The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-11-03
GRANITE.
How 1t Is 0uarried and Prepared for
Use-Nhere the Stone Comes From.

How 1t Is Quarried and Prepared for
Use-Nhere the Stone Comes From.
a reporter of the Cincinnati Sisn, in
an interview with an old-time contrac-
tor obtained the following information
in regard TO granite; I'm the first place,
granite appears TO be the fundamental
rock of the earth's crust, and is nearly
always found in its perfect state in
mountainous regions. To be sure, it is
occasionally found as the superficial
rock in fiat 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
comparatively easy to work into rough
shapes, but polishing IS another mat
ter
How is it discoverede"
Generally it crops out on the face of
a cliff high up on a hill or mountain.
hundreds of feet above convenient ave-
nues of travel. The first thing TO be
done is to climb up and skin the quar-
ry-that is, strip off sod and soil and
blast out a 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 be-
fore a single seam or crack can be
found. But when they find seam they
have half solved the problem of quar-
rying, because the seams show which
way the granite will work most easily
.sJhan Granite has Grain pn
"1eS. sort OF graln-enough, any
how, to make it split accurately by prop
er 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 from five to ten inches
apart
'rrhen he blasts it out and that's all
there is of it?'
Scarcely. When he has drilled
around section ten or twenty feet wide
by forty TO eighty long he takes lot of
half round irons, pointed like the 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 a light
hammer and begins driving in his
wedges with equal force, so that the
strain increases evenly all along the
line. Pretty soon there is sharp re-
port and the big granite rectangle
Jumps up out of its bed with a deep hol-
low on its under surface, there being no
means of getting at the bottom center
with half rounds and feathers. -
..Is the grUnite then hauled to the
cities to be worked up?"
''No. Do you suppose they have der
ricks up there on the mountains big
enough TO lift two or three thousand
tons? The same process is renewed
along the grain to break the stone into
long strips, and it is then broken apart
laterally by sharp tools and hammers.
Of course there is enormous waste, but
when granite is found at all there is
generally an abundance of it, so it isn't
much of an object to save it. The diff
Guilty in working it is what makes il
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 definite?"
.'Rockport and Quincy, Mass, and
the coast of Maine are furnishing the
most of what we are using here; but fine
paving and building granite is found in
the Thousand islands and in New
| Brunswick"
How 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 about 1920 a car So
/ You see the railroads get n mighty fat
4 thing out of the transportation, as com
! pared with the value of the stuff"
J al "a. r
Aberdeen, Scotland. That is the
red granite, which is full of quartz. II
take on magnificent polish. but you've
! probably noticed that they don't carve
| it elaborately. If man wants monu.
/ ment of Scotch granite to hold his ca.
daver down he must be satisfied with
very quiet designs. But it holds iti
sharp edges, when they're once on, for
| ages, almost. The Egyptians had the
/ granite business down to a finer point
than any other people on the round
earth. They weren't satisfied with
shining it up, but they carved it and
worked it as a baker works ginger
/ bread.
Another thing the people don't gen.
orally know, is that many of the social
ed precious stones are nothing but
quartz-one of the principal consti-
tuents of granite. Agate, amethyst,
carneian, cat's-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. Yet people call us
Cincinnatians stingy. Science found a
! way to counterfeit 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. Bra
lillian pebble spectacles are made from
quartz, and California diamonds, when
not artificial, are worked from large,
clear masses of quartz, which are found
in Madagascar