BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL STONES. 447 



Massachusetts, having a length of 110 miles and an average width of 

 20 miles. The stone is at present quarried only at Portland, Middlesex 

 County, East Haven, New Haven County, and Manchester, Hartford 

 County -j though small quarries have been worked from time to time to 

 furnish stone for local consumption at East Windsor, Hay den's Station, 

 Suffield, Newington, Farmington, and Forrestville in this same county. 

 The Manchester stone is a beautiful fine-grained reddish variety, and 

 that from East Haven is represented as excellent for rock-faced work. 

 The Portland quarries are, however, by far the most important of any 

 of these, and it is estimated that from their combined areas not less than 

 4,300,000 cubic feet of material have been taken. 



As now worked at this place the quarries descend with absolutely 

 perpendicular walls on three sides for a depth in some cases of upwards 

 of 150 feet, the fourth side being sloping to allow passage for teams 

 or workmen. The stone is of medium fineness of texture, of a uniform 

 reddish-brown color, and lies in nearly horizontal beds varying from 

 a few inches to 20 feet in thickness. Natural blocks 100 by 50 by 20 

 feet occur, and hence blocks of any desired size can be obtained. 

 In quarrying, channeling machines are used to some extent, though 

 in many cases large blocks are first loosened by means of deep drill 

 holes and heavy charges of powder, and these then split up by wedges. 

 The blocks are roughly trimmed down with picks at the quarry and 

 shipped thus to New York and other large cities to be worked up as oc- 

 casion demands. Scarcely any of the material is dressed at the quarries. 

 The stone has been used in all our leading cities, particularly in New 

 York, and has even been shipped to San Francisco via Cape Horn. 

 But little quarrying is done in cold weather, as care must be taken 

 against freezing while the stone is full of quarry water, a temperature 

 of 22° F. being sufficient to freeze and burst fine blocks of freshly- 

 quarried material. About a week or ten days of good drying weather 

 is considered sufficient to so season a stone as to place it beyond danger 

 from frost. 



Great outcry has from time to time been raised against the Portland 

 stone on account of its disposition to scale or flake off when laid in ex- 

 posed places. While it is undoubtedly true that it is unfit for carved 

 work in exposed situations, still the author can but feel that the archi- 

 tect and builder are largely responsible for the many ruined fronts 

 caused by this scaling, to be seen in New York and elsewhere. It is 

 the almost invariable custom in building to split the stone with the 

 grain into slabs but a few inches thick and to veneer the walls of build- 

 ings with these slabs placed on edge. Let thicker blocks be used and 

 the stone laid on its bed, as nature laid it down in the quarry, and 

 this defect will prove Jess serious, if it be not entirely remedied. But no 

 stone that is capable of absorbing so large a percentage of water as is 

 much of the Connecticut and other of our Triassic stones, can be more 

 than very moderately durable in the very trying climate of our Northern 

 States. 



