Indiana Limestone and Sandstone Industries
Excerpt from A Guidebook to Mining In America:
Volume 2: East (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and farther East),
by John Park, Stonerose Publishing Co.
Miami, Florida, April, 2000," available at Stonerose Publishing Company.
(The following excerpt from pages 369-372 are used with the permission of the author, John Park.)
"The mineral product most closely associated with Indiana is dimension limestone. In fact, in 1920, 80% of the dimension stone used in the Nation was Indiana Limestone, and Indiana remains the leading producer of dimension stone (as of 1996). Quarrying began in 1827 and continues (p371 Indiana Limestone - below). An early lime industry grew up, largely using scrap from the dimension stone quarries. At present, not enough scrap is produced to support a commercial lime plant, but lime is produced from other sources, primarily for use in steel production.
In the past, substantial amounts of dimension sandstone have been quarried for construction purposes. Beginning in about 1810, Indiana was a major producer of whetstones from siltstone, second only in some years to Arkansas throughout the 1800s. The Hindostan Whetstone Company operated from 1821 to at least 1974. In 1892, 300,000 pds Hindostan whetstones were manufactured."
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