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INDIANA UNIVERSITY 



extended use. It lies near the surface, and for the most part 

 but a few feet of overljdng dirt and stone need to be removed. 

 In some cases, however, the layer of hard top is so thick and in- 

 creases the cost of stripping so greatly as to result in the aban- 

 donment of the opening. The slight southwesterly dip is so 

 gentle as to make the work of quarrying quite easy. Further- 

 more, the location of the quarries in the midst of a populous 

 district with good transportation facilities makes it possible to 

 put the stone on the market at a moderate price. 



Though the importance of the oolitic stone industry depends 

 upon the use of the stone for building purposes, it is well adapted 

 to various other uses. Considerable quantities are used for mon- 

 uments and for ornamental work, for which use it is adapted be- 

 cause easily worked. A large amount of it is sold for flagging 

 and curbing, and it is used quite generally in the region of its 

 occurrence for road-metal and riprap. Its high degree of purity 

 fits it especially well for the making of a pure lime, for Portland 

 cement and for fiux for furnaces, but its use for these purposes is 

 in a large part dependent upon the quarrying for building pur- 

 poses; for it is generally the stone rejected for the chief use 

 which is utilized for the other purposes. 



The manufacture of lime, however, has some claim to be con- 

 sidered a separate industry. Before the development of trans- 

 portation facilities, lime for local use was commonly burned 

 throughout the oolitic belt, and abandoned kilns may still be 

 seen near Romona, EUettsville, Bloomington and Bedford.^ The 

 oolitic stone is now quarried for lime-burning only at Salem, 

 where, it is said, lack of railway competition^ and the necessity 

 of transferring the stone to the east and west lines'"^ render freight 

 rates so high as to make the quarrying of building stone un- 

 profitable, although the Salem stone is of good quality and for- 

 merly had a rather extended use. The waste from the quarries of 

 the Perry-Matthews-Buskirk Stone Company, located near Bed- 

 ford, is manufactured into lime by the Horseshoe Lim.e and Ce- 

 ment Company, a firm wholly independent of the quarrying com- 

 pany, whose advantage in the arrangement is the getting rid of 

 the troublesome piles of waste. 



The lime from these kilns is a ''hot", quick-slaking lime, very 

 pure in composition. That from the Salem kilns is used chiefly 

 for mortar and plaster, but large quantities are used also in tan- 



Ind. Geol. Report, xxviii, 219, 254. 

 ^ Ind. (4eol. Report, xxvii, 104. 

 •' Ind. Geol. Report, xv, 146. 



