Colored Limestones

Colored Limestones.

In most countries there are found immense beds of limestone of variout (sic) geological ages, some from below the coal that is older than is the others newer than it. The former are usually very hard, compact, and sometimes nearly as crystalline as primitive limestone; they break generally with a peculiar smooth surface, and, from the resemblance of the broken surface to some forms of shells, are said to have a conchoidal or shelly fracture. This peculiar hardness and evenness of texture render them capable of assuming a high polish, and many of them are consequently employed as marble. These rocks are usually colored, sometimes uniformly as the black ones, but more usually unequally, so as to produce a variegated effect, which is often very beautiful.

The coloring matter of the various shades of black and gray is charcoal, derived from the remains of animals, and probably also of vegetables. White is the natural color of carbonate of lime, while the various shades of red, yellow, purple, etc., are principally produced by compounds of iron. It must not be inferred from what is here stated that it is only the old limestones that are sufficiently hard to serve as marbles. Many varieties of marble have been obtained from beds of the same age as Portland stone; they are not, however, so general, and there is a much less variety of color among such marbles than among those derived from beds of the age of our limestone rocks. They are usually a grayish tint, and are occasionally sprinkled with rounded dots, which look like roe or eggs of a fish, hence the name oölitic is sometimes applied to such marbles. Other shades also occasionally occur. Even the most recent deposits of carbonate of lime may have the characters of marble, the most essential of which is being crystalline, as is shown by the marble-like casts of medallions, etc., which are at present manufactured at the baths of San Fillipo in Tuscany. Here a number of warm springs issue, so loaded with carbonate of lime held in solution by carbonic acid, and with gypsum, that the water has been known to deposit a solid mass of rock thirty feet thick in twenty years; this water is conveyed by a pipe to the top of a chamber, whence it is allowed to fall as a kind of dense rain from a height of about twelve to fourteen feet, a number of twigs being interposed to break its fall and scatter it about in spray, which, falling upon the moulds that are intended to be copied, and which are previously washed with a little solution of soap, coats them with a marble-like deposit. In a country where such deposits are even now forming, one may expect to find a great variety of marbles of various ages, and accordingly Italy has been celebrated for its colored marbles from the remotest antiquity, and even still supplies Europe with a large part of the marbles employed in decoration.

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Warwick, N. Y. - A syndicate, composed of influential and wealthy men, has recently obtained control of about 200 acres of fine granite property, located on the side of Mount Eve, at this place. A thorough examination of samples of the granite has been made by experts, who pronounce it an excellent building and monumental stone. It is similar in color and texture to the famous Quincy granite. It is the intention of the parties interested to at once organize a stock company, with a capital of $250,000 to open and thoroughly equip the quarry with the best and latest quarry machinery, and to commence operations early the coming spring. The quarry property is distant only sixty miles from New York City, and it is believed a large and profitable business in that city and adjacent markets can be had, notwithstanding competition of coast quarries, owing to unusually favorable transportation rates. The parties have arranged with the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway Company to build a branch track into the quarry from their main land.

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