with secondary hornblende, analcite, 

zoisite, and calcite. The freshly quarried stone becomes somewhat brownish 

on exposure. It takes a high polish, and the cut or hammered surface is 

light gray.

The quarry consists of two openings, in 1905 about 25 feet square by 5 to 

10 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 to 8 feet thick, lie nearly horizontal and are 

crossed by vertical joints striking N. 25°-30° W. and by another set striking 

N. 45° E. and dipping 65° SE. and recurring at intervals of 6 to 20 feet.

The quarry is worked only occasionally, and the stone is used entirely for 

monuments.

The Miniutti quarry ("black granite") is in North Berwick, in the township of Berwick. Operators, Miniutti Bros. & Co., Concord, N. H. Idle in 1922.

The granite (specimen D, XXXVIII, 27, a) "North Berwick black granite," 

is a gabbro of very dark olive-greenish color and ophitic medium texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.4 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of 

olive-brownish lime-soda feldspar (labradorite), diallage, hornblende, biotite, 

magnetite, quartz, and very little pyrite. Secondary minerals are the hornblende, zoisite, chlorite, calcite. It takes a high polish, and the polished face 

has an extremely dark olive color and shows in oblique light many grains of 

magnetite. The cut or hammered face is light gray.

The quarry was opened about 1912.

The stone is used for inscribed monuments.

105709 23 19
274 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

BIDDEFORD.

The Bicker quarry is in Biddeford city, at 19 Granite Street. Operator, 

George H. Yates, Biddeford.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 129, a) is a biotite granite of general lightgray shade with conspicuous smoky quartz and slightly bluish-white feldspar, 

and of coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.75 inch and biotite 

under 0.2 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a slightly 

bluish milk-white potash, feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), dark smoky 

quartz, milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), 

together with accessory magnetite, zircon, and apatite and secondary white 

mica and kaolin, derived from the alteration of the oligoclase. The contrasts in this granite are unusually brilliant. They are between the white of 

the feldspars, the gray of the very vitreous quartz, and the black of the mica. 

The stone takes a fine polish, but the largeness of the biotite scales does not 

favor its durability under exposure to the weather.

The quarry, opened in 1865, was in 1905 100 by 50 feet and from 5 to 25 feet 

deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, up to 12 feet thick, are crossed by joints, strike 

N. 50° E., dip 55° NW., which recur at intervals of 2 to 20 feet, and by a set 

striking N. 45° W. and dipping 60° S. W., which recur at intervals of 2 to 10 

feet and over.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to railroad.

The product is used for monuments, etc.

The Gowen Emmons quarry is in Biddeford city, at 17 Granite Street. 

Operator, Frank Morin, Biddeford.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 128, a) is a biotite granite of general lightgray shade, with conspicuous smoky quartz and slightly bluish-white feldspar,

FIGTJBE 69. Structure at the Gowen Emmons quarrp, Biddeford, Maine.

and of coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.75 inch and biotite 

under 0.2 inch. It is identical with that of the Ricker quarry (specimen 129, 

a), described above. In the sheets nearer the surface the feldspar is slightly 

grayish or greenish, diminishing the contrasts.

The quarry, opened about 1865, consisted in 1905 of two openings, an old 

one 200 feet from northeast to southwest, 100 feet across, and from 30 to 70 

feet deep, and a new one 250 feet from northeast to southwest, 200 fict crvoss, 

and 10 to 60 feet deep.
MAINE. 275

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 12 feet 6 inches thick, increasing in thickness 

downward, undulate horizontally. The joint courses are shown in figure 69. 

(A), dip 55°'NW., recurs at intervals of 2 to 20 feet; (B), dip 70° S., occurs 

exceptionally; (C), dip 60° SW., forms the northeast and southeast walls and 

recurs at intervals of 2 to 10 feet or more; (D), dip 65° E., occurs exceptionally. The rift is vertical, N. 60° W.; the grain is horizontal. On the southeast wall there is a basic dike up to 1 foot thick and nearly parallel to. 

joints (A). Black knots occur up to 6 inches across. Sap is 6 inches thick 

on both sides of upper sheets but diminishes below.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to railroad.

The product is used for buildings and monuments. Specimens: Hospitalr 

Dover, N. H.; Lincoln Monument, Springfield, 111.

The Wormwood quarry is in the town of Biddeford, ii miles southwest 

of Biddeford city, in West Biddeford. Operators, Ira T. Wormwood & Sons, 

Biddeford. Idle since 1916.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 130, a) is a biotite granite of general 

medium pinkish-buff color and of coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.75 inch and biotite up to 0.15 inch. It consists, in descending order of 

abundance, of a pinkish-buff potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), 

dark smoky quartz, cream-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black mica 

(biotite), and a very little muscovite, together with accessory magnetite and 

secondary epidote, chlorite, kaolin, and white micas. The oligoclase is considerably altered to kaolin, a white mica, and epidote, and the biotite to chlorite. 

The contrasts in this stone are chiefly between the pinkish-buff and white 

feldspars and the smoky quartz, to which the black mica adds another element. 

As some of the potash feldspars are more pink and others more buff, it has in 

all five colors and shades.

The quarry is 40 by 20 feet and 6 to 8 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 7 feet thick (increasing to 15 feet lower down 

the hill), are crossed by vertical or steep joints, strike N. 80°-85° W., which 

recur at intervals of 20 feet, and others strike N. 40° E., which recur at intervals of 35 feet with headings. Sap is 1 to 2 inches thick along the top sheet, 

but 4 inches along the headings. A bunch of knots up to 8 inches thick and of 

egg-shaped outline was noticed.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to railroad siding.

The product is used for buildings. Specimen: Trimmings on St. Joseph's 

Church, Biddeford. (Material for the dry dock at Charlestown, Mass., was 

quarried at an old adjacent opening.)

The Andrews quarries are in the town of Biddeford, about 1$ miles southeast of Biddeford city and half a mile south of Saco River. Operator, George 

Willett Andrews, Biddeford. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 133, a) is a biotite granite of general lightgray color, with conspicuous black mica, and of coarse, even-grained texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.75 inch and biotite up to 0.2 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a translucent bluish-white potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), light smoky quartz, milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory magnetite, titanite, 

zircon, and apatite and secondary kaolin and a white mica derived from the 

alteration of the oligoclase. The feldpsars are considerably intergrown with 

quartz, some circular in cross section. The contrasts are between the feldspars, 

quartz, and mica. The feldspar is more bluish than that of the Ricker and 

Gowan Emmons quarries.
276 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarries, opened in 1862 and again in 1895, consist of six small openings 

of various dimensions, only one of which a " boulder quarry " was worked 

in 1905.

Rock structure: The rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical, striking northwest-southeast, but the difference between them is not marked. The jointing 

permits the quarrying of blocks up to 25 feet square. Sap is 2 inches thick. 

Knots in some of the openings are up to 3 and even 10 feet long.

Transportation, by cart half a mile to Saco River, or 2 miles to railroad at 

Biddeford.

The product is used for buildings, monuments, etc. Specimens: Tribune 

Building, New York; General Dix monument, Fort Monroe, Va.; foundation 

and trimmings of Watson & Miller Building, Portland, Maine. This quarry has 

furnished granite for the Delaware and Saco River breakwaters and curbing for 

Dover and Rochester, N. H.

HOLLIS.

The Bear Hill quarry is in the town of Hollis, on Bear Hill, 1 mile westsouthwest of Bradbury station (Hollis Center), on the Portland & Rochester 

Railroad. Operator in 1905, E. M. Bradbury, Hollis Center. Quarry disused.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 136, a) is a biotite-muscovite granite of 

medium to light gray shade with a slight greenish tinge, evenly spangled with 

black and white mica, and of medium, inclining to fine, even-grained texture, 

with feldspar up to 0.3 inch and mica up to 0.1 inch. It consists, in descending 

order of abundance, of a grayish potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), 

slightly smoky quartz, grayish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black and white 

mica (biotite and muscovite), with accessory apatite and a secondary white 

mica, As the quartz is about of the same shade as the feldspar, the only contrast is between the gray ground and the micas.

The quarry, reopened in 1901 (begun in 1855), consists of an older opening 

of irregular shape, from which about 700 cubic yards have been quarried and 

an acre stripped, and a later opening 50 feet square and 5 to 10 feet deep.

Rock structure: The1 sheets are lenticular, up to 6 feet thick, and horizontal. 

Vertical joints, strike N. 55° W., form a heading on the southwest; other 

joints, strike N. 30°-35° E., recur at intervals of 30 feet or more. The rift 

(horizontal) is marked, and the grain is vertical, striking east. Pegmatite 

dikes, up to 6 feet thick, strike N. 10°~20° W., recur at intervals of 30 feet 

or more and in places branch. They consist of quartz, feldspar, biotite, and 

muscovite. A basic dike, 1 to 12 inches thick, with a course N. 30° E., traverses the entire quarry, crossing the pegmatite dikes. The sap is marked on 

the upper sheet and also along the joints and up to 6 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart one-fourth mile to railroad.

The quarry produced stone for the foundation of a pulp mill (Bar Mills) 

and for a dam on Saco River.

KENNEBUNKPORT.

The Day quarry is in the town of Kennebunkport, 3 miles southwest of 

Biddeford. Operators, A. H. Day & Co., Biddeford. Idle since 1913.

The granite (specimen D. XXVII, 131, a) is a biotite-muscovite granite of 

medium-gray shade, with conspicuous black mica, and of coarse, even-grained 

texture, with feldspars up to an inch across and biotite scales up to 0.2 inch. 

It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a gray, in places very slightly 

buff-pinkish, potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), very smoky quartz, 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), black mica (biotite), with a little 

white mica (muscovite). The contrasts in this granite are marked.
MAINE. 277

The quarry, opened about 1899, was in 1905 50 feet square and 25 to 30 feet 

deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 4 to 14 feet thick, dip 10° E. Joints, strike 

north, dip 60° W., form a heading on the west and recur at intervals of 30 

feet or more. One striking northwest dips 80° SW.; another strikes N. 80° E., 

and still another strikes northeast and dips 40° SE. This is a "boulder 

quarry." The rift is horizontal, and the grain N. 70°-75° W., but they are not 

marked. Sap, 2 to 3 inches thick, occurs along the joints.

Transportation by cart 1 mile to railroad siding.

The product is used for bridge work, and some of it was used in the dry 

dock at Kittery, Me., and some for bridges on the Boston & Maine Railroad.

The Ross quarry is in the town of Kennebunkport, 3i miles southwest of 

Biddeford. Operators in 1905, Ellis & Buswell, Woburn, Mass. Quarry no 

longer operated.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 132, a) is a biotite granite of general 

light-gray shade, with translucent milky-white feldspars, dark, smoky quartz, 

and black mica, and 

of coarse, even-grained 

texture, with feldspars 

up to 1 inch across 

and biotite scales under 0.2 inch. It is 

similar to that of 

the Ricker and Gowan 

Emmons quarries, described on page 274.

The quarry, opened 

in 1887, was in 1905 

about 200 feet square 

and 35 feet deep.

Rock structure: This 

is a typical "boulder 

quarry," with irregular joints, as shown in 

figure 70. The sheets, 

14 to 22 feet thick, are 

horizontal or dip 30° E., but irregularly. A basic dike, 10 inches thick, forms 

the northwest side of the quarry and is said to continue for one-fourth mile 

N. 50° E. The joints run in four directions, none of them at right angles to 

another and none of them vertical. Sap is 3 to 6 inches thick along the sheets. 

Knots up to 6 inches thick are not abundant.

Transportation, by cart one-third mile to siding on Boston & Maine Railroad.

The product was used mostly for bridge work. Specimen structures: Gateway at Hope Cemetery, Kennebunk, Maine (except the balls on the posts) ; Renwick tomb, cemetery near Kittery, Maine; railroad bridge, Haverhill, Mass.

WELLS.

The Lord quarry is in the town of Wells, about 1 mile east-northeast of 

Wells Depot on the Boston & Maine Railroad (eastern division), near a school 

house at a road fork. Operator, Granville W. Lord, Wells Depot. Idle since 

1915.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 138, a) is a biotite granite of light pinkishgray color, with sparse conspicuous biotite, and of medium to coarse, evengrained texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and biotite scales up to 0.2 inch.

FIGDRE 70. Approximate structure at Ross (Bills & Buswell) "boulder quarry," Kennebunkport, Maine. The 

small arrows show the direction of dip of joints.
278 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

It consists, in descending order of abundance, of a delicate pink potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase), with slightly smoky quartz, cream-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), and black mica (biotite), together with accessory 

magnetite and zircon and secondary white mica and chlorite. The potash 

feldspars are both intergrown with plagioclase. The oligoclase is intergrown 

with quartz in particles circular in cross section and is partly altered to a 

white mica and the biotite to chlorite

The stone takes a good polish, but the large size of the biotite scales is not 

favorable to the durability of the polish in outdoor exposure. The contrasts 

are chiefly between the grayish-pinkish ground and the black mica.

The openings are small. The sheets, 1 to 3 feet thick, are horizontal. 

Vertical joints strike N. 10° E. and N. 70° W. The rift is horizontal. Sap 

is 2 inches thick along the sheets.

MASSACHUSETTS. 

DISTRIBUTION OF GRANITE-QUARRYING CENTERS..

The chief commercial granites of Massachusetts are in the counties 

of Essex (Rockport, Peabody, Middlesex (Graniteville, Westford), 

Norfolk (Quincy), Bristol (Fall River, New Bedford), and Worcester (Milford, Uxbridge). The location of the quarrying centers 

and isolated quarries is shown in Plate XXIII. The areal extent 

and probable geologic age of the granites will be found on the 

recently published geologic map of the State.7

A brief reference to the geology will preface the quarry descriptions of each granite center. The counties will be taken up, as in 

the other States, in alphabetic order. Some counties have only one 

or two quarries.

THE QUARRIES, THEIR GRANITE AND FINISHED PRODUCT. 

BERKSHIRE COUNTY.

The quarries in Berkshire County are in the towns of Becket and Otis. 

These towns are on the southern continuation of the Green Mountain range 

in the east-central part of the county. The range attains thereabouts elevations 

of 1,750 and 1,845 feet, but is deeply cut by south-southeasterly valleys, through 

which flow branches of Westfleld River, and by minor north-south and eastwest tributary hollows.

GEOLOGIC KELATIONS.

The geology of the region has been described by Emerson.8 There is a large 

area of Becket granite gneiss, in places, however, with very slight gneissic 

structure. This is regarded as of Archean age, although similar fine-grained 

gneisses in the same range in Vermont are probably Algonkian. At the quarry 

in Becket the granite is in contact with an overlying mass of black schistose 

quartz-mica diorite containing both potash and soda-lime feldspar, and along

7 Emerson, B. K., Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 597, pi. 10, 1917.

8 Idem, pi. 10, pp. 153, 154. 1917.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 788 PLATE XXIII

AfASSACffUSE T TS 

BAY

H A M P S

RHODE ISLAND

MAP OF MASSACHUSETTS SHOWING LOCATION OF GRANITE QUARRIES.
 -* MASSACHUSETTS. 279

the contact the granite has a banded flow structure. Emerson regards this 

rock (Lee quartz diorite) "as a contact zone of the Becket granite gneiss and 

to have originated by differentiation in place." The field observations indicate either the inclusion of a large mass of the diorite schist by the granite 

or else an intrusion of the granite in an overlying diorite schist. At the quarry 

in Otis, besides the Becket granite gneiss, plicated schist a few feet thick, of 

uncertain age, is exposed.

BECKET.

The Hudson & Chester quarry is in the town of Becket, 1 mile west of 

longitude 73° and latitude 42° 15', 1,400 feet above sea level, 2$ miles southwest of Chester, on the Boston & Albany Railroad. (See Becket and Chesterfield topographic maps, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, Chester Granite Quarries Co., Chester.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 91 f, g, k), "Chester dark" and "Chester 

light," is a muscovite-biotite granite of medium inclining to dark bluish-gray 

to medium bluish-gray color and of fine texture, with feldspars up to 0.15 inch 

and mica in very fine particles. The texture of this granite is neither exactly 

gneissoid, porphyritic, nor even grained. In thin section the coarser particles 

of quartz and feldspar are seen to lie in a somewhat micaceous matrix of very 

fine texture, and there is not a little granulation about the feldspars. The 

average diameter of the particles of this matrix, estimated by the Rosiwal 

method, is less than 0.005 inch, which is finer than in the finest Westerly 

granite (p. 407), although the stone as a whole is coarser texture than that. 

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light bluish-gray potash 

feldspar (microcline, rarely orthoclase) ; slightly bluish quartz, with sheets 

of cavities (up to 0.02 millimeter in diameter) in two rectangular directions 

with brightly polarizing rift and grain cracks parallel to them; light bluishgray soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) ; white mica (muscovite) ; and 

black mica (biotite). The only difference between the dark and light varieties 

is in the percentage of the black mica. Accessory: Titanite, pyrite, ilmeuite, 

allanite, fluorite, apatite, and zircon. Secondary: Muscovite, carbonate, and 

epidote (as rim about allanite). The amount of titanite is relatively large.

Kemp 9 has described this granite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages in this granite, by the application of 

the Rosiwal method to a camera lucida drawing of a thin section enlarged 37 

diameters, with a mesh of 1.2 inch and a total linear length of 25.85 inches, 

yields the following results:

Estimated mineral percentages in granite from Becket, Mass.

Quartz____I_____________________ ____^ 49. 35

Potash feldspar (orthoclase 17.05, microcline 11.50)_____ 28.55

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) ___ _______ 15.37

Mica (muscovite, 4.10, biotite, 2.47) ____ ________ 6.57

Titanite__________________,____________ . 16

100.00

0 Kemp, J. F., On the granite quarried at Chester, Mass.: New York Acad. Sci. Trans.. 

vol. 11, for 1891-92, pp. 129-130.
280 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The following analysis, by Prof. L. M. Dennis, of Cornell University, is 

quoted by Kemp in the paper referred to :

Analysis of granite from Becket, Mass.

Silica (SiO»)_________________________ 69.465 

Alumina (A12O3 )__________________________ 17.50 

Iron sesquioxide (FesOs)____________________ 2.30 

Lime (CaO)___________________________ 2.57 

Magnesia (MgO)___ ____________________ .305 

Potash (K2 0) ___________________________ 4.07 

Soda by difference (Na2 0)__________________ 2.93 

Water at 110° (HZO)______________________ .08 

Loss on ignition________________:__________ .74

99.960 

Specific gravity 2.684 to 2.688.

George Steiger, chemist, of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 

0.53 per cent of CaO (lime), soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates 

a content of 0.94 per cent of CaC03 (calcium carbonate), the presence of which 

is also shown by the microscope and by a slight effervescence with muriaticacid test.

Kemp states that a cube of this stone was tested at Columbia University 

by boiling in dilute muriatic acid (1 part of HC1 of specific gravity 1.20 to 20 

parts of H2O) for five hours, when it was found to have lost 0.59 per cent in 

weight. Another boiled for the same length of time in dilute sulphuric acid 

(1 part of HzSO* of specific gravity 1.84 to 20 parts of H2 0) gave a loss of 0.48 

per cent.

Absorption and crushing tests, made at the same time and place, yielded the 

following results: Four cubes of specific gravities 2.688, 2.687, 2.684, and 2.688, 

after three weeks' soaking, absorbed 0.0021, 0.0021, 0.00224, and 0.0026 per cent. 

The crushing test was applied to five cubes, which showed a crushing strength 

ranging from 25,350 to 28,841 pounds to the square inch.

The stone takes a fair polish and hammers somewhat light. The fineness 

of the particles precludes any marked contrast. The feldspar and quartz appear 

light gray, and the mica black, producing a fine mottling.

The quarry, opened in 1886, measured in 1906 about 600 feet east to west by 

100 feet across and from 50 to 100 in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets are normally lenticular and horizontal, 6 inches to 

30 feet thick, becoming thicker downward; but there is some irregularity in this 

increase in different parts of the quarry. There are two sets of joints. Those 

of set (a) strike N. 10° E., dip 30°-35° W., and are spaced 18 inches to 20 feet. 

They are intermittent and have a thin coat of discoloration, the microscopic 

character of which is described on page 83. Those of set (b) strike N. 80° W., 

are vertical, and are spaced 10 to 25 feet, exceptionally curved so as to dip as 

low as 55° W. On the north side a mass of fine-grained heavy, hard black 

schist, 40 feet thick, overlies the granite. It is traversed by horizontal and vertical quartz veins, the latter taking their rise at the contact with granite 

and tapering upward. Emerson 10 in one of his earlier papers on the locality represents this mass as also overlain by the granite at one end, but 

that part had probably been quarried away before the writer's visit in 

1906. A thin section of this rock, crossing also a tortuous white veinlet, is

'° U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 159, fig. 16, p. 75, 1899.
MASSACHUSETTS. 281

found to consist, in descending order of abundance, of quartz, with sheets 

of cavities and rift cracks parallel to them polarizing brightly, black mica, 

potash feldspar (microcline), soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), muscovite. 

and hornblende. Accessory: Ilmenite, titanite, pyrite, apatite, and zircon. 

Secondary: Epidote, carbonate, and limonite. The white veinlets are mainly 

quartz and soda-lime, feldspar. This rock thus appears to be a quartz-mica 

diorite schist, but with potash feldspar apparently exceeding the soda-lime 

feldspar. It is an eruptive rock made schistose by pressure before the intrusion 

of the granite and probably formed part of the original cover into which granite 

was intruded. That the granite is the later rock is evident because of the 

marked flow structure, which, for a space of 2 feet below the diorite schist, 

runs parallel to the contact surface, as has been observed in some New Hampshire quarries (p. 14). This flow structure consists of parallel white bands 

from 0.1 to 0.3 inch wide, recurring at intervals of 1 inch. The gray granite 

between these light bands is darker than that beyond them. A thin section of 

one of these bands shows it to corfsist of quartz and feldspar, the quartz with 

many sheets of cavities up to 0.03 inch and with rift cracks parallel to them. 

In the darker bands biotite, epidote, titanite, and muscovite are very abundant. 

At the northeast corner the flowage bands have very sinuous courses, the rock 

taking on the appearance of a true gneiss. On the west side the flow structure, 

shown by a band of lighter granite 2 feet thick, strikes N. 55° E. and dips 40° 

SE. At the northwest corner, several feet below the granite surface, is an 

inclusion, 10 by 8 feet, of coarse garnetiferous muscovite-biotite gneiss with 

accessory magnetite, apatite, and zircon. It is a very different rock from either 

the granite or the diorite schist and was evidently broken off from some overlying or adjacent formation during the granite intrusion and inclosed by the 

molten matter.

The rift is reported as dipping about 20° W. and the grain as vertical, with a 

N. 10° E. course.

At the northwest corner there is a pegmatite dike (feldspar and quartz, 

coarse) up to 2 feet thick, with a northwest course. In thin section the feldspar 

is seen to be orthoclase, with fissures from 0.37 to 1.85 millimeters wide, filled 

with fragments of microcline and quartz and stringers of white mica. It has 

evidently been subjected to pressure and some metamorphism.

Rusty stain along the sheet surfaces is 3 to 12 inches thick.

Transportation, by Chester & Becket Railroad, a branch of the Boston & 

Albany, which connects the quarry through Walker Brook hollow with the main 

line at Chester, a distance of 3£ miles. The rough stone is shipped direct from 

the quarry; the rest is taken to the cutting shed at Chester and reshipped there. 

The granite thus comes to be known as " Chester granite," although the quarry 

is in Becket.

The product is in regular demand for monuments in Pennsylvania, New York, 

and Michigan. Specimens: Dr. Hoover monument, Chambersburg, Pa.; McCormack monument, Pittsburgh, Pa.; W. A. Harder monument, Hudson, N. Y.

OTIS.

The Newall quarry is in the town of Otis, about 2 miles west-southwest 

of the Hudson & Chester quarry and a mile north of Church Hill, 1,760 feet 

above sea level, about 3 miles northeast of Otis village. The opening is a little 

south of the highway from Lee and on the south side of the LeeLHuntington 

trolley line, with which it is connected by a siding.

The granite (specimens D, XXXIX, 234, a, b, c) is a biotite-muscovite granite 

of medium gray shade and of fine, inclining to medium texture, with feldspar
282 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

iip to 0.2 inch. It consists, in descending order of abundance, of milk-white 

potash feldspar (mostly niicrocline with some orthoclase), pale rrnoky quartz, 

a little soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-albite), black mica (biotite), 

and white mica (rnuscovite). Accessory: Pyrite, i/lmenite, titanite, apatite, 

zircon. Secondary: Carbonate. Slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test. 

The stone is not identical with that of the Hudson & Chester quarry.

The quarry, opened in 1917 by Joseph Newall & Co., of Westerly, R. I., 

measures about 95 by 150 by 100 feet in area and from 2 to 15 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 4 inches to 2 feet thick, are thin in the upper 8 

feet. There are two set's of joints (a), strike N. 10°-4Q° W., spaced 18 to 20 

feet; (b), strike N. 70° E., spaced 8 to 100 feet. Flow structure strikes about 

north and is steeply inclined, marked by fine darker bands with whitish borders 

and a total width up to 0.5 inch. Dikes of pegmatite, 0.25 to 2 inches thick, 

have N. 80° E. and N. 30° W. courses. The rift is vertical, east-west, and the 

grain presumably north-south. From 100 to 200 feet east of the opening is an 

outcrop of plicated schist with strike N. 20° »W.

The stone was used for monuments. On July 30, 1918, the quarry was idle, 

but in 1920 it had been reopened.

BRISTOL COUNTY. 

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The granites of Fall River and New Bedford, although very different, are 

both in a large granite area in the southeastern part of the State designated on 

Emerson's map in Bulletin 597 as " Dedham granodiorite (chloritic biotite 

granodiorite)" and are regarded as possibly of Devonian age.

FALL RIVER.

The Beattie & Wilcox quarry is in the city of Fall River, near Watuppa 

Pond and the railroad, 2£ miles southeast of the steamboat wharf. (See Fall 

River topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Owner, David Beattie, Fall River. 

Quarry not in operation.

The granite is of two colors. One (specimen D, XXX, 116, a), "Fall River 

pink," is a gneissoid biotite granite of medium pinkish-gray color, with black 

spots, and of gneissoid, coarse, inclining to medium texture, with feldspars up 

to 0.5 inch and mica up to 0.4 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are pinkish microperthite (potash feldspar, orthoclase and microcline, minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar) ; milky quartz, granulated 

(particles mostly under 0.5 millimeter), with some cavities in sheets; milkwhite soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), a little micacized and epidotized; 

biotite (black mica), mostly chloritized; and a little bleached biotite or muscovite. Accessory: Garnet and titanite. Secondary: Epidote, usually about the 

biotite, a white mica, chlorite, very little carbonate, and hematite stain. Some 

of the second feldspar has bent lamellae. No effervescence with muriaticacid test.

The rock of the other color (specimen D, XXX, 116, b), "Fall River gray," 

is a gneissoid biotite granite of light buff-gray color, with inconspicuous black 

spots, and of gneissoid, medium, inclining to coarse texture, with feldspars up 

to 0.4 inch and mica up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents are the same as in the 

" pink," except that the microperthite is pale buff to pinkish, the second feldspar 

is light greenish, and the granulated quartz is clear and colorless, its particles 

measuring up to 0.75 millimeter. Among the secondary minerals is a little 

limonite stain. No carbonate detected nor effervescence.
MASSACHUSETTS. 283

These granites have in places flowage hands in which one baud contains many 

more than the average of biotite spots, and the next contains many less and is 

also finer grained than the general mass, resembling an aplite.

These are very suitable granites for massive structures. The pink has more 

mineral contrasts than the other.

The quarry, opened in 1893, measured in 1910 about 400 by 200 feet and 10 to 

40 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets 18 inches to 16 feet thick, undulate horizontally. 

Joint courses, etc., are shown in figure 71. Set (A), dip' steeply N. 7° W., 

spaced 50 feet, forms the west-southwest wall and :i heading 20 feet wide 50 

feet east of it. Set (B), vertical, spaced 20 to 200 feet. The flowage bands described dip steeply S. 30° W. Shear zones dip 65° NW., are up to an inch 

in width, turd are spaced 2 to 3 feet, The extremely fine, roughly parallel 

meandering planes of dark schistose material within the zones are fractures 

filled in their wider parts with cpidote, carbonate, and muscovite. Veinlets of

 quartz cross the feldspars, about which there is some granulation. The 

lamellae of the soda-lime feldspars are much bent, and some are even minutely 

plicated. The rift is horizontal, and the grain dips about like the joints of

 set (A). A black, extremely fine-grained 

basaltic dike, described on page 56, is 6 

inches to 4 feet thick and weathers 

fc.pheroidally. The " sap " is 1 to 8 inches 

thick on sheet surfaces.

The product met local demands mostly. 

'Specimens: Armory, city library, Flint 

mills, Fall River; Ban'gan Chapel, in

 cemetery, Pawtucket, R. I.; " stone 

bridge" to Aquidneck Island and naval 

training station, Newport, R. I.

The Beattie quarry is in Fall River, 

14 miles west of the steamboat wharf. 

Operator, William H. Beattie, 33 North

Quarry Street, Fall River. Idle in 1922. ^ ** 0 . . . D *« *. 

_, FIGURE 71. Structure at Beattie & 

The granite is of two colors. One Wilcox quarry, Fall River, Mass, 

(specimen D, XXX, 117, a), "Fall River

pink," is a gneissoid biotite granite of light pinksh-gray color, with black 

spots, and of slightly gnoissoid, coarse texture, with feldspars and mica up 

to 0.5 inch, the mica exceptionally reaching 0.6 inch. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are pinkish microperthite (potash feldspar, 

microcline and orthoclase, some of it epidotized, minutely intergrown with 

soda-lime feldspar) ; clear colorless quartz, granulated, with particles mostly 

under 0.5 inch, and with cavities, some in sheets, and rutile needles; and 

greenish to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), micacized and 

epidotized, some of its particles with bent lamellae. Accessory: Allanite, zircon, 

rutile. Secondary: Fibrous muscovite stringers, another white mica, epidote, 

carbonate. It effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

The rock of the other color (specimen D, XXX, 117. b), " Fall River gray," 

is a gneissoid biotite granite of light-gray shade with conspicuous black and 

greenish spots, and of slightly gneissoid, coarse, inclining to medium texture. 

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are translucent grayish 

microperthite (potash feldspar, orthoclase and microcline, minutely intergrown 

with soda-lime feldspar) ; faintly purplish milky, quartz, granulated, with 

particles under 0.5 inch and with cavities; gray to pale greenish, not translucent soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), micacized and epidotized; biotite
284 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

(black mica), some chloritized, generally with epidote; and a little bleached 

biotite or muscovite. Accessory: Allanite, garnet, and' magnetite. Secondary: 

Carbonate, a white mica, epidote, chlorite, and hematite stain.

These granites are very similar to those of the Beattie & Wilcox quarry, but 

they differ in that the pink is of lighter hue, and the gray has more marked 

mineral contrasts. Both pink and gray are attractive stones, well adapted 

for massive structures,

The quarry, opened before 1865, measured in 1910 900 by 700 feet and from 

20 to 60 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 8 inches to 8 feet thick, are horizontal or dip 

5°-10° SE. Joint and dike courses are shown in figure 72. Joint set (A) forms 

a heading 30 feet wide through the center of the quarry and is spaced 20 to 

125 feet, with slickensided sericite-coated close joints parallel to it (specimen 

D, XXX, 117, c). Set (B), vertical, forms the south wall and is spaced about 

40 feet. Set (C), vertical, forms a heading 50 feet wide diagonally through the 

quarry. The rift is horizontal, and the grain scarcely perceptible. A 3-inch 

pegmatite dike containing much quartz dips 43° N. 55° W. and has shear zones 

along it with small micaceous or chloritic masses. An aplite dike is 4 inches

thick. Dark segregations measure up to 3 

inches across. Limonite stain is up to 6 

inches thick on sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart 1J miles to railroad or wharf.

The product is used mostly for buildings 

and wharves. The waste goes into curbing, 

paving, and crushed stone. Specimens: Sagamore Manufacturing Co.'s mill, wharves of 

Fall River Iron Works, Bristol County jail, 

Fall River; Bristol County courthouse (except trimmings), Taunton, Mass.; Naval 

War College building, Newport, R. I.

The Savoie quarry is on Savoie Avenue, 

in Fall River, If miles east-southeast of the 

steamboat wharf. Operator, Carey Quarry 

& Construction Co., Savoie Avenue, Fall River. 

The granite is a gneissoid biotite granite of light-gray shade with conspicuous 

black and greenish spots, and of coarse inclining to medium texture, closely 

resembling the " gray " of the Beattie quarry.

The quarry, opened in 1895, measured in 1910 200 feet by 100 feet and 30 to 

40 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 6 feet thick, are horizontal. There are 

four sets of joints. Set (a), vertical, strike N. 60° W. forms a heading on the 

north wall. Set (b), steep to vertical, strike N. 10°-20° W., forms the east 

and west walls and a heading 20 feet wide at the south end and is spaced 5 

to 60 feet. Set (c), strike NE., dip 30° NW., only two, 12 feet apart. Set (d), 

diagonal, strike N. 20° E., dip 65° S. 70° E., spaced 5 to 40 feet. The rift is 

horizontal, and the grain vertical, with north-south course. A dark brownishgray aplite dike, 6 inches to 2 feet thick (specimen D, XXX,.118, b), strikes 

east-west. There is also a pinkish apilite dike 10 feet wide (specimen 118, a.) 

Both these aplites are described on page 44. Quartz veins and shear zones 

strike N. 60° E. and dip 50° N. 30° W. There is no " sap " away from headings, 

Transportation, by cart 2£ miles to dock or rail.

FIGURE 72. Structure at Beattie 

quarry, Fall River, Mass.
MASSACHUSETTS. 285

The product is used for buildings, curbing, and paving, and its market is 

mostly local. Specimens: City library, Maple Street School (trimmings), Fall 

River.

The Sears quarry is in Fall River, about li miles east of the steamboat 

wharf. Operator, C. H. Sears, Fall River. Quarry abandoned.

The granite is a gneissoid biotite granite of light-gray shade with conspicuous black and greenish spots, and of coarse, inclining to medium texture, like 

the "gray" of the Beattie quarry (p. 283).

The quarry, opened in 1892, measured in 1910 125 by 75 feet and 20 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, undulate. There are two sets 

of joints. (Set (a), about east-west, forms the north wall and a heading 15 

feet wide through the center of the quarry and is spaced 2 to 20 feet. Set 

(I), nearly north-south, forms the west wall and is spaced 10 to 20 feet but 

in places crosses one sheet only. The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, 

north-south, but scarcely perceptible. There is little " sap " away from head-, 

ings.

Transportation, by cart.

The product was used for local buildings. Specimen: Lower story of Textile 

School, Fall River.

The Stinziano quarry is at the corner of Locust and Oak Grove avenues, 

Fall River. Operator, Fall River Granite & Quarry Co., Fall River.

The granite is essentially like that of the other Fall River quarries.

The product is dressed stone for buildings and pedestals, also paving and 

foundations.

The Ross quarry is at the head of Barlow Street, near Watuppa Pond, in 

Fall River, 2J miles about southeast of the steamboat wharf. (See topographic 

map of Fall River quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) No longer operated.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 119, a), "Fall River, Barlow Street," is a 

gneissoid biotite granite of medium bluish-gray color and of medium texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.3 inch and1 mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are pinkish cloudy microperthite (potash 

feldspar, orthoclase and microcline, minutely intergrown with soda feldspar) ; clear colorless quartz, granulated, with particles nearly all under 0.5 

millimeter; clear colorless to pale-greenish soda feldspar (albite), micacized 

and epidotized; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized, associated 

with epidote and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Garnet. 

Secondary: Muscovite in stringers, also a white mica in the albite, epidote, 

carbonate, and chlorite. No effervescence with muriatic-'.acid test.

As will be noticed from the description, this stone differs from the other 

Fall River gray granites in the absence of the large black micas. The second 

feldspar here is pure albite. The mineral contrasts are feeble.

The quarry, opened before 1901, measured in 1910 125 feet square and 30 

feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick on the east side, are lacking 

on the west side. There is only one joint, striking east-west and forming the 

south wall. The upper sheets are badly discolored.

The product was curbing, flagging, and paving.

NEW BEDFORD.

The Sullivan quarries are near Rockdale, in the township of New Bedford, 

2 miles northwest of the city. (See New Bedford topographic map, U. S. Geol. 

Survey, and PI. XXIII.) Operator, Sullivan Granite & Construction Co., New 

Bedford.
286 COMMERCIAL GEANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 121, a, pinkish, and b, less pinkish), "NewBedford," is a biotite-muscovite granite gneiss of light pinkish-gray color and 

of slightly gneissoid, coarse inclining to medium texture, with feldspars up to 

0.5 inch and mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are light-pinkish potash feldspar (microcline), some of it slightly 

kaolinized; medium smoky quartz with cavities and black particles in parallel 

sheets; milky soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) ; biotite (black mica), some 

of it chloritized; and muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Garnet, magnetite, 

lluorite, apatite, and zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, epidote, chlorite, and limonite. 

No carbonate or pyrite detected. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is an attractive and substantial building stone. Its mineral contrasts 

are a little more marked than those of the " Dartmouth granite." The absence 

or scarcity of pyrite and carbonate is in its favor.

The quarries comprise two openings. The main one, begun about 1860, was 

in 1910 600 by 150 feet and from 50 to 75 feet deep. The other, about 300 feet 

farther south, formerly known as the Denault quarry, was about 250 by 150 

feet and from 50 to 70 feet deep.

Rock structure: Dike, joint, and grain courses are shown in figure 4 (p. 55). 

The sheets in the main qiiarry are 10 to 25 feet thick, but for a space of 5 or 6 

feet on either side of the dikes there are sheets 3 to 18 inches thick, which 

were evidently formed after tlie dikes and largely in consequence of them. 

There are two sets of joints, Set (a), coated with epidote, is vertical and 

spaced 50 feet. Set (b), confined to the Denault quarry, dips 55° E., is spaced 

2 to 30 feet, with a heading at east wall and another 10 to 18 feet wide near it. 

The rift is horizontal. The dikes have been described on pages 55-56. There is 

one each on the north, south, and west walls, through the center, and another 

o? pegmatite near the west wall. The amount of rusty stain is small.

Transportation, by cart 2 or 3 miles to New Bedford.

The product is used for local buildings and streets. Specimens: Armory, 

public library (90 per cent, the rest being from Fall River quarries), St. James 

and St. John Roman Catholic churches, and trimmings to most of the cotton 

mills, New Bedford.

DARTMOUTH:

The Dartmouth quarry is in Dartmouth Township, three-fourths of a mile 

east of Westport Mills and 8i miles southeast of the Fall River steamboat wharf. 

(See FalURiver topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey, and PI. XXIII.) Operator, 

New Bedford & Dartmouth Granite Co., New Bedford. c

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 122, a), " Dartmouth, " is a gneissoid biotitemuscovite granite of very light buff-gray color and of very slightly gneissoid, 

medium, inclining to coarse texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and mica up 

to 0.1 inch. Its constituents1 , in descending order of abundance, are translucent cream-colored microperthite (potash feldspar, microcline, minutely intergrown with lime-soda feldspar, oligoclase-albite, and somewhat kaolinized) ; 

pale, smoky quartz, with cavities, in sheets; clear to translucent soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase-albite), but little kaolinized; and muscovite (white mica) 

and biotite (black mica) in about equal amounts. Accessory: Garnet. Secondary: Kaolin and carbonate. Very little effervescence with muriatic-acid test. 

This is a serviceable constructional stone of feeble mineral contrasts.

The quarry, opened in 1903, was in 1910 about 150 by 100 feet and 30 feet 

deep, with a working face 45 feet high on the west.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 12 feet thick, are about horizontal. The 

joints, all discontinuous, are of three sets (a), strike N. 75° E., dip 75° S. 15° 

E., on north and south walls only; (b), strike north, dip 50° E., spaced 3 to 10
MASSACHUSETTS. 287

feet; forms the west wall; (c), strike N. 25° W.t dip 65° N. 65° E., one only. 

The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, with N. 60° E. course. There are 

small pegmatite and smoky quartz dikes with N. 60° W. courses. Rusty stain is 

up to 3 inches thick on sheet surfaces, diminishing at the bottom of the quarry. 

The product is used for local buildings, curbing, and paving. Specimen: 

Trimmings on Lunds Corner schoolhouse, New Bedford.

ESSEX COUNTY.

PEABODY-LYNNFIELD DISTRICT. 

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The granites of the Peabody-Lynnfield district are in a granite area designated on the geologic map of the State" in Bulletin 597 as " Quincy granite 

(soda-rich riebeckite granite)."

The granite is an olive-greenish hornblende-augite granite resembling the 

riebeckite-aegirite granite of Quincy, but its black silicates contain very little 

soda. Washington " refers to the stone in these words:

" The rocks belonging to this class were first noticed by Wadsworth in 1885 

and were later described more in detail by Sears. Rosenbusch has expressed 

the opinion that these are related to the akerite type of syenites, a keen 

observation which my study of the rocks fully confirms. These rocks are found 

chiefly in the eastern part of Essex County, in Essex, Beverly, Manchester, 

Gloucester, and on Cape Ann. * * * The color even of the freshest specimens 

is greenish, which varies in shade from a dark greenish black to a light shade 

of greenish gray."

In common with the green granite of Redstone, N. H:, described on page 168, 

that of Peabody and Lynnfield contains considerable allanite, to the oxidation 

of which the green color is partly due. (See further p. 77.)

QUAEBIES.

The Linehan quarry is in Peabody Township, on a knoll one-fourth mile 

east of Bartholomew Pond, about 3 miles west-southwest of Peabody. (See 

Salem topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey and PI. XXIII.) Operator, John 

Dubie, Peabody. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 128, a), "Peabody green," is -a hornblendeaugite granite of very dark olive-greenish color and of even-grained, coarse 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.7 inch and black silicates up to 0.2 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are dark olive-greenish microperthite (potash feldspar, orthoclase, minutely intergrown with plagioclase, 

probably soda feldspar, kaolinized and with crush borders) ; very dark greenish 

smoky quartz, with cavities in sheets intersecting, some at right angles, and 

with cracks filled with limonite stain; green hornblende; and augite intergrown with or passing into the hornblende. Accessory: Magnetite, allanite, 

rather plentiful zircon, and apatite needles. Secondary: Kaolin, limonite stain, 

and carbonate. Slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This granite differs from the green of the Robin Rock quarry (p. 289) only 

in its more yellowish tinge. When first quarried it is grayish, but within a 

week it becomes yellowish green.

11 Emerson, B. K., op. cit., pp. 188, 189.

" Washington, H. S., The petrographlcal province of Essex County, Mass.: Jour. Geology, vol. 6, p. 787, 1898. See also Sears, J. H., The physical geography, geology, mineralogy, and paleontology of Essex County, Mass., pp. 178, 190, Salem, Mass., 1905.
288 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry, opened in 1900, measured in 1910 250 feet east and west by 80 

and 100 feet across and 20 to 40 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 8 to 16 feet thick, are lenticular and horizontal. 

There are two sets of joints (&), vertical, strike N. 15° E., on east and west 

walls only, 250 feet apart; (&), "rift joints," diagonal, strike N. 70° E., 

dip 65° S. 20° E., coated black with hornblende,13 also with calcite up to 0.12 

inch thick, spaced 30 to 60 feet. The rift, which is marked, is parallel to 

set (&); the grain is at right angles to it, and the hardway horizontal. Darkgray knots are 0.5 inch to 12 inches across. The stain forms a dark-brown 

siurface on the sheets, with an inch of pale granite below it; in places, however, the brown part is an inch thick and the pale granite 2 inches. The 

joints are also discolored in this way.

Transportation, by cart, an average of 3 miles.

The product is used for street work and trimmings. Specimen: Trimmings 

on addition to Mercantile Bank, Salem.

The Caron quarry is in Peabody Township, about a quarter of a mile 

south-southeast of the town farm on Lynnfleld Street. (See Salem topographic 

map, TJ. S. Geol. Survey.) Operators, M. Caron & Sons, 32 Perkins Street, 

Salem. Quarry abandoned.

The granite, "Peabody green," is a hornblende-augite granite of very dark 

olive-greenish color and of even-grained, coarse texture like that of the Linehan 

quarry, described on page 287.

The quarry, opened in 1898, measured in 1910 75 by 30 feet and from 10 to 30 

feet deep.

Rock structure: This is a " boulder quarry " yielding blocks 18 feet thick. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 77° E., dip 60° S. 13° E., spaced 

10 to 20 feet; (6), strike N. 40° E., dip 50° N. 50° W., spaced over 30 feet. 

The rift is parallel to set (o>) and the grain dips 70° about west. The " sap " 

is up to 3 inches thick on masses below the surface, half of it being brown.

Transportation, by cart.

The product is used for trimmings and curbing. Specimens: Trimmings on 

hotel at corner of Mill and Washington Streets, and on store at corner of Derby 

and Dinell Streets, Salem.

The Den quarry is on the Peabody and Lynn town line, about 2f miles 

north-northwest of Lynn station. (See Boston Bay topographic map, U. S. Geol. 

Survey.) Operator, C. E. Mudge, Lynn. Idle since 1912.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 126, a, b), " Peabody green," is a hornblendeaugite granite of dark to very dark olive-greenish color. When first quarried 

the feldspars are less greenish and lighter and the general color corresponds, 

but this soon changes. Its texture is even grained, coarse, with feldspars up 

to 0.7 inch and black silicates up to 0.4 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are medium but soon becoming dark greenish-gray microperthite (potash feldspar (orthoclase), minutely intergrown with soda feldspar 

(albite), much kaolinized, with crush borders and with cracks filled with 

limonite stain) ; very dark yellow-greenish smoky quartz, with cavities in sheets, 

some intersecting at right angles, and with cracks parallel to them and filled 

with limonite stain; black hornblende (green in section), with inclusions of 

allanite; and black augite (green in section), intergrown with or passing into 

the hornblende, also with inclusions of allanite. Accessory: Magnetite, allanite, 

zircon, apatite, and very little biotite. Secondary: Limonite stain proceeding 

from the allanite and augite and following the boundaries of particles and

13 These black-coated joints signify metamorpkism after the jointing. See p. 82.
MASSACHUSETTS. 289

cracks, kaolin, a brown and also a blue hornblende (probably riebeckite) in 

fibrous crystals growing out of the augite surfaces into quartz and feldspars, and 

carbonate. Slight effervesence with muriatic-acid test.

This stone is reported as taking a good polish, which might be expected from 

its lack of mica.

The quarry, opened about 1905, measured in 1910 about 100 feet square and 

20 to 60 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 16 to over 30 feet thick, dip 20° S. 55° E. There 

are four sets of joints (a), discontinuous, strike N. 5° E., dip 75° E., forms a 

heading on east wall, spaced 30 to 40 feet; (ft), vertical, strike east, forms a 

heading 100 feet wide on east wall, spaced 25 to 40 feet; (c), strike N. 40° W., 

dip 47° S. 50° W., one only; (d), vertical, strike N. 30° W., one only. The rift 

dips steeply S. 60° W., and the grain, which is almost as pronounced as the 

rift, is horizontal. Very dark gray segregations (knots) are up to 0.5 inch, 

exceptionally 2 feet across. A thin section of one of these knots (specimen D, 

XXX, 126, d) shows a groundmass of particles of microperthite and plagioclase (probably albite) from 0.1 to 0.3 millimeter in diameter, with thickly 

disseminated particles of augite from 0.02 to 0.37 millimeter, and minute grains 

of magnetite. At the edge is a large porphyritic microperthite, a crystal of 

zircon, and a particle of augite associated with a blue hornblende, biotite, magnetite, and zircon.

The feldspars on the sheet surfaces are generally much kaolinized. The 

rusty stain (specimen D, XXX, 126, c) is up to an inch thick, and the palegreen band below it from 2 to 4 inches. A top sheet, 12 feet thick and 100 by 

40 feet in area, is all discolored.

Transportation, by cart.

The product is used .for base courses, steps, curbing, crossings, caps, and paving. The rusty faces are used for base courses. Specimens: Starr Parsons 

Monument, in Pine Grove Cemetery, and sap-faced base course of dwelling at 

corner of Wave and Ocean streets, Lynn.

The Robin Rock quarry is in Lynnfield Township, four-fifths of a mile 

south-southeast of South Lynnfield station. (See Lawrence topographic map, 

U. S. Geol. Survey.) This quarry was operated by the late Arthur L. Kallenberg, of Lynnfield, and may be operated again by his son.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 127, a), "Robin Rock green," is a hornblende-augite granite of very dark greenish color and of coarse, even-grained 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.6 inch and black silicates up to 0.4 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are dark-blue or greenish-gray 

microperthite (potash feldspar, orthoclase, minutely intergrown with soda 

feldspar, albite, and kaolinized) ; very dark, slightly greenish smoky quartz, 

with cavities in sheets intersecting at right angles; black (under the microscope greenish) hornblende with inclusions of allanite; very little. separate 

soda feldspar (albite); and black (under the microscope greenish) augite. 

Accessory: Magnetite, allanite, pyrite, zircon, and a little biotite. Secondary: 

Kaolin and limonite stain. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

Another variety (specimen D, XXX, 127, b), "Robin Rock gray," is also a 

hornblende-augite granite but of dark-gray shade, speckled with black, and of 

coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.7 inch and black silicates 

up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents appear to be the same as those of the other 

variety, but, as shown by effervescence with acid test, carbonate is present. 

The microperthite is dark gray in the hand specimen but shows some limonite105709 23 20
290 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

stained faces. Augite is intergrown with hornblende or passes into it. Apatite 

appears among the accessory minerals, and zircon is rather plentiful. This 

stone probably becomes somewhat greenish on continued exposure. 

This stone appears well when fine pointed.

Hooppole Cove

Andrews Point

Quarry site Roads

FIGURE 73. Map of part of Cape Ann, Mass., showing the location of Rockport granite 

quarries. 1, Flat Ledge quarry; 2, upper pit, Rockport Granite Co.; 3, lower Pigeon 

Hill quarry; 4, upper Pigeon Hill quarry; 5, Babson Farm quarry; 6, Nickerson 

quarry; 7, Breakwater quarry; 8, Canney quarry; 9, Devils Rock quarry; 10, Cheves 

Green Granite quarry; 11, Blood Ledge quarry; 12, deep pit, Rockport Granite Co.

There are several openings, some of which are a century old. The one worked 

in 1910 was triangular in area, 75 feet on a side and 5 to 25 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 18 inches to 6 feet thick, dip 10° E. There is 

only one set of joints, vertical, strike N. 80' W., spaced 0 3 to 12 feet, with a
MASSACHUSETTS. 291

heading 15 feet wide on the north side. The rift is vertical, with east-west 

course, and the grain vertical, north-south. "Knots" measure up to 6 inches. 

The stain on sheet surfaces is yellowish for an inch, then for 2 inches the stone 

is pale.

Transportation, by cart 4 to 6 miles to AVakefield and Reading.

The product was used for buildings, foundations, sills, steps, and curbing.

ROCKPORT. 

TOPOGRAPHY.

The township of Rockport occupies the eastern and northern part of that, insular mass on the Atlantic coast commonly known as Cape Ann. (See Gloucester topographic map, U. S. Geological Survey.) It is a region of low, roundish 

or oval granitic or sandy hillocks, none exceeding 180 feet in height, and of 

marshes and boulder-strewn sand flats. The most conspicuous of these hillocks 

is Pigeon Hill, about a milo north of Rockport village, which is regarded as a 

drumlin. The quarries are in the northern part of the cape, scattered along 

the shore or within three-quarters of a mile of it, from Rockport to Bay View. 

(See fig. 73.)

GEOLOGIC KELATIONS.

The physiography and geology of Cape Ann have been interestingly described 

by Shaler and Tarr.

The entire cape is represented in Shaler's map " as made up of granite, but 

traversed at very close intervals by diabase dikes and at a few points by quartz 

porphyry dikes. According to Sears's geologic map of Essex County, hornblende granite covers Halibut Point, Rockport, and the area half a mile east 

of Bay View; but a quarter of a mile east of Bay View there is a small area 

of "augite syenite." 15

Emerson lfl on the geologic map of the State shows the cape as a part of a 

large area of " Quincy granite" (soda-rich riebeckite-bearing granite but 

with a small area of Beverly syenite just north of Pigeon Cove and another 

about Lanesville, neither of which, however, is quarried.

The geologic age of the' granite is regarded as Carboniferous. The basic 

dikes may be Triassic. They range from 0.5 inch to 40 feet in width.

" EOCKPOKT GBANITE."

The more recent scientific accounts of " Rockport granite" are those of 

Wadsworth," Merrill,18 Washington," Sears,20 and Clapp.81 Cooke,52 Clarke,88 and

" Shaler,,N. S., The geology of Cape Ann, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Survey Ninth Ann. Kept., 

pp. 529-611, pi. 77, 1889.

15 Sears, J. H., The physical geography, geology, mineralogy, and paleontology of 

Essex County, Mass., Salem, Essex Institute, 1905.

18 U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 597, pi. 10, pp. 188, 189, 197, 1917.

17 Wadsworth, M. E., Notes on the petrography of Quincy and Rockport: Boston Soc. 

Nat. Hist. Proc., vol. 19, 1881,

18 Merrill, G. P., Smithsonian Inst. Kept, for 1885, pt. 2, p. 419, 1889.

19 Washington, H. S., The petrographical province of Essex County, Mass.: Jour. 

Geology, vol. 6, pp. 790-796, 1898. 

M Sears, J. H., op. cit., pp. 150-153.

21 Clapp, C. H., Igneous rocks of Essex County, Mass., 1910; Geology of the igneous 

rocks of Essex County, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 704, 1921.

22 Cooke, J. P., On cryophyllite, a new mineral species of the mica family with some 

associated minerals in the granite of Rockport, Mass.: Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 43, 

pp. 217-230, 1867; On danalite from Rockport: Idem, 2d ser., vol. 42, p. 73, 1866.

23 Clarke, F. W., On cryophyllite from Rockport: Idem, 3d ser., vol.'32, p. 358, 1886.
292 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Penfield and Forbes*4 have, described certain new or unusual minerals in 

" Rockport granite."

The following epitomizes the descriptions of rough and polished specimens 

and thin sections of this granite from all the quarries as given in the succeeding 

pages. Analyses, mineral percentages, and results of physical tests follow the 

description.

" Rockport granite" is of two sorts. The. more abundant, known commercially as "gray granite," is a hornblende granite of medium-gray shade (in 

places with slight greenish or bluish tinge) spotted with black. Its texture is 

medium to coarse and even grained, with feldspars up to 0.3 or 0.5 inch and 

hornblende up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, 

are a light-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase with or without microcline) of a 

slightly greenish or bluish or buff tinge, generally twinned and minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), more or less kaolinized; smoky quartz with abundant cavities (many with liquid and vacuoles), 

from 0.0043 millimeter or less to 0.02 millimeter in diameter, mostly in sheets: 

black hornblende, in places with a little bluish-black riebeckite (p. 317) ; very 

little separate soda-lime feldspar like that described above; and very little 

black mica (biotite or lepidomelane).25 Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, allanite, 

fluorite, zircon, apatite. Secondary: Hematite, limonite, kaolin, some black 

hornblende, calcite.

Estimates of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yield these 

results: Feldspar, 55.50 to 59.60, average 57.97; quartz, 33.88 to 38.90, average, 

35.82; hornblende and mica, 5.60 to 7.26, average, 6.20.

" Rockport granite" is said to be " hard." These estimates show quartz 

averaging 35.83 per cent, or if the green of Bay View, given beyond, is averaged 

with the gray, 34.85 per cent, whereas the average amount of quartz in five 

tests of Quincy granite is 30.60 per cent (p. 318), in "Conway" red granites 

28.62 per cent (p. 166), and in the " Redstone granite" of Westerly, R. I. (p. 

413) i 29.87 per cent. This extra 6 per cent of quartz may be sufficient to account for the hardness.

H. S. Washington 2° gives the following analysis of " Rockport granite ":

Analysis of " Rockport granite."

[H. S. Washington, analyst.]

Silica (Si02 ) __________________________ 77.61 

Titanium dioxide (TiOa)____________________ .25 

Alumina (A1208 )__________________________ 11,94 

Iron sesquioxide (Fe20s )___________________ .55 

Iron oxide (FeO)________________________ .87 

Manganese oxide (MnO)____________________ Trace. 

Magnesia (MgO)_________________'_________ Trace. 

Lime (CaO)____________________________ .31 

Soda (Na2O) __________________________ 3.80

84 Penfield, S. L., and Forbes, E. H., Fayalite from Rockport, Mass., etc.: Am. Jour. 

ScL, 4th ser., vol. 1, pp. 129-131, 1896.

23 H. S. Washington (op. cit, p. 793) reports two varieties of biotite, one very pale 

green, probably cryophyllite of Cooke, the other darker greenish gray, lepidomelane 

(annite). F. W. Clarke (op. cit.) shows that several varieties of biotite occur.

36 Op. cit., p. 793. On p. 794 he gives these estimates of the mineral percentages, 

based partly on the analysis and partly on microscopic observation: Feldspar 50.2 per 

cent, quartz 35.5' per cent, hornblende and two blotites 3.8 per cent, accessory minerals 

0.5 per cent. The figure for quartz agrees very closely with that obtained by the 

Rosiwal method.
MASSACHUSETTS. 293

f

Potash (K,0) '-_________________ 4.98 

Water (H20) at 110° ____________________- Trace. 

Water (H2O) at 110°+ignition________________ .23

100.54 

Specific gravity 2.618 at 18° C.

Messrs. Steiger and Sullivan, chemists, of this Survey, find that this granite 

contains from 0.14 to 0.20 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic 

acid, which indicates the presence of 0.25 to 0.35 per cent of CaCOa (calcium 

carbonate calcite). <See pp. 294, 296.)

Because the black silicate is almost entirely hornblende the stone takes a 

very high polish. The contrasts of shade between the gray feldspar, smoky 

quartz, and black hornblende are much more marked on the polished than on 

the rough face.

The other variety of " Rockport granite," known as " green granite," is also 

a hornblende granite but of somewhat dark olive color spotted with black. 

Its texture is medium to coarse, even grained, with feldspars up to 0.3 and 0.5 

Inch and hornblende up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are medium olive-gray feldspars, like those of the gray variety, 

slightly yellow-greenish smoky quartz, black hornblende and biotite (black 

mica), together with accessory magnetite, zircon, and allanite, and secondary 

kaolin, limonite, and calcite. The feldspar varies in the same particle from an 

olive-green to a scarcely greenish milk-white. Limonitic stain is visible in the 

rift and other cracks of both feldspar and quartz. This stain seems to originate in particles of allanite and magnetite, in the biotite and hornblende, and 

partly in minute ferruginous particles in the feldspars. Quarrymen state that 

this stone, which when first quarried is a .dark gray, becomes greenish after an 

exposure of three or four hours to rain. It is also stated that the green granite 

loses some of its color on continued exposure about the quarry. Specimens of 

this slightly faded green granite show that, while the feldspars have lost a 

little of their greenness, that color is preserved in the quartz.

An estimate of the mineral percentages in this granite by the Rosiwal method 

yields the following results: Feldspars, 58.45; quartz, 31.95; hornblende, 9.60.

This granite takes as high a polish aa the gray, but its contrasts are less 

marked.

Besides these granites there is near Bay View a dark brownish-gray riebeckite-aegirite-biotite granite, which has only been prospected and is described 

on page 302, and also near Pigeon Cove a beautiful diabase porphyry, as yet 

little worked, described on page 303. The bright rust-colored " sap " referred 

to on page 67 is unusually abundant in some of the Rockport quarries. This 

brightly discolored granite has been used by architects in the basements of 

several private residences on the Cape. The offices of the Rockport Granite Co. 

and the Rockport Carnegie Library are made of it. In both buildings the fresh 

gray granite has been used for trimmings. The resulting contrast is pleasing.

GEOLOGY OF ROCKPORT QUARRIES.

The conspicuous feature of the Rockport quarries is the large number of 

basic dikes which traverse them. Some of these are shown in plate XXVII, 

A, B. Their courses are given in the quarry descriptions. One attains a 

thickness of 18 feet. The dike matter was erupted through deeply, parted 

joints. Contemporaneous with the dikes was the irregular-shaped injection de-
294 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

scribed on page 54 and shown in Plate XXVII, B, and figure 3. The faulting 

of the large dike in the same quarry shows that a crustal movement affected 

the region after the crystallization of the dike material. The injection of 

molten matter into cold granite was not without effect, for the stone on either 

side of these dikes is likely to be darkened. (See p. 57.)

The pegmatite dikes contain some bright-green feldspar (amazon stone). 

A 4-inch dike of aplite is bordered by pegmatite 1 to 2 inches thick.

Segregations (knots) are not uncommon in "Rockport granite," but at 

Halibut Point, the extreme north end of the cape, in the Babson Farm quarry, 

there is one of unusual character. It is 8 by 4 by 2£ feet and consists mainly 

of feldspar and quartz. (See further p. 60.)

Although some of the data obtained from the quarrymen as to rift and grain 

appear to be incorrect, owing to their confounding rift and grain or else to 

inaccurate observation, the course of the rift appears to be east-west and 

generally vertical and the grain horizontal. Rift and grain cracks can be 

detected in the quartz areas of polished surfaces.

Sheet structure is generally imperfect, owing either to the shortening of the 

lenses by increase in the curvature of the fractures or to the low-dipping joints 

which intersect them, or else to incomplete development. In some places the 

" toe-nail structure " enhances the difficulties.

The joints at the 11 quarries in operation in 1906 have the following courses: 

About north, N. 25° E., N. 30°-40° E., N. 60°-75° E., about east, N. 

15°-20° W., N. 30°-45° W., and N. 55°-70° W. The courses noted at the largest 

number of quarries were N. 30°-40° E., N. 30°-40° W., N 60°-75° E., and east.

At the upper Pigeon Hill quarry a compressive strain in all lateral directions 

results in undulating fractures and binds the chisels in channeling.

QUARRIES.

The Flat Ledge quarry is half a mile north-northwest of Rockport and 80 

feet west of Sandy Bay. (See fig. 73.) Operator, Rockport Granite Co., 

Rockport.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 24, a, f), "Rockport light gray," is a 

hornblende granite of medium gray, slightly bluish-green color with inconspicuous black spots. In large masses its general color is bluish gray. 

Its texture is medium to coarse, even grained, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch 

and hornblende to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, 

are a light-gray, slightly blue-greenish potash feldspar (orthoclase, some of it 

twinned and microcline), minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar and 

somewhat kaolinized; very smoky quartz; black hornblende; and very little 

separate soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) ; together with accessory magnetite, molybdenite, purple fluorite, and zircon and secondary kaolin and calcite.

George Steiger, a chemist of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.20 per 

cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acteic acid, which indicates the presence of 0.35 per cent of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate, calcite).

The stone takes a very high polish and hammers somewhat light.

The quarry, opened about 1855, measures about 1,100 feet from northwest to 

southeast by 1,000 feet across and 125 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 30 feet thick, are horizontal in the 

southern part, dip 25° NW. on the east side, and dip about 20° S. in the center. 

One set of joints, strike N. 15° W., dip 65° WSW., is spaced. 8 to 15 feet. 

Another set, strike N. 60° W., dip 80° NNE., is spaced 2 to 25 feet. The rift 

is reported as dipping 20° about south, and the grain as vertical, with a N. 

15°-20° E. course. A medium-grained pegmatite dike, 5 feet thick, strike N.
" MASSACHUSETTS. 295

30° W., dip 25° E., consists of potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), 

smoky quartz, soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to andesine), garnet, and zircon. 

A coarse-grained dike, not examined microscopically, consists of a cream-colored feldspar, in places bright green, smoky quartz, black and possibly other varieties of mica, and garnets. Basic dikes strike N. 10° E., N. 15° W., and N. 60° 

W., dipping 40°, 70°, and 90°. The discolored granite adjacent to one of these 

was examined and has been described on page 58. Rusty stain, 0.25 to 2 inches 

thick, is very abundant and bright, particularly along the joint faces. (See 

pp. 67-69.)

Transportation, by an 800-foot track to cutting shed and wharf.

Product of this and other Rockport quarries of this company yielding gray 

granite specimens: Fox Hill bridge, Lynn; courthouse, Worcester; Y. M. 

C. A. Building and customhouse, Boston; Masonic Temple, Champaign, Cook 

County Hospital, Chicago; Tyler monument, Richmond, Va.

The " Upper pit " of the Rockport Granite Co. lies west-southwest of the 

Flat Ledge quarry, about half a mile northwest of Rockport. (See fig. 73.) 

Operator, Rockport Granite Co., Rockport.

The granite, " Rockport light gray," is a hornblende granite identical with 

that of the Flat Ledge quarry.

An estimate of the mineral percentage in this stone, made by the Rosiwal 

method, with half-inch mesh and total linear length of 20 inches, yielded the 

following results: Feldspars, 55.50; quartz, 38.90; hornblende, 5.60.

The quarry measures about 625 feet from northwest to southeast by 325 

feet across; an intermediate opening, 150 by 125 feet, averages 100 feet in 

depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 4 to 35 feet thick, dip 20° about east. One set of 

joints, strike N. 30° E., dip 50° W., is spaced down to 10 feet; another, strike 

about N. 30° W., dip 30°-50° E., is spaced down to 5 feet. A third set, in the 

intermediate opening, strike N. 70° E., dip steeply south-southeast, is spaced 10 

to 25 feet. A fourth set, " blind seams," strike east, dip 50° S., recurs at 

very irregular intervals and is unstained. The rift is reported as striking N. 

80° W. and dipping 75°-80° S. The grain is probably like that in the Flat 

Ledge quarry. There are four basic dikes on the east and west sides, striking 

N. 15° W. and dipping 70° E., and an 8-foot dike in the smaller opening striking 

N. 70° W. and dipping steeply north-northeast. A dike of aplite, 4 inches wide, 

with a border of pegmatite 1 to 2 inches thick with bright-green feldspar, strike 

N. 55° E. Gray knots measure up to 12 inches.

Transportation, by track 1,500 feet to wharf.

In 1906 this quarry was furnishing part of the granite for the piers and 

tower of the Cambridge-Boston bridge over Charles River, and also for the 

anchorage of Manhattan Bridge No. 3 on the New York side.

The lower Pigeon Hill quarry is at the south foot of Pigeon Hill, one-third 

mile west of the shore and 1 mile north-northwest of Rockport. (See fig. 73.) 

Operator, Rockport Granite Co., Rockport.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 34, a, b), "Rockport light gray," is a 

hornblende granite of medium-gray, slightly bluish-green color, and inconspicuous black spots. Its texture is medium to coarse and even grained. 

In texture, general color, and constituents this stone appears to be identical 

with that of the Flat Ledge and "upper pit" of the Rockport Granite Co. 

The only discernible difference is that the Pigeon Hill stone shows less quartz 

mid a slightly lighter shade in the feldspar. The thin sections also show the 

presence along with the black hornblende of a littlle blue-black riebeckite 

(soda hornblende) and a little biotite (black mica). Allanite, apatite, and
296 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

pyrite appear also among the accessories. There is some secondary brown 

hornblende filling microscopic cracks in the feldspar, also a little secondary 

hematite and limonite stain. Some cavities of irregular outline in the quartz 

measure up to 0.02 millimeter; others, of oval or roundish form with liquid 

and vacuoles, measure up to 0.0043 millimeter.

An estimate of the mineral percentages in this granite, made by the Rosiwal 

method, with half-inch mesh and a total linear length of 30 inches, yields the 

following results: Feldspars, 58.86; quartz, 33.88; hornblende, 7.26.

A chemical analysis of this stone, by H. S. Washington, is given on page 292. 

B. C. Sullivan, a chemist of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.14 per cent 

of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content of 

0.25 per cent of CaC03 (calcium carbonate, calcite).

The following data as to this granite were obtained by tests made at the 

United States Arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 1894 from stone quarried during 

the previous month:

Compressive strength: Tests 6871, 6872, 6870 (cubes about 4 inches square). 

First crack at 79,000, 86,000, and 94,000 pounds; ultimate compressive strength,

FIGURE 74. Structure at lower Pigeon Hill quarry, Rockport, Mass.

20,716, 20,522, and 17,772 pounds to the square inch. Direction of rift and 

grain in cubes not given.

Compressive elastic strength: The block tested measured 24 by 4.01 by 6.06 

inches; weight, 54.5 pounds; weight per cubic foot, 161.5 pounds; sectional 

area, 24.3 inches square. Pressure applied endwise. Under a pressure of 1,000 

pounds to the square inch, the cempression in a gaged length of 20 inches was 

0.0031 inch; under 2,000 pounds, from 0.0063 to 0.0078 inch; under 4,000 pounds, 

from 0.0116 to 0.0129 inch; under 6,000 pounds, from 0.0162 to 0.0175 inch; 

under 8,000 pounds, from 0.0208 to 0.0209 inch; under 10,000 pounds, from 

0.0253 to 0.0258 inch; and under 12,000 pounds, 0.0297 inch.

Shearing strength: Dimensions of block, 12 by 6 by 4 inches; distance apart 

of supp<3r|s, 6 inches; width of plunger, 5 inches. Tests, 6879, 6880. First 

tension fractures midway between supports at 45,400 and 38,600 pounds. Shearing fractures developed later near edge of one support. Shearing strength, 

2,047 and 1,052 pounds to the square inch of shearing area.

Transverse strength: Dimensions of block, length, 24 inches; width, 6 inches; 

breadth, 4 inches (decimals omitted); length between end supports, 19 inches; 

tests, 6882, 6883; ultimate strength, 12,320 and 12,480 pounds to the square
MASSACHUSETTS. 297

inch, equaling a modulus of rupture of 2,404 and 2,416, respectively. This was 

computed by the formula

> 3pl

The granite takes a very high polish and hammers' rather light.

The quarry, opened about 1871, measured in 1906 about 625 feet on the northeast side and 700 feet on the southwest side by 450 to 500 feet across and 

from 40 to 80 feet in depth.

Eock structure: The sheets, 6 to 10 feet thick, dip about 10° NE. in the 

northern part of the quarry but 10°-30° SE. in the southeastern part. The 

joint and dike courses are shown in figure 74. Set (A), dip 75° N., spaced 

3 to 10 feet, abounds in the southern part. (B), dip 55° W., exceptionally 

55° E., spaced 2 to 20 feet. In the southwestern part the closeness of these 

jQinfS,, precludes^ the quarrying of large blocks. (C), dip steeply west. The 

rift "is rej^(Qr'te.!&. as 'horizontal but feeble, and the grain as vertical with northwest course." Dike (a), 10 to 12 inches thick, dip 65° W., forming west side 

of quarry, is a fine-grained diabase consisting of soda-lime feldspar (andesine). 

hornblende from alteration of 

avigite, magnetite, and black 

mica. Dike (6), 18 inches thick, 

dip 75° SW., forms the north 

wall. Dike (c), 12 inches th'ck, 

dip 75° WSW., crosses the center 

of quarry. Knots measure up to 

10 by 7 inches, and rusty stain 

up to 6 inches on sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by horsepower 

and an inclined track one-third 

mile to wharf.

The product goes chiefly into 

buildings but partly into paving 

and riprap for breakwater use. 

Specimens : High School, Charlestown, Mass., entire ; Bradford 

Memorial Chapel, Gloucester.

Mass. ; Chelsea viaduct over Boston & Maine Railroad at Mystic Wharf, Mass. ; 

Union National Bank, Pittsburgh, Pa.

The upper Pigeon Hill quarry is about a mile northwest of Rockport and 

one-third mile southwest of Pigeon Hill. (See fig. 73.) Operator, Rockport 

Granite Co., Rockport.

The granite is a hornblende granite of medium-gray, slightly bluish-green 

color, with inconspicuous black spots. Its texture is medium to coarse 

and even grained. It is identical in composition with the stone of the lower 

quarry.

The quarry, opened about 1876, measured in 1906 about 800 feet in a N. 35" E. 

direction by 450 feet N. 65° W. and from 50 to 100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 4 inches to 12 feet thick, dip mainly west up 

to 10°. Thin sheets are confined to the upper 20 feet. The sheet structure is 

generally regular, as shown in Plate XXVII, A. Joint and dike courses are 

given in figure 75. Set (A), vertical, spaced 7 to 50 feet. (B), dip 20° S., 

spaced 50 feet; its low inclination confuses the sheet structure in places. (C), 

dip 55° W., -spaced 10 to 50 feet. (D), exceptional and intermittent, dip 

75° NE. (E), also exceptional, dip 75° SSE. The rift is reported as vertical,

FIGURE 75. Structure at upper Pigeon Hill 

quarry, Rockport, Mass.
298 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

with N. 70° W. course, and the grain as horizontal. There are three or more 

basic dikes from 12 to 18 inches thick: Dike (a) forms the northeast wall; (&) 

about 350 feet from (a), dips 80° NE.; (c) 300 feet southwest of (a), is vertical. The intersection of the sheets by the central dike is well shown in Plate 

XXVII, A. Knots are reported as generally not over 2 feet, but rarely up to 

10 by 5 feet. Rusty stain is from 0.5 to 12 inch thick.

Transportation, by inclined track half a mile to wharf.

The product is used largely in construction. Some of it was used in the 

tower on the southeast corner of the Cambridge and Boston bridge over Charles 

River.

The Coalford Swamp quarry is near Pigeon Cove. Operator, J. Leonard 

Johnson, Pigeon Cove.

The granite is essentially identical with that of the Pigeon Hill quarries.^

The product is rough and hammered granite and paving.

The Babson Farm quarry is at the north end of 

Point, 2$ miles north-northwest of Rockport. (See fig. 

port Granite Co., Rockport.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 25, d) is a hornblende granite of some^- 

what dark greenish-gray color. It is markedly darker than the granite of the 

Flat Ledge and Pigeon Hill quarries. Its texture is medium to coarse, even 

grained, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and hornblende up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, In descending order of abundance, are medium greenish-gray potash 

feldspar (orthoclase), intergrown with soda-lime feldspar and in places much 

kaolinized; very smoky quartz, with parallel sheets of cavities and abounding in 

prismatic grayish crystals up to 0.02 millimeter; black hornblende; and very 

little separate soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite). Accessory: Magnetite, 

zircon, and apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, limonite, hematite, and chlorite, the 

last in cracks and isolated particles within the feldspar, also along the boundaries of particles. To the chlorite and the limonite the feldspar owes its 

greenish tinge.

The quarry, opened about 1897, measures about 350 feet in a northeasterly 

direction by 150 feet across and from 40 to 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: Sheet structure is normal. The sheets, 4 inches to 15 feet 

thick, increasing in thickness downward, are horizontal or dip 10° NW. There 

are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 40° E., dip 75° SE. or 90°, spaced 10 to 

40 feet, forms the northwest and southeast walls; (b), strike N. 4° W., dip 

45°-50° SW., spaced 100 to 200 feet; (c), strike N. 65° W., vertical, forms the 

northeast and southwest walls; (d), strike N. 80° E., vertical, forms a short 

heading near the north corner and recurs at rare intervals. The rift is 

reported as marked and vertical, with N. 50° E. course, and the grain as horizontal. A segregation; of uncommon composition, 8 by 4 by 2£ feet, in this 

quarry is described on page 60. There is some pyrite on the joint faces. Rusty 

stain is 1 to 6 inches thick along the sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart one-fourth mile to wharf, which affords 30 feet of 

water at low tide.

The Nickerson quarries are one-fourth mile southeast of Folly Cove and 

2 miles'N. 30° W. of Rockport. (See. fig. 73.) Operator, W. E. Nickerson, 

Lanesville. Idle since 1912.

The granite, like specimen D, XXVIII, 29, a, from the Devils Rock quarry, 

described on page 299, is a hornblende granite of medium-gray slightly buff 

color and weak contrasts.

The main quarry, opened in 1896, is triangular and measured in 1906 about 

350 feet N. 40° W. by 350 feet east and 400 feet N. 40° E. and up to 25 feet in 

depth. The other opening measured about 100 by 60 feet and 60 feet in depth.
MASSACHUSETTS. 299

Rock structure: The sheets, 9 inches to 6 feet thick, undulate horizontally. 

There are four sets of joints (a), strike nearly east, vertical, spaced 10 to 

100 feet; (b), strike N. 40° B., exceptional; (c) in the smaller pit, strike 

vertical, spaced 10 to 20 feet; (d), in the smaller pit, strike N. 30° W., dip 

70° E., spaced from 10 feet up. The rift is reported as vertical, with east-west 

course, and the grain as horizontal. A vertical diabase dike, 6 feet thick, 

weathering spheroidally, strikes N. 40° W. and forms the northeast wall of the 

main quarry. Another east of the quarry has a like course. Knots are 

reported as not over 1 foot in diameter. Rusty stain is 2 inches thick on lower 

sheets and 9 inches on the upper ones.

Transportation, by cart one-half mile to Lanesville wharf.

The product consists largely of paving stone, with some " random " stone. 

The quarry was not operated in 1916.

The Folly Point Breakwater quarry is west of Folly Cove, 2£ miles northwest of Rockport. (See fig. 73.) Operator, Coast & Lakes Contracting Corporation, 41 Broad Street, New York. Idle since 1915.

The granite is a gray hornblende granite, which, because of the use to which, 

it was being put, was not specially examined.

The quarry, opened in 1905, measured in 1906 about 250 feet in a westnorthwesterly direction by 100 feet across and from 5 to 30 feet in depth.

Sheet structure is scarcely perceptible, but the intersecting joints and headings are so numerous as to facilitate quarrying for the purpose in view.

Transportation, by track 300 feet to wharf.

The product in 1906 was riprap for the Rockport breakwater. The average 

weight of each block was 4,000 pounds and the minimum 200 pounds.

The Butman Avenue quarry is on Butman Avenue, Lanesville. Operator, 

Cape Ann Granite Corporation, Lanesville.

The quarry was opened in 1906.

The granite is used for buildings, sea walls, bridges, breakwaters, and paving.

The Devils Bock quarry is about half a mile southeast of Lanesville and 

about 1-2 miles N. 58° W. of Rockport. (See fig. 73.) Idle since 1917.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 29, a) is a hornblende granite of general 

medium gray, not bluish shade and of medium to coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.4 inch and black hornblende up to 0.3 inch. It 

consists, in descending order of abundance, of light-gray potash feldspar 

(rnicrocline and orthoclase), from slightly greenish to cream-colored, minutely 

intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite) and somewhat 

kaolinized: very smoky quartz with cavities; and black hornblende. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, zircon, and allanite. Secondary: Kaolin.

The quarry, opened in 1870. measured in 1906 about 400 by 200 feet and 

averaged about 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 18 feet thick, dip 10° N. There are three 

sets of joints (a), strike N. 25° E., dip 70° E. to 90°, spaced 3 to 90 feet, 

forms a heading on the west side; (b), strike N. 70° W., dip 45° to steeply 

north, spaced from 1 to 50 and 100 feet, forms a heading on the south side 

and the wall on the north; (c), diagonal, strike N. 25° E., dip about 65° NW., 

spaced 20 feet at the south end, does not recur. The rift is reported as good, 

vertical, and with east-west course. There is a 64nch basic dike on the east 

side. Gray knots are reported up to 14 by 6 inches. Rusty stain is 1 to 6 inches 

thick.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to Lanesville wharf, which affords 13 feet of 

water at high tide.
300 COMMEECIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The product is used for building and paving. In 1906 this quarry furnished 

rock for the naval dry dock at Kittery, Maine.

The Cheves Green Granite quarry is about 250 feet south of the Devils 

Rock quarry and If miles N. 60° W. of Rockport. (See fig. 73.) Quarry idle 

since 1917.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 30, a), "green granite," is a hornblende 

granite of somewhat dark olive color, spotted with black, and of medium to 

coarse, even-grained texture, with, feldspars up to 0.5 inch and hornblende 

up to 0.3 inch. When first quarried the yellowish-green tint is scarcely perceptible, but after a few hours' exposure to rain it. becomes marked. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a medium olive-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline, much of it twinned), minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (many of the feldspars are much kaolinized 

and contain minute particles, possibly of an oxide of iron) ; very smoky 

quartz with cavities and black particles; some separate soda-lime feldspar 

(albite to oligoclase-albite); and black hornblende. Accessory: Magnetite, 

allanite (most of it within hornblende particles), and zircon. Secondary: 

Calcite and limonite stain, some of it proceeding radially from allanite particles, also in cracks and along boundaries of .particles.

The contrast in this stone, owing to the dark shade of the quartz, is mostly 

between the feldspar and the combined quartz and hornblende.

The quarry is somewhat triangular in outline, measuring about 200 feet N. 

70° W. by 100 to 200 feet across, and in 1906 was 30 to 90 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets are up to 35 feet thick. The joints correspond to 

sets (a) and (b) of the Devils Rock quarry, and the rift is said to be as in 

that quarry but less marked.

The Blood Ledge quarry is three-fifths mile east-northeast of Bay View 

and 2 miles N. 62° W. of Rockport. (See fig. 73.) Operator, Rockport Granite 

Co., Rockport.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 28, b, e), "Rockport sea-green," is a 

hornblende granite of general somewhat dark olive color, with black spots, 

and of medium to coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspar up to 0.5 inch 

and hornblende up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a more or less kaolinized medium olive-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline, mostly twinned), minutely intergrown with soda-lime 

feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite) ; very smoky quartz with cavities and 

black particles; black hornblende; and rarely a little biotite. Accessory: 

Magnetite, allanite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, limonite stain. This 

stain occurs in meandering cracks in both feldspar and quartz and along the 

boundaries of particles, and also radiates from allanite particles, which are 

one of the primary causes of the yellowish-green tint of the granite. Part of 

this quarry yields a gray granite like that of the "Deep Pit" (p. 301). The 

" green granite " described above when first quarried is dark gray, but after 

wetting becomes in three to four hours olive green. After continued exposure 

about the quarry the green tint becomes less marked.

An estimate of the mineral percentages in this stone, obtained by the Rosiwal method, with a mesh of 0.7 inch and a total linear length of 16.8 inches, 

yields the following results: Feldspar, 58.45; quartz, 31.95; hornblende, 9.60.

This stone takes a very high polish and hammers rather light. Some particles of feldspar vary on the polished face from an olive-green to a scarcely 

greenish milk-white. The contrasts between the three minerals are more 

marked on the polished face. This granite is well adapted for indoor decorative use.
MASSACHUSETTS. 301

The quarry, opened about 1868,. formed in 1906 an inequilateral quadrangle, 

the longest side of which measured about 400 feet, and which is bisected by 

a basic dike and contains an unexcavated central mass upon which the derrick 

stands, as shown in figure 76. Its depth is about 150 feet below the general 

surface, from which, however, 50 feet had already been quarried away.

Rock structure: The sheets, 10 to 30 feet thick, dip 15° W. There are four 

sets of joints, whose courses are given in figure 76 (A), dip 55° E., spaced 

3 to 30 feet, forms the west wall; (B), exceptional, dip 50° W.; (C), dip 30° 

N.; (D), dip 90° or steeply south, forms the short south wall and recurs intersecting the north wall. The rift is reported as vertical, with a N. 85° W. 

course, and the grain as also vertical and about north-south. The stone is 

said to split most readily from the ends of the blocks, both along rift and grain. 

The basic dike, shown in figure 76, is 2 feet thick and dips 70° SW. Dark 

knots a few inches in diameter were collected, but they are reported as 

occurring up to the size of half 

a barrel. Rusty'stain is up to 

3 inches thick on sheet faces.

Transportation, by a locomotive and track about 1 mile to 

wharf at Bay View.

The product is used for buildings, monuments, docks, and 

paving. Specimens: Of gray 

granite, the first story (outside) of Suffolk County courthouse, Boston; six polished 

columns and two pilasters in 

the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York. Of 

the polished green granite, 

Hamilton Club house, Chicago; 

O. D. Barnes Building, Wichita, Kans.; National State Bank, Newark, 

N. J.; Woohvorth Building, New York. Of the " bush-hammered " green granite, post offices at Elkhart, Ind., and Deadwood, S. Dak.; Syndicate Building, 

Minneapolis, Minn.; Brooks Bros.' Building, New York.

The "Deep or Old Pit" is. about one-fifth mile from tidewater at Bay 

View, on the west side of the cape, 21 miles N. 73° W. of Rockport. (See fig. 

73.) Operator, Rockport Granite Co., Rockport.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 27, a, b), "Bay View gray," is a hornblende granite of medium-gray shade (lighter than 25, d, Babson quarry, 

p. 298, and darker than 24, a, 34, a, and 29, a, Flat Ledge, Pigeon Hill, and 

Cheves quarries, pp. 294, 295, 300), with a slight cream and greenish tinge, 

spotted with black. Its texture is medium, even grained, with feldspars up to 

0.4 inch and hornblende up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are a cream-colored and pale-greenish, more or less kaolinized 

potash feldspar (orthoclase and inicrocliue, mostly twinned), minutely intergrown with soda-line feldspar; very smoky quartz with cavities; a little separate 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), and black hornblende. Accessory: Magnetite, zircon, and allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, calcite, and hematite 

and limonite stain. The colors of feldspar are evidently due to the chlorite 

and limonite.

FIGURE 76. Structure and plan of Blood Ledge 

quarry, Rockport, Mass.
302 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

An estimate of the mineral percentages in this granite, by the Rosiwal 

method, with half-inch mesh and total linear length of 20 inches, yields the 

following results: Feldspar, 59.60; quartz, 34.70; hornblende, 5.70.

This granite takes a very high polish. In the rough its contrasts are less 

marked than those of the Flat Ledge and Pigeon Hill stone, and the color of 

the feldspar is different, but the contrasts are more marked on the polished 

face, owing to the lighter tinge of the feldspar.

The quarry, opened about 1848, measures about 800 feet N. 20° W., by 500 

feet across, but owing to a recess its actual area is about 750 by 500 feelt. 

Its depth is about 200 feet. A diagonal view of this quarry is given in Plate 

XXVII, B, and a rough plan of it in figure 77.

Rock structure: Sheet structure is hardly perceptible but at the south 

end seems to dip 20° E. and at the northeast corner to undulate horizontally. 

In the absence of sheets horizontal channeling has to be resorted to. Steeply 

downward-curving partings, " toenails," are conspicuous in the central part. 

Joint and dike courses are shown in figure 77.

There are four sets of joints (A), vertical; (B), dip 60° B.; (C), dip 55° 

NB; (D), vertical. The rift is reported as vertical, with N. 85° W. course, and

the grain as horizontal. The 

stone is said to split readily 

from the top. There are five 

basic dikes. The central one, 

(a), hornblende diabase of 

soda-lime feldspar (andesine) 

rnicasized, augite, hornblende, 

magnetite, and black mica 

(biotite), from 12 to 18 feet 

thick and dipping 55°-60° NE., 

crosses the quarry diagonally, 

but with marked curvature, N. 

20°-45° W., and is also faulted 

along dike (b) with a lateral 

displacement of about 15 feet. 

Both of these dikes and the 

fault are shown in Plate XXVI, 

B. Dike (6), a lamprophyre

consisting of soda-lime feldspar (andesine) altered to white mica, zoisite, and 

epidote, also with hornblende, augite, and magnetite, is 18 inches thick and dips 

55° WNW. Dikes (c), (d), and (e) are vertical. In the northern part a 

small branching and curved basic dike intersects and branches off from dike 

(a). The relations of these dikes are shown in figure 77. In about the center 

of the quarry at a depth of 125 feet is an irregular mass of injected hornblende diabase, more fully described on page 54 and also shown in figure 3, 

which is probably connected more or le'ss remotely with dike (a). Rusty stain 

along sheet surfaces is up to 6 inches thick.

Transportation, by track half a mile to wharf at Bay View, which affords 

15i feet of water at low tide.

Specimen structures: Boston and Baltimore post offices.

The Bay View dark-granite prospect is between the Blood Ledge quarry 

and the " Deep Pit" near Bay View, and was opened by the Rockport Granite 

Co., of Rockport. It may be in the small area of augite syenite shown on 

Sears's geologic map of Essex County."

FIGDBB 77. Structure and plan of Deep Pit 

quarry, near Bay View, Rockport, Mass.

27 Sears, J. H., The physical geography, geology, mineralogy, and paleontology of 

Essex County, Mass. Salem Essex Inst, 1905.
MASSACHUSETTS. 303

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 28$, a, b) is a riebeckite-aegirite-biotite 

granite of dark brownish-gray color and medium to coarse, even-grained texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.5 inch in diameter. It consists, in descending order of 

abundance, of a brownish-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), 

somewhat kaolinized, mostly in twins and minutely intergrown with soda-lime 

feldspar; slightly smoky quartz; brownish-gray soda-lime feldspar (albite to 

oligoclase-albite) ; blue-black riebeckite (soda-hornblende) ; green-black aegirite 

(soda-augite); and black mica. Accessory: Magnetite, allanite, zircon, fluorite, and apatite; the first three are somewhat abundant. Secondary calcite is 

present in small amount, and a little limonite stain occurs to which the feldspars 

owe their brownish tinge. They also contain minute particles of all the black 

silicates.

This rock takes a very high polish and hammers rather light. The quartz 

and feldspar being of about one shade, the only contrast on the polished face 

is between these and the black silicates. On the rough face the contrast is 

slight.

The Pigeon Cove porphyry quarry is on a dike of altered diabase porphyry, 

18 feet wide, represented by Shaler 88 and Tarr as exposed for half a mile on the 

hillock west of Pigeon Cove, with a N. 21° W. course, also as reappearing in 

Rockport three-fourths mile west of Gap Head with a N. 9° W. course. Washington 29 refers to this dike as cutting the quarry pit at Pigeon Cove and describes it microscopically as a labradorite porphyry. Operators, Fuller, Foley 

& Co., West Quincy, Mass.

This diabase porphyry (specimens D, XXIX, 89, a, b), "Rockport porphyry," 

has a very dark green or black fine-grained groundmass, with porphyritic feldspars of medium greenish-gray color, from 0.2 to 4.42 inches in length by about 

0.78 inch in width. Many of the crystals are from 1 to 2 inches long. Their 

striation shows plainly. Plate XXV, B, shows the general character of the 

rock. The groundmass consists of these minerals, in descending order of 

abundance: Lime-soda feldspar (andesine-labradorite), partly micacized; 

augite, largely altered to a green hornblende; and chlorite, biotite (black mica), 

magnetite, apatite, and rarely a little secondary calcite.

This rock takes a very high polish, and the contrast between the black groundmass and the large pale-greenish crystals is most striking.

Product specimens: Four polished disks, 5 inches thick and 2 feet 6 inches 

in diameter (made in two halves), embedded in the Roman pavement about the 

Bethesda Fountain, also a band around its central drain plate, on "The Terrace " at end of " The Mall" in Central Park, New York. The texture of this 

porphyry is shown in Plate XXV, B.

HAMPDEN COUNTY. 

MONSON.

According to Emerson,80 the gneiss of Monson forms a narrow north-south 

strip which, with a short interruption, extends from the New Hampshire 

border to the Connecticut border. It is called Monson granodiorite and is 

regarded as of late Carboniferous or post-Carboniferous age. The parallel 

banding of the rock is attributed to segregation of the biotite during flowage.

28 Sbaler, N. S., The geology of Cape ADD, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Surrey Ninth Ann. Kept., 

p. 609, pi. 77, 1889.

20 Washington, H. S., The petrographical province of Essex County, Mass.: Jour. 

Geology, vol. 7, p. 290, 1899.

40 Emerson, B. K., Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 597, p. 241, pi. 10, 1917.
304 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF "NEW ENGLAND.

The Flynt quarries are in Monson Township on the southwest side of Bunyan Mountain, 1£ miles north-northwest of Monson station. (See Palmer 

topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey, and Plate XXIII.) Operator, William N. 

Flynt Granite Co., Monson.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 90, a, b, c), Monson (darker variety, used 

for faces of buildings), is a quartz-mica diorite gneiss (granodiorite) of dark 

to very dark gray shade and fine to very fine elongated (unplicated) gneissose 

texture, with feldspars and mica up to 0.2 inch but mostly under 0.1 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless quartz with 

cavities; bluish translucent to milk-white soda-lime feldspar 31 ; and biotite 

(black rnica). Accessory: Magnetite (fourth in order of abundance), garnet, 

zircon, apatite, and allanite. Secondary: Epidote (fifth in order of abundance) 

and chlorite. No effervescence with muriatic-<acid test. No pyrite on the 

polished face.

A light to medium gray variety (specimen 90, c) with fine bands of dark 

gray has the same composition as the rock described above but less biotite. 

This stock is used for curbing, foundations, etc.

The following analysis of it was made by W. F. Hillebrand 32 :

Analysis of quartz-mica diorite from Flynt quarry, Monson, Mass.

Silica (SiO2 )_____________________________ 65.02

Alumina (A12O3 )_________________________ 18.37

Iron «esquioxide°(Fe2O3 ) _ 1.21

Iron oxide (FeO)________________________ 2.06

Magnesia (MgO)__ _ _ _ 1.49

Lime (CaO)_______-_____-___________ 6.20

Soda (Na2O)____________________________ 3.96

Potash (K2O)________________ _____-__. .64

Water (H20 at 105°)________..__________ .09

Combined water (H2O above 105°) ______________ .42

Titanium dioxide (TiO2 )____________________ .33

Carbon dioxide (C02 )______________-______ None.

Phosphoric acid (P203 )_______-___________ .14

Manganese oxide (MnO)______ ___-________ .09 

Barium oxide (BaO)______________________ Trace.

100. 92

Merrill 83 states that a test of this gneiss showed a crushing strength of 

15,390 pounds to the square inch with the pressure applied at right angles to 

the foliation, and 12,720 pounds with the pressure applied in the direction of 

the foliation.

The fine and even foliation of this gneiss renders it more suitable for some 

purposes and less for others than a true granite. The absence of pyrite in its 

composition is in its favor as a building stone. Its foliation prevents its taking a high polish.

The first opening was made in 1824 by United States agents for the construction of the armory at Springfield, Mass. The quarry in operation in 1910 was 

about 350 by 150 feet and from 20 to 30 feet deep.

31 In describing thin sections of this rock in U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 470, the writer 

mistook the grating twinning of plagioclase for microcline and so determined the rock as 

a biotite-quartz monzonite.

32 U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 419, p. 22, analysis 1, 1910.

M Merrill, G. P., Stones for building and decoration, p. 406, New York, 1891.
MASSACHUSETTS. 305

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 10 feet thick, mostly 2 to 5 feet, dip 

5°-20° W. The only joints are parallel to the foliation and are spaced 10, 50, 

and 90 feet. The gneiss foliation strikes N. 10° E. and dips 75° N. 80° W. 

The rock is of light, medium, and dark gray colors in alternating bands of very 

different widths. Some are not over 0.25 inch wide; others 2 or 3 feet. These 

bands are free from plications, but one was found doubled over on itself vertically for the space of a foot. Bach band as seen on the sheet surface also 

varies greatly in width. Some foliation faces are chloritic. The rift corresponds to the foliation and the grain is horizontal. A few pegmatite bands up 

to 3 inches thick occur. There is no rusty stain.

The Monson quarries have long been referred to as affording evidence of 

compressive strain,84 but although the rock is still under a north-south strain, 

fracturing attended with explosive sounds no longer occurs.

Transportation, by 1£- mile siding from Central Vermont Railway at Munson.

The product is used for buildings, bridges, and monuments; the seconds for 

curbing, foundations, and crushed stone for concrete. Specimens: Horatio 

Lyon Library, Monson; Walker Hall, Ainherst College, Mass.; Church of St. 

Francis Xavier on Sixteenth Street, Isabella Home on One hundred and nineteenth Street, Munn Monument, Woodlawn Cemetery, New York; Roman Catholic 

Church and rectory, West New Rochelle, N. Y.; residence of Charles La Dow, 

Thurlow Terrace, Albany, N. Y.; Congregational Church and Doane buildings, 

Rockville, Conn.; fountain at Weatogue, Conn.; Hall Memorial Chapel, Watertown, Conn.; high school, East Orange, N. J.; Park Avenue Methodist Church, 

Chicago.

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

PELHiAM.

The granite at Pelham is in a lenticular area designated on the map of 

Bulletin 597 "Pelham granite (gray biotitic gneissoid granite)" and shown as 

extending from Northfleld to Belchertown with a maximum width of 8 miles. 

Its age is regarded by Emerson as late Carboniferous or post-Carboniferous, 

and its banding is attributed to segregation in flowage.

The Ward quarry is in Pelham Township, 2 miles northeast of West Pelham 

and about 4 miles east-northeast of Amherst. (See Belchertown topographic 

map, U. S. Geol. Survey, and PI. XXIII.) Operator, E. P. Bartlett, Amherst. 

Idle since 1908.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 91, a, b, c), Pelham, is a biotite granite 

gneiss of general dark bluish-gray color and very fine elongated (unplicated) 

gneissic texture, with feldspars and mica under 0.1 inch. It is finely banded, 

the bands being mostly not o'ver 0.04 inch wide and of very dark gray 

alternating with white. There are fine-grained white bands without black mica 

(specimen c). There are also lenses of quartz and feldspar up to 0.3 inch wide 

and several inches long, containing black mica crystals up to 0.3 inch in 

diameter, lying transverse to the foliation (specimen b). Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are clear to translucent bluish potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase); very pale smoky quartz; biotite (black mica) 

with a little muscovite; and very little milk-white plagioclase feldspar, kaolinJzed. Accessory: Magnetite, titanite, zircon, allanite, apatite. Secondary: 

Kaolin, epidote, carbonate, chlorite. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.**

84 See Nilcs, W. H., Some Interesting phenomena observed in quarrying: Boston Soc. 

Nat Hist. Proc., vol. 14, pp. 80-87, 1872; vol. 16, pp. 41-43, 1874; also Emerson, B. K., 

Geology of Old Hampshire County, Mass.: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 29, pp. 64-65, 1898.

84 Emerson's description of the stone will be found on pp. 248-249 of Bulletin 597.

105708 23 21
.'JOG COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

An analysis of this gneiss made by George Steiger, a chemist of this Survey, 

 ollows:

Analysis of biotile granite gneiss from Pelham,, Mass. 

Silica (Si02 )___________________________ 72.45 

Alumina (A12O3 )_______________,_______:___ 13.32 

Iron sesquioxide (FeaOa)___,_________________ 1.93 

Iron oxide (FeO)_________________________ .63 

Magnesia (MgO)___________________________ .44 

Lime (CaO)____________________________ 1.81 

Soda (Na2 0)__________________^________ 3.55 

Potash (K2O)____________________________ 3.86 

Water (H2 0 at 105°)_______________________ .59 

Combined water (H2 0 above 105°) _______________ 1. 51 

Titanium dioxide (Ti02 )____________________ .27 

Phosphoric acid (P2CM_____________________ .06

100. 42

In comparing this analysis with that of the Monson granodiorite (p. 304) 

it will be noticed that this has higher percentages of silica and potash and 

lower of alumina, iron oxides, magnesia, and lime. The microscopic descriptions of the two rocks show that the Monson granodiorite contains much more 

soda-lime feldspar than the Pelham stone.

The Pelham granite resembles that of Monson in appearance, and its economic uses and value are similar. The shade of the Pelham stone is a trifle 

lighter than that of the best dark granite of the Monson quarry.

The quarry, opened before 1862 and now worked irregularly, measures about 

200 feet in a northwest direction and has a working face 25 feet high on the 

northeast.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 2 feet thick, are parallel to the gneiss 

foliation, which strikes N. 80° W. and dips in undulations 5°-13° N. 10° B. 

The sheet surfaces are slickensided, with striae striking N. 10° E. There are 

no joints. The rift is parallel to the foliation, and the grain is probably vertical, with N. 10° E. course. Pegmatite dikes of light feldspar, smoky quartz, 

and biotite up to an inch thick dip 50°-60° about north. Lenses of smoky 

quartz, up to 30 feet long and to 6 inches thick, lie in the foliation, and porphyritic feldspar lenses up to 3 by 2 inches are strung along in the foliation, 

forming in places, with biotite and quartz, pegmatitic bands up to 2 inches 

thick. One such lens contains black hornblende masses 2 inches by 1 inch.

Transportation, by cart about 4 miles to Amh'erst.

The product is used for local buildings. Specimens: Old gymnasium and 

basement story of geological and zoological building at Amherst College.

MIDDLESEX COUNTY. 

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The quarries in Acton are in an area designated on the map of Bulletin 597 

"igneous gneiss of undetermined age (including schist)." Those in Groton 

and Westford-are in an area designated "Ayer granite (coarse porphyritic biotite 

muscovite granite)" and are regarded by Emerson Ma as of a late Carboniferous 

or post-Carboniferous age. The quarry in Townsend is in an area designated

M U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 419, p. 22, analysis L, 1910. 

"»U. 8. Geol. Survey Bull. 587, pp. 218, 223-226.
MASSACHUSETTS. 307

44 Fitchburg granite (white muscovite-biotite granite)," a description that 

hardly fits the granite quarried in Towhsend and also across the State line 

in Brookline, N. H., which is clearly quartz inonzonite." However, these 

may be intrusives in the " Fitchburg granite."

ACTON.

The Harris quarry is in Acton Township, half a mile north-northwest of 

North Acton station. (See Lowell topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey and 

PI. XXIII.) Operator, North Acton Quarry Co., North Acton.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 111, a, b), " Acton, " is a biotite muscovitequarta monzonite gneiss of light bluish-gray color and of tine gneissic texture, 

with feldspars under 0.2 inch, exceptionally up to 0.3 inch, and mica up to 

0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are milk-white 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), some of it much kaolinized, some minutely 

intergrown with quartz (vermicular structure) ; in nearly equal amount, clear 

to translucent bluish potnsh feldspar (microcline and probably orthoclase); 

clear colorless quartz, strained, with rutile needles and some cavities; biotite 

(black mica), some of it chloritizcd; and inuscovite (white mica). Accessory: 

Magnetite, rather plentiful, apatite, rutile, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, 

epidote, carbonate, chlorite. It effervesces with muriatic acid test.

This is a bright stone of sufficient coarseness to show the mineral contrasts, the colors being black and white.

The quarry, opened in 1885, measured in 1910 200 by 100 feet and from 

10 to 35 feet deep.

Rock structure: There are traces of sheets from 6 inches to 3 feet thick, 

but blocks 12 feet thick can be obtained. This is a " boulder quarry." There 

are two sets oC joints (a), strike N. 75° E., dip 75° S. 15° E., slickensided 

and coated with epidote, one only, forming the north wall; (6), strike N. 

35° W., dip 45° S. 55° W. to 90°, spaced 5 to 50 feet. The rift is about 

horizontal, and the grain vertical, with N. 55° E. course. Pegmatite dikes 

up to 5 inches thick have a N. 30° W. course. Rusty stain is up to a foot 

thick on the outer masses'. 

. Transportation, by cart to North Acton station, half a mile.

The product is used for buildings, monuments, and curbing. Specimens: 

James Wetherbee monument, Woodlawn Cemetery, Acton; Samuel Guilford 

monument, Mount Hope Cemetery; and Dunlop monument, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, West Acton. 

Quarry not operated in 1916.

The McCarthy quarry is in Acton Township, about half a mile northwest 

of North Acton station, at the top of a small knoll. (See Lowell topographic 

map, U. S. Geol. Survey, and PI. XXIII.) Operator, Thomas McCarthy, North 

Acton. Idle since 1916.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 112, a), "Acton fine," is a biotite-muscovitequartz monzonite of light to medium bluish-gray color and of fine to very fine, 

obscurely gneissoid texture, with feldspars under 0.2 inch and mica up to 0.1 

inch, but mostly under 0.05 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are translucent to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), slightly kaolinized; in nearly equal amount, clear bluish potash feldspar, 

(microcline and probably orthoclase) ; clear colorless quartz, strained, in places 

granulated and with cavities; biotite (black mica); and muscovite (white 

mica), also stringers of secondary fibrous muscovite. Accessory: Magnetite,

"Idem, pp. 232, 233.
308 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

apatite, and zircon. Secondary: Epldote, carbonate, muscovite, and kaolin. 

No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a fine-grained stone without mineral contrasts and is suitable for 

fine work.

The quarry, opened in 1890, measured in 1910 150 by 80 feet and 20 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 to 16 inches thick, are horizontal or dip 10° NE. 

There are no joints. The rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical, with northeast course. A pegmatite dike 2 feet thick is parallel to the grain. On the 

southeast, northwest, and southwest sides the granite is in contact with a quartzmica diorite. On the northwest side, 6 feet from the contact, there is an inclusion of this diorite gneiss. There is no rusty stain.

Transportation, by cart about three-fourths of a mile to North Acton station.

The product is used for buildings, monuments, and curbing. Specimens: 

Schoolhouse back of a mill on Maynard estate, Maynard.

GROTON.

The Rafferty quarry is in Groton Township, 4 miles east-southeast of 

Groton village and 1$ miles northwest of West Graniteville station. (See Groton and Lowell topographic maps, U. S. Geol. Survey, and Pi. XXIII.) Operator, Groton Granite Co., 10 Faneuil Hall Square, Boston. Idle in 1920.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 100, c, d), "Groton," is a muscovite-biotite 

granite gneiss of light to medium gray shade and of medium, inclining to coarse 

gneissic, slightly porphyritic texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and mica 

up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents appear to be identical with those of specimens 93, a, b, c, from the H. E. Fletcher quarry on Oak Hill, in Westford 

(p. 309). It effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

This stone, like the granite gneisses of Westford, is devoid of mineral contrasts. It is well adapted for base courses and all work requiring much greater 

transverse strength in one direction than in the other and for curbing.

The quarry, begun in a small way in 1860, but reopened in 1910, was then 

50 feet square, and its west side was 30 feet higher than the east side.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 6 feet thick, dip 20° N. 35° E. One steep 

joint at the west side strikes N. 75° E. The gneiss foliation is vertical, with 

N. 30° E. strike. The rift is horizontal, and the grain corresponds to the 

foliation, the face of which is more micaceous than the rift face. There is a 

30-foot inclusion of porphyritic biotite granite gneiss (described on p. 63), also 

two smaller ones. A pegmatite dike up to 6 inches thick crosses the gneiss 

and the inclusion, as do also small dikes of aplite gneiss with oligoclase-albite. 

No stain below the surface sheet.

Transportation, by cart 1£ miles to siding near West Graniteville station.

The Shaker quarry is in Groton Township, on an 80-foot hillock threefourths mile north-northwest of Littleton station and 4 miles southeast of 

Groton village. (See Groton topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, 

H. N. Fletcher, Graniteville.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 106, a.), "Groton," is a muscovite-biotite 

granite gneiss of medium bluish-gray color and slightly porphyritic, medium, 

inclining to fine gneissic texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are translucent bluish potash 

feludspar (microcline and orthoclase); light smoky quartz with rutile needles 

and cavities, granulated, with particles under 0.37 millimeter; milk-white 

soda-lime feldspar (near oligoclase-albite), kaolinized and micacized; muscovite (white mica), and biotite (black mica), some of It chloritlzed. There 

are also some fibrous muscovite stringers. Accessory: Garnet, apatite. Sec-
MASSACHUSETTS. 309

omlary: Kaolin, two white micas, epidote, chlorite. No effervescence with 

muriatic acid test.

This stone is like the other gneisses of Groton and Westford but more 

bluish and of uniform color, without mineral contrasts.

The quarry in 1910 was of triangular form, 100 feet on a side and 10 to 25 

feet deep.

The sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick, undulate.

The product has been used for buildings.

WESTFORD.

The active quarries of Westford are in two groups. One is on Oak Hill, an 

irregular mass of knolls rising to a height of 200 feet above Merrimack River, 

in the northern part of the township. All but one of this grouj) have their 

granite landings at Woods Corners (Slab City), on both Merrimack River and 

a siding of the Boston & Maine Railroad, 4 miles roughly west of Lowell. The 

other group is on Snake Meadow Hill, 100 to 160 feet.above the nearest railroad, in the southwestern part of the township. This group has its outlet 

at the Graniteville and West Graniteville stations, not a mile away and about 

9 miles west-southwest of Lowell. (See PI. XXIII.)

The H. E. Fletcher quarry is on the southeastern part of Oak Hill, in 

Westford Township, li miles northwest of West Chelmsford station. (See 

Lowell topographic map, U. S. GeoU Survey.) Operator, H. E. Fletcher Co., 

West Chelmsford.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 93, a, b, c), "Oak Hill," is a muscovitebiotite granite gneiss of very light, slightly bluish-gray color on the rift face 

but light gray on the grain face, and of medium gneissic, slightly porphyritic 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch and micas up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; milk-white soda-lime feldspar, 

(oligoclase), much kaolinized and with some white mica; clear colorless quartz, 

finely granulated, with particles to 0.5 millimeter but mostly under 0.37 millimeter, and with rutile needles and some cavities; muscovite (white mica); 

biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and stringers of fibrous muscovite. 

Accessory: Apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, white mica, carbonate, epidote, 

chlorite. Very slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This gneiss is very well adapted for base courses and all work requiring 

much greater transverse strength in one direction than In another. It is 

devoid of mineral contrasts. The absence or greater scarcity of pyrite and 

magnetite is favorable to the durability of its color.

The quarry, opened about 1880, measured in 1910 about 700 feet in a northeast direction by 500 feet across and from 30 to 40 feet in depth. Since then 

its area has been extended without increasing its depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 8 inches to 12 feet thick, undulate horizontally. 

There are three sets of joints (a) strike N. 30°-40° E., curving to N. 55° E., 

dip c70° N. 55° W. to 90°, and forms a heading on the southeast wall; (b) 

strike N. 30° W., dip 60° N. 60° E., on southwest wall; (c) strike N. 50° E., 

dip 65° N. 40" W., spaced 300 feet and over. The gneiss foliation strikes N. 

30°~40° E. and dips 65° N. 55° W. but appears to be crossed by a shear zone 

dipping 65° about southeast. The relations of the foliations are obscure. The 

rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical, with N. 40° E. course, parallel to the 

foliation, which shows more mica than the rift face. An aplite dike, 1$ inches 

thick, bordered with half an inch of pegmatite on either side, has an east-west 

course. Pegmatite dikes are up to 8 inches thick. Where the granite is
310 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

pegmatitic the mica is in crystals up to 0.4 inches across. (Specimen D, XXX, 

93, c.) The amount of limonlte stain is insignificant. Mr. Fletcher finds a 

compressive strain which relieves itself by an expansion amounting to an Inch 

in 100 feet.

The fine stock produced is used for buildings, and the coarse pegmatitic rock 

for bridges, paving, curbing; the waste is crushed for concrete. Specimens: 

East and west wings of Massachusetts Capitol; First National Bank, Boston: 

granite for the Frick Mansion at Prides Crossing, near Beverly; base course 

and steps of courthouse, Lowell, Mass.; soldiers' monument, Plaistow, N. H.; 

20 stories (sixth to twenty-fifth) of Bankers' Trust Co. Building, Wall and 

Nassau streets, New York; steps, bnse course, and approaches of post office 

and United States courthouse, New Orleans.

The Merrill quarry is near the north end of Oak Hill, in Westford Township, 6 miles west of Lowell. (See Lowell topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) 

This quarry was operated in 1910 by F. A. Mallory but is now disused.

The granite, "Oak Hill," is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss of very light 

gray shade and of medium gneissic, slightly porphyritic texture identical with 

that of the H. E. Fletcher quarry, described on page 309.

The quarry, opened about 1830, measured in 1910 700 to 1,000 feet in a 

northeasterly direction by 500 feet across and 40 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 8 feet thick, dip 10° NE. but are 

intersected on the east wall by exceptional secondary sheets 10 to 20 feet 

thick, clipping 20° N. 47° E. (See p. 36.) There is but one set of joints, 

striking N. 75° E. and spaced on the average 50 feet. The gneiss foliation 

strikes N. 40° E. The rift is horizontal, and the grain vertical, with N. 35° E. 

course. The stone splits better along the foliation than along the grain. 

There are dikes of pegmatite and aplite with, black tourmaline. The aplite, 

consisting of potash feldspars, quartz with rutile and cavities, oligoclasealbite, apatite needles, carbonate, and epidote, but no mica, has bands of black 

tourmaline 0.4 inch apart and 0.2 inch wide. An inclusion, 2 by 18 inches, of 

fine banded biotite gneiss was noticed.

Transportation, by cart about 2 miles to Woods Corners siding.

The product was used mostly for curbing and paving.

The Peterson quarry is on Oak Hill, in Westford Township, a little over 

half a mile about north-northwest of the H. E. Fletcher quarry. Operator, 

Peterson Bros., West Chelmsford.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 94, a, b) is similar to that of the H. E. 

Fletcher quarry, described on page 309, but a little coarser.

The quarry, opened in 1899, was in 1910 200 feet square and 15 to 30 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 8 inches to 6 feet thick, dip 5°-10° SE. There 

are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 15°-30° E., dip steep to 90°, spaced 10 

to 75 feet; (b), strike N. 65° W., dip 60° S. 25° W., also N. 25° E. The gneiss 

foliation strikes N. 40° E. and dips 70° S. 50° E. The rift is horizontal, and 

the grain vertical, with N. 27° E. course. Pegmatite dikes up to a foot thick 

have a N. 60° W. course. Rusty stain up to 6 inches thick is confined mostly 

to the thin sheets. There is a compressive strain in the grain direction.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to Woods Corners siding.

The product is used for trimmings, steps, sills, and curbing. Specimens: 

Trimmings on Massachusetts Mills, East Merrimac Street, Lowell.

The Perley Carkin quarry adjoins the Peterson quarry on the northeast. 

Operator, Perley A. Carkin, North Chelmsford.

The granite is identical with that of the Peterson quarry.

The quarry, opened in 1905, was in 1910 400 by 200 feet and 15 to 34 feet deep.
MASSACHUSETTS. 31 1

i

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 foot to 8 feet 4 inches thick, are about horizontal. The only joints strike N. 15°-30° E., are vertical or steep, and are spaced 

30 to 140 feet. Foliation, rift, and grain are the same as in the Peterson quarry. 

/ The amount of stain is small.

Transportation, by cart 1J miles to Woods Corners siding.

The product is used for curbing, paving, and trimming.

The C. W. Oarkin quarry is nearly a quarter of a mile east of the Perley 

Carkin quarry- Operator, C. W. Garkin, North Chelmsford. 

/ The granite is identical with that of the Peterson quarry.

The quarry was in 1910 200 by 60 feet and 10 to 15 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 4 feet thick, are horizontal. Two 

joints, one on either side of the quarry, strike N. 30° E. Foliation, rift, and 

grain are the same as in the Peterson quarry.

The product is used for curbing, paving, and trimming.

The Cartwright quarry is on Oak Hill, in Westford Township, about a 

mile north-northwest of the H. E. Fletcher quarry and nearly half a mile southeast of the Merrill quarry. Operator, George A. Morris, North Chelmsford.

The granite is identical with that of the quarries above mentioned.

In 1910 the quarry was 50 feet square and 5 to 10 feet deep. The sheets are 

5 to 10 feet thick.

The product is used for curbing.

The H. N. Fletcher quarries are on the top and south side of Snake 

, Meadow Hill, in Westford Township, about half a mile north-northwest of 

Graniteville station. See Lowell topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey, and 

! PI. XXIII.) Operator, H. N. Fletcher, Graniteville.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 101, a), "Graniteville," is a muscovite-biotite-quartz monzonite gneiss of very light gray shade and of gneissic, medium, 

Inclining to fine, slightly porphyritic texture, with feldspars up to 0.3 inch but 

mostly not over 0.2 inch and miens up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), 

generally kaolinized and micacized, some with bent laminae; clear colorless 

quartz, granulated, with particles mostly not over 0.25 millimeter, and with 

rutile needles; translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) ; 

muscovite (white mica) and stringers of fibrous muscovite; and biotite (black 

mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Garnet. Secondary: Kaolin, white 

micas, epidote, carbonate. The quartz forms a matrix of fine particles in which 

the feldspars lie. Some effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The gneiss in places is coarsely porphyritic (specimen D, XXX, 101, b), of 

medium-gray color with dark bluish-gray feldspars up to an inch square and 

even 2 inches by 0.75 inch. The matrix has feldspars up to 0.2 inch and micas 

up to 0.1 inch. The feldspars are microperthite potash feldspar (microcline), 

minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite).

Some of the foliation faces of the gneiss carry muscovite crystals (specimen 

D, XXX, 102, a).

The stone of these quarries is generally lighter than that of the Oak Hill 

quarries but possesses the same general character and qualities.

The north quarry, opened in 1906, was in 1910 250 feet square but had an 

unexcavated part 50 by 125 feet on one side.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 6 feet thick, undulate horizontally. 

There are five sets of joints (a), strike N. 70° E., dip 45° S. 20° E., 

spaced 20 feet; (b), strike N. 10° W., forms a heading 70 feet wide beyond 

the east wall; (c), strike N. 20° W., dip steep to 90°, spaced 8 feet; 

(<?), vertical, strike N. 10° E.; (c), strike N. 30°-40° E., dip 70° N. 55° W. to 

90°, spaced 50 feet and over, form's the east wall. The rift is horizontal and
312 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

the grain vertical, with N. 30° E. course. The foliation is plicated, with a strike 

of N. 40° E. Pegmatite lenses occur.

The south quarry, opened in 1860, was in 1910 200 by 150 feet and 10 to 40 

feet deep. The sheets, rift, and grain are the same as in the north quarry. 

There are two sets of joints (a), vertical, strike N. 35° E., spaced 4 to 10 feet; 

(&), vertical, strike N. 75° W., spaced 3 to 6 feet.

Transportation, by cart half a mile to Graniteville station.

The product is used mostly in curbing and paving.

. The Palmer quarries are on the north side of Snake Meadow Hill, in Westford Township. (See topographic map, .U. S. Geol. Survey, Lowell.) Operators, Lewis P. Palmer & Sons, Graniteville.

The granite of the upper quarry (specimens D, XXX, 92, b, c), "Graniteville," is a medium-gray quartz monzonite of gneissic, slightly porphyritic, 

medium inclining to fine texture, with feldspar up to 0.3 inch and micas 

up to 0.2 inch, rarely 0.3 inch. The stone of the lower quarry is reported 

as a little coarser than this. The constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are grayish-soda-lime feldspar, kaolinized and micacized; in about 

equal amount, bluish-gray potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), intergrown with quartz that is circular in cross section; light smoky quartz, finely 

granulated, with particles up to 0.25 (rarely 0.37) millimeter, and with rutile 

needles and cavities; muscovite (white mica), some with prism faces, also 

fibrous muscovite stringers; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. 

Accessory: Magnetite, apatite. Secondary: Epidote, carbonate, kaolin, white 

micas. It effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.

This stone structurally resembles that of the Oak Hill quarries, but its color 

is a little darker and its mineral composition slightly different. It is much 

darker than the gneiss of the H. N. Fletcher quarry.

The upper quarry was in 1910 about 300 by 215 feet and 20 to 40 feet deep. 

The lower quarry, 600 feet east of the upper, was about 200 by 100 feet and 

15 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets in the upper quarry are 1 to 5 feet thick and 

dip 10° about northeast; in the lower quarry they are 2 to 7 feet thick and 

about horizontal. There are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 20° E., dip 

75° N. 70° W., forms the west walls; (&), vertical, strike N. 35 d W., spaced 

50 feet; (c), strike about east, dip 70° N. to 90°, forms the north and 

south walls; (d), vertical, strike N. 10° W., forms a 20-foot heading. The 

gneiss foliation strikes N. 45°-60° E. and dips 75° SSE. to 90°. The rift is 

horizontal, and the grain vertical, with northeast course like the foliation. 

The grain face is thus more micaceous than the rift face. There is a 12* 

inch dike of alternating bands of aplite and pegmatite with a N. 20° E. course 

A fine-grained inclusion of biotite schist or gneiss with zoisite from this 

quarry has been described on page 63. Rusty stain is up to 3 inches thick on 

sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart three-fourths mile to Graniteville station.

The product is used for building, curbing, and paving.

The Couture quarry lies on the west side of Snake Meadow Hill, in Westford Township. It is now idle.

The granite is like that of the Palmer quarries, described above.

The quarry, opened in 1906, was, in 1910, 150 by 100 feet and 12 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 12 feet thick, are horizontal. There are 

three sets of joints (o), vertical, strike N. 10° W., spaced 3 to 12 feet; (&), 

strike N. 30° E., dip 70° S. 60° E., and also N. 60° W.; (c), strike N. 80° E., 

spaced 10 to 20 feet, coated with epidote and quartz crystals and slickensided,
MASSACHUSETTS. 313

crosses the quarry lengthwise in the center. Rift, grain, and foliation are as 

in the other quarries of this hill.

Transportation, by cart about three-fourths mile to Graniteville station.

The product is used for curbing.

The Wright quarry is on the east side of Snake Meadow Hill, in Westford 

Township. Operator, Charles E. Couture, Graniteville.

The granite is the same as that of the Palmer quarries (p. 312).

The quarry, opened in 1880, was in 1910 300 by 150 feet and 15 to 20 feet 

deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick, are horizontal. There 

are three sets of joints (a), vertical, strike N. 10° W., forms a heading on 

the east wall; (&), strike N. 10° E., one near west wall, one in center, and 

possibly others concealed by waste; (c), steep, strike N. 45° E., forms the west 

wall. The gneiss foliation strikes N. 50° E. Pegmatite and aplite dikes up to 

a foot thick have northerly courses.

The product is used for curbing.

The Hildreth quarry lies south of the Couture quarry, on the west side 

of the hill, in Westford Township. Operator, H. V. Hildreth, Westford. Idle 

in 1922.

The granite is like that of the Palmer quarries (p. 312).

The quarry, opened about 1845, was in 1910 300 by 150 feet and 10 to 40 feet 

deep.

Rock structure: The sheetSj 1 to 13 feet thick, dip at a low angle to the north. 

There are two sets of joints (a), vertical or steep, strike N. 10° E., spaced 

150 feet, forms east and west walls; (6), discontinuous, strike N. 50° E., dip 60° 

N. 40° W., spaced 2 to 10 feet, forms a heading on the east wall. Rift, grain, and 

foliation are as at the other quarries of this hill. Rusty stain is up to 4 inches 

thick on sheet surfaces.

The product is used for building and curbing.

Other quarries on Oak Hill in Westford are the Prescott quarry, operator, 

Arthur Decarteret, of Tyngsboro; and the Barker Lot quarry, operator, 

Thomas Le Masurier, of North Chelmsford.

TOWNSEND.

The Barker Hill quarry is on the southwest side of Barker Hill, about 200 

feet above the railroad, in Townsend Township, 1$ miles north-northwest of West 

Townsend station and about 1£ miles north of West Townsend village. (See 

Groton topographic map ,U. S. Geol. Survey, and PI. XXIII.) Operator, Duncan 

Rusk, West Townsend.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 113, b), "West Townsend white," is a 

biotite-quartz monzonite of very light, faintly buff-gray color and of evengrained medium inclining to fine texture, with feldspars under 0.3 inch, rarely 

over 0.4 inch, and mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are colorless clear to translucent potash feldspar (microcline), much 

kaolinized and intergrown with quartz that is circular in cross section; in nearly 

equal amount, milk-white to faint pinkish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), 

somewhat micacized; light smoky quartz with cavities in sheets; biotite (black 

mica); and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite 

(plentiful), apatite, zircon, and rutile(?) needles in chlorite. Secondary: 

Chlorite after biotite, carbonate, a white mica, and hematite stain from the 

magnetite. The polished face shows magnetite. It effervesces with muriaticacid test.

A pinkish variety (specimens D, XXX, 113, a, d, e), "West Townsend red," 

is of light medium pinkish-gray color and of the same texture and composition
314 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

as the " white," but the thin section shows pyrite and what is possibly altered 

allanite, with radiating cracks filled with hematite stain.

This is a constructional and monumental granite of slightly coarser texture 

than the monumental granite of South Brookline, N. H., and probably of the 

same geologic age. South Brookline is only 4.4 miles east-northeast of this 

quarry. (See Groton topographic map and p. 192.) The stone takes a good 

polish.

The quarry, opened in 1907, measured in 1910 225 by 150 feet and 5 to 15 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, fire about horizontal. There are 

no joints. The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, with N. 80° W. course. 

A pegmatite dike up to 4 feet thick has a N. 55° W. course. There are also 

lenses of pegmatite. The inclusion of biotite or diorite gneiss referred to on 

page 63 came from below the quarry. Rusty stain is up to 6 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart one-third mile to railroad.

The product is used mostly for buildings but. partly for monuments. Specimens : Entire front of Thames National Bank, Norwich, Conn.; trimmings to 

Alvirne Memorial Chapel, Hudson, N. H., post office, Nashua, N. H., and Thompson Memorial Chapel, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.

NORFOLK COUNTY.

The quarries in Wrentham, Stoughton, and Cohasset are in two large areas 

designated on the map of Bulletin 597 " Dedham granodiorite (chloritic biotite 

granodiorite)" and described by Emerson on pages 175-177 of that bulletin.

WEENTHAM.

The Curry quarry is on High Rock, in Wrentham Township, about 2£ miles 

east-southeast of Wrentham station. (See Franklin topographic map, U. S. 

Geol. Survey, and PI. XXIII.) Operator, High Rock Granite Co., Foxboro.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 115, a), " Wrentham," is a hornblende granite 

of light-gray shade and of even-grained medium, inclining to coarse texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are very light gray to pale cream-colored microperthite (potash feldspar, microcline and orthoclase, somewhat kaolinized, 

minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar) ; medium smoky quartz with 

abundant cavities in sheets; clear colorless to milk-white striated soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), much kaolinized, also micacized and epidotized, 

In some crystals from within outward; and hornblende associated with epidote. 

Accessory: Magnetite. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, epidote, carbonate. 

Very slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is an attractive stone with marked mineral contrasts and is suitable for 

substantial structures. The quarry, opened in 1884, was in 1910 about 150 feet 

square and 25 to 35 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 4 to 16 feet thick (one a foot thick), are horizontal or dip 15° E. or W. and are likely to have 2 inches of decomposed granite 

between them. One set of joints, vertical, strike N. 10° E., spaced 2 to 100 feet, Is 

coated with epidote. Another set, strike N. 60° E., dip 70° N. 30° W., forma 

headings of very close joints in the upper 10 feet of the rock. (See p. 38.) An 

obscure flow structure dips about 55° N. The rift is horizontal and the grain 

vertical, with N. 80° W. course. Knots are 1 to 6 inches in diameter. Rusty 

stain is 2 feet thick on the top sheet.

Transportation, by cart to local customers.

The product is used for building, curbing, and monuments.
MASSACHUSETTS. 315 

STOUGHTON.

The Messer quarry is in the township of Stoughton, l-J miles south of 

Stoughton Center, on Washington Street. Operators, Messer Bros., Brockton.

The granite, " Stoughton," is a biotite or hornblende granite of general 

medium-gray shade but mottled color and coarse texture, with feldspars to 0.5 

inch and dark silicate to 0.1 inch. Its constituents in descending order of abundance are light pink potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase); medium 

smoky, faintly amethystine quartz with cavities in sheets; pale-green to milkwhite soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), much kaolinized and micacized; 

chlorite and epidote (after biotite or hornblende). Accessory: Pyrite, magnetite. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, epidote, limonite, a white mica calcite. 

Slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The fresh rough face of this granite affords pleasant contrasts of color which 

are more marked on the polished face, but are too delicate to endure outdoor 

 exposure.

The product is used for trimmings and tombs. Specimens: Trimmings on 

public library and Sampson Building, Brockton, and on Oakes Ames residence, 

Sharon; receiving tomb, Catholic cemetery, Stoughton.

COHASSET.

The Tiffany quarry is in the township of Cohasset. on Beechwood Avenue, 

about 2 miles southwest of Cohasset Station. Operator, Louis C. Tiffany, 46 

West Twenty-third Street, New York.

The granite (specimens D, XXXVIII, 28; a, rough; b, polished), "Cohasset," 

is a biotite or hornblende granite of general medium-gray shade but mottled 

color and coarse texture, with feldspars to 0.5 inch and dark silicate to 0.2 

inch.

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are pinkish potash feldspar (orthoclase, some of it minutely intergrown with a plagioclase) ; pale 

pea-green to cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), 

much kaolinized, micacized, and some of it epidotized; medium smoky quartz, 

faintly amethystine, with cavities in sheets; chlorite and epidote (after biotite 

or hornblende). .Accessory: Magnetite. Secondary: Chlorite, epidote, kaolin, 

sericite, another white mica, calcite. Rift and grain cracks are marked.

The polished face is very attractive and by its variety of color well adapted 

for interior decoration.

The product is used entirely for monumental and memorial purposes and 

interior church work.

QIIINCY, MILTON, AND BRAINTREE. 

TOPOGRAPHY.

There is a conspicuous range of low hills south of Boston, known as the 

Blue Hills, which curves from Great Blue Hill, 11 miles south-southwest of 

the city, to Forbes Hill, 7$ miles south-southeast of it, and whose tops lie between the ISO and 640 foot levels. (See Boston and Dedham topographic maps, 

U. S. Geol. Survey.) The Quincy granite district lies at about the northeast 

end of this range, in the townships of Quincy, Milton, and Braintree, Norfolk 

County. Some of the quarries are on the North Commons from about half a 

mile west-southwest to a mile west of Quincy Center; others are in West Quincy 

from 1£ to 2 miles about west-southwest of the Center; two are in Milton, some 

3 miles west of the Center; and one is in Braintree. Quarry locations are shown
316 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

on the map (PL XXIV). The reader will find some interesting historical 

matter on the Quincy quarries in a chapter on the early history of the granite 

industry in New England by George P. Merrill.88

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The geology of the vicinity of Quincy and Boston is very complex and difficult and has long been under investigation and discussion by several resident 

and other geologists.39

The granite of Quincy was part of a great deeply buried mass of molten 

granitic material of various kinds, which, was intruded in Carboniferous time 

into a considerable mass of overlying slates, etc., of middle Cambrian and 

possibly later age, which in places were entirely removed by subsequent erosion. 

That these slates were originally marine clayey sediments of middle Cambrian 

time is shown by the presence of fossil crustaceans typical of the middle Cambrian in some of them in the town of Braintree. After a long interval a larg» 

part of the region became again submerged during the Carboniferous period, 

and the advancing sea formed new sediments, but there was an interval of 

glaciation and the formation of till with pebbles from the exposed igneous and 

sedimentary rocks of Cambrian or post-Cambrian time.

This submergence continued until the conglomerate was overlain by a considerable accumulation of clayey sediments. During the post-Carboniferouscrustal movement, which affected a large part of the continent, these claya 

became slate and were powerfully folded; basic dikes were also intruded 

into the granite and the overlying beds. The corrugation and elevation of the 

surface in post-Carboniferous time exposed the Carboniferous beds to erosion^ 

so that portions of the granite surface which had been covered by them again 

became exposed. In Triassic time more basic dikes forced their way through 

fissures in the granite. Events in this region were further complicated by 

the occurrence of eruptions of very siliceous rocks at various points and times.

On the geologic map of the State in Bulletin 597 the quarries of the Quincy 

district are in a lenticular area, about 10 miles from east to west by half a 

mile to 2$ miles from north to south, of "Quincy granite (soda-rich riebeckitebearing granite)," which in the text is regarded as of Carboniferous age. Lying 

within this area are several small areas of Braintree slate, of middle Cambrian* 

age.

QUINCY GRANITE.

The following paragraphs epitomize the writer's descriptions of rough and 

polished specimens and thin sections of granite from all the quarries as given

88 Smithsonian lost. Rept, 1885-86, pt. 2, pp. 285-288.

89 Crosby, W. 0., Genetic and structural relations of the igneous rocks of the lower 

Neponset Valley, Mass.: Am. Geologist, vol. 36, pp. 39-41, 1905. Emerson, B. K., and 

Terry, J. II., The green .schists and associated granites and porphyries of Rhode Island: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 311, p. 51, 1907. Crosby, W. 0., The Bluehills complex: 

Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. Occasional Papers, No. 4, pt. 3, 1900 (includes Prof. Florence 

Bascom's work on the volcanic and plutonic rocks of the Boston basin). Mansfield, G. 

R., The origin and structure of the Roxbury conglomerate: Harvard Coll. Mus. Comp. 

Zoology Bull., vol. 49 (Geol. sen, vol. 8, No. 4), pp. 161, 259, pi. 6, 7, 1906. Loughlin, 

G. F., Structural relations between tbe Quincy granite and adjacent sedimentary formations : Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 32, p. 117, 1911. Sayles, R. W., The Squantuui tillite: 

Harvard Coll. Mus. Comp. Zoology Bull., vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 141-175, 1914. Lahee, F. A., 

Late Paleozoic glaciation in the Boston Basin, Mass.: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 37, p. 

316, 1914. Emerson, B. K., Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 597, pi. 10, pp. 186-191, 1917.
MASSACHUSETTS. 317

farther on. The more recent scientific accounts of this granite are by Wadsworth,40 Merrill,41 White,42 Washington,43 and Warren.44

Quincy granite is a riebeckite-aegirite granite. Riebeckite and aegirite are 

varieties of amphibole and pyroxene, respectively, both rich in soda (8 to 10 

per cent) and in iron sesquioxide (about 28 per cent) but poor in alumina, 

magnesia, and lime. The general color of the fresh normal granite ranges from 

a medium gray or bluish or greenish or purplish gray to a very dark bluish 

gray, all with black spots which, on closer inspection, are seen to be blue-black 

or green-black or a mixture of both. Its texture is medium to coarse and even 

grained, with feldspars up to 0.4 and 0.5 inch and the black silicates up to 

0.3 and 0.4 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are these: 

(1) A medium to dark bluish or greenish to bluish gray feldspar (orthoclase, 

much of it twinned), always with minutely intergrown soda-lime feldspar 

(albite to oligoclase-albite). It is apparently more or less darkened by a 

varying number of extremely minute particles of a black mineral, which are 

not absolutely distinguishable from opaque particles of kaolin, and -is always 

slightly tinted by minute particles of grass-green aegirite and whitened by 

partial kaolinization or black streaked by clusters of radiating fibrous crystals 

of dark-brown hornblende. The fresh feldspar always contains crystals of 

blue-brownish riebeckite from 0.01 to 1.0 millimeter long by up to 0.01 millimeter in width. These crystals, and also the aegirite, are in many specimens 

arranged in two rectangular directions, one that of the twinning plane, the 

other that of the intergrown soda-lime feldspar. In some sections (p. 327) the 

feldspars were found crossed by rift and grain cracks filled or overlain by 

minute crystals of riebeckite, thus evidently of secondary origin like those on 

joint planes described on page 82. (2) Medium to dark smoky quartz, some 

of it with a slight bluish tinge. It contains cavities .(many with liquid and 

movable vacuoles) arranged in streaks and sheets and measuring from 0.0028 

to 0.02 millimeter in length. This quartz also incloses minute black particles 

and in places hairlike crystals, presumably of rutile, more rarely minute crystals of riebeckite, one measuring 0.178 by 0.0047 millimeter. (3) A little limesoda feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite). (4) Riebeckite (blue-black in hand 

specimen but Prussian blue and brownish gray in thin section) and aegirite 

(green-black in hand specimen but light green to emerald-green in thin section), 

both minerals in many specimens intergrown. The aegirite may surround 

riebeckite, or these relations may be reversed. In some specimens riebeckite 

in slender crystals appears like a secondary growth on aegirite. In others the 

aegirite appears as filling spaces between the other minerals. Basal sections of 

it appear as if corroded. All of the riebeckite can not be secondary, because 

it appears in minute crystals within the quartz and forms the center of large 

crystals of aegirite. Nor can all the aegirite be secondary, because crystals 

of it also occur within quartz particles and also surrounded by radiating crystals of riebeckite. (See p. 327.) The aegirite is likely to contain particles 

of magnetite and carbonate.

i0 Wadsworth, M. E., Notes on the petrography of Quincy and Rockport: Boston Soc. 

Nat. Hist. Proc., vol. 19, pp. 309-316, 1881.

41 Merrill, G. P., The collection of building and ornamental stones in the United States 

National Museum: Smithsonian Inst Kept, for 1885-86, pt. 2, pp. 409, 418.

« White, T. G.., A contribution to the petrography of the Boston Basin: Boston SocNat. Hist. Proc., vol. 28, pp. 128-132, 1897.

*> Washington, H. S., Solvsbergite and tinguaite from Essex County, Mass.: Am. Jour. 

Scl., 4th ser., vol. 6, p. 181. 1898.

** Warren, C. H., Petrology of the alkali-granites and porphyries of Quincy and the 

Blue Hills, Mass.: Am, Acad. Arts Sd. Proc., vol. 49, No. 5, pp. 203-330, 1913.
318 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The accessory in nerals are ilmenite, magnetite (probably), pyrite (veryrare), zircon in doubly terminated crystals, fluorite, titanite, and the minuteblack particles in quartz. The secondary minerals are knolin. yellow-brown 

to orange hornblende in fibrous crystals, clilorite, calcite, leucoxene, hematite,, 

limouite (associated with zircon'and aegirite), and part of the riebeckite. 

One of the altered granites (Sartori quarry) contains spherulites which, 

polarize like zircon. Another one (Savo quarry) is cut by a veinlet of secondary 

epidote, quartz, and calcite.

Estimates of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yield the following figures for the " medium," " dark," and " extra dark:"

Estimated mineral percentages in Quincy granite.

Average.

Feldspars, 55.80 to 69.51________. _____.____ 60.02 

Quartz, 22.06 to 33.74______________________ 30. 60 

Riebeckite and aegirite, 7.47 to 11.10______________ 9. 37

Of course the microscopic particles of the soda-iron silicates are not included: 

In these figures.

The following analysis of Quincy granite by Henry S. Washington4" was 

published in 1898:

Analysis of rieheckite-aegirite granite from the Hordwick quarry, Quincy, Mass.

Silica (SiO2 )_____..____________________ 73.93

Titanium dioxide (Ti02 )_ _________________ .18

Alumina (AI2 03 ) L________________________ 12. 29

Iron sesquioxide (Fe2Oa) _-_:_____________ 2.91

Iron oxide (FeO)________________________ 1.55

Manganese oxide (MnO) ________________ Trace.

Magnesia (MgO)___________________________ .04

Lime (CaO)________ _________________ .31

Soda (Na20)__________________________ 4.66

Potash (K2 0)______ _________________ 4.63

Water above 110° (H20)_~__________________ .41

100. 91 

Specific gravity 2.642 at 22° 0.

Two later analyses of the same granite, but from the Hitchcock and thfe 

Reinhalter quarries, by C. H. Warren 48 differ but little from the above.41

45 See Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 6, p. 181, 1898; also Jour. Geology, vol. 6, p. 793, 

1898.

«0p. cit., p. 227.

*T For analyses and optical features of riebeckite and aegirite see Bosenbusch, H. r 

Mikroskoplsche Physiographic der Mineralien und Gesteine, 4th ed., vol. 1, pt. 2, pp. 213, 

244,1905 ; for discussion as to their origin see Murgoci, G. M., On the genesis of riebeckite 

and riebeckite rocks: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 20, pp. 133-145, 1905; and Cross, Whitman, On some secondary minerals of the amphibole and pyroxene group: Am. Jour. Sci., 

3d ser., vol. 39, pp. 359-370, 1890. Murgoci (op. cit, p. 138) sums up the views on the 

origin of these two minerals thus : " Some petrologlsts have considered the aegirite as 

a transformation product of riebeckite, and others have taken the riebeckite for a 

secondary product of aegirite. Most petrologists state, however, that riebeckite and 

aegirite are primary in their rocks." On the next page in a footnote he adds: " The 

best argument for the primary existence of the aegirite is its occurrence in the same 

rock, with little thin needles of riebeckite, which could not resist even the slowest and 

 lightest action of transformation."
MASSACHUSETTS. 319

E. C. Sullivan and G. Steiger, chemists, of this Survey, extracted by means 

of hot dilute acetic acid 0.11 to 0.28 per cent of CaO (lime) from specimens 

from four quarries in Quincy and Milton. This lime indicates the presence of 

0.196 to 0.50 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate) or calcite.

Quincy granite for monumental purposes goes under the names " medium," 

" dark," and " extra dark." The estimated mineral percentages show that these 

differences in shade are due in part to a variation in the amounts of the black 

silicates and of the smoky quartz. In part they are also due to a variation in 

the degree of kaolinization of the feldspars and in the abundance of black 

particles and of hornblende in them. The smokiness of the quartz appears to be 

due to infinitesimal particles of some black mineral. The bluish tint of the 

feldspars is clue to microscopic crystals of riebeckite and its greenish hue to 

minute aegirites. The contrast of color and shade is chiefly between the black 

silicates and the combined quartz and feldspar except where the feldspar is 

whitened by kaolinization, which causes it to stand out from the quartz. 

" Light Quincy granite," which is of medium-gray shade, is considered second 

grade and sells for rock face and hammered work.

Quincy granite is noted for its high polish, which comes out strikingly on 

columns and balls, as shown in Plate XXVI. This susceptivity to high polish 

is due to the absence of mica and to the coarser cleavage of the varieties of 

hornblende and augite which take its place. The imperfections that occur in 

the polish of some blocks are due to particles of aegirite partly altered before 

quarrying. (See p. 79.)

A peculiar variety of Quincy granite, known as " Gold leaf," described on 

page 332, is the lightest monumental stone quarried there. Its general color 

is medium bluish groen-gray, speckled with black and light yellow-brown. The 

quartz, clear to light smoky, is finely granular, like that of Milford, Mass., and 

sparkles on the polished face. Wherever the yellow spots, which are caused by 

limonite stain, coincide with the granular quartz, they are mo*e conspicuous. 

In other respects its constituents are identical with those of the riebeckiteaegirite granite of Quincy. A minor variety is that of the Ballou quarry, 

which has sparsely disseminated minute cherry-red dots, probably from the 

oxidation of magnetite particles.

A recently opened quarry in Braintree (p. 335) yields a medium reddish-gray 

variety with much kaolinized, slightly hematitic feldspars and decomposed 

ferrosilicates.

Other and cheaper varieties of Quincy granite are suitable only for building 

purposes. Such are the "extra light" (pea-green), the pink, and the greenish 

brown, described on pages 330, 331, 335. The "ore!" (hematitic) finds its way 

to the dumps. These various colors are due either, as in the pea-green, to the 

presence of fine particles of aegirite in the feldspars, or else to changes in the 

feldspars or aegirite, brought about by underground alterations which have 

been long in process. (See further p. 77.) The yellow, rusty discoloration 

(sap) referred to on page 67 is of still later date, affecting the stone for a few 

inches only along the sheet and joint surfaces.

GEOLOGY OF QUINCY QUAEKIES.

The cylindrical pegmatite dikes with large aegirite crystals at the Ballou 

and Fallon quarries, first studied by Charles Palache, have already been described on page 49. Certain pegmatitic quartz veins have been described on 

page 51. The basic dikes at the Granite Railway and Merry Mount quarries 

htfve been referred to on page 52. Others were observed at the Winquist and 

Dell Hitchcock quarries. The segregations (knots) have been described In a
320 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

general way and classified on page 59. They have been exhaustively treated 

by Warren in the work cited.

Rift in the Quincy quarries is reported as generally vertical or nearly so, 

with a course from N. 65° W. to due west, and the grain as vertical or nearly 

so and about north to south. The grain is generally feeble. Rift courses of 

north, N. 10° E., and N. 30° W., are reported at a few quarries, and at three 

the grain is reported as horizontal. At the Swingle quarry, which is crossed 

by a diagonal heading striking north, the rift is reported to be north-south on 

the west side of that heading but east-west on its east side. The angle of 

inclination of both rift and grain is reported as subject to modifications, some 

of which are probably only local; others are due to general physical principles. 

At the Reinhalter quarry the rift is vertical below but not quite vertical near 

the surface. Mr. Cashman stated that in his quarry the grain is 90° when the 

sheet is split from the top, but if split from the side it is steeply inclined. Mr. 

Galvin reported that the grain is horizontal when the drilling is done from east 

to west, but dips 20° when it is done from north to south. The degree of dip 

of rift and grain is affected by gravity that is, it is proportioned to the weight 

of the block on one side or the other of the fracture. Two foremen find that 

when the sheets are inclined the dip of the rift swerves from the vertical. At 

the Field & .Wild quarry rift and grain are reported as varying greatly in 

different blocks. The subject of rift will be found more fully discussed on 

page 15, and its apparent relation to the sheets of fluidal cavities is explained 

on page 17.

The crushing of cores between drill holes made in channelling shows that 

the Quincy granite mass is now under compressive strains from the north and 

south and the east and west. This strain in some quarries appears to increase 

with their depth. At one quarry not only are north-south channels closed by it, 

but diagonal subjoints are started from the channels.

Sheet structure in Quincy is regular in places, as at the Dell Hitchcock 

quarry (PI. XXV, A), where it consists of lenses with an undulating course 

usually parallel to the rock surface and increasing in thickness downward. 

But it is more commonly obscure and irregular owing to the shortening and 

thickening of the lenses, which results in " boulder quarries." Sheet structure 

extended in 1906 to a depth of 150 feet from the rock surface at the Ballou 

quarry on the North Commons and to a depth of 175 feet in the Reinhalter 

quarry in West Quincy, but in 1917 it reached a depth of 250 feet. The inclination of the sheets is. in places as high as 45°, and their thickness ranges from 

6 inches to 27 feet. They are rarely intersected by sharp curving joints or 

partings known as " toenails." The origin of sheet structure has been fully 

discussed on pages 26-36. In quarrying it is safe to count on a gradual increase in the thickness of the sheets downward. If for a space thin sheets 

recur they may be expected to give way to thicker ones below. The quarry 

adjacent to the Dell Hitchcock is reported to have been abandoned because of 

the appearance of thin sheets below and the assumption that they would not 

be succeeded by thicker ones. At the Reinhalter quarry, which in 1906 was 

225 feet deep, the lowest sheet was over 45 feet thick. Mr. J. S. Swingle reports that his quarries have now reached a depth of about 250 feet without 

reaching the limit of sheet structure.

The general character of the jointing can be inferred from the quarry diagrams (figs. 71-74). The principal joint sets are: (a), striking N. 60°-85° W. 

to N. 83° E., and its complementary set (b), north to N. 20° E.; a single set 

(c), striking N. 10°-30° W.; and (d), striking N. 25°-55° W., with its complementary set (e), N. 45°-50° W. A noticeable feature in some of the 

deeper quarries is the vertical discontinuity of the headings. Some of the
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XXIV

MAP OF QUINCY, MASS.. SHOWING LOCATION OF GRANITE QUARRIES.

1, Wigwam; 2, Reinhart; 3, Swingle; 4, Granite-Railway; 5, Lepage; 6, Cashman; 7, Gold-leaf; 8, Savo; 9, Rogers; 10, Maguire 

& O'Heron; .11, Mount Pleasant; 12, Sartori; 13, Dell Hitchcock; 14, Merry Mount; 15, Ballou; 16, Winquist (2 quarries); 17, 

Sahlsten; 18, Falconer; 19, Hardwick; 20, Field & Wild; 21, Fuller; 22, Fallon.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY

.1. UKLL HITCHCOCK QUARRY, QUINCY, MASS., FROM WEST 

SIDE.

Showing l<Mil i<Milar shrcls increasing in thickness downward. Depth 1(1(1 

feet.

/,'. MONUME
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 73$ PLATE XXVI

BALL OF POLISHED QUINCY GRANITK. 

From Wigwam quarry, Quincy, Mass. Diameter, 76 inches; weight, 22,000 pounds.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. PIGEON HILL UPPER QUARRY, ROCKPORT, MASS., 

LOOKING SOUTHWEST.

Showing thick granite sheets cut by basic dikes. The black streaks 

in the front dike are underground water issuing from sheet surfaces through cracks in the dike.

li. DEEP 

Showing in 

along faureaching t

injection o

the thick d
MASSACHUSETTS. 321

(bottom ones disappear upward within 100 feet of the surface; others which 

occur at the surface disappear below. Some of the joints are also intermittent. The possibility of a bad heading dying out below is as encouraging to 

the quarryman as the possibility of the appearance of a new one below is discouraging. This discontinuity in the joints and headings reflects the complei 

character of the stresses to which the region was exposed.

The remarkable black joint coatings of riebeckite have been described on 

page 82. At one of the Milton quarries this appears on the sheet surfaces 

also, and the adjacent granite is lighter in shade.

From these summaries on the granite and on its geology as exposed at the 

quarries the following inferences may be drawn: The riebeckite-aegirite granite of Quincy had aegirite as one of its original constituents and riebeckite 

as another, but some of the riebeckite is clearly secondary, as shown by its 

occurrence in rift cracks and on sheet and joint faces. The formation of this 

mineral on these faces indicates that the granite after acquiring its sheet and 

joint structure was subjected to. metamorphism, probably that which accompanied the post-Carboniferous crustal .movement. The source of this secondary riebeckite may well have been the aegirite itself. The hematite-spotted 

granite ("orei"), the pink granite, and the greenish-brown granite (described 

on pp. 79, 331, 335), while evidently due to the alteration of the aegirite particle to magnetite, hematite, green hornblende, biotite, and chlorite, owe these 

mineral changes partly to processes of deep-seated alteration and partly to regional metamorphism, and the pea-green variety is due to the dissemination of 

fine prisms and grains of aegirite in its feldspars. In the dull-reddish granite of 

Braintree (p. 335) the aegirite and riebeckite seem to have been decomposed 

and the feldspars kaolinized and reddened by secondary hematite. The latest 

change was the brownish iron staining along sheet and joint surfaces, which 

is attributable to percolating surface water oxidizing the magnetite and sodairon silicates and possibly also adding fresh supplies of iron sesquioxide 

obtained from deposits once overlying the granite.

QUARKIES.

The Dell Hitchcock quarry is on the North Commons, south of Quarry 

Street. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 13.) Operator, Quincy Quarries Co., Quincy.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 67, d), '"dark Quincy," is a riebeckiteaegirite granite of somewhat dark and slightly bluish-gray color with black 

spots. Its texture is medium to coarse, even grained, with feldspar up to 0.5 

Inch and black silicates usually not over 0.3 but occasionally 0.5 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a medium bluish and 

greenish gray potash feldspar (orthoclase), usually twinned, minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar and inclosing minute crystals of riebeckite and 

grains of aegirite and in places somewhat kaolinized; smoky quartz with cavities (some with liquid and vacuoles) and black particles in streaks or sheets; 

a little separate soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite) ; aegirite, much 

of it intergrown with riebeckite. Accessory: Magnetite, zircon, fluorite. Secondary : Kaolin, calcite, brown fibrous hornblende, and chlorite in rift cracks in 

feldspar.

The contrast in the rough stone is entirely between the black silicates and 

the combined quartz and feldspar.

A specimen (D, XXVIII, 67, c) of the " light Quincy " is more of a medium 

gray with a slight greenish tinge. Its general, composition is the same as that 

of the " dark Quincy," with probably more kaolin and aegirite in the feldspars. 

The contrasts are more marked.

105709 23 22
322 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry, opened before 1826, is about 500 feet N. 25° E. by 500 feet N. 65° 

W. and in 1906 was 100 feet deep. (See PI. XXV, A) .

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 12 feet thick, are lenticular, undulating horizontally. As shown in the plate the upper 30 feet consists of very thiu 

sheets which, owing to their thinness and rustiness, are valueless. Joints (a) 

strike N. 70° W., dip 90°, and are spaced irregularly, but nowhere completely 

cross the quarry. A set with similar strike, but dipping 30°-35° NNE., is represented. Joints (c) strike N. 20° W., dip 90°, and are spaced 14 to 30 and 400 

feet. At the bottom there are short intermittent joints dipping east and in 

other directions, which are coated with riebeckite and thus have blue-black 

surfaces. (See p. 82.) The rift is reported as vertical, with a N. 65° W. course, 

and the feeble grain as at right angles to it and vertical. A dark bluish-gray 

knot (67, e) contains porphyritic crystals of aegirite, as described under group 1 

on page 59. There are also some of group 3. The boundaries between the 

" light" and " dark " granite are not well defined. Rusty discoloration is 2 to 18 

inches thick. Where it is only 2 inches there is a zone of incipient stain 

several inches thick.

Transportation, by cart three-fourths mile to railroad and about a mile to 

local cutting sheds.

Specimen: Three bases and die of the Jefferson monument at Louisville, Ky.

The Merry Mount quarry is on the North Commons, north of Quarry Street. 

(See map, PI. XXIV, No. 14.) Operator, Merry Mount Granite Co., Quincy. 

Idle since 1914.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 86, a), "dark medium Quincy," is a riebeckite-aegirite granite of somewhat dark, slightly purplish-gray color, slightly 

darker than that of 67, d. The texture is medium to coarse, even grained, 

with feldspar up to 0.5 inch and black silicates up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, 

In descending order of abundance, are a medium and dark or slightly greenishgray potash feldspar (orthoclase, generally twinned), always minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), in places somewhat kaolinized and inclosing riebeckite crystals up to 0.094 by 0.0094 millimeter and minute grains of aegirite; also hematite stain; smoky quartz with 

streaks or sheets of cavities and minute black particles; a little separate sodalime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine) ; blue-black riebeckite and green-black 

aegirite, either separate or intergrown. Accessory: Zircon (abundant in 

crystals up to 0.47 millimeter), fluorite. Secondary: Kaolin, limonite, hematite.

The purplish tinge of this granite is evidently due to hematite in the feldspar. 

The contrast in the rough stone is entirely between the black silicates and 

the general gray of the quartz and feldspar.

E. C. Sullivan, chemist, of this Survey, extracted 0.11 per cent of CaO (lime) 

from this granite by means of hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates the 

presence of 0.19 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carabonate, calcite). The thin 

sections also show calcite.

A specimen of "medium Quincy" (D, XXIX, 86, b) is a trifle lighter in 

color and has a slightly greenish tinge. Its texture and constituents are the 

same, except that the feldspar borders on light gray and hematite stain is 

absent. The quartz is darker than much of the feldspar.

The quarry, opened in 1856, measured in 1906 about 300 feet from north to 

south by 200 across and from 130 to 150 feet in depth.

Rock structure: On the west wall is a 5-foot dike of lamprophyre, described 

on page 53, which strikes N. 10° E. The sheets are. lenticular in all directions 

and mainly horizontal, 1 to 16 feet thick. They thicken downward, but with 

thin sheets at intervals, to a depth of 40 feet. Joints (b) strike N. 10° E., 

dip 90° or steep west, are spaced 5 to 20 feet, and form a heading near the
MASSACHUSETTS. 323

dike. One diagonal joint (d) strikes N. 50° E. and dips 70° NW. The rift is 

reported as striking N. 10° E. and vertical or dipping steeply west, and the 

grain as cast, dipping steeply north. In individual blocks the rift is considerably aft'ected by gravity. Knots, both dark and light, are 1 to 6 inches 

across, but some are reported as 2 feet 6 inches in two diameters. Rusty stain on 

sheet surfaces is 1 to 6 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to railroad or cutting shed.

The product consists chiefly of the " dark medium." Specimen: Barney 

mausoleum at Springfield.

The Ballou quarry is on the North Commons, north of Quarry Street. (See 

map, PI. XXIV, No. 15.) Operator, John C. Ballou, West Quincy.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 80, a), "dark Quincy with minute red 

dots," is a riebeckite-aegirite granite of dark, slightly purplish-gray color, with 

sparse inconspicuous reddish stains. Its shade is slightly darker than that of 

86, a (Merry Mount "dark medium"). Its texture is medium to coarse, even 

grained, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and black silicates to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a dark-gray potash feldspar 

(orthoclase), twinned, minutely intergrowu with soda-lime feldspar, in places 

somewhat kaolinized, rarely with hematite stain along its cleavage planes, and 

inclosing grains of aegirite and crystals of riebeckite up to 0.114 millimeter 

long; smoky quartz of very slight bluish tinge, with abundant cavities up to 

0.0094 and exceptionally 0.037 millimeter in diameter, in streaks or sheets 

intersecting one another at all angles, and with very minute black particles; 

the quartz incloses a riebeckite crystal 0.178 by 0-0047 millimeter; a little 

separate soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite) ; and finally riebeckite, 

some of it intergrown with aegirite, the latter containing magnetite and carbonate. Accessory : Zircon, magnetite. Secondary: Kaolin, hematite, limonite 

(about the zircon), calcite.

The co'ntrast is confined to that between the black silicates ami the dark gray 

of the feldspar and quartz with its faint reddish spots.

George Steiger, chemist, of this Survey, extracted 0.28 per cent of CaO 

(lime) from this stone by means of hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a 

content of 0.5 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite). The thin sections also show calcite.

The quarry, opened before 1856, measured in 1906 about 200 feet from north 

to south by 100 feet across, but with a recess on the south wall 16 by 18 feet. 

Its depth was 150 feet.

Rock structure: An interesting cylindrical pegmatite dike, a section of which 

is exposed at the bottom of the quarry, has been described 'on page 49. The 

sheets, 8 inches to 20 feet thick, increasing in thickness downward, are lenticular, irregular, and dip both north and south. The sheet structure extends at 

least to a depth of 350 feet from the rock surface, below which there is no parting for 16 feet. Joints (a) strike about N. 80° W., clip 70° N., are spaced 

3 to 30 feet, form a short heading in about the center and one on the northeast side. Joints (b) strike nearly north, dip 90° and steeply west, form 

headings at east and west walls, one, 100 feet from west wall, and another 

(30 to 40 feet wide) 75 feet west of east end. Joints (c), striking N. 10°-30U 

W., form a heading at the northwest corner at the quarry. The rift is 

reported as about north, and the grain as east, both vertical. Stain is up to 

3 inches wide along the joint faces but is scarcely present on sheet surfaces. 

Transportation, by car 1 mile to railroad.

The product is used mainly for monuments, and the inferior stock for paying. 

Specimen structure : Masonic Building, Philadelphia.
324 COMMEECIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The Winquist quarries .are on the North Commons south of Quarry Street. 

(See map, PL XXIV, No. 16 and opening west of it) Operator, Common 

Quarry Co. (Carl G. Winquist), Quincy.

The granite of the Baker opening (No. 16), alone operated in 1906, "extra 

light," is a riebeckite-aegirite granite of light pea-greenish color and medium 

to coarse texture. It is identical in composition with that of the Lepage 

quarry (specimen D, XXVIII, 76, a), described on page 330. "it owes its'green 

color to the abundance of minute grains and crystals of aegirite in the feldspar. The quartz is amethystine, not smoky. The contrast is chiefly between 

the black silicates and the feldspar, but there is also some between the purple 

tinge of the quartz and the light green of the feldspar.

This stone was used entirely for building and hammered work.

The granite of the McDonald opening (west of No. 16) consists of light and 

dark " medium " and " dark " Quincy and is used for monuments, etc.

The Baker opening measures about 300 by 250 feet and 125 feet in depth; 

the McDonald opening about 200 by 150 and 100 in depth.

Rock structure (Baker opening) : There is a basic dike 6 feet thick, along 

the south side, dipping steeply south; a like one a little north of the north wall 

dips steeply north. The sheets, 2 to 22 feet thick, dip low north. Joints are 

few. Joints (a) strike nearly east, steep, form north and south walls only. 

Joints (b) strike nearly north, form east and west walls only; one diagonal (e), 

strike northwest, dips 45° SW. Rusty stain is up to 6 inches thick on sheet 

surfaces.

Transportation, by cart.l mile to railroad.

The Fallen quarry is on the North Commons, on the south side of Quarry 

Street, west of the Hardwick quarry. (See map. PI. XXIV). Operators, John 

Fallen & Sons, West Quincy. Idle since 1916.

The granite is " dark medium Quincy."

The quarry measures about 600 by 100 feet and 100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: In this quarry a.cylindrical dike of pegmatite, like that at 

the Ballou quarry, was discovered a few years ago. (See papers by Warren 

and Palache, cited on page 49.)

Specimen product: Pilgrim Monument (excluding statue), Plymouth.

The Hardwick quarry is on the North Commons opposite the corner of 

Quarry and Smith streets. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 19.) Operators, C. H. 

Hardwick & Co., Quincy.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 79. d), "medium," is a riebeckite-aegirite 

granite of dark, slightly purplish gray color, a trifle darker than 86, a (the 

" dark medium " of Merry Mount quarry) and a little darker and more purplish 

than 67, d (the "dark" of Dell Hitchcock quarry). It is of medium, evengrained texture, with feldspars and black silicates up to 0.4 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a medium and dark, slightly 

purplish-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase), usually twinned, always with 

minutely intergrown soda-lime feldspar and exceptionally with quartz also; 

in places it is somewhat kaolinized, contains minute aegirites and crystals of 

riebeckite from 0.0094 to 0.066 millimeter long up to 0.0094 millimeter wide; 

light smoky quartz with intersecting streaks or sheets of cavities from less than 

0.0043 to 0.02 millimeter long, also with very minute black particles; riebeckite 

and aegirite, the latter with black nonmetallic particles (limonite?) ; a little 

soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite.) Accessory: Magnetite. Secondary: Kaolin, brownish-yellow fibrous hornblende on riebeckite, limonite (?).

The contrast is largely between the black silicates and the gray of the quartz 

and feldspar.
. : . MASSACHUSETTS. . 325

The "light" of.the same quarry (specimen D, XXIX, 79, f) is a similar 

granite of medium gray, inclining to dark shade without bluish or greenish 

or purplish tinge, with blue-black and very dark green spots, and of medium 

texture, with feldspar and riebeckite up to 0.4 inch. Its constituents are 

identical with those of the " medium" already described, except that the 

feldspar is in places stained with hematite, in others with limonite, proceeding 

from limonite associated with zircon, and that the aegirite appears to be 

 slightly altered. There is some leucoxene adjacent to ilmenite. The aegirite 

contains not a little magnetite. Fluorite is among the accessory minerals.

The contrast between the black silicates and the other minerals in the 

" light" is greater than in the " medium," because the feldspars are lighter.

The "dark" (specimen 79, e) is darker than the "medium" and of the 

same shade as the "dark" of the Granite Railway quarry (68, b), page 329, 

but of marked purplish tinge. Its texture is medium to coarse.

An analysis of a granite from this quarry is given on page 318.

The quarry, first opened in a small way in 1790, but first operated by the 

Hardwick family in 1848, measured in 1906 about 300 feet east and west by 

150 feet across, and has now reached a depth of 150 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 8 inches to 20 feet thick, usually increasing in 

thickness downward, but in places thin to a depth of 50 feet, are lenticular 

and horizontal. Joints (a) strike N. 80°-85° W., dip 55°-65° N., spaced 10, 

30, and 60 feet, form a heading on the west wall. Joints (c) strike N. 30° W., 

dip 70° SW., spaced 5, 25, and 150 feet, form a heading 30 feet wide in east 

half of quarry. These joints are intermittent. The rift is reported as vertical, with a course about N. 30° W., and the grain as horizontal. The 

boundary between the " medium " and the " light" is irregular. Within the 

headings the stone has a marked purplish tint from hematite stain. There 

are rows of riebeckite particles up to 0.5 inch wide with a N. 85° W. course 

and a dip of 55° S. There are also quartz veinlets with a N. 20° W. course, 

less than 0.1 inch thick, which in places give way to black silicates. In thin 

section this black part consists chiefly of quartz, aegirite, and magnetite, with 

a little zircon (in doubly terminated pyramids), purple fluorite, and carbonate. 

Aplitic knots of group 1, described on page 59, are up to 3 feet by 4 inches. 

Lighkgray knots of group 2, with porphyritic feldspar, occur also. Rusty 

stain along the sheet surfaces is from three-fourths inch to 6 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to railroad and varying distances to local cutting sheds.

The product is chiefly the " medium" but includes some " dark" and 

"light," the last used for bases and hammered work. Specimens: Addition 

to Gore Hall at Harvard University, erected in 1870; customhouse at New 

Orleans; Lewis Cass monument at Detroit, Mich.; a 5-foot polished ball in 

Fairmount Cemetery, Newark, N. J. The firm supplies rough stock to concerna 

that finish it.

The Galvin quarry is on the North Commons, between the Falconer and the 

Hardwick quarries. (See map, PI. XXIV.) It is now abandoned.

The granite is a riebeckite-aegirite granite of dark or medium gray color.

Rock structure: There are pegmatite quartz veins at intervals of 2 to 10 

feet, striking N. 25° W. and dipping 50° S. 65° W. These veins, up to 1 inch 

thick, occupy the center of belts of light granite 10 inches wide and are crossed 

by vertical subjoints striking about north and not over 1 foot long. (See p. 40.)

The product is carted to local cutters.

The Falconer quarry (formerly McKenzie & Pattison) is on the North 

Commons. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 18.) Operators, Falconer & Co., Quincy. 

This has on its northwest side quartz veins, like those of the Galvin quarry, 
326 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

striking N. 50° W. and dipping 50° S. 40° W. forming the center of bands of 

whitish and brownish discoloration.

The quarry is 400 by 250 feet and 100 feet deep.

The product is used for tonibs and cemetery monuments.

The Field & Wild quarry is on the North Commons between the Falconer 

quarry and Cranch Street. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 20.) It is now abandoned.

The granite, " dark," " medium," and " light," is a riebeck,te-aegirite granite 

of dark and medium gray shades.

The quarry, opened about 1840, measured in 1906 about 600 feet from 

northwest to southeast by 150 feet across and from 75 to 100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The rock surface on the northeast side dips steeply east, with 

sheets from 1 to 3 feet thick parallel to it. Some -thin sheets occur also in the 

upper 20 feet on the southwest side. Joints (b), strike N. 15° E., dip 90° or 

steep, spaced 10 to 50 feet, occur at the northwest end only; joints (c), strike 

N. 15° W., dip 80° E., spaced 1 to 8 feet; joints (d), strike N. 45° E., dip 70°- 

85° N. 45° W., spaced 20 to 50 feet; (e), strike about N. 45° W., dip 30°-50° S. 

45° W., spaced 2 to S feet. Some intermittent joints are coated with riebeckite. 

The rift is said to vary greatly in direction both in the quarry and in different 

blocks. Numerous quartz veins like those at the Galvin and Falconer quarries 

strike about N. 45° W., dip 45° S. 45° W., spaced 2 to 25 feet. They are mostly 

crossed by sub joints 1 foot long, parallel to joints (c), an inch or two apart. 

Some of them have a central fracture. In places they are only 0.02 inch thick. 

A thin section of one shows quartz crowded with cavities in intersecting streaks, 

crystals of ilmenite (probably), and carbonate. The hand specimen shows 

fluorite along the edge of the vein. The feldspars adjacent to the vein are 

traversed by fibrous muscovite, also kaolinized, stained with limonite, and 

otherwise altered. (See p. 77.) Knots up to more than 6 inches, some of them 

of group 2 (p. 59), with porphyritic feldspars, occur.

The Wigwam quarry is on Willard Street, 570 feet south of West Quincy 

Station. (See map, PL XXIV, No. I.) This quarry was operated in 1906 by 

Badger Bros., but is now abandoned.

The granite, chiefly " dark " and " extra dark," with some " medium " and 

"light," is a riebeckite-aegirite granite of dark, very dark, or medium bluishgray color and of medium to coarse, even-grained texture. Its constituent 

minerals are similar to those of specimens D, XXVIII, 68, b ("dark"), and 

D, XXIX, 78, a ("extra dark"), described on pages 327, 329.

A polished specimen (D, XXVIII, 73, a) of the "medium" shows the feldspars ranging from a dark gray to a greenish medium gray, and cream-colored 

in spots owing to kaolinization. The contrasts between the black silicates, the 

grayish quartz and feldspars, and the cream-colored parts of the feldspars are 

marked and give the stone a mottled appearance.

An estimate of the mineral percentages made by applying the Rosiwal method 

to this specimen, with a mesh of 0.6 inch and total linear length of 20.4 inches, 

yields these figures: Feldspars, 69.51; quartz, 8.43; riebeckite and aegirite, 

22.06.

The quarry, opened between 1820 and 1830, measured, in 1906, about 250 feet 

in a N. 65° W. direction, by 100 feet across, and from 100 to 160 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets at the surface, on the north and west sides, 1 to 3 

feet thick, dip 50° NE. On the south and east sides there are traces of sheet 

structure in the upper 40 feet but none below that. Joints (a), strike N. 83° E. 

and vertical, are spaced 6 to 20 feet. Joints (b), strike N. 10° E. and vertical, 

are spaced 3 to 18 feet and form the southwest wall. Owing to its irregular, 

sheets and the spacing of the joints this is technically a ' 'boulder quarry." 

The rift was reported as vertical, with an east-west course on the south side,
MASSACHUSETTS. 327

but on the north as dipping steeply north, and the grain as vertical north to 

south. Black knots are reported up to 6 by 2 feet. Greenish and muddy yellow 

knots of group 3, page 59, measure up to 1 foot in length by a few inches in 

width. Reddish and greenish spots (" orel," p. 78) occur in the upper 30 feet.

The product consisted chiefly of the " dark " and " extra dark" for monuments. Specimens: Polished columns in monument to Solomon Willard, architect of Bunker Hill Monument, in Hall Cemetery, West Quincy; polished columns in New Orleans customhouse; polished ball, 6 feet 6 inches in diameter, 

in cemetery at Rock Island, 111., a photograph of which is reproduced in Plate 

XXVI.

The Reinhalter quarry is 570 feet south-southwest of West Quincy station. 

(See map, PI. XXIV, No. 2.) Operator, J. S. Swingle, Quincy.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 78, a), "extra dark," is a riebeckite-aegirite 

granite of very dark bluish-gray color and of medium to coarse, even-grained 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and black silicates up to 0.3 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a dark and medium gray 

potash feldspar (orthoclase), mostly twinned, minutely intergrown with sodalime feldspar, darkened probably by a black mineral in very minute particles; 

it incloses minute crystals of 

riebeckite and grains of aegirite; smoky quartz with intersecting streaks and sheets of 

cavities, very minute black 

particles and isolated crystals 

of aegirite; blue-black riebeckite and green-black aegirite, in 

places intergrown; a little separate soda-liine feldspar (albite to oligoclase-ablite.) Accessory: Zircon (rather abundant), ilmenite, and pyrite. 

Cracks in orthoclase and 

quartz, intersecting at right 

angles, probably rift and grain 

cracks, contain or are crossed 

by secondary minute crystals of riebeckite. 

either side of these cracks.

FIGURE 78. Structure at Reinhalter quarry, West 

Quincy, Mass.

The feldspar is much darker on 

Secondary: Leucoxene and part of the riebeckite.

The " medium " of this quarry is a dark, very slightly greenish-gray stone of 

the same texture. Its shade is like the " medium " of the Hardwick quarry 

(p. 324), but its tint is different. It is darker than the "dark" of the Dell 

Hitchcock quarry but differs from that also in tint.

The quarry, opened before 1871, measures 200 by 150 feet on one side and 200 

feet on the other and 250 feet in depth. '

Rock structure: The sheets, 14 inches to 20 feet thick, extend down 250 feet 

from the rock surface. At a point on the east side, 150 feet down, they dip east. 

On the south side, 175 feet down, they strike N. 85° W. and dip 25°-35° .S. 

Below that there is a sheet 55 feet thick. Joint and rift courses are shown 

in figure 78. Joints (A) dip 90°, form the north and south walls, and recur at 

intervals of 10 and 35 feet. At 35 feet from the north wall they form a 10-foot 

heading which extends from a point 100 feet below the surface to the bottom. 

Joints (B) are vertical, form the east wall, are intermittent, and are spaced CD 

and 60 to 70 feet. The east wall is intersected by a wide heading striking N. 

20° E. and dipping steeply east. Joints (C) dip 90° and form the west wall.
328 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF'. NEW ENGLAND.

Headfn;

Joints (D) are vertical and exceptional. In about the center of the top of the 

north wall is a 25-foot heading, which at a point 50 feet down disappears behind 

it. The heading (A) has " dark " and " medium " granite on its south side and 

" extra dark " on its north side. The sheets at a point 175 feet down are intersected by several convex southward-curving partings, " toenails." The rift is 

reported as 90° below, but not quite 90° near the surface, and the grain as 

horizontal. Black knots are usually but a few inches in diameter, but some 2 

feet by 1 foot 6 inches are reported. Gray knots are from 0.5 to 8 inches. Rusty 

stain measures up to 3 inches on joint faces, but down to 0.5 inch on sheet faces 

near the bottom.

Transportation, by a siding at the quarry, by cart one-fourth mile to cutting 

shed, and a shorter distance from shed to railroad.

The product consists of " extra dark," " dark," and " medium," but most of 

it is " extra dark." It is used for monuments and columns. The largest block 

obtained weighed 50 tons.

The Swingle quarry is about 600 feet southwest of West Quincy station and 

adjoins the Reinhalter quarry on the west. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 3.) 

Operator, J. S. Swingle, Quincy.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 72, a), "extra dark," is a riebeckiteaegirite granite of very dark bluish-gray color and of medium to coarse, evengrained texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.5 inch and black silicates up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents are like those of the 

stone in the adjacent Reinhalter 

quarry (specimen 78, a).

The contrast in the polished 

stone is confined to that between the black silicates and the 

dark gray of the "other minerals. 

An estimate of the mineral 

percentages in specimen 72, a, 

by the Rosiwal method, with a 

mesh of 0.5 inch and a total 

linear length of 20 inches, 

yields these results: Feldspars, 

56; quartz, 33.50; riebeckite 

and aegirite, 10.50.

The quarry, opened about 1846, measures about 200 feet from north to south, 

by 175 feet across and 250 feet in depth.

Rock structure: Irregular horizontal sheets are apparent only to a depth of 

100 feet, below which joints and headings predominate. This is a boulder 

quarry and its management is difficult. Joint and rift courses are shown in 

figure 79. (A), vertical or dip 75° S., form a heading on the north wall and 

are spaced 10 to 30 feet. (C), vertical, form a heading on the east, 30 feet 

wide, which separates this from the. Reinhalter quarry. (D), diagonal, form 

a heading on the west wall dipping 75° SE. and another extending from east 

to south wall. They are spaced 2 to 10 feet and some dip 90°. (B), also 

diagonal, dip 70° E., form a heading intersecting the south wall .and another at 

the northwest corner. The rift is reported as vertical with a north-south 

course west of heading (C), but with an east-west course east of it. This 

anomaly may be due to faulting. Knots, green or black, are reported as measuring from 6 inches to 2 feet in diameter. Rusty stain is from 0.5 to 2 inches, 

thick on sheet surfaces at the bottom.

FIGURE 79. Structure at Swingle quarry, West 

Q,uincy, Mass.
MASSACHUSETTS. 329'

Transportation, by railroad s'ding for out of town shipments but by cart 

about 1 mile to' local dealers.

The product is used mostly for monuments. Shipments have been made to 

Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey,: 

Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wsconsin, and 

Missouri. The usual maximum s'.ze of blocks quarried is 150 cub:c feet, but 

blocks 40 by 6 by 8 feet are obtainable.

The Berry quarry has also been operated by J. S. Swingle since 1914.

The Granite Railway quarry derives its name from a primitive railroad 

constructed in 1826 to bring the granite for the Bunker Hill Monument from a. 

neighboring opening to tidewater at Neponset River. The. quarry now worked 

is about 1,050 feet west-southwest of West Quincy station. (See map, PI. 

XXIV, No. 4.) Operator, Graniie Railway Co., Quincy.

The granite (specimens, D, XXVIII, 68, b, h), "Quiucy dark-blue railway," 

is a riebeckite-aegirite granite of dark bluish-gray color and medium to coarse, 

even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and black silicates up to 

0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a dark bluish 

to greenish gray, black-streaked potash feldspar (orthoclase), in twins, iriinutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar, apparently darkened by microscopic black particles and also somewhat kaolinized, containing blue-brownish 

crystals of riebeckite down to 0.009 millimeter long, also irregular particles of 

green aeginte and some slender ones up to 0.37 millimeter long arranged either 

along the twinning plane or the plane of intergrowth with the. soda-lime feldspar; the black streaks are due to clusters of radiating fibrous crys'.als of a 

brown hornblende; smoky quartz with intersecting streaks or sheets of cavities, 

from less than 0.0028 to 0.0085 millimeter, also with aboundant microscopic 

black particles; blue-black riebeckite and green-black aegirite, largely intergrown ; basal sections of the aegirite appear corroded; separate soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite) in very small amount. Accessory: Ilmenile, 

zircon in doubly terminated pyramids, apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, leucoxene, 

hematite and limonite stain (rare), brown hornblende, and, as shown by test, 

calcite.

The contrast between the smoky shade of the quartz and the slightly blu'.sh 

to greenish gray of the feldspar is small. It lies mainly between these and the 

black silicates.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yields the 

following results, with a mesh of 0.4 inch and a total linear length of 71.2 

inches: Feldspars, 58.79; quartz, 33.74; riebeckite and aegirite, 7.47. Of course 

the last figure does not include the microscopic particles of the two black 

silicates.

E. C. Sullivan, a chemist of this Survey, extracted 0.13 per cent of CaO (lime) 

from this granite by means of hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates the presence of 0.25 per pent of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate, calcite).

The " extra dark " of the same quarry (specimen D, XXVIII, 68, c) is darker 

than 68, b, but a trifle lighter than the " extra dark " of the Swingle quarry. 

The feldspar seems to be darkened by more brown hornblende and more 

abundant other black particles. There is also a dark orange-colored hornblende. 

The minute riebeckite crystals and long, slender aegirite particles are both 

arranged with reference to the twinning of the feldspars. An aegirite particle 

(0.2 by 0.14 millimeter) coated with radiating crystals of riebeckite (up to 

0.09 millimeter long) occurs within a quartz area. Purple fluorite is mingled 

with the reibeckite.

The quarry, opened in 1826, is roughly T-shaped, the top of the T measuring about 800 feet N. 75° W. by 450 feet N. 10° E. and the stem being about
330 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

250 by 20 feet. Its depth ranged in 1906 from 50 to 70 feet, but 30 feet of 

rock had been removed from the present edge of the quarry. In 1906 a mass 

about 100 feet square, rising 30 to 40 feet above the edge and devoid of sheet 

structure, projected into the quarry west of the stem of the T.

Rock structure: A 15-foot diabase dike dipping 60° NNE., with a greenish 

rim a foot thick on its underside, bounds the quarry on the southwest. (See 

p. 52.) The granite under the dike has three sets of joints, one dipping about 

50° in the opposite direction, one parallel to the dike, and a third striking N. 

22° E. with the dip of the dike. In places the sheets are regular, in other 

places they are short lenses, and in others they are altogether absent. This is 

a boulder quarry. The courses of dike, joints, and rift are shown in figure 80. 

Joints (A), dip 55° SW., form a heading on the northeast, and are spaced 1 to 12 

feet; (B), vertical, form the east and west walls and are spaced irregularly 

up to 300 feet; (C), diagonal and dipping 70° W., form a heading at the west 

angle of the T in the projecting mass; (D), diagonal, dip about 55° E., coated 

with riebeckite and hence called "black seams" (seep. 82), occur intermittently 

on the south side of the quarry. The rift is reported as vertical, with a N. 

80° W. course, and the grain as also vertical at right angles to it, but feeble.

In the western part of the top of the T 

there is a mass of hematitic and chloritic granite ("orei") extending 30 

feet down Irom the surface. This is 

described fully on page 78. Knots of 

dark-gray shade measure up to 12 by 6 

inches. Rusty stain is from 3 to 12 

inches thick on joint and sheet faces in 

the deeper part of the quarry.

This company operates another quarry, 

opened in 1905, known as No. 4, Nos. 1, 

2. and 3 be ng designations of parts of 

the last quarry. No. 4 lies west of the 

Swingle quarry and measured in 1906 

about 200 feet N. 15° E. by 75 to 100 

feet east and is from 15 to 40 deep. 

The sheets, 6 inches to 8 feet thick, are 

horizontal or dip north with the hill

surface. The Bunker Hill quarry, which furnished stone for the Bunker Hill 

Monument, lies about 1,800 feet south of No. 4, but is now idle. (See map, 

PI. XXIII.)

Transportation, by siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. 

The product is used mostly for monuments and polished building fronts. 

Specimens: Bunker Hill Monument; a polished monument 23 feet high to 

W. C. Whitney, former Secretary of the Navy, at Woodlawii Cemetery, New 

York. The waste is used for cellar stone, riprap, and paving.

The Lepage quarry is between the Granite Railway and the Cashman 

quarries. (See map, PL XXIV, No. 5.) It has now been abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVII, 76, a), " extra light," is a riebeckite-aegirite 

granite of light pea-greenish color and medium to coarse, even-grained texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and black silicates to 0.4 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are a light pea-green potash feldspar (orthoclase, mostly twinned), minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar, somewhat kaolinized and contains more fine grains of aegirite than the gray 

granites of the region, but contains far fewer minute crystals of riebeckite; 

the aegirite is likely to be parallel to the twinning plane of the 

orthoclase or the plane of intergrowth of the two feldspars; amethystine

80. Structure at Granite Railway quarry, West Quincy, Mass.
MASSACHUSETTS. 331

quartz, showing effects of strain and containing intersecting streaks and sheets 

of cavities, also minute black particles; blue-black riebeckite and green-black 

aegirite, in places intergrown; soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite). 

Accessory: Zircon, pyrite, fluorite. Secondary: Kaolin, carbonate, lirnonite, 

slender crystals of orange-yellow hornblende radiating from aegirite particles.

As pointed out on page 77, the peculiar color of this granite and its feldspar 

seems to be due to the abundance of fine grains of aegirite and to the absence 

or alteration of the minute riebeckite crystals. Kaolinization has also lightened its color. Blocks of the pea-green stone bordered by bright yellowish-brown 

stain afford striking contrasts (specimen D, XXVIII, 76, b). It takes a poor 

polish and is used only for bridges, curbing, paving, etc. On the north side 

of the quarry there is some " dark " adapted to monumental work.

The quarry, opened in 1905, measured in 1906 about 100 feet north to south 

by 60 to 80 feet across and from 30 to 45 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, dip 10° S. Joints (a), strike 

N. 80°-85° W., dip 70°-SO° N., form the south wall, spaced 4 to 10 feet; (b), 

strike N. 15° W., dip 90° and 70° E'., form the west wall and a heading on 

the east wall, spaced 3 to 10 feet. The rift is reported as 90°, with an eastwest course, and the grain as vertical, north-south.

The Cashman quarry is about 1,800 feet west of the West Quincy station. 

(See map, PI. XXIV, No. 6.) It is now abandoned.

The granite, " extra dark," " medium," and " extra light," is a riebeckiteaegirite grnnite of very dark or medium bluish-gray or of light pea-greenish 

color, and of medium to coarse, even-grained texture. Its constituents correspond to those of the several varieties of Quincy granite as described on 

pages 77, 319.

The quarry, opened about 1876, is of irregular area owing to several offsets 

or projecting parts on the north1 , east, and west sides. It was in 1906, roughly, 

about 350 feet north to south by 225 feet across and from 70 to 100 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 5 feet thick, are lenticular and flat on the 

south side, but clip north at the north. Joints (a) strike about east, dip steep 

north or south, form a heading on the north side, and are spaced 10 to 75 

feet. Joints (b) strike about north, dip 90°, form headings on east side and 

35 feet west of it, and are spaced 10 to 30 feet. The rift was reported as 

vertical, about east-west, but in places steep north or south. When split from 

the side, the rift in those places is vertical. The grain is said to dip steeply, 

with north-south course. A workman stated that the rift in the " extra light" 

was superior to that in the dark stone, and the blocks in sight showed smooth 

rift breaks. The " extra light" occurs at both north and south ends of the 

quarry, and the dark in the center. Near a heading at southeast corner the 

granite is heraatitic ("ore!"). (See p. 78.) Rusty stain is from 1 to 3 inches 

thick on both light and dark stone.

Transportation, by cart 2 miles.

The product is monumental and bridge work. Specimen structures: Arch 

bridge across Furnace Brook Parkway, West Quincy; five bridges between 

South Braintree and Whitman, on the Plymouth division of the New York, 

New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

The Save quarry is about four-fifths mile west-northwest of West Quincy 

station. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 8.) It is now abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 84, a) is an altered riebeckite-aegirite 

granite of pinkish medium-gray color and medium to coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and greenish silicates up to 0.2 inch. Its 

constituents are, in descending order of abundance, light-pinkish, not transparent potash feldspar (orthoclase), twinned, with minutely intergrown soda-
332 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

lime feldspar, considerably kaolinized but containing no riebeckite; its pinkisb 

color must be attributed to hematite, arising either from the oxidation of FeO 

in the feldspar or of magnetite in the other particles; smoky quartz with intersecting streaks or sheets of cavities and minute black particles; riebeckite and 

aegir'te altered to quartz, magnetite, carbonate, epidote and in some caseschlorite; a little soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine). Accessory: Zircon 

(rather large), fluorite. Secondary: Kaolin, carbonate, magnetite (some in 

crystals), chlorite, hematite. (See further on this granite p. 78.) The pink 

tint fades somewhat on exposure.

The quarry, opened in 1905, measured then about 135 feet N. 55° W. by 50' 

feet across and 40 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, dip 45° N. 25° E. Joints (a) 

strike N. 70° W., dip about 60° N. 20° E. and S. 20° W.; (c) strike N. 30* 

W., dip 90° and steeply west. The pink granite occupies the south half of the 

quarry and the pea-green the north half. The rift is reported as vertical, 

north-south, and the grain as horizontal. Rusty stain is 8 to 12 inches thick. 

Transportation, by cart 1£ miles to West Quincy.

The Gold-leaf quarry is 4,500 feet N. 80° W. of the West Quincy station. 

(See map, PI. XXIV, No. 7.) Operator, Quincy Quarries Co., Quincy. Quarrynot operated in 1917-18.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 71, a, b), "gold-leaf Quincy," is a 

riebeckite-aegirite granite of medium bluish green-gray color (a trifle lighter 

than 67, c, the "light" of Dell Hitchcock quarry), speckled with black and 

yellow-brown. Its texture is medium to coarse, even-grained, with feldspars 

up to 0.5 inch, black silicates to 0.3 inch, and yellow-brown stains to 0.5 inch, 

but the quartz areas are finely granular. Its constitutents, in descending order 

of abundance, are medium bluish green-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase), 

twinned, minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar, in places granulated, 

somewhat kaolinized, and containing many minute crystals of riebeckite and 

fine grains of aegirite, to both of which the feldspar owes its peculiar color; 

quartz, clear to light smoky, almost without cavaties, all granulated in particles 

mostly under 1 millimeter, rarely 2 millimeters in diameter; blue-black 

riebeckite and green-black aegirite, in places associated with limonite (and 

hematite?) ; soda-lime feldspar (albite and probably oligoclase-albite) in small 

amount. Fluorite is accessory. Secondary limonite occurs in irregular areas, 

mostly not related to the particles of black silicate, and this produces the 

yellow-brown stains.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method, with a mesh 

of 0.5 inch and a total linear length of 74 inches, yields these figures: Feld*- 

spars, 67.37; quartz. 23.01; riebeckite and aegirite, 9.62. As compared with 

the percentages in other Quincy granites these approximate those of the Wigwam quarry stone. This is the lightest of the Quincy monumental granites. 

The contrasts between the light bluish-green of the feldspar and the black 

particles and the yellow-brown stains are marked. The minute particles of 

granulated quartz reflect the light and, as it were, spangle the surface, and 

where the limonite stain coincides with the quartz areas the yellow-brown 

spots are the more conspicuous, hence the trade name " gold-leaf." It takes a 

high polish, but as small pits are likely to appear in the quartz owing to the 

dropping out of minute quartz particles, it seems better adapted to indoor 

ornamentation.

The quarry in 1906 was about 125 feet square and from 20 to over 50 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: Joints (a) strike N. 80° W., dip vertical and steeply north, 

form the north wall, spaced about 50 feet; (c) strike N. 10° W., dip 30° E.,
MASSACHUSETTS. 333

lorm three headings in the east half and are spaced 4 to 15 feet. These apparently serve as sheets. Fine-grained gray knots of group 1 (p. 59) are 6 inches 

in diameter.

Transportation, by sidings connected with Granite branch of New York, New 

Haven & Hartford Railroad, as shown in Plate XXIV.

Product: The last building of any importance made from this stone is that 

of the Carnegie' Institute at Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Rogers quarry is at the-north foot of the Blue Hills, 1,500 feet northwest of West Quincy station, on Willard Street. (See map. PI. XXIV, No. 9.) 

Operator, Quincy Quarries Co., Quincy.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 70, d), "extra dark," is a riebeckiteaegirite granite of very dark purplish-gray color and of medium to coarse 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and black silicates up to 0.3 inch. Its 

constituents are like those of the Reinhalter and the Granite Railway " extra 

dark " granite, described on pages 327, 329. The feldspars have more whitish 

kaolinized streaks, hence the general shade is slightly lighter than that of 

the granites referred to (78, a, and 68, c), and minute hematitic stains account 

for its more purplish hue. This quarry also yields the " dark."

The quarry, opened in 1832, measured in 1906 about 600 feet from'north to 

south by 175 feet across and from 40 to 150 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets are short and thick lenses, which render the 

structure obscure and irregular. (The structure is given in fig. 12 of U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 354, 1908.) Joints (A) clip 90° or steeply north and are 

spaced 10 to 20 feet. (B) d!p steeply east, form headings on east and west 

walls, and are spaced 10 to 20 feet. (C) dip 50° E., form a heading at the 

northwest corner, the faces of which are coated with riebeckite, and are spaced 

6 inches to 4 feet. (See on these black joints, p. 82.) This heading intersects a heading of (B). (D), diagonal, dip 40° S. 45° W., are spaced 2 to 20 

feet. At the south end several faces dipping 30°-60° N. may belong to (A).

The rift is reported as vertical, with east-west course, and the grain as 

also vertical, at right angles, but feeble.

A basic dike, 2 feet thick, at the north end dips 65° N. Tine-grained aplitic 

knots probably of group 1 (p. 59) occur. The largest reported was 3 by li 

feet. Rusty stain is 1 to 12, indhes thick. In places all the granite to a depth 

of 30 feet is somewhat stained, but in others good stone occurs at the top. 

At the south end, west side, the granite upon exposure discolors readily to a 

medium, slightly olive-gray. Specimen D, XXVIII, 70, b, describe on page 78, 

had been exposed three years at a point 30 feet down. In thin section the 

stain is seen to proceed from particles of riebeckite and aegirite.

Transportation, by siding from New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

The product is used for monuments and the waste for road material, etc.

The Mount Pleasant quarry is at the northwest loot of the Blue Hills, 

in Milton Township, on Lyman Road, off Pleasant Street. (See map, PI. 

XXIV, No. 11.) The quarry was operated in 1906, but is now abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 85, a), "dark Quincy," is a riebeckiteaegirite granite of dark bluish-gray color, a trifle lighter than 68, b (" dark-blue 

railway ") and with a more bluish tinge. Its texture is medium to coarse, evengrained, with feldspars up to 0.5 inch and black silicates to 0.3 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a medium to dark bluishgray potash feldspar (orthoclase, mostly twinned), minutely intergrown with 

soda-lime- feldspar, in places somewhat kaolinized, with unusually abundant 

minute crystals of riebeckite and some particles of aegirite, also minute 

orange-colored hornblende crystals; quartz, dark smoky, with very slight bluish 

tinge, containing minute cavities and black particles in intersecting streaks
334 COMMERCIAL GEANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

and sheets; blue-black riebeckite and green-black aegirite, in part intergrown; 

soda-lime feldspar (albite and probably oligoclase-albite) in very smallj 

amount. Accessory: Fluorite, allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, calcite, limonite, 

and probably the orange-colored hornblende.

The blueness of this stone is clearly due to the abundant riebeckite crystals 

in the feldspars. This conies out on the polished face. (See specimen 88, a, 

which is identical but from the adjoining quarry, described below.)

George Steiger, chemist, of this Survey, extracted from this granite by 

means of hot dilute acetic acid 0.15 per cent of CaO (lime), which indicates a 

content of 0.26 per cent of CaCOs (calcite). Thin sections also show calcite.

The quarry, opened in 1901, measured in 1906 about 125 by 100 feet and 

100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 5 to 27 feet thick, are horizontal and turn to 

clip gently east. Some of the sheet surfaces on the west side are coated with 

riebeckite. (See p. 82.) Joints (b), strike N. 10° E., dip 90° and steeply east, 

form the east wall, spaced 5 to 11 feet; (a), strike N. 60° W., form a heading 

on.the south side, spaced 2 to 15 feet; (e), diagonal, strike about northwest, 

form a heading near the west wall, which has a dark-bluish stone northeast of 

it but inferior light stone southwest of it. Black riebeckite-coated joint and 

sheet faces abound in this part. The rift is reported as vertical, with a nearly 

N. 10° E. course. Rusty stain is up to 2 inches thick on the lower sheets.

Transportation, by cart 2£ miles to railroad at West Quincy or 3 miles tocutting sheds at Quincy.

The chief product was used for monuments.

The Maguire & O'Heron quarry is at the northwest foot of the Blue Hillsr 

in Milton Township, about 800 feet southwest of the Mount Pleasant quarry, 

off Pleasant Street. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 10.) The quarry was operated 

in 1906, but is now abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 88, a), "dark Quincy," is a riebeckiteaegirite granite of dark bluish-gray color like that of the adjoining Mount 

Pleasant quarry (specimen 85, a). Its texture and constituents Are alsoidentical.

The polished face brings out the marked bluish tinge of the feldspars, which 

are streaked with whitish kaolinized parts and contrast somewhat with the 

smoky quartz, but much more with the black silicates. This stone differs from 

the " dark-blue railway " (specimen D, XXVIII, 68, h, p. 329) by its slightly 

more bluish tinge, which is due to the greater abundance of microscopic riebeckite ci-ystals in the feldspars.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method, with a mesh 

of 0.5 inch and a total linear length of 20 inches, yields these figures: Feldspars, 55.80; quartz, 33.10; riebeckite and aegirite (excluding microscopic 

particles), 11.10.

The quarry, opened in a small way about 1882 but in a larger way in 1901, 

measured in 1906 about 250 feet N. 35° E. by 75 to 150 feet across and 70 feet 

in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 3 to 15 feet thick, dip up to 20° SW. Joints (b), 

strike north, dip steeply east, form a 50-foot heading on the southwest wall, 

spaced 3 to 20 feet; (c), strike N. 20°-25° W., dip 75° BNE., form a heading in 

the middle of the south end; (d), strike N. 35° E., dip 90° to steep west, form 

the east and west walls, spaced 3 to 100 feet. The rift is reported as nearly 

vertical, with a north strike, and the grain as horizontal. Quartz veins, 1 to 3 

inches thick, dipping 30° SE. and inclosed in belts of whitish discoloration, recur 

at intervals of 3 to 18 feet. (See pp. 325-326.) Rusty stain 3 to 18 inches thick 

on the lower sheets.
MASSACHUSETTS. 335

The product was used mostly for monuments and the waste for cellar stone. 

Specimen monuments: Bradley monument, Purdy Station, N. Y.; monument 

to Samuel Neilson, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; Long monument at Mansfield, Ohio; 

Patterson monument at Ashland, Pa.; Meehan monument at St. Joseph's 

Cemetery, Boston; and Mead Chapel, Lake Waccabuc, N. Y.

The Sartori quarry is on Pine Hill, on the southeast side of the Blue Hills, 

in Quincy Township, close to the Braintree line. (See map, PI. XXIV, No. 12.) 

It is now abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 82, a) is an altered riebeckite-aegirito 

granite of very dark, dull greenish to brownish gray color, almost without contrasts, and of medium to coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars up to 

0.5 inch and altered black silicates up to 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a dark greenish to brownish gray, nearly opaque 

potash feldspar (orthoclase), twinned, some of which is minutely intergrown 

with soda-lime feldspar, mostly much kaolinized and in places much micacized, 

and here and there stained with hematite (no aegirite or riebeckite crystals 

were detected in it) ; smoky quartz, in places pinkish from hematite stain, 

with intersecting streaks or sheets of cavities and minute black particles; riebeckite and aegirite particles completely altered to masses of greenish biotite, 

magnetite (mostly octahedral), carbonate, and quartz with some chlorite or 

delessite; very little soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase). Accessory: Magnetite, 

zircon, allanite, fluorite. There are also brownish balls (spherulites) of radiating librous crystals, 0.02 to 0.1 millimeter in diameter, some of which polarize 

like zircon. Secondary: Biotite, a white mica, carbonate, chlorite or delessite, 

hematite, magnetite.

This granite differs by its greenish-brownish color from all the other Quincy 

granites, although microscopically it approaches the pinkish of the Savo quarry 

(p. 331), but it differs from that by the different alterations of its feldspars and 

black silicates.

The quarry measured in 1906 50 by 30 feet and 15 to 20 feet in depth.

The product had been found adapted only to bases, curbing, and paving.

The Stacy quarry is in Braintree Township just beyond the Quincy line, 

about a mile south of Quincy station. Operator, J. Stacy, South Quincy.

The granite (specimen D, XXXVIII, 23, a), "red Braintree," is (probably) 

an altered riebeckite-aegirite granite. It is of dull medium reddish-gray 

color with weak contrasts and of coarse, even-grained texture, with feldspars 

up to 0.5 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are dull 

pinkish medium-gray orthoclase and microperthite, much kaolinized; medium 

smoky quartz with flnidal cavities; and very little plagioclase. No other s'licates detected (riebeckite and aegirite probably decomposed). Accessory: 

Magnetite in cubes and octahedra, pyrite. Secondary: Kaolin, carbonate, 

hematite, limonite stain.

The quarry was opened in 1915 and is small.

The product is used for monuments.

PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

The granites of Plymouth County cover very small areas and arc not shown 

on the geologic map of the State in Bulletin 597.

BROCKTON.

The Brockton Heights quarry was on Pearl Street, Brockton Heights, 

about 2* miles west of Brockton station in the same township. (See Dedham 

topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.)
336 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

This quarry was abandoned in 1914 and the property cut up into house lots. 

The granite is described because of its exceptional character.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 130, a), is a biotite-hornblende (or altered 

augite-hornblende) granite of light greenish-gray color with large pink spots 

and matrix of medium texture (feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica up to 0.2 

inch) and with porphyritic light-pink feldspars up to 0.8 inch. The constituents 

of the matrix, in descending order of abundance, are milk-white to greenish 

soda"feldspar (albite), much micacized; clear colorless to slightly milky quartz 

 with cavities in sheets; chlorite, probably after biotite (possibly after augite) ; 

a little microperthite (potash feldspar, microcline, minutely intergrown with 

soda feldspar, albite, kaolinized, with epidote and zoisite in microscopic particles) ; and yellow hornblende in fibrous radiating crystals. The large pink 

crystals are also microperthite and contain sparse groups of yellow hornblende 

crystals. Accessory : Magnetite, titanite. Secondary: Epidote, zoisite, plentiful 

carbonate, chlorite, a white mica, kaolin, quartz. There are veinlets of carbonate, epidote, and quartz. Effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

Sheet and joint structure were found to be defective, and there was no perceptible rift or grain.

Specimen of product: Mattapan station on New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

HINGHAM.

The Hingham seam-face quarries are in Hingham Township, 3$ miles 

S. 15° W. of Hingham station and about three-fourths mile southeast of 

Lovell Corners. (See Abington topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey and PI. 

XXIII.) Operator, Plymouth Quarries, Inc., 6 Beacon Street, Boston.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 124, a, b), " Hingham," is an aplite of light, 

slightly greenish-gray color and of fine, slightly porphyritic texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), much kaolinized and micacized and a little epidotized, the alteration proceeding from within the crystals 

outward; clear colorless quartz, with cavities, rare particles of smoky quartz 

up to 0.1 inch; pale-greenish potash feldspar (microline), a little kaolinized; 

very little biotite, and more of chlorite after biotite, both in small particles 

and sparse. Accessory: Pyrite, plentiful, and magnetite. Secondary: Kaolin, 

a white mica, chlorite, and epidote, mostly about the chlorite. No effervescence 

with muriatic-acid test.

The following analysis of the fresh aplite made in 1900 by F. J. Moore and 

given in a report made to the company by W. 0. Crosby and G. F. Loughlin 

is published here for reference:

Analysis of aplite from Hingham, Mass.

Silica (SiO2 )____________________________ 74.06

Alumina (A12O8 )__________________________ 14.45

Ferrous oxide (FeO)______________________ 1.44

Ferric oxide (FezOs)______________________ .15

Potash (K2O)___________________________ 4.36

Soda (NasO)____________________________ 4.74

Lime (CaO)___________________________ 1.03

Magnesia (MgO) __ _ Trace.

Sulphur (S)____________________________ .02

Water (loss on ignition)_____________________ .52

100.77
MASSACHUSETTS. 337

The 0.02 per cent of sulphur is equivalent to about 0.04 per cent of pyrite. 

Traces of manganese and phosphoric acid were noted.

The same report gives the following additional determinations made by A. A. 

Blanchard in 1910:

Water below 110° C_______________________ 0.041 

Water above 110° C_______________________ . 456 

Carbon dioxide (COZ )______________________ .013 

Total pyrite (FeS2 )_______________________ .10 

Material soluble in water____________________ . 08 

Material soluble in carbonic acid________________ .13 

Tests made at the Watertown Arsenal in 1910 on specimens of the fresh 

aplite "show a crushing strength ra'nging from 32,900 to 39,800 pounds to the 

square inch. Tests of the transverse breaking strength of the fresh aplite 

made for the company by Crosby and Loughlin gave these results:

Results of tests of breaking strength of aplite from Hingham, Mass.

Number 

of tests.

4 

4 

2

Gen

Size of 

beams 

(inches).

3 by 6 

4 by 8 

4 by 8

eral averaj

Span 

(inches).

12 

12 

19

e

Maximum load 

(pounds).

10.090-22.310 

20.610-49.420 

16,820-17,700

Transverse 

breaking 

strength 

(pounds per 

square inch).

3,320-3,770 

2.950-3.470 

3,400-3,660

3,440

In comparison with these results two Watertown Arsenal tests of " Rockport granite," 4 by 8 inch beams and 19-inch span, show transverse breaking 

strengths of 2,404 to 2,416 pounds; and one of Milford (Mass.) granite, 1,745 

pounds.

Tests of porosity and absorption made for the company by Crosby and 

Loughlin on four 3-inch cubes of the rusty aplite show from 0.285 to 0.371 per 

cent, or 0.04 to 0.55 gram per square inch of surface. In these tests the cubes 

were first dried at 110° C. for 24 hours, weighed, soaked for 48 hours in distilled water, the first two hours in boiling water, and then weighed again 

after removing excess water. Similar tests with two 4-inch cubes of the fresh 

aplite, which, however, were soaked for six weeks instead of two days, showed 

only 0.0052 gram per square inch of surface.

The specific gravity of the fresh aplite was found by the same persons to be 

2.637, which corresponds to a weight of 164.8 pounds to the cubic foot.

The quarries, begun many years ago for rough-faced stone but only in 1891 

for seam-faced stone, comprise three openings. The largest (No. 1) was in 1910 

150 feet square and 25 to 45 feet deep. No. 3, 600 feet S. 80° E. of No. 1, was 

75 by 30 feet and 10 to 20 feet deep.

Rock structure: At the largest opening the sheets, very imperfectly developed and 4 inches to 6 feet thick, dip 5°-20° NW. There are five sets of 

joints (a), vertical, strike N. 25° E., forms a wide heading with joint spaces 2 

inches to 2 feet 6 inches; (b), strike N. 25° W., dip steep N. 65° E., spaced 10 

to 30 feet; (c), strike N. 55° W., dip 70° N. 35° E., only two 2 feet apart; (d). 

strike N. 30° W., diagonal to quarry, dip steep S. 60° W., one only; (e), strike 

N. 77° W., dip steep N. 13° E., forms the north and south walls. 

105709 23 23
338 COMMERCIAL GPANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

At opening No. 3 there are no sheets whatever. Joint (a) forms a heading 

with spacing 8 inches to 3 feet; (I) dips 75° S. 65° W. to 90° and is spaced 10 

to 30 feet; (c) dips 40° S. 35° W.

All these sheet and joint faces are more or less stained with limonite from 

0.06 to 2 inches thick, due to the" oxidation of the somewhat plentiful pyrite. 

There are grayish knots up to 0.5 inch, rarely 2 by 10 inches.

Owing to the hardness of the granite, the scarcity of sheets, the superabundance of joints and headings, and the prevalence of " sap " these would he 

very discouraging qunrries to work for ordinary pnrposes, but in supplying the 

demand for rusty seam-Jfaced stone their petrographic and stuctural features 

are turned to good account. Blocks, 4 to 15 inches thick with a seam face, are 

used either as trimmings or for the main exterior, and the rough-faced unstained stone is used as .trimmings. (See p. 293.) The following quotation 

concerns °this phase of the granite industry: tt

"To the ordinary uses to which granite is put there must be added the 

somewhat recent demand for the sap portions for decorative ashlar work and 

rustic masonry. The quarries which possess sap rock of the desirable colors 

are earning a new and adventitious revenue. In fact, the increasing demand 

for seam-faced granite and other rocks has led to the opening of several granite 

quarries which produce only stock of this kind. The demand fort seam-face 

granite is steadily increasing; its introduction is becoming more general, and 

Its artistic merits are wanting better appreciation."

Transportation, by cart 2 miles to East Weymouth station or 16 miles 

direct to Boston.

Product: The intersection of some of the joints and sheets makes it pos 

sible to obtain a regular supply of rusty seam-faced stones with angles 90° 

or 120°. The great crushing strength of this aplite has brought it into 

demand for keystone for tunnel arches.

It has been furthermore proposed to transform " headings" and " sap," 

the ordinary obstacles to granite quarrying, into "things of beauty " by carving 

bas-reliefs of leaves and garlands on the iron-stained joint faces. This is 

done by cutting away the rusty part, usually from 0.125 to 0.25 inch thick, so 

that the leaves in brown project on a light-grayish' ground. Blocks thus 

worked can be utilized in ornamental bands on exteriors.

Specimen edifices: Harkness Memorial Quadrangle. Yale University, New 

Haven, Conn.; Bates College Chapel, Lewiston, Maine; First Baptist Church, 

Braintree, Mass.; State Armory, Adams, Mass; Faith Church, Springfield, 

Mass; W. O. Briggs residence, Detroit, Mich.; art building, Vassar College, 

Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; Trinity Church, Syracuse, N. Y.; B'Nai Jeshurun Synagogue, New York City; Church of the Covenant, Wilmington, N. C.; Calvary 

Episcopal Church, Providence, R. I.

The Miller seam-face quarry is in Hingham Township about 1\ miles 

south-southeast of East Weym'outh station and 1 mile east-southeast of Lovell 

Corners. (See Abington topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, 

J. E. L. Miller, East Weymouth.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 125 b), "Weymouth," is an aplite identical 

with that of the quarries last described and evidently belongs to the same 

mass. In thin section the biotite appears less altered to chloritej ^

The quarry, opened in 1901, is triangular in area. 100 feet on two sides and 

125 feet on the other, and in 1910 was 30 to 45 feet deep.

48 Whittle. C. L., The building and road stones of Massachusetts : Mineral Industry, 

vol. 7,, for 1898, New York and London, p. 638, 1899.
MASSACHUSETTS. 339

Hock structure: There are no sheets, but three sets of joints (a), strike N. 

25° E., forms headings with joint spaces of 2 inches to 3 feet; (ft), vertical 

strike N. 25° W., spaced 10 to 25 feet; (c), strike N. 65° E., dip 40° S. 

20° E. A diabase dike 18 inches thick strikes about east.

The product, used mostly for seam-faced work, is carted to East Weymouth. 

Specimens: Gateway, Albany Rural 'Cemetery; Congregational Church. Wollaston; Episcopal Churches, Hingham, Holyoke, and Brookline; Baptist Church, 

Brockton; Unitarian Church, Winchester; Methodist Episcopal Church, Dorchester, Mass.; city bridge, Waterbury, Conn.; Episcopal Church, Newport, 

R. I.

The Hamilton Seam Face quarry, recently opened, is in Hingham Township. Operator, Hamilton Seam Face Granite Co., 48 Cornhill, Boston.

Product, specimen edifices: St. Vincent Ferrer Church, Sixty-sixth Street 

and Lexington Avenue, New York City; Presbyterian Church, Greensburg, Pa.

SUFFOLK COUNTY. 

REVERE.

The felsite porphyry of Revere is in an area designated " Mattapan volcanic 

complex (flows, tuffs, breccias, and dikes)" on the geologic map of the State in 

Bulletin 597, and these rocks are all regarded as of early Carboniferous age.

Although felsite porphyry is not a granite, it is a related igneous rock of 

almost identical chemical composition. The purplish-brown felsite porphyry 

of Black Ann Hill, in Revere, has been found to be very valuable for concrete 

construction. Tests made by the engineer of the Boston Transit Commission 

show that beams of 30-inch span, made with broken stone and the felsite dust 

from the crusher (presumably with Hnch screenings), have an average breaking strength 15.74 per cent higher than that of beams made with the same 

broken stone and sand. The superiority of felslte dust to sand for concrete 

is probably due to the fact that the angularity of the vitreous fragments is 

greater than that of water-rolled quartz and feldspar grains.

The Black Ann Hill quarry is at the southeast foot of Black Ann Hill, in 

North Revere, that part of Revere Township which lies between the townships 

of Maiden and Saugus. (See Boston topographic map, U. S. Gcol. Survey.) 

Operators. H. & D. Burnett. Franklin Park.

The rock (specimen D, XXXII, 13, a), "Revere," is a rhyolitic felsite porphyry 40 of very dark purplish-gray color and of dense, apparently homogeneous 

texture, with very minute whitish veins and close joint faces coated with 

films of calcite. It effervesces with muriatic-acid test. Under the microscope 

it shows a fluidal spherulitic banded texture, with porphyritic crystals of orthoclase (?), albite, and oligoclase; also particles of quartz and rare scales of 

biotite and chlorite. Accessory: Magnetite, zircon. Veinlets of quartz and 

carbonate fault the feldspars. Secondary: White micas, epidote, carbonate, 

quartz, chlorite.

The quarry has an east-west working face 75 to 100 feet high and 200 feet 

long.

A trap or diabase dike crosses the felsite, from east to west, tapering out.

Transportation, by cart one-fourth mile to siding on Saugus branch of Boston 

& Maine Railroad.

The product is used for roads and concrete material, and the §-inch screenings 

and dust are sought for use in concrete in the place of sand. This quarry sup40 Determination by Whitman Cross, of the U. 8. Geological Survey.
340 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

plied over 61.000 tons of crushed felsite for the construction of the East Boston 

tunnel and 21,000 tens to the United States Engineer Corps in 1898 for the 

construction of the battery at Fort Heath, in Winthrop. The dust was also 

used in 1908 in the concrete of two large schoolhouses, three fire-engine stations, 

two city stables, the hospital, and the armory in Chelsea.

H. A. Carson, chief engineer of the Boston Transit Commission, had the 

relative value of the dust of this felsite (with |-inch screenings) and of sand, 

for concrete, tested in beams of 30-inch span, with these results:

Test of felsite dust and sand for concrete."

Beams with sand ...................................................................

Beams with felsite dust .............................................................

Average 

breaking 

strength.

Pounds. 

3,347

3,874

Average 

modulus of rupture.

666

783

a See Boston Transit Comm. Seventh Ann. Rept., A, p. 41, Cong. 15,1901.

LYNN.

Although the Sheehan quarry is in the town of Lynn, in Essex County, it 

is in the same geologic area as the Black Ann Hill quarry and is therefore 

mentioned here. Operator, John W. Sheehan, 585 Western Avenue, Lynn.

The rock appears to be identical with the dark purplish rhyolitic felsite 

porphyry of the Black Ann Hill quarry.

It is crushed for concrete and roads and used in blocks for foundations.

WORCESTER COUNTY.

MILFORD GRANITE DISTRICT.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Milford lies 16£ miles southeast of the city of Worcester. (See map, PI. 

XXIII.) It is a region of low hillocks with north-northeast and northwest 

trends. The situation of the quarries is shown in figure 81. They lie between N. 10° W. and N. 45° E. of Milford. Two are just over/the line in 

Hopkinton (Middlesex County). All are between the 300 and 500 foot levels.

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The granite of Milford has been described by Emerson and Perry,51 and recently by Emerson,52 who writes:

"The Milford granite occupies a large area extending from .Westboro and 

Southboro, Mass., to Cranston, R. I., and a small area west of the principal one, 

chiefly in Grafton, Mass. * * * The Milford granite is intruded into the 

Northbridge granite gneiss and into the supposed Algonkian rocks and is overlain by the Carboniferous Bellingham conglomerate of the Woonsocket area.

51 Emerson, B, K., and Perry, J. H., The green schists and associated granites and 

porphyries of Rhode Island: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 311, pi. 1, 1907.

62 Emerson, B. K., Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 597, pp. 165, 166, 1917.
MASSACHUSETTS. 341

So far as the formation itself is concerned, there seem to be no relations by 

which to determine its age more closely, but it is apparently of the same age 

ns the Dedham grano;liorite and it is therefore regarded as probably Devonian.

7f30'

smiles

Contoxu.' interval 20 feet

Quarry site Roads

FIGURE 81. Map of Milford, Mass., showing location of granite quarries. 1, Maguire 

2, Echo Lake; 3, Hopkinton ; 4, Cutting; 5, Massachusetts Pink ; 6, North Milford 

7, No. 8, Webb ; 8, No. 7, Webb; 9, No. 5, Webb; 10, No. 3, Webb; 11, No. 4, Webb 

12, Bay State; 13, East; 14, Norcross'; 15, No. 5, Webb. New Bay State quarry a 

little northeast of No. 12.

"There is generally around the granite a dark hornblendic border, supposed to be a contact phase of the granite magma, which is described below 

as the Ironstone quartz diorite."
342 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW. ENGLAND.

On the map of Bulletin 597 the granite of this district appears under the 

des'gnation " Mil ford granite (biotite granite with blue quartz)."

" MILFOKU GRANITE."

The following epitomizes the descriptions of rough and polished specimens 

and thin sections of granite given beyond. Analyses and tests are also summarized. Milford granite is a biotite granite. Its general color ranges from 

a light gray or light pinkish-gray to a medium, slightly pinkish or pinkish 

and greenish-gray, but always with spots rich in black mica from 0.2 to 0.5 

inch across and in some cases tapering out to an inch in length.

Its texture ranges from medium to coarse, not porphyritic; but, owing 

primarily to a marked flow structure and secondarily to compression, there 

is some alinement of particles, giving the stone a slightly gneissoid appearance. The feldspar, quartz, and biotite are each likely to form continuous 

lenticular areas up to an inch in length. On the polished face the quartz is 

seen to be finely granular. The general appearance of the stone varies according to the relation of the direction of the cut face to that of the flow 

structure. Wherever the plates of black mica, which lie with, their major 

axes in the plane of the flow structure, coincide with the face of the stone, it 

will show much larger black spots than where the face intersects that plane 

at right angles.

Its constituent minerals, in descending order of abundance, are (1) a more 

or less delicate pink, rarely cream-colored potash feldspar (orthoclase and 

microcline), minutely intergrown with soda-lime fel'.-lspar and in places somewhat kaolinized; (2) faintly blue quartz fractured into particles up to 1.75 

millimeters, in some specimens not over 0.75 millimeter, showing some arrangement of cavities in sheets and in places with hairlike crystals presumably 

of rutile; (3) a slight yellowish-green to milk-white, rarely clear striated 

soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), which, where not clear, abounds 

in minute crystals and particles of epidote an:l zoisite, scales of white mica, 

and some chlorite and kaolin; (4) biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized 

snd associated with epidote. Accessory: Garnet, pyrite, magnetite, ilmenite, 

zircon, allanite, (usually rimmed with epidote), apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, 

white mica, epidote, zoisite, calcite (usually in the soda-lime feldspars), titanite 

(about probable ilmenite in biotite), hematite. There is some radiate intergrowth of quartz and feldspar. -

The color of the stone is governed mainly by its feldspars, pink from the 

potash and green from the soda-lime feldspar. These are but .very slightly 

modified by the pale-bluish tinge of the quartz.

The somewhat gneissoid arrangement of the minerals, giving the feldspar 

and quartz particles uncertain boundaries in the direction of the flow, prevents the accurate application of the Rosiwal method, which provides that 

no one particle should be crossed more than once by lines parallel. A specimen from quarry No. 8 of the Webb Pink Granite Co., in which there is little 

if any flow structure, contained the following percentages: Feldspar, 55.91; 

quartz, 35.66; biotite, 8.43.

Five tests on three specimens of the more gneissoid granite showed the following ranges: Feldspar, 49.92-70.83; quartz 23.04-41.08; biotite, 4.72-11.29. 

These variations are due partly to the very different proportion of biotite on 

the different faces of the rock, as already explained.

Three analyses of this granite, made by L. P. Kinnicutt and R. H. Richards, 

are given under the respective quarries. They shOAv these extremes:
MASSACHUSETTS. 343

Extremes of analysis of Milford granite.

Silica (SiOa )________________________ 72.02-77.08 

Alumina (A1208 ) ______________________ 12. 54-14.43 

Iron oxide (FeO) ______________________ .52- .95 

Iron sesquioxide (Fes03 )_________________ .00-1.25 

Manganese oxide (MnO)________________ .24- .33 

Lime (CaO)_________________________ .75- 1.18 

Magnesia (MgO)______________________ Trace- .01 

Potash (KaO)_______________________ 4.99-5.41 

Soda (Na2O)________________________ 3.64- 5.85

The following analysis of the granite from one of the Norcross Bros." 

quarries was made by Prof. C. F. Chandler, of Columbia University. M

Analysis of Milford granite.

Silica (Si02 )____________________________ 76.07 

Alumina (A12 03 )__________________________ 12. 67 

Iron sesquioxide (Fe2 03 )_____________________ 2.00 

Manganese oxide (MnO)_____________________ .03 

Lime (CaO)____________________________ .85 

Magnesia (MgO)________________________ .10 

Potash (K2 0)___________________________ 4.71 

Soda (Na2 0) _______________.i____________ 3. 37

99. 80

E. C. Sullivan, a chemist of this Survey, extracted, by means of hot dilute 

acetic acid, 0.06 per cent of CaO (lime) from an average specimen from the 

Cutting quarry. This lime was thus present in the form of CaCOa or calcite 

(calcium carbonate) to the extent of 0.107 per cent, its presence being shown 

in these sections. It probably was formed from the decomposition of the 

lime-soda feldspar.

Six crushing tests made at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Mass., 

show an ultimate strength of 20,000 to 29,200 pounds to the square inch.

Those sections of the stone in which mica is least abundant take a good 

polish, but the others are not likely to preserve their polish in prolonged outdoor exposure. The scarcity of pyrite and magnetite on the polished face is 

very noticeable . Unfortunately the delicate pink of this granite after a few 

years' exposure becomes buff-colored, as may be observed in the Pennsylvania 

Railroad station in New York. This is very probably due to the passing of 

the hematite (FezOa) of the potash feldspar into limonite (Fe4OBHo).

GEOLOGY OF MILFORD QTJAKRIES.

The diorite schist dikes that traverse this granite have already been described on page 56, and the probable connection between the development of 

schistosity in these dikes and the stress which granulated the quartz of the 

granite has been pointed out. There are also dikes of aplite from 0.5 inch 

to 4 feet thick, some of it a quartz monzonite in composition, and dikes of 

porphyritic granite with N. 10° and 35° B. and N. 20° W. courses. Some of 

these contain elliptical biotitic segregations (or inclusions?).

The flow structure strikes N. 10°, 35°, 40°, 45° W. and N. 77° B. and dips 

40° E. to 90° or in places is nearly horizontal.

88 Day, W. C., U. S. Geol. Survey Ann. Rept., pt. 6, continued, p. 221, 1898.
344 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

There are inclusions of biotite gneiss or mica diorite from a'few inches to 2 

feet thick, showing that this rock overlay or adjoined the granite at the time of 

its intrusion.

The rift is reported as everywhere horizontal and the grain as vertical with 

a N. 40° E. to an east-west direction. Rift and plane of flow structure are in 

places nearly parallel.

Sheets, 6 inches to 18 feet thick, are generally irregular or undulate horizontally with inclinations up to 20°.

As will be seen from the quarry diagrams, there is a wide range in the joint 

courses. They are north, N. 10°, 20°-25°, 45°, 50°, 60° E., and N. 60°, 70°, 

80° W. Those occurring at the largest number of quarries are north to1 

N. 10° E., N. 45°-60° E., and N. 55°-70° W. The filling of a parted joint with 

calcite probably derived from once overlying calcareous rocks has been noted 

on page 83.

QUARBIES.

The Cutting quarry is in Milford Township, 3 miles N. 5° E. of Milford 

and half a mile south of Echo Lake (fig. 81). Quarry idle.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 13, a, b, c), "Milford pink" is a biotite 

granite of a very slightly pink-tinted light-gray color and conspicuous black 

spots. Its texture is somewhat gneissoid, medium to coarse, with particles up 

about 0.5 inch. In face.s cut parallel to the plane of flow structure the black 

spots measure fully 0.5 inch, but when cut in the traverse direction about 0.3 

inch. The quartz areas are always granular, the particles up to 1 millimeter 

in diameter and exceptionally 1.5 millimeters. The rock consists of the following minerals, in descending order of abundance: A very delicate pink potash 

feldspar (orthoclase and microcline, both with minutely intergrown soda-lime 

feldspar) ; quartz with minute cavities arranged in sheets, appearing colorless 

In isolated particles but in the aggregate having a very pale bluish tinge; a 

milk-white to pale-greenish striated lime-soda feldspar (albite to oligoclasealbite), usually crowded with particles and crystals of epidote and zoisite 

from 0.0094 to 0.076 millimeter in length; biotite (black mica), some of it 

altered to chlorite and associated with epidote. Both feldspars are somewhat 

kaolinized, particularly the soda lime. Accessory: Garnet, rare pyrite and 

magnetite, titanite, zircon, allanite crystals up to 1 millimeter long coated with 

epidote, apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, epidote, zoisite, chlorite, calcite, hematite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages with half-inch mesh and total linear 

length of 45.5 inches yields: Feldspars, 65.67; quartz, 23.04; biotite, 11.29.

The following analysis was made by Leonard P. Kinnicut, of the Worcester 

Polytechnic Institute, in 1898, and is given here for reference. (

Analysis of granite from Cutting quarry, Milford, Mass.

Silica (Si02 ) ___________________________ 77.08 

Alumina (A12O3 ) ______________*___________ 12. 54 

Iron oxide (FeO) ___________________________ .95 

Lime (CaO) ____________1_______________ .75 

Magnesia (MgO)___ _ _________________ .01

Potash (K2 0)____________________________ 4.99 

Soda (Na2O)____________________________ 3.64

99. 96

E. C. Sullivan, a chemist of this Survey, extracted 0.06 per cent of CaO 

(lime) from this granite by hot dilute acetic acid. This indicates the pres-
MASSACHUSETTS. 345

ence of 0.107 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate) or calcite, the presence 

of which is shown in thin sections.

Two tests made at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 1898, 

give it an ultimate strength of 25,252 and 27,226 pounds to the square inch.

The quarry, opened before 1889, measured in 1906 about 500 feet in a northnorthwest direction by 150i feet east-west and 20 to 30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 18 feet thick, are horizontal but 

irregular in places. The rift is reported as horizontal and the grain as vertical.

The peculiar niica d'orite schist dike on the west side is described on 

page 56. Aplite dikes are 5 inches to 2 feet thick. The courses of joints, flow 

structure, dikes, and grain are shown in figure 82.

Heading" (A) dips 70° E. and joint (B), only at the north end, dips 65° SSE. 

Bands of more biotitic granite with groups of black elliptical schistose knots 

or inclusions indicate the direction of flow. In this section these show particles all under 0.1 inch, mostly biotite, next a plagioclase much altered to 

epidote and zoisite, and lastly quartz. Garnets in roundish grains are also 

present. Rusty stain along the sheets is 6 to 12 inches thick.

Transportation, by siding from the New York, 

New Haven & Hartford 

Railroad and track from 

quarry to cutting shed.

The product is used 

mainly for buildings. 

Specimen structures: 

Bank building, Newton, 

Mass.; street-railway depot at Georgetown, D. C.; 

New York State monument on Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tenn., 

cons'sting of a shaft 6 

feet in diameter and 50 

feet high made in sections ; part of the base and all the lantern for the Pennsylvania Railroad 

terminal station at New York.

The East quarry is in Milford Township, 1| miles northeast of Milford 

(fig. 81). Operator, Milford Pink-Victoria White Granite Co., Milford.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 14, cl, e, g, h), "Milford pink," is a 

biotite granite of light pinkish-gray color with more or less conspicuous black 

spots. The general color is more pinkish than that of the Cutting quarry stone. 

Its texture is somewhat gneissoid, medium to coarse. Feldspar and mica 

measure up to 0.5 inch, but the feldspar individuals merge into lenses an inch 

long, as do_ also the quartz and biotite. The length and width of the biotite 

spots in any surface depends upon whether that -surface is parallel to the 

plane of the flow structure or to its side, or crosses it. The quartz areas are 

always granular, with particles up to 1.75 millimeters across. The rock consists of these minerals in descending order of abundance: A light-pink potash 

feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) with some intergrown soda-lime feldspar, 

slightly kaolinized; quartz (with m'nute cavities arranged in sheets), which In 

the aggregate has a very pale bluish tinge; a milk-white to light-greenish 

striated soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), partly kaolinized and 

crowded with minute particles and crystals of epidote and zoisite, with a few

FIGURE 82. Structure at Cutting quarry, Milford, Masa.
346 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

scales of white mica and rarely calcite; biotite (black mica), some of it 

chloritized, rarely containing ilmenite, with a rim of leucoxene. Accessory: 

Garnet, apatite, magnetite and pyrite (rare), ilmenite, zircon, allanite (up to 

0.6 millimeter), rimmed with epidote. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, epidote, zois te, leucoxene, chlorite, calcite. The merging of the particles by the 

gneissoid structure vitiates somewhat the application of the Rosiwal method of 

estimating the mineral percentages, and the great variation in the amount of 

biotite on different specimens also affects the results. Four tests on two specimens with meshes 0.5 inch and a total linear length of 28.8 inches yielded these 

results:

Estimated mineral percentages in gneissoid granite from East quarry, Milford,

Mass.

49.92

41.08

9.00

100.00

58.47

35.08

6.45

100.00

68.22

26.92

4.86

100.00

70.83

24.45

4.72

100.00

The following analysis of this granite, made for the company by Prof. R. H. 

Richards at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is given here for 

reference:

Analysis of granite from the East quarry, Milford, Mass.

Silica (Si02 )__________________________ 72.02

Alumina (A120.)_________________________ 14.43

Iron oxide (FeO)_________________________ .89

Iron sesquioxide (Fe20s )______._____________ 1.25

IManganous oxide (MnO)____________________ .33

Lime (CaO)____________________________ 1.18

Magnesia (MgO)_________________________ Trace.

Potash. (K20)___________________________ 5.41

Soda (Na20) ___________________________ 5.85

Loss in ignition____________________________ . 35

The durability of the polished face on outdoor exposure will vary according to 

the size and number of the biotite particles.

The quarry in 1906 measured about 100 feet from north to south by 300 feet 

across and 40 to 80 feet deep.

Rock structure: The chief feature is a vertical granite dike 4 feet thick 

crossing the quarry diagonally. It is a biotite granite of medium to dark 

greenish to gray color with pinkish spots. Its texture is fine to medium, 

with porphyritic feldspars up to 0.6 inch and exceptionally to 1.3 inches in 

length. The matrix consists largely of greenish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclasealbite), partly kaolinized and epidotized; a slightly bluish granular quartz, 

the colors of these two minerals giving the rock a general bluish-green tinge; 

and biotite (black mica). The large pink crystals are potash feldspar (orthoclase with minutely intergrown soda-lime feldspar, also microcline). There is 

also some potash feldspar in the groundmass. Accessory: Garnet, apatite 

(fairly abundant), zircon, allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, muscovite, chlorite, 

epidote, zoisite, calcite. This dike contains black segregations (inclusions?), 

mainly of biotite with slightly bluish quartz and epidote. The granite has a 

flow structure marked by darker bands striking N. 10° W. and dipping 40° E.
MASSACHUSETTS. 347

The granite also contains irregular inclusions, from 1 to 2 feet in diameter, 

of a dark-gray and black banded, very fine grained, somewhat schistose mica 

diorite (quartz, biotite. and plagioclase, with pyrite, magnetite, and epidote). 

The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical. The sheets, 1 to 15 

feet thick, dip 10°-15° SSW. The courses of dike, flow, grain, and joints are 

shown in figure 83. Joints (A), dip 80° E., recur at intervals of 100 to 200 

feet; (B), dip 45°-50° SSW., spaced 3 feet and over; (C), dip 45° N.; (D), one 

only, 'dip 60° NW.; (E), dip 45° W., slickensided horizontally. The face of 

(A) on the west wall is coated with a mass of minutely brecciated granite 1| 

inches thick, cemented with calcite, chlorite, fibrous muscovite, and limonite. 

Rusty stain along the sheets is from 6 inches to 2 feet thick.

Transportation, by siding from Boston & Albany Railroad.

The product is used mainly for buildings. Specimens: Hanover National 

Bank, New York; Boston Public Library; public library, Columbus, Ohio. In

FIGURE 83. Structure at East quarry, Mllford, Mass.

1906 this quarry was furnishing part of the stone for the basement of the National Museum at Washington and part of that for the Pennsylvania Railroad 

terminal at New York.

The Bay State quarries are in Milford Township, 1J and 2 miles north-northeast of Milford. (See fig. 81.) Operator, Pink Granite Co. of Milford, Milford.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 16, a, b), "Milford pink," is a biotite 

granite of light pinkish-gray color, like that of the Cutting quarry (p. 344) but 

with more conspicuous greenish feldspars and much smaller spots of black 

mica. Its texture is medium to coarse, even-grained, with very little if any 

gneissnoid structure. The feldspars measure up to 0.5 inch, the black mica to 

0.3, rarely 0.4 inch, and the quartz is granular. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are a delicate pink potash feldspar (orthoclase and 

microcline, both inclosing large particles of soda-lime feldspar) ; quartz with 

some cavities in sheets, clear, not bluish; a milk-white to light-greenish sodalime feldspar (albite to oiigoclase-albite), partly kaolinized and epidotized. 

also with some white mica and calcite; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Garnet, magnetite, ,pyrite. Secondary: Kaolin, a white 

mica, epidote, zoisite, calcite.

A partial analysis, leaving out potash and soda, made for the company by 

Prof. R. H. Richards, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is given 

here for reference:
348 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Partial analysis of granite from West quarry, Milford, Mass.

Silica (Si02 )__________________________ 75.77

Alumina (A1208 ) _____ ____ __ _ ____ 13. 59

Iron oxide (FeO)______________ _____ .52

Iron sesquioxide (Fe^Os)_ __ 1.14

Manganese oxide (MnO)_ _ .24

Lime (CaO) _________________________ .94

Magnesia (MgO)______ Trace

Loss on ignition______ ___ _ .49

92. 69

The old " West" quarry, opened about 1887, measured in 1906 about 300 by 

175 feet and 40 feet in depth. A new quarry was opened in 1915 a little northeast of it.

Rock structure at West quarry: There are on the east side conspicuous vertical dikes of medium-gray fine-grained quartz monzonite, 0.5 inch to 2, feet 

thick, strike N. 20° W., occurring at intervals of 20 to 100 feet. This consists 

of clear potash feldspar and cloudy light-gray soda-lime feldspar in almost 

equal amounts, the latter kaolinized, micaized, and altered to epidote and 

zoisite; quartz, with hairlike crystals of rutile and cavities; biotite, some of it 

altered to chlorite. Accessory: Garnet, etc. Secondary: Kaolin, a white 

mica, epidote, zoisite, chlorite, calcite. There are two schist dikes already described on page 56. One on the north wall, 2 feet thick, strikes N. 65°-70° W. 

and dips 65° NNE.; another, farther south, 20 inches thick, strikes about 

northwest and is vertical. The sheets, 2 to 15 feet thick, are nearly horizontal 

at the north end of the quarry but dip 15°-20° at the south end. The sheets 

become irregular at the bottom. Vertical joints, strike north to N. 10° E., 

spaced 10 to 100 feet, form a heading on west side. One at the north end 

strikes N. 60° W. and dips curving 45°-50° SW.

Transportation, by track one-half mile to New York, New Haven & Hartford 

Railroad.

Product, specimens: John Hancock Insurance Co. Building, Federal Street, 

Boston; Amherst College Library, Amherst, Mass.; Chamber of Commerce, 

Rochester, N. Y.; customhouse, Wilmington, N. C.; E. T. Stotesbury residence, 

Chestnut Street, and Plaza Hotel, South Broad Street, Philadelphia; part of 

basement of National Museum and approaches to Lincoln Memorial, Washington.

The Norcross quarry is in Milford Township, nearly 2 miles northeast 

of Milford and about one-fourth mile east of the East quarry. (See fig. 81.) 

Operators, Dodds Bros., Milford. Idle since 1905.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 15, a) "Milford pink," is a biotite granite 

of light pinkish-gray color with more or less conspicuous black spots. The 

general color is like that of the granite in the East quarry, described on 

page 345, but is marked by light blood-reddish stains not over 0.25 inch across 

and an inch or two apart. Its texture is like that of the granite in the East 

quarry- The quartz grains measure up to 1.1 millimeters. Its constituents 

are also the same, but with the addition of red henratitic stains, which originate 

presumably in the oxidation of magnetite particles.

The quarry measured in 1906 175 feet from northeast to southwest by 100 

feet across and about 70 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, up to 15 feet thick, have a low north dip. 

Joints strike about northeast, dip over 50° NW., form the northwest and south-
MASSACHUSETTS. 349

tast walls. Another set with a similar strike clips 30°-45° SB., and is spaced 

£ to 10 feet. A third set strikes about north or diagonally to quarry and appears on the southwest wall. The rift is reported as better than at some of 

the other Milford quarries. Rusty stain is up to 2 feet thick.

The Massachusetts Pink quarry is in Milford Township, 2$ miles north of 

Milt'ord, at the north end of a low north-south ridge. (See fig. 81.) Idle since 

1914.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 21, b), "Milford pink," is a biotite 

granite of a very slightly pink-tinted light-gray color with conspicuous black 

spots. Its texture is.somewhat gneissoid, medium to coarse; in other respects 

and in mineral composition it closely resembles the stone of the Cutting 

quarry, described on page 344.

The quarry, opened in 1902, was in 1906 300 feet from east to west by 200 

feet across and' from 10 to 35 feet deep.

Rock structure: A schist dike, 2 feet thick, on the west side, striking N. 3° 

W. and dipping 55° B., has already been mentioned on page 56. The sheets, 

4 to 25 feet thick, dip low east. There are three sets of joints (a), strike 

N. 35° W., dip 65° E., spaced 100 feet; (b), strike N. 55°-608 E., dip 90°, 

spaced 30 feet; (c), strike N. 55° W., dip 40° W. The rift is reported as 

horizontal, and the grain as vertical from east to west. Rusty stain is up 

to 3 inches thick on the lower sheets.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to cutting shed at New York, New Haven & 

Hartford Railroad track.

The product is used for buildings, bridges, and mausoleums. Specimens: 

Bridge over Bronx River, Bronx Park, New York; Rochester Safe Deposit & 

Trust Co. Building, Rochester, N-. Y.; Bloomingdale mausoleum, Greenwood 

Cemetery, N. Y.; McKinley national memorial, Canton, Ohio.

The Hopkinton quarry is in Hopkinton, Middlesex County, a mile south 

of Hayden Row and about 3J miles north-northeast of Milford. (See fig. 81.) 

Idle since 1914.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 22, a) is a biotite granite of medium, 

slightly pinkish gray color with fine black specks. Its texture is even-grained, 

medium, with feldspars generally up to 0.4 inch and mica to 0.2 inch. It is 

thus pinker and finer grained than that of the Massachusetts Pink quarry. 

Its constituent minerals, in descending order of abundance, are a pinkish 

potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), inclosing particles of soda-lime 

feldspar and slightly kaolinized; faintly rose-colored granular quartz in particles up to 1.37 millimeters; a grayish or greenish-gray soda-lime feldspar 

(albite to oligoclase-albite), a little kaolinized and epidotized, with some 

white mica; biotite (black mica), some of its chloritized. Accessory: Garnet, 

magnetite, apatite, zircon, allanite (bordered with epidote). Secondary: 

Kaolin, epidote, zoisite, chlorite, a white mica.

The quarry in 1906 was 50 feet square and 25 feet deep.

Product: The Bishop mausoleum, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Tarrytown, N. Y.

The Maguire quarry is in Hopkinton, half a mile west of Echo Lake and 

3£ miles N. 5° W. of Milford. (See fig. 81.) Quarry idle.

The granite is a biotite granite of a very slightly pink-tinted light-gray color 

with conspicuous black spots. In texture and constituents it is reported as 

corresponding to the stone of the Cutting quarry, described on page 344.

The quarry, opened in 1906, measured then 300 by 100 feet and up to 15 f'M-t 

in depth.

The sheets are reported as dipping about 20° NE.
350 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to cutting shed on railroad siding.

The Echo Lake quarry is in Milford Township near the Hopkinton lineand Echo Lake, 3$ miles N. 5° E. of Milford. (See fig. 81.) Quarry idle.

The granite is a biotite granite of slightly pink tinted light-gray color, reported as a little more pinkish than that of the Cutting quarry, described on. 

page 344.

The quarry, opened in 1906, measured then 60 by 40 feet and up to 20 feet 

in depth.

The sheets are reported as dipping about 20° W., but irregular. A "soft 

heading" that is, a schist dike like that at the Cutting quarry, described on 

page 56^ is reported as forming the west side of the quarry, with a northnorthwest strike. ^

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to cutting shed on railroa'd siding.

The North Milford quarry is in Milford Township, 2$ miles about N. 7° W. 

of Milford and one-third mile southwest of the Massachusetts Pink quarry. 

(See fig. 81.) Operator, North Milford Granite .Co.-, Milford. Idle since 1908.

The granite is a biotite granite of very slightly pink-tinted light-gray color 

with conspicuous black spots. In texture and constituents it is identical with 

the stone of the Cutting quarry, described on page 344.

The quarry, opened in 1905, was in 1906 100 feet square and averaged 5 

feet in depth.

Rock structure: Owing to the irregularity of sheets this is a "boulder 

quarry." Vertical joints strike N. 80° E. and N. 25° E. The rift is reported 

as horizontal and the grain as vertical, with N. 80° E. course.

Transportation, by cart 2£ miles to New York, New Haven & Hartford and 

Boston & Albany railroads.

The product is used for construction. Specimens: The granite part of 

Redmond Bank Building, 31 Pine Street, and trimmings for tenements of 

Homes Suburban Co., One hundred and fifty-sixth Street, New York; trimmings for residence of Hennen Jennings, northeast corner of Massachusetts 

Avenue and Sheridan Circle, Washington. Quarry not operated in 1916.

The Carroll quarry is in Milford Townsh'p, If miles north of Milford and 

half a mile north-northwest of Cedar Swamp Pond. (See fig. 81.) Operator, 

Webb Pink Granite Co., 40 Crescent Street, Worcester. (Quarry designated 

Nbs. 4 and 5 by the company.) Now idle.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 18, b) is a biotite granite of light-gray 

shade with conspicuous black spots. This is the whitest of the Milford granites. 

Its texture is somewhat gneissoid, medium to coarse, with feldspars and mica 

up to 0.5 inch across and with finely granular quartz. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are cream-colored to palest-pink potash feldspar 

(orthoclase and microcline), with minutely intergrown soda-lime feldspar and1 

slightly kaolinized; clear, not bluish quartz in grains up to 0.5 millimeter, 

and with cavities some of which are in sheets; clear to cloudy, some very pale 

greenish soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), not a little kaolinized1 

and epidotized; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: 

Garnets (minute and usually in rows), apatite, fluorite, allanite (rimmed witb 

epidote), zircon. Magnetite and pyrite not observed. Secondary: Kaolin, 

epidote, zoisite, chlorite, calcite, white mica.

The following analysis of this granite, made for the company by Robert C. 

Sweetzer, of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in 1905, is given here for 

reference:
MASSACHUSETTS. 351 

Analysis of granite from the Carroll quarry, Milford, Mass.

Silica (SiO2 )____________________________ 76.52 

Alumina ; (A12O3 ) __________________________ 12. 21 

Iron oxide (FeO)_________________________ 2.66 

Lime (CaO)_____________________________ .79 

Magnesia (MgO)_____ ____________________ .13 

Potash (K2 0)___________________________ 4.68 

Soda (NaiO)____________________________ 2.86 

Water (H2 0)___________________________ .41

3.00. 26 

Specific gravity 2.633.

The quarry, opened in 1905, measured in 1906 about 500 by 200 feet and up 

to 30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 15 feet thick, undulate horizontally. 

The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical, with N. 65° E. 

course. Joints (a), strike N. 60° W., dip 90°, spaced 10 to 60 feet; (b), strike 

N. 20° E., dip 90°, form headings at the northwest and southeast sides and in 

'the middle; (c), strike N. 80° W., dip 45° S., one in the middle and another 

25 feet east of it. Rusty stain is 2 inches thick on sheet surfaces.

The product of this quarry is combined with that of the next.

The Webb quarries Nos. 7 and 8 are in Milford Township, 2 miles north 

of Milford. (See fig. 81.) Operator, Webb Pink Granite Co., 40 Crescent 

Street, Worcester. Quarry idle.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 17, a, b), "Milford pink" is a biotite 

granite of medium pinkish and greenish-gray color, with black spots which are 

not as conspicuous as those of the stone in the Carroll and Cutting quarries. 

Its texture is even-grained, medium, with feldspars up to 0.4 inch and mica 

up to 0.2 inch in diameter and finely granular quartz. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are a delicate pink potash feldspar (orthoclase 

and microcline), minutely intergrown with soda-lime feldspar and with quartz 

and more or less kaolinized; a very faintly bluish finely granular quartz with 

cavities some of which are in sheets; a yellow-greenish to clear soda-lime feldspar (albite to oligoclase-albite), generally kaolinized and epidotized also with 

some scales of white mica and chlorite; biotite (black mica). Accessory: 

Magnetite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, epidote, zoisite, chlorite, a 

white mica.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method with i-inch 

mesh and total linear length of 46.5 inches yields these results: Feldspar, 55.91; 

quartz, 35.66; biotite, 8.43.

W. T. Schaller, chemist, of this Survey, extracted from an average specimen of 

this granite, by means of hot dilute acetic acid, 0.04 per cent of CaO (lime), 

which indicates the presence of 0.07 per cent of CaC03 (calcium carbonate, 

calcite). This lime is of course irrespective of that combined with silica in 

the oligoclase feldspar and epidote.

The stone, takes a fair polish, but the mica particles are sufficiently large to 

detract from the durability of the polish in prolonged outdoor exposure.

The quarry, opened in 1905, measured in 1906 about 250 by 200 feet and up 

to 30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: A flow structure, shown by biotitic streaks, strikes N. 40° 

W. and dips 50° NE. The sheets, 5 to 12 feet thick, are horizontal in irregular 

undulations. Joints (a), strike N. 40° W., dip 90°, spaced 3 to 10 feet; (b),
352 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

strike N. 15° E., dip 75° E., recur at an interval of 8 and one of 50 feet, The rift 

is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical, with an east-west course.

Transportation from these quarries, by tracks 3,750 feet to sidings of New 

York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

Product, specimens from all this company's quarries except the next: Union 

Station, Baltimore; courthouse and municipal building, Wilmington, Del.; 

Commercial National Bank, Chicago; Cuyahoga courthouse, Cleveland, Ohio; 

John Hancock Building No. 2, Boston; new post office, New York.

The Webb No. 10 quarry is in Milford Township, two-thirds mile east 

of the northern part of Cedar Swamp Pond. (See fig. 81.) Operator, Webb 

Pink Granite Co., 40 Crescent Street, Worcester. Idle since 1917.

The granite, " Milford pink," is reported as resembling in color that of the 

East quarry, described on page 345, but with a somewhat finer texture, the 

bjotite spots being more sparse and less elongated so as to have practically the 

Same appearance on rift, grain, and hardway faces.

The quarry is about 300 by 100 feet, with a working face of 30 feet, part 

above and part below the ground level.

Product: This quarry supplied the granite for the Freer Art Collections 

Building of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

TJXBKIDOE.

The Uxbridge quarries are 8 miles southwest of Milford and nearly 15 miles 

south-southeast of Worcester. (See map, PI. XXIII.)

The granite of Uxbridge is in an area about 17$ by 10 miles designated on 

the map of Bulletin 597 " Northbridge granite gneiss (porphyritic granite largely 

crushed to gneiss) " and referred doubtfully to the Archean. .(See pp. 155, 

156 of that bulletin.^

The Blanchard quarries are in Uxbr'dge Township, about 1$ miles westnorthwest of Uxbridge s'.ation and 1J miles south-southeast of Whitinsville. 

(See Blackstone topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Operator, Blanchard 

Bros. Granite Co., Linwood.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 

114, d, e), "Uxbridge," is a biotite 

granite gneiss of light to medium gray 

shade (light gray on rift face and medium gray on hard-way face) and of 

medium porphyritic, elongated gneissic 

texture, with feldspars up to 0.4 inch 

(exceptionally 0.5 inch) and laminae of 

quartz and mica up to 0.1 inch wide, 

alternating with laminae of feldspar 

up to 0.3 inch wide. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are 

light-buff potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase), slightly micacjzed; 

light smoky quartz with cavities in 

parallel and rectangular sheets; milkwhite soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase); 

biotite (black mica); and a little musAccessory: Magnetite, apatite, purple fluorite. SeeEffervesces slightly with muFIGDRE 84. Structure at Blanchard quarries, Uxbridge, Mass.

covite or bleached biotite.

ondary: Carbonate, epidote, kaolin, muscovite.

riatic-acid test.

This gneiss resembles that of Sterling, Conn., and is a useful constructional 

stone.
MASSACHUSETTS. 353

The quarries, begun in 1864, consist of two openings. The larger in 1910 

measured 300 by 200 feet and 20 to 50 feet deep, and the smaller, triangular 

in area, 100 feet on a side and 60 feet deep in the center.

Rock structure: As sheet structure is absent this is a " boulder quarry." 

The courses of the joints, foliation, etc., are shown in figure 84. Joint set (A), 

dip 77° S. 38° W., spaced 5 to 40 feet; (B), dip 30° N. 45°-60° E., spaced 3 to 

20 feet; (C), dip 55° S. 72° W., spaced 10 to 60 feet. The foliation dips 35° N. 

70° B. The rift dips 10°-15° N. 20° E., and the grain and hard way are vertical. 

Aplite dikes are 2 inches to 3 feet thick. Pegmatite dikes of banded quartz 

and feldspar (described on p. 51) parallel to joints (C) are up to 3 feet thick, 

and an amphibolite dike (described on p. 54) parallel to joints (B) is 6 to 18 

inches thick. The amount of sap varies greatly. Some blocks are free from it, 

some are all stained, on others it is a foot thick.

Transportation, by private siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford 

Railroad, 1$ miles.

LEOMINSTER.

The Leavitt quarry is in Leominster Township, 2 miles west of that village 

and about 400 feet aboye it. (See Fitchburg topographic map, U. S. Geol. 

Survey, and PI. XXIII.) It was last operated in 1916 by L. F. Burrage, of 

Leoministcr, but is now disused.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 110, a), "Leominister," is a mica diorite 

of dark bluish-gray color (between " Barre dark" and " Quincy extra dark") 

and of very fine, even-grained texture, with particles under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light-grayish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine) ; biotite (black mica), with rare muscovite or 

bleached biotite; and very light smoky quartz. Accessory: Titanite (fourth 

in order of abundance), plentiful apatite needles, zircon crystals in strings, also 

branching, and pyrite. Secondary: Carbonate, chlorite. It effervesces with 

muriatic-acid test.

This is a handsome fine-grained dark stone, suitable for monuments or buildings. It ought to hammer light.

The quarry, opened in 3870, measured in 1910 300 feet north and south by 

200 feet across and 5 to 30 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 5 feet thick, but mostly under 18 

inches, dip 20° E. There are two sets of joints (a), vertical, strike N. 80° 

E., forms the south wall; (b), vertical, strike N. 5° E., dip steeply east to 90°, 

forms the eaat and west walls. The rift is parallel to the sheets, and the 

grain vertical north to south. The quarry is crossed diagonally by a large 

ramifying dike of banded aplite and pegmatite, described on page 45, a horizontal section of which is shown in figure 2. Minor dikes of aplite and also 

of. pegmatite intersect the main dike. One 4 feet 6 inches thick is on the west 

wall. The diorite also has here and there white feldspar " knots" up to 1.5 

inches across.

Transportation, by cart 2£ miles to Leominister station.

The product was used for buildings, trimmings, curbing, flagging, and foundations. Specimens: Haws Memorial Chapel, Evergreen Cemetery; trimmings to 

Mayo and Jones blocks, Leominister; trimmings to Acre School, Clinton, Mass.

FITCHBURG.

On the geologic map of Bulletin 597 the granite of Rollstone Hill," a mile 

west of Fitchburg station, is in an area extending from the vicinity of Worcester

64 This hill takes its name from a glacial boulder, 10 by 8 feet, of porphyritic granite 

with 3-inch feldspars, resting on its summit.

105709 23 24
354 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

to and beyond the New Hampshire line, designated " Fitchburg granite (white 

muscovite-biotite granite)" .and regarded by Emerson as of late Carboniferous 

or post-Carboniferous age.'5

The McCauliff quarry is on the west side of Rollstone Hill in Fitchburg, 

a mile a little south of west of the Boston & Maine Railroad station. (See 

Fitchburg topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey, and PL XXIII.) Operator, 

B. F. McCauliff Quarry Co. (Inc.), Fitchburg.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 107, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss 

of light to medium bluish-gray color and of gneissic medium texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.3 inch and micas up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase); light smoky quartz, finely granulated (particles under 

0.37 millimeter), with rutile needles and cavities; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), kaolinized and micacized; muscovite (white mica) 

and fibrous muscovite in stringers; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Garnet, apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, white mica, epidote, 

chlorite. No effervescence with muriatic acid test.

This is a constructional granite gneiss of bright mineral contrasts.

The quarry, opened about 1865, is triangular in area, measuring in 1910 

about 450 feet on its north side and 175 feet on its east side, which are the 

working faces, and 10 to 20 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, horizontal at the northeast 

corner of the quarry, dip away radially to an angle of 15° in its lower part. 

There are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 75° W. to N. 75° B., dip 65° about 

south, spaced 3 to 20 feet, forms the north wall, and the joints are tight and 

ferruginous; (6), vertical, strike N. 5° W., only a few; (c), strike N. 60° E., 

dip 75° S. 30° B., spaced 12 feet and over, few and loose; (d), strike, N. 20° W., 

dip 45° S. 70° W., three only, 20 to 150 feet apart. The gneiss foliation strikes 

N. 10° E. and dips 55° N. 80° W. The rift is horizontal and the grain vertical, 

with N. 80° E. course. There are a number of pegmatite dikes up to 4 inches 

thick, with black tourmaline dipping 45° about north and spaced 15 feet and 

over. Some of these dikes meander and combine. One is faulted along a 

N. 20° E. plane. Another has a 0.5 inch central band of smoky quartz and 

borders of feldspar and tourmaline. The stone is generally sound except near 

the main joints and for 2 or 3 inches along sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart one-eighth mile to railroad s.'ding.

The best of the product is used for base courses, the seconds for curbing 

and paving, and the waste for concrete. Specimen: First story of high school, 

Fitchburg.

The Litchfield quarry is on the southwest side of Rollstone Hill in Fitchburg, nearly a mile west-southwest of the Boston & Maine. Railroad station. 

(See Fitchburg topographic map, U. S. Geol. Survey, and PI. XXIII.) Operator, B. F. McCauliff, Fitchburg.

The granite is identical with that of the McCauliff quarry.

The quarry, opened in 1875, is triangular in area, 700 feet in a northerly 

direction by 200 feet and 75 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 6 feet, some 15 feet thick, curve 

gently westward from the top of the hill. There is but one set of joints, 

strike N. 70° E., dip 45° S. 20° E., two only, 50 feet apart, discontinuous. 

Foliation, rift, and grain are as at the McCauliff "quarry. Pegmatite dikes 

up to 6 inches dip 50° NE.; at the southeast end is one, 2 feet thick, of 

smoky quartz, feldspar, muscovite, and black tourmaline. Some of these dikes

68 See Bull. 597, pp. 231-233, and on the minerals of Rollstone Hill, p. 237.
CONNECTICUT. 355

are very micaceous, becoming the " sand seams " of quarrymen. The " sap " 

is 6 inches thick on the top sheets.

The product is used for dimension stone, curbing, and paving. The smallest 

size from the crusher is used for graveling roofs. Specimens: Wallace Way, 

steps and buttresses to high school, and most of the stone in Episcopal Church 

chapel, Fitchburg.

The Godbeer quarry is on the northeast side of Rollstone Hill, in Fitchburg, 

about three-fourths mile west of the Boston & Maine Railroad station. 

Quarry no longer operated. Last operator, Henry Godbeer, Fitchburg.

The granite is identical with that of the McCauliff quarry.

The quarry in 1910 measured 250 feet in a northeast direction by 200 feet 

across and 5 to 10 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, dip 20° NE. Their variation 

in thickness is due to incomplete formation. There are three sets of joints 

(a), vertical, strike N. 40°-60° E., spaced 10 to 20 feet, has rusty faces; (b), 

strike N. 80° E., dip 55° S. 10° E., few; (c), strike N. 60° W., dip 40° S. 40° 

W., few.

Transportation, by cart half a mile to railroad siding.

The product was used for building and curbing. Specimen: Third story of 

Moran Building, Fitchburg.

CONNECTICUT. 

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.6"1

By H. E. GKEGOKY. 

OUTLINE OF GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.

Whether the area now occupied by Connecticut was land or sea 

at the beginning of geologic time is unknown. It is probable, how^ 

ever, that some of the gneisses and schists antedate the appearance 

of life on the earth. Unfortunately no fossils have been found in 

the older rocks of the State, and all that can be said with assurance 

regarding the age of these formations is that they were in existence 

long prior to Triassic time. Pre-Cambrian time is believed to be 

represented by the Becket gneiss, which outcrops over wide areas in 

northern Litchfield County. This rock is, however, so profoundly 

changed that it is impossible to determine with accuracy the original 

from which the present complex mass was derived. The limestone 

and marbles of Canaan and Danbury were probably deposited in 

Cambro-Ordovician time, and the material forming these rocks is 

believed to have been furnished by high land masses located east of 

the Rhode Island border lands which long ago disappeared.

Mn The sections on the geologic history of Connecticut, the distribution of Its granites 

and gneisses, and the nature and age of its granitic Intrusions are reproduced from U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 484.
356 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The geologic history of the immensely long time represented by 

the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous ages has not yet been 

completely deciphered. Whether rocks belonging to these ages exist 

in western Connecticut is unknown, but the metamorphosed equivalents of Carboniferous sediments are represented in the eastern part 

of the State. Though much doubt exists regarding the Paleozoic 

sedimentary record, there is abundant evidence for the statement that 

at frequent intervals during these ages igneous intrusions occurred. 

Masses of igneous rock, which occur as minute dikes and sheets, may 

be considered as remnants of larger masses, which were poured out 

on the surface or hidden beneath the overlying strata.

Moreover, an examination of the schists' and gneisses of the State 

reveals the fact that all rocks older than the Triassic sandstone have 

been involved in movements within the earth's crust and have accordingly been so much metamorphosed as to destroy all fossils 

which they may have contained and to modify the rocks themselves 

beyond recognition. The dates when these far-reaching changes 

took place are believed to coincide with the mountain-making epochs 

marking the close of. Ordovician and of Carboniferous time. The 

extent of these changes and their fundamental character are revealed 

by a study of the metamorphic rocks of the State.

These rocks are chiefly schists and gneisses, and accordingly have structures 

indicating that they have been profoundly changed from their original sedi-. 

mentary or igneous character. The original component minerals have been 

rearranged, stretched, and drawn out in lines; new minerals have been 

produced; parts have been fused and recrystallized. Instead of horizontal 

layers or uniform igneous masses, we find twisted and broken rock with layers, 

bands, and ribbon structures in every conceivable position. Moreover, this 

tangle of structure is further complicated by the presence of dikes, seams, and 

veins which have made their way into the rock at different stages of its history. In looking at this confused mass of rock which forms the Connecticut 

crystallines it seems apparent that it has taken part in manifold changes which 

went on in the earth's crust for ages.56

The mountains and plateaus of Carboniferous time were worn 

down during Triassic time, and the materials of which they were 

composed have gone to make the sandstone of central Connecticut. 

The amount of rock removed from Connecticut prior to Triassic time 

may be judged from the appearance of the rock immediately underlying the Mesozoic strata. The structure of the schists which form 

the floor of the Triassic is such as can be produced only at depths a 

mile or possibly several miles below the earth's surface. We may be 

reasonably sure, therefore, that mountains of folded strata once 

occupied Connecticut and that the granites and gneisses and schists 

which we see are but the stumps of lofty land masses " rivaling the 

Alps in height and ruggedness."

M Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 6, p. 80.
CONNECTICUT. 357

During the formation of the conglomerates, sandstones, and 

shales a time proved by dinosaur and fish remains to be Triassic 

lava was poured out over central Connecticut and possibly over the 

entire State. Remains of these flows of basalt now stand as a ridge 

separating the valleys of Farmington and Connecticut rivers. During Cretaceous time the highlands were lowered and the entire 

surface was reduced practically to a plain sloping from northwest 

to southeast, and the Cretaceous sediments now exhibited on Long 

Island probably also covered southern Connecticut. This plain 

(peneplain) formed during Cretaceous time was uplifted during 

early Tertiary time, and the streams were thereby given greatereroding power and began at once to deepen and widen their valleys. 

Continued erosion during the millions of years comprehended in 

Tertiary time resulted in giving to Connecticut the larger features 

of valley and hill, highland and lowland, which exist at the present 

time.

During the Pleistocene ("glacial") epoch the surface features of 

Connecticut were again remodeled. The more prominent erosion 

forms of Tertiary time remained, but the details of the scenery were 

completely changed. Hills were rounded off, valleys were filled, and 

the entire State was covered with a mantle of glacial debris. Drainage lines were rearranged and the lakes, swamps, and bogs so characteristic of the State were formed. Decomposed rock and " rotten 

rock " were largely removed from the ledges, leaving fresh rock near 

the surface. This last-mentioned result of glaciation is of interest 

to quarrymen, as the expense and difficulty of procuring commercial 

stone have thereby been greatly lessened.

DISTRIBUTION OF GRANITE AND GNEISSES IN CONNECTICUT.

The areas of granite gneiss in Connecticut are shown on the map 

forming Plate XXVIII. The true granites qccur in masses so small 

that they are not shown on this map. In fact, unchanged granite 

occupies probably less than one-half of 1 per cent of the 4,990 square 

miles of the State. It will be noticed that the granite gneisses occur 

either as long, narrow bands, as illustrated by the Glastonbury and 

Monson gneisses, in larger areas of irregular outline like the Sterling 

and Becket gneisses, or in rock masses surrounded entirely by schist, 

as at Bristol and Collinsville. As all of the granite gneisses of the 

State are adapted for use as structural material, and some of them 

also for road metal, and as those who are interested in the quarry 

industry may wish to examine these various types of granite gneiss, 

the following brief description is given of the more important formations.67

67 Abstracted from Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 7, pp. 33-38.
358 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Becket gneiss. Is light gray in color, of firm texture, and has a uniform 

banded structure. In many places the rock is highly quartzose and granular. 

The formation includes many veins of quartz and pegmatite. Supposed to be of 

pre-Cambrian age.

Prospect porphyritic gneiss. Is light gray in color. The gneissoid appearance 

is produced by bands of granular quartz and feldspar interbedded with layers 

compose^ ch'efly of biotite. The porphyritic mineral is usually orthoclase, 

white or pink in color, varying from one-sixteenth inch to 3 inches in length. 

The rock is believed to have been a granite porphyry intruded into the Hartland 

schist.

Bristol granite gneiss. Typical rock is light gray, with gneisso'd structure 

more or less developed by the presence of layers of biotite; more schistose layers 

contain muscovite. An evenly banded hornblende gneiss occupies part of the 

area. Garnet is nearly everywhere present and in places rises to the rank of a 

principal mineral. The rock was originally a mass of granite and diorite intruded into Hartland schist.

Coltinsville granite gneiss. Two types appear intermingled without order, a 

light gray, heavy-bedded rock, grading into massive granite, and a very dark 

gray to black variety, which grades by imperceptible stages into evenly banded 

hornblende gneiss. The rock consists of feldspar, largely orthoclase, quartz in 

irregular grains, and biotite. Was originally granite and diorite intruded into 

Hartland schist.

Brookfield diorite. Is usually massive, but shows also gneissoid and even 

schistose phases. Both light and dark types are present, the former containing 

much quartz, and in extreme cases no dark mineral except biotite. The dark 

variety shows an almost complete absence of quartz, and in its place dark hornblende. It is an igneous mass intruded into the quartzite and schists of this 

region.

Danbury granodiorite gneiss. The rock presents two important facies a 

biotite granite and a diorite in which hornblende becomes an important constituent and quartz is less prominent. There are gradations between the two 

types. It is prevailingly porphyritic, with pink or white phenocrysts of feldspar, 

is igneous in origin, and was intruded prior to the time when metamorphic 

action converted igneous and sedimentary rocks alike into gneisses and schists.

Thomaston granite gneiss. Rock varies in structure from an almost massive 

granite to a rock with distinctly schistose phases. It is of igneous origin, as 

shown by the fact that itt often occurs as dikes, and fragments of other rocks 

are included in it.

Cflastonbury granite gneiss. Two types a granite biotite gneiss or a biotite 

granite, in a narrow band along the eastern border, and a darker, well foliated 

gneiss, with biotite, hornblende, and epidote, in the remainder of the area. Both 

massive and schistose phases sometimes become augen gneiss. Believed to be of 

igneous origin.

Monson granite gneiss. Where typically exposed, the rock is a fine-grained, 

dark-gray, uniform biotite-hornblende gneiss, marked at short intervals by 

parallel seams of quartz, and with bands of biotite and hornblende. It is 

believed to be of igneous origin.

Eastford granite gneiss. In general, a light or dark gray gneiss, fine grained, 

or in places even porphyritic. The composition and texture show the rock to 

be of igneous origin.

Sterling granite gneiss. The rock is pink or gray in tone, and is made up of 

two distinct types a porphyritic gneiss with an abundance of biotite along 

foliation planes, and an aplite or granite gneiss practically free from mica.
CONNECTICUT. 359

The porphyritic type is always highly gneissoid and the phenocrysts of pink 

feldspar are drawn out into lenticular forms. Where phenocrysts are absent 

the rock shades into a normal granite, which is intermediate between the two 

above-mentioned types. The aplitic type is probably a later intrusion than the 

porphyritic and normal types. Origin, igneous.

Willimantic gneiss. In general, the rock is coarse grained and often porphyritic in structure, usually considerably crumpled and folded. There are two 

varieties, the light and the dark. The light variety consists of quartz, feldspar, and biotite, in the proportions of a normal granite. The dark variety 

contains a relatively smaller amount of feldspar and quartz, with a larger 

amount of biotite and some hornblende. Origin, igneous.

Canterbury granite gneiss. The formation consists essentially of a muscovite-biotite gneiss, varying in texture from a fine, even-grained rock to a 

porphyry with feldspars a quarter of an inch or so in length. Metamorphism 

has produced irregular wavy bands of biotite separated by flattened layers of 

quartz and feldspar. Origin, igneous.

Maromas granite gneiss. It is in some places massive, but usually well 

foliated. Composition is that of a normal granite. (See Sterling granite 

gneiss.) This rock is eruptive and is intruded into the Bolton schist.

Haddam granite gneiss. It is a light-colored, rather fine-grained, granitic 

aggregate of quartz and feldspar, through which are scattered small isolated 

flakes of biotite. In the outcrops the rock is a moderately thick-bedded gneiss. 

Origin, igneous.

Branford granite gneiss. The rock is a medium-grained granite with a 

banded structure, consisting very largely of white feldspar. In the feldspars 

are embedded small round quartz grains, and biotite is also present in about 

equal amount. Small reddish garnets commonly occur, but may fail entirely. 

The rock has a pronounced tendency to weather, with a brownish stain on the 

cleavage surfaces of the feldspar. Origin, igneous.

Stony Creek granite gneiss. See Sterling granite gneiss.

Lyme granite gneiss. See Sterling granite gneiss.

New London granite gneiss. See Sterling granite gneiss.

Mamacoke gneiss. The rocks occupying the larger areas of this formation 

are decidedly gneissic, sometimes containing much biotite, and more rarely 

hornblende, and are frequently granitic in appearance. The typical rock is 

uniformly medium grained, light to dark gray in color, and consists of white 

feldspar and quartz, with brilliant black mica, and sometimes small amounts 

of hornblende and garnet. The dark minerals constitute about one-third of 

the rock, but the range in both directions is considerable, in one case giving 

rise to a biotite gneiss, in the other a granitic one. Origin, igneous.

NATURE AND AGE OF THE GRANITIC INTRUSIONS OF CONNECTICUT.

The stages of the process whereby the granite masses of Connecticut have attained their present form are not altogether understood. 

It is, however, certain, as stated above, that the granites and granite 

gneisses have been revealed by the removal of overlying material; 

and if we assume erosion to have proceeded much farther and an 

additional thousand feet or so to have been removed from the rocks 

of the State we should find that, instead of the limited areas of
360 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

granite gneiss and the few patches of granite now exposed, large 

areas of granite surrounded by gneisses and schists would exist.

There are several ways in which molten rock may find its way into 

strata already existing. It may be actually forced into other rocks 

in such a way as to crowd them apart or to lift them bodily. On 

the other hand, the molten massi which later becomes granite may 

work its way quietly into the surrounding rock, melting and assimilating the overlying strata. This is believed to be the method of 

intrusion by which the Connecticut granites were formed, and a 

mass like the Stony Creek granite gneiss or the Sterling granite 

gneiss is to be considered as merely surface portions of igneous intrusions which extend to great depth. It is quite likely, as previously 

stated, that some of these granite areas represent deep-seated portions of volcanoes from which at one time granitic lavas were poured 

out over the State. If auch lava flows ever existed all traces of them 

have been removed by the erosion of thousands of feet of rock.

The Bristol and Collinsville granite gneisses represent another 

type of intrusion. In both these localities the Hoosac (" Hartland ") 

schist is seen to lap up over the granitic rock, and the gneiss exposed 

shows evidence of being near the top of the original igneous mass.

It is generally supposed that the granites, and particularly the 

granite gneisses of Connecticut, date from the earliest geologic ages 

that, in fact, they represent " parts of the original earth's crust," 

and this popular view coincides with the opinion expressed by geologists who have not studied the occurrence of these rocks in detail; but 

there is little to justify this view of the great age of most of the 

granitic rocks. With the possible exception of the Becket gneiss, 

no gneisses in Connecticut are regarded as of pre-Cambrian age, 

and the fact that the Sterling granite gneiss cuts metamorphosed 

Carboniferous sediments make it unnecessary to ascribe a date 

earlier than the Carboniferous for most of the intrusives in the 

eastern part of the State.

The last of the great earth movements that gave the structure to 

the metamorphic rocks of Connecticut occurred, presumably, at the 

close of Carboniferous time, and though the structure of some of 

the granite gneisses indicates that they have been subjected to more 

than one series of earth movements, the structure of others may be 

explained on the theory that they have passed through only one 

period of metamorphism. For example, the gneissoid character of 

the Sterling granite gneiss is believed to date from post-Carboniferous time. If this hypothesis is correct, the igneous gneisses are, 

in part at least, younger than the schists with which they are associated. The granites which are little or not at all metamorphosed 

are probably of two periods, th« first coincident with the movements 

which produced the gneissoid and schistose structure in the rocks,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XXVIII

30' 15' 73

-42°

EXPLANATION 

- - - MAS SACHtlSJETTP --

\fffKtfSA t?"ff"**it

Prospect iporphyritic gneiss

.

. Bristol granite gneiss

ColHiisville granite gnei

T]

Monson granite gneiss

LJ!

Eastford granite gneiss

Maromas granire gne 

3

Biotite or biotite-muscovite granite gneiss 

{Foliation more, or lexx obscure)

/ 2 ft QnartB monzonite (Monumental)

^7" Extracted from Bulletin 6 of the Connecticut Geologic

- - - and Natural History Survey, 190^- Some of the above r-- ; y ^---_> 

-"""..._. formation names conflict with names applied to the same (

- ,.---. rocks in adjoining States and will probably be in part -l:-P -,

abandoned. Their retention in this economic bulletin ' -- / - ------

does not imply their adoption by the United States 

. Geological Survey. Both names and geologic boundaries 

_ are subject to extensive revision.

Granite gneiss with biotite or with mttscovite 

besides (Foliation marked)

ia diorite gneiss (Constructional) 

5 X Granite gneiss with biotite and hornblende 

{J ^ Breakwater granite gneiss

2 7 5C .35girite granite gneiss (Curbing, trimming) 

igmatite, bintite yraniie

72"

Base map adapted from map by 

H. E. Gregory and H H Robinson PRELIMINARY GEOLOGIC AND ECONOMIC MAP OF CONNECTICUT

Scale

loMles

\

SCO BALTIMORe,MD
CONNECTICUT. 361

and the second at some later date. This second date of intrusion is 

proved by the fact that the massive granites have not been subjected 

to the pressure which produced the gneisses and that they cut into 

and through the granite gneisses. Occasionally, moreover, fragments 

of gneiss are included in the granite itself. The descriptions of 

Stony Creek granite gneiss and Westerly granite (pp. 377, 406, and 

415) make this relationship clear. The relative age of the various 

granites and gneisses may be stated as follows: The granite gneisses 

intruded into the ancient sediments are the oldest. The less metamorphosed granites come next; the pegmatites were formed at the 

same time as the granites or at a slightly later date, and dikes of 

granite were intruded after most of the pegmatites were formed. 

For instance, part of the granite quarried at Westerly is intrusive 

in pegmatites, granite, and granite gneiss alike and appears to be 

the latest formed rock in southeastern Connecticut.

s GRANITE QUARRIES OF CONNECTICUT.

The locations of the quarries are shown on the geologic map (PI. XXVIII) by 

symbols.

FAIRFIELD COUNTY. 

BRIDGEPORT.

The Burlison or Parsons quarry is in Bridgeport Township, on the Trumbull Road, about 750 feet south of the Trumbull line and about 3£ miles northnortheast of the Bridgeport railroad station. Owner, G. Lewis Bill, Park Gardens, Bridgeport. Quarry disused since 1913, but not abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 40 a) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss of 

medium bluish-gray color and fine-grained gneissic texture, with finely laminated, unplicated foliation, its particles being under 0.2 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are translucent bluish potash feldspar (rnicrocline and orthoclase), clear colorless quartz, translucent bluish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), muscovite (white mica), and biotite (black mica). 

Accessory: Zircon, apatite. Secondary: White mica and calcite, but not enough 

to effervesce with muriatic-acid test.

Owing to its foliaceous texture the stone looks very different on its rift, grain, 

and hardway sides, and the muscovite gives its rift face a brilliant sheen.

The quarry measured in 1908 about 100 by 50 feet and 25 to 30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 30° E. and is vertical. The 

sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick, dip 25° NE. and are in places horizontal. There 

are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 50° W., dip 40°-50° NE., spaced 3 to 40 

feet; (b), strike N. 55° W., dip 60° SW., forms a heading at the north-northeast wall, one 50 feet south of it, and a third at the south-southwest wall; (c). 

strike about north, dip steep east, forms a heading on west side. The rift seems 

to correspond to the foliation (N. 30° E., vertical), the grain to be horizontal, 

and the hardway vertical, N. 50° W. Pegmatite occurs parallel to the foliation.

Transportation, by cart.

The product was used for cellars, walls, and trimmings, for which its even 

'foliation well adopts it. Specimen: Trimmings of Bridgeport railway station.
362 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

DANBTTRY.

The Treadwell prospect is in Danbury Township, If miles north-northwest 

of the Danbury railroad station, on a ridge east of the Padanaram road, on 

the farm of Stephen B. Treadwell.

The granite is an unevenly banded fine-grained dark to medium pinkish gray 

biotite gneiss. It consists of pinkish and milk-white feldspar, smoky quartz, 

and black mica.

Stone has been quarried for underpinning, off and on for years, from small 

openings 250 and 500 feet east of the house.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 45°-55° W. and dips 50° 

NE. to 90°. It is injected with pegmatite. The ledges are probably extensive, 

but concealed by a thin cover of gravel and clay.

GREENWICH.

The Voorhis quarry is in Greenwich Township at the head of Byram 

Harbor, a mile southwest of the Greenwich railroad station. (See map, fig. 85.) 

Quarry abandoned since 1908.

The "Greenwich" blue-black granite (specimen D, XXX, 43, a) is a mica 

diorite gneiss of extremely dark bluish-gray color (darker than " Quincy extra

dark ") and of coarse pdrphyritic gneissic textuie, with feldspars, mostly 

twins, forming lenses up to 2 by 0.4 

inch, but mostly not over 1 by 0.3 inch, 

and clown to 0.3 by 0.1 inch. The long 

axes of these lenses are parallel to the 

rock foliation and the plane between 

the twin crystals is nearly so. The 

constituents of the rock, named in descending order of abundance, are medium translucent bluish-gray sodalime feldspar (andesine, with possibly 

oligoclase-andesine). some in large 

twins, a little rnicacized and kaolinizecl; biotite (black mica) ; clear colorpotash feldspar (microcline) ;

Contour interval -10 feet

FIGURE 85. Map of part of Greenwich,

Conn., showing location of granite (dio- ]e colorless quartz . and green hornrite gneiss) quarnes. 42, Hitch; 43, , ' ,,° ... Voorhis; 47, Christiano, Oak Ridge; 48, blende- Accessory: Pynte, titanite, 

Christiano, Hamilton Avenue. apatite, allanite, zircon; the three first

in some abundance. Secondary: Epidote, kaolin, a white mica, calcite. The rock effervesces slightly with muriaticacid test.

Two tests of the ultimate transverse strength of this granite made at the 

United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in November, 1896, on pieces 15 

inches long between supports, yielded these results:

Results of transverse tests of " Greenunch" blue-black granite and Quincy

granite.

Greenwich.........................................

Do............................................

Quincy ............................................

Test No.

9762

9763

9765

Breadth.

Inches. 

1.01

1.02

1.01

Depth.

Inches. 

1.02

1.02

1.02

Breaking 

weight.

Pounds. 

152

177

177

Modulus of 

rupture.

Pounds. 

03,257'

03.757

2,164

Average modulus of rupture of Greenwich granite, 3,507 pounds.
CONNECTICUT. 363

The rock is exceedingly tough under the hammer. It is dark yet brilliant, 

and the contrasts between its black mica and bluish-gray feldspars are very 

marked and pleasing. Its apparent texture and shade differ on its three sides. 

The side parallel to the foliation, showing hardly any feldspar, is black; the 

side at right angles to the foliation and parallel to the long axes of the lenses 

shows the feldspar most conspicuously; and the side transverse to those axes 

shows the light and dark minerals more evenly mixed. A structure built of 

the stone set on the edge of its foliation would be almost black. Its appearance would differ somewhat according as the grain face or the hard-way face 

were alone exposed, and if the stones were laid promiscuously, without regard 

to texture, the effect would be still different.

The quarry, opened before 1833, measured in 1908 about 500 feet from north 

to south by 200 feet across and 50 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 15°-20° E. and is vertical. 

The sheets, 1 to 35 feet thick, strike N. 80° W., dip 20° S., and are mostly 

separated by small aplite dikes. One set of joints only; strike N. 65° W., dip 

vertical or very steep and slickensided. The rift is reported as parallel to 

the foliation; the grain as vertical, with N. 80° W. course; and the hardway 

horizontal. Small dikes of aplite (described on p. 44) run parallel to the foliation and also undulate horizontally.

Transportation, by cart 500 feet to a wharf admitting schooners of 6$ feet 

draft at high tide.

The product was used for buildings and massive structures, and the waste 

for riprap. Specimens: Fort Schuyler, Throgs Neck, Long Island Sound; 

physicians' quarters at south end of Blackwells Island, East River; Episcopal 

Church, Port Washington, Long Island; residence of C. J. Osborn, Mamaroneck, N. Y.; wall about Trinity Cemetery, One hundred and fifty-third Street 

and Broadway, New York City.

The Bitch quarry is in Greenwich Township, on the west side of Byram 

Harbor, 1£ miles southwest of Greenwich railroad station. (See map, fig. 85, 

p. 362.) Operators, W. & S. Ritch, Port Chester, N. Y. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 42, a, b), "Greenwich" blue-black granite, 

is a mica diorite gneiss of extremely dark bluish-gray color and coarse porphyritic gneissic texture identical with that of the Voorhis quarry, described above.

The quarry in 1908 was about 200 feet square, with working faces 15-40 feet 

high on the north, south, and west.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 20° E. and dips 90°. The 

sheets, 2 to 3 feet thick and generally separated by thin aplite dikes, dip 25° W. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 80° W., vertical, spaced 2 to 10 

feet, forms the north and south walls and two headings near the center; (b), 

strike N. 15°-20° W., vertical, spaced 10 feet or more. The rift is reported as 

parallel to the foliation, the grain vertical with N. 80° W. course, and the 

hardway horizontal. Pegmatite dikes, mostly of feldspar, the largest 16 inches 

thick, meander vertically along the foliation. Dikes of aplite, 0.25 inch to 

2 inches thick (specimen D, XXX, 42, c), are of medium bluish-gray color and 

very fine texture with particles under 0.1 inch. (See for details p. 44.) This 

aplite differs from the gneiss only in its poverty of mica and richness of quartz. 

Rusty stain is an inch thick on sheet and joint faces.

Transportation, by cart 500 feet to wharf admitting schooners of 7 feet draft 

at high tide.

The product is used for buildings and street work and the waste for riprap. 

Specimens: Catholic churches in Flushing and Mamaroneck, N. Y., and Stam.
364 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

ford, Conn.; Catholic cathedral and bishop house at intersection of Vanderbilt, 

Lafayette, Olermont, and Green avenues, Brooklyn.

The Christiano Oak Ridge quarry is in Greenwich Township at the north 

end of the ridge between Bush and Byrarn harbors, about three-fifths nrle westsouthwest of the Greenwich railroad station. (See fig. 85.) Operator, Joseph 

(/hristiano, Greenwich. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 47, a), " Greenwich " blue-black granite, is an 

extremely dark bluish-gray mica diorite gneiss, identical with that of the 

Yoorhis quarry, described on page 362, except that it has a little augite besides 

the hornblende.

The quarry, opened in 1901, measured in 1908 about 175 by 150 feet and 

from 10 to 20 feet deep.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 15°-20° E. and dips 90°. The 

sheets, 2 to 10 feet thick, are horizontal or dip very low east. There are four 

sets of joints (a), strike N. 75° W., vertical, spaced 1-10 feet; (6), strike N. 

20° E., vertical or steep west, spaced 3-10 feet, coinciding with the small aplite 

dikes; (c), strike N. 30° W., vertical (exceptional), spaced as low as 5 feet; 

(d) (one only), strike N. 85° W., dip 55° about north. Pegmatite dikes, in 

beadlike lenses up to 8 inches thick, are either parallel to the foliation or 

branch from it. The numerous aplitic dikes, from 0.25 to 3 inches thick, strike 

with the foliation but have plications from 1 to 6 feet across. This aplite 

(specimen D, XXX, 47, b) is of very light gray color and very fine texture, and 

is almost identical with specimen 42, c, from the Ritch quarry, described on 

page 44.

Transportation, by cart.

The product is used for buildings, and the waste is crushed for roads. Specimen buildings: Catholic Church, Bruce Memorial gate (Bruce Park, Greenwich Avenue and Steamboat Road), and residence of Charles Hirshhorn 

North Street, Greenwich.

The Christiano Hamilton Avenue quarry is in Greenwich Township, half 

a mile northwest of the Greenwich railroad station. (See fig. 85, p. 362.) Operator, Joseph Christiano, Greenwich. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 48, a), "Greenwich" blue-black granite, is 

a mica diorite gneiss of extremely dark bluish-gray color identical with that 

of the Voorhis quarry, described on page 362.

The quarry, opened in 1873, measured in 1908 about 60 by 30 feet and from 

10 to 20 feet deep.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 15° E. and is about vertical. 

Sheets are hardly developed. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 45° 

W., vertical, spaced 8 to 15 feet; (b), loose, strike N. 15° E., vertical, spaced 

10 feet. The rift is reported as parallel to the foliation, the grain at right 

angles to it and vertical, and the hard way horizontal.

Transportation, by cart

The product is used for buildings. Specimens: Residences of George E. 

Weed, Rockside Park, and of James McCutcheon, Belle Haven Park, Greenwich.

NORWALK.

The Hall quarry (formerly known as the Bates quarry) is in Norwalk Township, about 1£ miles northeast of the Norwalk railroad station. Operator, 

Irving Hall, Norwalk.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 44, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss 

of light warm-gray color and of gneissic medium inclining to fine texture, 

with feldspars and mica to 0.25 inch. It is brightly spangled with mica on its
CONNECTICUT. 365

foliation face. Its constituents, named in descending order of abundance, are 

light cream-colored potash feldspar (microcline), but little kaolinized; pale 

smoky quartz, with cavities in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase albite), much kaolinized, micacized, and with calcite; muscovite (white 

mica); and biotite (black mica). Accessory: Garnet, apatite. Secondary: 

Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, some in veinlets. Effervesces freely in places 

with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry in 1908 was about 50 feet square and from 20 to 30 feet deep.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation dips 5° to 20° NW. The sheets, 1 to 4 

feet thick, parallel to the foliation, are but imperfectly developed. There are 

two sets of joints (a), strike N. 40° E., vertical, forms the north wall; (b), 

strike northwest, vertical, spaced 2 to 8 feet, forms the east and west walls 

and a heading 8 feet wide near the north wall. Some of the joints of this 

heading have been parted 0.25 to 2 inches and filled with quartz. Both sets 

of joints are slickensided. The rift is along the foliation.

Transportation, by cart.

The product is used for walls, underpinning, steps, etc. The quarry is worked 

only occasionally.

HARTFORD COUNTY. 

BRISTOL.

The Dunn quarry is on Divinity Street, in Bristol, about a mile westsouthwest of the center of the borough. Quarry no longer operated.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 62, a, "Bristol granite gneiss," No. 10 of the 

State preliminary geologic map) is a garnetiferous quartz monzonite gneiss of 

light, including to medium bluish-gray color and of gneissic banded fine texture, 

with feldspars up to 0.2 inch, mica to 0.1 inch, and garnets to 0.08 inch. It has 

wavy bands and lenses of light and dark and reddish color, the light bands up 

to 0.5 inch in width, the dark to 0.3 inch, and the reddish to 0.1 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to whitish soda-lime 

feldspar (albite), some of it sl'ghtly kaolinized; clear bluish quartz, with 

cavities in sheets; a little potash feldspar (orthoclase) ; biotite (black mica), 

some of it chloritized. Accessory: Garnets (fourth or fifth in order of abundance), magnetite, apatite. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, limonite.

This is a hard, serviceable, and attractive stone.

The quarry consists of two openings, one about 100 by 50 feet and 5 to 10 

feet deep, the other 50 feet square, barely opened in 1909.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes east and dips steeply south. 

The sheets, 3 to 8 feet thick, are irregular. There are three sets of joints 

(a), strike about north, with headings 12 feet wide; (b), strike about east; 

(c), diagonal. The spacing of joints in the smaller opening admits the quarrying of blocks 10 feet square by 3 to 5 feet. The rift in both openings is across 

the foliation.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to railroad.

The product was used for foundations and buildings. " Brightwood," Mrs. 

W. A. McKay's mansion on West Street, in Bristol, was built of this granite, 

but some of it came from another now disused quarry, and some from the site 

of the mansion itself.

The Seymour Street quarry, in Bristol, is operated occasionally by the 

Pierson Engineering & Construction Go., Bristol.

The granite is like that of the Dunn quarry; the opening is small and 

irregular.
366 COMMEBCIAL GKANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

GLASTONBTJRY.

The Glastonbury quarries, as shown on the map (fig. 86), are scattered 

along a S. 48° W. ridge, the northern part of which is now known as Minnechaug Mountain, called also locally Birch Mountain, and the southern part 

of which goes by the name of Eightmile Hill. The gneiss foliation at the 

quarries strikes N. 45°-80° E., averaging about N. 60° E., and thus differs 

but little from the trend of the ridge. The strike at the Curtis quarry, however, is about north. The Peterson quarry, in Bolton, Tolland County (p. 399), 

is on the northeastern continuation of the same ridge. The strike there is N: 10° E.

I I I L_

1 J Miles

Contour interval 40 feet

FIGURE 86. Map.of Glastonbury, Conn., showing location of granite gneiss 

32, Corbin ; 33, German ; 34, Danielson ; 35, Belden ; 36, Curtis; 37, Brooks; 38 

30, Glastonbury Granite Works.

quarries.

, Slater;

The rock at these quarries is a more or less obscurely porphyritic biotite 

granite gneiss, with feeble mineral contrasts and a marked foliation, but its 

texture and shade vary slightly at different quarries. It is designated on the 

State preliminary geologic map "Glastonbury granite gneiss, No. 15." The 

Glastonbury quarries have long supplied curbing and crosswalks to the city 

of Hartford, for which the foliation of the stone admirably adapts it.

The Corbin quarry is in Glastonbury, at the top of Birch Mountain, 5 

miles east-northeast of Glastonbury village. (See fig. 86.) Operator, A. S. 

Freeburg, Hartford.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 32, a) is a biotite granite gneiss of mediumgray shade and of fine gneissic texture, with porphyritic feldspars up to 0.3 

inch, and matrix with particles under 0.05 inch. In places it has minute brown-
CONNECTICUT. 367

Ish stalls, xts constituents, in descending order of abundance, are creamcolored to milk-white potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), somewhat 

kaolinized; clear colorless quartz; clear to translucent colorless soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase) ; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized, with 

a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Both feldspars are Intel-grown with 

quartz more or less circular in cross section. Accessory: Epidote,58 apatite, 

allanite, titanite. Secondary: Kaolin, limonite proceeding from allanite and 

producing the brown spots referred to, chlorite. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry is a small, irregular opening, begun in 1905.

Rock structure: Gneiss foliation and rift d.p about 10° N. 50° W. The sheets, 

up to 3 feet thick, are horizontal or dip low N. 50° W. Pegmatite dikes are up 

to 4 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart 12 miles to Hartford.

The product is used entirely for curbing and circulars.

The Glastonbury Granite Works quarries are in Glastonbury Township, 

on Hebron Avenue, close to the village of Buckingham, 4$ miles east of Glastonbury village. (See fig. 86.) Operator, Glastonbury Granite Works (Inc.), 

Glastonbury.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 39, a) is a biotite granite gneiss of medium, 

inclining to dark gray shade (thus darker than the Corbin quarry stone), and 

of fine gneissic texture, with porphyritic feldspars, the largest 0.3 inch, and 

matrix with particles under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, named in descending 

order of abundance, are cream-colored potash feldspar (microcline, somewhat 

kaolinized, and orthoclase); medium smoky quartz; whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine), slightly micacized, some of it intergrown with quartz more or less circular in cross section; biotite (black mica), 

some of it chloritized, and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: 

Epidote, titanite, allanite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, chlorite, a 

white mica, limonite stain, hematite. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The first quarry, opened in 1908, was about 40 feet square by 20 feet deep. 

Since then an opening has been made on the west and still another on the 

southeast.

Rock structure: Gneiss foliation and rift strike N. 80° E. and dip 25° N. 

The sheets, 10 feet thick, dip with the foliation. The grain and hard way are 

equal.

Transportation, by cart 10 miles to Hartford.

The product is used for curbing, crosswalks, and steps.

The German quarry is in Glastonbury, at the foot of Birch Mountain, a 

little south Of the Manchester line, about 5f miles east-northeast of Glastonbury village. (See fig. 86, location approximate.) It is now disused.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 33, (a), is a biotite granite gneiss of 

medium, very slightly bluish gray color, and of fine gneissic texture, with 

porphyritic feldspars to 0.3 inch in a matrix with particles under 0.1 inch, in 

a thin section mostly from 0.11 to 0.39 millimeter. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are m'lk-white potash feldspar (microcline, 

kaolinized, and orthoclase) ; pale smoky quartz showing effects of strain and 

with some cavities; translucent whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) ; biotite 

(black mica) ; and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Epidote, 

magnetite, apatite, garnet, allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, limonite stain. Both

M Rice and Gregory regarded the epidole as probably of primary origin. See their 

Manual of the geology of Connecticut, 1906: Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey 

Bull. C, p. 118. Some of It fonns rims about allanite.
368 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

feldspars are intergrown with quartz circular in cross section. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This stone is less weathered than that of the last two quarries, and therefore 

harder. It has been used for buildings, steps, etc.

The Danielson quarry is in Glastonbury Township, on the south side of 

the top of Eightmile Hill, 3£ miles southeast of Glastonbury village. (See 

fig. 86.) It is now disused.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 34, a) is a biotite granite gneiss of dark, 

inclining to medium brownish-gray color and of fine marked gneissic texture, 

with porphyritic feldspars to 0.3 inch in a matrix with particles under 0.1 

inch, in thin section mostly between 0.11 and 0.84 millimeter. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are pale-buff to pinkish potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase), somewhat kaolinized; medium smoky quartz 

showing effects of strain and with some cavities in sheets; grayish translucent 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), slightly kaolinized; and biotite (black mica). 

Accessory: Bpidote (fifth in order of abundance), apatite, magnetite, allanite. 

Secondary: Kaolin, 1 monite, hematite (stain). No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry measured, in 1908, about 60 by 35 feet and 10 feet deep.

Rock structure: Gneiss foliation and rift strike N. 55° E. and dip 25° N. 

The sheets, 1 to 2 feet thick, are also parallel to these. There is one joint on 

the north side, striking N. 70° E. Vertical pegmatite dikes, 3 to 6 inches thick, 

strike N. 80° W. Some of smoky quartz up to 4 inches thick.

Transportation, by cart 10 miles to Hartford.

The product was used for curbing and steps.

The Belden quarry is in Glastonbury Township, on Eightmile Hill, 0.3 mile 

south of the Hartford turnpike and 3 miles southeast of Glastonbury village. 

(See fig. 86.) Operator, H. T. Lingner, East Glastonbury.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 35, a) is a biotite granite gneiss of medium 

buff-gray color (a trifle lighter than "Concord granite") and of fine gneissic 

texture, with feldspars to 0.2 inch and mica, in aggregates, up to 0.5 inch, conspicuous along the foliation. Porphyrit'c texture not apparent. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are cream-colored potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase), somewhat kaolinized; pale smoky quartz, some of 

it in long laminae 0.2S millimeter wide; whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

somewhat kaolinized; biotite (black mica) ; and a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Accessory: Garnet (fifth in order of abundance), ep'dote, magnetite, 

allanite. Secondary: Kaolin, limonite stain, calcite. No effervescence with 

muriatic-acid test.

The quarry consists of several openings, some of which were made in 1863. 

The one worked in 1908 measured 50 by 40 feet and 20 feet deep.

Rock structure: Gneiss foliation and rift strike northeast and dip 10° to 20° 

NW. The sheets, 6 inches to 5 feet thick, are parallel to these. There are two 

sets of joints (a), strike N. 20° E., vertical, forms the north wall; (b), strike 

N. 65° W., vertical, forms the east and west walla and recurs in center, discontinuous. The grain is reported as vertical, with north-south course. Pegmatite 

dikes are up to 6 inches thick. Some smoky quartz veins or lenses.

Transportation, by cart 10 miles to Hartford.

The product is chiefly used for curbing and crosswalks, and smaller blocks 

for paving. Blocks 1£ to 2 inches thick are prepared for lining tubes at feldspar-crushing works instead of the oak timber formerly used for that purpose.

The Brooks quarry is in Glastonbury Township, on the northeast side <>f 

Eightmile Hill, 3£ miles east-southeast of Glastonbury village. (See fig. 80.) 

Operator, Henry R. Brooks, R. D., Glastonbury.
CONNECTICUT. 369

The granite is a biotite granite gneiss of medium-gray shade and fine 

gnelssic porphyritic texture, identical in composition with that of the Corbin 

quarry, described on page 366, and with the same minute brown spots, due to 

allanite.

The quarry, opened in 1889, measured in 1908 about 400 feet from east to 

west by 150 feet across at one end and 50 feet at the other, and from 5 to 60 

feet deep.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation and rift strike N. 70° E. and dip 25° 

N. 20° W, The sheets, 1 to 6 feet thick, are parallel to these. There are two 

sets of joints (a), strike N. 75° E., dip steep S. 15° E., spaced 10 to 20 feet; 

(b), strike N. 35° W., vertical, spaced 20 feet. The grain is vertical, north to 

south, but the stone breaks with equal facility along the hard way. Four 

vertical pegmatite dikes, the largest 10 inches thick, strike N. 77° W. and are 

10 feet or more apart. This pegmatite (specimen D, XXX, 37, b) consists of 

cream-colored feldspar and smoky quartz, with sparse minute garnets and 

rare scales of biotite and muscovite.

Transportation, by cart 10 miles to Hartford, or 5£ miles to rail at South 

Manchester, or 5 miles to wharf at Naubuc (Glastonbury landing), on the 

Connecticut.

The product is used for curbing and building.

Specimens: Curbing and steps, Cheney Park, South Manchester, and trimmings on Methodist Church at Windsor.

The Slater quarry is in Glastonbury Township, one-fourth mile west-southwest of the Brooks quarry and about 3| miles southeast of Glastonbury village. (See fig. 86.) Quarry now disused.

The granite is a biotite granite gneiss, identical with that of the Corbin 

quarry described on page 366.

The quarry was in 1908 20 feet square and 15 feet deep.

Rock structure: Gneiss foliation and rift strike N. 55° E. and dip 30° N. 

85° W. The sheets, 2 to 4 feet thick, are parallel to these. There are two sets of 

joints (a), strike northeast, dip 40° SE., spaced 15 feet; (b) strike northwest, 

vertical, one only. The grain is vertical, north to south, but the rock breaks 

equally well along the hard way. Four-inch pegmatite dikes strike N. 70° W. 

A 12-inch vertical dike strikes N. 10° E., carries muscovite in plates up to 5 

inches square and 4 inches thick, about 6 inches apart, the rest of the dike 

being mostly feldspar.

The product was used for curbing, crosswalks, and steps.

LITOHFIEID COUNTY. 

CORNWALL.

The Benedict quarry is in Cornwall Township, on the north side of White 

Rock, three-fourths mile east of Cornwall village. Owner, Trusten H. Benedict. Quarry disused.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 60, a, b, c), is a biotite-muscovite granite 

gneiss of medium bluish-gray color and of medium, inclining to fine gneissic 

texture, with feldspars to 0.3 inch and mica to 0.1 inch; also with rare porphyritic clear feldspars, the largest 0.4 inch. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are clear bluish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), intergrown with quartz that is circular in cross section; clear colorless 

quartz; translucent to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase). somewhat 

kaolinized and with calcite; biotite (black mica); and muscovite (white mica). 

105709 23 25
870 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Accessory: Illmenite (probably) surrounded by titanite, apatite, allanite, zircon. Secondary: Calcite, epidote, kaolin, a white mica. There is a little minute 

rermicular intergrowth of quartz and feldspar and some granulation of the 

feldspars. Slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a bright-bluish foliaceous stone, without marked mineral contrasts.

The quarry is 75 feet square by 10 to 15 feet deep.

Rock structure: Gneiss foliation and rift strike N. 50° E. and are vertical. 

The sheets, 2 to 4 feet thick, dip low northwest. There are two sets of joints 

(a), strike N. 60°-75° W., vertical, spaced 20 to 25 feet, forms a heading on the 

south wall; (b), strike N. 10° E., vertical, spaced 15 feet. The grain is vertical, 

with northwest course. Pegmatite dikes up to 2 inches th:.ck strike N. 15° E. 

Between the quarry and the cemetery on the north side of the road a similar 

gneiss is in contact with, or contains an inclusion of, a fine-grained biotite gneiss 

with particles up to 1 millimeter, consisting of quartz, biotite, microcline, and 

oligoclase-andesine, with accessory apatite, titanite, zircon, and striking N. 10°- 

20° E.

Transportation, by cart 4$ miles to rail at Cornwall Bridge.

The product was used for trimmings, for which its foliation and color well 

adapt it.

LITCHFIELD.

The Mascetti quarry, 2$ miles south of Torrington, is in the township of 

Litchfield, three-fourths mile northwest of East Litchfield village, on the west 

side and south end of a knoll rising 480 feet above the village. Operators, 

Mascetti & Holley, Torrington. Idle since 1918.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 53, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss of 

medium, inclining to light bluish-gray color and of fine gneissic texture, with 

feldspars under 0.2 inch and mica mostly under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, 

named in descending order of abundance, are clear bluish potash feldspar 

(microcline) ; light smoky quartz with cavities; milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(ollgoclase), somewhat kaolinized and intergrown with quartz, circular in cross 

section; muscovite (white mica); and biotite (black mica) in smaller flakes, 

some of it chloritized. Accessory: Garnet (sixth in order of abundance), tourmaline, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, calcite, chlorite. The rock effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.

This rock is brilliant, with muscovite on its foliation face.

The quarry, opened about 1903, was in 1908 about 200 feet long, with a 

working face 50 feet high on the east.

Rock structure: Gneiss foliation and rift strike N. 20° E. and dip 20°. The 

sheets, 2 to 4 feet thick, dip 20° to 50° NW. One set of joints only, strike 

N. 5° E., dip 65° E., spaced 3 to 20 feet and over. Pegmatite dikes, with black 

tourmaline and bordered with aplite, 1 to 2 feet thick, meander vertically with 

a N. 15° E. course. Others up to an inch thick are parallel to the foliation.

Transportation, by cart 1| miles to East Litchfield, or 2£ miles to Torrington.

The product is used for curbing and steps, for which it is well adapted.

NORFOLK.

The Crissey quarry is in Norfolk Township, on the southeast side of Bald 

Mountain, 2£ miles north-northwest of the village of Norfolk. Owner, R. I. 

Crissey, Norfolk.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 61, a, b,) is a biotite-muscovite granite 

gneiss of medium, very slightly greenish gray color and of even-grained, fine, 

obscurely gneissic texture, with feldspars under 0.2 inch and mica under 0.1
CONNECTICUT. 371

inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless 

potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase); clear colorless quartz, with somecavities in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), mostly kaoliuized,. 

inicacized, and with calcite; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and 

muscovite (white mica). Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, allanite (rimmed with/ 

epidote), zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, calcite, a white mica, epidote, limonite 

stain. There is some feldspar granulation and also vermicular intergrowth of 

quartz and feldspar.

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. R. C. Wells, a chemist of 

this Survey, finds that it contains 0.36 per cent of CaO (lime), soluble in warm 

dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.64 per cent of 

CaCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite).

This is a bright, fine-grained gray granite, without mineral contrasts and 

without contrasts of tint between cut and polished faces.

The quarry, opened before 1880, consists of four excavations, the highest 

and largest of which measures about 150 feet from southeast to northwest and 

has a working face 50 feet high on the northeast.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 5 feet thick (some reported as 7 

feet but now covered), dip 10° NW. and are normal. There are two sets of 

joints (a), strike N. 80° E., dip steep south to 90°, forms the northwest and 

southeast walls; (b), strike N. 20° E., vertical, discontinuous, spaced 5 feet 

or more. The rift is reported as about horizontal, but the rock splits southeast-northwest

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to Central New England Railway.

The product was used for buildings, monuments, and coping. Specimens: 

Chapel of Congregational Church and the railroad station at Norfolk; Egbert 

T. Butler and Anson Gaylord monuments, Norfolk Center Cemetery.

This quarry, originally opened for coping for the Hoosac Tunnel, in Massachusetts, was closed in 1893, owing to a difficulty with the railroad as tofreight rates.

BOXBTTKY.

The Rockside quarry is in Roxbury Township, on the east side of MineHill, four-fifths mile north of Roxbury station. Although this quarry is disused It is described on account of its geologic interest and its former economic 

importance.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 57, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss 

of medium bluish-gray color and of fine-grained, even, unplicated gneissic 

texture, with particles under 0.2 inch and conspicuous white mica along it» 

foliation.6* In thin section the particles, aside from muscovite, range from, 

0.11 to about 2 millimeters. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance,, 

are translucent bluish potash feldspar (mostly microcline with some orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; clear colorless quartz with cavities in sheets, oneconspicuous set with cracks parallel to it, another less abundant at right 

angles to the first; muscovite (white mica); whitish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) ; the stone of an upper opening shows oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine>,. 

someWhat kaolinized and micacized; and biotite (black mica). Accessory: 

Apatite (rather abundant), zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, one or two white 

micas, calcite. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

69 W. H. Hobbs regards the muscovite as secondary and formed at the time of the 

foliation. He also describes the feldspar as crushed and granulated. See Rice, W. N.,. 

and Gregory, H. E., Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 6, p. 110.
372 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The quarry, opened in 1890, measured in 1908 about 800 feet from northeast 

to southwest by 275 feet across, with a working face on the northwest side 

35 to 75 feet high.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation dips gently southeast on the outer east 

side of the quarry but 15° S. 20° W. at the working face, tending to become 

horizontal within the hill. The sheets, 4 inches to 18 feet thick, correspond to 

the foliation. The upper 30 feet of the working face consists of thin sheets. 

There are two sets of joints. Set (a), strike northwest, vertical, forms a headIng at the southwest wall; another, 6 to 8 feet wide, is 200 feet northeast of that 

wall; and another, 3 feet wide, is 300 feet farther northeast. The rock left 

unquarried about these two headings is about 50 feet wide. These joints are 

spaced 2 to 20 feet. Set (b), strike northeast, dips 7° NW., one 50 feet below 

the rock surface, another 25 feet lower. The rift corresponds to the foliation. 

The grain is reported as striking N. 35° E. and dipping 85° S. 55° E., and 

the hardway as vertical, with N. 55° W. course. There are white aplitic 

 dikes, from 0.12 to 8 inches thick, almost parallel to the foliation. These are 

very quartzose, without biotite, and with rare muscovite. Some of this aplite 

Is very light gray to white and of even-grained, very fine granitic texture, 

with feldspar and light smoky quartz under 0.1 inch.and the finer particles 

between 0.05 and 0.56 millimeter. It effervesces with muriatic-acid test. 

Some of these dikes have oligoclase-albite and microcline in about equal parts. 

Smoky quartz veins, the largest 0.25 inch thick, run parallel to them. Others 

have a gneissic texture and show a little muscovite, evidently secondary and 

forming " membranes covering the foliation planes," as described by Hobbs. 

The main gneiss is also crossed by dikes of rose-colored aplite up to 4 feet 

thick, dipping like the joints of set (b). One of these consists chiefly of 

oligoclase-andesine with crush borders, smoky to amethystine quartz, a little 

microcline, and rare muscovite but no biotite, in places with microscopic garnets. All its particles are under 0.1 inch. One of the smaller dikes contains 

microcline, quartz, a little albite, garnet, muscovite, apatite, named in descending order of abundance. Its feldspars are under 0.05 inch and its quartz 

particles up to 0.2 inch.

Within three of the headings are the mineral veins described on page 75, 

evidently all related to the larger siderite vein which was formerly mined on 

the hill and to which it owes its name. Away from the headings the gneiss has 

little if any rusty stain.

Transportation, by siding to Litchfleld branch of New York, New Haven & 

Hartford Railroad.

The product was used for buildings and railroad bridges, and the waste blocks, 

with aplite or other blemishes, for 'retaining walls. The stone was in demand 

because of its color and low price. Specimens: Four rock-faced houses, corner 

Seventy-second Street and Tenth Avenue, and the retaining wall of the New 

York Central & Hudson River Railroad, Sixty-seventh to Seventy-second Streets, 

New York. This wall is 1,350 feet long, 58 feet high; base 21 feet wide on 

Seventy-second Street.

THOMASTON.

The Plymouth quarry is in Thomaston Township, about 1$ miles south of 

Thomaston village and nearly half a mile north of Reynolds Bridge. Operator, 

Plymouth Granite Co., Thomaston.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 54, a) is a quartz monzonite of med-ium 

bluish-gray color and of even-grained, fine granitic texture, with feldspars and 

mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

light smoky quartz, with hairlike crystals of rutile and cavities in sheets;
CONNECTICUT. .373

translucent bluish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), some of it micacized and 

kaolinized; clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) ; biotite 

(black mica) ; and muscovite (white mica). Both feldspars are intergrown with 

quartz more or less circular in cross section. Accessory: Apatite, rutile. Secondary : Kaolin, a white mica. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a bright fine-grained monumental granite which is without mineral 

contrasts but which cuts and hammers light. Newberry,60 in 1884, referred to 

the adaptation of this stone to monumental work.

The quarry measured in 1908 about 200 feet from north to south by 50 feet 

across, with a working face 20 to 40 feet high on the east.

Rock structure: The granite is capped by 10 to 20 feet of quartz monzonite 

gneiss, gray or consisting of white feldspar and quartz bands, 0.2 to 0.3 inch 

wide, alternating with black bands of biotite less than 0.05 inch wide. The constituents of this gneiss, in descending order«of abundance, are light smoky 

quartz with cavities, milk-white oligoclase, whitish orthoclase, biotite, and a 

little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, titanite. 

Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica. This gneiss is intricately plicated. In places 

its foliation is abruptly intersected by the granite. The boundary between the 

two rocks is very Irregular, and pegmatite occurs along part of it. A tapering 

inclusion of the gneiss, 10 feet by 14 inches or more long and 3 feet wide, occurs 

8 feet below the contact. The sheets, 6 inches to 3 feet thick, dip gently west 

but are less regular in the gneiss capping. There are two sets of joints (a), 

strike N. 35° E., vertical, spaced 8 to 30 feet, continuing into the gneiss; (b), 

strike N. 80° W., vertical, spaced 3 to 10 feet or over.

Transportation, by very short siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford 

Railroad.

The product is used for monuments.

TOBKINGTON.

The Costello quarry is in Torrington Township, 2$ miles northwest of Torrington and 550 feet above it. Operator, Edward M. Costello, R. D. 1, Torrington. Idle since 1916.

The granite -(specimen D, XXX, 50, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss 

of medium faintly buff gray color and of fine, very gneissic texture, with feldspars under 0.2 inch, but with larger micas conspicuous on the foliation face 

and with sparse garnets to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are cream-colored potash feldspar (microcline), intergrown with 

quartz that is more or less circular in cross section; light smoky quartz with 

cavities in sheets; cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to albite); muscovite (white mica); and biotite (black mica). Accessory: Garnet, 

apatite. Secondary: Limonite.

The quarry, opened in 1898, measured in 1908 about 250 feet in a N. 60° B. 

direction by 50 feet across and 25 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The foliation strikes N. 50° E. and dips 55° N. 40° W. The 

sheets, from 8 to 12 feet thick (exceptionally, near the surface, 1 foot thick), 

are horizontal or inclined to 30° NNW. There are two sets of joints (a), 

strike N. 30° E., dip 30°-70° N. 60° W., spaced 8 to 10 feet; (b), strike 

N. 20° W., dip 70° N. 70° E, spaced over 100 feet, forms a heading at the 

west end. The rift corresponds to the foliation, and there is little difference 

between the grain and the hard way. Garnetiferous pegmatite dikes are up to 

2 inches thick. There is little or no rusty stain on sheet surfaces.

80 Tenth Census, vol. 10, p. 321, 1884.
374 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to Torrington or 11 miles to Winsted.

The product is used for building, trimming, and curbing. Specimens: Parish 

house of Third Congregational Church, Torrington; Winsted Hosiery Co.'s 

office, Winsted; trimmings on public library, Winsted; trimmings on factories 

of Standard Manufacturing Co. and Union Hardware Co., Torrington.

The Michiel quarry is in Torrington Township, more than n mile west of 

Torrington and 340 feet above it. Operators, John de Michiel & Bros., Torrington. Idle in 1922.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 52) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss of 

medium, inclining to dark bluish-gray color and of medium, very gneissic texture, with feldspar to 0.4 inch and large micas, which are very conspicuous 

on the foliation faces. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) ; light smoky 

quartz with cavities in sheets and cracks parallel thereto, the sheets of cavities 

passing uninterruptedly from one particle to the next; a little milk-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), somewhat kaolinized; muscovite (white mica); and 

biotite (black mica). Accessory: Garnet, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin. 

Both feldspars are intergrown with quartz that is more or less circular in 

cross section. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry, opened in 1901, was in 1908 about 150 feet square and 15 to 30 

feet deep.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation is vertical, with N. 35° E. course. The 

sheets, 1 to 14 feet thick, are horizontal in the center of the quarry, curving 

over gently on the sides. There are two sets of joints (a), strike northwest, 

.dip vertical or steep southwest, spaced about 20 feet; (b), strike N. 20° E., dip 

steep N. 70° W., spaced 50 feet. The rift corresponds to the foliation, and the 

grain and hard way are reported as equally pronounced.

The product is used mainly for buildings; some for trimming and curbing. 

Specimens: Methodist Church, Winsted; Italian Catholic Church, Torrington; 

L. Bipley residence, Litchfleld; trimmings on Litchfleld library and on the 

State armory, Meriden.

The Torrington Borough quarry is in Torrington Township, about 1J 

miles north-northwest of Torrington and several hundred feet above it. 

Owned and operated by the borough of Torrington. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 51, a) is a biotite granite gneiss of general 

dark-gray shade, finely banded with black, and very fine to fine schistose 

texture, with feldspars under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, named in descending 

order of abundance, are medium-gray potash feldspar (microcline and possibly 

orthoclase) ; medium smoky quartz, with cavities in sheets; light-gray sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), mostly kaolinized and micacized; biotite (black 

mica) ; and a little muscovite. Accessory: Pyrite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: 

Kaolin, a white mica, calcite.

Associated with this gneiss is a mica diorite gneiss (specimen D, XXX, 51, b), 

a heavy black rock of fine schistose texture. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are biotite (black mica); smoky quartz, with cavities in 

sheets; green hornblende; soda-lime feldspar (andesine), with accessory pyrite 

(fifth in order of abundance); apatite; and secondary calcite.

Both biotite gneiss and diorite gneiss are crossed by meandering dikelets 

from under 1 inch to 6 inches thick of a quartz monzonite gneiss (specimen D, 

XXX, 51 c) of medium bluish-gray color and fine gneissic texture, with 

feldspar under 0.1 inch and very fine micas. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are light smoky quartz with cavities in sheets and 

cracks parallel thereto; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), 

some of it kaolinized, micacized, and with calcite; bluish potash feldspar
CONNECTICUT. 375

\orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; biotite (black mica) ; auQ a little muscovite 

or bleached biotite.

The quarry measured in 1908 about 400 feet from northeast to southwest, 

with a working face from 30 to 65 feet on the northwest.

Rock structure: The foliation of the main gneisses strikes N. 35°-40° E. and 

dips 45°-60° W. As stated, they are cut by a network of meandering grayish 

veinlets of quartz monzonite (specimen c), but they are also crossed by several 

dikes of pegmatite from 3 to 20 feet thick, the largest and central one of 

which contains two inclusions of the gneiss measuring 5 by 10 and 2 to 4 by 

10 feet. This pegmatite (specimen D, 'XXX, 51, e) is of medium pinkishgray color and of very coarse texture, with large feldspars and quartz particles 

up to 0.5 inch. Its constituents are reddish microcline and orthoclase, but 

slightly altered; amethystine quartz with cavities in parallel sheets and cracks 

parallel and at right angles thereto; a little oligoclase, much micacized and 

kaolinized; muscovite; and biotite. There are crush borders about the feldspars. There are two sets of joints (a), strike northeast, vertical, forms a 

heading near the outside of quarry; (b), strike N. 70° W., dip 55° and 30° 

S. 20° W., spaced 3, 30, and 100 feet. Both sets are slickensided.

The product is used entirely for macadamizing roads in. the borough of Torrington. As little as possible of the pegmatite Is used, and that is mixed with 

the gneisses.

WARREN.

The Comstock prospect is in Warren Township, a mile north-northeast of 

Warren village and 2£ miles east of North Kent. Owner, Reuben Tree Voss, 

26 Franklin Street, New York.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 59, a) is a biotite granite of medium-gray 

shade and of medium, inclining to fine texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 and 0.3 

inch and mica to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, 

are clear colorless potash feldspar (microcline); pale smoky quartz, with some 

cavities in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), a little kaolinized; 

biotite (black mica); and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Secondary: 

Kaolin, limonite. Both feldspars are intergrown with quartz circular in cross 

section or in vermicular form. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test. The 

specimen, coming from a long-exposed upper sheet, hardly does justice to 

the stone.

The opening, made a number of years ago, is 100 feet square and 5 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 to 14 inches thick, are 'horizontal. There is 

a 12-inch pegmatite dike on one side. The exposed surfaces are speckled with 

limonite stain.

Transportation, by cart 3 miles to North Kent, on New York, New Haven & 

Hartford Railroad.

MIDDLESEX COUNTY. 

MIDDLETOWN.

The Benvenue quarries are in Middletown Township, about 4£ miles eastsoutheast of the Middletown railroad station, on the mass south of the bend in 

Connecticut River and from 200 to 350 feet above it. The nearest railroad stations are Benvenue and Maromas, 1$ miles from the openings. Last operator, 

Benvenue Granite Co., 41 Park Row, New York. Although these quarries are 

abandoned they are described on account of their scientific interest.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 29, a, Maromas granite gneiss, No. 30, of 

the State preliminary geologic map) is a biotite-hornblende granite gneiss of
376 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

dark bluish-gray cblor and of fine-grained gneissic texture, with porphyritic 

feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase) ; clear colorless quartz, showing effects of strain and with 

cavities in sheets; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) somewhat kaolinized; biotite (black nrica); and hornblende. Accessory: Pyrite, magnetite, 

titanite, apatite, allanite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, epidote. No effervesence with muriatic-acid test.01

This is a bright, somewhat foliaceous bluish-gray stone, with strong mineral 

contrasts.

The Benvenue quarry, about a mile southeast of Benvenue station, half a 

mile southwest of Maromas, and 200 feet above the river, measures about 400 

feet from north to south by 200 feet across and is from 10 to 60 feet deep. 

The upper quarry, three-fourths of a mile south-southeast of Benvenue station 

and 350 feet above the river, measures about 300 feet from east to west by 75 

feet across, with a working face on the south 40 to over 60 feet high.

Rock structure: At both quarries the gneiss foliation strikes northwest and 

dips 15° SE. The elongation of the gneiss is in a N. 65° E. direction. The 

sheets. 6 inches to 6 feet thick, dip 10°-20° E. There are two sets of joints (a), 

strike N. 10° E., dip steep, spaced 5 to 20 feet, forms a 10-foot heading on the 

west side; (b), discontinuous, strike east, dip steep, spaced 5 to 20 feet, forms 

a 10-foot heading 100 feet from the east end. The rift corresponds to the foliation ; the grain is vertical, east-west, and the hardway vertical, north-south. 

Dikes of white to rose-colored aplite, 1 to 12 inches thick, strike N. 80°-90° W., 

also N. 35° W. Its particles, less than 1 millimeter, consist of quartz, orthoclase and microcline, oligoclase, and scarce biotite, with accessory pyrite, titanite, and allanite. There are pegmatite dikes of smoky quartz bordered with 

alternating streaks of oligoclase with microcline and hornblende, up to 3 inches 

thick, striking N. 75° E. There are also dark-gray elliptical segregations from 

2 inches to 3 feet long by 0.5 to 8 inches wide, tapering in the direction of the 

gneiss foliation. The minerals of these segregations, in descending order of 

abundance, are microcline with orthoclase, quartz, biotite, oligoclase, hornblende, with accessory apatite, titanite, and zircon.

These quarries were abandoned on account of their overbundance of Joints, 

knots, and dikes.

NEW HAVEN COUNTY. 

ANSONIA.

The Potter quarry is in Ansonia, about three-fourths mile north-northeast 

of the center of the village. Operator, William Potter, Ansonia. Idle since 1915.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 45, a) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss 

of medium bluish-gray color, brightly spangled with mica on the foliation faces, 

and of fine-grained, unplicated,' finely gneissic texture, with feldspars not 

over 0.2 and mostly under 0.1 inch, but with mica to 0.5 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are clear bluish potash feldspar (microline 

and less orthoclase) ; clear colorless quartz, with cavities in sheets; translucent 

bluish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), slightly kaolinized; muscovite (white 

mica); and biotite (black mica). Accessory: Apatite, garnet. Secondary: 

Kaolin, calcite. Effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

81 For a description of the gneiss of this quarry and its structure see Westgate, L. G., 

A granite gneiss in central Connecticut: Jour. Geology, vol. 7, pp. 638-654, 1899.
CONNECTICUT. 377

The stone glistens brightly with mica on its foliation face, but its other two 

sides are bluish gray without contrasts. Its foliation adapts it for all uses 

requiring long flat stones.

The quarry, opened about 1890, measured in 1908 about 200 by 150 feet and 

10 to 50 feet deep, with a working face on the northwest 50 feet high.

Rock structure: Foliation and rift strike N. 35° E. and dip 45° S. 55° E. 

The sheets, 6 inches to 4 feet thick and. normal, nearly coincide with the foliation. There are three sets of joints (a), strike north, vertical, spaced 10 to 

30 feet, forms a heading at the west wall, one (20 feet wide) 40 feet from 

the northeast wall, and another at that wall; (b), strike east-west, vertical, 

and discontinuous vertically, spaced very irregularly, 3 to 5 feet or more; 

(c) strike N. 75° E., dip 30° N. 15° W., discontinuous vertically, occurs at 

rare intervals. There are several pegmatite dikes up to a foot thick. A vertical dike strjking N. 15°-22° W. crosses the entire quarry. A group of such 

dikes, 2 feet wide, has a like course. The pegmatite consists of quartz, feldspar, muscovite, and black tourmaline. Rusty stain is up to 6 inches thick on 

the lower sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart to Ansonia.

The product is used for curbing, crosswalks, steps, and coping, mostly for 

local demands. The Holbrook quarry in Seymour is on the same belt of rock.

BRANFORD.

The Norcross quarry is in Branford Township, about li miles north of 

Stony Creek village. (See flg. 87.) Operator, Milford Pink-Victoria White 

Granite Co., Milford; Mass.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 93, a, rubbed; b, c, polished; g, rough; 

Stony Creek granite gneiss, No. 33 of the State preliminary geologic map), 

"Branford red granite," is a biotite granite gneiss of medium, reddish-gray 

color and of very variable but mostly from medium to coarse, not porphyritic, 

gneissoiel texture, with feldspars from 0.1 to 0.3 and even 0.8 inch and mica 

to 0.2 and 0.3 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

reddish potash feldspar (microcline, some intergrown with plagioclase, and less 

orthoclase), somewhat kaolinized, some micacized, and some bent; medium 

smoky or smoky amethystine quartz, showing effects of strain and with cavities in streaks and sheets; milk-white or greenish-white to cream-colored sodalime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine), kaolinized and micacized and 

with more or less calcite; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a 

little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, zirconil. Secondary: Kaolin, white micas, calcite, epidote, zoisite, chlorite, limonite. Both feldspars are intergrown with quartz more or less circular in 

cross section. The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

A specimen of the finer parts (D, XXIX, 93, j) shows feldspar up to 0.1 

Inch and constituents identical with those given above. A specimen of the 

extra coarse (pegmatitic) parts (D. XXXIX, 93, e) shows feldspars up to 1 

and 1.5 inches. Its constituents are the same as of the others, but the microcline is more dominant and the rock therefore a little more pinkish.

A compression test made at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass. 

(No. 6763), gives this granite an ultimate compressive strength of 22,447 pounds 

to the square inch, rift and grain directions not recorded. Gillmore gave its 

specific gravity as 165.4 and its ratio of absorption as 1.201."1

62 Gillmore, Q.< A., Report on compressive strength, etc., of various kinds of building 

stone from different sections of the United States, etc., Engineer Dept., U. S. Army, 

p. 12, 1874.
378 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The following analysis was made for the firm by Leonard P. Kinnicutt at 

the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1890:

Analysis of biotite granite gneiss from, Stony Creek.

Silica (Si02 )______-__________________ 72.73

Alumina (A12O3 ) and iron oxide (FeO)___________ 16.95

Lime (CaO)__________________________ 1.05

Magnesia(MgO)_________________________ Trace.

Potash (K20)_________________________, 8.15

Soda (Na2O)___________________________ .90

Loss and undetermined________________________ .22

100.00

The marked feature of this rock is its very irregular texture,'which is due 

in part to pegmatitic injection, in part to flow structure, and in part probably

1 3 Miles

Contour interval 40 feet

FIGURE 87. Map of Branford and Guilford, Conn., showing location of granite quarries. 

65, Brooklyn ; 93, Norcross; 94, Stony Creek; 95, Hoadley Neck; 96, Leete Island; 

97, Sachem Head.

to gnessic foliation. These irregularities are shown in the polished slab illustrated in Plate XXX, A. In places the rock is a flow gneiss; in others a pegmatite ; in others it approaches an aplite in fineness. It is a brilliant stone. Its 

mineral contrasts lie chiefly between the reddish and whitish feldspars, but 

these are not everywhere distributed in their normal proportions. It takes a 

fair polish. The polished face shows some magnetite, some mica, and a little 

pyrlte, and is therefore less suitable for outdoor than indoor use. That ita 

strength and attractive color have more than counterbalanced its irregularity 

of texture is indicated by the important structures in which it has been used.

The quarry, begun in 1887, consists of a lower opening and an upper one 

100 feet north of it. The lower one measured in 1908 about 450 feet north to 

south by 200 feet across and 15 to 65 feet deep; the upper one, about 500 feet 

north to south by 100 feet across and 15 to 40 feet deep.
CONNECTICUT. 379

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 25 feet thick, are horizontal or inclined 

10°-20° SE.68 There are two sets of joints (a), strike east, vertical or steep, 

spaced 5 to 75 feet, in upper quarry confined to the southern 100 feet of the 

quarry, where their spacing is 5 to 20 feet; (b), strike N. 10° E. and N. 5°-15° 

W., vertical, forms a 5-foot heading on the east side of the lower quarry and, 

extending through the upper one, is spaced 10 to 40 feet. The flow structure, 

consisting of more or less biotitic or nonbiotitic bands, strikes N. 70° VV. and 

dips 35°-55° N. 20° E. to vertical. A slight gneissic foliation is probably also 

present, but is obscured by the flow structure and the pegmatite. Traces of 

that foliation appear under the microscope in the strained quartz, bent feldspars, and veinlets of secondary muscovite. The rift, is reported as horizontal 

in the upper quarry and dipping 3°-5° W. in the lower, and the grain as vertical, with N. 20°-30° W. course. A few inches of "shake structure" occur 

along the sheet surfaces. Both knots and inclusions occur. A microscopic 

description of a knot, from the neighboring quarry of the Stony Creek Red 

Granite Co., is given on page 380. Inclusions range from 2 to 1 foot and under 

to 8 by 3 by 1 foot. One of these (specimen D, XXIX, 93, h) is a black 

schistose rock with particles under 0.1 inch and consists, in descending order 

of abundance, of hornblende, andesine, biotite with muscovite, quartz and 

accessory titanite, magnetite, or ilmenite. It is a quartz-mica diorite gneiss. 

A medium-gray gneissoid inclusion (specimen D, XXIX, 93, (i), with particles 

under 0.1 inch, consists, in like order, of oligoclase-andesine, quartz, and biotite, with accessory zircon, and thus is a mica diorite gneiss. Still others 

(specimens 93, k, kk) are a dark-gray, fine-grained quartz-mica diorite gneiss 

with oligoclase, quartz, and biotite and accessory pyrite, magnetite, apatite, 

titanite, and zircon. The coarser feldspars are zonally arranged about some 

of the inclusions that is, they have a pegmatitic border. One inclusion is 

rimmed with biotite.

Transportation, by siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, 

as shown in figure 87.

The product is used mostly for buildings and bridges and some for monuments. Specimens: South Terminal Station, Boston; Bessemer Building, 

Pittsburgh; Newberry Library and Republic Monument, Chicago; Connecticut 

River Bridge (arches and coping), Hartford; polished columns (43 feet by 

6 feet 2 inches at base) of Battle Monument, West Point; .obelisk (45 feet 

long) at Locks Park, Saulte St9. Marie, American side (see PL XXX, B) ; Lincoln memorial, Hodgenville, Ky.; General Staff College and McMillan fountain, 

Washington; pedestals of Sheridan monument, New York, and of Hooker 

monument, statehouse grounds, Boston.

The Stony Creek quarry is in Branford Township, about 1| miles north of 

Stony Creek village, less than one-fourth mile west-northwest of the Norcross 

quarry and on the opposite (east) side of the same ridge. (See fig. 87.) 

Operator, Stony Creek Red Granite Co., Stony Creek. Idle since 1915.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 94, a, e, rough and polished, Stony Creek 

granite gneiss, No. 33 of the State preliminary geologic map), "Stony Creek 

red granite," is a biotite granite gneiss of medium to coarse, not porphyritic 

texture. The stone is identical with that of the Norcross quarry, described 

above, except that in the average specimen submitted the potash feldspars are 

more reddish and the soda-lime feldspars are a greenish-gray, instead of whitish 

or cream-colored, having evidently retained more of their original color. The 

effect is to diminish the contrast between the feldspars. The sections also show

M A view of the sheet structure here is given In a paper by Prof. J. F. Kemp, Granites 

of southern Rhode Island and Connecticut [etc.] : Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 10, pp. 

361-382, 1899.
380 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

veinlets of secondary muscovite and calcite in the feldspars and of muscovite 

in the quartz.

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. R. C. Wells, a chemist of this 

Survey, finds that it contains 0.25 per cent of lime (CaO), soluble in warm 

dilute 10 per cent acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0,445 per cent of 

CaCOa (calcium carbonate, calcite).

The quarry, opened about 1876, consisted in 1908 of two openings, an eastern one measuring about 200 feet in a north-northwest direction by 35 to 50 

feet across, with a working face on the east, and a western opening measuring 

about 400 feet in a north-northwest direction by 75 feet across and from 10 

to 30 feet in depth, with a working face on the west. This western opening is 

about 300 feet south of the other, but on the east side of a ridge about 80 feet 

high and 300 feet west of that which separates the eastern opening from the 

Norcross quarry.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 12 feet thick, dip 15° WSW. There are 

two sets of joints (a), strike N. 60°-70° E., dip 50°-70° NNW., spaced 10, 

15, .70, and 200 feet; (b), strike N. 30°-35° W., vertical, spaced 5 to 40 feet, 

forms a heading, 5 to 10 feet wide, on the working face of the western opening. 

There is a marked flow structure, consisting of biotitic planes or bands striking 

N. 65° E. and dipping 60°-65° NNW. The rift is reported as horizontal, and 

the grain as vertical with a course N. 35° W. Some of the pegmatite feldspars 

measure up to 1.5 inches. Some irregular lenses of chloritic quartz are up to 

12 inches across. A dark-gray fine-grained knot consists, in descending order 

of abundance, of microcline and oligoclase in. almost equal amounts, biotite, 

and a little quartz, together with accessory magnetite, apatite, zircon. Rusty 

stain is up to 8 inches thick on sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

The product is used mostly for buildings. Specimens: Grand Central Terminal Station, Bellevue Hospital, Kent Hall and Philosophy Building of Columbia 

University; Lord & Taylor Building, New York; Erie County Savings Bank, 

Buffalo, N. Y.; Rossia Insurance Building, Hartford; First National Bank, New 

Haven, Conn.; Guardian Trust & Savings Building, Cleveland, Ohio; Baron 

von Steuben monument, Washington.

The Opie quarry is in Branford Township, on the road from Stony Creek 

to North Branford, about a mile north of Stony Creek station. Operator, 0. J. 

Opie, Stony Creek. Idle since 1915.

The granite, " light pink," is a biotite granite of medium pinkish-gray color 

and of medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.4 inch and biotite under 0.1 inch. 

The gneissoid or pegmatitic character of outcrop not determined.

It consists, in descending order of abundance, of pinkish potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase) ; pale smoky quartz; whitish to cream-colored sodalime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), much kaolinized and micacized; biotite; 

chlorite; and muscovite. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite. Secondary: Chlorite, 

kaolin, a white mica, epidote, calcite. Slight effervescence with muriatic-acid 

test.

It takes a very fair polish.

This quarry was opened in 1916, but is not now in operation.

The Brooklyn quarry, no longer worked, is on the point west of Stony Creek 

village, in Branford. (See fig. 87.) It was visited by Freeman Ward, then of 

the faculty of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, who contributes 

the following observations:

"There are a series of openings, extending 600 or 750 feet about parallel 

with the shore line, which have not been worked for 20 or 25 years or more.
CONNECTICUT. 381

" The sheets range from the horizontal to a dip of 15°. There are six sets of 

joints (a), strike N. 19° W.; (b), strike N. 49° W.; (c), strike N. 64°-69° 

W.; (d), strike N. 79° W.; all dip 75°-85° N.; (e), strike N. 86° B., dips 

50°-55° N.; (f), less conspicuous, strike N. 71° E., dip 50°-55° S. 19° E. Inclusions of a biotite and of a hornblende gneiss measure up to 36 by 12 feet, 

but some are thin and slablike. Perhaps some of the biotitic streaks are 

elongated inclusions. All the inclusions, especially the large ones, are likely 

to be well injected with granite, and some of them have segregations of garnets. Pegmatite does not occur in definite dikes but in irregular streaks which 

have no distinct boundaries and grade imperceptibly into the surrounding 

granite. This pegmatite has generally the appearance of the typical Stony 

Creek granite but may be coarser, the maximum size of its feldspars being 

3 inches."

The unpegmatized granite (specimen D, XXX, 65, a, Stony Creek granite 

gneiss, No. 33, of the State preliminary geologic map, collected by Mr. Ward 

but examined by the writer) is a biotite granite gneiss of somewhat dark 

reddish-gray color and of even-grained medium texture, with feldspar to 0.3 

inch and mica to 0.05 inch. Its constituents, tin descending order of abundance, 

are pale-reddish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; medium smoky quartz, strained and with cavities in sheets; slightly 

greenish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine), more or less 

micacized and kaolinized; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a 

little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Garnet (fifth in order of 

abundance), pyrite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, chlorite. 

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

The Hoadly Neck quarries are in the town of Branford, at the end of 

Hoadly Point. (See fig. 87.) Operator, estate of John Beattie, Peter and 

John Beattie, jr., executors, Leete Island.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 95, c, d, from West quarry, Stony Creek 

granite gneiss, No. 33 of the State preliminary geologic map), "Hoadly Neck 

West quarry granite," is a biotite granite gneiss of general medium, inclining 

to dark reddish-gray color, and of coarse to very coarse banded, plicated gneissic 

porphyritic texture, consisting of reddish-gray or whitish lenses and bands 

alternating with or bordered by thin sheets of black mica and with some thin 

bands of smoky quartz. The lenses, which are distorted feldspar crystals, commonly twins, measure up to 3 inches in length and 1 inch in width, and the 

mica bands 0.1 to 0.2 inch. The texture as seen in hand specimens is shown in 

Plate XXXI, A. The foliation is coarsely plicated, the plications up to 10 

inches in width, and these are in places faulted, as shown in figure 19 (p. 94). 

The constituents of this biotite granite gneiss, in descending order of abundance, 

are reddish potash feldspar (microcline, somewhat kaolinized, with some 

orthoclase) ; medium smoky quartz, with cavities in sheets; whitish soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase), intergrown with quartz more or less circular in cross 

section or in vermicular form and generally much micasized; biotite (black 

mica), some chloritized; and a little green hornblende. Accessory: Garnet, 

pyrite, zircon, apatite. Secondary: A white mica, kaolin, limonite about pyrite, 

calcite. The stone effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.

This stone has marked mineral contrasts and striking textural features, as 

shown in the plate. It is a coarse constructional granite gneiss of warm gray 

tint.

The stone of the East quarry (specimens D, XXIX, 95, 1, in) lacks the 

coarsely banded porphyritic texture of the other. Its color is medium reddish 

gray, and its texture is gneissic, even grained medium, inclining to fine, with
382 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

feldspars up to 0.3 inch and mica under 0.1 inch. Its constituents are the same 

as the others, but a thin section shows the light feldspar as oligoclase-albite.

The quarry, opened in 1867, consists of two openings the West quarry, in 

1908 about 1,500 feet east to west by 800 feet across, with a working face from 

80 to 70 feet above sea level, and the East quarry, about 2,000 feet long and 

curving from west to east by 400 feet across, with working face like the other. 

Rock structure: In the West quarry there is a plicated gneissic foliation 

about horizontal, faulted in places with displacement of a few inches. The 

sheets of that quarry, 2 to 8 feet thick, are horizontal or dip 10° NE. Those of? 

the East quarry, 6 inches to 2 feet thick, turn from the horizontal to dip 10° 

E. There are three sets of Joints in the West quarry (a), strike N. 80° W., 

vertical, forms a heading at east end, one 5 to 8 feet wide through the center, 

spaced 5 to 150 feet; (b), strike about northeast, vertical, spaced 40 to 200 

feet; (c), strike N. 20° W., vertical, spaced 10 feet or more. There are two 

other sets in the East quarry (d), strike N. 15° E., dip 77° E., spaced 5 to 

10 feet or more; (e), strike N. 60° W., vertical, spaced 5 to 10 feet, forms occasional small headings. The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as 

vertical, with N. 65° E. course at the West quarry and N. 75° E. at the East 

quarry, but the difference in their flssility appears to be slight. Pegmatite 

dikes (specimen, 95, a), 1 to 3 feet thick, strike N. 20°-45° E. They consist 

of the same minerals as the gneiss, but in extra coarse particles. There are 

dikes or bands of fine biotite granite gneiss up to 4 inches thick. Some of 

these in the West quarry are parallel to the foliation and have been plicated 

with it, as shown In figure 19. This rock is of medium pinkish-gray color and 

of very fine to fine gneissic banded texture, with feldspars up to 0.1 Inch, 

The bands of the coarse gneiss are reddish or light and dark gray or black, 

from 0.05 to 0.4 inch wide, and result from the distribution of the various 

minerals in parallel laminae. The constituents of this fine gneiss are identical 

with those of the coarse rock. Allanite is among its accessories. In the East 

quarry there are dark bands of mica diorite gneiss (specimen D, XXIX, 95, k) 

up to 2 feet thick, strike N. 62° E., dip 75° N. 28° W., consisting in descending 

order of abundance, of biotite, oligoclnse-andesine, green hornblende, and 

quartz. These are either inclusions elongated in the direction of the flow or 

more probably altered basic dikes.

Transportation, either by siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad at Leete Island station or by water. There are seven docks near the 

quarries with 8 feet of water at low tide.

The product is used for massive bridge work, buildings, and monument 

pedestals. Specimens: Anchorage of Suspension Bridge, Niagara; anchorage 

of lirst Brooklyn Bridge; approaches and abutments of Madison Avenue Bridge, 

Harlem River; piers and abutment of Connecticut River Bridge, Hartford; 

pedestal of Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor; of Gen. Anderson monument, Fort Sumter, S. C.; of soldiers and sailors' monument, Riverside Drive,. 

New York. A polished slab of the West quarry stone, 6 by 3 feet, exposed for 

20 years at a house near the quarries, has stood exposure well, notwithstanding 

the coarseness of its mica.

GUILFOKD.

The Leete Island quarry is in Guilford Township, about 350 feet northnortheast of Leete Island station on the New York, New Haven & Hartford 

Railroad. (See fig. 87.) Operator, Estate of John Beattie, Peter and John 

Beattie, jr., executors, Leete Island.

The granite (specimen D, XXIX, 96, a, Stony Creek granite gneiss, No. 3& 

of the State preliminary geologic map), Leete Island granite, is a biotite
CONNECTICUT. 383

granite of medium reddish-gray color and of granitic or obscurely gneissic,

even-grained medium texture, with feldspars up to 0.25 inch and mica to 0.2 Inch. 

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are reddish potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase, the latter intergrown with soda-lime feldspar), 

generally fresh; medium smoky quartz with cavities in sheets; cream-colored 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), micacized, kaolinized, and with calcite; 

biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. The microcline is intergrown with quartz more or less circular in 

cross section. There are crush borders about some of the feldspars, and veinlets of muscovite. Accessory: Magnetite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, white 

micas, calcite, chlorite. It effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

This stone resembles that of the Norcross and Stony Creek quarries (pp. 

377, 379), but its texture is finer and more regular. Yet it contains here and 

there some pegmatitie streaks with feldspar up to 2 inches across. Whatever 

apparent gneissic texture it has is due mainly to flow structure.

The quarry is on the southwest side of a knoll and measures about 650 feet 

from southeast to northwest by 50 to 150 feet across, with a working face on 

the northeast about 60 feet high.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 6 feet thick, are arched, being level in the 

center of the hill and dipping to 20° W. on its west side and 10° E. on its 

east side. There is but one set of joints, strike about east, vertical, spaced 5 to 

100 feet. There are black knots (specimen 96, b) up to 1 by 4 feet, of very 

irregular outline, of fine-grained black quartz-mica diorite gneiss, consisting (In 

usual order) of oligoclase, quartz, and biotite, with much magnetite and accessory apatite, and zircon.

Transportation, by siding to adjoining station.

Product: The quarry has not been worked recently, because of the cheaper 

transportation by water afforded by the location of the firm's other quarries.

The Sachem Head quarry is in Guilford Township, on Sachem Head, on 

the south side of Great or Sachem Head Harbor. (See fig. 87.) Operator, 

Coast £ Lakes Contracting Corporation, 25 Broad Street, New York. Abandoned in 1914.

The granite (specimens D, XXIX, 97, a, b, c, d, Stony Creek granite gneiss, 

No. 33 of the State preliminary geologic map), Sachem Head granite, Is a. 

biotite granite gneiss of medium, more or less reddish gray color and of variably 

gneissic texture, ranging from medium, inclining to fine, even grained, with. 

feldspar to 0.3 inch, to porphyritic, with a matrix of the same character containing isolated reddish-buff feldspars up to 0.7 inch, and also with pegmatitie 

streaks with feldspars up to 1 inch. The mica is mostly under 0.1 inch, and 

the pegmatitie portions up to 0.2 inch. The constituents of this rock, in descending order of abundance, are reddish-buff potash feldspar (microcline and 

some orthoclase), but slightly kaolinized; medium smoky quartz with cavitlea 

in,sheets and some cracks roughly parallel thereto; striated milk-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), more or less micacized and with calcite; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and very little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: One or two white 

micas, kaolin, calcite, hematite, chlorite., epidote. Veinlets of muscovite and 

also of calcite. Both feldspars are intergrown with quartz, more or less circular in cross section. The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

Gillmore gave the specific gravity of this granite as 163.7 and its ratio of 

absorption as 1.162."

64 Gillmore, Q. A., Report on compressive strength, etc., of various kinds of building 

stone from different sections of the United States, etc., Engineer Dept., U. S. Army,, 

p. 12, 1874.
384 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

This is a brilliant granite, with greater variations of shade, color, and texture than those of the granite of the Norcross and Stony Creek quarries. The 

prevalence of "shake structure" has probably prevented its use in buildings 

and also facilitated its exploitation for other purposes.

The quarry, opened before 1893, has a working face on the east about 1,000 

feet long and from 25 to 50 feet high, averaging about 35 feet, which in the 

course of excavation had in 1907 receded from 450 to 500 feet.85

Rock structure: A flow structure or gneiss foliation strikes N. 70° E. and 

curves vertically. The sheets, 3 to 8 feet thick, are horizontal. There is also a 

coarse horizontal shake structure spaced 0.5 to 3 inches and even 6 inches. In 

places these minor sheets are 6 inches thick over the whole face. There are 

two sets of joints (a), strike N. 70° E., vertical, spaced 200 to 500 feet; (b), 

one only, strike N. 40°-45° E., dip 80°. Rusty stain is a foot wide along the 

sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by a system of tracks which, starting near the. working face, 

converge at the dock where the barges are moored.

Product: Material for the Point Judith (R. I.) and New Haven breakwaters 

was supplied from this quarry. The quarry has not been operated since 1913.

SEYMOUR.

The Holbrook quarry is in Seymour Township, a mile east of Naugatuck River, 

near the Ansonia line. Operator, Ansonia Quarry Co., Ansonia. Idle in 1920.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 46, a, 

b) is a muscovite-biotite granite gneiss of 

marked medium bluish-gray color, spangled with mica on the 

foliation face, and of 

fine-grained, slightly 

plicated, finely gneissic texture, with feld- FIODRB 88. Section o£ Holbrook quarry, Seymour, Conn. 

Sheet structure less regular than drawn. spars not over 0.2 inch 

and mostly under 0.1 

inch but with mica to 0.5 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear bluish potash feldspar (microcline and less orthoclase); clear 

colorless quartz; translucent bluish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), slightly 

kaolinized; muscovite (white mica), and biotite (black mica). Secondary: 

Kaolin. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The granite is identical in composition with that of the Potter quarry, in 

Ansonia (p. 376), which lies three-fourths mile south, but this is more markedly 

bluish. The stone glistens brightly on its foliation face, but its other two sides 

afford no contrasts. Its foliation adapts it well for all uses requiring long 

flat stones.

The quarry, opened about 1877, measured, in 1908, about 300 feet from southwest to northeast by 150 feet across and from 50 to 70 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 25°-30° E. and dips 47° S. 

65° E. The sheets, 2 to 5 feet thick, incompletely developed, dip 25°-30° E. 

There are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 75° W., vertical, spaced 2 to 30 

feet, forms a heading at the south wall and a heading 10 feet wide 75 feet

85 See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 484, pi. 5, 1911, for a view of the working face of this 

quarry.
CONNECTICUT. 385

north of it; (b), strike N. 25° E., dip 45°-75° S. 65° E. and vertical, spaced 

3 to 10 and 30 feet, forms the west wall, and at south end undulates like sheets; 

(c), undulating, strike N. 30° E., dip 30° N. 60° W.; one at east side. The 

rift coincides with gneiss foliation, and the grain with the same strike dips 25° W. 

On the east the gneiss is in contact with an overlying mass of biotite-quartz 

feldspar schist. (See fig. 88.) This schist (specimens D, XXX, 46, c, d) is 

more or less intensely plicated. In thin section it consists, in descending order 

of abundance, of quartz, biotite, microcline with orthoclase, pyrite, and garnet. 

It is probably of igneous origin. Pegmatite (of feldspar, smoky quartz, muscovite, and black tourmaline) appears in numerous dikes from 6 inches to 2 

feet thick. Of a set striking N. 10°-15° W., there are five spaced 15 to 20 

feet. Another set of three striking N. 35° E. is spaced 10 to 18 feet. There 

Is very little stain.

Transportation, by cart li miles to railroad at Ansonia.

The product is used for curbing, circulars, marking and hitching posts, 

crosswalks, trimmings, and concrete for local demands. Specimens: Trimmings 

on Fountain Hose Fire Co. Building, Ansonia, and on St. Francis Parochial 

School, Naugatuck.

NEW LONDON COUNTY. 

GROTON.

The Salter quarry is in Groton Township, on Thames River, three-fifths 

mile south-southeast of the Groton ferry landing. Operators, John Salter & 

Son, Groton.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 4, a, Westerly granite of Eice and Gregory's 

Manual of geology of Connecticut), " Groton," is a quartz monzonite of medium, 

slightly greenish gray color, and of even-grained, fine granitic texture, with 

feldspars and slender micas up to 0.15 inch but mostly not over 0.1 inch. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light-gray soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), mostly kaolinized and micacized and with calcite; light 

smoky quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile; medium, slightly greenish gray 

potash feldspar (microline, slightly kaolinized, with orthoclase) ; biotite (black 

mica) some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory : Magnetite, apatite, allanite. Secondary: A white mica, kaolin, calcite, 

limonite, chlorite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method, applied 

to a camera-lucida enlargement (25 diameters) of a thin section, yields these 

results with a mesh of 0.7 inch and total linear length of 43.4 inches: Sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), 41.25; quartz, 38,00; potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), 16.35; black mica (biotite), 2.80; magnetite, 1.60. The average 

diameter of the particles calculated from the same measurements is 0.0235 inch.

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. R. C. Wells, a chemist of this 

Survey, finds that it contains 0.18 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in warm 

dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.32 per cent of 

CaCO8 (calcium carbonate, calcite).

This is a monumental granite closely related to the blue granites of Westerly, 

R. I., but of about half as fine a texture. (See p. 406.) The floral carving reproduced in Plate XXXIII, B, shows its adaptation to sculpture. As in quartz 

monzonites generally, the contrast between its polished and cut face is marked. 

Minute particles of magnetite and pyrite appear on the polished face.

The quarry, opened about 1835, measured in 1908 about 550 feet in a northeast direction by 50 to 100 feet across and from 20 to 30 feet in depth. 

105709 23 26
386 COMMERCIAL, GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Rock structure: The granite forms an apparent dike, 12 feet thick, dipping 

about 20° E. between two masses of gray and black diorite gneiss (specimen D, 

XXX, 4, b, New London granite gneiss, No. 35, of the State preliminary geologic 

map), with a foliation striking N. 65° W. and dipping 75° N. 25° E., which is injected with pegm'atite. This gneiss consists of quartz, oligoclase, microcline, 

and hornblende, named in the usual order. The granite sheets are short, lenticular, 2 to 12 feet thick, and dip 20° SW. The sheets in the gneiss capping, which 

is 10 to 20 feet thick, are 6 inches to 5 feet thick and dip 15° S. There are no 

Joints. The rift is reported as dipping about 10° NE., and the grain as vertical, 

with N. 70° E. course. Niles M in 1876 reported evidences of compressive strain 

at this quarry.

Transportation, by cart to wharf or rail at Groton.

The product is mostly monumental stone and some for trimmings. The gneiss 

is sold for breakwater use. Specimens: Monument to Col. William Ledyard 

(killed in battle of Groton Heights, 1781) in Ledyard Cemetery, Groton; monument to first four founders of Stonington at Wequetequock burying ground, 

Stonington; Edward Newman obelisk, Woodlawn Cemetery, New York; Rev. 

Byron A. Woods sarcophagus, Forest Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia; Charles 

Tyler statue, Druid Hill Ridge Cemetery, Baltimore; Kennard Celtic cross, 

Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, N. Y., shown in Plate XXXIII, B.

The Mclntosh quarry is in Groton Township, on Broad Street extension, a 

mile northeast of Groton village, on the E. W. Crouch farm.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 2, a, Mamacoke gneiss, No. 36 of the State 

preliminary geologic map) is a biotite granite gneiss of general medium pinkishgray color and of gneissic banded texture, with pinkish and grayish bands 

from 0.5 to 0.3 inch wide. Its particles are fine, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch. 

Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are light-pink potash feldspar (microcline, somewhat kaolinized), intergrown with quartz more or less 

circular in cross section; light smoky quartz; milk-white soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine). mostly much kaolinized and micacized and 

with calcite; biotite (black mica), much chloritized; and a little muscovite 

or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, garnets, tourmaline, zircon. 

Secondary: A white mica, kaolin, chlorite, calcite. A band of quartz and 

microcline is 1.12 millimeters wide. The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid 

test.

This is an attractive stone, on account of its delicate color and banded texture.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation is vertical, with about east to west 

course. The rift is transverse to the foliation. Both rift and grain fractures are 

smoother than those along the foliation.

The Eckerlein quarry is in the township of Groton, about half a mile eastsoutheast of Center Groton, near the top of a north-south ridge. Operator, 

Robert Eckerlein, R. D. 1, Groton. Idle since 1913.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 13, a, related to Westerly granite), " Center 

Groton granite," is a quartz inonzonite of medium, inclining to dark greenishgray color and of even-grained, fine granitic texture, with feldspars and slender 

micas up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

greenish-gray soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), micacized and kaolinized and with 

calcite; light smoky quartz, with hairlike crystals of rutile and cavities in 

sheets, with cracks parallel thereto; slightly buff-gray potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), some of the microcline kaolinized and micacized in center 

and also intergrown with quartz more or less circular in cross section; biotite

89 Niles, W. H., The geological agency of lateral pressure exhibited by certain movements of rocks: Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. Proc., vol. 18, p. 279, 1875-76.
CONNECTICUT. 387

(black mica), mostly chloritized and with needles, probably of rutile; and some 

muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, apatite, allanite, rutile. 

Secondary: Kaolin, white micas, calcite.

Some of the granite (specimen D, XXX, 13, b) is of medium-gray shade and 

warm tint, with texture and constituents like those of the other. The potash 

feldspar is, however, faintly pinkish, and the soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to 

oligoclase-andesine) is milk-white. Zircon is accessory. Both rocks effervesce 

with muriatic-acid test.

An estimate of the mineral percentages made by applying the Rosiwal method 

to a camera-lucida enlargement (25 diameters) of a thin section yields these 

results with a mesh of 0.8 inch and a total linear length of 45.7 inches: Sodalime feldspar (oligoclase), 35.18; quartz, 29.90; potash feldspar (microline and 

orthoclase), 29.67; black mica (biotite), 4.16; magnetite, 1.09. The average 

diameter of the particles calculated from the same measurements is 0.0256 inch. 

These are fine-grained monumental granites, about half as fine as " Blue 

Westerly" but of different color. (See p. 406.)

Like other quartz monzonites, these cut and hammer light, the cut or hammered face affording not a little contrast of shade to the polished face, which 

is darker than the rough face.

The quarry, opened in 1855, measured in 1908 about 150 by 100 feet and 

25 to 40 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The darker granite (specimen 13, a), is 10 feet thick and 

overlies the lighter (specimen 13, b). The sheets, 22 inches to 13 feet thick, 

dip gently east and south. There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 15° W., 

dip 65° E., spaced 5 to 50 feet; (b), strike N. 80° E., vertical, one only in center. The rift is reported as striking north and dipping steep east, and the 

grain as east-west, with steep south dip. Both are equally marked. A 4-foot 

pegmatite dike, with feldspars up to 12 inches and muscovite to 6 inches, strikes 

N. 10° W. Rusty stain is 2 to 4 inches thick on sheet surfaces.

The Kopp quarry is in Groton Township, about half a mile southeast of 

Center Groton and one-fourth mile S. 30° W. of the Eckerlein quarry. Operators, J. K. Kopp & Sons, New London. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 12, a, related to Westerly granite) is a 

quartz monzonite of medium, faintly greenish gray color and of even-grained, 

fine to very fine granitic texture, with feldspars and mica to 0.05 inch.

This is a monumental granite of finer texture than that of the Eckerlein 

quarry, more nearly like that of " blue Westerly " (see p. 406), and of shade Intermediate between specimens a and b of the Eckerlein quarry. 

The quarry was opened in 1890. 

The stone is used for monuments and cuts light.

The McGaughey quarry is in Groton Town&hip, in the village of Mystic, 

half a mile northwest of Mystic station. Operator, William R. McGaughey, 

Mystic. Idle in 1922.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 20, a, b, related to Westerly granite), " Mystic granite," is a quartz monzonite of medium, inclining to dark, faintly greenish-gray color, and of even-grained, fine granitic texture, with feldspars and 

mica under 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are 

translucent grayish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), partly kaolinized 

and micaized; medium smoky quartz with hairlike crystals of rutile and cavities in sheets; clear colorless to faintly pinkish potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase), intergrown with quartz more or less circular in cross section; 

biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, allanite, zircon, purple fluorite.
888 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, calcite, chlorite. It effervesces with muriatic 

acid test.

This is a monumental granite, almost as fine as " blue Westerly " but with 

more abundant black mica and thus of ,darker shade. It cuts light gray and 

polishes dark gray. The polish is fair but shows pyrite and magnetite. The 

stone is reported as "very hard."

The quarry, opened before 1827, measured in 1908 about 100 feet from east to 

west by 35.feet across, with a 50-foot working face (cliff) on the south.

Rock structure: The granite forms an apparent dike, 25 feet thick, underlain by a coarse biotite granite gneiss (specimen D, XXX, 20, d, Mamacoke 

gneiss, No. 26 of the State preliminary geologic map) and dipping gently south 

into the base of the cliff and also overlain near its top by a similar gneiss. The 

sheets, 6 inches to 5 feet thick, but mostly under 13 inches, are about horizontal. The foliation of the gneiss dips steep north or vertical. The only set 

of joints strikes N. 40° E., dips 65° S. 50° E., forms a 10-foot heading in middle, 

and is spaced 5 to 30 feet. A vertical " blind seam," striking N. 60° E., proves 

to be a veinlet of a zeolite. (See p. 75.) A vertical pegmatite dike strikes N. 

30° W. There are also dikes of pegmatite and aplite in the gneiss. An inclusion of the gneiss, 4 by 2$ feet, lies in about the center of the granite mass.

Transportation, by cart to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

The product is used for monuments.

EAST LYME.

The Malnati quarry is in East Lyme Township, 2 miles northwest of 

Niantic station and 160 feet above it. Operators, A. Malnati & Co., 76 Liberty 

Street, Quincy, Mass.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 7, a, rough; e, polished and hammered, 

related to Westerly granite), "golden-pink Niantic," is a quartz monzonite 

of medium pinkish-gray color and of even-grained, fine granitic texture, with 

feldspars and mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of 

abundance, are light smoky quartz, with hairlike crystals of rutile and with 

few cavities; translucent pinkish to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 

considerably kaolinized, micacized, and with calcite; clear colorless to translucent white potash feldspar (microcline and a little orthoclase) ; biotite 

(black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Both feldspars are intergrown with quartz more or less circular in 

cross section. .Accessory: Magnetite, apatite. Secondary: Hematite from 

magnetite, kaolin, a white mica, calcite.

A somewhat darker granite (specimen D, XXX, 7, b), "golden-pink dark," 

from the same quarry, is of medium, inclining to dark pinkish-gray color and 

of the same texture and composition as the other, but the quartz is more 

smoky (section shows cavities in sheets), the oligoclase is more altered and 

darker, and zircon appears. Both granites effervesce with muriatic-acid 

test.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method, applied to 

a camera-lucida enlargement (25 diameters) of a thin section, yields these 

results with a mesh of 1.5 inches and total linear length of 27 inches: Quartz, 

35.41; soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), 32.74; potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), 29.48; black mica (biotite), 1.93; magnetite, 0.44. The average 

diameter of the particles, calculated from the same measurements, is 0.0275 

inch.

These granites are reddish monumental granites of about half the grade 

of fineness of "blue Westerly." Owing to streaks which are said to appear
CONNECTICUT. 389

on large polished faces, the stone is used chiefly for rough and hammered 

or carved work but is admirably adapted for inscriptions, the light pinkishgray hammered face contrasting strongly with the reddish-brown polished face 

(specimen 7, e).

The quarry, opened in 1900, measured in 1908 about 250 feet from east to 

west by 65 feet across and 75 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The granite occurs in a dikelike mass, 40 feet thick, dipping about 20°, between a lower and an upper mass of gneiss, which has a 

foliation striking N. 30° E. and dipping 50° S. 60° E. This (Mamacoke granite 

gneiss, No. 36 of the State preliminary geologic map) is a biotite granite gneiss 

of medium, slightly pinkish gray color and of medium gneissic texture. Its 

quartz is light smoky with cavities in sheets; its feldspars are light-pink 

microcline and orthoclase and milk-white oligoclase. The overlying mass is 

20 feet thick and is more altered and weathered, its feldspars having largely 

passed into crystalline kaolin, making the rock very friable. The granite 

sheets, 3 to 10 feet thick, are short, irregular lenses. There are two sets of 

Joints (a), strike N. 5°-10° W., vertical, spaced 3 to 15 feet; (b), strike east, 

vertical, spaced 3 to 15 feet. The rift is reported as north-south and the 

grain as east-west, both vertical and of like fissility. Rusty stain is 2 to 4 

inches thick on sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart over 2 miles to Niantic.

The product is used for monuments, which are finished at Quincy, Mass.

The Carlson quarry is in East Lyme Township, about 2 miles northwest of 

Niantic station and about 600 feet southwest of the Malnati quarry. Operator, 

William Sieverts, Niantic, Conn.

The granite, "golden-pink," is a quartz monzonite of medium pinkish-gray 

color and of even-grained, very fine granitic texture, identical in composition 

and qualities with that of the Malnati quarry, described above.

The quarry, opened in 1900, measured in 1908 about 125 by 75 feet and 10 to 

30 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The granite occurs in a dikelike mass, 40 feet thick, dipping about 30° S. between masses of biotite granite gneiss identical with that 

at the Malnati quarry. The foliation of the overlying gneiss, which is 20 feet 

thick, strikes N. 80° W. and dips 25°-30° N. 10° E. The granite sheets, up to 

10 feet thick, are short shelly lenses with irregular dip. There are two sets of 

Joints (a), strike N. 40°-55° E., curving vertically, spaced 5 to 12 feet; (b), 

strike about north, vertical, forms a heading at east side and one or two at 

west side.

Transportation, by cart 2 miles to Niantic.

The product is used for monuments.

LYME.

The Joshua Bock quarry is in Lyme Township at Joshua Rock, on the east 

shore of Connecticut River, 2 miles north of Essex Wharf. It is abandoned.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 17, a, b, Lyme granite gneiss, No. 34, of 

the State preliminary geologic map), variegated granite, is an aegirite granite 

gneiss of general medium, inclining to dark, slightly purplish gray color with 

fine reddish, pinkish, greenish, and black bands, also cherry-red spots. Its 

texture is fine gneissic, banded with feldspar and black silicate under 0.2 

inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless 

to dense pinkish potash feldspar (microcline), more or less kaolinized and 

coarsely intergrown with quartz; light smoky quartz with cavities in sheets 

and cracks parallel thereto; milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) 

more or less kaolinized; and black aegirite (green in thin section). Acces-
390 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

sory: Magnetite (or ilmenite), titanite, yellow colophonite (lime-iron garnet), 

these three in some abundance, zircon, allanite. Secondary: Hematite and 

llmonite stain, calcite, kaolin. No effervescence with muriatic acid test. 

The banding is due to the varying abundance or absence of aegirite or the 

preponderance of quartz or feldspar in parallel planes. The quartz and feldspar are stained cherry-red from hematite, either evenly in bands or else in 

irregularly disseminated spots.

The quarry is on the west side of a cliff 60 feet high, which is the working 

face.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 75°-80° W. and dips 45° 

N. 10°-15° E. There are passages of biotite and other black silicates (dikes or 

knots?) 1 to 3 feet thick (specimen D, XXX, 17, c). Vertical joints strike 

north.

The Selden Neck quarries are in Lyme Township, on Selden Neck, on the 

east shore of Connecticut River, opposite Deep River station. Owner, A. W. 

Parker Co., 361 Fulton Street, New York. Quarries abandoned.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 15, a, b, Mamacoke gneiss, No. 36, of the 

State preliminary geologic map) is a hornblende-biotite granite gneiss of 

medium, inclining to dark reddish-gray color streaked with black, and of 

fine gneissic texture, with lenses and laminae of black silicates 0.1 to 0.2 inch 

apart.and with feldspar particles under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are reddish-gray potash feldspar (orthoclase and less 

microcline) ; light smoky quartz, with cavities in sheets; a little reddish-gray 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase) ; greenish hornblende; and biotite (black mica). 

Accessory: Apatite, zircon. Secondary: Hematite, limonite, kaolin, calcite. 

Both feldspars are somewhat kaolinized. The stone effervesces slightly with 

muriatic-acid test.

This is a fine-grained reddish constructional granite with conspicuous bright 

black streaks and lenses but without other mineral contrasts.

There are two quarries a southern one east-southeast of Deep River station, 

and a northern one east of it. The former measures about 250 by 40 feet, 

with a working face on the east. The other, about one-fourth mile west-northwest of it, measures about 200 feet from east to west, with a working face on the 

north 60 feet high.

Rock structure: At the south quarry the gneiss foliation strikes N. 80°-85° 

E. and dips 20°-25° N. 5°-10° W. The sheets, 1 to 3 feet thick, dip with the 

foliation. There are four sets of joints (a), strike N. 70° E., dip 75° S. 20° E., 

spaced 2 to 5 feet; (b), strike north, vertical, spaced 2 to 5 feet; (c), strike 

N. 40° E., vertical; (d), strike N. 75°-80° W., dip 30° S. 10°-15° W. At the 

northern opening the gneiss foliation strikes N. 75° E. and dips 25° N. 15° W. 

The sheets, 2 to 6 feet thick, dip with the foliation. There are two sets of 

joints (a), strike N. 50° E., vertical; (b), N. 10° E., vertical or steep east, 

forming an 8-foot wide heading at east edge of quarry. Pegmatite dikes, 1 

inch to 2 feet thick, dip low northeast. The rift at both quarries is parallel to the 

long axes of the lenses and at right angles to the gneiss foliation. The grain 

is parallel to that foliation, and the hard way is transverse to it and to the 

lenses.

OLD LYME.

The MacCurdy quarry is in Old Lyme Township, on Duck River, between 

Lyme village and the Lyme and Blackball station. Owner in 1908, Mrs. Evelyn 

MacCurdy Salisbury, 237 Church Street, New Haven, Although this little quarry 

has not been worked for many years, it is described on account of the attractiveness of its stone.
CONNECTICUT. 391

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 49, b, c, d, the last being a polished cube 

with edges 3.5 inches), " MacCurdy granite," is a pegmatite with the composition of a biotite granite. Its general color is medium pinkish to reddish gray 

spotted with black. Its texture is very coarse porphyritic, with feldspars up to 

1.5 inches (exceptionally to 4.5 inches) and mica mostly under 0.5 inch (exceptionally up to 1 inch). Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, 

are pinkish to reddish potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline, both 

minutely intergrown with oligoclase), somewhat micacized; light to medium 

smoky quartz with cavities in parallel or intersecting sheets; light pinkish to 

cream-colored and milk-white, rarely clear striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase). generally micacized; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. 

Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite (considerable), and zircon. Secondary: 

White micas, calcite, hematite, -chlorite.81

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. K. C. Wells, a chemist of this 

Survey, finds that it contains 0.46 per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in warm 

dilute 10 per cent acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.82 per cent of 

CaCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite), the presence of which is also shown in 

the section.

W. P. Blake, in in 1880, determined the specific gravity of the reddish feldspar as 2.580 and that of the granite as 2.643, and the weight of a cubic foot of 

it as 165.2 pounds, or 12.106 cubic feet to 2,000 pounds.

The contrasts between its minerals, the cleavage planes of the large porphyritic feldspars reflecting the light, the iridescence of some of the feldspars, and the attractiveness of its general color make this an unusual rock. 

The polished face brings out the colors still more strongly. It is well adapted 

in the rough for monumental use and, when polished, for internal decorations. 

Between 1871 and 1881 this pegmatite was examined more or less thoroughly 

by James D. Dana, A. Daubrge, Des Cloiseaux, G. W. Hawes, W. P. Blake, 

O. U. Shepard, and specimens of it were exhibited at the expositions of Philadelphia, 1876, and Paris, 1878. Newberry M referred to it in his Tenth Census 

report on building stones.

The quarry measures about 50 by 30 feet and from 5 to 10 feet in depth, but 

some rock was probably quarried above the present surface.

Rock structure: Several dikes of the pegmatite, 15 to 22 feet thick, have 

penetrated a mass of banded gneiss parallel to its foliation, which strikes N. 

50°-60° E. and dips 40°-45° N. 30° B. At one point the pegmatite apparently 

crosses the foliation of the gneiss horizontally. The gneiss (specimen D, XXX, 

49, a, Lyme granite gneiss, No. 34 of the State preliminary geologic map) Is a 

biotitic quartz monzonite gneiss of medium, inclining to dark gray color, with 

fine bands of various grays, and of fine gneissic texture, with particles under 

0.2 inch and bands from 0.1 to 0.3 inch. The constituents of the bands crossed 

by one thin section are, in the usual order, quartz with cavities in many parallel 

sheets, with rift cracks parallel thereto, some of them filled with fibrous muscovite, also with a set of sparser and finer cracks at right angles to the first 

set (the rift coincides with the foliation of the rock), oligoclase, orthoclase, 

and biotite.

Transportation, by cart about half a mile to New York, New Haven & Hartfort Railroad.

87 This granite was first examined microscopically by Des Cloiseaux, who regarded the 

feldspar intergrown with the microcline as albite. See Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 20, 

p. 335, 1880.

88 Tenth Census, vol. 10, p. 321, 1884.
392 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Product: The Channing Memorial Church, with its steeple, at Newport, B. I., 

was built of this stone in 1881. The trimmings, however, were of light and dark 

gray granite.

STONINGTON.

The Masons Island quarry is in Stonington Township, at the northwest 

end of Masons Island, on Pine Hill. Operators, E. S. Belden & Sons, Hartford. 

Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 21, a, Mamacoke gneiss, No. 36, of the State 

preliminary geologic map) is a quartz monzonite flow gneiss of banded light 

and dark gray shade. Its texture is even grained, fine, banded, with feldspars 

under 0.2 inch and mica under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are pale smoky quartz, with cavities in sheets; milk-white sodalime feldspar (oligoclase, probably), some of it micacized; clear colorless potash 

feldspar (microclrne, probably a little orthoclase also) ; and biotite (black 

mica). Accessory: Magnetite, garnet, allanite, zircon.

The quarry, opened in 1880, measured in 1908 about 200 feet from east to 

west, with a working face 30 to 60 feet high on the north.

Rock structure: The rock appears to be a granite with flowage bands caused 

by the different distribution of the biotite in parallel bands. The banding dips 

low west. There are lenses of coarse pegmatite (white and pink feldspar and 

biotite) parallel to the bands. There are also dikes of this pegmatite, some 

vertical, some dipping southeast or northwest.89 The sheets, 6 inches to 4 feet 

thick, are horizontal. One joint only, strike about east-west.

Transportation, by track 450 feet to dock on Mystic Harbor.

The product is used entirely for riprap for breakwater construction.

The New Anguilla quarry is in Stonington Township, a mile east of Anguilla Creek, and 1$ miles west-northwest of the station at Westerly, R. I. 

Operator, Morrison Granite Co. (Inc.), Westerly, R. I. Idle since 1913.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 19, b), "New Anguilla," is a quartz monzonite of medium, slightly bluish gray color and of even-grained, fine granitic texture, with feldspars under 0.1 inch and mica under 0.05 inch. Its constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are light smoky quartz with cavities; milkwhite soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), much kaolinized, micacized, and with 

calcite; in about equal amount slightly bluish-gray potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase), intergrown with quartz, more or less circular in cross section; 

biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Accessory: Titanite, apatite, magnetite, pyrite, zircon. Secondary: 

Kaolin, a white mica, calcite. The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test.

This is a monumental granite resembling " blue Westerly " (p. 406) in color 

and texture. Like other quartz monzonites, it cuts and hammers light.

The stone from another opening (specimen D, XXX, 19, c) is of light-buff, 

inclining to medium-gray color and of even-grained, medium texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.25 inch and mica under 0.1 inch. It consists of cream-colored 

feldspar, medium smoky "quartz, and black mica. It effervesces with muriaticacid test. This is hardly suitable for monumental use.

The quarry, opened in 1908, measured about 100 feet from east to west by 30 

feet across and averaged 4 feet in depth. Another opening 500 feet south was 

40 by 20 feet and 5 to 8 feet deep.

Rock structure: The bluish-gray quartz monzonite has a capping of gneiss 

3 to 5 feet thick. This (specimen D, XXX, 19, a), probably Putnam gneiss of

C9 J. F. Kemp described this pegmatite in hia Granites of southern Rhode Island and 

Connecticut: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 10, pp. 373, 374, 1899.
CONNECTICUT. 393

Rice and Gregory, is a biotite granite gneiss of medium gray shade, finely 

banded with dark gray, and of fine to very fine unplicated gneissic texture, 

with feldspars under 0.1 inch and mica under 0.05 inch. Its constituents, in 

the usual order, are microcline, quartz, oligoclase, and biotite, with accessory 

magnetite, apatite, zircon, allanite. The foliation strikes nearly east and is 

vertical. The contact between granite and gneiss is in places very jagged or 

bordered with 12 inches of pegmatite and aplite, which also penetrate the 

gneiss. The sheets, exposed in 1908, were 6 inches to 5 feet thick. There are 

three sets of Joints (a), strike east, vertical; (6), strike north, vertical and 

discontinuous; (c) (one only), strike N. 60° W., dip 55° S. 30° W. The rift 

is reported as horizontal, and the grain and hard way as equally fissile. The 

flow structure dips 25° S. At the south opening a dike or band of the quartz 

monzinite, 10 feet wide, has the medium-grained granite, described on page 392, 

on both sides of it. Flow structure dips 50°-70° S.

Transportation, by cart 2 miles to Westerly, R. I.

The blue-gray quartz monzonite is used for monuments.

The Murray quarry is in the village of Pawcatuck, in Stonington Township, 

about three-fourths mile northwest of Westerly station. Quarry no longer 

operated.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 18, a, Sterling granite, No. 24 of the State 

preliminary geologic map), "red Westerly," is a biotite granite of dark, inclining to medium reddish-gray color and of even-grained granitic medium, 

inclining to coarse texture, with feldspar up to 0.4 inch (exceptionally 0.5 

inch) and mica to 0.2 inch, but mostly under 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are reddish potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), slightly kaolinizecl; amethystine smoky quartz, with cavities in 

sheets; cream-colored striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclasealbite), much kaolinized and micacized, in places stained red from hematite; 

biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached 

biotite. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, allanite, zircon. Secondary: 

White micas, kaolin, chlorite, calcite, limonite from allanite, hematite from 

magnetite. Marked effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a brilliant constructional granite of attractive tint. Its mineral 

contrasts are between its black mica and pink and cream-colored feldspar. 

The stone is identical with that of the Redstone quarry at Westerly, R. I. 

(See p. 412.)

Another biotite granite (specimen D, XXX, 18, b) from the same quarry is 

of dark, inclining to medium, slightly reddish-gray color. It is a little darker 

and less reddish than the stone described above. Its texture is even-grained 

medium, with feldspar to 0.3 inch and mica to 0.1 inch. Its constituents are 

like those of the other, but the soda-lime feldspar is of greenish-gray color. 

The effect of this and of the finer texture of the stone is to darken its general ' 

shade.

The quarries, opened about 1889, are two a northern one, measuring in 

1908 about 150 by 75 feet, with a 40-foot working face on the west, and a 

southern one, separated from the other by a 50-foot mass and consisting of 

two 50-foot square openings, one east of the other.

Rock structure: The sheets, 2 to 10 feet thick, dip gently north and, at the 

south end, west. There are three sets of joints (a), strike N. 60° E., dip 

65°, spaced 4 to 20 feet and over; (b), strike N. 82° E., vertical, reddish, 

coated with epidote, spaced 2 to 20 feet; (c), strike N. 25° E. Plow structure

70 Manual of the geology of Connecticut: Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey 

Bull. 6, p. 132, 1906.
394 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

and grain strike east; the former dips 60°. The rift is reported as horizontal. 

Pegmatite dikes (specimen D, XXX, 18, c) up to 6 inches thick strike N. 60° 

W. The unquarried mass between the two quarries and about 10 feet of the 

south end of the northern quarry consist of the finer darker granite (specimen b), which constitutes a dike or band.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to railroad at Westerly, R. I.

The product of the main quarry (specimen a) was used for building and 

trimming; that of the smaller (b) for monuments.

WATERFOBD.

The Scott quarry is in Waterford Township, 3 miles north of New London, 

on Bolles Hill, about half a mile south of Quaker Hill village. Quarry abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 9, b), Mamacoke gneiss, No. 36 of the 

State preliminary geologic map) is an aegirite granite gneiss of medium 

pinkish to purplish gray color and of very fine, slightly gneissic, in places 

banded texture, with feldspar under 0.1 inch (rarely to 0.15 inch) and black 

silicate under 0.05 inch. Its constituents, named in descending order of 

abundance, are grayish to pinkish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), 

intergrown with soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite) and somewhat kaolinized; light smoky quartz with cavities in sheets; a little separate soda-lime 

feldspar of the same kind; black aegirite (green in thin section). Accessory: Magnetite, titanite. Secondary: Kaolin, hematite stain. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

A specimen (D, XXX, 9, a) of a part with alternating black, gray, and reddish plicated bands from 0.1 to 0.3 inch wide shows the same minerals with 

zircon, but the soda-lime feldspar is albite or oligoclase-albite and all separate. 

Some of the bands are largely quartz, others largely feldspar, still others 

mainly aegirite.

The quarry, opened in 1898, measured in 1908 150 feet along the highway 

by 50 feet from it and averaged 5 feet in depth, with a working face 20 feet 

high at the back.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 4 feet thick, are about horizontal. Two 

sets of joints occur at rare intervals (a), strike N. 10° W., dip 60° W.; (b), 

strike N. 65° E., vertical. The gneiss foliation strikes N. 10° W. and N. 20° 

E. and dips east. At one point this is sharply plicated along the strike. The 

rift is reported as vertical east to west and the grain as vertical north to 

south. Dikes or lenses of pegmatite and aplite up to 2 feet thick run with 

the foliation.

The product is underpinning, curbing, trimmings, steps, and paving. The 

quarry is worked only occasionally.

The Millstone quarry is in Waterford Township, on Millstone Point, 5 

miles southwest of New London. (See fig. 89.) Operator, Henry Gardiner, 

Millstone.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 6, a, b, k, polished, d, e, rough, related to 

Westerly granite of Rice and Gregory), "Millstone granite," is a quartz 

monzonite between medium and dark gray, smoky, and of even-grained granitic, 

fine texture, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch but mostly under 0.1 inch and mica 

to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, named in descending order of abundance, are 

whitish to buff striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), much of it 

kaolinized and micacized and intergrown with quartz circular in cross section; 

translucent gray potash feldspar (microcline and a little orthoclase), little 

altered; medium smoky quartz, with some cavities in sheets; biotite (black
CONNECTICUT. 395

mica), some of it chloritized; and very little muscovite or bleached blotlte. 

Accessory: Magnetite (fifth in abundance), allanite (sixth in abundance), 

pyrite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, limonite from 

allanite, calcite, chlorite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method, applied to 

a camera-lucida enlargement (25 diameters) of a thin section, yields these 

results with a mesh of 1.7 inches and total linear length of 40.8, inches: 

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), 34.22; potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), 31.81; quartz, 25.54; black mica (biotite), 7.21; magnetite, 0.93;

1 2 3 Miles

Contour interval 40 feet

FIGURE 89. Map of southern part of Waterford, Conn., showing location of granite 

quarries. 1, Flat Rock ; 3, Goos ; 5, Waterford; 6, Millstone; 14, Somers.

allanite, 0.29. The average diameter of the particles calculated from the same 

measurements is 0.0354 inch.

This granite effervesces somewhat freely with cold dilute muriatic acid. 

R. C. Wells, a chemist of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.31 per cent of 

CaO (lime), soluble in warm dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates 

a content of 0.55 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate, calcite). Calcite is 

also shown by the microscope.

A transverse test (No. 9764) made at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 1896, on a piece of this granite 18 inches long by 1.02 by 1.02 

inches and with 15 inches between end supports, gave a modulus of rupture of 

2,029 pounds, the piece breaking under 138 pounds.
396 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

This is a brilliant, somewhat fine-grained smoky monumental and inscriptional granite without mineral contrasts except on close inspection. Its texture 

is about one-third as fine as that of the coarser " blue Westerly " granite (New 

England Granite Works quarry, 0.0112 inch).

It takes a high polish, but the polished 

face shows magnetite and some pyrite. It 

hammers and cuts medium gray, thus affording a marked contrast of shade to the 

polished face, which is dark gray.71

A pinkish variety (specimen D, XXX, 6,. 

i), "Millstone pink," no longer quarried, 

is a quartz monzonite of medium, inclining 

to dark, slightly pinkish gray eolor, with 

unevenly distributed cherry-red stains. Ita 

texture is a trifle coarser, the feldspars 

and mica mostly under 0.15 inch. Its composition is identical with that of the other 

but includes secondary hematite, which 

causes the cherry-red spots.

The quarry, opened in 1830, measured in 

1908 about 800 feet in a N. 40° W. direction and had a width varying from about 

150 to 300 feet, owing to two embayments 

on the northeast wall, and a depth of 5ft 

to 150 feet.718

Rock structure: The relations of granite 

and gneiss here have been described on 

page 89. The gneiss (specimen D, XXX,. 

6, f, Mamacoke gneiss, No. 36 of the State 

preliminary geologic map) appears to be a 

black and white banded biotite granitegneiss of fine to medium texture. The 

granite sheets, lenticular, normal, and 

mostly 2 to 8 feet thick, but 6 to 12 inches 

in the upper 20 feet of the southeast end 

and 6 inches to 2 feet in the upper 15 feet 

of the central northeast side, dip 20° N, 

65° E. There are two sets of joints (a), 

strike N. 40° W., vertical, forming parts 

of the northeast and southwest walls and 

a 30-foot heading at the north-northwest

corner, spaced 6 inches to 33 feet but mostly 3 to 10 feet; (b), strike north to 

N. 10° E., steep, occurs at greater and irregular intervals. A little sea water 

enters the quarry at the bottom through some of these joints. Flow structure,, 

indicated by biotitic bands, strikes N. 45°-60° W. and dips 30° SW., but near 

the northwest end of the quarry the bands are tortuous, doubling over on themselves, as shown in figure 90, c. A block in the storage yard with a concentric 

structure of this kind probably formed" part of a turn in one of these granite

n J. S. Newberry in 1884 described it as " a dark-gray granite of fine, homogeneous 

texture, showing strong contrast of color between polished and dressed surfaces." Tenth 

Census U. S., vol. 10, p. 321, 1884.

71a See Kemp, J. F., op. clt., pi. 36, fig. 2, for a view of the quarry as It appeared between 1888 and 1898.

-7 feet 2 inches - 

d

FiauRB 90. Details at Millstone 

quarry, Waterford, Conn, a, Vertical section of pegmatite dike in 

quartz monzonite, with inclusions 

of biotite gneiss (after a photograph by B. F. Burchard, U. S. 

Geol. Survey) ; ft, horizontal section of Inclusion of biotite gneiss, 

20 by 8.5 inches, partly surrounded 

with pegmatite, in quartz mcnzonite; c, vertical section of tortuous 

flow structure, consisting of biotite 

sheets; d, horizontal section of inclusion of gneiss associated with 

very coarse pegmatite in quartz 

monzonite.
CONNECTICUT. 397

currents. The rift is reported as dipping 5°-10° N. 80° E., and the grain as 

vertical, with N. 65° E. course. Pegmatite and aplite dikes dip 30° at intervals of 3 to 10 feet. One with large biotite crystals strikes N. 55° E. There 

are many inclusions. Some have been described on page 62 and are shown in 

figure 90. Rusty stain is about 2 inches thick on sheet surfaces. Niles," in 

1876, mentioned the crushing of channel cores and cramping of drills at this 

quarry by northeast-southwest compression.

Transportation, by siding 1 mile to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad at Millstone station and also by short siding to dock, which admits vessels of 12-foot draft at low tide.

The product is used for monuments and buildings, and the waste for breakwater riprap, road, and concrete material. Specimens: Saratoga Monument, 

interior, entrance, and all but upper 10 feet of exterior; also a polished inscribed tablet of the Millstone pink; base, pedestal, and cap of Barnum monument, Bridgeport; George W. Childs mausoleum, Philadelphia.

The Somers prospect is in Waterford Township, 2$ miles west-southwest 

of New London, on the east side of Durfy Hill, near Graniteville. (See fig. 89.) 

This is a small opening, made in 1902.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 14, b, related to Westerly granite of Rice 

and Gregory) is a quartz monzonite of medium, inclining to dark buff-gray 

color and of even-grained granitic fine texture, with feldspar mostly under 0.1 

Inch but up to 0.2 inch and mica mostly under 0.05 inch but up to 0.1 inch. 

This rock is overlain by a few feet of similar but pinkish granite (specimen D, 

XXX, 14, a). Both effervesce slightly with muriatic-acid test.

This granite is finer textured than that of the Millstone quarry, and specimen 14, b, is a little lighter in color. Specimens taken from upper 8 feet.

Rock structure: The sheets are irregular, 1 to 8 feet thick, dipping 30° E. 

Joints (a), strike nearly east, vertical, spaced 9 to 20 feet; (b), strike north, 

dip west, discontinuous, one only. There is some pegmatite.

The Waterford quarry is in Waterford Township, 3J miles south-southwest 

of New London, 2| miles south of Waterford station, and a mile east of Pleasure Beach. (See fig. 89.) Operator, Booth Bros. & Hurricane Isle Granite Co., 

208 Broadway, New York.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 5, a, b, rough, d, polished and hammered, 

related to Westerly granite of Rice and Gregory), "Connecticut white," is a 

quartz monzonite of medium buff-gray color and of even-grained granitic, fine 

texture, with feldspar up to 0.2 inch, rarely 0.3 inch, but mostly under 0.1 inch, 

and slender micas up to 0.15 inch, rarely 0.2 inch, but mostly not over 0.1 inch. 

The long axes of the micas are parallel to the rift. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine), kaolinized and micacized; cream-colored potash feldspar (inicrocline and 

a little orthoclase), slightly kaolinized and intergrown with quartz more or less 

circular in cross section; light smoky quartz, with hairlike crystals of rutile, 

rare cavities in sheets, and some rift cracks parallel thereto; biotite (black 

mica), some of it chloritized; and very little muscovite or bleached biotite. 

Accessory: Magnetite (fifth in order of abundance), apatite, zircon, allanite; 

no pyrite detected. Secondary: A white mica, kaolin, calcite, chlorite, limonite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method applied to a 

camera-lucida enlargement (25 diameters) of a thin section yields these results 

with a mesh of 1 inch and a total linear length of 27 inches: Soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase-andesine), 33.63; potash"feldspar (microcline and little orthoclase),

72 Niles, W. EL, The geological agency of lateral pressure exhibited by certain movements of rocks: Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. Proc., vol. 18, for 1875-76, p. 279.
398 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

32.29; quartz, 29.92: black mica (biotite), 3.65; magnetite, 0.51. The average 

diameter of the particles, calculated from the same measurements, is 0.0206 inch.

The stone effervesces with muriatic-acid test. R. C. Wells, a chemist of this 

Survey, finds that it contains 0.29 per cent of CaO (lime), soluble in warm 

dilute (10 per cent) acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.51 per cent 

of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate, calcite) ; calcite is also shown by the microscope.

The following analysis (No. 12757) of this granite, made for the company 

by Ricketts & Banks, of New York, is given here for reference:

Analysis of quartz monzonite from Waterford quarry.

Silica (SiOa )____________________________ 68.11 

Alumina (AW)i) ______ ___________________ 14.28

Iron oxide (FeO) . _________________ 2.63 

Lime (CaO)______ _ _______________ 1.86

Magnesia (MgO) ____'.___________________ .68 

Potash (K2O) ____________________________ 5.46 

Soda (Na,0)___________________________ 6.57 

Sulphur (S)_____ ___________________ .34

99.93

Ira H. Woolson, E. M., of Columbia University, made two compression tests 

on cubes of 2-inch edges in 1896, with these results (rift and grain directions 

not noted):

Test No.

1575. .... 

1576.....

First 

crack.

Pounds. 

65.000 

92, 000

Maximum

stress.

Pounds. 

93. 100 

97,600

Ultimate 

strength.

Pounds per 

so. in. 

23.510 

23,921

This is a very fine-graded monumental and inscriptional granite of buff to 

medium-gray tint without mineral contrasts. It is finer and lighter than the 

" Millstone granite " and about half as fine as " blue Westerly" which averages 

0.0099 inch per particle. (See p. 406.)

It takes a high polish. The polished face shows a little magnetite and is of 

medium inclining to dark gray shade; the hammered face is a light gray, to 

Which the stone owes its trade name. This property of hammering and cutting 

light it possesses in common with " Westerly," " Groton," " Millstone," and other 

quartz monzonites. Its adaptation, to fine architectural and sculptural work 

is shown in Plates XXXII and XXXIII, A, and its lightness when hammered in 

Plate XXXII.

The quarry, opened about 1878, measured in 1908 about 600 feet from east to 

west by 150 feet across at the east end and 250 feet at the west end and from 

75 to 125 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The granite occurs in two dikelike masses, 30 and 40 feet 

thick, as described in detail on page 89, and shown in figures 13 and 14. There 

are three sets of joints (A), vertical, spaced 3 to 20 feet; (B), vertical or steep 

west, spaced 3 to 50 feet: (C), dip 50°-75° NW., spaced 2 to 75 feet. (See fig. 

91.) The rift dips 10° S. 15° E., with the long axes of the biotite scales, the 

grain dips 75° N. 15° W., and the hard way is vertical. Joint, rift, and grain 

courses are shown in figure 91. In splitting along the rift the granite is reported as breaking more readily from the west side than from the north. 

Biotitic knots up to 6 inches in diameter are rare. Inclusions of the gneiss, 3
CONNECTICUT. 399

inches across and 2 by 3 feet, occur 2$ and 6 feet above the contact of the upper 

granite dike underlying gneiss. The granite surface tends to weather spheroidally. (See p. 72 and PI. XXIX, B.) Rusty stain is 2 to 6 inches thick on 

sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart 1 mile to dock at Pleasure Beach, which admits 

vessels of 9 feet draft at low tide, or 2 miles to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad at Waterford station.

The product is used mostly for monuments.

Specimens: Soldiers' monument, Whitinsville, Mass., shown in Plates XXXII 

and XXXIII, A; Chelsea Savings Bank, Norwich, Obnn.; Littlefield shaft, Swan 

Point Cemetery, Providence, R. I.; Hoy mausoleum, Mount Moriah Cemetery, 

Philadelphia; City Deposit Bank, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Clark residence (basement), 

Riverside Drive, and Dudley Celtic cross, Woodlawn Cemetery, New York; 

soldiers and sailors' memorial (Cyrus E. Dallin, sculptor), Syracuse, N. Y.; 

Alexander Hamilton memorial (Bela Pratt, sculptor), Grant Park, Chicago.

TOLLAND COUNTY. 

BOLTON.

The Peterscn quarry is in Bolton 

Township, in the northeastern part of 

Minnehausch or Birch Mountain, about 

2 miles southwest of Bolton village and 

1J miles southeast of Highland Park 

post office, in Manchester. The quarry 

is not in operation.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 31, 

a, b, Glastonbury granite gneiss, No. 15 

of the State preliminary geologic map) 

is a biotite granite gneiss of medium, 

slightly bluish-gray color, with conspicuous broad black streaks on the foliation 

face, and of medium-grained unplicated, 

very gneissic texture, with porphyritic

lenticular feldspar up to 0.2 and 0.4 inch long. The quartz is in lamellae 

up to 0.1 inch thick and the mica to 0.04 inch. The stone looks very different on its rift, grain, and hard-way sides. Its constituents, in descending 

order of abundance, are translucent bluish potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), somewhat kaolinized; light smoky quartz, strained and with 

cavities in parallel sheets and cracks parallel to or coinciding therewith; 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase to oligoclase-andesine); and biotite 

(black mica). Accessory: Garnet, pyrite. Secondary: A white mica, kaolin. 

Both feldspars are intergrown with quartz more or less circular in cross section. The stone does not effervesce with muriatic-acid test

The quarry is a small opening, made in 1908.

Rock stricture: The sheets, 3 feet thick, dip gently east. The gneiss foliation strikes N. 10° E. and is vertical. The rift is parallel to it, the grain 

horizontal, and the hard way vertical, east-west. An 18-inch aplite dike runs 

parallel to the foliation. This (specimen D, XXX, 31, c) is of medium bluishgray color and of fine, slightly gneissic texture. Its constituents, in the usual 

order, are smoky quartz; bluish microcline, with orthoclase; milk-white sodalime feldspar; and a little sparse biotite and pyrite. Its quartz and feldspar 

particles are mostly from 0.11 to 0.33 millimeter, with some porphyritic ones 

0.54 to 0.84 millimeter.

FIGURE 91. Structure at Waterford 

quarry, Waterford, Conn.
400 COMMEBCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The contrasts in this stone are more marked than in any of the gneisses of 

Glastonbury described on pages 366-369.

The stone was used for underpinning and cellar stone and is well adapted to 

Bills.

WINDHAM COUNTY. 

STERLING.

The Oneco quarry is in Sterling Township, 1 mile southwest of Oneco 

village, near the Rhode Island line. (See PL XXVIII.) It is now disused.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 22, a, Sterling granite gneiss, No. 24 of 

the State preliminary geologic map) is a biotite granite gneiss of medium, inclining to dark, slightly bluish-gray color and of fine-grained unplicated gneissic 

texture, with porphyritic feldspars up to 0.2 and 0.4 inch and mica in fine 

parallel streaks 0.1 to 0.2 inch apart. Its constituents, in descending order 

of abundance, are bluish potash feldspar (microcline intergrown with quartz 

more or less circular in cross section, also orthoclase), somewhat kaolinized; 

light smoky quartz, with cavities in parallel sheets and cracks parallel thereto; 

a little milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), some of it kaolinized and 

micacized; and biotite (black mica). Accessory: Titanite (fifth in order of 

abundance), magnetite (or ilmenite), garnet, apatite, allanite, zircon. 

Secondary: Kaolin, white mica. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

The quarry, opened about 1868, measured in 1908 about 500 feet from northwest to southeast by 400 feet across and 35 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes N. 10°-25° W. and is vertical. 

The sheets, up to 5 feet thick, dip 5°-10° SW. and NW. Joints (a), strike N. 

80°-85° E., vertical, spaced 10 feet and much more; (&), "blind seams" with 

quartz and pegmatite dikelets, strike N. 30° W., dip 50° E., spaced 3 to 10 feet. 

Biotitic surfaces (flow structure?) strike N. 30° W., and dip 50° N. 60° E. The 

rift is reported as parallel to the gneiss foliation, and the grain is vertical, east 

to west, feeble. There are pegmatite lenses of smoky quartz and pink feldspar, 

with purple fluorite and epidote crystals. Dikes of whitish aplite up to 4 inches 

thick strike N. 50° W. (See microscopic description under Marriott quarry, 

below.)

Transportation, by siding to Central New England Railway.

The product was used for building, curbing, and paving, and the wasfe for 

crushed stone.

The Marriott quarry is in Sterling Township, 1 mile southwest of Oneco 

station and one-fourth mile east of the Oneco quarry. Operators, R. B. Marriott 

& Sons, Oneco.

The granite (specimens D,, XXX, 23, a, b, Sterling granite gneiss, No. 24 of the 

State preliminary geologic map), " Oneco," is a biotite granite gneiss of medium, 

Inclining to dark bluish-gray color and of fine-grained unplicated gneissic 

texture, with porphyritic feldspar up to 0.2 and 0.4 inch and mica in fine parallel 

streaks 0.1 to 0.2 inch apart. Its constituents are identical with those of the 

Oneco quarry stone, but the section shows secondary calcite, and the stone 

effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test.

This granite gneiss is well adapted by its foliation for curbing and trimmings. 

It has a marked bluish tint and looks well hammered on the grain and hard-way 

sides.

The quarry, first opened in 1881, reopened in 1903, measured in 1908 about 

200 by 150 feet and 15 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes north to N. 15° W. and is vertical. 

The sheets, 1 to 7 feet thick, dip 5° E. There are two sets of joints (a), strike
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 73S PLATE XXIX

4. GRANITE GNEISS FROM LEETE ISLAND QUARRY, CONN.

Showing gneissoid texture due to squeezing and stretching of granite. Photograph 

by H. E. Gregory.

B. OVOIDAL BUOCK OF VERY FIM-: QUARTZ MONZONITE PRODUCED BY 

.. WEATHERING WITHIN A HEADING AT REDSTONE QUARRY, WESTERLY, R. I.

Hammer 20} inches long.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XXX

A. POLISHED SLAB OF PEGMATITIC BIOTITE GRANITE GNEISS, "BHANFORD 

RED," FROM NORCROSS QUARRY, STONY CREEK, CONN.

Showing irregularity in size of grains owing to pegmatitization and in their arrangement owing 

to flow structure, and probably also in part, to gneissic foliation. Rule 12 inches long.

li. OBELISK OF HAMMERED PEGMATITIC BIOTITE GRANITE GNEISS, "BRAN 

FORD RED," FROM THE NORCROSS QUARRY, STONY CREEK, CONN
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 73S PLATE XXXI

-4. COARSE PORPHYRtTIC RIOTITE GKANITE GNEISS FROM HOADLY POINT 

"WEST" QUARRY, BRANFORD, CONN.

Showing thf? lenticular shape of the feldspars owing to elongation and the distribution of the

mica and quartz in harH<*.

B. PORPHYRITIC GRANITE GNEISS FROM DERBY, CONN. 

Showing the isolated feldspar crystals (phenocrysts). Photograph by H, E. Gregory.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 738 PLATE XXXII

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS' MONUMENT AT WHITINSVILLE, MASS.

Made of hammered biT-^ray fide quartz monzouite from Booth quarry at Waterford, Conn. 

A. D. F. Hainlm, architect. H. A. MacNeil, sculptor. Height to top of hall, 30 feet. Eagle of 

bronze.
U. fi. OEOLOOICAL SURVEY

A. PANEL WITH BAS-RELIEF AT BASE OF MONUMENT 

SHOWN IN PLATE XXXII.

Height of relief, 0.5 inch.

TS. CAHVED 

QUARTZ M

AT GROTO

Heigh
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUHVKY

.1. CONTACT OK CHANITIO (QUAKT/ MON/OMTK! \\ITII 

(IVKIU.YINC (illAMTK (iMOISS <>!\ \\ ICS'l 1 SIDK (IK 

KI.ONDIKH QUAKKY IN CM AH I,K.STO\\ iN, MvMt HIIADKOltD STATION, K. I.

ShowiilK |>:winiil.ilu dikes in 111.- K iir;iss iil|i|iiiri;iil.l> shirlinj." fnun llic

craiiil* surface; also sli,:.:l sl.riiclurc:

«. CAHVINC

WHSTKHLY

CHANlTli 
CONNECTICUT. 401

N. 65°.E., vertical, spaced 3 to 30 feet, forms the south wall; (&), strike north, 

vertical, forms east and west walls, and one on either side. The rift coincides 

with the foliation; the grain is horizontal, and the hard way vertical, east to 

west. The stone breaks somewhat readily along the hard way. There are dikes 

of aplite up to a foot thick, striking northwest. A small one of these has a 

central band of ilmenite 0.3 inch thick. The aplite (specimen D, XXX, 23, c), 

like that of the Oneco quarry, is of light cream-color and very fine texture, with 

particles under 0.1 inch. In a thin section they range from 0.05 to 1.12 millimeters; Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear colorless 

quartz with cavities, microcline with orthoclase, oligoclase, minute and sparse 

biotite, with accessory ilmenite, garnet, and apatite. There is a 6-inch dike of 

smoky quartz with felclspathic border on the west side; also lenses-of pegmatite with smoky quartz.

Transportation, by cart li miles to Oneco station.

The product is used for curbing, building, trimmings, chimney caps, and 

paving, which is sent to Providence. Specimens: Cranske Mill addition at 

Moosup, Conn.

The Bennett quarries are in Sterling Township, three-fourths mile east of 

Sterling station and about li miles west of the Rhode Island line. Operator, 

Nelson A. Bennett, Sterling. Idle since 1914.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 24, a, d, e, Sterling granite gneiss, No. 24 

of the State preliminary geologic map) is a biotite granite gneiss of general 

light pinkish-gray color, with conspicuous black streaks on the foliation face, 

and of fine-grained, obscurely plicated, gneissic, much elongated porphyritic 

texture. It is marked by long, tapering parallel lenses from 0.1 to 0.3 inch wide 

consisting of quartz or feldspar or mica. The rock has very different aspects 

on its rift, grain, and hard-way faces. The rift or foliation face (specimen a) 

shows the lenses of black mica, pink feldspar, and smoky quartz. Along the 

grain (specimen a, smallest side), which is vertical to the foliation but parallel 

to the lenses, the mica is in very thin streaks, while along the hard way (specimen e), which is at right angles to the lenses, the rock is mottled with pink, 

gray, and black. The feldspar particles are up to 0.2 inch. The constituents, 

in descending order of abundance, are light-pinkish potash feldspar (microcline 

and orthoclase), slightly kaolinized; light smoky quartz, with cavities in irregular sheets; cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), somewhat 

kaolinized; biotite (black mica); and very little hornblende. Accessory: 

Allanite, apatite, zircon. Secondary: Calcite, kaolin. Slight effervescence 

with muriatic-acid test.

A more pinkish granite (specimen 25, a), from a point about li miles northnortheast of Sterling station, a little north of Quaduck Brook, is of identical 

texture and composition, but the feldspars are more pinkish and more altered, 

the oligoclase-albite being much kaolinized and carrying calcite.

These stones are well adapted for the manufacture of paving blocks on 

account of their marked rift and grain and their smooth fracture along the 

hard way. The contrasts of shade and color in the fresh rock and its foliation 

make it suitable and attractive for other uses. /

The quarry, if such it can be called, is part of a boulder train about li 

miles from north to south by one-half a mile in width, consisting of boulders 

of one gneiss, which range from 5 to 30 feet in diameter and correspond to 

the underlying gneiss of the region. Indeed, a few of the quarried " boulders " 

are the weathered tops of ledges. The quarry there is, in the quarrymen's 

sense, a " boulder quarry." 

105709 23 27
402 COMMERCIAL, GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Rock structure: A ledge of the gneiss, 30 fef t high, shows the gneiss foliation, 

striking north and dipping 55°-70° W. Sheets 2 to 5 feet thick dip 25° N. 70° W., 

and vertical joints strike east and are spaced 1 to 10 feet. The rift coincides 

with the foliation, and the grain is at right angles to it but parallel to th£ 

lenses. Slight discoloration extends 10 inches from the surface.

Transportation, by cart to a 200-foot siding one-quarter mile east of Sterling 

station.

The product is used for curbing, sills, caps, steps, buttresses, underpinning, 

and paving. The paving, which is the chief product, finds a market in Providence. The operator pays a royalty to the landowners on the boulders he 

splits up.

The Sterling quarry, an abandoned quarry three-fifths mile east-southeast 

of Sterling station, in the same township, is of interest because of the texture 

of its stone.

The granite (specimen D, XXX, 26 a) is a biotite granite gneiss of medium, 

inclining to dark bluish-gray color and of fine gneissic texture, with fine matrix (particles under 0.2 inch) and porphyritic feldspars up to 0.5 inch. Its 

constituents are the same as those of the Bennett boulders, but the potash feldspar is bluish, the quartz clear and colorless, and the oligoclase milk-white to 

buff or faintly pinkish. The porphyritic texture is less obscured by elongation, 

and the biotite, while in parallel arrangement, is evenly distributed, as is also 

the quartz. Titanite is among the accessory minerals. This gneiss evidently 

originated in the same granite as that of the Bennett boulders but is less metamorphic that is, its minerals have not been redistributed to the same extent, 

nor have its feldspars been subsequently so greatly altered.

Rock structure: The gneiss foliation strikes north and dips 70° W. to 90°, 

and the sheets are from 6 inches to 3 feet thick.

WINDHAM.

The Larrabee quarry is in Windham Township, three-fourths mile northwest 

of the Willimantic railroad station. Operator, Charles Larrabee, jr., R. D. 2, 

Willimantic. Idle since 1915.

The granite (specimens D, XXX, 27, a, b, d, Willimantic gneiss, No. 25, of the 

State preliminary geologic map) is a biotite granite gneiss of interbanded medium and very dark gray shades, with a few pinkish bands of muscovite gneiss 

and some of pinkish pegmatite. Its texture is fine-grained gneissic, with an unplicated lamination and particles under 0.1 inch, the feldspars in the pegmatite 

bands up to 0.3 inch. The constituents of the medium-gray bands, in descending order of abundance, are translucent potash feldspar (microcline, partly 

kaolinized, and orthoclase) ; light smoky quartz with some cavities; whitish 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase or oligoclase-andesine), some of it kaolinized and 

micacized and with calcite, also intergrown with quartz more or less circular 

in cross section; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized; and a little muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Garnet (tifth in order of abundance), 

magnetite, pyrite, apatite, zircon, titanite. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, 

calcite, chlorite. Much quartz is in lenses 0.28 by 2.24 millimeters. There are 

many fine particles of quartz and feldspar between the larger ones. In some 

specimens garnets are so abundant as to make minute pinkish bands. No effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

A thin section of a pinkish (not pegmatitic or garnetiferous) band shows the 

same potash feldspar, pinkish and much kaolinized, light smoky quartz, much 

altered oligoclase-andesine, and muscovite instead of biotite, with allanite
RHODE ISLAND. 403

among the accessories. This is a muscovite gneiss. The very dark bands are 

due to more abundant blotite.

The quarry, opened about 1878, measured in 1908 about 300 feet from east to 

west by 150 feet across and 40 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The gneiss"foliation strikes east and dips 10° S. The sheets, 6 to 

12 inches thick, coincide with the foliation. There are three sets of joints 

(a), strike N. 40° E., vertical, spaced. 2 to 8 feet, coated with quartz; (b) 

strike N. 5° E., vertical; (c), strike' N. 80° W., vertical, spaced 20j feet. The 

rift coincides with the foliation, but the grain is vertical, north to south, and 

difficult, and the hard way more so. Pegmatite and smoky quartz veins up to 

2 feet thick co.'ncide with the foliation and some with joints (b) and (c). 

Some small pegmatite dikes carry a little apatite.

Transportation, by cart three-fourths mile to Willimantic.

The product is used for curbing, crosswalks, steps, and flagging, for which 

its uniformly straight foliation and its great toughness in transverse directions well adapt it.

RHODE ISLAND. ^

, The granite industry of Ehode Island centers at Westerly. Some 

of the quarries are near Westerly, others near Bradford station in 

the same township, and some in Charlestown. Westerly is at the extreme western edge of the State, 5 miles north-northeast of Watch 

Hill, on the Atlantic shore, and Niantic is 4£ miles east-northeast of 

Westerly. (See Stonington and Charlestown topographic maps, 

U. S. Geol. Survey, and fig. 92.)

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

WESTERLY AND CHAELESTOWN.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Some of the Westerly quarries are on an east-west ridge about! la mile northeast of the city. This ridge attains an elevation of 200 feet) jnbove sea,1 level, 

or 160 feet above the city. Others are about a mile southeast of Westerly on 

the 130-foot level, and one lies a mile east of it on the 100-foot level. The quarries formerly known as "The Niantic" lie from a mile south-southeast to 

If miles southeast of Bradford station, some being in the town of Westerly, and 

one in the town of Charlestown. (See fig. 92.)>

GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.

The granites of Westerly and Charlestown have been briefly described by 

Merrill,73 by Kemp 74 and by Rice and Gregory," and in Gregory and Robinson's geologic map of Connecticut,70 reproduced in Plate XXVIII, the granite 

gneiss area into which the Westerly granites were intruded in the adjacent 

parts of Connecticut is shown.

73 MeiTill, G. P., Report of building stones': Tenth. Census, vol. 10, p. 20, 1885.

74 Kemp, J. P., Granites of southern Rhode Island and Connecticut, with observations 

on Atlantic coast granites in general; Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 10, pp. 361 382, 

especially pp. 365-370, 375, 376, and pi. 35, 1899.

76 Rice, W. N., and Gregory, H. B., Manual of the geology of Connecticut: Connecticut 

State Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 6, pp. 115, 136, 152, 154, 155, 1906.

76 Gregory, H. E., and Robinson, H. H., Preliminary geological map of Connecticut, 

Sterling granite gneiss (24), also the accompanying Outline of the geology of the State: 

Connecticut State Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 7, p. 36, 1907.
404 COMMERCIAL, GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

According to these geologists, the " pink " and " blue " fine-grained Westerly 

granites were intruded as dikes in a molten state into certain older granite 

gneisses (Sterling granite gneiss), which form extensive parts of the surface

3 2- 2 d

a -a

02 0

.0tn ^ ~r

H*-"

o o '_"

r5 0) .

ill

along the Atlantic shore. The medium-grained reddish granite of the Redstone quarry, northeast of Westerly, and the very coarse gneisses exposed at 

the other quarries all belong to this granite gneiss formation. These granite
RHODE ISLAND. 405

gneisses were originally granites which had likewise been intruded into an 

earlier overlying gneiss, a metamorposed sedimentary rock (Putnarn gneiss, 

etc.), of which no remnants are reported as occurring at Westerly. Prior to 

the intrusion of the Westerly granite these older granites had been subjected 

to an amount of lateral compression sufficient to crush, elongate, rearrange, 

and recrystalize their particles and thus change them into gneiss. The amount 

of this change is not always uniform. At some time prior to the intrusion 

of the Westerly granite the granite gneiss was traversed by pegmatite dikes.

The Westerly granites themselves were later also traversed by pegmatite 

dikes and.still later by basic dikes. These dikes are probably of Triassic age, 

as are the trap ridges of New Haven and the Connecticut .Valley. Thus the 

Westerly region bears records of at least five periods of igneous activity.

In the geologic map of Massachusetts and Rhode Island compiled by Emerson" the Sterling granite gneiss area extends from Westerly eastward to 

Narragansett Pier and northward along the Connecticut border to the latitude 

of Pawtucket.78

GEOLOGY OF WESTERLY AND CHAKLESTOWN QUARRIES.

That the fine pink granite is of later date than the coarser red granite 

(Sterling granite gneiss) is clear from their relations at the Redstone, Smith 

north, and Calder & Carnie quarries. That the red granite itself is older than 

a banded biotite gneiss follows from its containing inclusions of it. Northeast 

of Westerly the pink granite was intruded into the red granite, but at the 

Smith and Catto quarries (fig. 18) it or its associated fine blue granite was intruded into a finely banded biotite gneiss not unlike that in the red granite, 

and at the Klondike, Newell, and Crumb quarries, near Bradford station 

(PI. XXXIV, A, and fig. 93), it was intruded into a porphyritic biotite gneiss 

which may be simply a more gneissic phase of a coarser Sterling granite gneiss 

than that exposed at the Redstone and Dixon quarries. But the finely banded 

gneiss of the other quarries and of the inclusions resembles the inclusions in 

the " Redstone granite " and differs from that granite itself both by the absence 

of niicrocline and by the predominance of oligoclase or of oligoclase-andesine to 

andesine, so as to indicate that these finely banded gneisses belong to anqther 

formation, possibly to the Putnam gneiss of Connecticut geologists. At the 

Smith quarry the strike of the banded biotite gneiss is N. 35° W.

The fine Westerly granites appear in dikelike masses from 50 to 150 feet 

thick, striking N. 75°-90° W. and dipping 30°Ht5° about south. At the Smith 

quarry they are underlain by a parallel mass of aplitic granite of similar character, carrying also inclusions of finely banded biotite gneiss. At the Klondike 

quarry the granite has a flow structure striking N. 10°-20° W., intersecting 

the course of the apparent dike. It is uncertain whether these are granite 

dikes or protuberances from a broad intrusive mass which have become exposed by the erosion of the thinner parts of the overlying gneiss.

The phenomena at the quarries indicate the following as the probable order 

of geologic events about Westerly: (1) A finely banded biotite gneiss forms 

the surface; (2) intrusion by the red granite of the hill northeast, of Westerly 

with a northeasterly flow structure, and also by the gray granite near Bradford station; (3) metamorphism of the red and gray granite converting U

77 See U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 597, pi. 10, p. 230, 1916.

78 See also Loughlin, G. F., Intrusive granites and associated sediments in southwestern Rhode Island: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 29, pp. 447-457, 1910; The gabbro* 

and associated rocks at Preston, Conn.: U. S. .Geol. Survey Bull. 492, 1912.
406 COMMERCIAL GRANITES* OF NEW ENGLAND.

into a porphyritic gneiss (Sterling granite gneiss) ; (4) intrusion of the fine 

granites of Westerly and Charlestown, in some places into the earlier banded 

biotite gneiss, in others into the more or less altered Sterling granite gneiss; (5) 

pegmatite and aplite dikes traverse both the westerly granites and the Sterling 

granite gneiss, though some of the latter are connected with the intrusion of 

the finer granite; (6) a-diabase dike, probably Triassic, traverses both the 

Westerly and the Sterling granite and the pegmatite dikes in the latter at the 

Redstone quarry.

The chief joint course in the fine granites is N. 10°-25° E., but the following 

also occur: N. 35°-40° E., N. 50°-60° E., N. 10°-22° W., N. 45°-55° W. In the 

older red granite the courses are N.'35°-45 E. and N. 60° W. The rift in the 

fine granite is reported as either horizontal or inclined 10° N. or S., and the 

grain as either vertical or 75° N., with an east-west or N. 65° W. or N. 70° E. 

course, in one instance with a dip of 45° S. 20-W., in another with a scarcely 

perceptible dip. The rift in the coarser granite is reported as dipping 20° E. or 

W. A compressive strain is reported as being from north and south, east and, 

west, and northeast and southwest.

WESTERLY GRANITES.

The following summarizes the more detailed descriptions of specimens and 

thin sections, from both Westerly and "Niantic" (Charlestown) quarries, 

given on pages 408 414.

" Westerly pink," sometimes called " Westerly statuary " granite is a quartz 

monzonite of more or less pinkish or buff medium-gray color, and of very fine, 

even-grained texture, with slender feldspars not over 0.1 inch long and slender 

micas not over 0.15 inch long. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are pale smoky quartz; clear colorless to milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to oligoclase) ; in nearly equal amount, slightly pinkish 

or cream-colored potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) ; and black mica. 

Magnetite and pyrite are among the accessory minerals, and calcite is among 

the secondary.

" Blue Westerly " granite is a quartz monzonite of more or less bluish medium-gray color, with fine black particles, and of fine, even-grained texture, with 

feldspars up to 0.1 or 0.2 inch and mica to 0.1 or 0.15 inch long. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to milk-white, pinkish, or 

cream-colored soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to oligoclase) ; more or less 

transparent bluish or greenish potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase) ; 

and black mica. Magnetite and pyrite are among the accessory minerals, and 

calcite is among the secondary.

" Red Westerly " granite is a biotite granite of reddish-gray color speckled 

with black and of even-grained medium, inclining to coarse texture, with feldspars under 0.4 inch, exceptionally 0.5 inch, and mica up to 0.2 inch long. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance, are' reddish potash feldspar 

(microcline and orthoclase); smoky quartz; cream-colored striated soda-lime 

feldspar (oligoclase-albite); and black mica. Both feldspars are in placesstained red from hematite, resulting from the oxidation of magnetite particles, 

which with pyrite is among its accessory minerals. Secondary calcite. 

* Estimates of the mineral percentages in the pink granite, obtained by applying the Rosiwal method to camera lucida drawings of parts of two thin sections 

enlarged 40 diameters, yield the following results, with mesh of 1 and 1.4 inches 

and total linear lengths of 40 and 33.6 inches.
RHODE ISLAND. 407

Estimated mineral percentages in " Westerly pink " granite.

Quartz______________________________ 36.09

Oligoclase-albite to oligoclase (soda-lime feldspar) 30.63

Microcline and orthoclase (potash feldspar)_________ 28.44

Biotite (black mica)______________________ 3.59

White mica ____________________________ .50

Magnetite.-___________________________ . 75

100.00

The average diameter of the particles, obtained by the same measurements, 

is 0.175 millimeter, or 0.0069 inch. Measurements of the larger particles in 

four thin sections of this granite, made with the micrometer, give the following figures: Microcliue and orthoclase 0.50 to 0.95 millimeter, oligoclase 0.56 to 

1.122 millimeters, biotite 0.39 to 0.56 millimeter, white mica 0.168 to 0.392 

millimeter, quartz 0.50 to 1.122 millimeters, magnetite 0.112 to 0.224 millimeter. 

The feldspars, quartz, and biotite in their coarser particles thus range from 

0.39 to 1.122 millimeters, or 0.015 to 0.0439 inch.

Two estimates of the mineral percentages in "Westerly blue" granite (pp. 

409, 416), made in the same way, average:

Estimated mineral percentages in " Westerly blue " granite.

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to oligoclase)____ 44.48

Quartz_________________________,_____ 25.28

Potash feldspar (microcline 11.03, orthoclase 9.26)____ 20.29

Biotite (black mica)______________________ 5.90

White mica ____________________________ 1.53

jMagnetite_____________________________ 1.16

Pyrite _____________________________i__ . 05

Allanite and apatite_______________________ 1. 31

100.00

The average diameter of the particles obtained by the application of the same 

method to three " Westerly blue " granites, is 0.0099 inch, or about 50 per cent 

larger than that of the statuary.

An estimate of the mineral percentages in " red Westerly " granite will be 

found on page 413.

Kemp" gives two analyses of Westerly granite made by F. W. Love, then 

of Cornell University, which are repeated here for reference.

Analyses of Westerly granites.

SiOs (silica).. ............................. ..........................................

AUOi (alumina) .....................................................................

Na?0 (soda). ........................................................................

KsO (potash). ......................................................................

Gray 

granite.

71.64

15.66

} 2.34

2.70

1.578

5.60

.482

100.00

Bed 

granite.

73.05

14.53

ft. ou

2.06

1.72

5.39

.29

100.00

, J. F., Granites of southern Rhode Island and Connecticut, with observations 

on Atlantic coast granites in general: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 10, p. 375, 1899.
408 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Kemp gives 2.654 as the specific gravity of the gray analyzed.

Messrs. Sullivan and Schaller, chemists, of this Survey, find that five specimens of Westerly granites contain the following percentages of CaO (lime) 

soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicate the presence of the percentages 

of CaCOs (calcium carbonate) shown in the second column. All these granites 

effervesce slightly with muriatic-acid test.

Lime and calcium carbonate in Westerly granite.

White statuary (pink Westerly) ....................................................

Red Westerly. ......................................................................

CaO.

0.34

.176

.25

CaCOs.

0.6

.312

.446

The "pink" (really buff to slightly pinkish gray) and the "blue" (really 

bluish gray) Westerly granites are strictly monumental granites, but the former 

has been called a statuary granite, as it lends itself to the most delicate carvings. The fineness of its texture becomes more apparent in comparing it with 

that of statuary marbles. As compared with European marbles its texture is 

between that of " Carrara ordinary " and " Laas statuary " of Tyrol. As compared with American marbles it corresponds to the dolomite of Lee, Mass., and 

the " Brandon Italian " of Vermont. On the table of grades of marble texture 8I> 

it falls in grade 4, medium. It takes a high polish, and its hammered surface 

Is light, offering, as quartz monzonites generally do, a marked contrast of shade 

to the polished surface.

Although "blue Westerly" granite (marble, grade 5, coarse) is 50 per cent 

coarser in texture than the "pink Westerly," it lends itself well to monumental and sculptural work, as is shown by Plate XXXIV, B. Its polish id 

not quite so high as that of the "pink," owing to the larger size of its mica 

scales, but its contrast of shade is equally strong.

" Red Westerly " granite is used only for construction.

QUARRIES.

The Ne\v England quarry is 0.9 mile southeast of the Westerly station and 

100 feet above it. (See fig. 92.) Operator, New England Granite Works, 

Westerly.

The granite is of two varieties. One (specimens D, XXVIII, 1, f, i), "pink 

Westerly," is a quartz monzonite of very slightly pinkish medium-gray color, 

and of very fine, even-grained texture, with very slender feldspars not over 

0.1 inch long and slender mica scales rarely 0.1 or 0.15 inch long. The average 

diameter of all its particles, including the magnetite, as determined by the 

Rosiwal method, is 0.0069 inch, or 0.175 millimeter, as given on page 407. Its 

constituents, in descending order of abundance are pale smoky quartz with 

hairlike crystals of rutile, and a few cavities; clear colorless to milk-white 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to oligoclase), partly kaolinized and rnicacized; in almost equal amount, slightly pinkish or creairncolored potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), some of it intergrown with quartz circular in 

cross section; biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized and interleaved with 

white mica or else partly bleached; some separate muscovite may be present 

also. Accessory: Magnetite (ilmenite?), titanite, pyrite, allanite, apatite, zircon, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, one or two white micas, chlorite, carbonate.

80 See Dale, T. N., and others, The commercial marbles of the southern Appalachian 

region: TJ. S. Geol. Survey Bull. (in preparation).
RHODE ISLAND. 409

Estimates of mineral percentages in this stone have been given on page 407.

W. T. Schaller, chemist, of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.34 per cent 

of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content of 

0.6 per cent CaCOa (calcium carbonate). The presence of calcite is shown by 

the microscope and by a slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

A compression test made for the firm at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 1907, with a cube of about 2-inch face, gave this granite an ultimate compress!ve strength of 39.750 pounds to the square inch (direction of riCt 

or grain with reference to pressure not noted).

The sculptural qualites of this stone have already been dwelt upon. The 

polished face shows minute particles of magnetite and a few of pyrite. It hammers light gray, and the contrast between this and the shade of the polished 

face is somewhat marked.

The second variety (specimens D, XXVIIII, 1, c, cc), "blue Westerly," is a 

quartz monzonite of very slightly bluish medium-gray color with fine black 

particles. Its texture is even grained, fine, with feldspars up to 0.2 inch and 

mica to 0.15 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are: 

Clear to milk-white or pinkish soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to oligoclase), much of it kaolinized and micacized; pale smoky quartz with a few 

needle-like crystals, probably of rutile, and with cavities in sheets; clear to 

blue-greenish and grayish potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), intergrown with quartz, circular in cross section, and slightly micacized; biotite 

(black mica), some of it chloritized, and with needle-like crystals of rutile (?); 

and muscovite or bleached biotite. Accessory: Magnetite (ilmenite?), pyrite, 

apatite, allanite, zircon, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, two white micas, chlorite, 

carbonate, rarely hematite and epidote.

An estimate of the mineral percentages, obtained by applying the Rosiwal 

method to a camera lucida drawing of part of a thin section enlarged 40 diameters, yields the following results with a mesh of 1.7 inches, and total linear 

length of 42 inches:

Estimated mineral percentages in " blue Westerly " granite from the quarry of 

the New England, Granite Works.

Quartz_________________ _____ ______ 21.15

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite to oligoclase)____. 52.64

Potash feldspar (microcline 4.14, orthoclase 10.5)_____ 14.65

Biotite (black mica)______________________ 5.52

^ White mica_____________________________ 3. 05

Magnetite____________.________________ 1. 71

Allanite_______________________________ 1. 28

100.00

No great value need to be attached to the figures for allanite, as a shifting of 

the mesh would have thrown it out altogether.

The average diameter of the particles obtained by the same method is 0.0112 

inch.

E. C. Sullivan, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this stone contains 0.20 

per cent of CaO (lime), soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a 

content of 0.35 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate). The presence of calcite 

is also shown by the microscope and by a very slight effervescence with 

muriatic-acid test.

A compression test made for the firm at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 1907, with a cube of about 2-inch face, gave it an ultimate com-
410 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

pressive strength of 31,970 pounds to the square inch (direction of rift or grain 

with reference to pressure not noted).

This stone takes a high polish, but the mica scales, being a little larger than 

in the " pink," show more on the surface. The polished face shows not a little 

magnetite in fine particles, with rare grains of pyrite. The combination of a 

slightly bluish with a slightly pinkish feldspar, both in fine particles, results 

in a peculiar gray in the polished face. The hammered face is light gray and 

in contrast to the shade of the polished surface.

The quarry, opened about 1860, measured in 1906 about 300 feet in a westnorthwest direction by 200 feet across and from 40 to 80.feet in depth. Within 

20 feet west-northwest of it is another opening of about the same size, to be 

united with the main opening, so us to obtain a working face 600 feet long.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 12 feet thick, are horizontal but 

somewhat irregular, owing to " growing on." There are two sets of joints (a), 

strike N. 15°-25° E,, vertical, spaced 8 inches to 30 feet, forms a heading 15 to 

20 feet wide on the west side, separating it from the older excavation, and 

another, 5 to 10 feet wide, on the east aide, which divides this from the adjacent 

Smith quarry; (b), strike N. 50°-55° W., vertical, spaced 18 inches to 30 feet. 

The rift is reported as horizontal, and the grain as vertical, with N. 65° W. 

course. There is a 2-inch pegmatite dike striking N. 37° E., consisting of pink 

potash feldspar, amethystine quartz, and muscovite; the feldspar is partly 

altered to light-green epidote. Pegmatite dikes also traverse the heading on the 

west side. Rusty stain is 1 to 7 inches thick on the sheet surfaces. There is 

much kaolinization of feldspar and limonite stain adjacent to the pegmatite 

dikes. On the south-southwest wall the granite is in contact with a southward 

inclined overhanging mass of dark biotite gneiss with a vertical foliation. 

This is also crossed by pegmatite dikes. The line of contact between granite 

and gneiss is jagged in places. The relations on the north wall are now largely 

concealed by dumps, but their character is well exposed in the adjoining Smith 

quarry, as described on page 411. The structural relations of the pinkish-gray 

and bluish-gray granite to each other are not clear. At one point on the southsouthwest wall the former seems to underlie the latter, and there seem to be 

also lateral changes in the color of both near the dike which are possibly caused 

by it. The width of the granite from north-northeast to south-southwest, at 

right angles to the dip, does not exceed 150 feet.

Transportation, by siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

Nearly all of the product is used in monumental work, the rest in buildings, 

and the waste for paving, particularly small blocks for electric roads. Specimen monuments of the " blue ": National monument, Gettysburg, Pa.; Antietam monument, Maryland; Perkins monument, Akron, Ohio; Skinner and Ware 

monuments, Denver, Colo.; of the " pink": Home monument, with a 7-foot 

6-inch figure, Homewood cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Whiton monument, Greenwood cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y. Plate XXXIV, B, shows lilies and passion 

flowers on the base of a cross of the "blue" stone. Specimen buildings of 

the "blue": Connecticut Mutual Insurance Building, Hartford; Branford 

House, Groton, Conn.; Mutual Life Insurance Building, Philadelphia; Williamsburg Savings Bank, Brooklyn, N. Y.

The Smith quarry adjoins on the east the one just described and is about 

OJB mile southeast of Westerly station and 100 feet above it. (S'ee fig. 92.) 

Operator, Smith "Granite Co., Westerly.

The granite consists of the identical two varieties, "Westerly pink" and 

"Westerly blue," already described under the New England quarry. Both 

are quartz monzonites the pink a slightly pinkish medium-gray of even-
EHODE ISLAND. 411

grained, very fine texture; the blue a slightly bluish medium-gray of evengrained, fine texture. (For full descriptions see pp. 408-409.)

The quarry, first opened in 1846, consists of two openings. The " New East 

quarry," separated from the New England quarry only by a heading measured 

in 1906 250 feet east-southeast by 200 feet across and 65 feet deep; the other, 

older one, contiguous to the last on the east, was about 400 feet east-southeast 

by 125 feet across and 150 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets in the upper 25 feet are from 2 inches to 2 feet 

thick, and below that from 9 inches to 5 feet thick, and all horizontal. There 

is only one set of joints, strike N. 20°-22° E., spaced 100 to 300 feet, forms a 

50-foot heading between the two openings and a 5 to 10 foot heading between 

the western opening and the New England quarry. The rift is reported as 

horizontal, and the grain as vertical, with a N.. 65°; W. course. On the southsouthwest the granite is overlain by a mass of dark-gray banded biotite-hornblende gneiss of somewhat fine texture, which strikes N. 30° W. and dips 45° 

SSW. The rock contains much soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine to 

andesine) but no microcline. On the north-northeast the granite is apparently 

underlain at 45° by a mass of granite (quartz monzonite) of more or less 

pinkish-gray color and of somewhat fine texture with a variable amount of 

black mica, so as in places to resemble an aplite. It is also marked in places 

by dark-brownish stains, 0.25 inch in diameter and an inch or so apart, which 

are due to the alteration of allanite particles into hematite and limonite. This 

rock contains many angular inclusions, large and small, of a somewhat finely 

banded biotite gneiss, which itself contains lenses and dikes of pegmatite 

parallel to its schistosity and evidently formed before the 'intrusion of the 

quartz monzonite. The foreman stated that the " blue granite " at the bottom 

of the larger opening contained an inclusion 10 feet in diameter like the 

inclusions of gneiss above described. In this opening about 40 feet of " pink " 

intervenes between the overlying gneiss and the "blue," but in. the smaller 

opening these relations are reversed. The entire width of the mass of " blue " 

and "pink" appears to be 80 to 100 feet, measured at right angles to its 

inclination. The heading which separates the two openings is much broken 

by subjoints parallel to it. For a thickness of 8 feet on the west it is altered 

to a dulj greenish-reddish color. In thin section this shows the feldspars 

kaolinized, micacized, and chloritized, most of the biotite bleached, the magnetite passing into hematite and the pyrite into limonite. As its soda-lime feldspar is oligoclase-andesine, differing from that of the adjacent granite, this 

heading may be a transverse granite dike. These structural data were obtained in 1906.

Transportation, by siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, 

but paving stones are carted one-third mile to wharf on Pawcatuck River.

The product is nearly all used for monuments; the waste goes into paving 

blocks of various sizes. Specimen monuments: Equestrian statue of Washington erected by the United Order of American Mechanics at Allegheny, 

Pa.; Roger Williams monument at Roger Williams Park, Providence, R. I.; 

First Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry monument, Gettysburg, Pa.; Ohio State 

monument, Vicksburg, Miss.; soldiers' monument, Jewett City, Conn.; of the 

" pink," C. A. Roebling monument, Trenton, N. J.

The Calder & Carnie quarry is 0.9 mile N. 50° E. from the Westerly station, and 160 feet above it, on the western hump of the ridge north of the railroad. (See fig. 92.) Operator, Smalley Pink & Red Westerly Co., Westerly.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 8, a), " Westerly pink," is a quartz monzonite of medium pinkish-buff gray color, 'more pinkish than any of the other1 

fine Westerly granites except specimen I, e, from the rock next to the peg-
412 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

matite dike in the New England quarry. Its texture is even grained, very 

fine, with feldspars not over 0.1 inch and mica still less. Its constituents are 

the same as those of the fine stone from the Smith north quarry, but with a 

little more hematite stain. The thin section shows carbonate, and the stone 

effervesces slightly with muriatic-acid test. The quarry also yields the " red " 

constructional granite described on this page.

The quarry, first opened in 1882, measured in 1906 about 400 by 250 feet and 

90 feet deep.

The sheets, 6 inches to 8 feet thick, .are horizontal and irregular. There 

are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 20° W., dip 45° S. 70° W., spaced 2 to 

8 feet, discontinuous, forms a heading 10 feet wide in the center, and one of 

these joints has subjoints striking N. 30° W., one-half to 1 inch apart; (b), 

strike N. 35°-40° E., dip 80° N. 37° W., and 90°, spaced 2 to 8 feet. The rift 

is reported as dipping north at a low angle, and the grain as striking N. 70° E. 

and dipping 45° E. 20° W. The fine granite occurs here as a dike dipping 45° 

S. and 50 feet thick, with the medium-grained " red " on both sides of it. It 

also contains pegmatite dikes parallel to its course. Some fine veins in the 

flow direction are described on page 22. Along joints (a) the granite is much 

reddened for 1 to 2 inches. In this reddish zone the feldspars are much 

kaolinized and micacized, the biotite is chloritized, epidote occurs, and thfc 

magnetite is altered to hematite, which has reddened the feldspars. Rusty 

stain is up to 4J inches thick on sheet surfaces.

Transportation, by cart three-fourths mile to siding of New York, New 

Haven & Hartford Railroad.

The product is used for monuments and buildings.

The Catto quarry is about a mile east-southeast of Westerly station, 60 

feet above it, and half a mile northeast of the Smith and New England 

quarries. (See fig. 18.) It is now abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 9, a), "blue Westerly," is a quartz 

monzonite of very slightly bluish medium-gray color with fine black particles. 

It is a trifle more bluish than that of the New England quarry. Its texture 

is fine, with feldspar and mica up to 0.1 inch, the former exceptionally 0.16 

inch. It is thus a trifle finer than specimens 1, c, cc (p. 409), but its constituents 

are the same.

The quarry, opened before 1886, measured in 1906 about 350 feet east-west by 

200 feet across and from 75 to 100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 10 feet thick, dip north at a low 

angle. But one set of joints strike N. 22° W., vertical, spaced 3 to 50 feet, 

and discontinuous below. The rift is reported as horizontal and the grain 

as scarcely perceptible. The east face of quarry shows the relations of the 

granite to overlying banded gneiss.

The Bedstone quarry is less than 1£ miles east^northeast of Westerly station, at the east foot of an east-west ridge, one-fourth mile north of the New 

York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. (See fig. 92.) Operator, New England 

Granite Works, Westerly.

The chief granite of this quarry (specimens D, XXVIII, 2, b, h), "red 

Westerly," is a biotite granite of medium reddish-gray color speckled with black. 

Its texture is even grained, medium, inclining to coarse, with feldspars under 

0.4 inch, exceptionally 0.5 inch, and mica up to 0.2 inch. Its constituents, in 

descending order of abundance, are reddish potash feldspar (microcline and 

orthoclase), some of it slightly micacized, intergrown wtih quartz in vermicular 

structure, in places also with soda-lime feldspar; smoky quartz with hairlike 

crystals, probably of rutile, also with cavities in sheets with rift cracks parallel 

to them; cream-colored striated soda-lime feldspar .(oligoclase-albite), kaolin-
RHODE ISLAND. 413

Ized and micacized, and intergrown with quartz like the other; and biotite 

(black mica), some of it bleached. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, 

zircon, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, two white micas, hematite stain from 

magnetite particles, in places reddening both feldspars, calcite.

An estimate of the mineral percentages by the Rosiwal method yields the 

following results with a mesh of one-half inch and total linear length of 33i 

inches: Potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), 35.40; quartz, 29.87; 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), 28.35; biotite (black mica), 6.74.

An analysis of this granite by Love has been given on page 407.

W. T. Schaller, chemist, of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.25 per cent 

of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content 

of 0.446 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate), the presence of which is shown 

by the microscope and also by a slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

A compression test made for the firm at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 1907, with a cube of about 2-inch face, showed the first crack 

with 106,000 pounds and final fracture with 113,000 pounds, indicating an 

ultimate compressive strength of 28,540 pounds to the square inch (direction 

of rift of grain with reference to pressure not noted).

The contrasts between the colors of the two feldspars come out strongly on 

the polished face, which shows considerable magnetite and some pyrite. The 

size of the mica plates is not favorable to the durability of the polish in longcontinued outdoor exposure. It is a constructional granite of warm tint.

The quarry, opened in 1880, measured in 1906 about 850 feet from north 

to south by 250 feet across, with a working face 100 feet high on the west.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 20 feet thick, are somewhat irregular. In 

the upper part most of them dip 10° about west-northwest and a few are horizontal, but lower down all are horizontal. At the south end the sheets are 

intersected by sharply curved partings (" toenails"). There are inclusions 

of finely banded biotite gneiss resembling the capping at the Smith and Catto 

quarries. The rift is reported as horizontal and the grain as fairly defined 

and vertical, with a N. 20° E. course. There is but one set of joints, strike 

N. 35° E., dip 70° S. 35° E. to 90°, spaced 15 to 50 feet, forms a heading in 

the center of the quarry and a heading at the extreme north end which is 40 

feet wide. A dike 5 to 19 feet thick runs the whole length of the quarry, with a 

dip of 10° S., consisting of alternating reddish aplite and coarse pegmatite 

(reddish feldspar, smoky quartz, and biotite), some of the surfaces of which 

are coated with iridescent drusy hematite. Beneath this almost horizontal 

dike is a mass of unknown extent of fine pinkish quartz monzonite like that 

at the Smith and New England quarries described on page 406. This reaches 

the surface at the north and south ends of the quarry. The ovoidal mass 

shown in Plate XXIX, B, and described on page 73, came from the 40-foot 

heading which crosses this quartz monzonite at the north end of the quarry. 

Small basic dikes are described on page 56. Rust stain on the sheet surfaces 

is up to 3, rarely 4, inches thick. A thin section of it shows both feldspars 

stained with limonite. It follows irregular cracks in the microcline and the 

quartz, as well as the boundaries between them. It proceeds in some cases 

clearly from the larger grains of magnetite and from biotite scales.

Transportation, by siding to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

The product is used entirely for buildings. Specimens: Southern Pacific 

Building, Houston, Tex.; Tuberculosis Hospital, New Haven, Conn.; town hall 

and courthouse, Westerly, R. I.; Elks' Memorial, Buffalo, N. Y.; American Exchange, American Tract Society, and Travelers Insurance Co. Buildings, New 

York City.
414 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The Smith North quarry is a mile N. 60° E. of the Westerly station, 120 

feet above it, in a saddle on the east-west ridge north of the railroad. (See 

fig. 92.) Operator, Smith Granite Co., Westerly.

The granite is of two sorts " red Westerly," a medium-grained biotite granite of medium reddish gray color identical with that of the Bedstone quarry 

(specimens D, XXVIII, 2, b, h), described on page 412, and "pink Westerly" 

(specimen D, XXVIII, 4, a), a quartz monzonite of medium buff-gray color 

and of very fine, even-grained texture, with feldspars mostly up to 0.057 inch, 

exceptionally 0.1 inch, and mica to 0.028 .exceptionally 0.15 inch. It is identical in composition with the " pink Westerly " described on page 408, but is 

of more pinkish tint.

The quarry, opened before 1892, measured in 1906 about 200 feet from east 

to west by 150 feet across, with a working face 75 feet high on the west and 

25 feet on the east.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 10 feet thick, are lenticular but 

very irregular and without uniform dip. The only set of joints strikes N. 10° 

E., vertical or nearly so, spaced 20 to 40 feet. The rift is reported as dipping 

10° S., and the grain 75° N. Sixty feet of the fine granite overlies the " red," 

the plane of their contact dipping 40°-50° about south. At the top of the 

working face a pegmatite dike 10 feet thick dips 45° S. Rusty stain is only 

2 inches thick on sheet faces.

Transportation, by cart one-fourth mile to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

Product: The " red " is used for buildings and the " pink " for monuments.

The Dixon quarry is about half a mile northeast of the Westerly station 

at the west foot of the east-west ridge north of the railroad. (See tig. 92.) 

It is now abandoned.

The granite (specimen D, XXVIII, 7, a) is a biotite granite of medium 

buff-gray color with fine black particles. Its texture is medium, inclining to 

coarse, with feldspars up to 0.4 inch, exceptionally 0.5 inch, and mica to 0.15 

inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are pinkish-gray 

potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), slightly kaolinized and intergrown with quartz and soda-lime feldspar; smoky quartz with cavities; 

greenish-gray striated soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-albite), some of it much 

micacized and kaolinized; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. 

Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, apatite, allanite, zircon. Secondary: Kaolin, two 

white micas, chlorite, limonite, hematite, carbonate.

This is a constructional granite which is closely related to the " red " of the 

Redstone quarry but in which the potash feldspars are less reddish and the 

soda-lime feldspars are greenish instead of cream-colored.

The quarry consisted in 1906 of three openings one 150 by 100 feet and 20 

to 40 feet deep, one 100 by 75 feet and 40 feet deep, and one 100 by 50 feet 

and 10 to 30 feet deep.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 6 feet thick, are generally horizontal. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 45° E., vertical, spaced 50 to 100 

feet, forms several headings; (b), strike N. 60° W. vertical, spaced 50 feet and 

over, less numerous than (a).

Although the stone is adapted for buildings, only crushed stone was being 

produced in 1906.

The Chapman quarry is near the foot of the ridge. (See fig. 92.) It is 

abandoned, but is mentioned here because of its geologic features.

A joint face forming the west wall and working face strikes N. 10° W. It 

is intersected at intervals of 1 to 3 feet by vertical joints striking N. 50° E. 

At the top is an inclusion of biotite gneiss 10 feet in diameter. Dipping 10° S.
RHODE ISLAND. 415

across this face is a pegmatite dike about a foot thick. Between 20 and 30 

feet below it is an aplite dike a few inches thick with like dip. The sheets 

are only 1 to 3 feet thick, and the joint intervals are too short to make quarrying profitable. The granite is the fine-textured pinkish-gray quartz monzonite 

already described.

The Klondike quarry is in Charlestown, If miles southeast; of Bradford 

station and 5f miles east of Westerly station. (See fig. 92.) Operator, Sullivan 

Granite Co., Westerly.

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 11, c, g), "blue-white Westerly," is a 

quartz monzonite of medium bluish-gray color with very fine black particles. 

Its texture is fine, with feldspars up to 0.1, exceptionally 0.2 inch, and mica 

to 0.05, exceptionally 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to milk-white or cream-colored striated soda-lime feldspar 

(oligoclase), partly kaolinized and micacized (in some crystals the altered 

part is central; in others it forms a zone with unaltered feldspar within and 

without it) ; slightly smoky quartz with hairlike crystals, probably of rutile, 

and very few cavities; more or less transparent bluish potash feldspar microcline and orthoclase, the first intergrown with quartz) ; and biotite (black 

mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, titanite, pyrite rare, 

apatite, allanite, zircon, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, a white mica, carbonate.

E. C. Sullivan, a chemist of this Survey, finds that this granite contains 0.18 

per cent of CaO (lime) soluble in hot dilute acetic acid, which indicates a 

content of 0.32 per cent of CaCOs (calcium carbonate), the presence of which 

is also shown by the microscope and by a slight effervescence in muriatic-acid 

test.

A compression test made for the firm at the United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., in 1907, with a cube of about 2-iuch face, showed the first crack 

with 107,000 pounds and final fracture with 118,000 pounds, showing an ultimate compressive strength of 29,500 pounds to the square inch (direction of 

rift or grain with reference to pressure not stated).

This is a monumental granite of fine texture and bluish tint. Its texture 

is a little finer than that of the " blue " of the New England quarry and about 

the same as that of the stone from the Newall quarry (p. 416). It is more 

bluish than the former, not containing any pinkish feldspar, and, its mica 

particles being finer, it takes a higher polish. The polished face shows magnetite in fine particles, but scarcely any pyrite. There is a considerable contrast 

of shade between the hammered and polished faces.

The quarry, opened in 1897, measured in 1906 about 600 feet from east to 

west by 100 feet across and from 75'to 100 feet deep. (See PI. XXXIV, A.) 

On the south side the stripping of drift increases from 5 feet in thickness at the 

west wall to 35 feet at the east wall, owing to the inclination of the rack 

surface.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 8 feet thick, dip generally 5° S. There is 

but one set of joints, which strike N. 25° E., dip 70° W., spaced 5 to 50 feet. 

The rift is reported as horizontal, but feeble. A flow structure, shown by 

streaks of black mica, strikes N. 15° W. and dips west. There is a dike of 

aplite striking N. 25° E., dipping 70° W. The structural relations are shown 

in figure 93 and Plate XXXIV, A.

Since the diagram of figure 93 was made the process of excavation is reported 

to have shown in 1909 a narrowing of the granite dike below, but it may widen 

again farther down.
416 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The problem presented by the structure here is whether this belt of granite 75 

feet thick is simply a dike of indefinite depth or a minor protuberance in the 

undulating surface of a wide granitic intrusion which became exposed by the 

erosion of the overlying gneiss where it was thinnest. The gneiss (specimen D, 

XXVIII, 11, a) is of a very dark gray shade and fine to medium texture, but 

with porphyritic feldspars from 0.5 to 1£ inches in diameter, consisting of a 

light pinkish-buff potash feldspar (microcline and orthoclase), rimmed with 

milk-white soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase-andesine). The groundmass consists 

of the same potash feldspar, smoky quartz, the same soda-lime feldspar, and 

biotite. The granite is crossed at irregular intervals by pinkish and pyritiferous " streaks," veinlets from 0.1 to 0.4 inch wide, with a central thread of 

epiclote. Their course is parallel to the joints. In thin section the soda-lime 

feldspars of these veinlets arc much kaolinized and micacized. Rusty stain 

along sheets is 1 to 6 inches thick. Some joint faces are coated with a thin 

film of calcite; others with epidote from the alteration of feldspar.

Transportation, by cart 2£ miles 

to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

The product is used entirely for 

monuments.

The Newall quarry is in the 

town of Westerly just west of the 

Charlestown line, 5i miles about 

east of Westerly station, and 1£ 

miles southeast of Bradford station. 

(See fig. 92.) Operator, Sullivan 

Granite Co., Westerly. 

The granite (specimens D, XXVIII, 6, a, c), "blue Westerly," is a quartz 

monzonite of medium bluish-gray color, with very fine black particles. Its 

texture is even grained, fine, with feldspars and mica up to 0.1 inch. Its constituents, in descending order of abundance, are clear to milk-white striated 

soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase), somewhat kaolinized and micacized; pale 

smoky quartz, with few hairlike crystals, probably of rutile, and cavities; clear 

bluish to translucent potash feldspar (orthoclase and microcline), intergrown 

with quartz and slightly kaolinized; and biotite (black mica), some of it chloritized. Accessory: Magnetite, pyrite, allanite, zircon, rutile. Secondary: Kaolin, 

a white mica, carbonate.

An estimate of the mineral percentages, obtained by applying the Rosiwal 

method to a camera lucida drawing of' part of a thin section enlarged 40 

diameters, yields the following results with a 2-inch mesh and a total linear 

length of 38 inches.

Estimated mineral percentages in " Vlue Westerly " granite from the Newall 

quarry, near Westerly, R. I.

Soda-lime feldspar (oligoclase)________________ 36.32

Quartz _______________________________ 29.38

Potash feldspars (microcline 17.91, orthoclase 8.00)___ 25.91

Biotite (black mica)_.____________________ 6.27

Magnetite _ __________________________ . 60

_____________________________ . 10

FIGURE 93. Approximate Structure at the 

Klondike quarry, in Charlestown, R. I. 

(See further on p. 415.)

Pyrite__. 

Apatite-. 

Allanite.

.95

.47

100.00
RHODE ISLAND. 417

Much weight should not be attached to the figures for apatite aud allanite, 

for the mesh could have been shifted to avoid intersecting these particles, but 

their sum can be safely regarded as standing for the more abundant accessory 

minerals next to magnetite and pyrite. The average diameter of all the particles 

obtained by the same measurements is 0.0087 inch.

W. T. Schaller, chemist, of this Survey, finds that it contains 0.15 per cent 

of CaO (lime) soluble in dilute acetic acid, which indicates a content of 0.26 

per cent of CaCOa (calcium carbonate), the presence of which is also shown 

by the microscope and by a slight effervescence with muriatic-acid test.

This is a fine-grained monumental granite susceptible of high polish and fine 

carving. It is of the same texture as the stone of the Klondike quarry and a 

little finer than the blue of the New England and Smith quarries. Its shade 

is a trifle darker than that of the granite from the Klondike quarry. The polished face shows many minute particles of magnetite and a few of pyrite. 

There is a marked contrast between the hammered and polished faces.

The quarry, opened in 1883, measured in 1906 400 to 450 feet from east to 

west by 250 feet across and from 50 to 100 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 1 to 9 feet thick, are horizontal at the east end, 

dip 10°-15° W. at the west end and .15° S. at 'the bottom. There are t\vo sets 

of joints (a), strike N. 25° E., dip 75° ESE., spaced 5 to 200 feet; (b), strike 

N. 45° W., vertical, exceptional. The rift is reported as dipping 20° about east, 

but in places west, and the grain as striking east and vertical. The granite 

occurs in a dikelike mass about 100 feet thick, dipping 45° S. and both underlain and overlain by " white horse," which here is a light pinkish-gray biotite 

gneiss consisting of light-pinkish potash feldspar (microcline) in elongated 

crystals, smoky quartz, clear to milk-white oligoclase, and biotite. The foliation of this gneiss appears to strike about east and to dip with the surface 

45° S. A pegmatite border separates granite from gneiss. Minute brownish 

veins traverse the gneiss. Rusty stain is up to 14 inches thick on sheet surfaces, and ferruginous water exudes from between them 25 to 50 feet down the 

quarry.

Transportation, by cart 1$ miles to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad at Niantic, and thence 4£ miles by rail to cutting shed at Westerly.

The product is used exclusively for monuments. Specimens: Sarcophagus 

monument to Senator Sherman, Mansfield, Ohio; obelisk to Gen. Lew Wallace, 

Crawfordsville, Ind.; W. L. Elkins and P. A. B. Widener mausoleums, Central 

Laurel Hill, Philadelphia; monument to J. D. Putnam erected by Fourteenth 

Wisconsin Regiment on the battle field of Shiloh; reproduction of the elaborate 

Celtic cross of St. Martin in the island of lona, erected by Mrs. McNeil in 

Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, Calif.; T. M. Newall monument at Westerly, 

which has a delicate bas-relief of an entire poppy plant and a butterfly (design 

copyrighted).

The Crumb quarry is in Westerly, 1 mile S. 32° E. of Bradford station, 

and 5 miles about east of Westerly station. (See fig. 92.) Operator, Sullivan 

Granite Co., Westerly.

The granite, " blue Westerly," is a quartz monzonite of medium bluish-gray 

color, with very fine black particles, and even-grained, fine texture, identical 

with that of the Newall quarry, described on page 416.

The quarry, opened in 1857, measured in 1906 about 400 feet from east to 

west by 125 feet across and 40 feet in depth.

Rock structure: The sheets, 6 inches to 8 feet thick, are undulating horizontal. 

There are two sets of joints (a), strike N. 25° E., dip, 50°-70° WSW., spaced 10 

to 150 feet, forms a heading across the center; (b), strike N. 60° E., vertical, ex105709 23 28
418 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

ceptional and discontinuous. The rift is reported as horizontal, but with a " run " 

dipping low east, and the grain as vertical, east-west. The granite occurs in 

a dikelike mass, apparently continuous with that of the Newall quarry, about 

850 feet east-southeast of it. It is about 100 feet thick and is underlain on the 

north by a gneiss, " white horse," with a foliation and surface dipping 20°- 

40° S. This gneiss (specimen D, XXVIII, 12, b) is a light pinkish-gray biotite 

gneiss identical with that of the Newall quarry (p. 417). The light-pinkish 

feldspars (orthoclase and microcline) are in elongated lenses from 0.2 to 0.3 

inch wide. The biotite is fine and sparse. Although the schistosity of the 

stone may be great enough to impair its strength, its contrasts of color are very 

attractive. The granite is crossed by a 1-inch pegmatite dike dipping 45° B. 

Rusty stain is 10 to 15 inches thick along sheet surfaces. The faces of joints 

(a) are in places bright reddish and thinly coated with radiating pearly crystals 

of a silicate, stilbite (?).

Transportation, by cart 1£ miles to railroad at Niantic.

The product is used for monuments, which are made mostly in Quincy, Mass. 

Specimens: Alexander Thompson and Oliver Hazard Cooper monuments, Swan 

Point Cemetery, Providence; Rhode Island monument, Andersonville, Ga.

ADAPTABILITY OF NEW ENGLAND GRANITES.

A cursory glance at the paragraphs on " Product" in the foregoing quarry descriptions will suffice to show the great variety of 

adaptations of New England granites. Some, by their many joints 

and in places " shake structure," together with their situation at tidewater, supply irregular blocks of all sizes at low cost for breakwater 

construction. Others, by their marked rift and grain, lend themselves to the manufacture of paving blocks. Still others, by their 

even gneissic texture, are equally well adapted for curbing, crossings, 

and sills. Then come the coarse thick-sheeted granites useful in the 

construction of massive edifices, bridges, and their approaches and 

anchorages or retaining walls. Here belong also those coarse granites occurring in such thick sheets and with such sparseness of joints 

as to furnish large monolithic columns. Besides all these are the 

numerous granites suitable for ordinary buildings and monuments 

and offering to the architect a great variety of color, tint, and 

shade pinkish, greenish, pale lavender, buff, cream-colored, bluish 

grays, many shades of gray, besides white, almost as white as white 

marble, and black (Norwich) suitable for sooty atmospheres.

These granites also include a wide range of texture. (See Pis. 

XXX, A, and XXXI, A, showing two of the coarse-textured ones.) 

Some granites by the fineness of their texture are adapted to delicate 

sculpture. Statuary,, flowers, and intricate conventional designs can 

be carved in granite. Others by the height of their polish, the size of 

their porphyritic crystals and the colors, tints, and shades of their 

feldspars, quartz, and mica are adapted to interior decoration, 

Some of the quartz monzonites and the so-called black granites are 

specially useful as inscribed-tablets or dies on account of the contrast 

between their polished and cut surfaces.
ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION. 419

Finally there are the rust-colored granites and aplites (Rockport 

and Hingham, Mass.), affording, when used in connection with normal granites, unique contrasts of color; also the aplite of Hingham, 

of unusual compressive strength, sought after for keystones.

It would be difficult to name a use for granite which can not be supplied by some of the quarries described in this bulletin, and as to 

colors the only ones lacking in New England are the deep purple and 

deep reddish, which must be sought in Wisconsin or Scotland or 

Norway. Some reddish granites occur also in Minnesota, Missouri, 

Texas, and Oklahoma.

Among the notable structures and public monuments built of New 

England granite are the Library of Congress, Union Station, Post 

Office (including interior polished columns), National Museum, and 

Freer Art Collection Building, Washington; Hall of Records, customhouse, post office, Bank of Commerce, Bankers Trust Co. Building, pedestal of Statue of Liberty, columns of Cathedral of St. John 

the Divine, New York; soldiers and sailors' memorial, Syracuse, 

N. Y.; Cook County courthouse, Alexander Hamilton memorial, 

Grant Park, Chicago; State capitol, Madison, Wis.; Northwestern 

Mutual Life Insurance Building, Milwaukee, Wis.; Museum of Fine 

Arts, Minneapolis, Minn.; McKinley national memorial (including 

sarcophagi), Canton, Ohio; Lincoln memorial, Hodgenville, Ky.; 

State capitolj, Harrisburg, Pa.; national monument, Gettysburg, Pa.; 

Pilgrim monument, Provincetown, Mass.; Bunker Hill Monument, 

Charlestown, Mass.; soldiers and sailors' monument, Whitinsville, 

Mass.; State library and Connecticut River Bridge, Hartford, Conn.

ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION OF NEW ENGLAND 

GRANITES.

The granites of New England in respect to their general uses may 

be divided into nine classes (A) constructional, used for buildings, 

bridges, retaining walls, pedestals; (B) monumental, used for monuments, and requiring finer texture than those of class a; (C) sculptural, used for delicate carving and statues, also for monuments; (D) 

inscriptional, adapted to inscriptions legible at a distance; (E) 

polish, susceptible of high polish; (F) rusty-faced, for buildings requiring special contrasts of color; (G) curbing and trimming, adapted 

by their gneissic texture for curbing, trimming, and sills; (H) breakwater, easily quarried and situated at tidewater, and thus adapted to 

the construction of breakwaters; (I) paving, suitable by their rift and 

grain for the manufacture of paving blocks. As the waste of some 

constructional and monumental granites is also used for paving, any 

enumeration of paving-stone quarries would be misleading. The 

quarries on the Maine coast and on Cape Ann, Mass., are the chief 

producers of paving blocks.
420 COMMERCIAL, GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

In the first of the following tables all the granites described in 

this bulletin, except a few unimportant prospects and hopeless 

quarries, are classified in the nine classes named. The locality, 

quarry name, trade name, color or tint and shade, texture, and scientific name of each granite are given in separate columns, together 

with a page reference to the description of stone and quarry. The 

localities are given by States in alphabetic order, but in each State 

the order is that of the quarry descriptions. The table gives all 

the granites but not all the quarries in which they occur.

In order to facilitate the search for granite of a particular color 

or shade all the granites of classes &, 6, 0, and / have been classified 

according to their dominant colors and shades, without reference 

to their uses, in Table 2. The designations of color or tint and shade 

make 17 groups 1, white; 2, black; 3, gray with strong contrasts, 

white dominant; 4, black and white, strong contrasts, black dominant; 5, gray, porphyritic; 6, gray with weak contrasts, light, 

medium, dark; 7, gray, light, medium, dark, tinted bluish, greenish, 

buff; 8, lavender tinted; 9, reddish gray, light, medium, dark; 10, 

pinkish gray, light, medium, dark, bright; 11, pinkish to light gray 

or light buff-gray, with large black spots; 12, pinkish-reddish buff; 

13, buff; 14, cream-colored; 15, greenish, pea or olive; 16, mottled; 

17, rust-colored.
ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION. 421

TABLE Economic classification 1. New England ofgranites. 

Class A.Constructional.

Described on page 

Scientific name.

Texture.

General color andshade.

Trade nme.

Quarry name.

t

O CO t-« !* 

CO CO CO CO

is 2

66 * fei " "§ i ss 5

: M : : : £

 ja l-t fc* ' * » it> » IM

*£ ; )*£ £ i : w ! i &' § & g O 0 _g 0 0'£ 0 

<J £j «pH ' -^f -4J* "*"* »P **

gl§ « i-! I 1 i IS 1

gga^S . j j &o fc : fel^ &

oJiS+l'SsfS'S'0 33 'S 'C-S'C T -rtfl'S 33 -C .2 §.2 as a : | .28 .2 : .2 S §> .2

.2 : : : : : 8 A : : « . « - Si S

Coarse, gneissic, porphyrit Fine, gneissic, banded . Fine, gneissic.. obscurely Fine, gneissic. very......

Extremely bluish dark gray. Light medium bluish to grayMnHinin slicrHtlu crroonicVi

Greenwich black ...... Bristol................

Norfolk

4L in

PSftc

i 

S ! o

OPQZ

gray. 

Medium blush gray..

S^2 

g

P5

Eockside.............

j ill ; IK : ii; i

« 2 0r« : : «r« * Mjal 2

I ifli ill .1 ffj s3

g .0 :s5 S SS S

>2-§ : : ' & i :5'I : S M.2 : :-g : :^^ :

tS 8 1 -I-S I i|i I

||| | j|| | :|£ |

COGOHV.GO »COCO CO 'GOtMr^CO ^

 - 'jj1 lj >>

; ; ^5 .M "3 73 'O "C I i £ "3 M 3> S d 3

' : fe O'ax >, 3 ^ r:

: ^ d'-t>;3 ^2 c

! fQ KlH^W W t-1 A PH

N HI i ii

1 ; ' ! £4 £4 ' '

 .' S *>7 >7 § CO

. | W tH i« « - ^

'S'J fc ^J^ -3 ^ S £ f 

oS !5 wOW W i-1 oa S P^

: : : : : i

: : : : w

>.

5

^3 

tf

d ! IgS 

3 *) ' v ' 3 

£fd o odd dgj g1 "5

 -Q "g OOP P is | -g F

H CO OJ w PUi

^CSCSNN C>» S

granite e 

1 1

a &

* «c 

2 T

S S

CO C ® S"6 

.S §

h O

Very lightgray. ............. Medium slightly bluish gray, fieht Mediumto ernv......

North Jay white..

A, A

Maine &NewHam shire Granite Corpor 

tion. 

White..............

C

c c

T -C

Coarse medium. to....... Coarse. .............. .

Light buff,grayish. ......... Medium erav................

:

Bucks Harbo 

.....do.......

.0

Bucks Hai.....do....

>? := 

1 g

iai

:f

Do 

Brooks SouthDo......

c e

 c -c

 t

Very porphyritic. coarse, 

c

phyritic. 

Medium tocoarse ..........

>> A 

& V a? ^ 3

J^M 9'S'3

 H-f^I^ fl'fi"^

t> i!« pq

Black Isnd

1

S3

a

i

S :

1 1 i 3 ^ M
TABLE 1. Economic classification of New England gran

Class A. Constructional Continued.

Locality.

MAINE continued .

Do..................

Do..................

High Isle... .............

Do..................

Do...................

Do..................

falaio

Do..................

Do..................

Biddeford........ .......

Quarry name.

Redcliff.................

Campbell & Maeomber. . 

Ryan-Parker and Goss..

Stinchfleld.. ............

Black...................

Fish....................

Go wan Emmons ........

Trade name.

Somes Sound pink ....

.....do.................

High Isle... ...........

.....do.................

General color and shade.

Lavender-tinted medium 

gray with white spots.

Pinkish buff. ...............

.....do.......................

Medium gray, slight lavender tint, with cream-white 

spots.

Slightly pinkish medium 

gray

Black, white, and gray..... 

Slightly bluish medium gray

.....do.......................

.....do......................

Medium and a Iso light gray. .

Lavender-tinted, medium 

gray, with white spots.

Dark reddish gray with 

white spots.

Buff, medium. ..............

Light gray ..................

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

Fine, p

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

Medium

.....do

Medium 

.....do

.....do

Medium

Fine

Medium 

.....do

.....do

Coarse

Medium 

Medium

Coarse
Do..................

Do..................

Wnllo

MASSACHUSETTS.

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

Milford...... ............

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Do..................

Do..................

Lord....................

FlatLedge.Deep Pit, etc.

Blood Ledge, Cheves. . . . 

Flynt...................

Oak Hill...... ..........

Snake Meadow Hill. ....

Milford..................

McCaiiliff.. .............

Sullivan quarries.. ....

Robin Rock green. .... 

Rockport gray, Bay 

View gray. 

Rockport sea-green . . .

Oak Hill... ...........

Graniteville. ..........

West Townsend white.

Quincy extra light ....

Fitchburg... ..........

Medium pinkish bun*. .......

Medium gray with black 

spots. 

Light pinkish gray with 

sparse black spots.

Medium or light pinkish 

gray with black spots. 

Light buff gray or light gray 

with black spots.

Dark or very dark olivegreenish.

Dark or very dark gray. ....

Dark bluish gray. ...........

Medium bluish gray. ........

Very light or very light, 

slightly bluish gray. 

Very light or medium gray. .

Light, faintly buff-gray. ....

Light pea greenish ..........

Light gray to medium pinkish, or pinkish-greenish 

gray, with black spots.

Light to medium bluish gray .

Light pinkish, mottled with 

dark gray.

Medium pinkish buff-gray. .

Light pinkish gray mottled 

with dark purplish gray.

....do.

....do.

....do.

M edium 

Coarse o

gneiss

Medium 

Coarse t

gneiss

Af e<Ji» > 

Coarse. .

.....do.

.....do.

Fine to 

(not p

Very fi

plicate

Fine gne

Medium 

phyrit

Medium

gneiss

Medium 

phyrit

Medium 

Medium 

Medium 

Medium 

gneiss

Medium 

gated 

Medium 

.....do

.....do

.....do
TABLE 1. Economic classification of New England gran

Class A. Constructional Continued.

Locality,

NEW HAMPSHIRE COntd.

Do..................

Troy. ...................

Milford..................

Do..................

Do..................

RHODE ISLAND.

VERMONT.

Do..................

Do..................

Quarry name.

Troy....................

Fletcher & Woodbury . . .

Woodbury & Ellis ......

Trads name.

Milford, N.H.........

.....do.................

.....do.................

Coarse light Barre. ....

Dummerston white. . .

General color and shade.

Light to medium, very bluish gray. 

Light to medium bluish gray .

Light buff-gray with large 

black spots. 

Light, faintly pinkish-greenish gray with large black 

spots.

Light buff-gray, some 

slightly pinkish.

Very light cream-colored 

with black dots.

Slightly bluish milk-white 

with grayish spots. 

Slightly greenish white, 

large micas. 

Milk-white with rare disks 

of mica.

Porphy

Fine

.....do

.....do

.....do

Gnessi

.....do

Fine to 

.....do

Fine p

Fine 

porp

Coarse 

Fine

"MfifiillT

do
Class B. Monumental,

CONNECTICUT.

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

MAINE,

Bluehm..... ............

TTnllrvnroll

Do..................

Whitefleld.. ............

Norridgewock. .......... 

Lincoln .................

S wanville ...............

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

Biddeford.. .............

MASSACHUSETTS.

Otis.... .................

Salter.. .................

Stinchfleld. .............

Taylor... ............... 

Lincoln ville. ............ 

Bog Hill................

Oak Hill. ...............

Maine Red Granite Co. . .

Ricker. .................

New Anguilla

Connecticut white.. . . .

Sherwood monumental

Lincoln ville. ..........

Oak Hill. .............

Shattuck Mountain. . .

Chester dark and light.

Medium slightly greenish 

gray. 

Medium to dark greenish 

gray. 

Medium faintly greenish gray 

Medium to dark faintly 

greenish gray.

Medium pinkish-reddish 

gray with black spots. 

Medium slightly bluish pay . Medium dark gray, smokecolored.

Medium slightly bluish gray.

Light, slightly buff-gray. ....

Vprv ridrlr &TAV

Very dark and medium gray 

Very dark bluish gray. ...... 

Light gray .................. 

Light gray. ................. 

.....do.......................

Dark, slightly bluish gray ...

Black mottled with white 

and gray. 

Dark reddish-greenish gray . . 

Dark reddish, speckled with 

pale greenish. 

Bright pinkish ..............

Light gray, but with strong 

contrasts.

Medium bluish and dark 

bluish gray.

Medium bluish gray. ........

Fine...

Fine (part

inch). 

Fine (part

inch). 

Fine to ve

Fine.. ..

.....do..

Very coars

Fine.... .

Fine (part

inch). 

Fine (part

inch).

Very fine. 

Very fine

Fine to m

Fine, porp

Fine to m

.....do...

Fine....

Fine to m

Fine to m

Medium, p

Fine....

....do...

Coarse to m

ritic. 

Medium to 

Medium. .

....do...

Coarse. ...

Fine, with 

texture. 

Fine inclin

Fine to ve

gneissic.
TABLE 1. Economic classification of New England grani

Class B. Monumental Continued.

Locality.

MASSACHUSETTS Contd.

TPown sftTid

Do..................

Do..................

NEW HAMPSHIKE.

Do..................

Milford..................

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

KHODE ISLAND.

Do.^.. ..............

Charlestown.... . ........

Quarry name.

.....do...................

Tiffany

Gold-leaf................

QfrtpTT

.....do...................

Klondike................

Trade name.

extra dark. 

Gold-leaf..............

erly.

Milford (N.H. ).......

.....do.................

Blue-white Westerly . .

General color and shade.

gray.

.....do.......................

ish, purplish) to very dark, 

bluish or purplish gray.

with yellow-brown and 

black specks.

gray.

pinkish tinge.

Light, slightly bluish gray..

Bluish medium gray ........

Medium 

Coars

.....do

Medium 

.....do

Coarse.

Very fin

Very fin

0.0066 

Fine.

Fine, b

phyrit

.....do

Fine (

0.0084 

0.009 i

0.011 i

.....do

0.0097 

Very fin

Fine (0.

Very fin

Fine.
ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION. 427

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TABLE 1. Economic classification of New England gran

Class D. Inscriptions!.

[Colors of polished face darker.]

Locality.

CONNECTICUT.

Do..................

MAINE.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Mlllford.. ...............

RHODE ISLAND.

'Y^esterlv

VERMONT. 

"WToQt "VSTinrlcnr

Quarry name.

Bianchi.... .............

ite" openings.

Hall....................

etc.

Trade name.

Millstone..............

"Bl&ck £rdnitc J *

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

.....do................

Pink ^Vestcrlv

General color and shade.

colored.

tals.

.....do......................

ish.

gray.

.....do......................

Fine

.....d

.....d

Ophit

Oph

Mediu

Fine

.....d
Class E. Polish.

MAINE.

Crotch Island ...........

Moose Island .......

Jonesport ............

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Peabody. ...........

Rockport ...............

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

Cohasset. ...............

Quincy.. ................ 

Do..................

NEW HAMPSHIBE.

Con way. ............

Do..................

Madison. ................

VERMONT.

West Windsor.... . ......

Windsor. ...............

Ryan-Parker & Goss ....

Pigeon Cove porphyry. . . 

Tiffany.................

Several.................. 

Gold-leaf................

.....do...................

.....do.................

Rockport light gray . . . 

Rockport sea green . . .

Rockport porphyry . . .

Quincy, dark, medium, extra dark.

Gold-leaf..............

Lavender- tinted medium 

gray with white spots.

Dark reddish gray with 

white spots.

Dark to very dark olivegreenish gray.

Very dark green with large 

medium gray crystals. 

Medium shade, mottled 

color. 

Dark gray (or bluish, greenish, purplish) to very dark 

bluish or purplish gray. 

Medium bluish gray with 

yellow-brown spots.

Light pink mottled with 

dark gray.

Light pinkish gray mottled 

with dark purplish gray.

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

.....do

Class F. Rusty-faced.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Hamilton. mouth seam faced.
430 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

a

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T

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W 

iJ

pa 

E-i

Described on page 

Scientific name.

Texture.

color shade. General and

Trade nme.

Quarry name.

Locality.

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ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION. 431

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TABLE 1. Economic classification of New England gra

Class I. Paving.

Locality.

CONNECTICUT.

Sterling.................

MAINE.

Do..................

Do..................

Do..................

MASSACHUSETTS.

Rockport ...............

Quarry name.

Willards Point..........

Armbrust ...............

Trade name. General shade and color.

black streaks on foliation 

face.

buff tinge.

po
ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION. 433 i

TAPLE 2. The constructional, monumental, sculptural, and rusty-faced granites 

of Neiv England grouped by dominant colors and shades.

Group 1. White. 

VERMONT. Bethel, Plymouth, Randolph.-

Group 2. Blade. 

CONNECTICUT. Norwich.

Group 3. Gray with strong contrasts, white or gray dominant.

MAINE. Biddeford: Ricker, Gowan Einmons, Andrews quarries. Kennebunkport: Day quarry. Bluehill: Chase quarry. South Thomaston: Weskeag 

quarry. Guilford: Queen City quarry. South Brooksville: Bucks Harbor 

quarries.

MASSACHUSETTS. Wrentham: Curry quarry. Rockport: Devils Rock quarry.

VERMONT. Derby: Lacasse quarry.

Group 4- Black and white, strong contrasts, black dominant.

MAINE. Sprucehead Island: Sprucehead quarry. Hartland: Hartland quarry. 

Woodstock: Bryant Pond quarry.

Group 5. Gray, porphyritic.

MAINE. Hallowell: Stinchfield quarry. Norridgewock: Lawton quarry.

Frankfort: Mount Waldo. Searsport: Mount Ephraim (Bog Hill) quarry.

Bluehill: Chase monumental quarry. Dedham: Brown quarry. West

Franklin: Bradbury quarry. 

MASSACHUSETTS. Groton: Shaker quarry. Westford: Oak Hill and Snake

Meadow Hill quarries. Uxbridge: Blanchard quarries. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Fitzwilliam: Snowflake quarry. Haverhill: Pond-ledge

quarry. 

VERMONT. Hardwick: Buffalo Hill quarry. Woodbury: Drenan and Imperial

Blue quarries.

Group 6. Gray w4th weak contrasts', light, medium, dark.

CONNECTICUT. Waterford: Millstone quarry, medium and dark

MAINE. Pownal: Pownal quarry, light. Jay: Maine & New Hampshire Granite Corporation quarry, very light. Sullivan: Stimson quarry, medium. 

Muscle Ridge Plantation: Dix Island quarry, dark. Bristol: Round Pond 

quarry, dark and medium. Waldoboro: Waldoboro quarry, medium. Norridgewock: Taylor quarry, light.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Milford: Tonella old quarry, light.

VERMONT. Kirby: Burke quarry, light to medium. Ryegate: Rosa quarry, 

fine gray. Barton: Owen aplite prospect, dark.

Group 7. Gray, light, medium, dark (tinted bluish, greenish, buff).

CONNECTICUT. Bristol: Dunn quarry, light to medium bluish. Norfolk: Crissey 

quarry, medium greenish. Roxbury: Rockside quarry, medium bluish. 

Torrington: Costello quarry, medium buff; Michiel quarry, medium to dark 

bluish. Thomaston: Plymouth quarry, medium bluish. Croton: Salter 

quarry, etc., medium greenish. Stonington: New Anguilla quarry, medium 

bluish. Waterford: Waterford quarry, medium buff. 

105709 23 29
434 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

MAINE. Freeport: Medium bluish. Bluehill: White quarry, medium bluish. 

South Brooksville: Bucks Harbor quarries, light buff. Mount Desert: 

Hall quarry, light buff. Crotch Island: Sherwood lower quarry, light buff. 

South Thomaston: Weskeag quarry, bluish medium. St. George: Long 

Cove quarry, bluish medium. Whitefield: Jewett quarry, very dark bluish. 

Swanville: Oak Hill quarry, dark bluish.

MASSACHUSETTS. Becket: Hudson & Chester quarry, medium bluish. Dartmouth : Very light buff. Pelham: Dark bluish. Acton: McCarthy quarry, 

medium bluish. Townshend: Barker Hill, light buff. Quincy: Dark to 

very dark bluish, greenish or purplish. Leominster: Dark bluish.

NEW HAMPSHIEE. Fitzwilliam: Victoria White quarry, light bluish. Marlboro: Light to medium bluish. Troy: Light to medium bluish. Concord: 

Various quarries, medium bluish. Milford: New Westerly quarry, medium bluish. Tonella: (King) quarry, medium buff. Brookline: O'Rourke 

quarry, medium buff. Sunapee: Perry quarry, light bluish.

RHODE ISLAND. Westerly: Various quarries, medium bluish. Charlestown: 

Klondike quarry, medium bluish.

VEBMONT. Kirby: Grout quarry, light to medium bluish. Ryegate: Rosa 

quarry, (coarse) medium bluish. Groton: Benzie quarry, medium bluish. 

Derby: Lacasse quarry, light bluish. Barre: Various quarries, light, medium, dark bluish. Cabot: Bluish. Calais: Patch quarry, medium bluish. 

Woodbury: Bashaw, Imperial Blue, and Nicols Ledge Carter quarries, 

bluish, medium, dark, light to medium.

Group 8. Lavender-tinted.

MAINE. Crotch Island: Ryan-Parker, Goss, and Benvenue quarries. Moose 

Island: Moose Island quarry. Jonesboro: Fish quarry.

Group 9, Reddish gray, light, medium, dark.

CONNECTICUT. Branford: Norcross and Stony Creek quarries, medium. Hoadly 

Neck: Medium to dark. Guilford: Leete Island quarry, medium. Lyme: 

Selden Neck quarry, medium to dark. Stonington: Murray quarry, medium. Old Lyme: MacCurdy quarry, medium.

MASSACHUSETTS. Braintree: Stacy quarry, medium.

RHODE ISLAND. Westerly: Redstone quarry, etc., medium.

Group 10. Pinkish gray, light, medium, dark, bright.

CONNECTICUT. Brandford: Opie quarry, medium. East Lyme: Malnati & 

Carlson quarries, medium.

MAINE. Black Island: Light and medium. Mount Desert: Campbell & Macomber quarry, light. Swans Island: Toothachers Cove quarry, medium. 

High Isle: Medium. Calais: Several quarries, bright. Jonesboro: Bodwell & Booth Bros, quarries, medium. Marshfield: Medium. Wells: 

Lord quarry, light.

MASSACHUSETTS. New Bedford: Sullivan quarries, light. Townshend: Barker 

Hill quarry, light to medium.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Conway: Redstone quarry, light with large dark-gray and 

small black spots. Madison: Fletcher quarry, light, mottled with dark 

purplish gray. Milford: Carlton quarry, medium; Souhegan quarry, dark. 

Brookline: Fessenden quarry, faintly pinkish.

RHODE ISLAND. Westerly: New England, Smith, and other quarries, medium.

VERMONT. Newark: Packer quarry, light.
GEOLOGIC FACTORS IN GRANITE QUARRYING. 435

Group 11. Pinkish to light gray or light buff-gray icith large black spots.

MASSACHUSETTS. Milford: Various quarries. Fall River: Beattie, Savoie, and

other quarries. 

NEW HAMPSHIHE. Canaan: Mascoma quarry. Lebanon: Lebanon quarry.

Group 12. Pinkish to reddish buff.

MAINE. Crotch Island: Sherwood Upper quarry. Green Island (Stonington) : 

Latty quarry. Swans Island: Baird quarry. Vinalhaveri: Sands, Palmer, 

and Black quarries. Hurricane Island: Hurricane Island quarry. Biddeford: Wormwood quarry.

Group 13. Buff. 

MAINE. Millbridge: Millbridge quarry.

Group IJjt. Cream-colored.

VERMONT Woodbury: Vermont White quarry, very light cream-colored. 

Group 15. Greenish, pea, or olive tint.

MASSACHUSETTS. Peabody: Den quarry, dark to very dark olive-greenish. 

Lynnfleld; Robin Rock quarry, very dark greenish. Rockport: Bloodledge 

and Cheves quarries, dark olive-greenish. Quincy: Lepage, Winquist & 

Cashman quarried, light pea-greenish.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Conway: Redstone green quarry, dark olive-greenish. Kilkenny: Kilkenny quarry, dark olive-greenish.

Group 16. Mottled.

CONNECTICUT. Lyrne: Joshua Rock quarry, general purplish gray with fine 

reddish, pinkish, greenish, and black bauds, also cherry-reddish spots.

MASSACHUSETTS. Stoughton: Messer quarry, mottled pink, pea-green and medium gray. Cohasset: Tiffany quarry, mottled pink, pea-green, cream-color, 

medium gray, and black (very dark green).

Group 17. Rust-colored.

MASSACHUSETTS. Rockport: Flat Ledge quarry, bright rust color. Hingham: 

Hingham, Miller, and Hamilton quarries, rust color.

GEOLOGIC FACTORS IN GRANITE QUARRYING.

The problems confronting the granite quarryman about to open 

a quarry are many. Their solution requires not only practical experience in granite quarrying and soundness of judgment but also a 

little knowledge of geology and mathematics.

It is first of all assumed that suitable specimens representing the 

average quality of the fresh rock have been procured and subjected 

either by the United States Bureau of Standards or else by competent 

persons provided with the necessary machines and instruments to 

the tests enumerated on pages 99-103 in order that the quality of 

the stone may be determined apart from all commercial considerations.
436 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

The next step is a careful exploration of the granite surface, if 

necessary by stripping in trenches, to determine the areal extent of 

the stone of the quality tested, the spacing of the joints, the number 

and location of headings, dikes, veins, and the quantity of knots. A 

sufficient amount of vertical exploration should be done, if necessary 

by core drilling, to determine the thickness of the sheets, width of 

sap, course and quality of rift and grain, and also, if possible, the 

direction of the flow of the granite.

That the quarryman needs to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of geology is shown by the danger -of his confounding, for want 

of it, igneous and sedimentary rocks. As granite issued from below, 

the supply of the granite of any given area is exhaustless in the 

direction of the source of its flow. A granite mass can never be penetrated in quarrying except in a direction transverse to that of its flowage, Quarrymen have been known to imagine that granite occurs 

in " pockets," like outliers of a sedimentary rock left by the erosion 

of the rest of the bed. This error arises from their having quarried 

across the flow of a granite dike instead of toward its source. But as 

the channel through which the granite flowed may narrow or widen 

it is well to determine by diamond drilling whether the narrowing is 

to prove great enough to enhance the cost of quarrying.

With these geologic preliminaries as to the area, quality, structure, 

and source of the granite disposed of, there remain the purely technologic problems as to the selection of quarry site, location of dumps, 

the drainage, water supply, transportation, the use of explosives, and 

method of splitting, and the machinery for hoisting, drilling, and 

transporting, none of which lie within the province of this bulletin.

THE PRODUCTION OF GRANITE IN THE NEW

ENGLAND STATES.

By A. T. COONS.

HISTORICAL BEVIEW.81

PERIOD BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR.

The stone industry in New England began in colonial times with 

the use of boulders and cobbles. The splitting of dimension stone 

from boulders was a crude operation. The stone for King's Chapel, 

built in 1749-1754 and considered an architectural masterpiece at the 

time, was obtained by dropping heavy iron balls upon heated boulders and hammering the split stone into shape. Split stone was used 

mainly in the construction of wharves, foundations, and wells, and 

cobbles were used for street paving. The sources of supply were

81 Adapted from text by G. F. Loughlin, forming a chapter in the " History of the 

mineral industries," compiled by E. W. Parker for the Carnegie Institution.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 437

within reasonable distance for transportation by water or by teams 

of oxen. About the beginning of the nineteenth century considerable 

granite was conveyed to Boston from Quincy, Mass., by ox teams 

and from Chelmsford (now Westford), Mass., by canal. Quarrying 

from the ledge began in Quincy in 1825 to supply s£one for the Bunker Hill Monument, and with the introduction of quarry implements 

and the " plug and feathers " or " wedge and half-rounds " method 

of splitting stone, the industry developed rapidly.

The first quarries of more than local importance were convenient 

to water transportation, on the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine. 

The rapid growth of American commerce, with the resulting requirements for harbor improvements and coast protection, created a 

strong demand for granite in the construction of jetties, sea walls, 

wharves, and forts. This demand was supplied at first from quarries at Quincy and Cape Ann, Mass., and later from quarries in 

Rhode Island and Connecticut also. During the century that has 

elapsed since the opening of the first ledge quarry at Quincy other 

uses have been developed to so great an extent and the requirements 

for sea walls and similar construction work have been so well supplied that granite for such work now constitutes only a small part 

of the total output.

The use of granite for architectural work also grew rapidly during 

the second quarter of the nineteenth century, and many buildings 

in the larger cities on the Atlantic coast were erected of granite 

from the coast of New England. The Quincj^ granite, owing, no 

doubt, to its reputation gained as the stone used in Bunker Hill 

Monument, to its favorable position near tidewater, and to the more 

advanced methods of quarrying it, was probably the leading building 

granite during this period, although other granites along the coast 

of Maine and Massachusetts were finding an equally extensive range 

of markets. Inland granites of New England, now well known, 

were supplying mostly local demands, which included a few important buildings, such as the State capitols of New Hampshire and 

Vermont. Toward the middle of the century the construction of 

railroads, by furnishing transportation, began to give these granites 

more extensive markets.

Granite paving blocks were introduced into Boston in 1840, into 

Philadelphia in 1848, and into New York about 1850 and soon became one of the principal granite products. The blocks first used 

were considerably largeri than the modern blocks, their surfaces measuring a square foot or more in area; but experience soon resulted in 

the adoption of blocks essentially like those used to-day.82

82 Brayley, A. W., History of the granite industry in New England, vol. 1, pp. 167-170, 

Boston, 1913.
438 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Granite flagstones, principally from Quincy and Rockport, Mass., 

were probably introduced before the Civil War, and flagstones from 

granite quarries along-the coast of Maine were probably used in 

Boston and other cities along the Atlantic coast not long afterward.

Granite was dhly occasionally used as a monumental stone until 

after 1860, but by 1880 its desirability for this use had become generally appreciated.

The available data on production of stone for the early years of 

the industry are very incomplete and represent only the leading 

quarries and possibly also the cutting plants. Much stone produced 

for local use and rough construction work, such as walls, piers, and 

 docks, was probably not included in the figures of production. The 

report of the Eighth Census, for 1860, gives only? the total value of 

all kinds of stone produced in the New England States. The value 

of the output of Connecticut ($532,704) was mostly for sandstone, 

and that of Massachusetts ($289,626) included granite, marble 

($122,496), and "pudding stone." Granite produced in Maine in 

that year was valued at $295,280, in New Hampshire at $23,540, and 

in Rhode Island at $6,800, but none was reported from Vermont. 

The granite industry in Maine and Massachusetts was then considered very prosperous.

PERIOD SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. 

BUILDING STONE.

There are no data available to show the effect of the Civil War 

upon the granite industry of New England, and none of much value 

to show the size and growth of the industry before 1880. The figures compiled by the Ninth Census,83 for 1870, suggest a substantial 

increase in the total value of output of the leading quarries compared with the period before the Civil War, but the comparison is 

obscured by the fact that prices were relatively high in 1870. During 

the 25 or 30 years after the Civil War the granites that were the 

most prominent before the war still led in production. The darkerred granites of Maine, the dark bluish-gray granite of Quincy, Mass., 

and the lighter-gray granites of Rockport, Mass.', Hallo well, Maine, 

and Concord, N. H., were prominent among building stones. The 

Jighter-pink coarse-grained granites had been regarded with less 

iavor by some because of their coarser texture and because their 

minerals lacked sufficient contrast in color, especially for monumental work.84 Gradually, however, and probably owing in large 

part to the growing popularity of the buff and gray limestone from

83 Ninth Census, vol. 3, p. 749. 1872.

84 Merrill, G. P., Stones for building and decoration, p. 61, 1903.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 439

Indiana, tastes changed in favor of the lighter-colored building 

stones, and from 1895 to 1900 the pale-pink granites, particularly 

those of the Penobscot Bay district, Maine, and Milford, Mass., became prominent. Some of the darker-colored granites found a 

growing demand as monumental stone.

From 1865 to 1890 the principal granite products were building, 

paving, and monumental stone. Crushed stone for water-bound 

macadam was gaining recognition, though its output was insignificant compared with that of to-day.

The general increase in the industry in 1889 as compared with 1880 

is striking (see table, p. 443) but does not imply a steady growth. 

Sales of stone in general were thought to have decreased in 1883 

owing to a marked preference for brick construction, and they decreased again in 1884 owing to a general industrial decline. In 1885, 

however, both the output of granite and its popularity for ornamental and decorative use showed a gain, whereas prices, owing to 

increasing competition, declined. From then until 1890 the industry 

was prosperous. This half decade was the first of two conspicuously 

prosperous periods for the building-stone industry since annual 

statistical information has been available.

This period of prosperity was followed by a decline in the demand for buildings and by the panic of 1903, when the output 

of structural stone and clay products decreased greatly. The output of stone as a whole continued to diminish until 1896, when the 

total value of all building stone sold was estimated at $10,000,000. 

The production of Portland cement was then beginning to increase 

rapidly, but the demand for buildings, after five years of curtailment, had now become so great that all structural materials found 

ready markets, and their production increased until 1902. After two 

years of decrease the sales of building stone as a whole increased until 1906, which marks the end of the second prosperous period of the 

industry. After a marked decline in 1907 and 1908 sales of granite 

for building fluctuated with a slight net gain until 1913, in spite 

of keen competition with lower-priced building materials for both 

rough construction and higher grades of architectural work. The 

effect of this competition has been gradual restriction of granite 

to the more costly buildings.

The drastic curtailment in high-class building during the war 

period 1914-1918 was to be expected, and since then the high costs 

of production and transportation together with labor troubles have 

delayed revival of the building-stone industry. There is, however, 

another shortage of buildings, and with industry in general becoming stabilized the demand for building granite may be expected to 

increase.
440 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND. 

GRANITE FOR OTHER USES.

Monumental stone As already stated, the use of granite for monumental stone had attained considerable prominence by 1880. Since 

then the production of monumental granite has made such districts 

as Barre, Vt., Quincy, Mass., and Westerly, R. I., famous throughout 

the country. The output was on the whole steady (see fig. 95, p. 442) 

until the war period, when the abnormal prosperity of some industries 

and the increased demand for memorials caused a marked increase, 

whereas the output of other granite products greatly decreased. The 

severe depression that followed the war, however, greatly reduced 

the demand for monumental stone, and curtailment of output has 

been continued by labor troubles, which have led producers of monumental granite in particular as well as several producers of granite 

of other classes to adopt what is practically the open shop.

Paving stone. The demand for paving stone appears to have 

continued steadily except in periods of general depression until 

about 1895, when keen competition began with other materials 

that had certain advantages over granite blocks as then prepared 

and laid. The years 1909-1911 marked a high point in both the 

quantity and value of granite paving blocks sold from New England 

quarries, as well as from all quarries in the United States. This 

period was followed by a slight decline and by a second high point 

in 1913-14. The expected decline during the war period lasted 

until 1919, when, owing to renewal of street improvement in cities 

that had the heaviest traffic, the paving-block output began to increase. 

it declined again in 1920, but increased in 1921, when the value 

of the paving blocks sold was the largest ever recorded. There is no 

question regarding the greater resistance to wear of granite paving 

blocks as compared with competing materials, and the latest improved methods of preparing and laying them produce smooth road 

surfaces that will maintain their smoothness so long as the foundation upon which the blocks rest withstands the weight of traffic. As 

cheaper pavements are proving satisfactory for light to rather heavy 

traffic, the growth of the granite paving-block industry is expected 

to keep pace with that of extremely heavy city traffic. 

*- Crushed stone. The demand for crushed stone began late in the 

nineteenth century with the introduction of water-bound macadam 

roads. The use of crushed stone in concrete for foundations and 

buildings began about 1900, and its effect on the building-stone industry was soon noticeable. By 1907 the value of the crushed stone 

sold exceeded the combined values of the building and monumental 

stone. The quarries of the New England States were among the first 

to supply crushed stone, but most of this material was basalt. Few 

of the New England quarries that supply building and monumental
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 441

granite furnish crushed stone in any quantity. Massachusetts is the 

largest producer, and the greater part of the output comes from 

quarries especially operated and equipped for turning out this product. The production of crushed granite from the New England 

quarries, except for yearly fluctuations due to the effect of business 

conditions on the demand, showed a general moderate increase from 

1896 to 1915, when the unusual conditions caused by the war brought 

about a rapid decline, and in 1918 the output was less than in any 

other year since 1902. A small increase in 1919 was followed by decreases in 1920 and 1921, but production in each of these years exceeded that of 1918. At present water-bound macadam is being 

superseded by asphaltic and cement-concrete pavements, in which 

gravel is used as well as crushed stone for the aggregate. Specially 

prepared crushed granite is finding considerable favor in terrazzo 

work for floors and in the better class of concrete exterior construction. In this work the color of the stone, as well as its durability, is 

of importance.

Conclusion. The development of several products from one 

quarry and the rinding of uses for what has heretofore been waste 

are indications of the present trend of the industry. The diversification of the granite industry and increased competition of all its 

products with other materials has resulted in gradual elimination 

of companies not properly equipped and financed to meet the present 

exacting requirements. The industry has advanced in the last 

century from one of primitive methods to one requiring elaborate 

and expensive equipment. A comparison of the years 1902 and 

1919 in the census table (p. 443) shows that although the number 

of quarries and employees greatly decreased, the output did not 

change in proportion.

The production since 1896 is shown in the accompanying diagrams 

(figs. 94-96).

STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION.

The figures of production for the different States given in the 

accompanying tables are compiled from the records of the United 

States Geological Survey and for the years prior to 1882 from the reports of the Bureau of the Census. The Survey figures are totals of 

reports from the quarrymen. The values given are values f. o. b. at 

point of shipment and are based on the way the quarryman sells his 

stone. If the stone is cut by the producer, the value of the dressed 

stone is used. At Barre, Vt., and Quincy, Mass., most of the stone 

is sold in the rough by the producers to mills and manufacturing 

plants in the vicinity. The stone quarried at Rockport and Milford, 

Mass., Woodbury, Vt., Westerly, E. I., Stony Creek and Waterford,
442 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Conn., North Jay, Maine, and Redstone, Concord, and Milford, N. H., 

is sold largely as dressed stone.

FIGURE 94. Granite produced in New England, 1896-1921, and in. the United States,

1916-1921.

-spoopoo

FIGURE 95. Value of granite produced in New England and in the United States,

1896-1921.

£000000

1500.000

yjoopoo

FIGOBB 96. Granite of different classes produced in New England, 1896-1921. The space 

between two adjacent curves shows the production of the class specified, and the upper 

curve indicates total production.

In preparing the diagrams (figs. 94r-96) the available figures for 

quantity were used, and such estimates as were necessary were based 

on the knowledge that average values did not vary greatly for the 

different products between the years 1891 and 1916.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 443

PRODUCTION BY CENSUS YEARS.

Approximate annual statistics of stone production began to be 

collected in 1880, but no separate figures of the different granite products were compiled until 1889. The following table, compiled from 

reports of the Bureau of the Census and the United States Geological 

Survey, reflects the condition of the granite industry in New England 

in the different census years:

Granite produced in the Neio England States in 1880, 1889,1902,1909, and 1919.

Maine:

ProductionApproximate quantity, short tons. .

New Hampshire:

ProductionApproximate quantity, short tons. .

Vermont:

ProductionApproximate quantity, short tons. .

Massachusetts:

ProductionApproximate quantity, short tons. .

Connecticut: 

Number of quarries. ...................

Acreage of quarry land. ................

ProductionApproximate quantity, short tons. .

Rhode Island:

ProductionApproximate quantity, short tons. .

Total New England: 

Number of quarries. ...................

ProductionApproximate quantity, short tons. .

1880

68

4,687

183,000 

§1,175,286

39

513

159,400 

8303,066

12

105

16,000 

859,675

92

2,246

388,000 

81,329,315

32

872

213,000

8407 V)t*

17

760

114,000 

8623,000

260

9,183

1,073,400 

83,897,567'

1889

153

3,737

563,000 

82,225,839

78

1,253

240,000 

8727,531

53

961

90,000 

$581, 870

151

3,333

805,000 

82,503,503

53

1,630

322,000 

81,061,202

37

1,195

242,000 

$931,216

525

12,109

2,262,000 

88,031,161

1902

110

2,832

378,000 

82,659,458

51

1,219

178,000 

81,147,097

74

1,505

167,000 

81,570,423

oll5

02,700

742,000 

83,080,857

o35

o800

131,000 

8524,629

19

638

60,000 

8734,623

<uu

9,694

1,656,000 

89,717,079

1909

85

2,132

2,927

300,000 

81,939,524

40

1,305

5,947

270,000 

81,215,461

53

2,035

1,986

186,000 

82,811,744

82

2,278

2,914

415,000 

$2,164,619

38

868

1,149

223,000 

$610,514

26

675

500

169,000 

$933,053

324

9,293

15,423

1,563,000 

89,674,915

1919

44

747

2,016

149,820 

81,274,474

24

589

4,688

104,690 

81,443,205

29

1,062

1,987

133,627 

84,031,735

45

1,034

3,384

383,760 

82,477,938

14

92

410

52,730 

$205,124

10

262

433

40,503 

$426,868

166

3,786

12,918

865,130 

$9,859,344

o The Bureau of the Census gives for Massachusetts 204 quarries and 3,395 wage earners and for Connecticut 

49 quarries and 943 wage earners. These figures include basalt quarries, which are here deducted according 

to United States Geological Survey records. The number of wage earners is estimated.

PRODUCTION BY STATES. 

MAINE.

The quarry industry in Maine was of considerable magnitude from 

about 1876 to 1911 but has decreased about 50 per cent in the last 10 

years. The quarries started as a result of the usual local demand, but
444 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

their nearness to tidewater furnished a splendid outlet for the stone, 

and although New York and vicinity has been the largest market, it 

has been shipped to all the eastern coast cities and also by rail to 

Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, Albany, and many other interior cities. 

The chief use for Maine granite until recently has been for bridges, 

piers, buttresses, and all kinds of heavy masonry, as well as public 

buildings and residences. Paving blocks formerly ranked second in 

output, but in 1921 the amount of stone that was cut into paving 

block was more than twice as much as all the other stone quarried. 

In 1911 the the tonnage for paving blocks was about one-half as 

much as for the other products. About 3 per cent more blocks were 

produced in 1921 than in 1911, so that although the paving-block 

business in the State has held its own in competition with the different 

kinds of paving materials, the demand for all other constructional 

granite, including curbing and a negligible amount of monumental 

stone, has suffered keenly from the competition of stone from other 

States, but chiefly from the use of concrete for buildings and foundations.

The report of the Tenth Census (1880) shows that some of the 

quarries in operation at that time had been opened at the dates 

indicated below.

Cumberland County:

Brunswick, 1836.

Pownal, 1860-1872. 

Franklin County:

Chesterville, 1845.

North Jay, 1872-1876. 

Hancock County:

West Sullivan, 1840-1876.

Deer Isle, 1870-1877.

Mount Desert, 1871.

East Blue Hill, 1872-1879.

Franklin, 1879. 

Kennebec County:

Hallowell, 1800.

Augusta, 1856-1877.

These dates show the beginning of the granite industry in the 

State, but until 1860 activity in the quarries was only local, and it 

was not until about 1870 that they became well known.

The granite quarries operated in Maine during 1921, as known to 

the United States Geological Survey, were as follows:

Knox County:

Spruce Head, 1836.

Vinalhaven, 1850-1879.

Dix Island, 1851.

South Thomaston, 1859-1878.

Hurricane Isle, 1870.

St. George, 1874. 

Lincoln County:

Waldoboro, 1830.

Round Pond, 1877. 

Waldo County:

Frankfort (Mount Waldo), 1853.

Lincolnville, 1876. 

York County, Biddeford, 1860-1868.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION.

Granite quarries operated in Maine in 1921.

445

County.

\\Tn\f\f\

York...............

Nearest town.

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do.................... 

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Sullivan..................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Hallowell .................

.....do....................

Bristol....................

Calais.....................

Operator.

Jas. H. Pride..............

Granite Co. 

T. M. Blaisdell...........

W. B. Blaisdell & Co.....

Bradbury, Blaisdell &

Smith.

S. A. Bragd»n (Darling

Hill quarry).

Jas. M. Clark..............

Hutchins & G oodwin .....

Isle Granite Co. (Somes 

Sound quarry).

R. F.Stanley.............

tion. 

H. H. Havey &Co........

H. E. Kobertson. .........

E. C. Gordon.............

Webb& Staples Co........

Hallowell Granite Works . .

Isle Granite Co . 

John Meehan & Son (Clark

Island quarry).

( Williard'sPoint quarry).

Boston quarry). 

Roberts Harbor Granite

Co. (Pequoit quarry) .

Pond quarry).

(Osgood quarry).

Granite Co. (Indian 

Black Diamond quarry) . C.L. Young.............. 

Rockport Granite Co. .....

Use of stone.

and curbing.

mausoleums, paving 

blocks, curbing, riprap, 

and crushed stone.

Monument bases.

Do

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Paving blocks.

mausoleums, riprap.

curbing. 

Paving blocks, curbing.

Monuments, mausoleums,

building, paving blocks, 

riprap.

durax blocks. 

Paving blocks.

Do.

durax blocks. 

Paving blocks.

Rough construction, monument bases, flagging.

Do.

Do. 

Rough construction.

curbing.

The Geological Survey is also informed that plans are under way 

by the George A. Fuller Co., New York City, to operate quarries 

at Hallowell and Stonington (Deer Isle) in order to quarry stone 

for the courthouse in New York City, for which this company has 

the building contract.
Granite produced in Maine, 1860 to 1921.

Year.

18AD

1'Qcn

IfifiT

1QQQ

1QQQ

18Q1

1892.............

IfiQQ

1894

1895.............

1896.............

1RO7

1QQQ

1899............. 

1900............. 

1901............. 

1902.............

1903.............

IQfU

none

1906.............

1Qft7

1908............. 

1909.............

1910............. 

1911.............

1913.............

1914.............

1915.............

Number of 

plants.

68

153

"""ee"

75

""iio"

112 

107 

108 

91

88

""'85'

"""82" 

77 

70 

50 

57

Building.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

856, 786

:.......::

'932' 165 

682,498 

495, 579 

369, 955

Value.

8145, 117

c 187, 855 

c 228, 663

c 302, 731 

c 286, 781 

407, 418 

485,217 

267, 778 

126, 959

434, 402

349,668 

318, 816 

293, 371 

237, 597 

299,070 

263, 105 

307,422 

208, 028 

144, 407 

90,220

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

1, 819, 741

----------

- - ----

"605,"649" 

215, 578 

334, 939 

456,848 

140,045

Value.

8839, 125

505,238 

585, 826 

380,970

637,616 

887,786 

1, 501, 797 

1,435,803 

1,300,608 

1, 592, 132 

1,648,687

1,413,486 

1,007,572 

1,055,989 

1, 152, 677 

954, 513 

1, 274, 048 

563, 482 

633, 140 

794, 313 

265,992

Monumental.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

231,972

........

........

65,"si9" 

73, 477 

66,886 

141, 482 

98,671

Value.

8299, 158

(<*)

$(d)

24,475 

52,836 

43, 961 

31, 066

77, 543

78,802 

60,263 

63, 799 

31, 375 

90, 194 

44,181 

40, 875 

39,224 

61,611 

58, 762

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

........

"22,"556" 

25, 216 

19, 208 

16,884 

16, 346

Value.

S80, 564 

56,576

84,426

77,350 

98,380 

76,276 

155, 305 

159, 478 

86,610 

69,910 

192, 577 

166, 789 

111, 774 

39,704 

200, 105 

68,399 

65, 722 

27, 189 

25,697 

38,054

Paving b

Number.

17,704,915

............

"9," 808," 465" 

8. 188, 596 

8,658,437 

6, 292, 753 

8,005,662 

6, 137, 682 

10, 893, 020 

10, 040, 523 

12, 795, 125 

13,266,644 

10, 708, 177 

10,910,032
1916.............

1917.............

1918.............

1919.............

1920.............

1921.............

51

39

35

44

35

37

501,349

282,925

198, 590

243,696

276.450

e 125, 460

152,792

100, 941

58, 305

142,301

275,849

« 169, 345

172, 880

144,240

152, 4S5

48, 599

61,530

(0

274,295

425,363

579,012

223,863

449, 810

(0

83,800

58,629

56,658

75,503

95,650

85,920

51, 337

49,658

51,848

90, 141

112,432

97,585

20,025

7,651

7,3S6

60,688

49,230

9,190

48, 930

17,564

19, 518

172, 396

165, 456

43,040

8,823,252

8, 781, 816

6, 573, 847

8, 331, 436

8,676,350

10,365,600

a Includes output at Berwick, Bristol, Deer Isle, Mount Desert, 

Mount Waldo, Norridgewcck, and South Thomaston.

t> Includes output at Addison, Biddeford, Deer Isle, Frankfort. 

Franklin, North Jay, Red Beach, Round Pond, Wayne, and 

Sullivan.

« Reported as 

monumental sto

<J See "Rough 

< Rough build
448 COMMERCIAL GRANITES' OF FEW ENGLAND.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

.New Hampshire, notwithstanding its nickname "Granite State," 

usually ranks below Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont in quantity 

of granite produced, but in 1921 it made a larger output than Vermont. Kecords show that stone from boulders at Concord was 

used in 1812 for the construction of the New Hampshire State prison 

and in 1816 to 1819 for the construction of the statehouse, but it 

was in 1840 that the ledges of the famous Rattlesnake Hill were first 

opened. Few quarries, however, were operated until after 1860. At 

Milford quarries were opened in 1813, and stone was drawn by oxen 

to neighboring towns in 1833; but it was not until after 1851, when 

railroad transportation was available, that stone was shipped any 

distance. Quarries were opened at Marlboro in 1812, at Nashua in 

1822, at Fitzwilliam in 1860-1879, and at Allentown in 1876. Granite from New Hampshire, like that from Vermont, has been sold 

only to a small extent for crushed stone and riprap work. The demand for the product, chiefly as building and monumental stone and 

paving blocks, has therefore not shown the sharp changes' indicated 

for the other States.

In 1921 granite was produced at the following localities in the 

State:

Granite quarries operated in New Hampshire in 192J.

County.

CarroU... ...........

Cheshire............

.

Nearest town.

Fitzwilliam. ..............

.....do....................

.....do....................

Milford.....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Pratt.....................

South Brookline. .........

Operator.

Maine & New Hampshire

Granite Corporation. 

Milford Pink-Victoria

White Granite Co. 

E. M. Thompson (Angier

quarry). 

Edw. Yon & Son. . .......

Sneck&Maki.............

O. A. Ciampo (Ball Hill

quarry). 

E.L. Kittredge...........

New Westerly Granite Co.

Pease Co.. ................

Smalley-Souhegan Granite Co. 

Tonella & Sons (King &

Queen quarry).

Crown Hill Quarry Co. ...

Carl J. Westberg. .........

John R. Richards. . .......

Use of stone.

Buildings, monuments,

mausoleums, riprap, 

crushed stone, grindstones. 

Mausoleums, buildings,

monuments. 

Monuments.

Do.

Monuments, paving

blocks. 

Buildings, monuments,

curbing, paving blocks.

paving blocks, rubble, 

curbing. 

Monuments, paving

blocks. 

Monuments, paving

blocks, curbing, riprap.

Monuments, paving

Buildings, monuments,

paving blocks.

Monuments, paving

blocks. 

Paving blocks, curbing.

Monuments.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 449 

Granite quarries operated in Neio Hampshire in 1921 Continued.

County.

Merrlraack.........

Nearest town.

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

Suncook (Allentown). ....

Operator.

Works.

Chas. A. Bailey. ..........

Use of stone.

curbing, rubble, paving 

blocks.

blocks.

mausoleums, curbing, 

paving blocks, riprap.

Paving blocks, rubble, 

curbing, crushed stono, 

dust for artificial stone.

105709 23-
Granite produced in New Hampshire 1860-1

Year.

1860...............

1880...............

1887...............

1888...............

1BSO

1891...............

1892...............

1893...............

1894...............

1895...............

1896...............

1897...............

1898...............

1899...............

1900...............

1901............... 

1902...............

1903...............

1904...............

1905...............

1906...............

1907...............

1908............... 

1909...............

1910............... 

1911...............

1912...............

1913...............

1914...............

1915...............

1916...............

1917...............

1918...............

1919...............

1920...............

1921. .......I......

Number 

of 

plants.

39

78

48 

49

"""si

44 

48 

45 

37 

31

"""46

"""34 

35 

36 

36 

34 

28 

21 

18 

24 

26 

24

Building.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

110, 467

"i6i"324 

161, 583 

159, 179 

130, 322 

128, 062 

89, 988 

17, 379 

95, 351 

62, 380 

26,720

Value.

$8,409

c 151,975 

c 161,190 

c 162,916 

c 180, 109 

c 193,471 

156, 832 

148,579 

115,524 

124, 186 

76,6(09

90, 751 

49,831 

92, 738 

143, 757 

101, 672 

77,508 

70,533 

51, 961 

84,680 

69,089 

58, 441 

78, 859 

8,095 

78,858 

26, 131 

27,074

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

1, 306, 331

.........

:.:......

"228," 602 

189, 020 

166, 044 

, 221,179 

170, 729 

88, 150 

36, 825 

71, 141 

80, 650 

47, 530

Value.

$324, 567

194,926 

217, 486 

193, 162 

272,368 

299, 418 

363, 957 

471, 337 

282,014 

393, 144

254, 928 

342, 336 

224, 269 

355, 628 

521, 299 

576, 271 

380, 171 

571,661 

553, 333 

491, 483 

549,702 

436, 954 

258,749 

135. 155 

347, 897 

705, 897 

391,934

Monumental.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

151,711

i

........

- -- - 

"84," 160 

119, 752 

123, 062 

87,687 

76,625 

81, 476 

143, 303 

181, 892 

153,090 

67,340

Value.

$135, 029

(<*) 

(<*) 

(d) 

(<2)

52,231 

57, 335 

57, 775 

74,478 

129, 685

91,044 

90, 352 

111, 253 

70, 018 

64, 321 

63, 188 

66, 879 

93, 662 

93, 466 

62, 349 

56, 019 

64,549 

189, 604 

208, 840 

289,670 

154, 129

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

.:....:

"45,"2i4 

52,783 

64, 881 

62, 033 

45,311 

74,902 

89,840 

83, 463 

78,340 

32,230

Value.

$119, 460 

214, 803 

247,642 

256, 397 

242, 026 

171,239 

289, 400 

252,044 

214, 578 

227, 799 

98, 622 

133, 601 

136,772 

192,762 

153, 373 

170, 169 

168, 784 

194, 995 

211, 503 

218, 873 

210, 170 

187,973 

393, 557 

397, 975 

432, 909 

286,009

Paving blocks.

Number.

2, 043, 739

"i,"892,"266 

2, 084, 202 

2, 298, 145 

1, 782, 406 

2,842,206 

4, 997, 161 

6, 772, 224 

5, 613, 841 

8, 153, 800 

10, 979, 474 

9, 449, 108 

4,243,753 

5, 486, 815 

4, 873, 413 

3, 980, 651 

4, 510, 958 

5, 209, 180 

4, 778, 900

Value

$87, 56

24,00

16,82

26, 35

26, 17

47,65

54,09

58, 51

112, 58

101, 54

58,70

65, 15

76, 82

89, 87

74, 97

103, 83

170, 43

233,83

212, 52

297, 25

451, 54

391, 48

205, 45

247, 17

213, 09

213,68

287, 71

372, 41

331, 45

a Includes output at Concord and Fitzwilliam.

t> Includes output at Concord, Milford, and Nashua.

c Reported as "rough ston

<J See "Rough building."
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 451 

VERMONT.

Records show that stone from the vicinity of Barre, Vt., was used 

to build houses as early as 1814. In 1824 millstones were furnished 

to Canadian and New England mills, and in 1833 stone was drawn 

from Barre to Montpelier to build the State capitol, which has 

recently been enlarged by stone from the same quarries. The report 

of the Eighth Census (1860) does not record any granite production 

from Vermont, but the report of the Tenth Census (1880) shows 

that quarries were opened at Barre as early as 1835 and 1840 and 

at Ryegate in 1850. The first factor in the rise of Vermont to 

prominence in the granite industry was the extension in 1875 of 

the Central Vermont Railway to Barre. In 1888 a railroad was 

built to the quarries, saving hauling that had been mostly done by 

ox teams. In 1880 the census report showed a production from 

Vermont of 187,140 cubic feet of granite, with a value of $59,675. In 

1887 the Barre quarries produced 300,000 cubic feet of stone, valued 

at $225,000, and in 1888 stone valued at $276,000 was produced at 

Barre and $3,000 at Woodbury. The Eleventh Census (1889) showed 

53 quarries in operation and an output of more than 1,000,000 cubic 

feet. The largest number of quarries at Barre were opened between 

1882 and 1890.

The Dummerston quarries were developed in 1877. In Caledonia 

County quarries at Hardwick and South Ryegate were opened between 1850 and 1875, but the principal development here also took 

place after the building of a railroad in 1896. The Williamstown 

quarries were developed in 1889; the Bethel quarries in 1902 (quarries were opened here in 1868); the Woodbury quarries in 1880; and 

the Mount Ascutney quarries in 1906. The other quarries in the 

State are smaller and less known and have not had much influence 

on the total production. Barre has become the largest center for 

monumental stone in the country if not in the world. Little of the 

stone quarried is milled or dressed by the quarrymen, most of it 

being sold in rough blocks to manufacturers for dressing. The 

magnitude of the entire granite business in 1917 and 1918 in the 

Barre district is shown in the following tabular statement furnished 

by Athol R. Bell, secretary of the Barre Quarries & Manufacturers' 

Association, and published in the report on stone in Mineral Resources of the United States, 1918. The district includes Barre, 

Williamstown, East Barre, Montpelier, West Berlin, Northfield, and 

Waterbury. The years 1917 and 1918 are taken as representing more 

normal years than 1920 and 1921.
452 COMMERCIAL GRANITES Otf NEW ENGLAND.

Estimated output of monumental granite in the Barre district in Vermont m

J917-18.a

Total pay roll for year.. . ...............................................

Estimated light-stock valuation, 800,000 cubic feet, at 31.25 .............

Estimated dark-stock valuation, 500,000 cubic feet, at 81 .45 .............

Estimated polishing cost of 500,000 feet, 1 cubic foot averaging 2 cubic feet, 

Output from saws one saw equaling 10 men 13 saws in district take p 

130 men at average cost of S6.50 per man and working 280 days a year

c feet. . 

do....

do....

do....

do....

atSl.. 

ace of

1917

l. 560, 000 

260, 000 

1.300,000 

800, 000 

500, 000 

2,550 

85.00 

280

83.570,000 

1,785,000 

1,000,000 

725,000 

1,000,000

236,000

8,316,000

1918

1,654,800 

248, 222 

1,406,578 

879, 111 

527,467 

1,500 

85.00 

260

§4,100,000 

2,050,000

o These estimates do not include production by other machinery, such as lathes and sand-blast machines, 

nor do they include valuation of rough stock shipped outside of the Barre district.

Mr. Bell states that 56 quarries were operated during 1918. Kegarding industrial conditions in 1918, he says:

The Barre granite industry in 1918 was naturally subject to a good many 

of the proscriptions which necessity imposed upon nonessential industries. Our 

members, while realizing that the loss to them would be measurably irreparable, 

patriotically cooperated with the Government in sending men, many of them 

skilled pneumatic-tool operators, to the shipyards. In addition there was the 

prevailing shortage of unskilled labor at the quarries, and of course many 

men were with the colors.

The arduous whiter of 1917-18 cut down the number of working days to 260, 

the average being 280. Yet the steady introduction of labor-saving machinery 

partially closed up the gap caused by the decimation of man power in the 

industry, prolonged suspensions due to extreme weather and fuel orders, and 

the inevitable shortage of cars.

The stone quarried at Woodbury, which is the center next in importance to Barre, is largely milled and dressed by the producer, as 

is the Dummerston stone. The accompanying tables and diagrams 

show the present depressed condition in the Vermont granite industry. The total output in 1921 was less than it was 32 years ago, with 

half as many quarries in operation, but the value of the product was 

over six times as great. The producers in 1921 were as follows:

Granite quarries operated in Vermont in 1921.

County. Nearest town.

.....do.....................

.....do.....................

South Ryegate. ...........

.....do.....................

Orleans ...................

Operator.

RinaldoTonelli.. .........

Ryegate Granite Works

Co.

O. L. Searles..... .........

Use of stone.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 

Granite quarries operated m Vermont in 1921 Continued.

453

County.

Windham.. ........

Nearest town.

Barre .....................

.....do.....................

.....do.....................

.....do.....................

.....do.....................

.....do.....................

Cabot.....................

.....do.....................

.....do.....................

.....do..................... 

.....do.....................

West Dummerston. .......

Bethel....................

Operator.

Co.

Boutwcll, Milne & Varnum Co, 

Capital Hill Quarry Co.

(Inc.)

Co. (Inc.). 

E.L. Smith* Co.........

Co.

E. R. Fletcher. ...........

L. S. Robie. ..............

Presbrey-Lcland Quarries

(Inc.)

Use of stone.

paving blocks.

Do.

Do.

Buildings.

Monuments.

Monuments, riprap.

Buildings, crushed stone.
Granite produced in Vermont, 1880-1920

Year.

1880.................

1887 .................

1888.................

1889.................

1891.................

1892.................

1893.................

1894.................

1895.................

1896.................

1897.................

1898.................

1899.................

1900.................

1901.................

1902.................

1903.................

1904.................

1905.................

1906 . s ...............

1907 .................

1908.................

1909.................

1910.................

1911.................

1912.................

1913.................

1914.................

1915.................

1916.................

1917.................

1918.................

1919.................

1920.................

1921........ ..........

Number of 

plants.

12

53

48 

51

74 

61 

71 

63 

53 

55 

54 

53 

44 

48 

40 

40 

39 

34 

37 

36 

24 

29 

30 

26

Building.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

197,834

80,062 

43,293 

104,236 

213,740 

134,594 

104,284 

. 49. 197 

55,667 

21,679 

18,170 

41,213 

(/)

(/) 

(/) 

0 169, 410

Value.

$4i,7i3

<)

c )

c)

c)

c)

208,825 

28,845 

103,353 

83,148 

188,391 

47, 154 

29,764 

79,711 

128,233 

76,807 

54, 552 

34,433 

43,621 

15,705 

11,394 

30,930 

(/)

(/) 

(/) 

Pi, 278, 228

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

236,759

'

426,739 

304,482 

173,321 

382,230 

246,969 

192,290 

390,700 

549,565 

387,567 

231,169 

159,031 

/ 197, 151

(«) 

/31.891 

/ 123, 320 

GO

Value.

$45, 198

283,167

113,922

125, 775

49,763 

16,343

289,567 

346,293 

912,801 

1,093,688 

1,422,862 

1,009,353 

676,067 

1,035,075 

887,430 

795,083 

1,323,787 

2, 008, 240 

1,321,534 

1.088,950 

641,927 

/ 602, 785

<4 

/ 54, 950 

/ 526, 418 

00

Monumental.

Rough.

Cubic feet.

373, 020

1,215,583 

1,202,908 

1,235,929 

1,343,834 

1,358,989 

1.417,128 

1,409,767 

1,482,492 

1,497,511 

1,334,106 

1,487,243 

1,478,623 

1,481,927 

1,480,903 

ff 1,338, 260 

703,690

Value.

$412,287

d 460, 128 

<* 430, 121 

d 531, 634 

d 563, 475 

<J 526, 370 

534, 755 

756,007 

828,508 

797,830 

" 778, 681 

993, 220 

1,122,063 

1,095,223 

1,154,826 

1, 197, 187 

1,290,807 

1,367,149 

1,453,818 

1,509,795 

1,334,427 

1,547,075 

1,693,653 

2,043,826 

3,227,888 

ff 4, 251, 651 

2,006,431

Dresse

Cubic 

feet.

126,661 

139, 143 

165,906 

173,742 

141,659 

156,789 

105,306 

71,053 

81,109 

87, 281 

87,463 

141,841 

81,938 

90,209

(0)

49,900

V

$4

3

4

5

5

3

4

4

6

4

4

5

5

4

4

5

2

2

2

3

3

5

4

7

5

a Production at Barre.

6 Production at Barre and Woodbury.

c See "Rough monumental."

* Reported as "rough stone" and probably includes rough building stone.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION.

MASSACHUSETTS.

455

Massachusetts has always been the largest producer of granite 

among the New England States, but on account of the large amount 

of low-priced products paving blocks, curbing, crushed stone, 

breakwater stone, jetty stone, riprap, and other rough construction 

materials supplied from the quarries, it has at times been exceeded 

in total value of output by Maine, and since 1906 by Vermont.

As previously stated, the real granite industry of this State began 

with the opening of the Quincy quarries in 1824 and the building 

of the Bunker Hill Monument and the railway or tramway from the 

quarries to tidewater. The development of quarry methods from 

quarrying and handling by hand power to the hand derrick, the 

application of steam to hoists, drills, pumps, etc., followed by the 

use of compressed air and finally electricity in both quarry and 

shop has been a direct result of this at that time enormous enterprise. The quarries at Quincy have been in continuous operation 

since they were opened. In 1837, according to Doctor Pattee's History of Quincy, the output of the Quincy quarries was 64,590 tons 

of stone, valued at $248,737, and there were 533 employees. In 1845 

there were 526 employees, and the value of the output was $324,500. 

In 1865 ten quarries produced $271,880 worth of stone and employed 

306 men. The production at Quincy for 1887, 1888, and 1916-21 has 

been as follows, according to reports to the United States Geological 

Survey:

Granite produced, at Quincy, Mass., 1887,1888, and 1916-1921.

Year.

1887..................................................................

1888..................................................................

1916..................................................................

1917..................................................................

1918..................................................................

1919..................................................................

1920..................................................................

1921..................................................................

Number 

ofplants.

10

10

5

8

8

6

Short tons 

(approximate).

62,000

29,000

26,000

32,000

27,000

14,000

Value.

$520,000

500.000

460,263

398,196

336.843

614,005

674,233

311,178

Stone was also quarried at an early date at the Chelmsford quarries, but the quarries on Cape Ann at Gloucester, Rockport, Lanesville, and Pigeon Cove were operated soon after the Quincy quarries and from their admirable location for transportation have furnished, besides high-grade monumental and building stone, an 

enormous quantity of stone for river and harbor work and street 

work.

According to the report of the Tenth Census, quarries in operation 

in 1880 were opened in Massachusetts at the places and dates which 

are given on page 456.
456 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Berkshire County:

Chester (Becket), 1878-1880. 

Bristol County:

New Bedford, 1860.

Fall River, 1840-1873. 

Essex County:

Rockport, 1830-1870.

Lawrence, 1847.

Gloucester, 1851-1878. 

Hampden County:

Monson, 3839.

Middlesex County:

Graniteville, 1860.

Lowell, 1876.

Westford (Chelmsford), 3845-

1880. 

Norfolk County:

Quincy and West Quincy, 3810-

1879. 

Worcester County:

Fitchburg, 1831-1876.

Milford, 1869.

Leomiuster, 1872.

Quarries in operation in Massachusetts in 1921.

County.

Berkshire........... 

Bristol..............

Essex...............

Hampshire.........

Norfolk............

Nearest town.

Chester. ...................

...do.....................

....do.....................

Lanesyille. ................

Rockport and Gloucester. . 

Monson...................

Northampton .............

Carlisle......... ...........

Chelmsford... . ............

Graniteville...............

.....do...................

.....do....................

Lowell...................

Westford................. 

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do....................

.....do...................

.....do...................

Operator.

Chester Granite Quarries 

(Inc.)

tfrs. Margaret Cowhig..... 

31ue Stone Quarry Co. .... 

North Dartmouth Granite Co. 

Wm. H. Beattie.... .......

Carey Quarry & Construction Co. 

Fall River Granite & 

Quarry Co. 

Sullivan Granite & Construction Co.

Cape Ann Granite Corporation. 

Holland Construction Co. .

Rockport Granite Co. .....

Wm. N. Flynt Granite Co. 

City of Northampton. .....

Orrin O. Luke (Kidder 

quarry). 

Chas. E. Conture (Wright 

quarry). 

H. N. Fletcher...........

Lewis P. Palmer & Sons. .

Frank A. Malorey 

(Fletcher quarry). 

Duncan Rusk (West 

Townsend quarry).

C.W.Carkin... .......... 

Arthur DeCarteret (Old 

Prescott quarry). 

H.E. Fletcher Co........

H. W. Hildreth.. ........

Thos. J. LeMasurier (Oak 

Hill quarry).

ElkhillA Bishop.........

C. H. Hard wick & Co. ....

Old Colony Crushed Stone 

Co. 

Quincy Quarries C o 

(Hitchcock quarries). 

Granite Railway Co. .... 

J. S. Swingle (Badger 

El cock, and Mannix 

quarries).

Use of stone.

Monuments.

Monuments, curbing, paving blocks. 

Drained stone. 

Crushed stone.

ing. paving blocks. 

3uildings, crushed stone. 

Buildings, paving blocks, 

curbing. 

Rough construction, paving blocks, curbing. 

Buildings, paving blocks, 

curbing, riprap, crushed

Buildings, paving blocks, 

curbing. 

Drushed stone. 

Paving blocks, curbing. 

Rough construction, buildings, monuments, paving 

blocks, curbing, rubble, 

crushed stone. 

Curbing. 

Crushed stone. 

Monuments. 

Paving blocks.

Curbing, riprap.

Curbing. 

Paving blocks, curbing, 

crushed stone. 

Paving blocks, curbing.

Buildings.

Paving blocks, curbing. 

Curbing.

Buildings, bridges, monuments, paving blocks, 

curbing, rubble, crushed 

stone. 

Paving blocks, curbing. 

Curbing.

Memorials. 

Monuments, riprap. 

Monuments. 

Construction, monuments, 

paving block stock, riprap. 

Crushed stone.

Monuments.

Monuments, riprap . Monuments.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 457 

Quarries in operation in Massachusetts in 1921 Continued.

County.

Norfolk............

Suffolk. ............

Worcester..........

Nearest town.

Fitchburg.. ...............

MUford....... .............

.....do.....................

.....do.....................

North Uxbridge. ..........

Operator.

Bates Bros. Seam Face 

Granite Co. 

R. H. Curry (High Rock 

quarry). 

J.E.L. Miller.............

Plymouth Quarries, Inc.. . 

Frank C.Taylor. .........

West Roxbury Trap 

Rock Co. 

Benj. F. McCauliff (Rollstone Hill quarry).

Mil ford Pink-Victoria 

White Granite Co.

Geo. A. Fuller Construction Co. (operating Bay 

State Fink quarries in 

1922). 

Blanchard Bros. Granite 

Co.

Carrick & Gough..........

Antonelli Bros. ("Belmont Hill quarry").

Use of stone.

Buildings. 

Buildings, curbing.

Buildings. 

Buildings, crushed stone. 

Construction. 

Crushed stone.

Rough construction, paving blocks, curbing, 

crushed stone. 

Buildings, monuments, 

mausoleums. 

Buildings, monuments. 

Buildings.

Rough construction, 

buildings, monuments, 

curbing, rubble, crushed 

stone. 

Buildings, monuments, 

curbing. 

Rough construction, 

crushed stone.
Granite produced in Massachusetts, 1880-192

Year.

1880......

1 QQ7

1888...... 

1889...... 

1891. 

1892. 

1893......

1894. 

1895. 

1896...... 

1897......

1898...... 

1899...... 

1900...... 

1901 ......

1902...... 

1903

1904......

1905......

IQflfi

1907...... 

1908...... 

1909...... 

1910...... 

1911...... 

1912...... 

1913......

Number of 

plants.

92

"""isi

"""84 

89

115 

105 

110 

98 

89 

90

"""82

"""89 

81 

83

Building.

Roughl

Cubic 

feet.

6,"896,~99i

....."..

 --- ---

.........

.::::::::

Value.

$i,"395,"49i

"d 539," 163 

<* 393, 331 

d 499, 781 

d 568, 119 

333, 047 

387, 167 

273, 291 

200,300 

183,345 

220, 121 

267,984 

180,063 

212, 075 

202, 375 

365,464 

190, 585 

198,974

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

.......

.:..::.

.......

Value.

..........

81,108,736 

678, 616 

545, 213 

533,004 

429,077 

455,535 

965,342 

648, 471 

876, 517 

824,999 

1, 750, 695 

907, 119 

720,796 

542,441 

349, 431 

607, 358 

778,403 

730,404

Monumental.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

'509,"087

.:.:..:.

........

Value.

§497,~438 

........

........

 («)"" 

(«)

\!

(e) 

236,327 

412, 172 

374, 544 

365,607 

424,944 

435,280 

337,016 

358, 830 

508,805 

461, 814 

373, 764 

424.813 

400, 652

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

.......

.......

.......

Value.

........

8185,987 

229,346 

203,487 

257, 820 

80,573 

236, 273 

381, 872 

211, 175 

209,077 

189, 131 

289,334 

66, 578 

115,386 

298,235 

32,600 

4,600 

20,700 

30,246

Paving blocks.

Number.

6,"i66,"6i6

5,"678,"562 

6, 594, 650 

4, 936, 078 

5,995,040 

6,134,648 

6, 878, 872 

4,532,685 

9, 000, 073 

7.070,082 

7,885,001

Value.

S378,"627

593,726 

496,544 

324,784 

243.750 

127,483 

226,909 

267,148 

364, 721 

358,398 

349,066 

320, 714 

270,308 

199, 457 

319, 037 

261,880 

308, 203 

201,425 

432,600 

358, 876 

395,390

Curb

nag

Linear 

feet.

.......

...:...

'."'.".

::::...
1914.. . .

1915.. . .

1916.. 

1917. . 

1918..

1919. .

1920..

1921..

83

78

76 

65

42

45

49

49

984,872 

570. 251 

470.376

239, 965

401.310

362,310

46.321

168,264

192,896 

143,847 

163, 389

212, 294

352,633

 262,763

334,267 

291, 370 

227,797

86,075

128,390

118, 160

710, 171

768,957

636, 552 

495, 156 

527, 773

254,176

786,926

362, 770

471, 592 

335,956 

/400, 475

495, 012

345,270

184,700

451,095

419,900

412,778 

394,644 

/436,383

741,039

742, 118

382,848

10,408 

30,782 

(/)

11,546

27,470

13,460

34,750

12,689

30,685 

85,924 

(/)

104,781

137, 018

136,345

8,325,520

5,580,441

5,404,377 

6,277,073 

4,523,302

6, 122, 088

5,509,540

6,276,850

418,671|.....

283.612.....

287,640 312,2

365,874| 312,0

284,634' 76,1

513,422

511,961

667,685

196,9

193,6

255,9

o Includes production at Mllford, Quincy, and Rockport.

& Includes production at Fitchburg, Northbridge. Quincy, Rockport, Sherbourne, Westford, West Quincy, an

«Includes stone for street work (except paving blocks).

<* Reported as "rough stone" and includes rough monumental stone.

t See " Rough building."

1 Dressed stone included under rough stone.
460 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

CONNECTICUT.

The granite industry in Connecticut has declined relatively more 

than in any other State in New England. In the five years 1917- 

1921 the output decreased 65 per cent, and the production for 1921 

was about one-thirtieth of that in 1889. In 1889 there were 49 quarries in operation; in 1921, 11. Much of the Connecticut granite has 

been used for small work, such as copings, sills, lintels, steps, foundations, cross walks, curbings, and sidewalks, and the use of concrete 

for work of this class has closed practically all the small quarries in 

the State. No granite quarries have been operated in this State for 

extensive riprap, breakwater, or jetty work in recent years, and this 

has also contributed to the decrease in output. The most important 

operations in 1921 were at Stony Creek, Waterford, Niantic, and 

buildings and monumental stone were the chief products.

The activity of quarries in Connecticut in early years is shown by 

the report of the Tenth Census (1880), which gave the following 

dates of opening of quarries in operation at that time:

Fairfield County:

Greenwich, 1830-1850.

Bridgeport, 1873. 

Hartford County:

Glastonbury, 1850. 

Litchfield County:

Thomaston, 1855. 

Middlesex County:

Haddam, 1800.

Middletown, 1830. 

New Haven County:

Ansonia, 1848.

Leete Island, 1870.

Stony Creek, 1878.

New London County:

Niantic, 1832.

Waterford, 1835.

Groton, 1840-1869.

Lyme, 1875-1876. 

Windham County:

East Killingly, 1842.

Sterling, 1855-1877.

Oneco, 1868.

Willimantic, 1877.

Granite quarries in operation in Connecticut in 1921.

County.

Fairfleld............

Windham..........

Nearest town.

Millstone..............

.....do................

.....do................

Operator.

(Inc.)

Millford Pink-Victoria White

Granite Co.

Granite Co.

A. Malnati & Co..............

Use of stone.

ing.

mausoleums.

ing blocks.

paving blocks, riprap.

Do.

Do.

blocks.
Granite produced in Connecticut, 1880-192i

Year.

1880.................

1887.................

1888.................

1889.................

1891.................

1892.................

1893.................

1894.................

1895.................

1896.................

1897.................

1898.................

1899................. 

1900.................

1901................. 

1902.................

1903.................

1904.................

1905.................

1906.................

1907.................

1908.................

1909.................

1910................. 

1911.................

1912................. 

1913.................

1914.................

1915.................

1916.................

1917.................

1918.................

1919.................

1920.................

1921.................

Number, 

of 

plants.

32

53

36

"""35 

34 

34 

34 

38 

35

38 

.......

"46 

34 

31 

25 

19 

13 

14 

13 

11

Building.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

571,031

........

........

........

 " 

........

"92,"376 

33, 811 

17 335

Value.

365,659

c248,"955 

c 60, 750

c 79, 720 

"90,379

108,959 

116,745

59,421 

87,955

158, 126 

158, 189

31,928

33,833

25,097 

21.643 

24,177 

53,168 

35,292

25,124 

62,636

29,723 

20,789 

21,319 

7.332

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

2,358,286

.........

.........

.........

.........

::::.:.::

.........

"*ii"333 

6,812 

3,270 

21, 570 

/ 14, 300

Value.

8758, 915

632,432 

148, 414 

75,235

167, 889 

112.010

94,611 

200,262

408,875 

289, 772

230,736 

428,915

110,600

117,242

274,501 

160,933 

175,287 

203, 739 

141,214

84,279 

95,938

35,939 

23,546 

27,302 

12,900 

/ 18, 750 

/ 22, 625

Monumental.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

148, 108

.......

.......

 -- -

"43 "234 

17,853 

25,765 

49,260 

14,140

Value.

8111, 155

""(*)"" 

(<*)

826,267 

28,862

26,164 

23,371

28,238

AA AOO

26,302 

23,218

35,867 

19,098 

33,312 

34,099 

40,352

30,948 

41,082

50,937 

52, 816 

36,271 

60,371 

98,400 

61,920

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

.......

-------

.......

.......

-------

.......

"ii."965 

5, 167 

2,118 

3,280 

5,560

Value.

891, 121 

94,271

84,839 

82,766

52,535

70,894 

66,899

58,811 

42,202

52, 125 

64,019 

112, 393 

58,672 

66,538 

40,164 

60, 139 

50,454 

94,456 

30,661 

40,282 

61,188 

61,970 

33,733 

19,058 

15,620 

62,293

Paving blocks.

Number.

761, 100

---------

---------

i,"344,'656

1,015,215 

806,863 

854,134 

792,485 

180, 130 

786, 762 

1,038,474 

968,640 

992,509 

890,022 

448,466 

371,278 

458, 863 

(<=) 

243,239 

393, 490 

372,030

Value.

$40,683

32,592 

76, 760

26,244 

25,722

14,903

29,340 

34, 305

63,260 

47, 898

42,983 

62, 305 

37,666 

14,951 

8,698 

35, 761 

49,498 

48,209 

46,640 

43, 174 

21,899 

17,975 

24,921

(O 

23,422 

37,496 

28, 137

 Includes production at Bridgeport, Greenwich, Niantic, and Sterling.

t> Includes production at Greenwich and Sterling.

« Reported as "rough stone" and probably includes rough monumental stone.
462 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

RHODE ISLAND.

The granite industry of Rhode Island centers around Westerly, 

Washington County. Quarries were opened in this district as early 

as 1843, according to the report of the Tenth Census (1880), but 

it was after 1850 before the industry was fairly begun. In Providence County a quarry at Diamond Hill was opened in 1840, and 

one at Cranston in 1820. A quarry was opened at Newport, Newport County, in 1855.

There were 35 operators of quarries in 1889, and but 6 in 1921, 

aside from producers of crushed stone. The chief product of the 

Westerly quarries is monumental stone, and for this reason there 

was not so large a decrease in output in the five years 1917-1921 as 

was shown by the States where building stone is a considerable 

factor. A number of quarries have combined during the last few 

years.

Operators of granite quarries at Westerly, Washington County, R. I., in 1921.

Finn name. Use.

Do.

Monuments, paving blocks.

Monuments.

o Operates the Crumb, Klondike, Joseph Ncwall & Co. (Dalbeattie), and John B. Sullivan quarries.

The operators of quarries for crushed stone were as follows:

Bristol County:

L. H. Callan, Bristol. 

Newport County:

Peckham Bros. Co., Middletown. (conglomerate, " puddingstone ").

City of Newport, Newport.

J. K. Sullivan, Newport.

J. F. Sullivan, Newport. 

Providence County:

Central Falls Stone Co., Central Falls (sandstone).

Jos. McCormick, East Providence (sandstone or "bluestone ").

Thomas J. Quinn, Ashton (granite).

Iron Stone Trap Bock Co., Woonsocket (cumberlandite, an ilmentitemagnetite rock).
Granite produced in Rhode Island, 1860-192

Year.

I860..............

1880.............. .

1887............

1888..............

1889...............

1891..............

1892.........

1893............

1894..............

1895...........

1896.............. 

1897.............."

1898................

1899.............. 

1900............... 

1901............ .

1902..............

1903.............

1904...............

1905................

1906..............

1907...............

1908................

1909..............

1910................ 

1911..............

1912................ 

1913.............

1914..............

1915................

1916..............

1917................

1918.............

1919.............. .

1920................

1921...............

Number of 

plants.

17

37

........ 

15

ig

20 

19 

17 

16 

18

26 

17

15 

18 

19 

16 

12 

9 

10 

10 

10

Bunding.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

2, 554, 450

.........

.........

(')

(0 

(0 

/ 49, 610 

/ 15, 400

Value .

S277, 200

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

I" '

.................

(c) 1. .......

(<0 i. .......

(c) .....

(0

(c) 

9 722

18', 798' ....... 

9,890 -----

12,643 

7,050 

10,310.........

8,125'........

5,272!........

45,501!........ 

16,439......... 

17, 576 ........

14,331'........ 

38,6311........ 

8.931i........

24, 830' ........

26,529

(0 

(0

(0

/ 42, 061 

/ 34, 903

< 53, 729 

1 89, 995 

c4,715

18

Value.

S199, 487 

209,355 

40,987

151, 521 

120,428 

160, 190 

120, 767 

149, 114 

214, 599

75,688

184,614

71,613 

218, 089 

43,140 

387, 458

164, 752 

67,041

60,552

e!38,310 

e211,307 

e 12, 235 

(/) 

(/)

Monumental.

Rough.

Cubic 

feet.

........

........

........

/222, 648 

/112, 371 

/121, 058 

143. 240 

118^080

Value.

Dressed.

Cubic 

feet.

j

::::::::

110, 310

i

d 90, 219 

d 42, 706 

d 43, 505

d 73, 866 

d 70, 800 

92, 974

111,752 

111, 458

118,236

134,063

159, 525

172, 398

149, 638

176, 565 

166,306 

184,634

178, 565 

154,453 

186,388

211,846

170,511

/255, 856 

/267,605 

/322,686 

335,355 

267, 395

.......

.......

.......

.......

.......

(/) 

(/) 

(/) 

15, 120

.......

Value.

Paving blocks.

*>

Number.

S588, 199; 781, 765

366,840 

316, 585 

204, 739

145,001 

232,144 

198,831

438,967 

360,043

153, 930 

203, 267 

171, 700 

200, 573 

262, 376 

314, 237 

185, 079 

186, 095 

269, 074 

230,440 

246,209 

98, 170 

115, 353 

(/) 

(/) 

(/) 

129, 157

.........

.........

.........

i, 138, 190 

1, 503, 794 

834,001 

1, 643, 360 

567, 416 

1, 051, 681 

868,088 

1, 493, 887 

780, 382 

1, 128, 581 

901,843 

822,243 

530,853 

330, 393 

(<rt 

00 

(O 

261,000

Value.

845, 817

115,666

49,255

50, 851 

51,646 

19,510

16, 147 

13, 382 

27,666

14, 657 

37,984

47,823 

82,641 

42,532 

85,091 

29,651 

52,004 

40,411 

114, 293 

37,449 

66,018 

51, 298 

58,721 

35, 027 

21,142 

00 

(O 

(O 

21,850

a Production at Niantic.

6 Production at Diamond Hill and Niantic.

c Reported as "rough stone" and probably includes rough monumental stone.

<* See " Rough building."

« Rough stone included under 
464 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY OF GRANITE.

[Including physical tests and geometrical analyses of granite and statistics of granite 

production in the United States.]

ANDERSON, THOB, Sveriges Granitindustri, Stockholm, 1911. 

ANONYMOUS, The structural and industrial materials of California: California 

State Min. Bureau Bull. 38, pp. 23-60, 1906.

 Die Steinbriiche Sachsens, Granit: Der Steinbruch, Jahrg. 7, pp. 83-90v 

1912.

 The granite quarries of Lake Maggiore: Gior. genio civile, abstract in 

Inst. Civil Eng. Proc., 1912, also in Quarry, vol. 18, p. 51, February, 1913.

 The Demitz-Thunaitz granite quarries near Bautzen: Ver. deutsche Ingenieuren Zeitschr., 1911-12. 

BAKEB, R. T., Building and ornamental stones of Australia: Tech. education

series No. 15, Government of New South Wales, 1909. Includes 11 colored

plates of polished specimens (8 granites, 2 trachytes, 1 porphyry). 

BOWLES, OLIVEB, The structural and ornamental stones of Minnesota: U. S.

Geol. Survey Bull. 663, pp. 50-149, 1918.

BRAYLEY, A. W., History of the granite industry of New England, Boston, 1913. 

BUCKLEY, E. B., Building and ornamental stones of Wisconsin: Wisconsin Geol.

and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 4, granite, pp. 88-100, 107-115, 121-160; tests,

pp. 46-74, 358-415, 1898.

BUCKLEY, E. B., and BTJEHLEB, H. A., The quarrying industry of Missouri: 

Missouri Bur. Geology and Mines, 2d ser., vol. 2, granite, pp. 60-85,1904.

CLABK, W. B., and MATHEWS, E. B., Report on the physical features of Maryland, together with an account of the exhibits of Maryland mineral resources by the Maryland Geological Survey: Maryland Geol. Survey Special 

Pub., vol. 6, granites, pp. 115, 144, 173-177, pi. 8, fig. 1, pi. 12, 1906.

COONS, A. T., The stone industry in 1904: U. S. Geol. Survey Mineral Resources, 

1904, granite, pp. 17-32,1905. (See also Mineral Resources for 1905-1921.)

DALE, T. N. The granites of Maine, with an introduction by George Otis 

Smith: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 313, 1907.

 The chief commercial granites of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and 

Rhode Island: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 354, 1908.

 The granites of Vermont: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 404, 1909.

 Supplementary note on the granites of New Hampshire: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 430, pp. 346-372, 1910.

 Supplementary note on the granites of Massachusetts: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 470, pp. 240-288, 1911. 

DALE, T. N., and GBEGOBY', H. E., The granites of Connecticut: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 484, 1911. 

DABTON, N. H., Economic geology of Richmond, Va., and vicinity: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 483, 1915.

DAY, W. C., Stone: U. S. Geol. Survey Mineral Resources, 1899 and prior years. 

FBENTZEL, ALEXANDEB, Das Passauer Granitmassiv: Geogn. Jahreshefte, Jahrg.

24, pp. 33-192, Munich, 1911 [1912]. 

GABEBT, C., Die technisch nutzbaren Gesteine des Konigreichs Sachsen: Der

Steinbruch, Jahrg. 7, pp. 72t-82, 1912, 

GILLMORE, Q. A., Report on the compressive strength, specific gravity, and ratio

of absorption of various kinds of building stones from different sections of

the United States tested at Fort Tompkins, Staten Island, N. Y., Engineer

Department, U. S. Army, 1874.
BIBLIOGBAPHY. 465

HABEBLE, D., Die Gneiss (Granit) Industrie von Albersweiler In der Rheinpfalz:

Der Steinbruch, Jahrg. 8, pp. 300-302, 1913. 

HABKIS, G. F., Granite and our granite industries, London, 1888. 

HEDSTROM, HERMAN, On the natural building and ornamental stones of Sweden:

Sveriges Geol. UndersSkning, ser. C., No. 209, 1908. 

HEKRMANN, 0., Steinbruchindustrie und Steinbruchgeologie, Berlin, 1899.

 Technische Verwerthung der Lausitzer Granite: Zeitschr. prakt. Geologie, 1895, pp. 433-444.

 Gesteine fur Architektur und Skulptur (2d edition of Anhang to

" Steinbruchindustrie u. Steinbruchgeologie"), granite, .porphyry, and

diorite, pp. 8-35, 1914. 

HIKSCHWALD, J., Die Priifung der nattirlichen Bausteine auf ihre Wetterbestandigkeit, Berlin, 1908. Abstract in Zeitschr. prakt. Geologic, vol. 16, JulySept, and Nov., 1908. 

HOLMQUIST, P. J., Studien tiber die Granite von Schweden: Geol. Inst. Upsala

Bull. 7, pp. 77-269 (22 tables and 40 figs), 1906. 

HULL, EDWARD, A treatise on the building and ornamental stones of Great

Britain and foreign countries, London, 1872. 

HUMPHREY, R. L., Fire-resistive properties of various building materials: U. S.

Geol. Survey Bull. 370, pp. 69-72,1909. 

HUNTER, J. F., The Aberdeen granite quarry near Gunnison, Colo.: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 540, pp. 359-362, 1914. 

JULIEN, A. A., Building stones; elements of strength in their constitution and

structure: Franklin Inst., Jour., Pa., vol. 147, pp. 257-442, 1899.

 Comparison of methods of graphic analysis of rocks: Geol. Soc. America 

Bull., vol. 14, pp. 460-468, 1903.

KAISER, ERICH, Die Verwitterung der Gesteine, besonders der Bausteine, 30 

pp.: Handbuch der Steinindustrie, vol. 1, Berlin, 1915.

LEWIS, J. V., Building stones of New Jersey: New Jersey State Geologist Ann. 

Rept. for 1908.

LORD, E. C. E., Examination and classification of rocks for road building, including the physical properties of rocks with reference to their mineral composition and structure: U. S. Dept. Agr. Office Public Roads Bull. 31, Physical 

properties of granite for road making, Table 2, 1907.

LUNDBOHM, HJALMAR [summary of his papers on granite and granite quarrying in Europe, by William C. Day]: U. S. Geol. Survey Mineral Resources, 

1893, pp. 578-582, 1894.

MAILHIOT, A., Granites of the eastern townships of Quebec: Canada Geol. 

Survey Summary Rept. 1913, pp. 217, 218, 1914.

MATHEWS, E. B., The granite quarries of Maryland: Maryland Geol. Survey, 

vol. 2, pp. 136-160, 1898.

MATHEWS, S. W., The granite industry of Maine: Maine Bur. Industrial and 

Labor Statistics Sixteenth Ann. Rept., pp. 7-51, 1902.

McCouRT, W. E., Fire tests of some New York building stones: New York 

State Mus. Bull. 100, granite and gneiss, pp. 13, 16-19, 26-27, 29-32; pis. 

1-3, 9-11, 14-17, 1906.

 The fire-resisting qualities of some New Jersey building stones: New 

Jersey State Geologist Ann. Rept., 1906. Granites and gneisses, pp. 26-28.

MERRILL, G. P., On the collection of Maine building stones in the United States 

National Museum: U. S. Nat. Mus. Proc., vol. 6, pp. 165-183, 1883.

 Collection of building and ornamental stones in the United States 

National Museum: Smithsonian Inst. Ann. Rept., 1886, pt. 2, 1889.

10570!> 23 31
466 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

MEBBILL, G. P., Physical, chemical, and economic properties of building stones: 

Maryland Geol. Survey, vol. 2, pp. 47-123, 1898.

 Stones for building and decoration, 3d ed., New York, 1903.

 Stone (granite): Twelfth Census, Mines and quarries (1902), 1905. 

NBWBEBBT, J. S., Report on building stones of the United States and statistics

of the quarry industry: Tenth Census, vol. 10, pp. 318-324, 1884. 

OXAAL, JofiN, Den huite granit i Sogn, Geologisk optraeden og tekniske egenskaper (English summary): Norges geol. Undersb*gelse Aarbok, 1913, 1.

 Norsk Granit (English summary): Norges geol. Undersogelse No. 76,

Kristiania, 1916. 

PAIOB, SIDNEY, Mineral resources of the Llano-Burnet region, Tex.: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 450, 1911. . 

PABKS, W. A., Report on the building and ornamental stones of Canada, vol. 2,

Maritime provinces: Canada Dept. Mines (No. 203), New Brunswick and

Nova Scotia granites and black granites, pp. 107-152, 1914.

 Idem, vol. 3, Province of Quebec. (No. 279.) Granites, gneisses, and 

black granites, pp. 139-191, 1914.

Idem, vol. 5, Province of British Columbia, pp. 65-124, 186-192, 1917.

PEBKINS, G. H., Report on the marble, slate, and granite industries of Vermont, 

granite, pp. 51-68, 1898.

 Report of State geologist on the mineral resources of Vermont, 1899- 

1900, granite, pp. 57-77, 1900.

 Report of State geologist on the mineral industries and geology of 

certain areas of Vermont, 1903-4, granite, pp. 23-44,1904.

 Report of State geologist on the mineral industries and geology of certain

areas of Vermont, 1907-8, granite, pp. 32^46, 1908.

REUSCH, HANS, Granite industrien ved Idefjorden, etc.: Norges geol. Undersogelse Aarbog, 1891.

RICH, GEOBQE, The granite industry of New England: New England Magazine, 

February, p. 742, 1892.

RICHABDSON, C. H., and CONWAY, E. F., The terranes of Irasburg, Vt.: Vermont 

State Geologist Eighth Rept., granite, pp. 155, 156, pi. 54, with granite 

areas, 1912.

RIES, HEINBICH, Economic geology, 4th ed., New York, 1916.

RIDJEB, C. C., Norges granit industri: Norges geol. Undersogelse No. 12: Aarbog 

for 1893, with English summary.

ROSIWAL, AUGUST, Ueber geometrische Gesteinsanalysen; ein einfacher Weg zur 

ziffermassigen Feststellung des Quantitatsverhaltnisses der Mineralbestaudtheile gemengter Gesteine: K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt Verb.., vol. 32, pp. 

143-175, 1898.

 Ueber einige neue Ergebnipse der technischen Untersuchung von Steinbaumaterialien; eine neue Methode zur Erlangung zahlenmassiger Werte 

ftir die " Frische " und den " Verwitterungsgrad " der Gesteine: K.-k. geol. 

Reichsanstalt Verb., vol. 33, pp. 204-225, 1899.

Ueber weitere Ergebnisse der technischen Untersuchung zur Erlangung

zahlenmassiger Werte fur die " Zahigkeit" der Gesteine: K.-k. geol. Reichsanstalt Verh., pp. 234-246, 1902.

SCHMIDT, , Natiirliche Bausteine (vol. 76, Bibliographie der gesammten 

Technik), Hannover, 1908.

SCHMTDT. ALBEBT, Die Granitgewinnung im Fichtelgebirge, ihre Geschichte und 

Rechtsverhaltnisse: Der Steinbruch, Jnlirg. 5, pp. 294-296, 310-311, 344-345, 

3910.
GLOSSARY. 467

TABR, R. S.,. Economic geology of the United States, with briefer mention of 

foreign mineral products, 2d ed., New York, 1895.

TABR, W. A., A study of the effects of heat on Missouri granites: Missouri Univ. 

Bull., vol. 15, No. 27, September, 1914.

WATSON, T. L., Granites of the southeastern Atlantic States: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 426, 3.910.

 Mineral resources of Virginia, Building and ornamental stones, etc. 

(granites of Piedmont region), Virginia Jamestown Exposition Commission, 1907.

WATSON, T. L., and LANEY, F. B., with the collaboration of G. P. Merrill, The 

building and ornamental stones of North Carolina: North Carolina Geol. 

Survey Bull. 2, 1906.

WEIDMAN, SAMUEL, The geology of north-central Wisconsin: Wisconsin Geol. 

and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 16, granite quarries, pp. 636-640; analyses of 

granite from central and southern Wisconsin, p. 340; from northern Michigan and northern Minnesota, p. 341; disintegrated granite for country roads, 

p. 643, Madison, 1907.

WILLIAMS, I. A., The comparative accuracy of the methods for determining the 

percentages of the several components of an igneous rock: Am. Geologist, 

vol. 35, January, 1905.

WOLFF, J. E., Details regarding quarries (granite) : Tenth Census, vol. 10, 1888. 

See also the successive reports of the tests of metals and other materials for

industrial purposes made at Watertown Arsenal, published by the United States

War Department.

The German periodicals named below also give results of tests of granite: 

Mitteilungen der technischen Versuchsanstalten zu Berlin. 

Mitteilungen der Anstalt zur Prtifung von Baumaterialien am Polytechnikum

in Zurich. 

Mitteilungen a us dein mechanisch-technische.n Laboratorium der Kb'niglichen

technischen Hochschule in Mtinchen. 

The substance of the papers by Merrill in vol. 10 of the United States Tenth

Census, 1888, and in the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, vol. 6,1883,

has reappeared in more modern form in his other works.

GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND QUARRY TERMS.

ACCESSORY MINERALS in granite are original constituents of the rock, found 

only in small, often only in microscopic quantity.

ACIDIC. A term applied to rocks in which silicic acid (silica) or quartz predominates.

ALT.ANITE. An opaque black mineral (silicate), brown in thin section, one of 

the primary less common accessory constituents of granite, which contains 

from 12 to 17 elements, including 6 of the rarer ones. For analyses see 

Dana, E. S., System of mineralogy, 6th ed., pp. 522-526, 1892.

ANTICLINE. A term applied to granite sheets or sedimentary beds that form 

an arch.

APLITE. Fine-grained granite, generally occurring in dikes and containing little 

mica and a high percentage of silica.

BASIC. A term applied to rocks in which the iron-magnesia minerals and 

feldspars with lime and soda predominate, such as diabase or basalts.

BLACK HORSE. Term used by quarrymen to denote a dark biotite gneiss in 

contact with the granite.
468 COMMERCIAL GBANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

BLIND SEAMS. Quarrymen's term for incipient joints.

BOULDEK QUAERY. One in which the joints are either so close or so irregular

that no very large blocks of stone can be quarried. 

CHANNEL. A narrow artificial incision across a mass of rock, which, in &

granite sheet, is made either by a series of contiguous drill holes or by

blasting a series of holes arranged in zigzag order. 

CLEAVAGE, when applied to a mineral, designates a structure consequent upon

the geometric arrangement of its molecules at the time of its crystalilization. 

CLOSE-JOINTED. A term applied to rock containing joints that are very near

together. 

CBOCUS. A term used in some quarries to denote gneiss or any other rock in

contact with granite.

CBUSH BORDER. A microscopic granular structure sometimes characterizing adjacent feldspar particles in granite in consequence of their having been

crushed together during or subsequent to their crystallization. 

CUT-OFF. Quarrymen's term for the direction along which the granite must

be channeled, because it will not split. Same as " hard way." 

DENDRITES. Plantlike crystallization of iron or manganese oxides on the sur

faces of fissures in any rock or mineral. Frost crystals on window panes

are of like character. 

DIKE. A mass of granite, diabase, basalt, or other rock which has been

erupted through a narrow fissure. 

DIMENSION STONE. A term applied to stones that are quarried of required

dimensions. 

DIP. The inclination from the horizon, given in terms of degrees, of a sheet,

joint, heading, dike, or other structural plane in a rock. 

DRIFT. Sand and boulders deposited by the continental glacier. 

DBUMLIN. Oval hillock of clay and boulders formed beneath the ice sheet of

the glacial epoch. 

EBOSION. The wearing away of portions of a rock by such natural agencies as

stream or ice action. 

EXFOLIATION. The peeling of a rock surface in sheets owing to changes of

temperature or to other causes.

FAULTING. The slippage of a rock mass or masses along a natural fracture. 

FLOW STRUCTURE. The parallel arrangement of the minerals in granite or

other igneous rock in the direction of its flowage during its intrusion. 

GEODE. A rock cavity lined with crystals. Geodes in granite are attributed to

steam or gas bubbles. 

GBAIN in granite is practically the direction in which the stone splits " next

easiest," the " rift" being that in which it splits most readily. 

GBOUT. A term applied to the waste material of all sizes obtained in quarrying stone. 

GROW-ON. Quarrymen's term to designate the place where the sheet structure

dies out, or the place where two sheets appear to grow onto one another. 

HARD WAY. The direction at right angles to both rift and grain in wjhich

granite does not split readily. (See Cut-off.) 

HEADING. A collection of close joints. 

HEADING SEAM. See Joints. 

HEMATITE. An oxide of iron (Fe2O8 ), which, when scratched or powdered,

gives a cherry-red color. 

IGNEOUS. A term applied to rocks that have originated in a molten condition.
GLOSSARY. 469

JOINTS. More or less steeply inclined fractures which cross the granite sheets 

and which are attributed to various stresses.

KAOLIN. A hydrous silicate of alumina derived from the alteration of feldspar.

KAOLINIZATION. The process by which a feldspar passes into kaolin.

KNOTS. A term applied by quarrymen to dark-gray or black objects, more or 

less oval or circular in cross section, which are segregations of black mica 

or hornblende formed in the granite while in a molten state. English 

quarrymen call them "heathen."

KNOX HOLE. A circular drill hole with two opposite vertical grooves which 

direct the explosive power of the blast.

LEWIS HOLE. An opening made by drilling two or three holes near together and 

chiseling out the intervening rock.

LJMONITE. A hydrous oxide of iron (2Fe2Oa.3HaO); a hydrated hematite, 

which, when scratched or powdered, gives a brownish rust color.

MATRIX. The general mass of a rock which has isolated crystals; sometimes 

called groundmass.

MKTAMORPHISM. The process, partly physical, partly chemical, by which a 

rock is altered in the molecular structure of its constituent minerals and 

in their arrangement. Metamorphism may be regional, due to crustal 

compression, or contact, due to the intrusion of sedimentary rock by an 

igneous rock.

MILLIMETER. French decimal linear measure, the thousandth part of a meter 

or the tenth part of a centimeter. It is equivalent to nearly 0.04 inch, the 

meter being 39^ inches.

MONOLITH. A column or monument of one stone.

MOTION. A term used in granite regions to designate small paving-block 

quarries.

OPHITIC. A term applied to microscopic rock texture to designate a mass of 

longish interlacing crystals, the spaces between which have been filled 

with minerals of later crystallization.

OREI. A term applied in the Quincy quarries to Quincy granite which has been 

rendered valueless by the alteration of Its aegirite particles.

PEGMATITE. A very coarse granite occurring in irregular dikes or lenses in 

granites and some other rocks.

PHENOCEYST. A term applied to isolated crystals visible to the unaided eye and 

lying in the mass of a rock of igneous origin.

PLAGIOCLASE. A term applied to all those feldspars that are not potash feldspars.

PLUG AND FEATHERS. A quarrymen's term. The plug is a wedge, and the feathers are two short pieces of half-round iron whose curved sides fit the drill 

hole while their flat sides receive the plug. By driving the plugs in a series of holes a stone may be broken.

POLARIZED LIGHT. Light whose vibrations, unlike those of ordinary light, which 

are in all directions, are in only one plane. Polarized light is used in the 

microscopic study of rocks.

PORPHYRITIC. A term applied to rock texture to designate the presence of isolated crystals in a general mass (matrix or groundmass) of finer material.

PBETJDOMORPH. Signifies false form and designates a crystal in which, owing 

to various chemical changes, the original mineral has been more or les§ 

replaced by others. The form of the crystal no longer corresponds to the 

mineral.
470 COMMERCIAL GRANITES OF NEW ENGLAND.

QUARTZ MONZONITE. Technical designation for a granite in which the percentages of soda-lime feldspar and of potash feldspar are nearly the same or in 

which the former exceeds the latter. In ordinary granites the amount of 

soda-lime feldspar is relatively small.

RANDOM STONE. A term applied by quarrymen to quarried blocks of any dimensions. (See definition of dimension stone.)

RIFT. A quarrymen's term to designate an obscure microscopic cleavage in 

. granite which greatly facilitates quarrying.

RUN. A term used by quarrymen in connection with " rift," apparently to denote the course of the deflection of the rift due to gravity, strain, or other 

not yet understood cause. In southern and western quarries the grain is 

called the run.

SALT HOBSE. Quarryman's term for aplite or other useless rock.

SAND SEAMS. Quarry term for more or less minute veins or dikes of muscovite 

(white mica) with some quartz, in cases also with feldspar.

SAND STBEAKS. Same as sand seams.

SAP. Quarrymen's term for ferruginous discoloration along sheet or joint 

surfaces.

SCHIST. A rock made up of flattish particles arranged in rough parallelism, 

some or all of which have crystallized under pressure.

SCHISTOSITY. The quality of being like a schist.

SEAM. Quarrymen's term for joint.

SECONDABY MINERALS. Minerals whose presence is due to the alteration of the 

original minerals.

SEDIMENTARY. A term designating those rocks that consist of particles deposited under water.

SEGREGATION. The scientific term for "knot," a collection of material separated from other material. A vein of segregation is one formed by the 

filling of a fissure with mineral matter originating in the surrounding 

rock.

SEBICITE. A more or less fibrous form of muscovite (potash mica), often resulting from the alteration of feldspar.

SHAKES. Quarrymen's term to designate a somewhat minute close-joint structure, which forms along the sheet surface as a result of weathering.

SHEET QUARRY. A quarry in which the granite lies in sheets, crossed by widespaced steep joints.

SLICKENSIDES. The polished and grooved faces of a joint or bed caused by 

motion and friction.

STRAIN SHEET. Quarrymen's term for granite sheets produced by present compressive strain.

STRATIFIED. A term applied to rock consisting of originally horizontal beds or 

strata.

STRIKE. The direction at right angles to the inclination of a plane of bedding, 

a sheet, or joint, etc.

STRIPPING. The material (sand, clay, soil, etc.) overlying a rock of economic 

value, which must be removed before quarrying.

SPECIFIC GBAVITY. The weight of a rock or mineral compared to that of a body 

of distilled water of the same bulk.

SUBJOINT. Minor joints diverging from or parallel to the regular joints.

SYNCLINE. A geologic term for the trough part of a wavelike sheet or bed 

of rock.

TILL. A mixture of clay and boulders deposited by glaciers.
GLOSSARY. 471

TILLITB. Special name for the material of the till. The evidence that the clay

and pebbles or boulders are of glacial origin is in the parallel striation of

the pebbles or boulders owing to their having been rubbed against a rock

while fixed in the moving ice. 

TOEING IN. Quarryrnen's term for the wedging in of the end of a granite sheet

under an overhanging joint, probably in consequence of the faulting of the

sheets along the joint. It is also applied to the overlapping of lenticular

sheets. 

"TOENAILS." Curved joints intersecting the sheet structure, in most places

striking with the sheets, in some differing from them in strike 45° or more. 

TWIN CRYSTALS. Two adjacent crystals which have formed with the poles of

their main axes in opposite or different directions.

WEATHERING. The decomposition of a rock owing to the action of the weather. 

WHITE HORSE. Term used by quarrymen to denote a light-colored gneiss, aplite,

or pegmatite. 

WOLLASTONITE. A mineral consisting of silica 51.7 per cent and lime 48.3 per

cent (CaSiOa). It commonly results from the metamorphism of calcareous

rock or marble where in contact with an igneous rock.

INDEX.

A.

Absorption, tests of granite for __ 102,

157, 172

Acknowledgments for ald__ _____ 2 

Acton, Mass., quarries In _____ 307-308 

Adaptability of the granites _ __ 418-419 

Addison. Maine, quarries In ____ 262-263 

Alnsworth quarry, Woodbury, Vt.,

features of__ ___ _ 151-152

Albany, N. Y., granite for capltol at_ 235 

granite for post office at _ 241 

Arlington National Cemetery, Va., 

granite for monuments 

in _________ 135, 236-249 

Alfred, Maine, granite of ____ '. 272-273 

Allegheny , Pa., granite for Carnegie

Library at _______ 239 

granite for equestrian statue of

Washington at ________ 411 

Alien quarry, Mount Desert, Maine,

features of ______ 224 

tflate showing ______ _ _ 256 

Al'.entown, Pa., granite for Lehlgh

County courthouse at_ 200

granite for post office at ____ 173

Allenetown, N. H., granite of ___ 193-194

Amphlbnjo. occurrence of. in granite _ 0

Annlysis, chemical, testing of granite

by __ _ _________ 99 

Analysis of aplite from Hingham,

Mass. __________ 336-337 

biotlte granite gneiss from Pel-

 ham, Mass. __ _ _ __ i->06

from Stony Creek, Conn.__ 378

granite from Barre, Vt. ___ 125, 139

Becket, Mass. ______ ___ 280

Bethel, Vt. _________ 157 

Concord, N. H. ___ ____ 199 

High Isle quarry, Maine- 236-237 

Hurricane Island, Maine _ 247 

Jonesboro, Maine- __ __ 269 

Milford,' Mass. _______ 343, 

344, 346, 347-348, 350-351 

North Jay, Maine _____ 213 

Bedstone, N. H. _____ 166-167, 

168-169

Rockport, Mass. ____ __ 292-293 

Troy, N. H._ _________ 175 

Waldoboro, Maine. __ 250 

Westerly, R. I. _____ __ 407 

Windsor, Vt. _______ 162-163 

quartz-mica diorite from Monson, Mass. - __ 304 

quartz monzonite from Waterford, Conn.___ ___ ___ 398

rlebecklte-aegirite granite from

Qulncy, Mass. ____ 318

Analyses of granite, extremes of__ 7-9

Anderson quarry, Barre, Vt., description of-_____ 132

Andersonville, Ga., granite for monuments at___ 236, 249, 418

Andrews quarries, Biddeford, Maine,

product of _ 275-276

Angola, Ind., granite for soldiers 

and sailors' monument 

at____________ 134

Annapolis, Md., gra"nite for U. S.

Naval Academy at__- 230, 

235, 248, 251

Ansonia, Conn., granite of 376-377

Armbrust quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine,

features of______ 246-247

Atlanta, Ga., granite for post office

and customhouse at 239

Auburn quarry, Auburn, N. H., product of- 202

B.

Babson Farm quarry, Rockport,

Mass., description of 298

Bailey prospects, Dummerston, Vt.,

product of 155

Bailey quarry, Allenstown, N. H.,

description of 193-194

Bailey quarry, Barre, Vt., description of 132

Baileyville, Maine, quarries at 263-264

Baird quarry, Swans Island, Maine,

product of 232

Ball of polished Quincy granite,

plate showing 320

Ballou quarry, Quincy, Mass., description of______ __ 323

Bangor, Maine, granite for courthouse at 256

Bank of Commerce, New York, panel 

at entrance of, plate 

showing 256

Barclay quarry, Barre, Vt., product

of_____________ 138

Barker Hill quarry, Townsend, Mass.,

products of-__ 313-314

Barker Lot quarry. Westford, Mass.,

location of_______ 313

Barnard quarry, Barton, Vt., product of__ -. 121

Barre, Vt., carved granite from,

plates showing 160 

contact phenomena at_ ____ 85-88 

granite area in and adjoining,

geology of- 122-123,125-128 

quarries of- 128-143 

topography of_______ 121-122

473
474 INDEX.

Page.

Barre, Vt.,.granite of________ 123-125 

granite of, carved excdra of,

plate showing _ __ 160 

map of, showing location of

granite quarries____ 108 

Barre Granite & Quarry Co., quarry

of____________ 133 

Rarre Medium quarry, Barre, Vt.,

description of _ 142 

Barton, Vt., granite of_______ 121 

Ray State quarries, Milford, Mass.,

product of______ 347-348 

Bay View dark-granite prospect,

Rockport, Mass., rock

of___________ 302-303 

Bear Hill quarry, Hollis, Maine,

product of_______ 276 

Beattic & Wilcox quarry, Fall River,

Mass., description of- 282-283 

Seattle quarry, Fall River, Mass.,

description of____ 283-285 

Beaver Lake quarry, Calais, Maine,

description of_____ 265 

Becket, Mass., granite of _____ 279-281 

Becket gneiss, description of 358 

Beedle's prospect, Randolph, Vt.,

granite of ______ 118-119 

Belden q'uarry, Glastonbury, Conn.,

product of________ 368 

Benedict quarry, Cornwall, Conn.,

product of ______ 369-370 

Bennett quarries, Sterling, Conn.,

product of____ _ 401-402 

Uennett quarry. Alfred, Maine, product of ________ 272-273 

Benvenue quarries, Middletown,

Conn., description of_ 375-376 

Benvenue quarry, Crotch Island,

Maine, product of- 227 

Benzie quarry, Groton, Vt., description of________ 116-118 

Berry quarry, Quincy, Mass., operation of.,_________ 329 

Berwick, Maine, quarries in____.._ 273 

Bethel, Vt., carved granite from,

plates showing____ 160

contact phenomena at _____ 84-85

granite of, geology of _- 155-156

nature of_________ 156-157

quarries of ___________ 158-159

Bianchi quarry. West Franklin,

Maine, description of _ 221 

Bibliography of economic geology of

granite________ 464-467 

Biddeford, Maine, quarries in__ 274-276 

Black Ann Hill quarry, Revere,

Mass., product of_ 339-340 

Black Diamond quarry, Addison,

Maine, product of____ 263

" Black granites," composition of__ 94-95 

localities of ____________ 433 

origin of _______ __ _ 94

physical properties of______ 96 

rocks known as _________ 93

texture of ____________ 95-96

Black Island quarries, Long Island,

Maine, products of _ 221-222 

Black Mountain quarry, Dummerston,

Vt., plate showing__ 160 

products of_____________ 153-154

Black quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine,

features of 245 

Blaisdell, T. M., quarry, East Franklin, Maine, description 

of____ ____ 219-220 

Blaisdell, W. B., quarry, Franklin,

Maine, description of _ 220 

Blancbard quarries, Uxbrtdge, Mass.,

description of______ 352-353

Blood Ledge quarry, Rockport, Mass.

description of ___ 300-301 

Bluehill, Maine, quarries in____ 214-216 

White quarry at, plate showing- 256 

Bodwell-.Tonesboro quarry, .Tonesboro, Maine, description of________ 267-269 

Bodwell openings, Vinalhaven, Maine.

product of_-_ ______ ii4G

Bodwell quarry, Manchester, N. H.,

product of___-__ 194-195 

Bog Hill quarry, Searsport, Maine,

product of _, 261 

Boise, Idaho, granite for State capitol at__________ 151 

Bolton, Conn., granite of^__-__ 399-400 

Books treating of economic geology

of granite--_ __ 404-467 

granite and its constituent

minerals ________ 97 

Booth Bros. Jonesboro quarry, Jonesboro, Maine, product 

of___________:__ 269 

Boston, Mass., granite for Atlantic

Avenue Bridge at_ 185 

granite for Bunker Hill Monument at________330,437 

city hall at________ 200 

Gen. Hooker monument at_ 379 

navy yard at 170, 275 

State capitol at_ 310 

Suffolk County courthouse

at___________ 248, 271 

Boutwell quarry, Barre, Vt., description of_____ 128-129 

Bradbury quarry, West ' Franklin,

Maine, product of___ 221 

Branford,Conn., granite gneiss from,

plate showing _ 400 

quarries in___________ 377-382 

Branford granite gneiss, description

of_____________ 359 

" Branford Red " granite, hammered 

and polished, plates 

showing__ _ 400 

Brawn quarry, Guilford, Maine, features of_.- _ _ 255 

Breakwater granites, table of 431 

Bridgeport, Conn., granite of 361 

Bristol, Conn., quarries in 365 

Bristol, Maine, granite of____ 248-249
INDEX. 475

Page.

Bristol granite gneiss, description ot'_ .'558

Brockton Heights quarry, Brockton,

Mass., product of__ 333-336

Brookflelcl cliorite, description of_ 358

Brookline, N. 1-L, quarries of__ 191-193

Brooklyn, N. Y., granite for post office and customhouse at 244 

granite for prison-ship martyrs'

monument at _____ 120

Brooklyn quarry, Branford, Conn.,

description of____ 380-381

Brooks quarry, Glastonbury, Conn.,

features of_____ 368-369

Brown quarry, Dedham, Maine, product of_________ 217-218

Bruce quarry, Barre, Vt., product

of___________ 131-132

Brunswick, Maine, granite of__210-211

Bryant Pond quarry, Woodstock,

Maine, product of__ 253-254

Bucks Harbor quarries, South 

Brooksville, Maine, 

products of.____ 216-217

Buffalo, N. Y., granite for post office

and customhouse at_ 240, 268

Buffalo Hill quarry, Hardwlck, Vt,

product of______ 109-110

Building. See Construction.

Buildings and monuments constructed of the granites__ 419 

tier, also in tlie description* of 

quarries.

Burke quarry, Kirby, Vt., product

of___________ 111-112

Burlison quarry, Bridgeport, Conn.,

product of 361

Burns, Robert, statue, plate showing. 160

Butman Avenue quarry, Lanesville,

Mass., features of____ 299

C.

Cabot, Vt, granite of_______ 143-144 

Calais, Maine, quarries in____ 264-267 

Calais, Vt, quarries in__ _ 144-145 

Calcito, influence of, in granite___ 6 

Calcium carbonate, testing granite

for____________ 99 

Calder & Carnie quarry, Westerly,

R. I., description of- 411-412 

Cainden, N. J., granite lor county

courthouse at ___ 198 

Campbell & Macomber quarry, Mount 

Desert Maine, product 

of_____________ 223 

Catto quarry, Westerly, R. I., features of____ ___ 412 

Canaan, N. H., granite of ___ 177-178 

Canterbury granite gneiss, description of__________ 359 

Canton quarry, Barre, Vt.., features of ______ 143 

Canton, Ohio, granite for McKlnlpy

national memorial at- 163, 349 

Cape Ann. See Rockport, Mass.

Puge.

Capital quarry, Barre, Vt, description of__________ 143

Carkin, C. W., quarry, Westford,

Mass., features of__ 311

Carkin, Perlcy, quarry, Westford,

Mass., features of 310-311

Carlson quarry, East Lyme, Conn.,

features of__-___ 389

Carlton quarry, Milford, N. II., products of________ 189-190

Caron quarry, Peabody, Mass., features of_________ 288

Carroll quarry, Milford, Mass., product of_________ 350-351

Carroll quarry, Trcmont, Maine,

product of________ 233

Cartwright quarry, Westford, Mass.,

features ,pf 311

Carvings in granite, plates showing_____ 160, 256, 400, 401

Cashman quarry, Quincy, Mass.,

product of_______ 331

Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 

New York, columns 

for ________'__ 244-245 

columns for, plate showing___ 256

Chandler, C. F., analysis by___ 348 

Chapman quarry, Westerly, R. I.,

features of _____ 414-415 

Charlestown, U. 1., contact phenomena at______/_____ 92

granite of __________ _ 415-416 

quarry in, plato showing 401 

 See also Westerly, R. I. 

Chattanooga, Tenn., granite for State

monuments at 134, 345 

Chnse ijriarrles, Bluehill, Maine,

products of_____ 215-210 

Chemical composition of granite 7-9

See also Analysts of granite. 

Cheves Green Granite quarry, Rockport, Mass., product of_ 300 

Chicago, 111., granite for Alexander

Hamilton memorial at_ 399 

granite for Cook County, courthouse at________ 150 

Cook County Hospital at__ 295 

Humboldt monument at_ 211 

McKiuley Memorial at _ 200 

Newberry Library at_ _ 379 

Republic Monument at__ 379 

Christiano Hamilton Avenue quarry, 

Greenwich, Conn., description of________ 364

Christiano Oak Ridge quarry, Greenwich, Conn., description of_________ 364 

Clark Island quarry, St. George,

Maine, product of 239-240 

Clark quarries, Dummerston, Vt.,

products of__ __ 154 155

Classification, economic, of granites. 13-14

scientific, of granites 13
476 INDEX.

Page. 

Cleveland, Ohio, granite for city hall

at____________ 150 

granite for Cuyahoga County

courthouse at 352 

Coalford Swamp quarry, Rockport,

Mass., features of__ 298 

Coarse, use of term ____ ___ 2, 9 

Coarseness. See Texture. 

Cohasset, Mass., granite of____ 315 

Cohesiveness of granite_______ 11 

Collinsville granite gneiss, description of_________ 358 

Colors of the granites.-_____ 5, G, 10 

Influence of feldspars on_ 75-79, 81 

table showing______ 420, 433-435 

See also Shade. 

Columbus, Ohio, granite for public

library,, at_______ 347 

Comstock prospect, Warren, Conn.,

product of_______ 375 

'Concord, N. H., granite of, description of-__ _ 196-197 

granite of, geology of 195-196 

quarries in, descriptions of__ 197-202 

location of_________ 195 

Connecticut, breakwater granites of- 431 

constructional granites of 421 

curbing and trimming granite's

of ____,_____ 430 

distribution . of granite and

gneisses in_ ___ 357-359 

geologic history of____ __ 355-357 

geologic map of, showing location of granite quarries _________ 360 

granitic intrusions in, nature

and age of __ 359-361 

inscriptional granites of __ 428 

monumental granites of____ 425 

paving granite of_ ____ 432 

production of granite in__ 430-461 

quarries in, dates of opening of 460 

descriptions of_____ 361-403 

operated in 1921_____ 460 

sculptural granites of_____ 427 

Consolidated quarry, Barre, Vt., description of ____ 139 

Constituents of granite_______ 5-9

See also Analysis of granite. 

Construction, fluctuation in the use

of granite for____ 438-439 

Constructional granites, table of_ 421-424 

Contacts with invaded rocks, petrographic phenomena at 84-89

plates showing _ __ 161, 400

structural phenomena at____ 89-93

where examined_________ 84

Conway, N. H., granite for public

library at_______ 253 

quarries of, descriptions of_ 166-170 

geology of_________ 165-166 

locations of________ 164-165 

Cooling, rapid, of granitic magma 3-4 

Coons, Miss Altha T., The production 

of granite in the New 

. England States__ 2,436-463

Fact.

Corbin quarry, Glastonbury, Conn.,

product of_____ 366-367

Cornwall, Conn., granite of____ 369-370

Costello quarry, Torrington, Conn.,

product of______ 373-374

Couture quarry, Westford, Mass.,

features of_ __ 312-313

Crabtree & Havey quarry, Sullivan,

Maine, description of 230 

plates showing_ ___ ___ 256

Crawfordsville, Ind., granite for 

Gen. Lew Wallace obelisk at_________ 417

Crissey quarry, Norfolk, Conn., product of_________ 370-371

Cross, C. W., cited______ 23

Cross, Whitman, cited________ 138

Crotch Island, Maine, description of 31 

granite beds on, plates showing 256

Crumb quarry, Westerly, K. I., product of_________ 417-418

Crushed granite, changes in demand

for___________ 440-441

Cuba, granite for monument to General Gomez in__ 164

Curbing and trimming granite, table

of___________ 430-431

Curry quarry, Wrentham, Mass.,

product of _ 314

Cutting quarry, Milford, Mass., description of_____ 344-345

D.

Danbury, Conn., granite of 362

Danbury granodiorite gneiss, description of____ 358

Danielson quarry, Glastonbury,

Conn., product of- 368

Dartmouth quarry, Dartmouth,

Mass., product of 286-287

Dawson quarry, Stark, N. H., product of__________ 177

Day, William C., analysis by__ 139

Day quarry, Kennebunkport, Maine,

product of____ 276-277

Dayton, Ohio, granite for post office

at __________:__ 200

Deadwood, S. Dak., granite for post

office at______ 301

Decatur, 111., granite for post office

at_______ 173

Decomposition of granite, causes

and rate of___ _ 6, 70-72

Dedham, Maine, granite of 217-218

Deep Pit quarry, Rockport, Mass.,

description of__ _ 301-302

Deep River, Conn., granite for fountain at_________ 215

Definition of granite 3

Definitions of geologic and quarrying

terms __ _ 467-471

Den quarry, Lynn and Peabody,

Mass., description of- 288-289

Dennis, L. M., analysis by 280

Derby, Conn., granite gneiss from,

plate showing- 400
INDEX. 477

Pag*

Derby, Vt., granite of_______ 119-121 

Devils Rock quarry, Lnnesville, Mass.,

description of____ 299-300 

Diabase porphyry, monument of,

plate showing 320 

Dikes, aplite, occurrence and features of__-___-__ 42-46 

basic, influence of, on granite_ 57^-59 

occurrence and features of- 51-56 

basic schistose, occurrence and

features of 66-57 

cutting granite gneiss, plate

showing_ _ _ _ 401 

cutting sheets of granite, plates

showing_______ 256, 321 

cylindrical ____-___ _ 49-50 

fluidal cavities in______ _ 22 

granite, occurrence and features

of____________ 41-42 

pegmatite, groups of 73-74 

occurrence and features of_ 46-50 

pegmatitic quartz, occurrence

and features of__ 50-51 

Diorite, quartz, dikes in, plate showing___________ 161 

Discoloration, test of granite for 99 

Dix Island quarries, Muscle Ridge 

Plantation, Maine, description of_____ 238 

Dixon quarry, Westerly, R. I., product of_ _ _- 414 

Dodlin quarry, Norridgewock, Maine,

description of_ 255-256 

Domes, cause of 35 

Double-sheet structure, plate showIng_______ __ 160 

Dover, N. H., granite for hospital at_ 275 

Drenan quarries, Woodbury, Vt.,

product of __ 152 

Duffee quarry, Barre, Vt., product

of____________ 136 

Dummerston, Vt., quarries of 153-155 

Dunbar quarry, Sullivan, Maine, features of ._- _ 231 

Dunn quarry, Bristol, Conn., product of- 365 

Duschane Hill quarry, Vinalhaven,

Maine, product of 246

E.

Eagle Gray quarry, Fryeburg, Maine,

description of____ 252-253

East Lyrne, Conn., quarries in 388-389

East Orange, N. J., granite for high

school at _ 305

East quarry, Milford, Mass., description of________ 345-347

Eastford granite gneiss, description

of____________ 358

Echo Lake quarry, Milford, Mass.,

features of__ 350

Eckerlein quarry, Groton, Conn.,

product of______ 386-387

Economic classification of the granites__________ 419-432

Pug*.

Egypt, weathering of ancient granite monuments in___ 72

Elasticity of granite_________ 11

Elkhart, Ind., granite for post office

at ____ 301

Ellis quarry, Bethel, Vt., description of_ _____ 158

Emerson, B. K, cited_______ 340-341

Emerson quarry, Fitzwilliam, N. H.,

features of_____ 173

Emmons, Gowen, quarry, Blddeford, 

Maine, description 

of ___________ 274-275

Empire dark quarry, Barre, Vt., description of. 180

Empire Light Granite quarry, Barry,

Vt., description of_ 140

Expansibility of granite_______ 12 

test for____________ 102-103

F.

Falconer quarry, Quincy, Mass., features of________ 325-326 

Fall River, Mass., granite for customhouse and post 

office at _______ 269 

quarries in_________ 282-285

Fallon quarry, Quincy, Mass., features of ______ 324 

Faults, occurrence of __ _ 38 

Feldspar, colors of, original and

secondary _ _ 75-79 

kinds of, in granite_ _____ _ 5-6

Felsite, test of, in concrete____ 340 

Felsite porphyry, nature and use of_ 339 

Fessenden quarry, Brookllne, N. H.,

product of______ 192-193 

Field & Wild quarry, Quincy, Mass.,

description of_____ 326 

Fine, use of term__ ____ __ 2, 9

Fire tests of granite---____ - 13,102 

Fish quarry, Jonesboro, Maine, product of__________ 267 

Fitchburg, Mass., quarries in 353-355 

Fitzwilliam district, N. H., geologic

relations of______ 171 

quarries of _ 171-176 

Flat Ledge quarry, Rockport, Mass.,

product of______ 294-295 

Fletcher, H. E., quarry, Westford,

Mass., products of 309-310 

Fletcher, H. N., quarries, Westford,

Mass., product of__ 311-312 

Fletcher quarry, Madison, N. H.,

product of______ 170-171 

.Fletcher quarry, Woodbury, Vt., de- 

^ scription of___ 148-149 

plate showing 160 

Flexibility of granite 11-12 

Fluids, occurrence of, in granite

gneiss __________ 21-22 

occurrence of, in small dikes or

veins ______ - 22

relation of, to rift and grain- 17-21

..secondary Inclusions of 22-24
478 INDEX.

Fag*

Flynt quarries, Monson, Mass., products of________ 304-305

Polly Point Breakwater quarry, 

Rockport, Mass., features of_____ 29&

Fort Sumter, S. C., granite for 

Gen. Anderson monument at ____ - 382

Fox Islands, Maine, quarries on 241-248

Fox quarry, Concord, N. H., description of________ 200-201

Fractures, contemporary, occurrence

of ____________ 40-41

Frankfort, Ky., granite for State

capitol at__:____- 150

Frankfort, Maine, granite beds at,

plate showing 256 

quarries in___________ 257-260

Franklin, Maine, quarries in__ 218-221

Franklin, Mass., granite for Thayer

library at________ 185

Frazer quarry, Ryegate, Vt., description of_______ 115-116

Freeport quarry, Freeport, Maine,

description of ____ _ 211 

plate showing_____ __ 256

Fryeburg, Maine, granite of_ 252 253

G.

Galveston, Tex., granite for Early

Settlers' monument at- 198

Calvin quarry, Quincy, Mass., features of ________ 325

Gardner's prospect, Calais, Maine,

products of _____ 264

.Gases In minerals of granite -_ 9

Geodes, occurrence and features of 62

Geology, application of, to quarrying granite ____ 435-436

Gettysburg, Pa., granite for monuments at 235,236,410,411

Gibson quarry, Ryegate, Vt., product

of __________ 114-115

Gilbert, G. K., on sheet structure 29-30

Glastonbury granite gneiss, description of _______ 358

Glastonbury Granite Works quarries, 

Glastonbury, Conn., 

product of _______ 36

Glossary of scientific and quarry

terms ________ 467-471

Gneiss, classes of____________ 3 

See also Granite gneiss.

Godbeer quarry, Fitchburg, Mass.,

features of_____ 355

Gold, occurrence of, In Maine j 

granite _______ 263-369

Gold-leaf quarry, Quincy, Mass.,

product of __!_ 332^333

Gorman quarry, Glastonbury, Conn.,

product of _____ 367-368

Goss quarry, Crotch Island, Maine,

description of __ 226-227

Grain, relation of, to fluidal cavities ___________ 17-21

Pago.

Granite, orbicular, plate showing 160 

rocks classed as___'.______ 2

Granite gneiss, contact of granite

with, plates showing 161, 400 

fluidal cavities in ___ 21-22 

in Connecticut, distribution and

varieties of_____ 357-359 

obelisk of, plate showing___ 400 

plates showing__________ 400

plicated texture in _____ 93 

polished slab of, plate showing- 400 

Granite Railway quarry, Concord, 

N. H. See Upper 

Swenson quarry. 

Granite Railway quarry, Quincy,

Mass., description of_ 329-330 

Grant quarry, Brunswick, Maine, description of_____ 210-211 

Graves Bros, quarry, Mount Desert,

Maine, product of ___ 224 

Green Island, Maine, joint structure

on, plate showing ___ 256 

Greenwich, Conn., quarries in__ 362-364 

Gregory, H. E. cited_________ 46-47 

Geologic relations of the granites

of Connecticut ___ 355-361 

Groton, Conn., monument of granite

from, plate showing 400

quarries in _-_________ 385-388

Groton, Mass., quarries in_ _ 308-309

Groton, Vt., granite of_______ 116-118

Grout quarry, Kirby, Vt., description

of___________ 110-111 

Guilford, Conn., quarries in____ 382-384 

Guilford, Maine, quarries in_ __ 255

H.

Haddam granite gneiss, description

of____________ 359

Hall quarry, Baileyville, Maine, product of__________ 263-264

ITall quarry, Mount Desert, Maine. 

Sec McMullen quarry.

Hall quarry, Norwalk, Conn., product of_________ 364-365

Hallowell, Maine, carved granite

from, plates showing_ 256 

Longfellow quarry at, plate

showing _______ 256 

quarries at __ _____ 233-236 

Stinchfleld quarry at, plate

showing ____ 256

Hamilton Seam Face quarry, Hingham, Mass., features 

of_____________ 339

" Hard way," direction of______ 17, 20

Hardness of granite ___________ 12

test for ______________ 100-101

Hardwood Island quarry, Jonesport,

Maine, product of 270-271

Hardwick, Vt, granite of_____ 108-110

Hardwick quarry, Quincy, Mass., description of_____ 324-325

Harris quarry, Acton, Mass., product of _ 307
INDEX. 479

Page. 

Harrisburg, Pa., granite for post

office at________ 216 

granite for State capltol at__ 150 

Hartford, Conn., granite for .Connecticut River bridge 

at___________ 379,382 

granite for State library and

city hall at______ 159 

Hartland quarry, Hartland, Maine,

granite of_______ 255 

Haverhill, Mass., granite for bridges

at____________ 184 

granite for Dudley Porter fountain at _______ 171 

Haverhill, N. H., quarries in___ 170-180 

Headings, intersection of, plate

showing___ ___ 256 

occurrence of _ ___ 38 

sheets cut by, plates showing- 256 

Heal quarry, Lincoln, Maine, product of _ ___ 260 

Heat tests. See Fire tests. 

Hell Gate Bridge, New York, granite for*_________ 245 

Henneberry quarry, Concord, N. H.,

product of______ 202 

HiH'inon Hill quarry, Ffermon, Maine,

product of ___ 254 

Herrmann, 0., on sheet structure_ 28-29 

High Isle quarry, Muscle Ridge Plantation, Maine, description of________ 236-238 

plate showing..__________ 256

Hildreth quarry, Westford, Mass.,

features of 313 

HUlebrand, W. F., analyses by_ 162-

163,304

Hingham, Mass., quarries in__ 336-339 

History of the granite industry_ 436-441 

Hitchcock, Dell, quarry, Quincy,

Mass., description of_321-322 

Hoadly Neck quarries, Branford,

Conn., description of_381-382 

Holbrook quarry, Seymour, Conn.,

description of-i___ 384-385 

Hollis, Maine, granite of _______ 276 

Tlnllis quarry, Concord, N. H. See 

Lower Swenson quarry. 

Hooksett, N. H., granite of_____ 194 

Hooper, llavey & Co., quarry of,

North Sullivan, Maine- 231 

Hoosac Tunnel, Mass., granite for 371 

Hopkinton quarry, Hopkinton, Mass.,

product of_'. _ __ 349 

Hudson if Chester quarry, Becket,

Mass., product of__ 279-281 

Hurricane Island quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine, plate 

showing!_ ____ 256

product and structure of __ 247-248

I.

Imperial Blue quarry, Woodbury, 

Vt., product of _:_ 151

Pago.

InclusiOJis, occurrence and features

of_________...{. 62-05

India, artificial sheeting of granite

in;_ __ __,-- 30

Indian Creek quarry, Vinalhaven,

Maine, features of___ 246

Inscriptional granites, table of 428

Intrusion, laceration of overlying

strata by 4

Italian quarry, Ryegate, Vt., description of____-____ 115

Ithaca, N. Y., granite for post office

at_ __________ 173

J.

Jamestown, Va., granite for monument nt___-____ 178

Jefferson City, Mo., granite for State

capltol at _______ 169

.Tewett's quarry, Whitefield, Maine,

product of __ 251-252

Joints, coatings on faces of 81-84 

groups and causes of _____ 37-38 

See also Headings and Subjoints.

Jones Dark quarry, Williamstown,

Vt., description of 141

Jones Light quarry, Bar re, Vt., features and product of- 133-135

Jonesboro, Maine, quarries in__ 267-269

Jonesport, Maine, quarries in__ 270-271

Joshua Rock quarry, Lyme, Conn.,

product of ___ 889-390

E.

Kansas City, Mo., granite for city

baths at- . 271

Kemp, James P., analysis by_ 236-237

Kennard Ledge quarry, Manchester,

N. H., product of___ 195

Kennebunkport, Maine, quarries

in_______:__ 276-277

Kilkenny quarry, Kilkenny, N. H.,

product of __. 176-177

Kinnicutt, Leonard P., absorption

tests by ____ 157,172,175 

analyses by_______ 175, 344, 378

Kirby, Vt, granite of_______ 110-112

Kittredge quarry, Milford, N. H.,

product of__-____- 184

Klondike quarry, Charlestown, R. I.,

description of--__- 415-410

" Knots." See Segregations.

Kopp quarry, Groton, Conn., features of________ 387

L.

Lacasse quarry, Derby, Vt., product of____-___ 119-120

Lake Shore quarry, Calais, Vt., product of ____ _ 145

Lambert's prospect, Cabot, Vt., product of________ 143-144

Langmaid quarry, Rochester, N. H.,

product of______ 202-208
480 INDEX.

Page.

Larrabee quarry, Windham, Conn.,

product of_____ 402-403 

Latty quarry, Green Island, Maine,

product of- __ 228 

Lawton quarry, Norridgewock, Maine,

description of____ 256-257 

League Island, Philadelphia, Pa.,

granite for dry dock at_ 216 

Leavitt quarry, Leominster, Mass.,

product of_________ 353

Lebanon quarry, Lebanon, N. H.,

product of______ 178-179 

Leete Island quarry, Guilford, Conn.,

product of__ __ 382-383 

product of, plate showing____ 400 

Leominster, Mass., granite of____ 353 

Lepage quarry, Quincy, Mass., product of ______ 330-331 

Liberty Hill quarry, Rochester, Vt.,

product of 159-160 

Lime carbonate, testing granite for- 09 

Lincoln, Maine, carved granite from,

plate showing. 256 

Lincoln, Nebr., granite for post

office at_________ 200 

Lincolnville quarry, Lincoln, Maine,

product of ______ 260 

Linehan quarry, Peabody, Mass.,

product of_____ 287-288 

Litchfleld, Conn., granite at_____ 370 

Litchfleld quarry, Fitcbburg, Mass.,

features of _____ 354-355 

Lithonia, Ga., effect of compressive 

strain at, plate showing ____________ 256

Long Cove quarry, St. George,

Maine, description of 240-241 

Long Island, Maine, quarries in_ 221-222 

Longfellow quarry, Hallowell, Maine,

features of 234 

plate showing _ 256 

Lord quarry, Wells, Maine, product of________ 277-278 

Louisville, Ky., granite for Jefferson

monument at ___ 322 

Love, F. W., analyses by _ 407 

Lovejoy quarry, Milford, N. H., de- '

scriptiou of_____ 183-184 

Lowell, Mass., granite for city hall

at ____________ 168 

Lower Swenson quarry, Concord,

N. H., description of_ 200 

Lyme, Conn., quarries in_____ 389-390 

Lyiin, Mass., felsite porphyry of 340

M. 

McCarthy quarry, Acton, Mass.,

product of______ 307-308 

McCauliff quarry, Fitchburg, Mass.,

product of_ _ 354 

McConchie quarry, St. George,

Maine, product of 240 

MacCurdy quarry, Old Lyme, Conn.,

product of_____. 390-392 

McDonald & Cutter quarry, Barre,

Vt., description of _ 143

Page. 

McGaughey quarry, Groton, Conn.,

product of _____ 387-388 

Mclntosh quarry, Groton, Conn.,

product of ____ 386 

McKenna, Charles F., analysis by_ 157 

McMullen quarry, Mount Desert,

Maine, description of 222-223 

Madison, N. H., granite of____ 170-171 

Madison, Wis., granite for State

capitol at _ __ 159 

Magnetite, large content of, in 

granite of Baileyville, 

Maine__________ 263 

Maguire quarry, Hopkinton, Mass.,

features of____ 349-350 

Maguire & O'Heron quarry, Milton,

Mass., product of 334-335 

Maine, constructional granites of 421-423 

curbing and trimming granites

of ____________ 430 

granite in, distribution of__ 103,205 

geologic history and relations of___ __ 207-209 

inscriptional granites of 428 

map of southern part of, showing distribution of 

granitic rocks and 

quarries___ _ _ 200 

monumental granites of _ 425 

paving granites of 432 

polish granites of 429 

production of granite in _ 443-447 

quarries in, dates of opening of 444 

descriptions of____ 205-278 

distribution of 209-210 

operated in 1921 _ 445

quarries of "black granite" in,

distribution of___ 210 

sculptural granite of 427 

sheet structure in granites of 31-32 

Maine & New Hampshire Granite 

Corporation, quarries 

of, at North Jay, 

Maine________ 212-214 

Maine Red Granite Co., quarry of,

at Calais, Maine 266-267 

Malnati quarry, East Lyme, Conn.,

product of 388-389 

Mamacoke gneiss, description of 359 

Manchester, N. H., quarries of 194-195 

Map, geologic, of Connecticut showing location of granite 

quarries- _ 360 

Map of Barre, Vt., showing location of granite quarries__.___ 108 

Massachusetts, showing location

of granite quarries - 278 

Quincy, Mass., showing location

of granite quarries 320 

southern part of Maine, showing distribution of 

granitic rocks and 

quarries___ ___ _ 20i>
INDEX. 481

Page.

Map of Vermont and New Hampshire 

showing location of 

granite quarries,.-. 108 

Maromas granite gneiss, description of______--_-_ 359

Marquette, Mien., granite for courthouse at-__-_____ 260

Marr & Gordon quarry, Barre. Vt.,

product of - --..- 330-181 

Marriott quarry, Sterling, Conn.j. product of____-'- 400-401 

Mnrshfield quarry, Marshfield. Maine.

product of __. 271-272 

Mascetti quarry, Litchfield, Conn.,

product of- ______ 370

Mascoma quarry, Canaan, N. H.,

; product of ---~_ 177-178

Masons Island quarry, Stonjngton,

Conn., features ofl__ 302 

Massachusetts, Berkshire County, geology of the granite 

in___________ 27S-279 

breakwater granite of________ 481

constructional granites of____ 4_;-t

curbing and trimming granites

of_______.____ 431 

Essex County, nature of granite

in_______ .._ 287, 291 

map of, showing location of..

granite quarries __ 278 

monumental granites of___ 425-426 

paving granite of_ _ 432 

polish granites of_:_______ 429 

production of granite in___ 455-459 

quarries In, dates of opening

of _ _______ 455-456

descriptions of_____ 2,78-355

distribution of-____ 103, 278

operated in 1921___,._ 456-457

rusty-faced granites of _ _ 429

Massachusetts Pink quarry, Milforo",

Mass., product of---- 349

Medium, use of term_ _ ^_ 2,9 

Melvin quarry. See Tayntor quarry. 

Merrill, G. P., cited -______ 96 

Merrill quarry, Westford, Mass., features of_________ 310 

M*erry Mount quarry, Quincy, Mass.,

description of 322-323 

Messer quarry, Stoughton, Mass.,

product of_______ 315 

Mfca, black (biotite), Influence of, 

as a constituent of 

granite- _ ___ __ 6 

white (muscovlte), influence of. 

as a constituent of 

granite ____ , 6

Michiel quarry, Torrington, Conn.,

product of- ______ . 374

Middletown, Conn., granite of 375-376 

Milford, N. H., contact phenomena

at_____________ 90-91

105709 23 32

Page. 

Milford district, Mass., granite of,

geology of 340-342, 343-344 

granite of. nature of___ '.'A'2 .'I4.'J 

quarries in _ ______ 344-352 

topography of _____ 340

Milford district, N. H., granite of,

description of___ 182-183 

granite of, geology of __ 180-182 

quarries of ____ _____ 183-191

topography of __ 180 

Milford (ininlte f'o.. quarries of. ;it

Milford, N. II_____ 189 

quarry of, plate showing ___ 161 

Millbridge quarry, Millbridge, Maine,

product of _____ 272 

Miller seam-face quarry, Hingham,

Mass., product of 338-339 

Millstone quarry, Barre, Vt., preduct of __ __ 137 

Millstone quarry, Waterford, Conn..

description of____ 394-397 

Milne & Wylie quarry, Barre, Vt.,

product of______ 129-130 

Milne quarry, Barre, Vt., description of_____ ___ 140 

Milwaukee, Wis., granite for post

office at_________ 2fiO

Mineral composition of granite__ . 5-7

Minerals in granite, arrangement of- 10

coatings of, on joint faces__ 81-84

forms of ______________ 9-10

kinds and proportions of, tests

for___________ 99-100 

Minerva Cove quarry, Jone.sport,

Maine, product of-_- 270 

Mingo - Bailey quarries, Calais,

Maine, features of__ 264 

265, 266 

Miniutti quarry, Berwick, Maine,

product of 273 

Minneapolis, Minn., granite for Museum of Pine Arts at_ 151 

Monson, Mass., quarries in____ 30.V305 

Monson granite gneiss, description

of_____________ 358 

Monument of quartz diorite, plate

showing . _ ___ 256 

with die of olivine norite, plate

showing 256 

Monumental granite, changes in demand for _ 440 

table of_______________ 425-427

Monzonite, white quartz, plate showing carving in _ 160 

Moore, P. J., analysis by__-__ 336-337 

Moose Island quarry, Maine, features of_______--_ 229 

Morrison quarry. Ryegate, Vt., description of____ 115 

Mosquito Mountain, Frankfort,

Maine, description of _ 31 

Mosquito Mountain quarry, Fra<nkfort, Maine, description 

of___________ 257-253
482 INDEX.

Page.

" Motion." plate showing____ 256 

use of name_ -^ - 209 

" Motions,'' locations of____ ___ 242 

Mount Ascutnoy, Vt., monument

from, plate showing 1GO 

Mount Desert, Maine, quarries on_ 222-224 

Mount Pleasant quarry, Milton,

Mass., product of 333-334 

Mount Waldo quarry, Frankfort,

Maine, description of__ 31, 

258-260

Mower quarry, Windsor, Vt., description. of_ _ _ 1G3 

Murray quairy. Stonington, Conn.,

product of______ 393-394 

Muscle Ridge Plantation, Maine,

quarries! in_ 236-238 

Muscovite, veins of 74 

Muskpgon, Mieh., granite for post

office at_________ 256

Nashua, N. H., granite for post office

at__________ 314 

granite of ________ :. ._ 193

New Anguilla quarry, Stonington,

Conn., description of_ 392-393 

New Bedford, Mass., dikes in Sullivan quarries at ____ 55-56

granite for industrial monument at_________ 173

quarries in _______ 285-286 

New England Granite Works quarry, 

Concord, N. H., product of_________ 197-198 

New England quarry, Westerly, R. I.,

products of_____ 408-410 

New Hampshire, constructional granite of _________ 423-424 

curbing and trimming granites

of____________ 431 

inscriptional granites of______ 428

monumental granites of 426 

polish granites of__________ 429

production of gramite in___ 448-450 

quarries in, descriptions of __ 164-205 

distribution of ______ 103,164 

map showing location of__ 108 

operated in 1921 _____ 448-449 

sculptural granite of___ __ 427 

New Haven, Conn., granite for Tuberculosis Hospital at_ 413 

granite for Yale University at 338 

New Orleans, La,, granite for customhouse at ______ 327 

granite for post office at 310 

New Westerly quarry, Milford, N. H.,

product of______ 188-189

N<w York, Bank of Commerce in, 

plate showing panel at 

entrance of_______ 256

customhouse at, plate showing

lintel for________ 256

Page.

New York, granite for American Museum of Natural History at ~ ________ 267

granite for Blackwells Island

Bridge at_______ 226

bridge in Bronx Park at__ 349

Brooklyn Bridge at_____ 382

Columbia University at__ 164,

229, 380

customhouse at_- _____ 244

Fort Schuyler at______ 363

General Grant's tomb at__ 214

discoloration of____ 69

Hall of Records at____ 235

Hell Gate Bridge at____. 245

Manhattan Bridge at___ 173,

223, 230, 295

municipal building at__ 260 

new post office at______ 352 

pedestal of Statue of Liberty at_________ 382 

physicians' quarters, Blackwells Island, at____ 363 

Public Library at_____ 176 

retaining wall of Riverside

Drive at_______ 226, 230 

soldiers and sailors' monument at__________ 382 

Stock Exchange at____ 216 

Woman's Hospital at __ 215 

Hall of Records at, plate showing statue on_____ 256 

porphyry for fountain in Central Park at______ 303 

Newall quarry, Otis, Mass., description of________ 281-282 

Newall quarry, Westerly, R. I., product of________ 416-417 

Newark, N. J., granite for city hall

at ________ 172 

Newark, Vt., granite of______ 112-113 

Newport, R. I.,.granite for bridge at_ 283 

granite for Naval War College

at____________ 284 

Niagara Falls, N. Y., granite for Suspension Bridge at_ 382 

Niantic quarries. See Westerly, R. I., 

and Charlestown, R. I. 

Nichols Ledge Carter quarry, Woodbury, Vt., product of. 152-153 

Nickerson quarries, Rockport, Mass.,

features of__ 298-299 

Norcross quarry, Branford, Conn.,

description of __ 377-379 

Norcross quarry, Milford, Mass., features of-__^_____ 348-349 

Norcross quarry, Windsor, Vt., description of____ 163-164 

Norfolk, Conn., granite of_____ 370-371 

Norfolk, Va., granite for dry dock at_ ' 230 

Norridgewock, Maine, quarries in_ 255r-257 

North Jay, Maine, granite of__- 212-214 

North Milford quarry, Milford,

Mass., product of 350
INDEX. 483

Page. 

Northern Granite Co., quarrying by,

at Hardwick, Vt__ 108,109 

Norwalk, Conn., granite of____ 364-365

0.

O;ik Hill quarry, Swauville, Maine,

product of____ 261 

Old Lyine, Conn., granite of___ 390-392 

Omalia, Nebr., granite for courthouse at _____ _ 149 

Oneco quarry, Sterling, Conn., product of_____....__-__ 400 

Opie quarry, Branford, Conn., features of_____..-__ 380 

Orbicular granite, occurrence and

features of______ 60-61 

Origin of granite__________.__ 3-5 

O'Rourke quarry, Brookline, N. H.,

product of______ 191-192 

Otis, Mass., granite of______- 281-282 

Owen, Milo J., Barton, Vt., specimen received from._ 121 

Oxaal, John, cited ______ __ 16 

Oxford, Maine, granite of__---.._ 253

P.

Packer quarry, Newark, Vt., product, of________ 112-113

Palmer quarries, Westford, Mass.,

product of__ _ 312

Palmer quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine,

description of____ 244-245

Parmenter quarry, Derby, Vt., description of____ 120-121

Parsons quarry. See Burlison quarry.

Patch quarry, Calais, Vt., product of_________ 144-145

Paterson, N. J., granite for Danforth Library at!__ 223

Paving-block quarry, plate showing. 256

Paving granite, changes in demand

for__________ 440 

introduction of___________ 437

table of_______________ 432

Pequoit quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine,

product of______ 245-246

Peabody-Lynufield district, Mass.,

nature of granite in_ 287 

quarries in___________ 287-291

Pease quarry, Milford, N. H., description of_____ 184-185

Polham, Mass., granite at_____ 305-306

Perry quarry, Concord, N. IT., description of______ 201-202

Perry Sunapee quarry, Sunapee,

N. II., products of 204-205

Petersen quarry, Bolton, Conn., product of_________ 399-400

Peterson quarry, Westford, Mass.,

features of______ 310

Pettee quarry, East Sullivan, Maine,

features of__....-_ 231--232

Page.

Philadelphia, Pa., granite for city

hall at__________ 262 

granite for League Island Navy

Yard at_________ 210 

soldiers and sailors' gateway, in Fairmount 

Park at_ _______ 214 

United States Mint at_ 223, 200

Pigeon Cove porphyry quarry, Rwkport, Mass., product 

of_____________ 303

Pigeon Hill quarries, lower and upper, Rockport, Mass., 

descriptions of___ 295-298

Plrie quarry, Williamstown, Vt.,

description of____ 141-142

Pittsburgh, Pa., granite for Carnegie

Institute at____ 178, 333 

granite for city and county

building at______- 198 

Scott monument in_____ 211

Platinum, occurrence of, in Maino

granite- __ _____ 254

Pleasant River quarry, Addison.

Maine, product of 26-2

Pleasant River quarry,' Vinalhaven, 

Maine. Sec P. 1 a c k 

quarry.

Plymouth, Mass., granite for Pilgrim monument at 235, 324

Plymouth, Vt, granite of____ 160-161

Plymouth quarry, Thomaston, Conn..

description of____ 372-373

Point Judith, R. I., granite for breakwater at _____-_ 384

Polish, test of granite for_______ 100

Polish granites, table of_______ 429

Pond Ledge quarries, Haverhill, N.

II., products of___ 179-180

Porosity of granite--_____ 12 

test for_____________ 101-1012

Porphyritic texture, nature of_____ 10

Portland, Maine, granite for Longfellow monument at-_ 1GS

Portsmouth, N. H., granite for navy

yard at ___..__-_ 300

Potter quarry, Ansonia, Conn., description of__-_--_ 370-377

Poughkeepsie, N. Y., granite for Vassar College at__-__ 338

Pownal quarry, Pownal, Maine, description of_____ 211-212

Prescott quarry, Westford, Mass., location of________ 313

Pride's quarry, Westbrook, Maine,

description of_____ 212

Production by census years 441-443 

by States____________ 443-463

Properties, physical, of granite___ 10-13

Prospect porphyritic gneiss, description of__________ 35S

Providence, R. I., granite for Roger

Williams monument at- 411

granite for sea wall at - __ 230

State armory at_______ 270
484 INDEX.

Page. 

Publications on economic geology of

granite________ 464-467 

Pyrite, effect of, on granite____ 6 

Pyroxene, occurrence of, in granite- 6

Q.

Quarrying, history of________ 436-441 

use of geology in_________1! 435-436

Quartz in-granite, colors of____ 80-81 

influence of ,__________ 6 

texture of____________ SO 

Quartz monzonite, monuments of,

plates showing __ 400, 401 

ovoidal block of, plate showIng .__ ____ 400

Queen City quarry, Guilford, Maine,

product of _ ____ 255 

Quincy, Mass., beginnings of quarrying at __________ 437 

polished granite from, plate

showing ________ 320

production of granite at____ 455

quarries in _______ 321-333, 335

map showing location of_ 320

. quarry at, plate showing___ 320

Quincy granite, geology of__ 316, 319-321

nature and composition of_ 316-319

polished ball of, plate showing. 320

Quincy granite area, topography

of __._______ 315-316

R.

Rafferty quarry, Groton, Mass.,

product of ______ 308 

Railroads, granite ___ _ _ 108 

Randolph, Vt., granite of_____ 118-119 

Keel Beach Granite Co., quarry of,

Calais, Maine______ 26T 

Reds-tone, N. II., fluidal cavities in

granite of_____ 17-18, 19 

Reds! one green quarry, Con way,

N. I-I., product of 168-169 

Bedstone pink quarry, Conway,

N. H., product of 166-168 

Bedstone quarry, Westerly, R. I.,

product of_____ 412-413 

Roinhalter quarry, Quincy, Mass.,

description of __ 327-328 

Revere. Mass., felsite of_____ 339-340 

Rhode Island, constructional granite

of ____________ 424

inscriptions! granite of _ 428

monumental granites of____ 426

production of granite in 462-463

quarries in, descriptions of 403 418

distribution of _____ 103, 403

sculptural granites of 427

Richards, R. H., analysis by_ 346, 347-348

Rickor quarry, Biddeford, Maine,

product of ______ 2T4 

Ricker quarry, Topsham, Vt., description of _____ 118 

Ricketts & Banks, analyses by

247, 250, 209, 398

Page.

Rift in granite, definition of____ 15 

previous observations on___ 15-17 

relation of, to fluidal cavities- 17-21 

Rift structure, nature and production of ________ 24-26 

Ritch quarry, Greenwich, Conn.,

description of ___363-364 

Robertson quarry, Franklin, Maine,

; description of ___ 218-219 

Robeson Mountain quarries, Woodbury, Vt., description 

and product of_ 36, 149-151 

Robin Rock quarry, Lynnfleld,

Mass., products of 289-291 

Robinson, Franklin C., analyses

by _____ 166-167,168-169 

Rochester, N*. H., granite of____ 202-203 

Rochester, Vt, granite of_____ 159-160 

Rockport, Mass., dikes in quarries

at _____________ 53,54 

granite of, geology of__ 291, 293-294 

nature of__________ 291-293 

monument from, plate showing- 320 

quarries in ___________ 294-303 

plates showing _____ 321 

topography of 291 

Rockport Granite Co., Upper pit of- 295 

Rockside quarry, Roxbury, Conn., description of--____ 371-372 

Rogers, E. T.. analysis by_____ 213 

Rogers quarry, Quincy, Mass., product of__ ______ 333 

Rosa quarry, Ryegate, Vt., product

of____________ 116 

Ross quarry, Fall River, Mass., product of__________ 285 

Ross quarry, KennebunUport, Maine,

description of______ 277 

Round Pond quarry, Bristol, Maine, 

carved granite from, 

plate showing_ __ 256 

description, of____--__ 248-249 

plate showing___ _ _ 161 

Roxbury, Conn., granite of 371-372 

Roy quarry, Oxford, Maine, product of___-_____- 253 

Rust stain. See Stain, rusty. 

Rusty-faced granites, table of _ 429 

Ryan-Parker quarry, Crotch Island,

Maine, description of 224-226

Ryegate, Vt., geology of 113-114

granite of _____ __ 114-116

s.

Sachem Head quarry, Guilford, Conn.,

product of______ 383-384

St. George, Maine, quarries in__ 239-241

St. Louis, Mo., granite for post office

and customhouse at _ 248. 

granite for public library at_- 260

St. Paul, Minn., granite for soldiers'

memorial at _ 138

Salter quarry, Groton, Conn., product of__ __ 385-386
INDEX. 485

Ptge.

Sands quarry, " Vinalhaven, Maine,

description of__ 243-244 

plate showing_________ 256

" Sap " granite, use of__ _ 33S

Saratoga, N. Y., granite for monument at_________ 397

Sartorl quarry, Quincy, Mass., product of__________ 335

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., granite for

obelisk at _____ 379

Savo quarry, Quincy, Mass., product

of__________ 331-332

Savoie quarry, Full River, Mass., features of __ 2S4-2S5

Schist, contact of granite with, plate

showing_________ 256 

included in granite, plate showing____________ 256 

injected with granite, plate

showing_______ 160

Scope of the report 1-2

Scott quarry, Waterford, Conn.,

product of______ 394

Sculptural granites, table of 427

Seam-faced granite, quarries producing__________ 336-338 

use of-_ 338

Sears quarry, Fall River, Mass., features of __ 285

Searsport, Maine, granite of 261

Segregations, acidic, occurrence and

features of_ 60 

basic, occurrence and features

of ___________ 58-59

Selden Neck quarries, Lyme, Conn.,

product of _ 390

Settlement quarry, Deer Isle, Maine,

description of _ 229-230

Seymour, Conn., granite of 384-385

Seymour Street quarry, Bristol,

Conn., features of__ 365

Shade of granite, effect of hammering on_____ _ 79-80 

use of term_ ___ _ 14

" Shake," occurrence of-_ _____ 39

Shaker qunrry, Grotou, Mass., product of_________ 308-309

Shattuck Mountain quarry, Calais,

Maine, product of__ 265-266

Shear zones, occurrence of__ _ 38-39

Sheohan quarry, Lynu, Mass., features of_________ 340

Sheets, thin, formed by coinpressive 

strain, plate showing___________ 160,256

Sherman & Edwards, analysis of

granite by___ __ 199

Sherwood quarries, Crotch Island,

Maine, description of- 227-228

Shirley quarry, Ilooksett, N. II.,

product of_______ 194

Sinclair prospect, Bast Sullivan,

Maine, product of _ 232

Slater quarry, Glastoubury, Conn.,

features of______ 369

Smith, George Otis, The occurrence

of grajaite in Maine. 205-209

Smith Lower quarry, Barre, -Vt, description of_______ 137

Smith North quarry, Westerly, R. I.,

features of__ __ 414

Smith quarry, Westerly, R. I., description of_____ 410-411

Smith Upper quarry, Barre, Vt.,

product of______ 135-130

Snow Flake quarry, Fitzwilliam,

N. EL, product of__ 173

Snowflake quarry, Mount Desert,

Maine, product of__ 223-224

Sorners prospect, Waterford, Conn.,

features of_______ 397

Souhegan quarry, Milford, N. H.,

product of______ 187-188

South Brooksville, Maine, quarries

at ___________ 216-217

South Thomaston, Maine, quarries

in __1________ 238-239

Specific gravity, determination of,

as a test for granite_ 102

Spectacle Pond quarry, Sunapee,

N. H., product of___ 203

Spence & Coombs quarry, Berwick,

Maine, product of____ 273

Springfield, 111., granite for Lincoln

monument at _ 275

Springfield, Mass., granite for United

States armory at__ 304

Sprucehead quarry, South Thomaston, Maine, description of________ 238-239

Stacy quarry, Braintree, Mass., product of- _ ____ 335

Stain, rusty, occurrence and causes

of ____________ 66-69

rusty, removal of___ ___ 69-70

test of granite for_ _ 99

Stark, N. H., granite of_______ 177

Steiger, George, analysis by_____ 306

Stephen & Gerard quarry, Barre,

Vt., description of__ 132-133

Sterling, Conn., quarries in____ 400-402

Sterling granite gneiss, description

of __________ 358-359

Sterling quarry, Sterling, Conn.,

product of_______ 402

Stevens quarry, Nashua, N. II., description of_______ 193

Stinson quarries, Sullivan, Maine,

features of_____ 230-231

Stinchfleld quarry, Hallowell, Maine,

product of__ 233-234, 235 

structure in _ 234

Stinziano quarry, Fall River, Mass.,

features of_______ 285

Stonlngton, Conn., quarries in__ 392-394

Stonington district, Maine, geologic 

relations of the granite in___________ 224 

quarries in, descriptions of_ 224-230 

distribution of________ 224
486 INDEX.

Page.

Stonington quarry, Spruce Island,

Maine, product of 228-229 

Stony Creek, 'Conn., polished and 

hammered granite 

gneiss from, plates 

.showing __._____ 400 

Stony Creek quarry, Branford,

Conn., product of_ 379-380 

Stoughton, Mass., granite of____ 315 

Strain, compressive, effect of, on 

granite, plate showing __________ 160, 256' 

compressive, fractures caused

by ____________ 40-41 

" Strain sheets," use of name___ 34 

Straiten quarry, Barre, Vt., description of__-_____ 140-141 

Strength, compressive, transverse, 

and tensile, tests of 

granite for _______ 101 

Structure of granite_j._______ 14-41 

dome, plates showing______ 256 

double-sheet, cause of______ 36 

flow, indications of______ 14-15 

use of term__________ 5 

gneissic, nature and cause of 65-66 

use of tcrm_ _ . _ 5 

joint, plates showing- _ 256 

lenticular, plates showing 256, 320 

" onion," causes of______ 32-36 

sheet, causes of_____ 28-31, 32-36 

observations on, in New

England____________ 32

plates showing______ 160, 256

previous observations on_ 26-30

Subjoints, nature and occurrence of_ 39-40

Sullivan, Maine, quarries in _ 230-232

Sullivan quarries, New Bedford,

Mass., product of 285-286 

Sunapee, N. I-I., quarries in 203-205 

Sunnyside quarry, Barre, Vt., operation of________ 138 

Swans Island, Maine, quarries on__ 232 

Swanville, Maine, granite of- _ 2G1 

Sweetzer, -Robert C., analysis by_ 350-351 

Swenson quarries, Concord, N. H.,

descriptions of___ 199-200 

Swingle quarry, Quincy, Mass., description of_______ 328-329

Syenite, polished and cut, plate

showing 160 

Syracuse, N. Y.. granite for soldiers 

and sailors' memorial 

at_____ _______ 399

T.

Tarbox quarry, Baileyville, Maine,

features of_______ 264

Tassin, Wirt, cited_______ 50>-51

Taylor quarry, Norridgewock, Maine,

product of 257

Tayntor quarry, Hallowell, Maine,

description of____ 235-236

Terms used in geology and quarrying___________ 467-471

1'uge.

Tests of granite __________ 99-103

Texture of granite__________ 9-10 

plicated gneissic _________ 93

Thomaston, Conn., granite of__ 372-373

Thomaston granite gneiss, description of_________ 358

Thompson quarry, FitzwilHam, N. H.,

product of________ 174

Thornberg quarry, Addison, Maine,

product of_____ 262-263

Tidewater, quarry on, plate showing____________ 25G

Tiffany quarry, Cohasset, Mass.,

product of_______ 315

Toledo, Ohio, granite for Fort Meigs

monument at_____ 149

Tonella King quarry, Milford, N. H.,

products of ___ 186-187

Tonella old quarry, Milford, N. H.,

description of___ 185-186

Toothachers Cove quarry, Swans 

Island, Maine, features 

of_____________ 233

Topsham, Vt., granite of______ 118

Torrington Borough quarry, Torrington, Conn, description 

of___ _______ 374-375

Townsend, Mass., granite of 313-314

Trcadwell prospect. Danbury, Conn.,

features of_______ 362

Treatment, economic, of .the granites, order of____ 103-104

Tremout, Maine, granite of_ _- 233

Trenton, N. J., granite for battlefield

monument at 235

Troy, N. Y., granite for post office at_ 154

Troy quarry, Troy, N. H., product of____ 175-176

Upper Sweuson quarry, Concord,

N. H., product of__ 199-200 

Uses of the granite - 418-432 

Uxbridge, Mass., granite of___- 352-353

V.

Veins, fluidal cavities in_ 22 

mineral, occurrence of 75 

muscovite, occurrence of 74 

zeolite, occurrence of 75 

Vermont, constructional granites of- 424 

granite railroads of_ 108 

granites of, geologic history

of___________ 107-10&

geologic relations of- 105-107

inscriptional granites of 428

monumental granites of 427

polish granites of 429

production of granite in- 451 454

quarries in, descriptions of___ 108 164

distribution of___ 103,104-105

map showing location of 108

operated in 1921 _____ 452-453

sculptural granites of__ 427
JJS'DKX. 487

Page. 

Vermont White quarry, Woodbury,

Vt., product of___.__ 151 

Vicksburg, Mis'8., granite for monuments in national military park at_ 151,200,411 

Victoria White quarry, Fitzwilllam,

N. If., product of__ 172-173 

Viualhaven, Maine, carved granite

from, plate showing_ 250 

monolithic columns from, plate

showing_________ 256 

paving-block quarry at, plate

showing-.. _____ 250 

quarries in ___ _______ 241-248 

Vitreousness of granite_______ 12-13 

Voorhis quarry, Greenwich, Conn.,

product of_____ 302-303

W.

Wtildoboro, Maine, contact phenomena ut_______ 90 

Waldoboro quarry, Waldoboi-o, Maine,

plate showing______ 250 

product and structure ,of_ _ 249-251 

Ward, Freeman, cited-______ 380-381 

Ward quarry,. P*lham,~Mass., product of ________ 305-306 

Warren, Conn., granite of ------- 375

Washington, Henry S., analyses

by________ 292-293, 318 

Washington, IX C., granite for Baron 

vou Steuben monument at ____ ___ 380

granite for bridge over Potomac

River at_________ 223 

Freer Art Collections Building at _ 352 

General Sherman monument

at______________ 149 

General Staff College at__ 379 

General. Thomas monument

at -_________ 216 

Hnhnemann monument at- 214 

Library of Congress at 176, 198 

Lincoln Memorial at _ 348 

McMillan fountain at__ 379 

Municipal Building at__ 215 

National Museum at__ 347, 348 

New National Museum at 159 

post office at_______ 159,1G9 

Post Office Department

building at_______ 244 

Senate Office Building at__ 198 

Waterbury, Conn., granite for bridge

at -_ 339 

Waterford, Conn., contact phenomena at____-__ 89-90 

granite monument from, plates

showing____ _ 400 

quarries in__ _ 394-399 

Waterford quarry, Waterford, Conn.,

description of____ 397-399 

Watson, T. L., analyses by b 

Weathering of granite, effects of,

plate showing 256

Pnge.

Weathering of granite, ovoidal__ 72-73 

process and rate of_______ 70-72

Webb Fitzwilliam quarry, Pitzwilliam, N. 11., description 

of_-________ 171-172

Webb Marlboro quarry, Marlboro,

N. H., description of_ 174

Webb quarries Nos. 7, S, and 10, 

Mil ford, Mass., product 

of___________ 3D1-352

Webber quarries, Woodbury, Vt.,

products of__ __ 152

Webster quarry, Vinalhaven, Maine,

features of____ _ 245 

plate showing________,__ 256

Weight of granite__________ 10-11 

determination of_________ 102

Wells, Maine, granite of_____ 277-278

Wells-Lamson quarry, Barre, Vt.,

product of_____ 138-139

Wcskeag quarry, South Thomaston,

Maine, product of_ 239

West Point, N. Y., granite for Battle Monument at__ 379

Westbrook, Maine, granite of___ 212

Westerly, R. I., carved "blue Westerly" granite from, 

plate showing ____ 401 

contact phenomena at_ ____ 91-92 

granite of, geology of____ 403-406 

nature and composition

of____________ 406-408 

quarries in_____408-415, 416-418 

quartz monzonite from, plate

showing_ __ __ 400 

topography of ____ 403

Westford, Mass., quarries in__ 309-313

Wetmore & Morse quarry, Barre, Vt.,

description of! _ 135

Wbarff quarry. Sec Palmer quarry.

White Mountain quarry, Conway, N.

H., product of___ 169-170

White quarry, Bluehill, Maine, description of____,__ 214-215

WhitefieUl, Maine, granite of___ 251-252

Whitinsville, Mass., soldiers and 

sailors' monument at, 

granite for_____ 399 

soldiers and sailors' monument

at, plates showing 400

Whitney, J. D., cited 27

Whittle, C. L., cited________ 338

Wichita, Kans., granite for soldiers 

and sailors' memorial 

at__________ 151

Wigwam quarry, Quincy, Mass., prodi

uct of________ 326-327

Wildbur quarry, Barre, Vt., description of_ 142

Wildcat quarry. Sec Willards Point 

quarry.

Willards Point quarry, St. George,

Maine, features of 241
488 INDEX.

^ Page.

Willimantic gneiss, description of_ 359 

Wilmington, Del., granite for courthouse and municipal 

building at_ __ 352 

Wilmington, N. C., granite for customhouse at_ __ 348 

Windham, Conn., granite of____ 402-403 

Windsor, Vt., granite of, description of ________ 162-163 

granite of, geology- of - ______ 161-162

quarries of_____ _____ 163-164 

Winquist quarries, Quincy, Mass.,

product of_______ 324 

Woodbury, Vt., carved granite from,

plate showing_____ 160 

contact phenomena at______ 88 

geology of________ 146, 147-148 

granites of___________ 146-147 

quarries of_____,______ 148-153 

topography of_'_ ___ _ 145

Page.

Woodbury quarry, Bethel, Vt., description of___<_158-1&9

Woodstock, Maine, granite of_ 253-254

Wormwood quarry, Biddeford, Maine,

product of,_________ 275

Wrentham, Mass., granite of 314

Wright quarry, Westford, Mass.,

features of _ 313 

YV' 

Yon quarry, Fitzwillia'm, -"- N. H.,

features of______ 173-174

York, Pa., granite for State soldiers'

monument at______ 134

Yorktown, Va., granite for national

monument at__ _1_ 235

Young quarry, Milford N. H., product of________ 190-191 

'A.

Zeolite, veins of-_-_l____ _ 75

o