THE SOAPSTONE QUARRY. 1 1 5 



on the resources of the quarry. Their estimates were liberal, 

 and showed, on paper, that large profits would result from 

 investments in the company. 



In the summer of 1865 the new company completed their 

 mill, which was 80 by 50 feet in dimensions, with engine- 

 house attached. It was run by a Corliss engine of 75 horse- 

 power, and contained six gangs of saws. It had the latest 

 improvements in machinery, and was considered the best- 

 equipped and largest- factory of its kind in the country. 



During the year 1867 the McCaine brothers, who were 

 still in charge of the quarry, invented and patented a process 

 for making artificial stone. The patent was subsequently 

 sold to the Groton Soapstone Company, which soon afterward 

 became the Union Stone Company. For a while the new 

 process was considerably used in connection with the soap- 

 stone, and finally became the exclusive business of the com- 

 pany. The affairs of the corporation, however, did not seem 

 to prosper, and, dividends not forthcoming, the establishment 

 was abandoned and dismantled. The capital stock was then 

 increased, and another mill built at Revere, near Boston, 

 where artificial stone was made under the patent. 



The following account is taken from " The Groton Herald," 

 May 29, 1830: — 



Groton Soap-Stone Quarry. — An extensive quarry of Soap-stone 

 was discovered in this town, about two years since. It is on the land 

 of Mr. J. Fitch, who was led to the discovery by accident, and com- 

 menced penetrating into it immediately, with considerable success. 

 We have seen some specimens of the stone, that has been wrought 

 into hearths, which retains a beautiful polish — and we understand 

 that while the workmen penetrate deeper into the rocky caverns, the 

 stone becomes more pure and valuable, and promises an inexhaustible 

 supply. The quarry is opened on the side of a hill, in two or three 

 places, and the descent from the top is about forty feet, over project- 

 ing crags and huge blocks of stone, above which stands a forest of tall 

 trees — the whole forming a grand and pleasing scene. The trees are 

 seldom felled, and as farther researches are made into the earth, they 

 often fall to the bottom of the cavity and are drawn out in the manner 

 that stone is taken from the opening of the quarry. New discoveries 



