The transmission of power over long dis tances by polyphase alternating current is one of the most notable and important developments in electricity. It has been a chief factor in the marvelous development of the Far West. Much of the progress in the country west of the Rockies is directly traceable to the use of elec tricity which, in many cases, generated at a dis tant waterfall, is transmitted to commercial cen tres where the power can be used as desired. The development of the gasoline engine and its adaptation to the air compressor provide the quarryman with a cheap and effective power even in isolated locations. The success of a ..
quarry, hoWever;' must always depend on facili ties for getting the product to a market.
In a typical quarrying operation 100 men were formerly required to produce 5,000 tons of Marble; now, since scrapping most of the plant and substituting modern machinery, 10 men pro. duce 6,000 tons in the same time. The argument has been presented that mechanical methods can not be used to the same advantage in quarrying as in the •case of general manufacturing. To some this is true, depending upon the class of quarrying; for instance, in quarries• producing rough rubble without regard to size or dimensions the mechanical features are con fined to drilling, blasting and suitable hoisting apparatus and perhaps pumping or crushing, with the occasional use of steam shovels. There can be no question as to the economy of machine drilling over hand drilling, and the harder the material and the more difficult to drill by hand the greater is the advantage of machine drilling.
Successful quarries are those which closely approach the ideal of eliminating hand labor and, as in other profitable operations, are the result of heavy investments in all the machinery which can be used up to that point where addi tional apparatus will not reduce the waste. The modern methods of channeling, plug and feather work, power wedge hole cutters and the use of compressed air, very nearly reach this point, as it calls for few machine operators, a few men to bar out the stone so loosened and a gang of derrick men to place it on the cars for shipment in that attractive form best calculated to hold and expand the market at the highest trade price for the product. In most quarries the operating period is limited by the comparative shortness of the working season, and therein lies another advantage of machinery. Again,
the smaller the force the more easily it is con trolled and the better the opportunity for sifting the men down to a picked gang of machine run ners, men who, at a slight addition over the prevailing rate of wages, will not only do very much more work, but will come nearer to the production of a perfect output without waste.
Production.-- The United States Geological Survey reported for the calendar year 1916 the number of active quarries in the country at 3,036, anthe .value of their combined produc tran at 9,041,699.• The State of Pennsylvania t9 led in t e number of active quarries, 516, and in the value of the product, $11,021,655 — nearly 14 per cent of the total for the entire United States. It may he noted in passing that more than 60 per cent of this total represented lime stone quarried for flux used in the iron industry. Among the other stone-producing States Ohio ranked next, with an output valued at $6,611, 266; Vermont third, with $5,691,420; and New York fourth, v. ith $5,342,954.
As classified by the variety of stone pro duced the value stood: limestone, $41,319,871; $17,418,582; trappean or basaltic rock, 7,666,297; marble, $7,033,171; sandstone, 5,603,778. As classified by the uses in which it was em ployed the 1916 output of the quarries shows values as follows: Building Stone, rough and dressed, $15, 001,390, of which $4,744,606 was in marble for both exterior and interior purposes; 703 in limestone; $4,305,517 in granite, and $1,316,287 in. sandstone. .
• ' Monumental Stone, rough and dressed.
$7,031,536, of which $4,952,125 was in granite and $2,079,410 in marble.
Paving Stone, $2,692,605, of which $2,293,486 was granite and $327,264 in sandstone.
Curbing Stone, $1,611,001, of which $828, 761 was in granite and $702,902 in sandstone.
Flagging, $409,665, of which $389,859 was in sandstone.
Crushed Stone readied a quantity produc tion of 48,075,581 tons, valued at $29,462,952. Of this value limestone represented $17,715,834; trappean rock, $6,539,008; granite, $3,543,416, and sandstone, $1,664,694. The largest value of crushed stone consumed in any one particular use was $12,419,667 for metal, at an average price of 63 cents per ton. Concrete making absorbed a value of $11,869,844, at an average price of 67 cents per ton. Railroad ballast represented a value of $5,173,441, at an average price of 49 cents per ton.