The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-05-05
A BIG THING.
Modern Methods in a Stone
Quarry.
Visit TO Gus Widell's Two Bee Hives
of Industry North of the
City.


a visit to Mr.. GINS Widelrs two stone
uuarries, the reporters of the daily pa
pers rode out in style in that gentle
mans easy riding carriage yesterday
afternoon, behind fine team and
driver 1t is pity that more of our
citizens do not visit these quarries as
it is doubtful whether half a dozen Of
our business men have any adequate
conception of what is being done. Mr.
Widell himself expresses surprise that
so few citizens of Mankato have visited
his quarries, and yesterday could not
recall having seen more than three
there 1t is amazing that our people
can show such apathy in regard to the
chief industry of the city.
In the upper quarry, which is owned
by the Chicago & Northwestern road
but operated by Mr.. Widell in getting
cut stone for contracts along that road,
were found twenty-five stone cutters
and a hundred quarrymen, engineers,
etc, all busily engaged in hewing
blocks of stone from the vast bed that
stretches almost unbroken from Man
kato to Kasota. This is very good
quarry and the work is under the gen
eral management of G. S. Hallstrom.
john KOrsell is the foreman of the stone
cutters, while Hans Rosenberg, Olof
Johnson;and Theodore Schuette are the
ledge bosses.
Mr.. Widell was waiting at the upper
quarry for his guests, and after view
ing the work being done at this place
he guided the scribes back to the car
riage, took the reins and drove north
ward until his own quarry, called the
''Klondike quarry" was reached. This
quarry consists of 100 acres, and Mr..
Widell has complete and undivided
ownership of it. OF course, the greater
part of this valuable property has not
been opened up, and sixty-five acres
have been seeded to wheat and oats.
From the vast amount of work done,
one is astonished to learn that this quar-
ry has not been operated over year.
1t is a great beehive of industry and the
opened portion stretches around in
almost circle. Here, fortyfve stone
cutters are at work and 155 quarry
men, etc. John johnson is foreman of
the bridge cutters and has been with
Mr.. Widell for five years, having been
with Mr. McMullen before that time.
Mr.. Widelrs brother, John Widell, has
the general management of this quarry,
and his father, J, g. Widell, has charge
of the stripping. I. N. Griffith is an
invaluable adjunct to this quarry,
although untitled. Ben Nelson, Jens
Odegard, Christ Anderson, Alfred
Olson, Nels sandquist and Alfred ALL
strom are ledge bosses.
Mr.. Widell has his office temporarily
in John Widell's house, but expects to
soon erect fine new Office building.
Mr.. Widell's sister-in-law, Miss Lula
Burt, is his stenographer, and is kept
very busy.
The Omaha and Minneapolis & st.
Louis roads have sidetracks to the Klon-
dixie quarry. The tracks were filed
with empty fiat cars, running over the
hill as far as the eye could see, the
track following the curvature of the
ground. Notwithstanding all these
'empties," Mr.. Widell said that his
chief difficulty is to get enough cars.
Every car that was on the tracks was
to be loaded and sent out by tonight.
From both quarries, an average of fifty
Car loads of stone must be sent out
each day, which will give some idea of
the magnitude of the contracts on hand
and of the work being accomplished in
the quarries. To aid in getting the
stone to the railroad tracks, three dunn
my tracks have been constructed in the
Klondike quarry, one passing under an
arched roadway.
Mr.. Widell is a believer in modern
methods, and employs labor saving
machinery wherever possible. Last
Year he purchased three steam drills
that operate like sewing machines
picking holes into the rock at great
rate. Each one does the work formerly
done by ten men. AT first the work
men looked upon these with jealous
eyes, fearing that they would be the
means of costing many of the men their
jobs, and the machines had to be closely
watched to prevent damage being done
to them. ...-....
In walking along one of the tracks,
great piles of white colo1ed stone blocks
were noticed. These, Mr. Widell said.
were from the famous "cut stone ledge"
and were to be used in bridge building.
The blocks averaged six tons each in
weight. and each one was marked so
that its exact location in the pier or
abutmeut for which it was intended
was known. In this way not stone is
wasted, and culvert or bridge pier can
be put together in very short time by
men who understand the hieroglyphics
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