Granite. 13 



State are unacquainted with the rock thence obtained, now so exten- 

 sively used in Boston and elsewhere. The quantities which those 

 quarries (or rather mountains) will furnish, are incalculably great. 

 One railroad, as is well known, has been used for several years ta 

 convey the granite from the quarry to Neponset river, a distance of 

 three miles. It is thought, however, that the granite has not reached 

 its minimum price. Yet even now, Boston is almost as much dis- 

 tinguished for its granite structures, as the metropolis of the Russian 

 Empire. 



Some of the granite obtained on the north of Boston, cannot be 

 distinguished from that of Gluincy. I observed the resemblance most 

 strongly in Danvers and Lynn field. At the former place it is quar- 

 ried, and fine blocks are obtained. Extensive quarries are also open- 

 ed in the north side of Cape Ann, in Gloucester. The rock here re- 

 sembles that of Gluincy ; but it is generally harder and of a lighter 

 color. At these quarries no railroad (except one of a few rods in 

 length) is necessary to transport the rock to the sea-side ; since ves- 

 sels can approach very near the spot. And, since the demand for 

 this rock must increase, in our country, for many years to come, and 

 Cape Ann is little else than a vast block of it, it seems to me that it 

 must be regarded as a substantial treasure to that part of the State, 

 far more valuable than a mine of the precious metals. At Squam, in 

 Gloucester, I was informed that blocks of granite had sometimes been 

 split out sixty feet in length ; indeed, I saw the face of a ledge from 

 which they had been detached. 



At Fall river, in Troy, which lies upon Taunton river, are other 

 extensive and interesting granite quarries. This granite, as the Map 

 will show, is connected with the Gluincy range above described. 

 Yet the greater part of the granite in Plymouth and Bristol is coarser 

 than that of Gluincy and Gloucester, and more liable to decomposition. 

 But no rock can be finer for architectural purposes than the granite 

 of Troy: and immense quantities have been obtained from this local- 

 ity. The large manufactories at Fall river are built of it, as is also 

 Fort Adams at Newport, Rhode Island. The feldspar of this rock is 

 a mixture of the flesh red and light green varieties ; the former pre- 

 dominating: the quartz is light gray, and the mica, usually black. 

 It works easily, and has a lighter and more lively appearance than 

 Gluincy granite. Blocks of this granite have been split out from 

 fifty to sixty feet long, as the sign-post at one of the public houses at 

 Fall River, will attest : it consists of a single block. The contiguity 



