332 New York at the Woeld's Columbian Exposition. 



The area in which bluestone is quarried in ISTew York State extends 

 from the west shore of the Hudson river, in Ulster and Greene coun- 

 ties, in a southwesterly direction through Ulster, Delaware and Sullivan 

 counties to the Delaware river ; and there is a small isolated region in 

 Chenango county, in the towns of Oxford and Norwich. 



The region has been opened in the towns of Kingston and Sauger- 

 ties, Ulster county, and Catskill, Athens and Coxsackie, Greene county, 

 at numerous points from which the stone is carted by the quarrymen 

 to the Hudson, where it is bought by various dealers along the lines of 

 the Ulster and Delaware railroad, the Port Jervis and Monticello rail- 

 road, the New York, Ontario and Western railroad, the Erie railroad, 

 and the Delaware and Hudson canal. The last-named district extends 

 through the towns of Mamakating, Sullivan county, and Wawarsing 

 and Marbletown, Ulster county. Yery little quarrying is done in the 

 district at present. 



Of the quarries whose output is shipped via the Hudson river the 

 most important are in the town of Saugerties, Ulster county. The 

 quarries in this township are located at (Juarryville, West Saugerties, 

 Highwoods, Bethel and Unionville. This district has been extensively 

 opened and much stone is produced, although here, as also in the 

 Ulster and Delaware district, the business of quarrying has greatly 

 diminished in recent years. The largest quarries in the town of Sau- 

 gerties are at Quarryville* about four miles west of the Hudson. The 

 quarries here are on ledges of stone, running parallel to the Hudson up 

 into Greene county. Besides a number of small quarries there are two 

 large openings. One of these is abandoned, owing to inadequate 

 pumping facilities. Hand and horse-power pumps were used, and 

 found to be of too small capacity to handle the water. The owners 

 intend putting in steam pumps. 



About one-half mile north of the village, on the same ledge, is 

 the other opening, in which four parties are engaged in quarrying, 

 Patrick Kelly, Cornelius Harvey, Z. B. Mower & Co; and A. Cam- 

 M^right. The total length of the quarry face is about 300 feet. Each 

 quarry employs eight to twelve men, and produces $4,000 to $6,000 in 

 stone per year. No steam machinery is used. Pumps are worked by 

 hand or horse power. The quarries are below the level of the sur- 

 rounding country, and there is no natural drainage. The water is 

 pumped behind a common dam, extending the length of the workings. 

 The average thickness of the workable bed in these quarries and in 

 the district is about thirteen feet. On this lies a stratum of worthless 

 rock, about three feet thick, which is overlaid by two to twenty feet of 

 earth. The stone is of three grades as to color and hardness. The 

 top layers of the bed are gray and very hard, while those at the bottom 

 are blue and softer. Between these an intermediate grade can be 

 distinguished. 



This change in color and hardness occurs in almost all quarries. A 

 bed of bluestone is rarely uniform throughout its entire thickness. 

 Usually the color becomes darker as the distance below the surface and 

 also the distance from the face of the ledge increases. Sometimes, 

 however, the stone is darker in the upper layers. The thickness of 



