NORTH SHORE BREEZE and Reminder 
spread of the new knowledge of the land has become rapid, 
and its adoption into practice has almost become a matter 
of course. ‘The agricultural colleges are making of farm- 
ing a business. Scientific methods are supplanting the old 
tules of chance. The country is responding to the treat- 
ment, making of New England the best proposition for 
the man who wishes to make money off the land. 
‘In manufacturing there is a similar tale, though there 
is not the same degree of growth nor the same degree 
15 
of profit. In manufacturing New England is not yet fully 
adjusted to the truth that goods must be made at the 
most strategical points, and New England has not yet 
learned to correctly estimate the element of skilled opera- 
tors. The process of manufacturing adjustment involves 
the realization by the capitalists of the great fact that 
New England has supreme opportunities for them, But 
all of these elements are being considered, and the pro- 
cess of readjustment is, going on with satisfactory speed. 
Cape Ann as a Tourist’s Haven 
2. The Granite Quarries at Rockport 
BY W. LESTER STEVENS. 
N THE introduction to this series of articles I have 
said that Cape Ann was an ungrateful country to 
the first settlers in that the rockiness of the place made it 
unsuitable for large agricultural enterprises. 
A lapse of two and a half centuries has proven that 
what seemed to be ungratefulness has really been the 
greatest blessing. 
The great ice sheet which swept over the whole of 
Northern America ages ago, melting, left a deposit of 
granite here, famed far and wide for its building qualities. 
From Eastport, Maine, to cities in Virginia and even 
farther south, stone has been shipped. ‘he streets of 
Boston, New York and Philadelphia are paved with 
blocks from the Cape Ann quarries. In short, it would 
be impossible to visit any large city in the northern At- 
lantic states without seeing some building or bridge built 
of Rockport granite. At the navy yard at Portsmouth; 
the bridges over the Charles, connecting Cambridge and 
Boston; the famous Blackwell’s island bridge in New 
York, are among the larger, contracts. 
Before the wonderful ad¥aaeement of the past half 
century in steam and compressed air engines and machin- 
ery was accomplished, the task of quarrying granite was a 
difficult one. As derricks could be operated only by hand- 
power or with the aid of oxen, stones of large size could 
not be easily handled. ‘Today a small engine can do the 
work formerly required of twenty or raore men or two 
or three yoke of oxen. At one of the quarries of the 
Pigeon Hill Granite Company is a steel derrick which can 
lift nearly 100 tons. 
A wonderful picture it must have been, the oxen 
straining to lift a huge block of granite from the pit. 
Yes, but it was more picturesque than profitable. ‘Today 
a pull on a lever,—and the steel cable winds around the 
drum of the engine and with little effort and no waste of 
time, lifts stones that the quarryman of forty years ago 
would not have dreamed of lifting. 
The invention of the steam drill was a boon to work- 
ers in stone. It made possible the drilling of holes as 
deep as forty feet. In these a charge of dynamite is 
placed and when exploded thousands of tons of rock are 
separated. This makes it easier for the workmen to get 
at it. The use of locomotives to haul the stone on cars 
is another labor-saving device. 
Perhaps it might be interesting to watch the various 
operations upon the stone from the time of quarrying to 
the finished paving block, building stone or cut granite. 
After the stone is blasted it is then cut, by drilling and 
by the use of wedges, into blocks of such size as can be 
handled conviently. The clearest and best stone is sent 
to the stone cutters’ shed, where it is worked into monu- 
ments, into tountains, toundations for statues, filigree 
work on stone buildings, etc. ‘Che shed in which this 
work is done is usually over one hundred teet long, fitty 
or more feet wide and about 40 feet high. It makes 
one large room. In either end are large swinging doors 
and a track is run through the building over which a 
traveling crane carries the stone back and torth. Stone for 
building purposes must be dressed or pointed. ‘This work 
was formerly done by hand, but the introduction of com- 
pressed air has made this mode too slow to be profitable. 
The second quality of stone is used for paving. 
Formerly the cutting ot the stone into paving blocks was 
done entirely by the paving cutters, now the holes are 
already drilled by air drills. ‘The workmen have merely 
to split out the paving and shape them. Most of the pav- 
ing cutters work in small sheds which are open on the 
front. In winter a large piece of canvas is sometimes 
stretched across this opening to keep out the cold, and | 
have seen stoves in some of them. Is there no waste? 
some one asks. Yes, very much. Some of the stone is 
unworkable and goes to the “grout” pile,—some has been 
used in the foundation work of the Sandy Bay break- 
water and a great deal is put into the crusher and used in 
the construction of roads. There is enough stone on 
Cape Ann which could be used only for this latter pur- 
pose to build several highways across the continent. 
Barges and lighters are largely used at present to 
transport the stone. Within a few years, however, all 
was carried by stone sloops, some few of which are used 
even today. But the quicker transportation afforded by 
the barges towned by tugs has made slooping unprofitable. 
Some 800 to 1,000 men are employed at the quarries, 
Among them are engineers, blacksmiths, stone-cutters, 
paving-cutters, men to work at the derricks and to blast the 
stone, etc., called quarrymen, carpenters, teamsters, and 
tool boys. All nationalities are here,—Finnish, Swedish, 
Irish, Italian, Scotch, Welch, English and American. ‘lhe 
Scotch and English are found more often in the stone- 
cutters’ or hammerers’ sheds, the Finnish, Swedish and 
Italians in the quarries or cutting paving. 
Calamity howlers are forever telling us that our 
coal supply is soon to give out, that our supply of iron 
is limited, that our trees will soon be all cut and lumber 
will become a luxury, but no one can dare say that our 
granite supply will be exhausted, for Cape Arn can fur- 
nish for centuries to come enough stone to supply the 
demand. 
(Next week the article will deal with Dogtown Con 
mons and environs). 
