Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-04-12
GRANITEVILLE, IRON COUNTY,
MISSOURI.
The Aberdeen of Amerlca-Missouri
Red Granite and Missouri
Granite Men.

Three miles of railway winding
along a billy base, and skirting a
beautiful farm valley, takes you from
the main line of the Iron Mountain, at
Middlebrook, to famous Graniteville:
The village is the headquarters of
the Syenite Granite Company, and is
very attractive, with handsome resi-
dences grassy lawns, and numerous
cottages. The Company hotel is i'm
posing AMI has lofty rooms sufficient
for hundred guests. The big mer-
camille house carries $4,000 worth of
goods. The railway depot and offices
give exhibition-like array to granite of
many colors IN many a design, rough
hewn and in rare showing of the sculp-
tors art, and photographs, etchings,
and engravings adorn the walls.
Near the tall residence O. E. M.
Smith, is log cabin, rich in trophies
of the chase and curios, found on many
a hunt and prospecting tour.
The village is not only beautiful. but
seems the abode of peace. COttagers
are busy in their gardens, and from
their cages mocking-birds and canar-
les sound forth their joyous songs.
But back from the village brain and
Drawn are busy in the quarries and
works.
The Syenite Granite Company was
the first to open Quarries by blasting,
and their first accomplishment in that
regard was at Syenite. oyer in St.
Francois County, in 1888, when they
used 1900 pounds of powder at one
blast. They then used 1000 pounds,
and those instances proving successful,
they, at Graniteville, and only a quar-
ter of mile from the village, put
100000 pounds OF powder together, in
twenty-five-pound kegs, and when all
was ready, President VIM. Russell AL
len, with an ele ;tric battery, fired the
blast. The upheaval showed that years
of labor had been saved, and man.
moth blocks without a flaw can be Sc
cured with little difficulty. In fact,
stones of any size can be readily quar-
ried, the only trouble being transpor-
tation after the deed is done,
The Missouri Red Granite polishes
like a mirror and is as beautiful as
and has been shipped
East to the Atlantic and West to the
Pacific.
Some of the largest specimens from
those Quarries and works are as fol-
lows: the Hon. Tom Allen polished
at Pittsfield, Mass. 1t
weighs partly two tons and is the
largest polished monolith in the world.
The two polished columns in the
Studebaker building, Chicago, are four
;een tons each-two carved lintels in
he Mercantile Library, st. Louis, are
,wenty four tons each, and carved
intel In the Odd Fellows Hall build
ng, St. Louis, weighs twenty TONS
l base stone of thirty tons is in the
building, St. Louis;
ind twenty-six lintels in the MARSHALL
field, Chicago, building, aggregate
'0S tons; and those are only a few of
he large stones quarried, cut and set
~ the Company.
Those Quarries have been in opera
ion for twenty years. and the works
ire supplied with improved machin-
ry, new methods, and the best me-
hanics.
Chicago, St. Louis Cincinnati, In
annapolis, Louisville, New Orleans, !
'ittsburg and San Francisco. and |
many other cities, have monuments !
nd buildings which came from SVEN
te and Graniteville.
The Company has men in its employ |
7ho have been over the world and |
ad men who now are in every nation.
The present Company own the vii
age and 1000 acres of granite at Sy-
mite in St. Francois County, where
hey operated extensively and will
resume operations ere long.
heir Graniteville enterprise has now
My eighty-one men, but are adding
apidly to the force, and at one time
ad 600 men. They include draughts-
len, sculptors, carvers, and the very
est men who can produce from gran
,e any design for buildings and mon
ments.
The Company is an exceedingly
trong one in brain. enterprise and fl
ancial power. The President, w. r.
lien of st. Louis, (son of the late
Ion. Tom Allen. protector and build
r of the Iron Mountain Railway, is
nown over the length and breadth of
ne land, and his estate at Plttsfeld,
is one of the grandest
lock farms on the American CONT
pay roll indicating that to
ne tune of 50, 500 a month. The main
ateway of granite, is from the Gran
eville Quarry.
The Vice President, E. Nj. Smith,
resides at Graniteville, and was born
t Pittsfeld, Massachusetts. He is
ne of the senior members of the Com
any, and has been actively interested
ince the inception of the organization.
'esides being a thorough business
Ian, he is a noted Nimrod and ever
quail to any occasion.
The Company's chief Office is at 1875
outh Fourth Street, St. Louis, and
he Secretary, j. w. Wallace, is one
f the most methodical men in the
United States.
The Treasurer of the Syenite Granite