The use of stone as a building material was not resorted to, except to
a trifling extent, in this country until long after the need of such a
solid substance was felt. The early settler contented himself with the
log cabin, the corduroy road, and the wooden bridge, and loose stone
enough for foundation purposes could readily be gathered from the
surface of the earth. Even after the desirability of more handsome and
durable building material for public edifices in the colonial cities
than wood became apparent, the ample resources which nature had afforded
in this country were overlooked, and brick and stone were imported by
the Dutch and English settlers from the Old World. Thus we find the
colonists of the New Netherlands putting yellow brick on their list
of non-dutiable imports in 1648; and such buildings in Boston as are
described as being "fairly set forth with brick, tile, slate, and
stone," were thus provided only with foreign products. Isolated
instances of quarrying stone are known to have occurred in the last
century; but they are rare. The edifice known as "King's Chapel,"
Boston, erected in 1752, is the first one on record as being built from
American stone; this was granite, brought from Braintree, Mass.
Granite is a rock particularly abundant in New England, though also
found in lesser quantities elsewhere in this country. The first granite
quarries that were extensively developed were those at Quincy, Mass.,
and work began at that point early in the present century. The fame of
the stone became widespread, and it was sent to distant markets--even to
New Orleans. The old Merchants' Exchange in New York (afterward used as
a custom house) the Astor House in that city, and the Custom House in
New Orleans, all nearly or quite fifty years old, were constructed of
Quincy granite, as were many other fine buildings along the Atlantic
coast. In later years, not only isolated public edifices, but also whole
blocks of stores, have been constructed of this material. It was from
the Quincy quarries that the first railroad in this country was built;
this was a horse-railroad, three miles long, extending to Neponset
River, built in 1827.
Other points in Massachusetts have been famed for their excellent
granite. After Maine was set off as a distinct State, Fox Island
acquired repute for its granite, and built up an extensive traffic
therein. Westerly, R.I., has also been engaged in quarrying this
valuable rock for many years, most of its choicer specimens having been
wrought for monumental purposes. Statues and other elaborate monumental
designs are now extensively made therefrom. Smaller pieces and a coarser
quality of the stone are here and elsewhere along the coast obtained in
large quantities for the construction of massive breakwaters to protect
harbors. Another point famous for its granite is Staten Island, New
York. This stone weighs 180 pounds to the cubic foot, while the Quincy
granite weighs but 165. The Staten Island product is used not only for
building purposes, but is also especially esteemed for paving after both
the Russ and Belgian patents. New York and other cities derive large
supplies from this source. The granite of Weehawken, N.J., is of the
same character, and greatly in demand. Port Deposit, Md., and Richmond,
Va, are also centers of granite production. Near Abbeville, S.C., and
in Georgia, granite is found quite like that of Quincy. Much southern
granite, however, decomposes readily, and is almost as soft as clay.
This variety of stone is found in great abundance in the Rocky
Mountains; but, except to a slight extent in California, it is not yet
quarried there.
Granite, having little grain, can be cut into blocks of almost any size
and shape. Specimens as much as eighty feet long have been taken out and
transported great distances. The quarrying is done by drilling a series
of small holes, six inches or more deep and almost the same distance
apart, inserting steel wedges along the whole line and then tapping each
gently with a hammer in succession, in order that the strain may be
evenly distributed.
A building material that came into use earlier than granite is known as
freestone or sandstone; although its first employment does not date back
further than the erection of King's Chapel, Boston, already referred to
as the earliest well-known occasion where granite was used in building.
Altogether the most famous American sandstone quarries are those at
Portland, on the Connecticut River, opposite Middletown. These were
worked before the Revolution; and their product has been shipped to many
distant points in the country. The long rows of "brownstone fronts" in
New York city are mostly of Portland stone, though in many cases the
walls are chiefly of brick covered with thin layers of the stone. The
old red sandstone of the Connecticut valley is distinguished in geology
for the discovery of gigantic fossil footprints of birds, first noticed
in the Portland quarries in 1802. Some of these footprints measured
ten to sixteen inches, and they were from four to six feet apart. The
sandstone of Belleville, N.J., has also extensive use and reputation.
Trinity Church in New York city and the Boston Atheneum are built of the
product of these quarries; St. Lawrence County, New York, is noted also
for a fine bed of sandstone. At Potsdam it is exposed to a depth of
seventy feet. There are places though, in New England, New York, and
Eastern Pennsylvania, where a depth of three hundred feet has been
reached. The Potsdam sandstone is often split to the thinness of an
inch. It hardens by exposure, and is often used for smelting furnace
hearth-stones. Shawangunk Mountain, in Ulster County, yields a sandstone
of inferior quality, which has been unsuccessfully tried for paving;
as it wears very unevenly. From Ulster, Greene, and Albany Counties
sandstone slabs for sidewalks are extensively quarried for city use;
the principal outlets of these sections being Kingston, Saugerties,
Coxsackie, Bristol, and New Baltimore, on the Hudson. In this region
quantities amounting to millions of square feet are taken out in large
sheets, which are often sawed into the sizes desired. The vicinity of
Medina, in Western New York, yields a sandstone extensively used in that
section for paving and curbing, and a little for building. A rather poor
quality of this stone has been found along the Potomac, and some of it
was used in the erection of the old Capitol building at Washington.
Ohio yields a sandstone that is of a light gray color; Berea, Amherst,
Vermilion, and Massillon are the chief points of production. St.
Genevieve, Mo., yields a stone of fine grain of a light straw color,
which is quite equal to the famous Caen stone of France. The Lake
Superior sandstones are dark and coarse grained, but strong.
In some parts of the country, where neither granite nor sandstone
is easily procured, blue and gray limestone are sometimes used for
building, and, when hammer dressed, often look like granite. A serious
objection to their use, however, is the occasional presence of iron,
which rusts on exposure, and defaces the building. In Western New York
they are widely used. Topeka stone, like the coquine of Florida and
Bermuda, is soft like wood when first quarried, and easily wrought,
but it hardens on exposure. The limestones of Canton, Mo., Joliet and
Athens, Ill., Dayton, Sandusky, Marblehead, and other points in Ohio,
Ellittsville, Ind., and Louisville and Bowling Green, Ky., are great
favorites west. In many of these regions limestone is extensively used
for macadamizing roads, for which it is excellently adapted. It also
yields excellent slabs or flags for sidewalks.
One of the principal uses of this variety of stone is its conversion, by
burning, into lime for building purposes. All limestones are by no
means equally excellent in this regard. Thomaston lime, burned with
Pennsylvania coal, near the Penobscot River, has had a wide reputation
for nearly half a century. It has been shipped thence to all points
along the Atlantic coast, invading Virginia as far as Lynchburg, and
going even to New Orleans, Smithfield, R.I., and Westchester County,
N.Y., near the lower end of the Highlands, also make a particularly
excellent quality of lime. Kingston, in Ulster County, makes an inferior
sort for agricultural purposes. The Ohio and other western stones yield
a poor lime, and that section is almost entirely dependent on the east
for supplies.
Marbles, like limestones, with which they are closely related, are very
abundant in this country, and are also to be found in a great variety of
colors. As early as 1804 American marble was used for statuary purposes.
Early in the century it also obtained extensive employment for
gravestones. Its use for building purposes has been more recent than
granite and sandstone in this country; and it is coming to supersede the
latter to a great degree. For mantels, fire-places, porch pillars, and
like ornamental purposes, however, our variegated, rich colored and
veined or brecciated marbles were in use some time before exterior walls
were made from them. Among the earliest marble buildings were Girard
College in Philadelphia and the old City Hall in New York, and the
Custom House in the latter city, afterward used for a sub-treasury. The
new Capitol building at Washington is among the more recent structures
composed of this material. Our exports of marble to Cuba and elsewhere
amount to over $300,000 annually, although we import nearly the same
amount from Italy. And yet an article can be found in the United States
fully as fine as the famous Carrara marble. We refer to that which comes
from Rutland, Vt. This state yields the largest variety and choicest
specimens. The marble belt runs both ways from Rutland County, where
the only quality fit for statuary is obtained. Toward the north it
deteriorates by growing less sound, though finer in grain; while to
the south it becomes coarser. A beautiful black marble is obtained at
Shoreham, Vt. There are also handsome brecciated marbles in the same
state; and in the extreme northern part, near Lake Champlain, they
become more variegated and rich in hue. Such other marble as is found
in New England is of an inferior quality. The pillars of Girard
College came from Berkshire, Mass., which ranks next after Vermont in
reputation.
The marble belt extends from New England through New York, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia, Tennessee, and the
Carolinas, to Georgia and Alabama. Some of the variegated and high
colored varieties obtained near Knoxville, Tenn., nearly equal that of
Vermont. The Rocky Mountains contain a vast abundance and variety.
Slate was known to exist in this country to a slight extent in colonial
days. It was then used for gravestones, and to some extent for roofing
and school purposes. But most of our supplies came from Wales. It is
stated that a slate quarry was operated in Northampton County, Pa., as
early as 1805. In 1826 James M. Porter and Samuel Taylor engaged in the
business, obtaining their supplies from the Kittanninny Mountains. From
this time the business developed rapidly, the village of Slateford being
an outgrowth of it, and large rafts being employed to float the product
down the Schuylkill to Philadelphia. By 1860 the industry had reached
the capacity of 20,000 cases of slate, valued at $10 a case, annually.
In 1839 quarries were opened in the Piscataquis River, forty miles
north of Bangor, Me., but poor transportation facilities retarded the
business. Vermont began to yield in 1852. New York's quarries are
confined to Washington County, near the Vermont line. Maryland has
a limited supply from Harford County. The Huron Mountains, north of
Marquette, Mich., contain slate, which is also said to exist in Pike
County, Ga.
Grindstones, millstones, and whetstones are quarried in New York, Ohio,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other States. Mica is found at Acworth and
Grafton, N. H., and near Salt Lake, but our chief supply comes from
Haywood, Yancey, Mitchell, and Macon counties, in North Carolina, and
our product is so large that we can afford to export it. Other stones,
such as silex, for making glass, etc., are found in profusion in various
parts of the country, but we have no space to enter into a detailed
account of them at present.--_Pottery and Glassware Reporter_.
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