BUILDING MATERIALS. 'J'J 



ployed 6 quarrymen and about lo cutters. No quarrying of importance done last year. 

 This granite lies in slieets which vary from 6 inches to 8 feet in thickness. Largest 

 blocks moved from the quarry, 12^ feet long by 2i feet square ; shafts 30 to 40 feet 

 long and 4 to 6 feet square could be got. The Episcopal and Baptist churches, and 

 the depot in Keene, are trimmed with stone from this quarry. 



Swanzey. Nourse & Dean also lease a quarry, opened in 1863, near Westport station 

 in Swanzey. It is one half mile from the railroad. About 6 men were employed here 

 last year. The Episcopal church in Keene is built from this quarry. R. Stewart, super- 

 intendent of Cheshire Railroad, sent the following statement about the granite business 

 along his railroad for the year ending April 30, 1871 : 



* * * "The largest proportion of the Fitzwilliam stone is sent to Boston, 

 Worcester, and Lowell; while considerable from that point, as well as Marlborough, is 

 seeking a market at Springfield, Hartford, New Haven, and other points reached by 

 Connecticut River Railroad. The stone from Troy is sent principally to Fitchburg for 

 building purposes. The tonnage for the year is as follows: Fitzwilliam, 9,458 tons; 

 Troy, 1,717 tons; Marlborough, 3,292 tons; Keene, 1,040 tons; Westport, 652 tons; 

 total, 16,139 tons. There are occasional shipments to local stations that would, I 

 think, on actual figures of everything, show from 18,000 to 20,000 tons sent." 



Plymouth. Four miles north-west from Plymouth are valuable granite quarries, first 

 opened by H. W. Blair, in 1870. They are one half mile north of the Boston, Concord 

 & Montreal Railroad, from which a branch track runs to the quarries. Since 1872 they 

 have been owned and worked by Sanborn & Blair, employing from 5 to 20 men, with 

 average yearly sales of about $4,500. The greater part of this granite is used for 

 bridge masonry. It is also employed in cemetery work, and in building. It lies in 

 sheets 2 to 10 feet in thickness, and slabs of fine stock 20 feet long can be supplied. 



Manchester. Two quarries are being worked in a bunch of granite upon the com- 

 pany hill, — one, the Amoskeag quarry, and the other, BodwelPs. The latter's excava- 

 tion was about 25 feet long, 150 wide, and from 10 to 50 feet deep, three years since. 

 The company's quarry was not so large. Both were being worked energetically, as 

 there is a great demand for stone in the largest city of the state. The stone is inferior 

 to the Concord, though resembling it, being coarser, breaks more readily, and shows a 

 slight tendency to crumble. Other quarries are about Rock Rimmon, on the west side 

 of the Merrimack river, and 'in the very twisted ancient gneiss between Hallsville and 

 Massabesic lake. The foundations of the city hall, and much of the curbstone in the 

 streets, are of this latter material. The Rimmon stone is granite of rather inferior 

 quality, containing bits of pyrites. 



Mason. An extensive business is carried on at the Glen quarry in Mason, owned by 

 A. Macdonald, of Mt. Auburn, Mass. It is situated close to the Peterborough & Shirley 

 Railroad, in the east part of the town. There are two principal openings. The one I 

 saw is the more southerly, estimated to be 300 feet long, 150 wide, and 40 deep. The 

 surface shows slightly the breakage by ice in the glacial period, like that observed in 

 Manchester. From 25 to 30 workmen were employed in 1877. Steam is used exten- 



