Ashland weekly tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1919-1924, 1922-01-11
URGES USE Of
LOCAL WEALTH
GRANITE ROCK
p. II. HARDY, SPOKANE MONU-
MENT MAKER, BELIEVES mex.
HAUSTIBLE SUPPLY OF GRAN.
TIE ROCK IN ASHLAND HILLS
Handsome Margin of Profit Possible
by Low Production Costs; Nothing
Within 1000 Miles Equal TO Supp
ly; Big Market i'm Northwest.
(From Saturdays Daily

(From Saturdays Daily
p. X. Hardy, of the Inland Mon
umental Company, Spokane, who
is visiting his brother, j. II. Har-
dy, of the First National Bank,
cannot understand why Ashland
does not develop her vast MINER
al wealth, which exists in the
shape of an ineXhaustible supply
OF first grade granite rock.
The market for this valuable ma
terial is here, being supplied from
other sources. The cost of putting
the rock ON the market is suff-
1iently low to leave handsome mar
gin of profit, as proven by present
operations of the Blair Granite Co.
This concern Ia selling stone at
price which makes it possible to lay
it down in Spokane at $10.SO pei
cubic foot, polished on both sides.
Vermont granite costs $3.50, or
nearly so per cent more. The Ash
land granite is practically as good
as the Barre, Vermont, stone, accord
ing to Mr.. Hardy and other north
western dealers, who declare the
difference in the two is so slight
as not to be noticed by the average
customer. Nothing within 1000
miles of Ashland equals the granite
found here.
As for the market, about 500 cars
Of granite are shipped into the Pa
cific Northwest each year. The
wholesale price varies from $4,000
to $1,000 per car. Mr.. Hardy's COM
pany alone uses about $4,000 worth
of stone in the course of year.
The freight from Vermont is 81 per
hundred to Spokane, but only 65
cents from Ashland to the same
point. Dealers pay $1,000 freight
charges on a single car of Barre
granite. A cubic foot of rough stone
costs $3.50 in Ashland. Polishing
costs SO per square foot.
The Barre quarries have been
worked so long that the stone must
now be lifted 275 feet out of the
quarry and immense quantities OF
waste rock must be moved in order
to continue operations. Charles Rem
niston, of the Oregon Granite Com
pany, believes that the system which
the Blair Granite Company adopted
for the development of their quarry,
is unnecessarily expensive. Both he
and Mr.. Hardy agree that a large
amount of capital would be neces-
sary to enlarge the output to any
considerable extent They are also
positive that such expansion would
certainly prove most profitable.
Instead of the present force of
thirteen men now employed at the
Blair Granite Company, the bust
ness could within three years be in
creased to such an extent as to re-
quire more than ten times that num-
ber, discloses Mr.. Hardy. Ulti-
mately, 400 men might be employed.
The Northwest is buying $2,OOO.OOO
worth of stone per year. The stone
and the market are both here. All
that is necessary is to bring the
two together. There are no difficult
engineering or transportation diff
culties to solve. All that is needed
Is capital and reasonably intelligent
management.
"The steepness of granite hills
around Ashland make the location
ideal for the disposal of waste rock
which has become such serious
problem at Barre, Vermont. Doubt
less other deposits similar to the
Blair quarry exist in this vicinity.
! have been told that Mr.. Permission
has one and that another exists in
Ashland Canyon, about four miles
above the city.
Ibid you know that Ashland
granite is being shipped into San
Francisco and substituted for Barre
granite by firm which has untitled
orders for $500. 900 worth of build
ing stone and granite? Acres Of dia-
monds, in the shape of fine monu-
mental granite, are being trodden
under foot by Ashland people, wait
ing to be cut and polished. Mean
while the railroads are being paid
three quarters Of a million dollars
a year to ship Vermont granite to
US across the continent"