﻿76 



INDIANA UNIVERSITY 



Development of the Industry.^^ Data are not available for 

 an adequate sketch of the early history of the oolitic stone indus- 

 try. One of the first uses of the stone was in the foundation 

 and the window sills of the Monroe County Court House, begun 

 in 1819. The stone was hauled eight miles to the site of the 

 building, and there erected upon stone of the same kind and of 

 equally good quality. Among the earliest quarries was that of 

 Eichard Gilbert, opened near Stinesville in 1827. The stone was 

 then used chiefly for bridge work, and was comparatively un- 

 known outside the region of its occurrence. In 1853 the Erving 

 Quarry near Bedford furnished the stone for the United States 

 Custom House in Louisville. About the same time Messrs. Bid- 

 die and Watts, of Pennsylvania, established near Stinesville a 

 plant upon what w^as then considered a large scale. In the 

 northern district, however, the Ellettsville field seems to have 

 had the longest continuous history, for there in 1862 John Mat- 

 thew^s & Sons opened a quarry that is still in operation. 



In the early period the quarrying Avas all done by blasting, 

 and the sawing by hand. The industrial revolution of the stone 

 industry came with the construction of the Monon Railway and 

 the introduction of the steam channeler. The first of these ma- 

 chines operated in the oolitic belt was installed in 1877 by John 

 Matthews & Sons. 



From this time on the quarrying and dressing of oolitic stone 

 assumes the dignity of a regular industry. About 1879 the large 

 Hoosier quarry was opened near Bedford, and Avithin the next 

 decade most of the more important quarries of that region Avere 

 opened. In the Bloomington district, the development of the 

 Clear Creek region began in 1888, Avhile the Hunter Valley quar- 

 ries Avere not opened until 1891. The quarries near Salem, im- 

 portant in the earlier period, are not noAV operated for building 

 stone. 



As has been suggested, the development of the oolitic stone 

 industry is intimately connected Avith the development of trans- 

 portation facilities. The Monon Raihvay Avas the pioneer in 

 reaching the stone belt. The Ncav Albany & Salem Railroad, as 

 it was then called, Avas built as far as Bedford in 1852, and was 

 extended through Monroe County in 1854. Through Washing- 

 ton, Lawrence and Monroe counties, quarries were opened as 

 needed for bridge Avork and ballast along the line of the raihvay, 



13 The data for the historical part of this section are chiefly derived from the 

 Twenty-first Indiana Geological Report. 



