Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-10-20

that the slate would split readily, used a
yreat deal for tagging. Some passing
Welshman seeing the flags explored the
country, and found slate which he be-
lieved would make roofing slate, and be-
gan in a small way to quarry. The first
quarries were opened in the poorest quality
of stone, and though they are worked
up to the present time, the slate they
produce is thick and clumsy, and not
equal in any respect to the later quarries.
The first slate was purple like the Welsh,
and then some green slate was made out
OF beds over or underlying the purple, but
all of it was rather clumsy, and the most
of it would fade badly when laid on the
roof, so that when compared with the
Welsh slate a Vermont roof seemed pie
bald.
Soon after the Vermont quarries were
opened, other Welshmen found and open
ed the black slate quarries near Bangor,
Maine. This slate will not fade, and
much of it is thin and tough, but it is not
so uniform in its quality as the Vermont
slate but when selected the Bangor slate
is as even and durable in texture as in
color. Slate was quarried in Pennsylva-
MIA little earlier than in Vermont. Some
of the quarries, such as those which yield
the Peach slate, have always pro-
duced a frst-class article, but the great
slate formation of Pennsy lyania, though
of enormous thickness, does not compare
in quality with Vermont or Maine slate.
The principal quarries are at Slatington
on the Lehigh, and at Clapmansville near
! Bethlehem. The most of the SlatingtOn
states are very soft, fade badly, and are
Improbable to the purchaser. although
there are some quarries which have been
worked so low in the ground that they
are of a very fine quality and greatly su-
periOr to the Chapman's slate. The latter
are crossed by riband of different quail
ity from the body of the stone. This rib
and makes the slate thick and coarse, and
though Chapman's quarry is the largest at
present in the country, the material
which it yields will not average in com.
parison with the best Vermont and Maine
as more than No. 2. The slate at North
field and Gullford, near tleboro, Vt,
are black, but fade, rust badly aud are
weak ; many roofs of Northheld slate
have proved leaky from the slate shatter
ing under the action of the frost. In this
respect the Northfeld and Pennsylvania
states are alike. both suffering from frost,
though very different in quality and tex
ture. The Northfield slate is metallic in
texture, but is traversed by multitude
o fine lines, which indicate what are call
ed blind joints, which take in water and
break when the water freezes.
The Pennsylvania states are soft and
absorb water, and consequently freeze and
gradually decay. The Granville slate in
New York are generally thick and very
l., 4 / r. a
on to d sickly, dirty green; but amongst
the green there are some thin beds Of
good purple, which eplit quite thin And
retain their color very we'll. The red
states are quarried mostly in Hampton,
and are SO scarce that they do not compete
with either the green or purple. Fading
has been the stumbling block to most of
the FAirhaven slate. This, added to the
thickness and clumsincss of the slate, first
and still made in many quarries, preju- |
dicsd the market; but ali the obstacles
have d sappeared, and We seem to be enter
tering on ii new and more prosperous era
in the slate business For many years,
the principal rivalry between our quar-
rlcs was due to the thickness of their
slate, which is plainly an important point.
Ii one quarry can produce slate one
fifth OF an inch thick, which is as strong
and durable az another slate only one
third or one-fourth of an iuch thick, the
thin slate must have the advantage in
freight, handling, weight on the root and
amount of nails used, etc. Indeed, every
step from the quarry to the root is direct
ly In favor of the thin slate. To counter
act this advantage, the quarries that
make thick slate have tried TO throw dis
credit on the Thin by claiming that only
thick slate WAS enduring, could hold
against pressure, cling to the nail, etc.
Even some have said that tniu slate would
break under hailstorms, but this kind of
argument soon loses its value with practi-
cal men. Slate of tough and elastic
quality will split thin and be strong, and
viii bend under pressure, just AS fine,
even, straight-grained piece of wood can
be 4plit to any desirable dimensions,
whilst d coarse, crooked, knotty piece OF
wood can only be reduced to the same !
dimensions by planning and great labor,
and ut a prOpOrtlOnate loss of strength
and whilst the thick slate cannot be {
split thin, the thin can be split TO any I
thickness we please. The difference in ,
freight between the West Castleton,
Scotch Hill and Dorman states, and the
less than thirty-seven cents square, ;
which is the equivalent of thousand
shingles between Fairhaven and Boston,
and of course the farther they are carried
the more apparent becomes the difference +
n freight.
We may class the thick states and thin
states Ill this way: Eagle, Dorman, Scotch
Hill, West Castleton,-th first (Eagle)
having been for many years considered G
The standard slate of the region, and the
last West Castleton) being too thick to
compete in freight or quality with the L
others. The thin slate, arranged in the "
order of their quality, would be the Glen v
Lake, Sheldon, Hooker, Bliss and Farnum. r
These thin, tough states have been sent
wo thousand miles, with less loss in
handling than befell thick states in the
ame train of cars or on the same boat. v
But so long as the slate faded in spite of r
perfection in thickness, evenness and II
durability, the black states of Pennsyl-
'anIa and Maine and the Wesh purple Z
'ut these quarries in the background,
md compelled them to sell at lower prices d
IT not sell at all. In 1868, the Glen Lake II
slate Company opened green slate vein,
mike In color to any other worked in the
world, and found a slate as thin, tough I
md durable rs their best purple, and un- a
aiding. The green is rather low in tone ;, -
hading towards blue, abeut the color OF =
cabbage leaf, but it forms one of the soft u
st and most harmonious colors Oh the Ia
oof, blending the sky and the building tt
ogether gently and pleasantly as an n
Id shingle roof. Whoever has noticed 6
olor in houses must have seen that, how i
yer carefully we study, and combine 81
olor in house painting, the most salts VI
actory building to the eye is the Il
npainted, wood-colored country barn Is
r farm house, whether we see it
gainst the sky, the grass or
mongst trees. The green slate gives k
be roof of building the same harmoni- OF
us tone. AS color no one can deny that q,
be rich purple of the Welsh slate makes
rtifa1 cHr.lino RI boroo +ha w