THE MiNlNCx AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I913 95 



large number of individuals and companies. With few exceptions, 

 the quarries are small, giving employment only to two or three work- 

 men each and having very little in the way of mechanical equip- 

 ment. Such small enterprises are particularly characteristic of the 

 Hudson River and Delaware River regions where much of the flag- 

 stone and curbstone is produced. Many of the quarries are worked 

 intermittently by farmers in the off season of their usual occupa- 

 tion. The stone is hauled down the hillsides to the railroad sidings 

 or the river docks where it is purchased by middlemen who ship it 

 to the eastern markets. The stone from the Hudson River district 

 is mainly shipped by barges from Kingston and Saugerties. In the 

 interior it is shipped by rail. A statistical canvass of such small 

 enterprises is a matter of great difficulty and is likely to afford very 

 unreliable results. Consequently, it has been the practice in this 

 report to secure information so far as possible from the dealers who 

 purchase the stone for shipment to the large wholesalers and con- 

 sumers in the cities. 



The production of sandstone during the last two years is shown 

 in the accompanying tables which give its distribution also among 

 the leading districts. 



The combined value of all the sandstone quarried in 1913 was 

 $1,321,272, against $1,280,743 in 1912. The total is exclusive of any 

 sandstone quarried by contractors for use on the State highway 

 system, for which it is impossible to assign any accurate value. 



Of the value given, a little more than one-half was returned by. 

 the quarry companies operating in the bluestone districts, in exact 

 figures $753,510. This industry showed a slight decline, as com- 

 pared with the preceding year when the output had a value of $824,- 

 949 ; the decrease resulted from the lessened activity in the building 

 stone business in Chenango and Wyoming counties. The trade in 

 flagstone and curbstone was about the same proportions as in the 

 preceding year. The product of these materials amounted in value 

 $503,607 and consisted of 1,094,643 linear feet of curb and 

 1,546,845 square feet of flagstone. 



Sandstone other than bluestone represented a value of $567,762, 

 against $455,794 in 191 2. The largest item in the total was paving 

 blocks valued at $239,389, as compared with $188,802 in 1912. Or- 

 leans county alone reported an output valued at $467,636 which 

 was much larger than the figures from the preceding year. 



