List of quarries in the United States

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a list of notable

quarries and areas of quarrying in the United States. A number of these are historic quarries listed on the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP), ranging from relatively ancient archeological sites to places having pre-World War II activity. This includes major areas of continuing, modern quarrying.

According to Marble.com, in 2016 there were 276 quarries producing natural stone in 34 states, and states producing the most granite were Texas, Massachusetts, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Georgia.[1] The term "quarry" refers also to sites producing aggregate, molding sand, or other resources besides cut stone.

There were numerous more quarries in the U.S. during the 1800s and 1900s than are operational now. In Oregon, a state with much less activity than Vermont and other bigger quarrying states, there were more than 250 quarries operational at one time or another. In 1906 the state

mineralogist of California reported on 52 granite quarrying areas in 17 counties.[2]

Many quarries were opened temporarily to provide stone for one or a few local or regional construction projects, but could not compete later when railroads allowed for economical transportation of heavy building materials to the area. Quarrying spurred the construction of railways and vice versa, from the 1826 construction of the Granite Railway in Massachusetts to the modern day.

Quarries in the U.S.

Quarries in the United States, former and current, include:

Arizona

Cochise Marble Company, Bowie, Arizona, on-site quarrying, blocks, aggregates, calcium carbonate 99.5%, established 1908 in the Chiricahua Mountains; colors: white, grey, black, blue

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

  • Mauna Kea Adz Quarry
    , Hilo, Hawaii, NRHP-listed

Idaho

Illinois

  • Chicago Deep Tunnel
    project.

Indiana

  • Marengo warehouse, in Marengo, Indiana, formerly a limestone quarry, now one of the largest subterranean storage facilities in the nation, with nearly 4,000,000 square feet (370,000 m2) space. It began as an open pit quarry in 1886 due in part to its proximity to a railroad. Underground room and pillar mining began in 1936. Leased storage began in 1986. Used by the U.S. Department of Defense for storage of 10,000,000 MRE meals, by Bridgestone for storage of 400,000 tires, and by Controlled Pharming Ventures for growing tomatoes and corn.

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

  • Mega Cavern, a cavern in Louisville, Kentucky created by limestone quarrying over 42 years during the middle of the 20th century. Deemed the largest building in the state, it has 4,000,000 square feet (370,000 m2) and is now used for tourism including zip lines, for storage and other business.

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

  • Green Quarry Site, Mears, Michigan, NRHP-listed, "the only known source of Lambrix chert"
  • Late Woodland period
  • Calcite Limestone Quarry, Rogers City, Michigan, the largest limestone quarry in the world, now owned by Carmeuse and operated as Carmeuse Calcite Operations. Limestone was first mined here in 1912 and continues through the present.

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

New Jersey

New York

  • NY 17A and Quarry Road (Orange County Route 68), built into the side of a 580-foot (177 m) hill known as Mount Lookout. In the 1960s, archaeologists digging at the site found caves with artifacts left by hunter-gatherers 12,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. A Paleo-Indian fluted point, a very rare stone tool, was among them.[1] At the time of its discovery it was the oldest such site east of the Mississippi.[2] The site has been at the center of a battle between local archaeologists and the Pleasant Valley-based Dutchess Quarry and Supply Company, which actively produces dolomite gravel
    on the site."
  • Inwood Formation
  • trilobites
    ' soft appendages.

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

  • Public Quarry at Government Island, Stafford, Virginia, NRHP-listed, "the principal source of Aquia Creek sandstone, a building stone used in many of the early government buildings in Washington, D.C., including the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
  • Shenandoah Valley Bluestone
    (limestone)
  • Big Run Quarry Site, near Luray, Virginia, NRHP-listed, an archaeological site in Shenandoah National Park.
  • Thunderbird Archaeological District and Jasper quarry, near Limeton, Virginia, is an archaeological district described as consisting of "three sites—Thunderbird Site, the Fifty Site, and the Fifty Bog. It is located in Warren County Virginia, near modern-day Front Royal, in the Shenandoah River Valley.

Washington

Wisconsin

Rock quarry in West Salem
Romskog Quarry
A triple homicide in 2021 took place at this quarry[5]
  • Barron County Pipestone Quarry, near Doyle, Wisconsin or Rice Lake, Wisconsin, NRHP-listed. "Several tribes have used rock from the quarry to create ceremonial pipes. Historically, various tribes would travel long distances to acquire the special red-colored stone found in the quarry.[2] A widespread legend among the tribes is that the stone gets its color from the flesh and blood of their ancestors."
  • Bass Island Brownstone Company Quarry, in Lake Superior, near La Pointe, WI, NRHP-listed. Source of brownstone for buildings in Chicago, IL and Milwaukee, WI
  • Walczak-Wontor Quarry Pit Workshop, near Cataract, Wisconsin, NRHP-listed. Address-restricted archeological site.
  • Krukowski Quarry, a sandstone quarry near Mosinee, Wisconsin. It yields late Cambrian period fossils, in the course of quarrying rock slabs for countertops and other purposes.
  • quicklime, built in 1911 and abandoned in the 1920s.[6]

American Samoa

Marianas

  • Marianas Islands. The prehistoric megaliths found there are believed to have been used as foundation pillars for houses." Is this same or different than the source of stone pillars for House of Taga on Tinian
    island?

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "About Marble and Granite Quarries in America". Marble.Com. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  2. ^ Peggie P. Perazzo; George Perazzo. ""California Granite Quarries - List and Location of Individual Quarries" in Stone Quarries and Beyond". Retrieved April 25, 2019.. Derived from "The Structural and Industrial Materials of California", Bulletin No. 38, by Lewis E. Auburn, State Mineralogist, San Francisco, California, 1906
  3. ^ Wendy Frontiero; Vivienne Lasky; Peter Stott; Sarah Zimmerman (August 26, 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Fall River Multiple Resource Area". Retrieved April 25, 2019. Downloadable from MACRIS (click on "NR")]
  4. ^ Nelson, Charles W.; Susan Zeik (1976-11-02). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Jasper Stone Company and Quarry" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2013-12-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ https://www.wizmnews.com/2023/05/16/thao-trial-for-triple-murder-near-west-salem-ready-to-start-in-june/
  6. ^ "Sheboygan Valley Land and Lime Company Kilns". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2016-11-16.