close enough together to permit paving blocks being taken out with the greatest facility; in others monoliths of any size may be obtained perfectly free from seams and defects. The stones are readily split in quarrying and easily dressed in preparing them for the purposes for which they are designed. Furthermore very little "stripping" is required in obtaining access to the stone. The general aspect in the quarry ledge is shown in plate xiii, which represents the Milne and Gordon quarries.

Syenite. The rock to which this name is usually applied in the region is a "blue" granite, in contradistinction with the gray or red granite. It is properly a syenite-granite. In texture and other physical properties it is nearly the same as the red variety. Minerallogically, however, it dif fers from the ordinary granite in containing hornblende and much more black mica. It contains the least quartz of any granitic rock in the region. The blue color is imparted chiefly by the biotite and hornblende, though the feldspar also has a peculiar bluish color.

There are several square miles of this variety of granite lying southwest of Syenite and Knob Lick, all of which is easily accessible. The stone takes a brilliant polish but it is necessary to exercise some care in selecting the rock for dimension work, as often small seams are present which renders fracturing easy. This would, however, doubtless be largely overcome by the adoption of better methods of quarrying.

Black Granite. The black granites are greenstones, or diabases. They occur in dikes and small circular areas cutting the granite and porphyry. In color they are very dark green or gray and present a marked contrast to the rocks associated with them. They are heavy, very tough, and when struck with the hammer emit a metallic ring. The diabases admit of a fine polish. Owing to peculiarities of mineralogical composition these rocks do not make durable building materials and should not enter into expensive constructions. Even if they were durable little good dimension stone could seldom be obtained on account of the numerous seams present.

For paving blocks the diabase rocks are unsurpassed, and should be used to the greatest extent possible in those districts of the cities in which the heaviest traffic is carried on. While doubtless good for one-half to three-quarters of a century the atmospheric decay of the blocks is just rapid enough to prevent them from becoming slippery which is so objectionable in granite and quartzite blocks.

Porphyry. The "felsite" as it is commonly called locally is abundantly and widely distributed. It is a very closegrained, often almost glassy rock having a variety of colors, pink, red, purple, green, brown and black in many shades. It takes a brilliant polish. The rock is extremely hard and flinty, rather brittle and breaks, with a somewhat conchoidal fracture. On account of the difficulty in working and dressing, the porphyry is not very well suited for dimension work.

QUARRIES IN GRANITE.

Allen & Vieth Quarry.-The location of the quarry of Allen & Veith is about four miles northwest of Knob Lick and one-half mile north of Doe Run creek (Tp. 35 N., R. V E., Sec. 36, SW. qr). The working face is 180 feet long; the depth of the quarry averages twenty feet. Numerous joints, running mainly in a NE-SW direction, are noticeable. They are not, however, so frequent as to prevent getting out blocks of any desired dimensions. The stone has been worked up chiefly into pavers, half a million having been taken out. The stone is of a clear red color and dresses readily. Its composition differs somewhat from that at most of the other quarries, quartz being abundant. A vertical quartz vein traverses the bed. One large steam derrick has been employed and tracks laid to the dumps. It is one of the largest block quarries in the area.

Kirk Quarry.-A short distance from the Allen & Vieth opening is a quarry on the south slope of the hill (Tp. 35 N., R. V E., Sec. 35, SE. qr). Quarring was done in solid red granite which is of medium grain and dresses readily. The product is pavers, of which 23,000 blocks have been taken out.

Chamberlain Quarry.-Not very far away, on the Peers land, a granite quarry has been opened, from which about 38,000 blocks for streets have been taken. It now has a vertical face twenty feet high which could be easily extended. The rock is rather fine-grained, but works easily and could be utilized for dimension stone as joint planes are not frequent.

A dozen or more other openings have been made in the same vicinity. They lie on both sides of the Doe Run creek. A couple of miles farther up the stream (Sections 27 and 28) granite has also been quarried at several points.

Eaves & Crawford Quarries.-The principal openings of

those last mentioned are located on the east side of the creek (Tp. 35 N., R. V E., Sec. 27, SW. qr.) The immediate exposure of granite is quite small. Over 3,000 blocks have been

taken out.

Near the mouth of Doe Run creek on the flank of a prominent hill northeast of Wachita mountian considerable stone has been obtained.

Cartee Quarry.-Work at this place has been carried on (Tp. 34 N., R. V E., Sec. 2, NE. qr.) in granite for about eight years. There are several small quarries. Blocks are also obtained from surface ledges. The red granite is coarse in texture. About 60,000 blocks have been hauled to the railroad. At the present time there are no extensive operations being conducted.

Wood Quarry.-This quarry is on the Taylor land, on the north hillside about one-fourth mile west of the Cartee place. The rock is quite similar and the same kind of methods are employed in quarrying and dressing the rock. Over 32,000 blocks have been produced.

Eaves Quarry.-Northeast of the last mentioned openings is operated a small quarry (Tp. 34 N., R. V E., Sec. 1, NW. qr.) from which several thousand blocks have been removed. The granite is the ordinary light red, medium-grained variety. No heavy blasting has been undertaken, the top ledge of granite alone being utilized, since at the surface the rock is fresh and very durable.

Wildcat Quarry. This quarry is at the top of a broad granite hill (Tp. 34 N., R. V E., Sec. 13, SE. qr). The rock is tolerably coarse-grained, pale red in color and works easily. No dimension stone has been taken out, although joint planes are not so abundant as to interfere with the quarrying of large blocks. About 50,000 six- and eight-inch paving blocks have been made here. The granite in this district is all of splendid quality. It seems to be more uniform in color as well as in texture.

Berry Quarry.-Three miles northwest of Knob Lick are several large quarries (Tp. 35 N., R. VI E., Sec. 30, SE. qr). A switch connects them with the Belmont branch of the I. M., St. L. & S. railroad, a little over one mile distant. Until recently. it was owned and operated by the St. Louis Granite Company and went by the name of the O'Meara quarry. The quarry was opened up a little more than four years ago on the northeast slope of a hill which is partly covered by sandstone. It has a circular face of about 300 feet in length and averages fifteen feet in depth. Across the center, nearly east and west, a seven-foot channel has been excavated to enable work to be carried on more easily. The quarry as a whole is in excellent working condition. Usually the amount of stripping is slight. On the northeast side the rock is somewhat decomposed and is not utilized, but elsewhere it is very firm. In texture it is of perhaps the coarsest of any within the area. Some pink feldspar crystals are found more than an inch in length. It works readily, especially on the lift, and blocks of any desired dimensions can be taken out. The plant consists of a rack and power shed and a number of dwellings; also a drill, derrick, traveler, and a "Jenny Lind" polisher for flat surfaces; the machinery is worked altogether by steam power. The dimension rock has been used in the construction of the Bissell Point waterworks building, pump house at Chain of Rocks, for tops of piers for the elevated railroad in East St. Louis, Illinois, and for many other structures. In addition half a million blocks for street paving have been taken out.