BLUESTONE AND OTHER SANDSTONES 67 



Condition of the bluestone industry in Ulster county 



The quarries within easy hauling distance of the river docks 

 are becoming worked out. This does not mean that the beds of 

 stone are worked out in all cases, but the stripping in many 

 places has become so heavy that no profit is left to the quarry- 

 men after paying rental and cartage. The beds dip to the west 

 at a small angle 5° to 6°, and, with the crude methods used 

 when the top reaches a thickness 2-^- to 3 times (with a few 

 exceptions) that of the bed of stone, the profit vanishes. The 

 workable beds are also limited in extent. This is true in both 

 the two main districts. Probably in the vicinity of Saugerties, 

 the most productive district, not one half as many men as for- 

 merly are working now. A great many of the quarrymen have 

 gone back to the mountains or along the Ulster & Delaware 

 railroad, or into Delaware, Broome and Sullivan counties. The 

 cost of cartage from the mountains to the river is very high, 

 running up to 50^ of the value of a load. Freight on the Ulster 

 & Delaware railroad is also quite high. 



QUARRIES IX BROOME, DELAWARE AND SULLIVAN COUNTIES 



The quarries in these counties have been opened on the hill- 

 sides, on both banks of the Delaware river in New York and 

 Penns\ivania, as far north as Tuscarora in Broome county, and 

 south to Pond Eddy in Sullivan county. 



The product of these quarries reaches the market by the way 

 of the p]rie railroad. Bluestone is also quarried along the main 

 line of the Ontario and Western railroad from Franklin Depot 

 in Delaware county to Hurleyville in Sullivan county, and along 

 the Port Jervis and Monticello railroad. 



A few quarries have been opened along the Delhi branch of 

 the Ontario and Western railroad. Switches have been put in 

 at convenient i)oints on the lines of the railroads for shipping 

 the stone. The buyers have small docks at these switches. Few 

 mills are established in this district, the rock for mill treat- 

 ment being shipped in the rough to mills nearer the markets. 



The stone quarried in these counties differs from the Ulster 

 county product in several characteristics. It is softer, it 



