R DOW ON AN OUTCROP OF DIABASE AT ROSSIE PRIORY. 
3 
Fife and the Lothians, are everywhere capped by volcanic rocks; and, 
whilst there is little to prove, there is as little reason to doubt, that 
the volcanic hills of this corner of Perthshire may be contempo¬ 
raneous with the volcanic eruptions of Fife and the Lothians. It is 
not at all improbable that the plateau once extended over a much 
wider area—an area, perphaps, which covered a great part of south 
Forfarshire,—as the same rock forms the basalt outcrops of the 
Law and Balgay Hills of Dundee and all the more prominent hills 
for miles around the city. The basalt caps may be only the remnants 
of what was once one great and universal igneous deposit. 
Just behind the wooded hill of Rossie is a romantic little hollow 
through which the Huntly burn flow^s. In this hollow^, and by the 
banks of the stream, nestles the sequestered little village of the 
Knapp. At the upper end of the village there has existed for many 
years wFat is known for miles around as the Knapp Quarry. The 
quarry is situated on the hill slope about 300 yards off, and higher 
than the burn. It has been w^orked for a long time for “road metal,” 
so that it is cut w^ell back into the hillside. Stone-crushing w'orks on 
an extensive scale w^ere erected last summer, an account of which 
appeared in the Dundee Advertiser at the time. The means of trans¬ 
port from the quarry above to the works below" is Hodgson’s system 
of ware-rope transport. This consists of boxes suspended on an end¬ 
less ware rope supported on a series of pulleys resting on posts. At 
the quarry above a shed has been erected, in wLich is a large and 
pow-erful drum, attached to w'hich are the strong steel ware ropes. 
Dowm the hillside, between the quarry and the w"orks below^ tw"o 
lines of rails have been laid, on each of wLich runs a steel waggon 
attached to the ropes. The force of the loaded w^aggon is sufficient 
to raise the empty one. In the stone-crushing machinery motive 
pow"er is supplied by w^ater and steam. By means of the w^aggons 
and ropes 76 tons or 76 cubic yards of “metal ” can be supplied per 
day. 
To the student of field geology a visit to the Knapp Quarry 
presents geological features, a knowledge of wLich cannot be acquired 
from an inspection of hand specimens, any more than the archi¬ 
tecture of a building could be told from a few hand specimens 
of the stone employed in its construction. 
In the district which has Perth for its centre the basaltic rock 
necessary for the maintenance and repair of our highw^ays is w"orked 
from no less than 37 quarries. The quarries are, wath few^ exceptions, 
found in the trap dykes so common in the district. In the Sidlaw" 
district these trap-dyke quarries, which, by the w^ay, are geological 
ages younger than the Sidlaw’s themselves or the rock of the Knapp 
Quarry, are w"orked at Corsiehill, Muir of Durdie, Pepperknow-es, 
