Iron County register., 1892-12-15
a MIGHTY BLAST.
One-Half a Million Tons Of Granite
Made Ready for Cutting.


Made Ready for Cutting.
Before the invention of gunpowder,
the separation of masses of rock could
only Je elected by means OF the hammer
and wedge, or by the still slower meth
cd of fire and water. In soft and STRAIT
ifed rock, wedges are still used for
quarrying stones for building purposes;
but in hard rock, or where regularity
of fracture is no object, gunpowder is
ordinarily employed. There are two
modes OF blasting the small shot
system: and second, that of large blasts
or ..mines."
The granite quarries Of Iron county
have become famous for their large
blasts The increasing daily demand
for large masses of irregularly broken
stone, with which the quarrymen must
be constantly supplied. has made it
necessary to resort to large blasts. or
mines" These large blasts are of
two kinds headings" Or galleries
driven in from the face of the rocl, :;
and ..shafts" sunk from the top
II was the good fortune of the writer
to witness one of the latter kind recent
ly, and it is the purpose of this article
to give our uninitiated readers some
idea of the immensity of the pro-
cess and the results.
The Schneider Granite Company of
this county began about nine months
ago to sink a mime" for the purpose
of supplying stone with which to fill
their large contracts. Mr.. Charles
Schleuter had the work in hand, and
last Saturday announced everything
ready for the final touch.
A shaft four feet square was sunk
into the solid granite to the depth of
ninety feet, and from the bottom of this
shaft-hole two galleries were driven
one to the north forty feet and one to
the southeast thirty feet. At the end
of these drifts, or galleries" were
prepared two chambers, or .'pOckets."
into which the charge of powder was
placed. These pockets" were nine
feet in diameter. and into each were
placed eight tons of powder-sixteen
tons in all-and four sticks of dynamite.
The two chambers were connected by
wire and this wire was connected with
the main wire in the shaft and thence
to an electric battery fifteen hundred
feet from the mouth of the shaft. The
wires in the galleries and in the shaft
were closely tamped with loose stone
and debris; the wire from the battery
being protected from injury by being
laid in a groove cut in batten placed
up one angle of the shaft.
At half past two o'clock. the rail-
road engine whistle blew a continuous
blast, this being the signal for all to
repair to safe and convenient points of
view. The adjacent hills were soon
covered with spectators anxiously and
breathlessly awaiting the shock. At a
few minutes before three the whistle
again sounded and before we had time
to realize it there was a rumbling
sound. not unlike the rolling of distant
thunder. and a mountain of stone, dirt
and trees lifted into mid air and then
settled down a confused and smoking
mass. Large trees shot upward like
straws in a whirlwind, and stones of
various sizes were hurled in all direc-
tions. One especially large s5one was
seen to pass off at great altitude to-
ward the west and must have fallen at
Mr.. Schleuter. who sank thes'mine,"
seems to have made no mistake in his
calculations. for the result was all that
could be desired. At least half mil
lion tons of stone of all sizes and shapes
has been loosened from its slumbers.
and now lies ready to be quarried into
finished product for the market.
Mr.. P. W. Schneider, President of
the Company, was present superintend-
ing the work in person. Mr.. Schneid-
er is the pioneer in the granite business
of this section, having begun opera
tons as early as 1868. He stated that
this blast was the fourth one of the
same character and the most satisfact-
ory in results. Why" said he, Il
have stone enough in sight to furnish
employment for 800 stone-cutters for
30 years"
Mr. Schneider's Company has several
large contracts on hand at present, and
are shipping paving-stone and crushed
granite to all the principal cities. They
are now prepared to furnish dimension.
paving. tagging and curbing stone in
any quantity desired. This company
recently furnished the '.Star King"
monument for the city of San Francisco.
and are now engaged in furnishing
granite for the new City Hall of st.
Louis and the John c. Davis building
at Westmoreland Place. About
three hundred men are constantly en-
ployed, and the company has an i'm
mense plant of machinery for handling
and preparing the rough stone into
finished product
This granite business has for a num-
Der of years been one of the leading in
dustries of our people. and by furnish
ing work to large numbers of men, has
added materially to the prosperity OF
the county. The population has been
largely increased and we count among
our best citizens some of the men who
came here in consequence of this in
dustry. They came with their famil-
les, built their homes and have become
permanent fixtures in our body polite.
We wish these companies abundant
success, for when they and their en-
pioyes prosper We all feel the effects of
it and should rejoice at their pros
perity.