ON THE USE OF THE TERM BEDFORD LIMESTONE 



It has not been the custom of the Indiana geologists to give 

 local geographic names to geologic formations, and previous 

 to the twentieth report of the state geologist (for 1895) but three 

 or four formations had been so described. The earlier geologists 

 were content to correlate the rocks with the formations of adjoin- 

 ing states and use the names already in use. 



The business of quarrying the oolitic limestone grew up at a 

 number of points. The quarry rock was recognized to be equiva- 

 lent but was not known to be continuous. It was thought to 

 exist in "deposits." Each locality was jealous of the qualities 

 of its " deposits." So we had White River stone, Elletsville stone, 

 Bedford stone, Sa/em stone, etc. In the course of time the greater 

 development of the quarries at Bedford caused that stone to 

 dominate the others in the market, and the Indiana oolitic lime- 

 stone came to be generally known as Bedford stone, and as such, 

 it has been specified by architects in more than thirty states. 

 Its reputation having become thus established, all localities were 

 willing to have their stone known as Bedford stone, and geologists 

 were no longer embarrassed by local rivalry in giving this name 

 to the formation. 



Dr. R. T. Brown, state geologist, in a " Geological Survey 

 of the State of Indiana," published in 1854, 1 gives a section of 

 the rocks at the railway cut near Harristown (presumably that 

 celebrated later as Spergen Hill), recognizing the quarry ledge 

 with its characteristic fossils to be equivalent to that quarried at 

 Bedford, and the same as that shipped from the northwestern 

 part of Monroe county as White River stone. 



Richard Owen 2 in 1862 used the term Bedford rock, referring 

 to stone quarried from the formation in question at Bedford. It 



'Transactions of the Indiana State Agricultural Society, 1853, pp. 311, 312. 

 Geological Reconnoissance of Indiana, 1862, p. 137. 



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