"The above cost of cutting includes, besides stone-cutter's wages, labor of moving stone, all material used—such as timber for rolling stone, new tools, etc.—sharpening tools, superintendence, and interest on stone-cutter's sheds, blacksmith shop, derrick, and rail road. These expenses, in per cents of the total cost of cutting, are as follows: superindentence 5; sharpening tools 15; labor rolling stones 30; interest on sheds, derrick, and railroad 1; new tools and timber for rolling stone 1; total 52 per cent, which, added to the wages paid stone-cutters, gives the total cost. During the last year stone-cutters were required to do at least 12 superficial feet per day of beds and joints, or its equivalent in pointed or fine-cut work. The average day's work of each stone-cutter, during one year and a half in which 118,383 superficial feet of beds and joints were cut, was 13.6 square feet per day, for which he recived $4.00.
"Table 48, page 300, shows the amount of granite that a stone cutter can cut in a day of 8 hours." Merchants' Bridge, St. Louis. The cost of dressing 36,000 cu. ft. of granite to half-inch joints was 20 cents per sq. ft., not including blacksmithing, handling, etc.* Cost of Cutting Limestone and Sandstone. The cost of dress ing Kankakee limestone (a medium soft coarse-grained stone) with a bush hammer or tooth chisel is 25 cents per sq. ft. of dressed surface.* The cost of fine-pointing the beds and the joints of Medina sand stone to lay half-inch joints is about 13 cents per sq. ft.t The cost of cutting 246 cu. yd. of sandstone to half-inch joints for bridge piers was $2.65 per cu. yd.t Cost of Cutting Stone for II. S. Public Buildings.
gives the average contract price for cutting the stone for the United States government buildings:* Cost of Laying Ont Stono.f Table 50 shows the amount of labor required in laying the cut-stone masonry of the Boyd's Corner Dam on the Croton River near New York City. "Most of the cut stone was laid by one mason, more than two not being employed at any time. The mason's gang also shifted derricks. The cost of hauling stone to the work varied with the position of the blocks in the yard and whether they were assorted there into courses or lay promiscuously." Total Cost of Masonry. Ashlar Bridge-Pier. The following are the details of the cost, to the contractor, of heavy first-class limestone masonry for bridge piers erected in 1887 by a prominent contracting firm: The following data concerning the cost of granite piers—two fifths cut-stone facing and three fifths rubble backing—are furnished by the same firm. The rock was very hard and tough.
The first-class limestone masonry in the piers of the bridges across the Missouri at Plattsmouth (1879-80) cost the company $18.60 per cubic yard, exclusive of freight, engineering expenses, and tools.* Ashlar Arch-Culvert. Table 51 shows the details of the cost of the sandstone arch culvert (613 cu. yd.) at Nichols Hollow, on the Indianapolis, Decatur and Springfield Railroad, built in 1887. Scale of wages per day of 10 hours: foreman, $3.50; cutters, $3.00; mortar mixer, $1.50; laborer, $1.25; water-boy, 50 cents; carpenters, $2.50.t Rubble. The following is the cost of the rubble masonry in the cellar walls and boiler foundations of an electric power-plant at Pittsburg, Pa.$ The stone was sandstone of a size that two men could easily handle, and was roughly shaped with a hammer. The mortar was 1 part Louisville natural cement to 3 parts sand. The walls were 2 feet 9 inches thick, 672 feet long, and 8 feet high; and the boiler foundation varied from 2 to 3i feet thick. The total volume of the masonry after deducting all openings was 659 cubic yards.
The following is the cost of the limestone rubble retaining wall on the Chicago Sanitary Canal.¶ The limestone occurred in strata, and black powder was used to shake up the ledges; and then the stone was barred and wedged out. The beds of the stones re quired no dressing. The courses were about 15 inches thick. The wall averaged 24 feet high, 12 feet wide at the base and 4 feet wide for 8 feet down from the top. The mortar including pointing was 1 : 2 natural cement. The mortar averaged only about 13} percent of the mass, which shows that the beds and end joints were very good. The day was 10 hours. The cost given below is the average for 93,500 cu. yd.; but does not include the cost of stripping the quarry, or of preparing the bed of the foundation of the wall, and does not include the expenses of general superintendence, installa tion and wrecking of machinery, materials for repairs, pumping, interest on capital invested, delays caused by strikes and lack of material, insurance of property or persons, storage, etc., nor is any allowance made for salvage. The total first cost of the machinery, tools, etc., was 32.3 cents per cubic yard.