68 THE GRANITES OF MAINE. 
enumerated on pages 63-66 in order that the quality of the stone 
may be scientifically determined. 
Exploration of surface. — The next step is a careful exploration of 
the granite surface, if necessary, by stripping in trenches, with a 
view to determine the areal extent of the quality of stone tested, the 
character of the jointing, the presence of headings, dikes, and veins, 
and the frequency of knots. 
Stripping. — The thickness of soil or till upon the granite surface 
and that of the decomposed surface rock should be estimated. In 
some places the removal of this covering involves large expenditures; 
in others the expense is so small as to be negligible. 
Sheets, rift, and grain. — A sufficient amount of vertical explora- 
tion should be made, possibly by core drilling, in order to determine 
the thickness of the sheets, the width of the sap, the direction and 
amount of rift and grain. 
Quarry site. — With these preliminaries a quarry site should be 
selected. In this selection the inclination of the sheets and the loca- 
ton of headings and dikes should be considered, as well as the 
amount of stripping, the location of dumps, the drainage, and the 
facilities for transportation. The location of a quarry on a level 
tract, away from streams or shore, may entail insurmountable drain- 
age difficulties. 
Transportation. — The cost of transporting the product is obvi- 
ously one of the great factors in granite quarrying. The basis of 
the Maine granite industry is the location of its quarries at 
tidewater. At many quarries schooners of 175 registered tonnage — 
that is, carrying from 300-350 long tons — are laden within 500 feet 
and some within 125 feet of the point where the stone is quarried. 
(See PI. XII, .1.) Notwithstanding the greater cost of transporta- 
tion by rail and the necessity, in many places, of a second handling, 
Maine granite has found its way far into the interior, as will be 
seen by reference to the description of the quarries under the heading 
of " Product." This is supposed to be due to the fact that the com- 
pleteness of the plants and the ability of the firms in handling large 
contracts has more than counterbalanced the great distance of the 
quarry from market. But in any case the transportation of the 
product any considerable distance by teams to railroad or wharf is a 
very, serious drawback. When the quarry is at a considerable eleva- 
tion above the railroad or wharf, as at Mount Waldo and Mosquito 
Mountain, in Frankfort, elaborate systems of gravity rail transporta- 
tion must be provided. At each of these quarries this has involved 
about 1| miles of railroad track, besides special engines and great 
lengths of steel cable. 
Drainage. — In small and newly opened quarries drainage is an 
