The Washington times., 1901-09-18
Big COLUMNS SHATTERED.
An Undertaking That Has Brought
Disastrous Failure.

Huge stone Shafts for the Cathedral
of st. John in New York Broken
on the Costly Lathe Which Was
Used in Finishing the Pillars.
NEW YORK. Sept. 1.-THE new Cathe-
dral of st. John the Divine in New York
city is to be adorned with huge granitepil-
lars, but the question now arises whether
these will be each a solid block, as orig
inally intended, or whether each column
will consist of two pieces Of stone.
In all New England says the New York
Herald there is said to be but one
massive bed OF granite where these great
blocks of stone can be gotten out whole,
and that is at the Wharf quarry, in Vim
alhaven. Ne. This quarry is owned by
the Bodwell Granite Company, which. un-
der a competitive bid contracted with the
Building Committee OF the Cathedral to
furnish eight granite columns to be used
in the construction of the edfice, of the
following dimensions:
Two of them were to be fifty-four feet
long by six feet in diameter and six fifty
one feet six inches by six feet.
These immense stone blocks were to be
finished and polished in the most COM
piete manner.
The contract and the attempts that have
been made during the last two and a half
years to carry it out make a most inter
esting story.
No such enterprise had ever before been
attempted in modern times, and the
knowing ones were full of doubts as to
the successful carrying out of the con-
tract, but the granite company-one of
the largest of the country-was full of
confidence.
Although 1t has always done a large
business in getting out stone columns.
the machinery and lathes used in its gen.
eral work were useless in handling so
large a piece of granite, and a specially
designed lathe. costing more than $4,000.
had to be built by Philadelphia concern.
After taking the contract the Bodwell
Granite Company discovered that there
was no quarry in all New England, the
granite-producing section of the United
States, where a block of stone of this
size could be quarried, except in its own
Wharf quarry, at Vinalhayen, and II is
needless TO state that the contractors
deeply regretted that this fact was un-
known to them ere their bids were sub
mitted.
However. they set to work upon the
first pillar in April, 1893, and after nearly
a years work got the big block of stone
into the yard, and workmen began the
task of getting ii into circular shape. This
occupied nearly another month, and then
the giant pillar was hoisted on to the
great lathe and the turning down process
began-power being furnished by large
and powerful steam engine. The stone
was got into the desired shape, the eight
great cutters on the lathe soon causing
the rough places to disappear. The fin
ishing process of polishing was then ap-
piled, and this work rushed with all pos
sible speed, the lathe being run night and
day.
The great column was nearing compile
ton, only three or four hours work be-
ing necessary to prepare it for shipment,
no mishap at all having occurred during
the whole period of its construction, when
suddenly, late one night, without an in
stant's warning. the immense block of
stone broke completely in two and fell to
the ground, large pieces chipping of in
the fall.
The exact cause of this accident Is not
the works that the pressure necessarily
applied to properly polish the stone Prov
ed too heavy for 1t, and the result was
the complete ruin of the pillar. represent
ing over a year of continuous labor.
No such contingency as this had been
apprehended by the company, after its
10 Il
result The utmost care had been en-
ployed throughout the entire operation,
and this casualty was an unexpected and
severe financial blow. Nothing daunted.
another huge block was detached from
fts native bed, shaped and set in its place
upon the lathe. This stone, however,
never reached the polishing process as it
gave way while it was being rounded into
shape.
third and last attempt was then
made, but II, too, was unsuccessful the
stone giving way to the action of the
giant cutters upon the lathe.
The enormous losses cccasioned by these
failures to produce in one block
the giant pillars called for by the contract
caused the management TO conceive the
idea of finishing couple or pillars in two
sections and shipping them to New York.
ta.g to make the change in the speci-
Committee of the cathedral.
The Wharf quarry. where all this good
stone has been quarried, shaped and
wrecked, has not been used much in re-
cent years, as the company gets nearly an
the stone from the Sands quarry near
the village Of Ninalhaven. The Wharf,
quarry is six miles from the town proper,
upon the northwest side of the island
In addition to the purchase of the cx-
pensite and enormous lathe, a big shed
and foundation were constructed there
workers, averaging about thirty men. in
cluding some Of the best of the COM
panys workmen. have been at work upon
TINS iH-starrec contract since the begin
ming.
The stone lies in large deposits. and in
quarrying the pillars the back side only
has to be drilled and plugged off. the
bottom cut having been made by nature
the fine stone being deposited in immense
layers Across the stone runs what is
called the rift" similar to the grain in
wood, and this is thought to weaken the
stone SO that it will not stand under the
operation necessary TO put il in the de-
sired shape and condition. II the rock
could be quarried the other way-with
the grain-experts think 1t would stand
the strain all right. but this is clearly i'm
practicable.
A block as detached from its native bed
weighs over 225 tons and it loses about
fifty tons in being wrought into the de-
sired shape.
Illustrations have been made showing
a view of the first block as quarried and
ready for the hands of the fashioners and
also the pillar in the lathe, a machine
which is by far the largest of its kind
ever constructed in this country The
process is applied by powerful
cutters running upon the track of the
lathe. which rapidly reduces the stone to
the proper dimensions and gets it ready
for polishing.
WHERE WIDOWERS ARE TAXED