Industrial archaeology: Redstone Quarry, North Conway, NH (2003 with film)

Flooded quarry pit

Background

New Hampshire is known as the "Granite State," and for good reason. Granite outcrops are found throughout the state, as well as the adjoining states of Maine and Vermont. In the past, numerous quarries mined the hard and durable stone, sending the products throughout the northeast United States. Redstone Quarry in North Conway (formerly its own town of Redstone) operated from the mid-1800s until 1948. It featured both pink and green granite at one site, which is unusual. For many years, the Boston and Maine Railroad owned the quarry. The railroad used finished stone for train stations, while rubble and waste product served as track bedding. The quarry sent columns and finished blocks to Boston and other cities.

Panatomic-X film

I previously wrote about Redstone in 2012. That time, I posted digital images from autumn 2012. Oddly, that has been one of my most accessed blog posts. It was time to retrieve my older film negatives and present them here. I took these photographs in June of 2003, exposing Kodak Panatomic-X film in my Rolleiflex 3.5E with a 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens, all tripod-mounted. I also used another Rolleiflex with Kodak Ektar 25 color film. My North Conway friend loaned me a tripod. It was a stifling summer day, and I noted in my field book that the temperature was 35° C. In my opinion, these black and white film frames are more powerful than the 2012 digital images.

This is one of the few wood buildings still on the site. It may be a former dormitory for quarry workers.

These two frames are from the old forge. I read that early in the 20th century, the cutting tools needed sharpening and re-tempering constantly. The forge-master was a busy fellow. Tungsten steel and other specialty metals would have reduced the need for sharpening, but those improvements came late in the history of this quarry.

This was the face of the larger rock lathe. This machine would have been used to turn stone columns  of the type used on banks or other major buildings in cities. The roof was open to allow a hoist to position a piece of stone in the right position before being attached to the lathe. Consider that this lathe could support tens of tons of rock. The lower picture is a close-up with the help of a Rolleinar close-up diopter.

This was part of a smaller rock lathe. The men who operated these lathes were true craftsmen, but they died at young ages because of silicosis (lung disease).

More machinery of unknown purpose.

Here is the pulley at the main pit (see the first photograph). I am amazed that some of the booms are still standing and supported by these rusting steel cables.

Ektar 25 film

I also took pictures with Kodak Ektar 25 film the same day. This was one of the finest-grain color negative films ever marketed. I liked it for technical work like this. It required the best lenses and methodical technique.

This is the same pulley at the edge of the main pit. The color film shows how the pulley has rusted.

 This is the forge that I showed above.

Face of small lathe

Finally, this is the building that may have been a dormitory for quarry workers.

These are the last of my Redstone Quarry photographs. Click any frame to see it in more detail. Someday I would like to return to the site. Thank you Peter and Holly for hosting me during this trip.

Industrial archaeology: Redstone Quarry, North Conway, New Hampshire

New Hampshire is known as the "Granite State," and no wonder! There are granite outcrops throughout the state. Since the 1800s, quarries in New Hampshire and adjoining Vermont have provided hard, durable, and beautiful igneous rock for buildings, street paving blocks, monuments, and breakwaters throughout the east coast and even internationally.

Redstone Quarry, in North Conway, operated from 1887 until 1948. The remnants of machinery, derricks, and buildings constitute one of the more interesting industrial archaeological sites in New Hampshire. The most detailed description of the site is at the excellent WhiteMountainHistory.org web site. Some fascinating pre-1948 photographs are posted there.

The Redstone Quarry is at the base of Rattlesnake Mountain in Redstone (part of the town of Conway). The woods have grown so thickly, there is little to see from the highway, and you have to walk on dirt paths to see the remains.

One of the few standing buildings is the old latrine and bath house.

Further uphill is the blacksmith's forge and tool conveyor belt. I am not sure of its function, but the little buckets are so sturdy, I assume they were designed to hold hot objects. Possibly tools went through a quenching bath after they had been sharpened or heated.

This is the remains of a boiler. I have not seen the engine house, which would have contained larger boilers, but the White Mountain History web site (link above) shows a photo of a collapsed roof.

Now we come to one of the most interesting sites, the machine building that housed the polishing rock lathe. The wood building is incomplete and is missing some of its roof. I am not sure where the boiler building was located that provided power for the lathes, but it must have been nearby.

This is the 5-ft Face Plate of the polishing lathe and the spindle to hold a rotating column of granite. Can you imagine polishing a column of rock over 5 ft in diameter? Astonishing what craftsmen could do a century ago with equipment that we today consider primitive.

Outside on the ground are remains of the rough turning lathe. You can see where belts (leather?) would have run across different-size pulleys to provide power.

Look at this heavy-duty universal joint, an example of precision machining from almost a century ago. This is how we built a nation: hard work, pride, and precision workmanship.

Not far away in the woods are mounts for wood booms, used to swing rock around the work site. I read that the spruce booms came from the Pacific Northwest on special railroad cars (at that time, timber of sufficient size no longer grew in the US Northeast).

Walk further uphill and you reach the pink quarry. The pit is filled with water, but some of the booms are still standing!

Much of the debris in the pink quarry has tumbled down and is highly unstable. The clean rock face gives you an idea of the quality of the granite from this source.

As you walk west back to town, you come across a dormitory building in surprisingly intact condition. But vandals have added artwork to the inside.

There are examples of the pink granite all around North Conway. This planter is made from pink slabs.

And you see granite fence-posts in town and in area farms. No danger of these posts ever rotting.

This is the Hale cemetery on West Side Road, near the town of Conway. Look at the size of these remarkable granite slabs used as a wall. These may be grey granite from another site, but it was difficult to tell in the waning evening light.

This is a 1920s photograph of a rock lathe from the web page quarriesandbeyond.org. Notice the stoneman is not wearing eye or head protection. Many of these stone workers died young from silicosis, a terrible disease.

On a more cheerful note, autumn in New England is spectacular. The changing leaves are a visual delight. If you have never seen them, you must make this a life goal. This is Pudding Pond, and the tracks once served the Redstone Quarry.

These are digital files from a Panasonic G1 digital camera with 14-45 mm Panasonic Lumix and 9-18 mm and 40-150 mm Olympus lenses, tripod-mounted. I thank my North Conway friends for showing me these unusual sites. I have some older medium-format film negatives of the quarry that I need to scan and post some day.

Update Nov. 2019: I scanned my 2003 medium format film negatives and wrote a new article on Redstone Quarry. Please click the link to go to the new article. I thank all you readers.