Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/610317
AGGREGATES MANAGER December 2015 60 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 D uring this past year, I have quoted many people in my articles about Barre Granite. I unintentionally ignored the rocks, so I interviewed one. Here it is. Langer: I am talking with a member of the Barre Granite pluton. You said I should call you Toobig Uglyrock. So, Mr. Uglyrock, tell the readers a little bit about yourself. Uglyrock: Back in 1793, when the privilege to name Barre, Vt., was decided by a fist fight (January Carved in Stone), some of my relatives that were exposed on the flanks of a nearby hill had already been broken away from the ledges and turned into millstones. Other kinfolk were used as lintels, thresholds, hearthstones, steps, and in fences and walls (February and March Carved in Stone). Langer: I understand another use of Barre Granite was as paving blocks. Uglyrock: Oh, yes. When people quarry rock some of it breaks into pieces that are too small for gravestones. They just toss 'em over the bank into a huge pile like the one I was in. They call it a chat pile. So happens that some of the waste rocks are perfect sizes to be worked into paving blocks (June Carved in Stone), but I was too big to be used as a paving block. Langer: Weren't some of your most famous relatives selected for use because of their beauty? Uglyrock: Yes. Back in the 1830s, some of my siblings were used in the Vermont Statehouse (May Carved in Stone). They were very pretty. I was ugly, and when they dug me up, they pushed me over the bank into the chat pile. Langer: Oh, dear. (Sigh.) Aren't most of your relatives used as gravestones? Uglyrock: Well yes, I have thousands and thousands of beautiful cousins that are gravestones, monuments, and mausoleums. They have been shipped all over the country (July Carved in Stone). Langer: So, Toobig, is it difficult to quarry your granite family? Uglyrock: You bet. I was quarried back before electricity and steam power. I was drilled by hand with hammers and drills, and split with feathers and wedges. But we rocks also have inherent weaknesses that experienced quarrymen exploited, making their job easier (April Carved in Stone). Langer: It must have taken many people to quarry so many of your relatives. Uglyrock: Many Americans as well as Scottish, Italian, and other immigrants worked in Barre's quarries and sheds (August and September Carved in Stone). During the early 1900s, the mechanical working of stone created dust, and inhaling granite stone dust caused the horrific disease known as silicosis. Many workers exposed to the dust, laborers, and owners, died well before their time, leaving their widows to fend for their families (October and November Carved in Stone). Barre was among the first of the mineral industries to address the issue by installing dust-removing equipment. Langer: Toobig, I see you have been loaded on a railcar. Do you know where you are going? Uglyrock: Well, these days a lot of my relatives in this chat pile have been run through a crusher and are used as road base and asphalt aggregate. Me? I'm too big. I think I am going to a landfill; a place they take stuff nobody wants. Langer: Wrong! You are headed to the Port of Oswego on Lake Ontario in New York State. You are going to be used as jetty rock to help provide a safe haven for boaters. Uglyrock: Really? Hey boaters. You can call me Barre Breakwater! Author's note: Thanks to Harry Hart, from North East Materials Group, LLC, for pointing out the use of Barre Granite as jetty stone and aggregate. An interview with Toobig Uglyrock. SOURCE Straight from the Oswego Harbor breakwaters, 1925.