Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-08-23
IRONTON MO-, THURSDAY AUGUST %. 1883.

seventy-eight skilled qarrymen and
stone-cutters were on the pay roll OF
the company, and the total number OF
employees, including drivers and labor.
ers, exceeded $50. The total popula-
ton of the town is close on to 700, and
during the season seventy-f five children
attend the school erected by Mr.. Allen
and maintained by his liberality. The
town almost Immediately became estab.
lished as post Office; a telegraph line
has been projected and will be complet-
ed this fall in conjunction with a stree,
car line for the hauling OF passengers
and light freight from Middlebrook."
Ira c. Terry at this point called atten-
ton to the fact that the granite blocks
are hauled In fiat cars, each running on
three trucks, the center truck being his
invention. A car thus equipped car
ries load of 10000 pounds or 80 tons
of granite.
"And we have sent as high as
| TWENTY CARLOADS DAILY
out Of here" remarked Mr.. Newell
foreman of the quarries, who was en-
joy:ng his pipe in tho shadows.
Secretary Mott, who has read up the
subject of granite until he has become
a profound geologist, got the attention
of the group at this juncture and said:
"Granite, as known to science and the
| books, is a hard, firm rock, composed
OF feldspar, quartz and mica, united i'll
close-grained conglomerate, with an
utter absence of stratification. 1t is
this popularity Of grain which gives
it the name of granite. The mica is in
some forms of granite replaced by horn
| blende, when the compound is known
as syenite. Granite varies in color
| from bright red to a gray, but the
color cuts no figure in the matter of
durability. There are, however, vast
differences in the qualities of different
GRANTEES taken from the same neigh
borhood, and it was the accident, ig-
norant or perhaps deliberate useof this
inferior granite in the past that has
given the opponents of granite recon-
struction of the streets ofSt. Louis some
reason for their position. AS the quar-
ry is now conducted each block as cut
by the workman is examined by our
inspector, and if it is in any way at
fault it is rejected.
THE BLOCKS
are again inspected by a city official, on
duty where the paving is being done.
Forsythe, the great quarryman of Mon
treal, Canada, was in St. Louis two
weeks ago, at the instance of Chicago
parties, that city having granite recon-
suggestion of Gen. Turner he visited
the quarry. He was astounded that
we should take our granite out in five
ton blocks to cut up in paving blocks.
Such splendid blocks as you cut up
for paving stones would be used only
for monumental purposes in any other
quarry on the continent he said"
Supt. Walsh gave some information
as to wages paid the men working in
the guarries. The block-cutters are all
Scotchmen, brought up to the business.
1t is work of rare skill. The cutter
gets to cents for each block cut, A
cents for work on straight blocks, and
cents when the block is of an irregu-
lar formation. In the quarries off the
coast these cutters, or "reelers," ;" az they
are called, are paid only cents per
block. Men employed at Graniteville
make from $3.50 TO $3.50 per day. Mr..
Walsh also gave an extended descrip-
ton of the quarries near Knob Lick, st.
Francois county, where
THE TOWN OF sYENITE
has been built by the company. Two
quarries are in operation there, each
manned with steam drills. The gran
ite there is of the gray kind. The ma
chinery for polishing monumental work
is all at Syenite, and blocks are sent
from Graniteville to Syenite, eighteen
miles away, to be finished.
Everybody rises early at Graniteville,
and at an hour when ordinarily the
visitors would be enjoying a profound
nap they were out scrambling |
over great masses of paving stones,
walking around bowld ders, examining
the quarries and at last standing in
amidst the most remarka-
ble collection of mammoth powders of
rare, curious and striking shapes to be
found on this continent. The public
has been made familiar, by means of
autographs and photo
graphs, with some of the remarkable
geological formations on the lines of
,ailroads much travelled by tourists.
Often one towering sentinel, "devil's
arm chair" or lovers leap" is the sole
offered the tourist. Here,
within eighty-five miles offs Louis, and
Known only to few comparatively, is
PARK OF 800 ACRES,
more rocky wonders than