Siebenthal, C.E.

English

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THE INDIANA OOLITIC LIMESTONE INDUSTRY 
IN J900. 
By. C. E. SIEBENTHAL. 
The Indiana oolitic limestone is one of the best known building 
stones of the United States and, in more than thirty States, has an 
enviable reputation as a handsome, easily-worked freestone of great 
durability. 
OCCURRENCE.-It occurs as a massive stratum, varying from a few 
.feet to nearly a hundred in thickness, intercalated near the middle 
of the subcarboniferous limestones of Indiana. Its dendritic outcrop 
has been traced in detail for a distance in a direct line of nearly 110 
miles through Owen, Monroe, Lawrence, Washington, Harrison and 
Crawford counties. Whatever be the thickness of the oolitic stratum, 
it is, with rare exceptions, massive, and the size of the blocks which 
may be quarried is limited only by the capacity of the quarry ma-
chinery and transportation facilities. 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERlSTICs.-In texture the Indiana oolitic lime-
stone is essenti~lly a freestone inasmuch as it works nearly equally 
well in all directions. This quality is due to its massive and semi-
clastic character. In places the true oolitic structure discloses its 
organic. origin, while in other places the absence of oolite and the 
presence of local cross-bedding betrays its clastic origin. Occur-
rences of oolite are very local, by far the greater part of the stone 
being oolitic, but not oolite. The size of the grain varies in different 
parts of the area, and in different horizons at anyone locality. The 
preference of the markets is for the finer grained, and the first grade 
stone is very fine grained and homogeneous. The coarser grained 
variety works quite as well, and when once erected can not be distin-
guished from the other. 
The original color of the oolitic limestone varies from light to 
rather dark blue. On the outcrop and along the vertical clay seams, 
where the stone has been exposed to the leaching action of terres-
trial wat€rs impregnated with the acids of organic decomposition, 
the color has been changed to a buff; and the bluer the stone was 
(890) 
INDIANA OOLITIC LIMESTONE INDUSTRY. 391 
originally, the more pronounced the buff color of the altered part. 
The buff stone has the preference in the markets now, although a 
few years ago the reverse was true, and in a few years is likely to be 
so again. While the buff stone is necessarily restricted to that zone 
which has been restricted to leaching, and is limited in quantity, 
the blue stone, on the contrary, when once reached, extends back as 
far as the ledge reaches, and is practically unlimited in quantity. 
It is to be presumed that the blue stone, not having belm subjected 
to leaching and weathering, is the stronger and more durable stone, 
though it is possible that the leaching process may result in a firmer 
cementation of the stone, and thus make it more durable. 
RECENT DEVELOPMENTs.-In the Stinesville district the produc-
tion of Bedford stone has been at a standstill for several years, but 
with the resumption of operations by the Indiana Oolitic Limestone 
Company and others and the opening of a new quarry by the Stines-
ville and Bloomington Stone Company things promise to resume their 
wonted activity in this oldest of the stone districts. 
The Indiana Stone Railway is the name of a short railway line in 
Monroe County, finished in 1899, which has made possible the de-
velopment of one of the best quarry districts in the whole oolitic 
field. Leaving the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway at 
Clear Creek Station, it follows the tortuous valley of Clear Creek, 
dodging from side to side to escape the bluffs, crossing it a dozen 
times, and rejoins the main line at Harrodsburg Station, some nine 
miles from the point of departure. The quarry ledge outcrops back 
in the hills on each side of the main valley and of each valley branch-
ing off from it. The road will thus open up a linear extent of fifty 
miles of the ledge which has hitherto been inaccessible. Over this 
entire distance the ledge varies from forty to fifty feet in thickness 
and is of first quality in point of texture and color. This remarkable 
uniformity in thickness offers great promise that this district will in 
time be the greatest producer of Bedford stone in the whole belt, 
and already a number of quarrries have been openeu. 
The Clear Creek Stone Co. took out a large quantity of stone from 
its two quarries during the current season. The c.ompany will at 
once proceed to the erection of a large and well appointed mill. 
'fhe Crafton Stone Co. and the Buff and Blue Oolitic Stone Co. 
have made three openings and laid plaI\s for the erection of a mill, 
but prolonged litigation has embarrassed operations very much. 
The Acme-Bedford Stone Co. is erecting a large mill at their quarry 
two miles south of Clear Creek Station. 
392 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 
In the Bedford region the last two or three years have been 
marked by the abandonment of several unsuccessful quarries, and by 
improvements in the plants of the more successful companies, nota-
bly by the erection of the largest mill in the district by the Bedford 
Quarries 00. at Oolitic, Lawrence Oounty.· 
Attention has heretofore been called to the wonderful promise 
of the Fishing Oreek district ot Lawrence Oounty, and the prediction 
made that suitable development awaited it at no distant date. That 
prediction seems in a fair way to be verified. The Cleveland Stone 
00. of Ohio, notwithstanding their unfortunate venture in. the field 
in 1886, have determined to re-enter the field under the name of the 
American Quarries 00. This company has acquired interests in the 
Fishing Oreek district. The Bedford Stone Railroad Oompany has 
been organized and is building from Rivervale on ,the Baltimore and 
Ohio Southwestern Railway to Leipsic on the Ohicago, Indianapolis 
and Louisville Railway, a distance of eight miles. The road will 
traverse Fishing Oreek valley from foot to head and open up about 
six miles of the ledge not now accessible. 
PRODUCTION AND PRICEs.-In the table appended below the price 
per cubic foot is the average price for the whole product including 
the sawed stone. Inasmuch as the amount of the sawed stone varies 
in its proportion to the whole amount quarried, the average is viti-
ated to that extent, but not enough to seriously affect it for purposes 
of comparison. The Indiana Oolitic Limestone association was 
formed in 1895, disbanding the same year, but not without leaving 
its impress on the prices for that year. The low prices which pre-
vailed thereafter had the effect of closing down many of the smaller 
quarries, the number in operation running down from 95 per cent. 
in 1895 to 46 per cent. in 1898 and 47 per cent~ in 1899. While 
prices have not recovered to any great extent, yet the prospects for 
the trade are so much better that the smaller quarries are encouraged 
to start up, as is shown by the 66 per cent. in operation in 1900. 
That the production for that year shows a slight falling off from that 
of 1899 is due entirely to labor troubles in Ohicago which paralyzed 
the building trades throughout the season of 1900. 
INDIANA OOI,ITIC LIMESTONE INDUSTRY. 393 
STATISTICS OF THE INDIANA OOLITIC LIMESTONE INDUSTRY FROM 1894 TO 
]900, INCLUSIVE. 
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YEAR. &:0' .. 03 ,,0 03 I'oi "''' Z~ ... " . "'"' :;r; ... '" .. .,; ::10 C) ..... s:I 
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1894 ........... 4,580,418 ~ Shltistics r $],154,246 $0.252 35 30 86 28 24 86 
1895 ........... 5,368,307 Ilot 1 1,523,?60 .284 38 36 95 29 26 90 
collected I 
1896 ........... 5,455,582 J L 1,209,632 .222 39 31 79 31 27 87 
1897 ........... 5,382.';89 2,600,794 1,344,158 .250 39 26 67 31 24 77 
1898 ........... 5,630,046 2,520,158 1,389,204 .247 39 18 46 31 23 74 
1899 ..•........ 7,128,121 2,972,977 1,646~o;ol .231 38 18 47 32 25 78 
1900 ........... 7,035,000 3,046,000 1,699,649 .242 38 25 66 30 25 83 
-_._-
-----
Total. .... 40,580,063 ............... $9,966,650 


The Indiana Oolitic Limestone Industry in 1900

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The Indiana Oolitic Limestone Industry in 1900

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