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(text from the 1888 Article)
The Flynt Granite Companys Quarries at Monson, Mass.
One of the most prodluctive and advantageously located quarries in Massachusetts is that of the Flynt Granite Company, about a mile north of Monson, a flourishing town of Western Massachusetts, situated about twenty miles East of Springfield.
The granite quarried here, which is now well known throughout the country, resembles that of the Quincy and Rockport quarries in appearance, texture, and other lithological characteristics.
The granites of this variety are noted for their extreme toughness, evenness of texture and durability. The prevailing colors are shades of bluish-gray.
They have been usedl in all parts of the United States for building and monumental purposes, and are properly ranked among the most valuable building stones of the United States.
The enduring qualities of the Monson stone, like that of the Quincy and Rockport granites, is to be ascribed to the fact that in it the mica is replaced by the much more unchangeable hornblende, and by the further fact that the feldspars in the rock are present in the glassy condlition in which they most successfully resist atmospheric influences.
In these granites, however, the feldspathic element is subordinate in quantity to the more enduring quartz and hornbleadle, and the iron, which is present in the form of magnetic oxide, is quite unchangeable. From its lithological character, therefore, it could safely be psedicted that the Monson granite would be a rock of the most enduring nature, and consequently well adapted for architectural uses.
The quarry of the Flynt Granite Company, of which we give an illustration in connection with this article, is situated about a mile north of the town, on the road to Palmer on a spur track of the New London railroad.
The first stone taken from it was quarried by the United States government for the stone of which the Springfield armory buildings are built.
In 1824, the quarry was opened and worked on a small scale by Rufus Flynt.
In 1839, it passed into the hands of W. N. Flynt, the founder of the present company, under whose management its businenss has greatly enlarged, until at the present time the yearly product reaches 30,000 tons of stone, of the value of $200,000.
The product is shipped extensively not only to the cities ad towns of the Eastern section of the country, but as far even as Kansas.
The quarry land owned by the comnpaimy covers over 500 acres, all underlaid within granite, of which, however, only a small portion has been opened, sufficient however to furish an abundance of stone for an indefinite period.
The location of the opening is admmirably adapted for quarying operations.
The workings are situated on the slope of a hill, about 75 feet below its crest, and sufficieintly high above time drainage level of the surounding territory to keep the workings dry.
The rock is divided by natumal cleavage faces into horizommtal layers from 1 to 12 feet in thickiness, and wedges are mainly depended upon from getting out even the lam-gest masses, powder being used merely to lift the loosened layer from its bed.
The laigest single piece wimich has yet been taken out wmus 354 feet long, 11 feet wide and 4 feet high, and 1,104 wedges were used in detaching it.
Up to the time of the opening of the Boston & Albany railmoad, in 1839, the demand for the stone was necessarily local, but the transportation facilities offered by the railway were at once availed of and giently stimulated the business.
The nearest station was three miles distant, and stone was hauled thither by teams.
In 1865 Mr. Flynt brought the shipping station witimin a mile of time quarry by arranging within the New London and Northern Raliway for a side track.
All this the Monson granite was becoming more widely known and more generally sought, the demand for it was rapidly increasing, and, after the completion of the above memitioned impomtant improvement, tw0 steam derricks, fifteen or twenty teams, amid a correspondingly large force of workmrn were required to get out a supply equal to the denmand.
Still greater facilities weme required in the year 1875 by the construction of a two-mile railway from the main lime of the New London Nouthern railroad into the quarry itself.
The necessity for teaming was then done away with, and steam derricks now lift the quarried stone directly upon the cars.
With these facilities, the company is able to successfully confront any possible competition in the Boston, New York and Chiicago markets.
From March to December about 200 quarrymen and 40 stone-dressers are employed, and during the winter an almost equal force is kept at work.
Last year 28,403 tons of granite were shipped.
The stone of the Monson quarry, of the excellent qualities of which we have aliendy spoken, is of two varieties,
one a mottled white and the other a beautiful dark blue, both of these capable of taking a high polish.
We append herewith a list of some of the more prominent buildings that have been built of Monson granite: Horatio Lyon Memorial Library and Memorial Town Hall, Monson;
Republican Block, Boston & Albany railroad building, Agawam Bank, Springfield Court House, and Dr. Corcoran's and A. L. Fennessys houses On Crescent Hill, Springfield;
City Hall, Holyoke;
Universalist church, Palmer;
G. Henry Whitcombs residence and two business blocks, Worcester;
Boston & Albany railroad depots, at Boston and Palmer;
Walker hall, Amherst College, Amherst ;
fronts of St. Francis Xavier church, Sixteenth stucet,
the new Isabella Home One Hundred and Ninetieth street,
and the pastoral residence, corner of Eighty-fourth street and Fourth avenue, New York city;
Catholic church, Norwich,Conn;
Hall Memorial Chapel, Watertown, Conn.;
South P. Avenue M. B. church, Chicago, Ill.
The granite for the new hotel buildings at Ware and Warren, Mass., and the stone for Judge Henry Hiltons mansion, Saratoga Springs. N.Y. ,are from th i~ famous quarry.
The stone for the imposing tomb, in Woodland Cemetery, of 0. D. Munn, senior partner of the firm of Munn & Co., New York city, was also furnished by this company, and it is sending granite as far West as Topeka, Kan., and Keokuk, Iowa.
The company makes a specialty of stone for bridge-work, and furnishes an immense amount of curbing, the latter at the rate of six miles of streets per year.
The W. N. Flynt Granite Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Massachusetts in January, 1885, with a capital of $100,000. W. N. Flynt is the president and Geo. C. Flynt treasurer
(the above text was derived from an editted version of the character recognition facility available at the site)
Comment from Dick LaFond: it's not Woodland Cemetery; it's Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, NY. I've actually been there.
RA: The mistake was in the orginal article.
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