tles, steps and base-boards. The upper ledge is ten inches thick and of a pinkish gray color. The general texture is finegrained. Both ledges admit of a fine polish. Small monuments have been prepared from the upper bed. Other layers exist but are not now worked. Only about one car load of these marbles has been shipped.

In the southern opening only the weathered ledges are shown. The most important layer is several inches thick. It is tolerably tough and takes a high polish.

Wright Quarry.-The Wright quarry is about a mile northeast of the Gale (Tp. 33 N., R. VI E., Sec. 28, NW. qr., S ) in the side of a ravine. Work towards developing these ledges began about fiiteen years ago and a number of blocks of the stone taken out, two or three car loads of rough stone being shipped from Fredericktown. No stripping of consequence is necessary to reach the best ledges which can be gotten out in slabs sixteen inches thick. As a rule the stone has a peculiar texture. It is rather dull, finely textured and granular in appearance, the latter character being well brought out in the polished faces. It is remarkably easily worked and not in the least "plucky." The color is commonly a very dark brick-red, approaching brown; in this general hue are blotches and specks of lighter color and of clear white calcite which give a striking as well as beautiful effect to the dressed stone.

Strong & Gillespie Quarry.-The opening in the marble just north of the main east and west road along the headwaters of Slater branch was formerly known as the Slater quarry but is now called the Strong & Gillespie. The quarry is on the south slope of the hill and considerably above the drainage level. A prospect shaft was sunk here through thirty or forty feet of marble and the formation was not passed through. A large amount of stone has been taken out from the quarry. Some has been shipped and some of it used for monuments. The stone is light to dark red in color, and partly banded with thin veins of white, the latter are of calcite and do not interfere with the solidity nor durability of the rock. The clayey seams which occasionally occur near the outer surfaces of the layers

are somewhat injurious in that they are sources of undesirable fractures and do not polish well. The thickness of the strata in sight ranges from a few inches to two feet and immense blocks are obtainable. A single large derrick has been

employed.

LIMESTONE.

The limestone of the district comprise two principal varieties dolomite, and ordinary limestone. Outside of the granite field they form a considerable belt along the northern, eastern and southern margins of the sheet.

Dolomite is the most important of the calcareous quarryrocks and most of the limerocks are of this nature. Its stone is buff, compact, fine-grained, massively bedded. Often some silicious matter is present either in the form of fine quartz sand or chert.

On the Mine la Motte estate three analyses of the rock gave the following results:

One of the samples (I) was from Rock creek one mile east of the road crossing, north of the village. The second ( II ) is from the old lime kiln half a mile farther up the creek. The third ( III ) is from the eastern part of the estate.

Exposures of heavily bedded dolomite are of frequent occurrence. Outside of the granite area these outcroppings are usually so situated as to enable quarrying to be done without much expense on account of stripping. Quarrying in the magnesian limestones has been carried on in the area more or less extensively for a long time, but never has the work gone be

yond satisfying local demands. It is not due, however, to the fact that there is not a great abundance of first-class building material, but rather to the fact that other districts within shipping distance are alos well supplied. The limestones are well adapted to foundation walls, sills, steps, bridge piers and all of the common uses.

-

Ordinary Limestone. While there are some beds of limestone which contain very little magnesia they are comparatively few in number and extent. As quarry rocks they are unimportant within the district.

QUARRIES IN LIMESTONE.

Downs Quarry.-This quarry is about two miles northwest of Fredericktown (Tp. 33 N., R. VI E., Sec. 11, NE. of NW. qr). It is circular in shape. The stripping has a maximum thickness of four feet but usually only from three to fifteen inches. This covering is of residual clays and there is a decomposed limestone ledge present. The strata here dip with the floor of porphyry about 15 degrees, south 20 degrees east. The actual juncture is not distinctly shown, but crystalline rocks are exposed only a few feet up the hillside from the quarry. The same dip of strata is noticed for nearly half a mile to the southeast and is one of the best illustrations of the slant of the sedimentaries agreeing in places with the angle of the slope of the granite floor. The top ledge of limestone is from three to twelve inches in thickness. It thins out up the slope. It is of a light grayish color, is finely textured and of dull lustre. It is taken out in slabs containing eighteen square feet and is well adapted for curb stones, water tables and well rocks. Under the first layer comes a heavy ledge of very similar character but containing fewer grayish to buff horizontal seams. It is a good building stone but has not been extensively used. Much of the stone for the new college building at Fredericktown was taken from this quarry.

Berryman Quarry lies just east of Fredericktown on the south side of Saline creek. It was opened a number of years ago and the stone was used for burning into lime. The present

face is about twenty feet long and fifteen feet high with no stripping. The ledges are light gray, hard, with a subcrystalline texture and from three to nine inches thick. It is easily quarried and is a good stone for constructional purposes. Much of the stone obtained from this quarry has been utilized for foundations.

About one mile south of Fredericktown, on the south side of the river, there is a bluff of limestone nearly forty feet high at the top of which a quarry is being developed. The strata are overlain by three to four feet of residuary clays. The beds quarried are from three to eighteen inches in thickness; most of them above five inches. They are buff to gray in color, usually semicrystalline, and easily quarried. Large blocks are obtainable which are handled by means of a derrick.

In the vicinity of Mine la Motte a considerable amount of quarrying has been done in the limestone strata. The principal use has been as a flux in the furnace. Besides the ordinary demand for building stone has been satisfied. Some of the limestones have a composition well suited for a good flux. Along Rock creek nearly one mile east of the crossing of the north and south county road from Mine la Motte, limestone is now being taken out and hauled to the furnaces.

Other quarrying has been done in the dolomite formation especially to the east and south of Fredericktown and also near Libertyville. At both localities splendid ledges for building stone have been developed.

SANDSTONE.

The sandstones as a rule are yellowish or buff in color, changing into brown. They are rather friable on the whole, but in places are indurated sufficiently to form a moderately good quarry rock.

Although occupying a large area in the Mine la Motte sheet neither the sandstone nor the conglomerate at the base have receive much attention in the quarry industry. There are objectionable features to many of the beds; much of it is poor in color, others have a texture unsuited to successful dressing,

and still others are of shaly character. Unless a sandstone is of a high grade, limestone has preference in localities where both are present. There are really no important sandstone quarries in the district, although a large amount of sandstone has been used locally for foundations and chimney work. The more calcareous sandstones are to be preferred. Around Mine la Motte the heavy ledges of this kind have been quarried extensively and used as building stone.

About two and one-half miles almost due south of Doe Run there are two or three steep hills of sandstone. These are bare and disclose a good grade of sandstone which is hard enough for structural purposes. It may be obtained with almost no difficulty. It is however, quarried, pulverized and hauled to the furnace at Doe Run and thrown in with the lead just before it is drawn off, so as to "cinder" the product. The sandstone has been found to contain 97 per cent of silica, being unusually pure. It could doubtless be used in the manufacture of glass.

CHARACTER AND GROWTH OF THE QUARRY INDUSTRY.

The opening of the inexhaustible beds of rock suitable for building purposes forms one of the most important industries in the area of the Mine la Motte sheet; and within this district the quarry industry is destined to become greatly expanded. With the exception of a few localities, furnishing supplies of sandstone and limestone for local consumption, the quarry industry was of small importance until about the year 1880. At that time work began on a somewhat extensive scale, and now there are almost innumerable quarries of various sizes putting out all kinds and various grades of building material. The principal field of operation is in the vicinity of Knob Lick and Syenite, and in a district extending five to six miles in a southwesterly direction from these places. There are besides a great many insolated quarries, some of which are of considerable extent. In the neighborhood of the localities mentioned there were only a few small openings made in the granites prior to the date named and a little dimension work begun. About