528 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pact texture from the vicinity of Austin. Some of these take a good 

 polish, and might be used as marbles. 



No lithographic limestones that can compare with the imported 

 stone have as yet been found in this country. Silverville, Indiana ; 

 Glascow Junction, Kentucky ; and Saverton, Missouri, each produce 

 fine, even-grained stones of a drab color which have been put upon the 

 market at various times as lithographic stone, but so far as is known to 

 the writer the Missouri stone is the only one now used for this purpose. 



The total amount of sandstone quarried in the United States dur- 

 ing the census year was 24,776,930 cubic feet, valued at $4,780,391 ; 

 the same being the product of 502 quai*ries representing an invested 

 capital of $6,229,600. 



Sandstone-quarrying in the United States doubtless began with the 

 itinerant working of the extensive Triassic deposits of " brown-stone " 

 in the vicinity of Portland, Connecticut. Where now are excavations 

 upward of one hundred feet in depth, were then steep cliffs overhang- 

 ing the river, and from these the inhabitants of Middletown and 

 neighboring localities early began to carry away material for general 

 building purposes as well as for monuments and gravestones. To 

 such an extent had this system of free quarrying been carried, that as 

 early as 1665 a resolve was passed similar in purpose to that relative 

 to the granite bowlders on the Quincy Commons, to the effect "that 

 no one shall dig or raise stone at the Rocks on the east side of the 

 river " (now Portland) " but an inhabitant of the town, and that twelve 

 pence shall be paid to the town for every ton of stone taken." Not 

 long after this the quarries thus opened passed from the possession 

 of the town into that of private parties, and what is now known as 

 Brainard's quarry is said to have been operated since 1700. There are 

 now three quarries situated in a line along the river's bank at this 

 place, from which have been taken altogether some 4,300,000 cubic 

 feet of stone, or enough to build a wall nearly two and a half feet 

 high, and one foot thick, around the entire State ! 



Of the same geological age and general appearance as those of 

 Connecticut, though varying slightly in color and texture, are the 

 brown and red sandstones quarried in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, 

 New Jersey, and Maryland. In all of these the cementing material 

 that binds together the rounded and angular grains of which they are 

 composed is largely iron oxide, which gives the color to the stone 

 and yet leaves it soft enough to be worked at only a very moderate 

 cost. 



On account of their pleasing colors and easy working qualities 

 these stones have been great favorites for general building purposes, 

 as the monotonous rows of brown-stone fronts in New York city too 

 well attest. 



Of about equal importance with these brown Triassic stones are 

 the light-colored subcarboniferous sandstones of Ohio and elsewhere. 



