The Republican journal., 1885-08-20
Stone 0uarries in Maine,


An article on "Bulding and Ornamental
Stones of the United States" in the Popular
Science Monthly for August contains mention
OF some noted Maine quarries. Maine is one
of eight States which produce upwards of ST.
100000 worth of material, and Maine and
Massachusetts lead in granite. "The largest
works at present in operation are at Vinal-
haven, Maine. The quarries of the Bodwell
Granite Company were first opened here in
1880 and the present annual product is some
211,OOO cubic feet, valued at $112,000 The
capabilities Of these quarries may be best Illus
trated by stating that during visit to the
locality in the summer of 1888 the writer
George p. McrrilD was shown the remains of
large block of granite three hundred feet
long, twenty wide and from six to ten feet
thick, that had been blown out from the quarry
In single piece and afterward broken up.
The largest single block ever quarried and
dressed was the General Wool monument now
In Troy. New York, which measured when
completed sixty feet in height by five and
half feet square at the base, or only nine feet
shorter than the Egyptian Obelisk now in
Central Park, New York. The stone is light
gray, often slightly pinkish in color, and cor
responds closely with that from the now
abandoned quarries on Dix Island, whence
were taken the granite monolths, thirty-one
feet in height, for the Treasury Building at
Washington"
"For columns, house-trimmings, and espec-
tally monumental work, the granite from Hal
lowell, Maine, is used most extensively. This
rock is of fine and even grain, and very light
gray, almost white in color. Its texture Is
such that it can be carved very readily and it
has been used in statuary work more than any
other of our GRANTEES. The statues on the Pill
grim Monument, at Plymouth, Massachusetts,
are of this stone. An Italian designer, who
served his apprenticeship In Roman studios, Is
employed by this company, and many of the
workmen at the gIarries are said to be Italians
who worked in marble in Italy, but have learn
ed to cut granite since their arrival at Halo
WELL"
1.-The red and pink GRANTEES now in the mar
ket are nearly all from Calais and Jonesboro,
In the eastern part of Maine, though others
are quarried at Mount Desert, in the same
State; Lyme and Stony Creek, Connecticut
Westerly, Rhode Island; and Granitevle, Mis-
souri,. The Calais stone, which at present Is
the most important of these, is light pink in
color, of medium coarseness of texture, and
acquires beautiful surface and polish. Il is
used extensively for door-posts and the bases
of monuments in all our principal Cities COM
peting favorably with the coarser red granite
from Peterhead, Scotland, or that from St.
George, New Brunswick"
'Black GRANTEES are quarried in but two, and
these widely separated localties-St. George,
Maine, and Penryn, California. Both stones
are tine-grained and nearly black on a polished
surface, their dark colors being due to the
abundance of black mica, and horne5lende
they contain. The greater part of the rock
quarried and put on the market under this
name is, however, not granite at ALL but da-
base, a rock differing from granite in contain
ing neither quartz, orthoclase, nor mica. but
composed mainly of triclinic fedspar and
augite. The principal quarries of this rock
are at Addison, Maine; Medford and Somer-
vile, Massachusetts; York, Pennsylvania; and
near Jersey City, New Jersey. These rocks
are all tine-graned and hard, and of dark
gray color, that from Addison being nearly
black when polished. The colors are rather
too sombre for general building purposes, but,
when properly combined with brick or lighter
stone, the effect is admirable. The Addison
rock is being used to considerable extent for
cemetery and other monumental work, for
which it seems peculiarly adapted, and to-
the stone-work of the Capitol Grounds at
Washington
The writer says it is not the quality of the
material that gives to Maine and Massachusetts
the supremacy in the granite-quarryng BUSH
ness, but that this is due rather to natural
quarrying and transportation facilities. Gin
Maine especially many of the quarries are
situated on hllsides close by the waters edge,
where no artificial drainage is required, and
but little cartiDg of the stone is necessary prior
to loading it upon vessels. by means of which
transportation can be had to all the leading
cities in the country without trans-shipment,
an item of no small Importance with material
so bulky and heavy as stone. Added to this Is
the fact that the great glacial ce-sheet. that
once powed its way across the whole of New
England. has entirely removed the everything
mass of decayed rock and other waste material.
and left the fresh granite close to the surface
and readily accessible. In regions farther to
the South, beyond the limits of glacial action,
the granite beds are still covered with a mass
IF coI foot in ok
ness, and which must be removed before quar-
ryng can commence. 1t is probably due to
these facts that the granite of these two States
are enabled to compete so favorably in the
Washington market with those from near
Richmond, Virginia, distance of only four or
five hours ride by rail-
The writer thinks that us the country
grows and wealth accumulates the demand
for building and ornamental stones will in
crease and that the supply will prove equal to
the demand. ''In many of the Eastern and
earliest to be settled States" he says, every
little is yet known regarding their final re-
sources. In Maine, for instance, fully one
half the State is as yet an unknown land. Its
present quarres are nearly all Immediately
upon the coast. What are the resources of its
immense interior cannot with certainty be
foretold."