The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-04-30
AN ESSEX MINE. :
Avondaie 0uarries Prove
a Rich Mineral EndoW-
ment to the Locality.
COAL AND COPPER ABOUND
Chief Product a Building Stone
Used All over the
Continent.
COAL AND COPPER ABOUND


Probably the best evidence Of a new i'm,
petus in the business world is the III
creased demand which is being made
upon natures torehouses-the forest and
quarry. This is noticeable in every part
of the country, and Essex County is no.
ception. While the latter has rot bean
a~bundantiy endowed with woodland, yet
it can boast that within its boundaries
are the largest quarries in the State, and,
indeed, some of the most important with
in hundred of miles of New York City.
These are the Ayondale quarries, lying
between Bellevillc and Franklin, the pro-
duct Of which are the light redish brown
stone and the gray rock, which figure 50
largely in the prominent new buildings OF
many of the Eastern cities, and which are
exceptionally adapted to the most modern
architectural designs.
1t is only recently that the Avondale
quarries have been worked to their full
capacity. How busy they are these days
is obvious to every one in the neighbour
hood, for the hiss of escaping steam, the
changing Of the engines and the deafening
noise from an occasional blast ring he
note of industry in a fashion that cannot
be misunderstood.
The quarries are on the west bank Of
the Passaic River and a short distance
from the Avondale Station of the Newark
and Paterson branch of the Erie Railroad
The largest of the group is on the south
side of the road leading from the station
to the river front. This Is operated BY
the Passaic Quarry Company. ard form
erly composed two distinct quarries. On
the north side of the road is the quarry
Of the Belleville Stone Company. In
fomer years the three quarries were
known as the Joyce, Robsin and Phillips.
Walking for about $50 yards along one
of the railroad tracks used for carrying
the heavy stones from the quarry for
shipment, the visitor reaches the present
workings or the Passaic Quarry Company
Directly overhead are stretched heavy
cables, on which are worked two fifteen
ton Ledgerwood cable weighters. To one
side is another heavy cable, by which the
aerial dump" capable of handling 600
cubic yards of waste material in ten
hours, is operated. Fully forty feet below
the narrow ledge. along which the tracks
are laid, is a large body of water. The
average depth of this pool is fifteen feet
although during the wet period Of last
August, when the quarries were flooded,
there was a depth of from twenty-three
to twenty-six feet. On all sides the walls
of brownstone rise to a height of nearly
100 feet. In some places the solid rock
has the appearance of having been cut
by a chisel, SO ever and perpendicular do
the sides appear.
The first opening was made nearly a
century ago. At tina time the demand for
ctpr1 q vvoc 1fp7itnd and n xroS NOT NINTH
1857 that the work was vigorously pushed.
In 1879 the production was greatly In
creased, and for a number of years gave
employment to 400 hands. Then followed
a decline. and the number Of workmen
gradually dropped to a tenth of the NUM-
Der employed in former years. About ten
years ago the Passaic Quarry Company
secured control of the lower quarries.
Things moved along fairly well until the
great depression in business of three
years ago, when work again be-
came scarce. In the past year, however,
new machinery has been introduced by
both concerns, and their capacity for sup
plying stone is almost unlimited.
The workings move in a westerly di-
rection, and extend from within a short
distance of the river, nearly a quarter of
a mile towar Washington avenue. The
dip of the rock is downward, and com
sequently both of the quarries are below
the level of the river, and all the year
around steam pumps, with a total
capacity of over 5000, 900 gallons of water
every twenty-four hours. are at work.
keeping the water below a certain height.
The everything earth is a glacial drift,
and contains much redstone imbedded
with sand n gravel.
After being quarried the stones are
hauled upon low trucks which travel over
a miniature railroad, or by oxen that drag
heavy cars to the river, where they are
shipped Upon low fatboats to their points
of destination. Sometimes immense blocks
Weighing as much as fifteen tons are ship
ped upon these boats. frequently a
single block Of stone weighing several
hundred tons is taken OUT in one blast.
In such cases the block is broker up into
smaller pieces by blasting before any at
tempt is made to move it. Over 1000
pounds of dynamite is the average amount
used in a week.
Up to 1885 the aggregate product of
these quarries was over $1,000 cubic yards,
valued at nearly 100000. At the present
time the annual output exceeds that
amount. The introduction of new
machinery has also reduced the number
Of employees required. and where 400
men were formerly employed. only about
a hundred are now needed.
The stone commands a wide market. and
the brown stone brings from seventy-fve
to eighty-hve cents per cubic foot. The
Passaic Quarry Company has now several
large contracts ON hand. among which Is
one for 1000 cubic yards of one kind of
stone. Stones from these quarries nave
been used in many well-known buildings
throughout the country, such as the
Mills Buildings, Hotel Waldorf, Western
Union Building, and several large bank
ing houses in New York; Fort Lafayette
the New York Cathedral and the Garden
City Cathedral. The greater part of the
stone used in the erection Of the Jackson
street bridge, Newark; the repair work on
the Greenwood Lake Railroad, and the
stone used in the erection of five new
school houses in New York City were
supplied from these quarries last year.
Many handsome residences in New York
Baltimore. Philadelphia. Chicago, and
even in distant San Francisco, rave been
erected from the product Of the Avondale'
Quarries.