Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1876-05-06
MT. HOPE.
BRICK-BATS.

We AaSo OCCu LlCdlcu I d SOOu ucal y
mud and rain for a while, but now every
thing is lovely, the frog singeth and the gal
linipper whetteth his bill.
Corn planting will be late but harvest early
Wheat, rye and oats look uncommonly well
especially the two first mentioned.
Quite a number Of cattle have passed here
going south. Grass is reported fine.
Mr.. John Hammond has lately returned
home from Jefferson City where he has been
in attendance Us a juror in the U. 5. district
court.
Mr.. 7. l.. McChesney's family h as lately
returned, after an absence of several weeks
in the country.
Mrs. Thomas CheatIlam died about the
Goth inst, of consumption.
Mr.. Shade Robinson, who has been suffer
Ing, for some time, from an absccss in the
lung, is recovering.
EDUCATIONAL.
Prof. Allison, lately OF Brownsville, has
organized u school ut this place, with the in
%tention, we understand of developing q high
school of the first WATER He has come here
well recommended; in fact, his reputation
seems to have preceded him. He has met
considerable encouragement, ard seems to
give general satisfaction, and it is hoped
that he may build up Il school. Friday, the
18th inst. was the occasion of his first monthly
examination, and the result seemed to have
been quite satisfactory to the audience.
C AND SPECULATIVE.
We promised, some time since, to tell
your Readers something about the fine stone
quarries near Warrensburg, johnson county,
but circumstances have made it next to i'm
possible until now. Ii it interests them, /
shall be satisfied ; if not. l must ask their
pardon for %intruding upon them. The VI
cinity OF Warrensburg has mu, b of interest
to the scientist. The INN ense deposits of
sandstone which underlie most Of the vicin-
ity, tell him OF a time when running water
was busy depositing sand, pure and clear,
in great quantities there, which afterward
hardened into stone through natural agen-
cles. In one instance, a stratum of pudding
stone was struck at q depth OF about 20 ieat,
while digging 4 well. This stone is compos-
ed Of gravels or pebbles of various sizes, en-
closed i'll u matriX of sand lime OF other kind
OF stone, like plums in a pudding. These
Materials, being course, tell us Of swift flow
ing walter at u time in the remote past, when
the surface of the earth was quite different
from It's present appearance. A few miles
south Of town IL an old coral reef, formed by
the coral insect, which cannot exist outside
Of salt water, and consequently, must have
been formed in sea, ocean or arm OF one. In
view OF these facts, such questions as these
force themselves upon us: Where did all the
sand come from out of which this sandstone
was formed? When was 1t washed there:
What caused it to remain there in such quan-
Titles? When We're those coral rocks formed.
When was the sea driven off by the upheuyal
OF the surface! Enough, however. OF specu-
lation we will come at once to the matter
In hand
About one and u hall miles north of War
rensburg are three fine stone quarries, called.
respectively, the W~arrensburs, Cincinnati,
and st. Louis. OF these, the latter is the most
important 4 description of which, however,
will answer for all, with this difference, that
in the st. Louis steam power is employed
but not in the others. They are within a
few hundred yards of each other. The st,
Louis is owned, III present, by the Pickle
Bros, of st. Louis. 1t has not been worked.
We believe, more than about three years.
The stone Is bare in some places, while In no
place is 1t more than u few feet below tn.
surface. The quarry, az now worked, is $50
yards in length, and 80 or 60 feet in width,
while It's maximum depth is about % feet.
At tins depth the stone becomes too soft for
use In building. In qlarrying, the first thing
Is to cut trenches around the outside. Just
wide enough to work in with a pick, and to
the depth of four Oh five feet. Transverse
are cut to about the same depth by
ME ans OF a
TRENCHER.
This consists of u neat little engine, mount
on u temporary track, with drills so attached
to each side OF the .musheen' That, in moving
back and forth, across the quarry, two
trenches are cut. about four feet apart, and
about three iuches in width. Wedge. are
then driven along the bottom of these blocks,
on the outside, and only ai-w inches apart,
each wedge being struck alternately with IA
sleds- or sled=es. until the whole mass Is
rlfted from its attachment underneath. We
then have a block of clean, beautiful sand
stone, with probably not q seam or flaw in
1t, 90 or 10 feet long, / In width, and 4 or . !