Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/562664
AGGREGATES MANAGER September 2015 44 by Bill Langer Bill Langer is a consulting research geologist who spent 41 years with the U.S. Geological Survey before starting his own business. He can be reached at Bill_Langer@hotmail.com In Stone [I]n a great number of cases, when the month's pay comes to a single [quarry] man, he settles his board bill, squares up at the store and the livery stable, and then as for the balance, rolls it lively. George Ellsworth Hooker, 1895, Labor and Life at the Barre Granite Quarries I have met quite a few aggregates workers in my day. I thoroughly en- joy working with and around those folks while doing my geological stud- ies. Perhaps it is my friendships with quarry folk that led me to write this series of articles about Barre granite to learn what life was like for early quarry men back in the late 19th century. Quarry men worked as hard as the rock they were mining. Accord- ing to contemporary reports, work in Barre quarries was much more demanding than in granite quarries in Maine or in the old country. Heavy 8-pound sledges swung by two men with both hands would fall on the drill about 40 times per minute. Each man swung 20 times per minute, or once every three seconds. Go through the motions 20 times in a minute; it is grueling. Shifting drills, driving wedges, and hitching chains varied the exercise, but the physical expenditure of energy in the nine-hour day was heavy. Fueling this exercise took carbohydrates - lots of them. Most men could not reach home, eat in comfort, and return to work during the hour dinner break; hence the "dinner pail gang." A typical dinner pail contained two thick slices of buttered bread, a slice of cold meat or cheese, one doughnut, one slice of cake, two cookies, two pieces of pie, and two cups of tea or coffee. That could fuel a lot of hammer blows. Many of the quarry men in Barre lived on "Millstone Hill" near where most of the quarries were located. To the citizens of Barre, Millstone Hill had a more familiar title of "The Hill;" conceived by many to be a terrible place. At a time when men dressed in a coat and tie for supper (the evening meal), quarry men would go to their table in their shirt sleeves. It was said that they disfigured a hall floor pretty badly at an entertainment. They swore prolifically, gambled, and frequently got drunk. However, as it is today, it was the few who greatly discredited the reputations of the many. Some men, especially those with a prudent wife, were quite thrifty. But after payday, many single men would end up being broke in a few days. However, quarry men always paid their debts, and there were very few men who couldn't get credit. Recreational opportunities were very limited on The Hill. When asked what people on The Hill do, the answer in an 1895 publication was "What do they do? Nothing as I know, 'cept to sleep, and eat, an' work." Organized outdoor sports were pre- vented by the lack of a Saturday half-holiday, and the men had to make do with impromptu activities. After the arrival of the stage coach from Barre and the distribution of the mail, the men would play billiards, pitch quoits, put the shot, play whist, read books or newspapers, or just sit on the fence and play the harmonica and sing songs. On Saturday night, they might go to Barre where they would roll it lively. The life of a 19th century granite miner consisted of physically intense work, carb-laden meals, and impromptu entertainment. ON THE HILL The Men When mining granite in the late 1800s, two men would swing an 8-pound sledge onto the drill every three seconds. It made for physically exhausting work.