The Illinois Stone and Building Industry in 1882
Excerpts from
Mineral Resources of the United States, 1882
J. S. Powell, Director, Department of the Interior, United States
Geological Survey,
Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1883.
Excerpts from the chapters on 1) "Structural Materials," and 2) "The Useful Minerals of the United States:
"The division of the Tenth Census charged with the collection of statistics of building stone obtained returns from 1,525 quarries in the United States, having an invested capital of $25,414,497, and producing during the year ending May 31, 1880, 115,380,133 cubic feet of stone, valued at $18,365,055. In value of total product, the leading States rank as follows: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Connecticut; each of these States producing upwards of $1,000,000 worth of stone. Vermont, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, New York, and Missouri, in the order named, produce the most marble and limestone; Ohio, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, the greater part of the sandstone; Massachusetts and Maine quarry the most granite and other siliceous crystalline rocks; while Pennsylvania leads in product of slate."
ILLINOIS
Reported by John C. Smock.
Ores, minerals, and mineral substances of industrial importance, which are at present mined.
Flagging Stone: Alton, Madison county; Thebes, Alexander county (known as "Thebes sandstone"); Joliet, Twelve-mile Grove, and Wallingford, in Will county; Columbia and Monroe, in Monroe county, a blue limestone extensively quarried; Fairfield, Wayne county; in Wabash, White, and Hamilton counties, a sandstone in Coal Measures.
Limestone: The limestone formations furnish stone at many localities. Following are more prominent: Randolph county; Madison county; Nauvoo, Hancock county; Warsaw, Hancock county; Rosiclare limestone, Hardin county; Thebes, Alexander county; near Jonesboro and Anna, Union county (Saint Louis limestone); Bald rock quarries, Jackson county; Grafton quarries, Jersey county, in the Niagara limestone; Jerseyville, Jersey county (Burlington limestone); near Carrollton, Green county; La Salle, La Salle county in Trenton beds; Athens, Cook county, known as "Athens marble"; Lemonte, also in Cook county, "Lemonte marble" (these are largely used in Chicago; Quincy, Adams county, large quarries in Burlington limestone; Batavia and Aurora, in Kane county, quarries in horizon of Niagara limestone; Saratoga, Grundy county also in Trenton; Will county quarries largely worked in the Niagara limestone at Joliet, Lockport, and Wallingford (stone known as "Joliet marble"); Sagetown, Henderson county; Cedar creek, Warren county; Dunleith, Jo Daviess county; Freeport, Stephenson county; Savannah, Carroll county; Harlem and Cherry valley, in Winnebago county; Buffalo creek, Ogle county; Big Springs and Franklin, Lee county; Sterling, Whiteside county. Many other points for local use.
Sandstone: T. 1 N. R. W., Saint Clair county; Drury creek, Jackson county; Greenbush and Berwick, Warren county; Andalusia, Rock Island county; along Kickapoo river, Peoria county; west of Springfield, Sangamon county; Xenia, Clay county; all in sandstones of Coal Measures or in conglomerate sandstones. Many other localities for limited use.
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