462 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



The chief defect in these is the presence of numerous and large clay 

 holes, necessitating great care in selecting the material. Many expos- 

 ures, as at Douglas and Bayfield Counties and on* the Apostle Island 

 are so situated that the quarried material could be shipped directly 

 upon vessels with but little carting. 



West Virginia. — According to Professor Orton this State abounds in 

 building stone, of which, however, but a small percentage is strictly 

 first-class material. With the exception of one or two points on 

 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, none is quarried for the general 

 market. Near Rowlesburgh, on the banks of the Cheat River, there 

 occurs a deposit of fine deep blue-gray Devonian sandstone that has 

 been quarried to the depth of 40 feet, over an area of perhaps one- 

 fourth of an acre. The quarry lies at the very foot of the mountains, 

 and the amount of stripping is accordingly very great and continually 

 increasing. The stone resembles very closely the Devonian bluestone 

 of New York, especially that quarried in Chenango County and the 

 lighter varieties of Ulster County. It is said to be highly esteemed 

 and very durable. 



According to the same authority the Kanawha River and its tribu- 

 taries throughout the whole region about Charleston are walled with 

 rock, and quarries are possible everywhere, but not all of the stone is 

 equally good. The engineers employed in the erection of the Govern- 

 ment building at Charleston, after thoroughly testing all the prevailing 

 varieties, finally decided upon that from a comparatively thin bed, 6 to 

 10 feet in thickness, that forms the cap to the Mahoning sandstone 

 formation near Charleston. This rock is light gray, siliceous, some- 

 what conglomeritic, but strong and eminently durable. Frost seemed 

 to have no effect upon it, and no efflorescence is perceptible upon ex- 

 posed blocks. Continual vigilance must, however, be exercised in select- 

 ing stone, as much of it contains shaly pockets and pyritiferous seams. 

 The bluestone from this same region, which has been largely used in the 

 Government works of improving the Kanawha River, is a strong stone, 

 experiments having shown it to have a crushing strength of about 

 14,000 pounds per square inch of surface, but much of it is pyritiferous, 

 and great care must be used in selection. This stone has been used in 

 one or two important buildings, and with very bad results, it beginning 

 to discolor and exfoliate within two or three years. 



At Grafton, in Taylor County, a light-gray sandstone belonging to 

 this same formation (Carboniferous) has been extensively quarried for 

 railroad work. The quality of the stone is said to be good, and it is 

 strong enough for the heaviest work. The thickness of the stratum 

 here is from 150 to 200 feet, and the amount of stone available is beyond 

 computation, there being literally mountains of it. There are several 

 other localities in this region where sandstone is quarried for local pur- 

 poses, but which can not be noticed here. 



