BLUE EARTH COUNTY . 447 



Quarries.] 



is strong and durable, of attractive buff color, easily wrought to any desired 

 form, and usually thickly bedded, supplying the largest sizes of dimension 

 stone.* Its quarries here noted lie within the Minnesota valley in South 

 Bend, Mankato and Lime townships, and in Belgrade, opposite Mankato; 

 on the Blue Earth river, near the west part of the city of Mankato, and in 

 the K W. | of section 27, South Bend; on the Watonwan river close below 

 Garden City; within the valley of the Le Sueur river in sections 2 and 11, 

 Rapid an; along the last mile of Maple river; and on the Big Cobb river in 

 the west part of Decoria. The character of the formation at these locali- 

 ties has been already stated, and the ownership, situation, and extent of 

 business of its quarries remain to be briefly mentioned. 



At South Bend, beside the railroad, this limestone has been considerably quarried by David 

 P. Davis, but little has been done here within the last few years. 



In the north part of Mankato quarries are owned by J. R. Beatty, George Maxfleld, the 

 Chicago & Northwestern railway company, Adam Jefferson, and others. J. R. Beatty 's east quarry 

 reaches about thirty rods west from the north end of Front street. It has been operated about 

 fifteen years, formerly supplying some eight hundred cords yearly at $3 per cord; but was not 

 worked in 1879 and 1880. At present (1883) it supplies a large amount of stone both for building 

 and for quicklime. In the bottom of the quarry the stone is blue. 



George Maxlield's quarry, extending thence a quarter of a mile west, was leased from 1878 

 to 1880 to O. R. Mather, whose annual sales amounted to about $8000. This quarry supplied the 

 masonry of the bridge at Shakopee, and the trimmings of the high school building at Le Mars, 

 Iowa. The section here is given on page 429, the bluff of these quarries reaching from the top 

 of the formation as there described to No. 9. Some portions of No. 3 are fossiliferous. In No. 4, a 

 layer three feet thick, twelve to fifteen feet above No. 6, is reddish, having about the same tint 

 as in the Kasota quarries, and is a good stone for cutting. Next above this is a thickness of eight 

 feet used for common masonry. Another layer in No. 4, which is somewhat used for cut-stone, 

 lies about six feet above No. 5; it is light straw-colored, and is finely laminated with curving con- 

 cretionary films of ferric oxide. No. 6, called the best cutting stone, has a brownish buff color. 



Adjoining the last and continuing northwesterly is another quarry owned by J. R. Beatty, 

 from which the sales up to 1880 were about $1000 yearly. A third of a mile farther north, in the 

 S. W. J of section 6, this bluff has been quarried by Stephen Lamm & Co., who, jointly with 

 Sullivan and Duffee, quarrying in Belgrade, supplied the stone for the Mankato bridge. These 

 quarries, or others recently opened near them, are at present extensively worked by the Chicago 

 & Northwestern railway companyt, and for supplying the stone of the arched railroad bridge 

 built in 1882 and 1883 at Minneapolis. 



Half a mile farther north, in the N. W. J of section 6, Adam Jefferson has quarried since 

 1877, selling about $1000 worth of stone yearly, at $3.50 per cord, and from fifteen to fifty cents 

 per foot for cut stone, as window caps and sills. He supplied the masonry of the Le Sueur bridge. 

 This quarry and that of Lamm & Co. expose a vertical thickness of fifteen to twenty feet, being 

 in No. 4 of Prof. Winchell's section. 



About a quarter of a mile farther north, yet in Mankato, a small quarry has been worked 

 by Nathan Brooks. 



In Lime township J. R. Beatty & Co. quarry extensively at the south side of a little creek 

 in the S. W. J of section 20. The working extends about fifteen rods on the face of a bluff which 



*Consult th? chapter on building: stones, p. 168. 



fAt this quarry the workmen have the following designations for the different parts of the quarry, adopted for 

 their own convenience. They are in descending order. 1. White ledge (very flne-2rained stone). 2. Heel ledge (harder 

 and pinkish). 3. Gray ledge (course-grained). 4. Soft ledge (crumbled by freezing). 5. Bridge stone (coarse). 



