Report on the Minks and Mining Exhibit. 333 



the several layers also increases with depth and distance frona the face 

 of the ledge. Usually the stone in the second block is about twice as 

 heavy as that in the first. The " lifts " or layers of stone in this dis- 

 trict vary from three inches to four feet in tliickness. The stone taken 

 from tlie lower lifts does not stand weathering well. It contains seams 

 and " reeds," invisible seams, which open when the stone is exposed to 

 frost. That from the upper lifts is more compact and durable. The 

 stone is carted to Maiden, distant live or six miles by road. The 

 rough stone is worth forty-eight to sixty cents per cubic foot, or four 

 to five cents per inch. 



A general description can be given of the method of quarrying 

 throughout the bluestone district, which will apply to all quarries, 

 with the exception of a very few where steam machinery is used. The 

 equipment consists of sledge hammers, wedges, plugs and feathers, 

 crowbars, shovels, wheelbarrows, and a hand derrick in most of the 

 larger quarries. Pumps are rarely necessary. The bed is first stripped 

 of the overburden. The " stripping " of " top," as the overburden is 

 called, is usually earth and worthless stone. In the most favorable case 

 it is simply a layer of earth. The worthless rock may be solid, in which 

 case its removal is an expensive item in quarrying, or it may be very 

 much broken up or shaly (called " pencil stufE "), when it is easily 

 removed. The top rock is removed with the aid of blasting powder 

 and dynamite, and large blasts are sometimes fired when it is heavy. 

 Thirty kegs of powder have been fired in one of these blasts. The 

 stripping is done mostly during the winter, and actual quarrying about 

 nine months in the year. 



The beds of stone are divided naturally into blocks by seams and 

 joints at right angles to each other. In the direction of the strike of 

 the ledge are the " side seams," which are very marked, and, where 

 large areas are stripped, may sometimes be seen running straight and 

 truly parallel for several hundred feet -v^ithout interruption. At right 

 angles to the side seams, and less regular than these, are joints which 

 form two opposite sides of a block. The area of blocks varies greatly. 

 That of large ones may be 1,000 square feet or more. The bed being 

 stripped, the layers or " lifts " of good stone are successively raised by 

 means of wedges driven into the natural bedding planes. Large lifts 

 are broken to desired sizes by plugs and feathers. The plugs are driven 

 home at the same time as the wedges and aid in dislodging the stone 

 from its bed. The thickness of lifts varies f roiji one inch to six feet. 



In the Highwoods district the quarries are all small, and worked by 

 two or three men. Two men get out about $1,000 to $1,200 in stone 

 per year. These small quarries are worked until the good stone gives 

 out, or more frequently until the top becomes too lieavy to be economi- 

 cally handled on so small a scale. The beds of stone in this district 

 are very uncertain. Layers of shaly rock are interstratitied with the 

 good bluestone, and pockets of the same material are irregularly dis- 

 tributed through the beds. The district is said by quarrymen to be 

 nearly exhausted. The stone found here is of a good blue color, hard 

 and heavy. All thicknesses are found up to three or four feet. It 

 is sold to dealers at Saugerties and Glasco, seven or eight miles distant. 



