Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1870-10-27

- AO~eO
Tho law creating . Board Of Com.
nlissioncrs for the erection of new
State Capitol, makes it the duty oi
that Board to give preference TO ma.
terial obtained in Iowa, where the
equality and terms arc equally II.
vorable." In accordance with this re.
quirement, one OF the 6rst acts OF the
Board was the appointment o! a
Committee 10 examine such stone
quarries within the State, as might
be considered expcdient, and cause
such samples rs they might be fur
nishsd with, to be bjected to such
thorough scientific and practical tests
as might be necessary to ascertain
their value tor building purposes,
aud report the results OF their inves.
tigations to the Board rs early a.
practicable" The Committee, ~ ap.
pointed, consisted OF Col. ]. N. Dew.
ey, James Dawson and J. O. Crosby.
During = p0rtion,ot the tune Hon,
Charles Dudley officiaied il place ol
Mr.. Crosby, who was unable to at-
tend. During the Summer, the mem
bers of the Comsnittec. visited per.
sonally many Of the stone qaarries Of
the State. They collected, or caused
TO be sent to them, specimens from
more than thirty different quarries.
These quarries extend over . wide
range Of the State, embracing the
counties ot Lee, Van Buren, Henry,
Jefferson, WapeIlp, Mahaska, John.
son, Madison, Marshall, 'rama, Jones,
Black Hawk, Hardin, Webster, Ba-
cl,anan, and perhaps others. In rcla-
tion to the situation and capacity OF
each of the qnarries represented in
their colls0ti0n, Nss Committee hsvc
accumulated vast fund OF practical
and usefaA infarmatiep--Auseful, not
only IS .retatee to the building of q
State Capitol, but A. demonstrating
the Feeoprees Of the State il this par.
ticuiaf. - -. 80
A1Swskyf.sinys "a: ss s;1t,l thc
OFFICE Sf pbf eEwSy. Chairnn4 of tlib
ConlhkttA, Where we had an oppor-
tnnity. Of examining The various
spsci1 1e1s pollected. We had mo
doubt that Iowa qaarrios could afford
stone good enough, and abundant
enough, tor bsilding fifty State Cap.
itols, il ncccssar, but we did not ex.
pect to ,fnd 90 great . variety from
which. to select the material for tho
great work in hand.i Il 10 a %.
supdity to entertained the idea OF send
ing; beyond the bounds OF our State
tor first clSss building. stone, when
we have eitat home In tuch excelleace,
abandanoe an1 varsity. Among the
samples on Col. DewsyS = table, were
the various classes OF lilnestonc, in.
cluding magnesian and fossiliferous;
also sandstoues Of various grades,
colors and textures marbles, various
and beautiful granite, porphyry, and
gypsum. Talk Of Illinois ilrn,shing
building stone to Iowd We can
build our own State House and theirs
too, besides furnishing all the marble
that her great aristocratic city of
Chicago n,sy nerd ior ages 70 come!
Wl cannot ,9t 3his time eapecsiy the
various qaasries from which tho com.
mittee have obtained specimens. nor
would it bo proper to express any
opinion - TO the comparative merits
Of the different samples. These will
shortly be settled BY "scienti6c and
practical tests" Preparatory to this,
8 part of ths work in hand has been
to select an-avsrage specimen from
each quarry. Each specimen was
divided into thirteen different parts, %
follows: For chemical analysis 10