Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-12-18
BILLINGS SCRAP
PILE CLAIMS OLD
PLANT EQUIPMENT
QUARRY DISl1ANILED AND
GIVEN TO UNCLE SAM

A2h4AA OB II z - cAVSNH
QUARRY DISMANTLED AND
GIVEN TO UNCLE SAM
The equipment Of what probably
was Billings first industry has been
tossed onto the scrap pile to help
beat the axis. Work of dismantling
the mill Of the old Heffner stone
suaIfy at the base Of the rimrocks
has been finished.
The heavy machinery, used for
years TO turn out a useful product
and to provide work for men, yielded
more than IS tons Of what Uncle Sam
wants right now-scrap iron and
steel
Describing the Heffner quarry as
Billings first industry might be called
technical error. The quarry was
there first, c. J. Heffner. son Of the
founder, says. When Billings was laid
out and the first settlers moved in
several months after the quarry
started operations, the new city al
ready had q going concern. For years
the quarry had a substantial pay roll.
It shipped its product-high quality
NAyish-colored sandstone-to points
far distant from Billings or delivered
the material to the lots where the
rapidly growing town was taking form.
Opening of the Heffner quarry full
filled the ambition Of William H.
Heffner, pioneer scout and freighter.
to acquire his own business. When the
Northern Pacific railroad was being
built west across Montana. Heffner
was in the employ Of the government
as q sawmill operator. He handled the
cutting of lumber for buildings at old
Fort Custer and other government
stations. In 1881 the sawmill was
operating at Coulson, the now-defunct
town two miles to the east which was
Billings predecessor. Logs were floated
down the Yellowstone river from as
far upstream as Livingston. They were
sawed at Coulson, and the lumber was
shipped to railhead at Miles City by
steamboat.
Several railroad officials took an in
terest in Heffner's proposal to open
a stone quarry, output Of which would
provide tonnage when the line reached
this far west. Tests were made Of
sandstone at several points. That at
the site later chosen for the quarry
was pronounced best. The land was
railroad-owned, and Heffner pur-
chased from the company an 80-acre
strip extending from the present To-
cation of Twenty-seventh street to
what now is Virginia lane. The de-
posits selected for quarrying extended
300 feet from east to west and 1000
feet back toward the base of the
rimrocks. A large spring was available
to supply water for the plants boilers
and for use in stone-cutting opera
lions.
The tests showed that the stone
from the deposit would not crumble
under fire and that weathering har-
dened 1t instead Of causing disintegra-
ton.
The machinery for the new quarry
came in among the first shipments
unloaded at Coulson after the railroad
reached that town Aug. IL, 1882. The
saws, planes and other equipment
were setup IN the log building, which
stands Just west of 9th street on
Rimrock drive In the earlier years
Heffner had several partners success
sively. Later he acquired the entire
property and operated the business
until i'll health forced him to suspend
work in 1906, year before his death.
He supervised and worked at every
phase of the quarrys operations and
his figr>265 pounds without an
ounce of fat'-was familiar to resi-
dents OF the city.
C. J. Heffner recalls that his father
at times employed as many as so men
in the summers. Ten or IL teams were
kept busy hauling the cut stone to a
loading dock which stood on the pres
ent site of the Billings Hardware Co.
wholesale building between 9th street
and Broadway on the tracks -Four
carloads of stone a day was not an
unusual shipment. The stone was In
demand in Minneapolis and st. Paul
as well as intermediate points, and
some was shipped to Chicago. 1t was
used in the walls of many public and
business buildings and for tounda-
tons, sills and trim in structures of
brick or frame Much of the Billings
sandstone also was shipped to Butte
and Helena, and some of it was used
in the state capitol building.
The Yellowstone county courthouse
and the Parmly Billings Memorial
library are built of stone from the
Heffner quarry, and the stone was
used in foundations, ornamental trim
and sills in number of local schools
and churches. The Security Trust &
Savings bank building, the former
Yegen Bros. building on Minnesota
avenue and the old First National
bank building, now occupied by The
Gazette, are business structures built
of the stone. An example of the dura-
bility of the Billings sandstone is to
be seen in a sidewalk at the south
west intersection of Fourth avenue
north and North 30th street. The walk
extends along both streets. When the
slabs were laid, it is said, most of the
other walks in the neighborhood, in
Guiding pedestrian passages across the
dirt or mud) streets, were Of boards.
A few places in the stone walk have
been patched with concrete, and 1t
still is in serviceable condition.
G. j. Heffner says that in the old
days when a blast was set off at the
quarry it would dislodge enough stone
to load many flatcars. The chunks,
some Weighing asmuch as 20 tons.
then were cut to sizes specified by
orders.