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to secure greater protection by seeking a harbor elsewhere. It 

 was not until 1824, however, that the business of working stone 

 for shipment reached any considerable importance. In that year a 

 Mr. Bates of Quincy came to Sandy Bay and leased a ledge, inaug- 

 urating an industry that soon had a rapid growth, and became the 

 second business in importance on the Cape. Not long after quarries 

 were opened at Annisquam, where an extensive business was carried 

 on for many years, furnishing stone for the fortifications erected in 

 Boston harbor, and for wharf and building purposes. These quar- 

 ries were long since abandoned, and the business is not followed to 

 any considerable extent at this point. 



The flourishing granite industry at Pigeon Cove, now embraced 

 within the lines of Rockport, had its origin in 1827, when Messrs. 

 Ezra Eames and Beniah Colburn opened a quarry there, by the sea- 

 side, and soon found a ready market for their products for building 

 and cemetery purposes. Their first year's business is said to have 

 resulted in a net loss of fifteen dollars, but the government became 

 their patron, and a profitable industry was soon developed. Their 

 first quarry was abandoned when it reached the level of the sea, but 

 new ledges were opened, and changes made in the firm from time to 

 time, until it developed into a wealthy corporation, under the name 

 of the Rockport Granite Company, who now own a valuable proper- 

 ty and conduct an extensive business. The Pigeon Hill Granite 

 Company also have an extensive trade, and was the first in Rock- 

 port to build a railroad from the quarry to its wharves to facilitate 

 the transportation of rough stone for dressing and shipment. 



The extensive granite industry at Bay View is the outgrowth of a 

 modest beginning in 1848, when a quarry was opened to supply the 

 stone for building a bridge across Hodgkins Cove. The first stone 

 shipped from this point was in 1849, but no considerable business 

 was done in this line until 1853, when Mr. Beniah Colburn and Mr. 

 William Torrey purchased the quarries and commenced active oper- 

 ations, which were continued, under various firms, for a dozen years. 

 These quarries were not worked to any extent from 1865 until 1869, 

 when, on the suggestion of General Butler, who had erected a sum- 

 mer seat in the immediate vicinity, that it was too valuable a prop- 

 erty to lie idle, it was purchased by Col. Jonas H. French and oth- 

 ers, and a corporation organized, with a working capital of about 

 $125,000, to conduct the business, under the name of Cape Ann 

 Granite Company. Since the latter date an extensive business has 

 been carried on, large additions having been made to the landed 



