﻿OOLITIC LIMESTONE INDUSTRY 



77 



and the railway company's quarry near Stinesville furnished 

 stone for the bridges along the northern portion of the line. The 

 Komona district was given commercial importance by the build- 

 ing of the Indianapolis and Vincennes Railway in 18'70. In 1876 

 the region northwest of Bedford was opened up by the building 

 of the narrow gauge Bedford and Bloomfield Railroad, now a 

 branch of the ]\lonon and of standard gauge. More recently the 

 Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern and the Southern Indiana rail- 

 ways have entered the southern portion of the stone belt. The 

 building of the Bedford Belt Railway in 1892 was of material 

 benefit to the industry in Lawrence County. Built by the Bed- 

 ford Quarry Company, it has since been organized separately as 

 the Bedford Belt Railway Company, and has connections with 

 all the railways entering Bedford and with many of the quarries 

 in that vicinity. The Indiana Stone Railway, a branch of the 

 Monon, connecting Clear Creek Station and Harrodsburg, was 

 built in 1899, and has rendered accessible a linear extent of fifty 

 miles of the stone bearing ledge. ^* 



The following table gives the figures, so far as they are as- 

 certainable, for the oolitic production since 1860. They are in- 

 complete, it is true, but care has been taken in selecting them, 

 and it is believed they are fairly accurate for the years included. 

 The figures for capital invested, as recorded in official reports, 

 are manifestly incorrect, and have been rejected for that reason. 

 In 1904, thirty-seven establishments reported 2,797 men in their 

 employ. Of these about sixty per cent, are employed in the Bed- 

 ford district. 



Product. 



Tear. Ctihic Feet. Value. 



1860 $64,000 



1870...., 372,000 



1877 341,055 



1878 421,575 



1879 „ 443,520 141,850 



1881 ' 651,200 



1882 579,109 



1883 980,598 



1884 869,695 



1887 2,360,000 



1889 913,530 



1892 3,924,000 892,714 



1894 4,580,418 1,154.246 



1895 5,368,307 1,523,260 



1896 5,455,582 1,209,632 



Ind. Geol. Report, xxv, 391. 



