The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-08-21
PORT Deposit.
ITS GREAT GRANITE QUARRIES

! Ivy ol iiaNre tie bTacc anu lofL deposit
and gives the following account of what lit
saw and heard at the latter place:
For two miles along one narrow street
the homes of Port Deposi.--two thousand
people-are built. From the back doors on
one side of the street the eternal hills rise
abruptly to the height of one hundred and
fifty feet. The appearance of the town
makes one think that it WAS first settled by
weary wanderers who tloated down the
river and finding here the happy valley OF
their search, rested upon the landing place,
and too tired to climb high, there made their
homes. 1t was we'll for the infant town
that Its founders did not ascend the bluffs.
Charmed with the beauty of the scene that
is visible from the heights: gazing upon the
river with its islands, the bay below, the
hills OF Hartford opposite, generations might
stand upon these bluffs, or gather in their
| rich harveStS Of corn and grain and never
find the richer treasure that lay covered
beneath their feet.
Settling at the base of the hills Port De
posit founders said to the mountain, " BE
thou removed" and us they made room for
their houses they discovered the deposit OF
stone, which is called the I" Port Deposit
granite under Il farm which for many
years has been owned 10y the Lyons family.
Simon Freeze in 1918 began to quarry for
der the different firm names of McClenahan,
! Son u Co, or McClenahan Il Bro, the pres
| ent firm name, have worked the same
quarry. Mr.. Il. Emory McClenahan, the
member Of the firm whom found in charge
of the quarry, beside being imbued with
that spirit Of hospitality which is charac-
teristic of all Marylanders, is possessed of
the equally desirable, but by no means So
common faculty of explaining the business
/ which he ppuUurtS rlp1r and intalli pi
Bile way that the novice is in danger of
| tiattering himself that he too, has learned,
i'll an hour, all that there is to know.
The quarry was commenced at the river
! bed and has been worked into the hillside,
a distance of $50 feet from the starting
| point. The face of the quarry work at
present is 800 feet but the face can be ex-
tended both north and south for an entire
distance of l., 100 feet. The height from the
| river bed to the top of the hill is 100 feet
| The granite has been deposited in layers or
| lodges, one above another, Of from two to
| thirty feet in width.
| \ strange popularity of the formation of
| the granite in the Port Deposit quarry, one
/ in which it differs from the formation of all
| other granite known, is that the seams in
| the stone run straight up and down from
| the top to the bottom of the HILL while else
where the seams run horizontally. These
seams are mere lines, sometimes invisible
| until water Is thrown on them, that run
! perfectly straight through the stone. Their
| presence does not make the stone less
strong. BY striking along the seam with
hammer, a small stone can be separated
| into parts with as smooth Il surface as if
cut by knife, and larger blocks are sep;-
rated just AS smoothly by drilling and the
ingenious Use of wedges. The perpendicu
| lar position of the seams in the Port De-
poSit granite is taken advantage of in quar-
! rying. Small holes are drilled along the
seams ut certain distances apart, and are
| filled with DuPont'S powder. The guam
tity of powder used is very small as first
blasting must be done gently. The explo
sion of the powder i'll the holes will make Il
straight tissure through the stone where
only the seam had been visible. Powder is
then laid all along the assure, and the next
explosion will widen and extend the chasm.
| In this way the operation is continued until
Il huge block of stone is separated from the
hills. Owing to the perpendicular position
of the seams, and the way the quarry has
| been worked on account of Them the wall
of the quarry is composed of smooth planes
across which other and horizontal lines, IA
few inches wide, beautifully and distinctly
mark the termination of the different lodges
or deposits. The largest stone ever taken
from the quarry was 81 feet long, ~ feet
wide, and Ii feet thick. Its weight was
go tons. OF course Il stone SO immense
could not be shipped.
The largest stone ever shipped by the
| McClenahan's by rail weighed l6 tons A
stone weighing IL. tons was shipped bv
them to the Edgeneor Iron Company. 1t
is estimated that 200, 200 yards of stone
have been taken from the quarry since il
was first opened.
Although the water and dirt have run
down the chasms and have turned the face
| of the higher stone to 4 brown color when
the stone is dressed it is very pretty grey
| The chief merits of the Port Deposit granite
are that it holds its color better than any
other granite, and its extreme durability
| and strength. Cape Ann stone and East
ern GRANTEES turn green with exposure, but
/ the Port Deposit granite seems to be beyond
/ the influence of the atmosphere. On ac
count of its hardness, it is more difficult
and more expensive to work after it is sep
arated from the hill than other kinds of
granite.
| On account of its strength it is particular
| ly excellent for bridge masonary, and for
the foundations of huge buildings. For
this purpose Port Deposit granite has been
| used in the foundations of many of the
most important buildings and bridges re-
Gently built in Philadelphia, among them,
those of the Mutual Life Insurance Com
pany, at Tenth and Chestnut strs, the stone
! IOr WHICH CbSG SlD,VUU DtIOEe tile Dull ulnT
! reached the sidewalk: the Young Mems
Christian Association: the I;dgway Libra
ry, and of the Girard avenue and South
street bridges For a time some perons
! thought that the cause of the sinking of the
/ latter bridge might he found i'll the stone
used, but the constructing sineer has dis
covered that the fault lay in driving the
piles nearly through Il bed of gravel and
mud beneath. y part of the treasury ex-
| tension ut Washington, the first story of the
poStotfce at Dover, and the whole of the
last building erected at Haverterd Colleges,
are built of the granite, and among the
buildings for which the quarry is now sup
| plying stone, are the round house of the
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore
railroad, at Wilmington, and the female
college to be erected at Bryn Mawr, Pa,
with $500, 900 left by DR.. Taylor for that
purpose.
The quarry is at the extreme upper end of
Port Deposit, but the cars of the Baltimore
| Central Railroad run directly to the opening
in the hillside and carry away the stone
which 200 men and cranes delivered to
them. y portion OF the stone is sent on
scows miles down the river and is there
| loaded upon vessels
The principal buildings and some of the
houses of Port Deposit are built of this
granite, and the town, therefore, has q sub
stantial appearance in pleasant contrast to
the elapboard structures of adjacent
! villages.
With that respect which is due to her on
account Of her ancient pedigree, extending
back ono hundred years, gave Mr. McClen-
ahan's dog " keeta 4 parting pat, and our
party was driven by her master past Mr.
Tones residence and to the other end of
the town. Mr.. Tome has made for himself
Il little elbow room between the hill and the
river. and ut the foot of the hill has erected
a solid looking residence, built of the native
granite. He has dug away enough of the
hill behind the house to make a half-dozen
terraces. These terraces would be Il fortune
to a trucker" near large city. They are
shielded from the winds, and the sun shines
down on them giving them early in the
season the warmth Of q hot house. At the
height of iau feet above the house, on the
uppermost terrace, corn was growing. Every
one of the Strawberries raised by Mr.. Tome $
gardener may be said to be dug out of the
solid rock, and they would have to be very
early Strawberries to pay for the expense OF
preparing their soil.
\ certain foreign look is given the house
and grQ4nAs hY Ihesp TERRACES anu the odd
outbuildings which he has erected.
~ Remember S. j..