The Calumet news., 1910-10-28
USE PRISONERS
TO QUARRY ROCK
STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSIONERS r
ELY FAVoRS NEW LINE OF
WORK FOR MARQUETTE
o CONvICTS.

Lansing. Mich. oct. 2S.-State High
made 10 Governor Warner today for
the state industrial commission. urges
the use of the convicts at the Mar
quette prison in quarrying trap rock
for use i'm the construction of good
roads throughout the state. He does
not go into complete details regarding
the schemes, but gives the result Of
Investigations carried far enough to
satisfy him the plan Of practicable in
every way.
Reference is made to the plan Of
the legislature to do away with the
contract labor system i'm the prisons
and he suggests that those convicts in
carccrated in Marquette prison can be
used i'm nearby quarries to good adj
vantage and provide the material for
constructing good roads all over the
state for a minimum Of cost. More
than $325,OOO are now expended an
nually i'm the construction of macadam
IOdu6 III AlAilAEdis IOl Ailt lilVSN
part these roads are built OF lime
stone. which offers, on the average,
not more than one-third the resist
ance to wear that can be obtained
from trap rock" He appended TO
his report a blue print showing the
location of an extensive quarry of trap
rock near the prison and a letter from
the owners stating the state may have
the rock for five cents a ton for all
rock shipped and the taxes on the
property leased to the state. He also
includes letters from Illinois. Colora-
do and other states which use their
convicts for this purpose with good
results, as we'll as a letter from the
federal director of the office Of pub
lie roads favoring the scheme.
For Five Cents a Ton.
In a summary of facts secured by
the investigation of the department,
Mr.. Ely points to the accessibility of
the rock to the prison. the reasonable
offer of sale made by the owners OF
the quarry, the great value of trap
rock for road building and the excel
lence of the supply; the good facilities
for running a side track to the quarry
and transporting it to ore docks for
shipment on shipboard to the south
ern section of the state greatly reduc-
ing transportation charges, and cheap
electric power available from the city
of Marquette at a rate of $S for 100
horse power for 10 hours. Continuing
the discussion. the commissioners says
Michigan is now building about 100
miles of macadam road a year, which,
if surfaced with trap rock would re-
ouire 1000 tons, or a daily output OF
267 tons for 800 working days. He
points out that large quantities could
undoubtedly be sold To cities at a
profit and says the difficulties in un-
dertaking the project are few and
could easily be overcome.
Turning to the convicts' part of the
plan he refers to the fact that II
would not entail the use of convicts
on public highways, but away from
public view and that guards could be
stationed on the rocky bluffs overlook
ing the quarry with no prisoner at any
time out of their sight.
That 1t is practicable TO ship stone
as proposed, Is shown by the opera
tions of a Milwaukee firm, Commits
sioner Ely says. He states that the
concern controls the crushed stone
trade along the west shore OF Lake
Michigan and ships stone 30 to ~
miles to interior points. He adds: III
this can be done with free labor, pure
| ly as "A commercial proposition. II
would seem that there is no valid rea-
son why it could not be duplicated
with prison labor and similar shipping
facilities"