10 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



deal of work in handling. A one horse dump cart or a small 

 car and wooden or iron rails are often part of the equipment 

 for stripping. 



The waste material or rubbish is carted away and dumped 

 opposite the face of the quarry. In the case of the quarries 

 in the mountains, this rubbish is dumped down the mountain 

 side. Very little attention has been paid to the proper dis- 

 posal of this rubbish, for, in many cases, it has to be handled 

 twice. In many beds which are now being worked in Ulster 

 county the greatest part of the stripping is rubbish from 

 quarries opened 40 years ago and abandoned. 



Quarrying 



Quarrying is carried on eight or nine months in the year. 

 In many quarries no work at all is done during the winter. After 

 the stripping is done, the different lifts are raised by wedges 

 driven into the open seams, just enough to give the proper 

 strain for the lift to free itself from the under bed. The area 

 of these lifts varies with the size of the block. That of large 

 ones may be 1000 square feet or more. The thickness varies 

 from 1 inch to 8 feet. 



If it is not possible to lift the layer from the whole block, 

 a line is marked by cord and chalk where it is necessary ,to 

 break the stone. This line is traced across with a point by 

 digging out holes f inch< to 1 inch deep and from 2 inches to 

 3 inches apart. The point is held so that its horizontal 

 projection will fall along the chalk line. After the 

 block has been traced across, every sixth or seventh 

 hole is drilled to a depth corresponding to the thickness of 

 the lift. In these deeper holes, plugs and feathers are placed. 

 The plugs are driven down together by striking one after 

 another, so that the strain is equal all along the line. To do 

 this well requires a great deal of skill, which is a result of long 

 and close attention to work. At a certain point of strain the 

 stone will break off along the chalk line, true and even. In 

 Ulster county the stone breaks the best in a north and south 



