Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-12-26
The 0raultes Of New England.


"The GRANTEES Of Connecticut" just
of the Government Printing ONCE press,
com pletes Q series of bulletins OF the
United States Geological Survey on the
GRANTEES of tho New England States. The
magnitude of the granite industry OF New
ENGLAND lends special interest and I'M
portance to these publications, which DE-
scribe not only the geologic origin OF the
GRANTEES and their distribution, but also
the economic phases of the industry.
New England granite in the form OF
ststuary, monuments, and structures ID
to be found in almost every portion OF
the Union and even in foreign countries.
In nearly all the Eastern States, In such
distant cities ss Vicksburg, Spokane,
and San Francisco, In Montreal, and In
Cuba these GRANTEES may be seen 10
statues or permanent construction work.
Although the GRANTEES are by no means
the oldest rocks, geologically, they fur
nish by far the hardest and most endur-
ing construction stone, varying greatly,
however, among themselves. Some
GRANTEES crush under pressure OF II, 900
pounds to the square inch; others with
stand over 10000 pounds. The GRANTEES
are of plutonic origin, resulting from the
cooling of molten rock matter-the
magma-forced upward from the earth's
interior. This magma previous to In
trusion existed as fused mass, heavily
charged with gases and therefore under
terrific pressure. Injected upward by
this pressure through and among the
older rocks 1t changed from fused and
LIQUID state to one Of Elasticity, finally
solidifying and combining in some places
with these older rocks and in these
places forming granite rocks such as
the gneisses.
GRANTEES OF MANY KINDS AND CoLoRs.
Over much of New England, as the
product of these profound disturbances
In early geologic time, there are many
deposits Of granite and granltic rock,
suitable for wide range OF economic pur-
poses, from statue carving to road build
ing. The colors of the rocks are many
black, white, red, purple, pink, and yell
low. These useful and beautiful rocks
have been the subject OF special study
by the United States Geological Survey
and the resulting bulletins cover In de.
tail all the quarries of the New England
States. The belief OF the authors of the
Connecticut bulletin, biologists T. Nell
son Dale and Herbert z. Gregory, Is that
at the time of the formation of the gran
lite New England was covered with high
mountains, several thousand feet above
the land of to-day. Professor Gregory
says: 1--WE may be reasonably sure.
therefore, that mountains of folded
strata once occupied Connecticut and
that the GRANTEES and gneisses and schists
which we see are but the stumps Of
lofty land masses rivaling the Alps In
height and ruggedness."
THOUSANDS OF FEET WORN AWAY.
The great cap of everything rock into
which the GRANTEES we're intruded has
since been largely removed by erosion,
go that the granite ia now exposed in
many places. Some conception OF the
age of these rocks may be gathered from
the statement of the Geological survey
that the present rate of erosion in New
England is less than one inch in thou.
sand years. A good example of the
remnant of this Gaping can be seen at
the Waldoboro quarry in Maine. The
presence of this great cover, which pre-
vented the rapid cooling of the magma,
permitted the formation Of the granite.
Had the molten masses been forced to
the surface and exposed to the air they
would have cooled 30 quickly that the
slow process of capitalization would
have been arrested by the sudden pas
sage Of the material into the solid state
and dense glass similar to the obsidian
cliffs in the Yellowstone Park would
have resulted. Instead, the molten
masses, forced upward by great pres
sure against a Gaping of enormous
weight, cooled and solidifed slowly
enough to permit complete crystalliza-
ton of the liquid or plastic matter, al.
lowing the constituent molecules to ar
range themselves in the orderly manner
which the microscope reveals In granite.
The heat of this molten mass must have
been very great, as 1t takes from 1000 to
$500 degrees F. to melt granite. GRANTEES
are about 266 times as heavy as water
and cubic foot of average granite rock
weighs 1855 pounds.
GRANITE A PROSPEROUS INDUSTRY.
The granite industry of the New Eng.
land states has had healthy growth
and has long been of considerable i'm
portance. The production Of Maine
granite in 1880 was 81, ITS. 2S6; in 1900,
81, 58s, 573; in 1910, s2,315,73O.
The total granite output of the United
States in 1910 was valued at sc, 532, 1858,
and of this New England produced
S., 749, $50, or AZ go per cent.
The descriptions of the New England
GRANTEES are contained In the following
bulletins, any of which may be obtained
on application to the Director OF the
United States Geological Survey at
Washington, D. c.:
Bulletin 313, "Granites OF Msine."
Bulletin 1854, "Chief Commercial Gran
ties of Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
and Rhode Island"
Rnllatip dOa UGranitee of Vermont. ~