In this early period, quarrying was primitive work. This description comes from "The Strength of the Stone" a publication of the Westerly Public Library Granite Project:
"Quarrymen used simple shovels, picks, crow bars, and small hand-drills. Derricks, lifting devices, were shear poles - two large poles joined at the top to form an 'A' shape and guyed to stand vertical. From the apex of the shear pole a block and tackle were fastened to lift granite from the quarry or to turn the granite in preparation for finishing to specifications."
Workers also used black powder, a slow-burning explosive, to blast fractures in the block in a controlled manner, and oxen pulled the stone on carts. And the stones were huge. In 1932 a stone weighing almost 60 tons was pulled from deep within one of the quarries and transported to the railway station by a hundred oxen.
In "The Story of Westerly Granite," Stephen W. Macomber wrote in 1955, "Back in that bygone era, it was not unusual to see from four to five hundred or more stone workers hurrying down from Quarry Hill after their day's work was done."
Because the granite was such high-quality carving stone, the majority of the quarried stone was used for monuments and statues, resulting in the migration to Westerly of a highly skilled group of tradespeople. Designers, sculptors, models, engineers, draftsmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, and stone-setters, along with their shops and sheds, made Westerly a busy place.
Above: One of three statues on the Sanders monument in Calvary Cemetery, Evanston, Illinois. It was ordered from Smith Granite Company in September 1893 to be made from blue Westerly granite, for $8,113. Although over 100 years old, the granite carving remains crisp and illustrates the pinnacle of the carver's art in Westerly. Blue Westerly granite is still used to indicate the upper end range of hardness in granites.
Left: Full view of the Sanders monument
Photos Reprinted Courtesy of the Babcock-Smith House Museum.
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