Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-08-31
JERSEY STONE
MORE POPULAR
MOntCIair Mans Enterprise Re-
suits in Starting Granite Quar-
rieS Near POmpiOn.

When that era in the architectural
history of New York city, character
lied by the almost universal use OF
brown and red sandstone for build
ing, passed away, New Jersey lost an
important and lucrative industry, be-
cause most of the sandstone from
the quarries of the safe was used in
supplying building materials to the
metropolis. The sandstone quarries
for the most part were closed, and
as fine grade limestone, which sue
ceeded the former material in popu-
lar favor, could not be procured from
New Jersey, the great quarry indus
try passed to other states.
Although what might be termed
the limestone age has not passed, and
perhaps never will, limestone has
long had to share honors with gran
tie. So diversified is public taste at
present that there Is likely to be no
granite age. But the two materials
will continue to be used for build
ing indefinitely. 1t was mt until after
teh passing of the sandstone age that
architecture in New York city made
any great progress. Once improve
ment had begun, however, great di-
versity in style characterized the new
movement, and the decorative archi-
lecture, including the use of colors,
became common. 1t was then that
the architecture of New York began
to assume somewhat the appearance
of the best architecture of Europe.
This period, which may be called the
Renaissance of American architec-
ture, got a considerable impetus from
the introduction in architecture of
tinted bricks and terra Gotta sculp-
ture. The use of these two materials
led naturally to a demand for some
thing in stone rarer and richer than
limestone and gray granite-some-
thing imperishable like granite, but
with color.
All the while recognizing the fact
that as taste changed and variety was
demanded new materials must be
found, quarrymen all over the oun
try were searching the hills far and
near. New quarries producing hith-
erto unknown stone were opened in
many parts of the country, but no
new product was finer or richer than
that which was finally discovered in
New Jersey to replace the discarded
and ~perishable sandstone of the for
mer age. The discovery of the quarry
which produces this stone-a granite
as hard as the hardest gray granite,
but far more beautiful-was the re-
suit partly of design and partly of
accident.
A resident of Montclair, who had
long a notion that all was not trap
rock and sandstone in the Jersey
hills, one day while tramping along
the valley of the Pompton river in
the lower Ramapo hills, between the
towns of Pompton and Butler, dis
covered that his surmise was correct.
He stopped to rest during the heat of
MONDAY in the shade of a huge
boulder, of the dimensions of a small
house, that lay half imbedded in the
soft soil of a mountain slope. All
around him and outcropping rocks
were of sandstone and trap, but the
boulder vas granite. The discoverer
hailed a passing native and pointing
to the boulder asked:
What is this?"
'They call it 'spook-rock' round
here" answered the native.
where did it come from?" the
adventurer inquired.
Il guess it rolled down from up
yonder," responded the native, point
luR u Tie uOuHJdlu lOp. All thO
docks up there are just like it"
With an expert the ~adventurer ex-
plored the mountain next day and
discovered a ledge of granite some
three miles in length, a hundred and
fftyayards or so wide, and how deep
nobody knows. He took a sample and
found that though gray and moss
covered where it has been exposed to
| Eho r,No4H4, Co. xaanx anNftrrfnC tho
rock broke pink and sparkled like a
mass OF soft hued gems.
The mountain where this discov-
cry was made is situated at Pompton
Junction, where there is already a
| considerable population, between the
tracks of the Erie and the Susque-
hanna Railroads, and where before
many months there will be establish
ed trolley communications with Jer-
sey City and Newark by way of Pat
erson, Passaic and the Montclairs.
The entire mountain was soon ac-
quired, and at it's base, where the
granite was found to run hundreds
| of feet wide with scarcely a flaw, pre-
liminary quarrying was begun. Some
great blocks of the granite were re-
moved and subjected to the water
II tCOts OlhCI WIZ ~
strength by being submitted to enor-
nous hydraulic pressure or were
beaten under a trip hammer. Other
specimens were submitted to the hre
test with good results. A year OF rain
was found not to have dimmed the
lustre of the stone perceptibly, and
it was found by %theexperts to be a
| ketable for building purposes: Sam
pies were cut and submitted to teh
several sorts of dressings familiar to
stone cutters-rough, semirough,
smooth, semi-polished and high pol
Iished. The specimens thus treated
we're then taken around to the archi-
tects and builders. Every architect
to whom they were shown admired
them. One of the leading architec-
tural firms of the city at once adopt
ed it for the construction of a new
building which the firm wah then
planning, and pronounced 1t the most