Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE ABERDEEN GRANITE INDUSTRY. 59 gave time for its various parts to resolve themselves into the distinct grains which make the stone so beautiful. In Aberdeen- shire the principal grey granite quarries are Rubislaw, on the outskirts of the city, and of which most of it is built ; Kemnay, which furnishes excellent material for finely-dressed work and statuary; and Dyce, Dancing Cairns, and Persley, all in the vicinity of the city. Of the familiar reel variety the principal quarries are at Peterhead, while a darker shade comes from the Hill o’ Fare on Deeside, and Corrennie on Donside, the latter being a pretty shade of pink when left unpolished. The granite industry of Aberdeenshire employs altogether about 9,000 men, includ- ing quarriers, paving-stone makers, builders, monumental sculptors and polishers ; and those dependent upon it may be estimated at about 45,000. The manufacture of “ paving setts” is an important and rapidly growing branch of the trade. In Aberdeen alone there are over eighty granite cutting yards. Let us take a brief survey of the stages through which a block of granite passes from the time it leaves the quarry till it is despatched from the mason’s shed in a finished state. Although good rock is sometimes found quite close to the surface of the ground, the best quality of granite is, as a rule, at a fair depth. In appearance a large granite quarry is not unlike the crater of an extinct volcano, except for the busy scene within, the men looking like pigmies on a vast “ floor,” perhaps two hundred feet beneath the ground level. Boul- ders of fantastic shapes lie scattered about, one huge mass of detached rock, many tons in weight, giving evidence of a suc- cessful blast. Square blocks of stone of the sizes required by the builder or monumental sculp- tor, are detached from the mass by means of drilling a series of holes into which steel wedges are driven and the stone split up. A steam drill will sink into the rock fully five feet in half an hour, a process which was formerly almost a day’s work for three men. The larger blocks of stone are raised from the “floor” of the quarry to the surface by power- ful steam cranes, while the smaller stones and waste are conveyed to the top by an ingenious contrivance known as a “ blon- din.” A blondin is an aerial railway, the name, no doubt, being borrowed from the daring rope-walker who crossed over Niagara Falls. Traction engines are frequently used for the transport of building material from the quarries, but for the removal of large blocks for monumental purposes, teams of horses are usually employed. On arrival at the stone-cutting yard the great block of granite is deposited in a convenient part of the dressing shed, or placed ready for removal to the saw. Now, it may be found necessary to cut a six or seven ton block of granite into several slices or sections, to be used as bases or steps for a large pedestal, or perhaps as a recumbent monumental slab. If this be the object in view, the stone is lifted on to a bogey, which is run on rails right under- neath the saw. The saw is a sheet of steel from six inches to nine inches wide, about a quarter of an inch thick, and a few feet longer than the stone required to be sawn. DRESSING SHED.