BUILDING STONES. 
213 
City. It is rather difficult to dress, but is a solid and durable 
stone. Near Baraboo some sandstones have been quarried. 
At Garrisonville, some eight miles below, the same bed as at 
Montello is seen in the bluffs south of the river. The quartzite 
which is so abundant in this vicinity, is too hard to be quarried 
or dressed with profit. The quartzite of Portland, Dodge 
County, which resembles that at Baraboo, is rather softer, and 
might be used to advantage in heavy buildings. It is located 
on the Watertown Railroad, about fifty miles from Milwaukee, 
and can be put upon the cars at a trifling expense. By taking 
advantage of the joints which intersect it, no difficulty will be 
encountered in extracting blocks of large size. It will take a 
rough dressing without difficulty, and might be used for certain 
kinds of grinding, as in oil mills, to advantage. Some of the 
Granite and Sienite of the Central and Northern regions might 
O O 
be worked to advantage. 
The region bordering on Lake Superior will eventually fur¬ 
nish a _great variety of building stones, flag stones and roofing 
slates, which are now inaccessible for "want of communication 
with the settled portions of the State. The Marbles of the Up¬ 
per Menomonee have already been noticed in speaking of the 
Geology of that region. That they will eventually furnish 
some highly ornamental and valuable stones, is quite certain. 
RICHLAND COUNTY MARBLES. 
As this stone has formerly attracted some attention, it 
is proper to notice it in passing. It is found on the south-east 
quarter of section 28, about ten miles north of Lone Rock. 
Its Geological position is in the lower Magnesian, near the 
base. It consists of a vast irregular mass of soft crystalline 
carbonate of lime, sometimes fibrous, of a reddish white color, 
and possessing a distinct undulating lamination. Some five 
feet in thickness and thirty feet in length are exposed, and 
numerous large masses are scattered over the hillside. It is a 
stalactite, formed in some ancient cave by the same process that 
produces the beautiful mineral imitations of icicles, so common 
in most caves which are roofed with limestone. The water. 
