Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1895-01-18
The New Stone Discovered
in Morrison County by
e. ROthwell.
1t is Superior to. Granite
for Paving and Building
Purposes.

miles south of Little Falls. and mile
and a quarter west of the Mississippi
river, whict,uis destined to take the
place of granite for all building and
paving purposes. Little up to this
time has been said about the find by
the owners, Messrs. E. ROthwell, OF
Little Falls, Geo. w. Stewart, of st.
Cloud, and NJ. N. Young, Of Royal
ton, because they have been making
certain tests. But samples of the
stone got out and were tested for
parties who were not interested in
the quarry, by geologists and other
men who are authority on such
matters. The report of the city
engineer OF Minneapolis is especially
interesting on this subject. The
question of finding the best paving
material is agItating the engineers
of the cities Of the United States.
Exhaustive experiments and tests
have been made, and Morrison
county is to he congratulated upon
having the best article within her
borders. The reports OF these men
were published in the papers Of the
Twin Cities and caused no little
amount of excitement in the granite
producing cities of the state, especi-
ally St. Cloud, where the Journal
Press took occasion to misquote
articles to the injury of this new find.
In the Journal Press Of Jan. IA, an
article was published with the head
ing, "Granite the Best. A Mime
apolis Council Committee Says it is
Best for Paving on Business
Streets Then followed an article
from the Minneapolis Tribune OF
Jan. 10, which was the report Of a
committee which was appointed by
the city council of Chicago to gather
data as to the best paving material.
This. of course. might have been a
mistake on the part OF the Journal
Press, but upon referring back to the
Minneapolis Journal of Jan. 7, we
find why it was that the st. Cloud
paper wished to have 1t appear that
it was the report OF u Minneapolis
instead of a Chicago committee, for
in that issue of the Minneapolis
journal the following is found:
"Probablv the most interesting teat-
ure of City Engineer Cbappelen's
Forthcoming report is his summary
OF tests of stone and brick intended
as paving materials. Samples were
tested for absorption Of moisture,
abrasion and hardness, and from the
figures obtained he finds that the
best natural stone is the Little Falls
mica schist. This is followed by
granite and Kettle River stOne.'
This then was the reason why the
journal Press wished to have 1t ap-
pear that the report in favor of
granite had been made by the Min
nespolis committee instead of the
Chicago committee. The Little
Falls stone had come into cOmpeti-
ton with granite at Minneapolis
and took first prize while it was not
known of by the Chicago committee.
This NAV be one method the jour-
nal Press has Of aiding the industries
Of that city, but it will avail them
nothing in the long run. The saying
in the Good book, BE sure thy sins
will find thee out" il peculiarly
adapted to this case of the Journal
Press.
The best description given Of this
stone is by Professor Hall, Of the
Minnesota state university, who
made a report on it Nov. "a, 1894, at
which time he named it "Biotite.'
He says of it. This quartz Biotite
resembles q very fine grained
granite in appearance and is not
open to any of the objections that
have been made against this we'll
known paving material. In the first
place, granite wears perfectly
smooth and becomes slippery, and,
as all know, takes a very high polish.
As laid in this city, rough dressed,
the street soon becomes a succession
of small, slippery hillocks, for gran
lite will not wear down even. This
rock being or much firmer texture,
will, it is claimed, in the course Of
time wear down to an even surface,
which will never become perfectly
smooth and hence will not be slip
perry. If such is the case, it will also
be comparatively noiseless as COM
pared with granite. The new ma
terial is not at all soft. 1t is as
heavy as granite and on account OF
the large percentage of quartz in it's
is hard and durable.
even more SO than granite.
It has been subjected to some very
severe tests, side by side with the
best specimens OF 81 ante, by inter-
ested parties in this city. and has
held it's own. In the matter of alb