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Economic Classification of Maine Granites.

A scientific classification of these granites has already been given on pages 24, 25.  Maine granites, considered in respect to their uses, may be divided into five classes:  (a)  Constructional, used for bridges, docks, retaining walls, buildings, or the bases of monuments;  (b) statuary, for statue and delicate monumental or ornamental work; (c) inscriptional, for inscribed dies and tablets; (d) curbing, for curbstones, straight or circular, and cross walks, and (e) paving, those which are used exclusively for paving blocks.  But in order to convey an adequate idea of the great variety of these granites they have been divided into 14 groups.  This classification is based upon the most conspicuous economic characteristic, be it either color or texture.  The designations of these groups are (1) Reddish (divided into light, bright, and dark), (2) pinkish-buff,  (3)  light lavender,  (4)  gray (black and white, white dominant, the minerals affording strong contrasts), (5) gray, porphyritic,  (6)  buff,  (7)  greenish gray,  (8)  black and white (black dominant),  (9)  gray, with weak contrasts,  (10)  muscovite (white mica conspicuous),  (11)  fine textured,  (12)  very coarse,  (13)  paving, fine with isolated crystals,  (14)  black (divided into black, greenish black, and medium gray).  In the following table the localities where each of these granites is quarried are given, and references are made to the pages on which a complete description of the stone can be found.  Connected with those descriptions are particulars as to the quarries and the firms operating them.

 

Distribution of Granite Quarries in Maine.

The map (Pl. 1) shows the location of the principal quarries and groups of quarries and prospects, which include 133 separate openings, and also the relation of these to the rock areas which are described in the introductory chapter.  Of these openings 92 are quarries operated in 1905.  A number of unimportant paving block and underpinning quarries have been overlooked or intentionally omitted.

Quarries of granite proper.-With the exception of the important quarries at Hallowell in Kennebec, North Jay in Franklin, the minor ones at Fryeburg and Bryant Pond in Oxford County, Pownal in Cumberland County, Norridgewock in Somerset County, Oak Hill and Lincolnville in Waldo County, and Dedham in Hancock County, all the granite quarries of Maine are along the seaboard, either on islands or on bays or navigable rivers, or within 4 miles of them.  The inland quarries are all on railroads or within a short distance of them.  The distance to rail from a few quarries is 3 miles, from one 5 miles, but as the product of these quarries is used entirely for monumental work the cartage is a matter of less moment.  The Maine granite industry may be said to have its center in Penobscot and Blue Hill bays and the islands about them.  A line drawn from Clark Island, south of Rockland, north-northeast to Frankfort, and thence about east to Franklin, in Hancock County, thence south through Bar Harbor, and thence around the islands in a southwesterly course back to Clark Island, would embrace an area of about 1,200 square miles, which would include the bulk of the granite industry.

Quarries of black granite.-There are 12 quarries of black granite, although a few obscure ones may have been overlooked.  Their location is shown by a separate symbol on the map.  They are in York, Lincoln, Waldo, Penobscot, and Washington counties.  Of these only the Addison (in Washington County), Vinalhaven (in Knox), and Round Pond quarries (in Lincoln) are at tidewater, but as these granites are used only in small quantities for expensive work the cost of the transportation is a minor consideration.

Description of The Quarries and Their Product.

(PLEASE NOTE:  The section listing the individual quarries will not be listed here at this time, but will be added at a later date.  If you have any questions about the individual quarries, feel free to contact me.  Peggy B. Perazzo.)

Statistics of Equipment and Investment.

In order to ascertain the amount of capital invested in the Maine granite industry, the operators were asked to submit, in confidence, conservative estimates of the value of their quarries and plants and of an amount of capital sufficient for working the same on their present scale.  Figures were obtained from all but a few very small concerns, and in their cases estimates were made by the writer based on the size of the quarries and plants and the number of men employed and on the returns from the other firms.  The figures for 82 operators aggregate $3,531,000, but four of these operators are simply owners of idle quarries.  As their value was estimated at $73,500, that amount should perhaps be deducted from the aggregate, which would make the investment represented by the Maine granite industry $3,467,000, or, in round numbers, $3,500,000.

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Statistics of Production for 1905.

By Altha T. Coons.

The following table shows the production of granite in Maine in 1905, classified by counties and by uses:

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