Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-09-09
GRANITE.
How 1t Is Quarried and Prepared for Use
Where the Stone Comes From.

How III is Quarrled ana Prepared for Use
Where the Stone Comes From.
reporter of the Cincinnati Sun, in
IN interview with an old time contractor
the following information in
regard to granite: "In the first place.
granite appears to be the fundamental
rock of the earth's crust, and is nearly al
ways found in its perfect state in noun
famous regions. To be sure, it is oc-
casionally found as the superficial rock 3
In Hat or rolling plains, but most always
Is found in hills and mountains. 1t is
the hardest to get at of any of the more
valuable of the building rocks, but when
uncovered and opened up is compare
tl'eiy easy to work into rough shapes,
Dut polishing is another matter"
How Is it discovereL?"
Generally 1t crops out on the face of
cllf high up on hill or mountain hun
dreds OF feet above convenient avenues
OF travel The first thing to be done is
to climb up and skin the quarry-that is,
strip off sod and soil and blast out
ledge for the workmen. Then they hunt
for seams and assures to lessen the work
of blasting, Sometimes acres upon acres
have to be skinned before a single seam
or crack can be found. But when thew
find a seam they have half solved the
problem of quarrying, because the seams
show which way the granite will work
most easily"
"Then granite has grain?"
Yes, sort, of grain-e enough, anyhow,
to make it split accurately by proper
manipulation. Frequently the seams
traverse in parallel lines, in which cases
the workman has comparative picnic.
First he drills long rows of holes from
three and half inches to ten feet in
depth and five to ten inches apart"
"Then he blasts it out and that's all
there is of it?'
Scarcely. When he has drilled around
a section ten or twenty feet wide by forty
to eighty long he takes a lot of half round
irons, pointed like drills, and sets them
IN the holes in pairs, fiat sides together,
of course. Next he sets in his feathers,
which are nothing but small, slender, and
very tough steel wedges. He goes along
with light hammer and begins driving
IN his wedges with equal force, so that
the strain increases eventually all along
the line. Pretty soon there is sharp re-
port and the big granite rectangle jumps
up out of It's bed with a deep hollow on
Its under surface, there being no means
of getting at the bottom center with halt
rounds and feathers
''Is the granite then hauled to the cities
to be worked up?"
mo. Do you suppose they have der
rlcks up there on the mountains big
enough to lift two or three hundred tons?
The same process is renewed along the
grain to break the stone into long strips,
and it is then broken apart Iaterally by
sharp tools and hammers. Of course
there is enormous waste, but when gran
tie is found there is generally an abund-
ance of it, so it isn't much of an object
to save it. The difficulty in working it is
what makes it cost. The granite blocks
used in these streets are worked down
from the great rectangular masses Just as
have said"
''Where does our paving granite come
from, to be defni6e?"
"Rockport and Quincy, Mass, and the
coast of Maine are furnishing the most
of what we are using here; but fine paw
ing and building granite is found in the
Thousand islands and in New Bruins
wick
Glow is it shipped?"
"Pretty much as it's laid on the side
walks, only not in as great bulk. A
box-car will hold 1,200 blocks, which are
worth only $120 a car. So you see the
railroads get a mighty fat thing out of the
trans portation, as compared with the val
ue of the stuff"
''Where is the finest granite in the world
found?"
aberdeen, Scotland. That is the red
granite, which is full of quartz. 1t takes
On magnificent polish, but you've prob
ably noticed that they don't carve it
If a man wants a monument
Of Scotch granite to hold his cadaver
1own he must be satisfied with very quiet
designs. But it holds its sharp edges,
when they're once on, for ages, almost.
The Egyptians had the granite business
Town to finer point than any other peo-
pie on the round earth. They weren't
satisfied with shining it up, but they
carved it and worked it as baker works
another thing the people don't gen
orally know, is that many of the so-called
precious stones are nothing but quartz
One of the principal constituents of gran
tie. Agate, amethyst, carnelian, cats
eye, chalcedony, geode, and jasper are
all quartz formations, and our pleasure
traps and garbage carts are trundling
over acres of such rubbish every day of
5he year.
'Yet people call US CincinnatianS
'tingy. Science found way to counter
felt these stones in paste though, just
about the same time she discovered how
common is the natural article, so that the
market is surfeited with both, and neither
IS wanted. Brazilian peddle' spectacles
ire made from quartz, and California
diamonds, when not artificial, are worked
rom large clear masses of quartz, which
Ire found in Madagascar"
The Niagara Whirlpool.
PHILADELPHIA North American.