The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-12-28
RAILROADS
ARE NEEDED
To Develop New Hampshire
Granite
SUPPLY INEXH AUSTIBLE "
Railroads Should Be Built from Quarries
So That Stone Can Be Transported
to the Manufacturing
Plants.
SUPPLY lNEXH 4USTIBLE

Concord, n H., Dec. 27.A movement
Ihaying for its object the development
of the granite business in Concord has
Ibeen inaugurated, and it is believed it
lwil command sufficient popular sup
Iport to carry il TO successful issue.
THE plan, which involves operations of
the utmost importance, and will furnish
a realization Of the hopes entertained
for years by inhabitants Of the Granite
Estate, can scarcely fail to bring to the
front among New England industries the
quarrying and cutting Of Concord gran.
lite.
According to statistics in the Office
of State Labor Commissioner Carroll.
the increase in the granite product III
1905 over that Of 1908 in New Hamp-
shire, known the world over as the
Granite State, because of the mex
haustible supply Of the material stored
| in the many hills, was S349,99o, the to-
tai product being in round numbers,
lS1,905,265 The capital invested in the
granite industry amounts to S1,546,750,
and ninety.four establishments give EN-
lployment to 1716 men, who last year,
received S993 BPS in wages, or S172,S55
more than was paid the previous year.
Reports from these establishments show
the average highest wages to skilled
men to be $500 per week; average
lowest, 1910; average for the UNI
skilled, $500.
Concord's proportion Of the official fig
ures is by no means Insignificant, be-
ing: Capital invested, S390,750; value
of production, S595,s59; male employees,
OF; total wages, 1878, 555; amount paid
for salaries, $5,S7S; number Of firms
and companies doing business, 49, Six
concerns reported on increase Of produc-
ton during the year and one de.
crease, while seven reported an increase
in wages, one to the amount Of ga per
cent.
It is clearly understood that these
figures represent but a small fraction Of
what the Concord granite business might
be If one great lack should be supplied
railroads TO transport the stone to the
cutting sheds. The granite quarries are
practically all located on the eastern
slope, and near the summit of Rattle
snake hill, some two miles above the
city. Today, as fifty years ago, granite
is drawn by oxen and horses from the
qnalTies to the cutting sheds, which are
located along the line Of the Boston &
Maine railroad.
The necessary of employing the less
tedious and expensive means OF rail
road transportation was emphasized not
long ago by Prof. w. G. Dairy Of the
United States geological survey, who
made a careful examination of the hill
and its granite The supply, he said,
was inexhaustible, and properly devel.
oped Rattlesnakc hill would yield wealth
far in excess of that produced by cotton
in any New England city.
The one thing needed, he said, was
a railroad to take the stone from the
quarries to the manufacturing places.
Though long appreciated by Concord
people generally, the great need seems
at last to have seriously engaged the
attention Of local capitalists and business
men, and it is altogether likely that the
in question viii be energeti
cally pushed forward.