By John Ritchie, for many years Manager of Tom’s Forest Quarry, Kintore.
In taking a retrospective view of the Granite Industry, I may say in commencement that the writer has had over 30 years practical experience in all its branches both at home and abroad. There is an old saying, "Though you lead a donkey round the World, he will be a Donkey when he comes back." Still it may be of interest to review the various phases which have taken place, and the altered conditions and facilities of working granite during those years.
My earliest recollections of granite date back as far as 1860 or there about, when, as a boy going over the Sclattie hill to the Quakers Brig School, and for many years it was in my memory of the splendid sheets of rock that used to be taken off the ledges with scarcely any blasting. This quarry was worked at this time by David Glennie, who made a splendid job of it. This was before the days of steam or motor traction, and David had a fleet of the finest horses that could be seen, and with the hand crane and hand barrows and stone carts, the place fairly hummed. It was no uncommon thing to see horses coming from the South at £80 or even £90 and horses were cheap about that date.
After David Glennie died, the quarry was taken over by D. Fraser & Son, who also took over Clinterty and, although Sclattie was more extended and developed, I never got out of my head the fine rock I saw quarried in Glennie’s time. I have talked this over since then with practical men of that period, among them the late Mr John Fyfe of Kemnay,who quite agreed with me as to the fine rock in Glennie’s time.
I think it would have been about this time that Mr Fyfe opened Kemnay Quarries. He came on it by accident. At that time he was doing a big trade in Tyrebagger, and among other work, was sending stone from there to the Bridges on the Alford Railways.
The late Adam Mitchell, a prominent Aberdeen Builder, who had the building of the Bridges, said to Mr. Fyfe he thought that stones might be got on the hill of Kemnay and save a lot of cartage. The result was that Mr. Fyfe went out along with him and the Engineer, and, on looking over the hill came across what is now the quarries of Kemnay. After getting back to the site of the Bridge, they asked him had he seen any prospects of stone, "Yes” he said, "I have found a quarry.” And that day he had secured a lease of 19 years. From small beginnings Rome of old became a great imperial city. Mr Fyfe told me an amusing story. After he had opened his quarry he was standing on the platform waiting a train when a farmer belonging to the district came and accosted him saying, “Are you Mr Fyfe?” and being answered in the affirmative, said, “You’ve taen that Quarry?”
“Yes.”
“Oh man,” the farmer said, “gang an gie it up.”
“Why,” said Mr Fyfe.
“Oh man,” he says, “Look roon about ye there, and nae a fairmer for twall mile roon bit has got up a new hoose. There winna be a stane wintit oot o’ yer quarry for the next nineteen years.”
Poor man, he did not foresee the Thames Embankment, the Forth Bridge, Putney and the many docks and breakwaters that were to come out of it. The Railway Company about the same time were a little short sighted as well. Before they would sanction a Siding for wagons, they stipulated 25 wagons per month as out-put. In the days of the Forth Bridge etc. this would have been a poor average for a day’s output.
Workmen
A word or two about the workers of those days might not be out of place. Quarry workers about this time were a distinct class by themselves. In the first place, as a rule they were big strong men and it took some muscle to work the tools of these days, cutting picks from 16 to 20 lbs., and big wedges. The cutters worked mostly in pairs, one on top of the stone making holes for the wedges, the other finishing and preparing for a break. It was astonishing the amount of work they put in hand.
In Sclattie, for instance, an average of 20 cutters kept from 20 to 25 settmakers working also 2 or 3 blockers prepare building and monumental stone and a few kerb dressers.
This was before the days of steam cranes or blondins, and two horses carted out all the settmakers’ blocks to the hill, also any rubbish that accumulated and at the same time all the carts going to Aberdeen had to be traced out to the level by these two horses. Although quarriers were sometimes lightly spoken about and styled "drunken quarriers”, to me they always seemed a fine type of honest, true, hard-working mates, with independent minds.
I remember Mr. Fyfe telling a very good story about this. Driving home from Inverurie one day, he overtook a lady with a basket of provisions on her arm, and, with his usual free and obliging disposition, he offered her a lift in his gig. After they came in sight of the quarries his passenger burst out with, "Oh!, there’s that Kemnay Quarries. That’s a man Fyfe he has hauled a’ the orra folk i’ the face o’ God’s earth in aboot. Kemnay was a dacent placie afore that drunken quarriers cam in aboot it". Mr Fyfe heard her out and then said, "Oh, don't be so hard on the quarriers, mistress, I’m a quarrier myself.”
“Guid preserve me,” she says, “lat me oot, and far did ye steal this horse and the gig.”
About this time I can remember well there was a number of masons at Kemnay, and, like the cutters, big powerful men and splendid workmen, although I must admit a few of them were not teetotallers. Some of the markets, Alford or Tarland, were often visited by them of an evening, when, as a rule, they got the place to themselves.
Machinery
I think about this time 1865 -66 steam began to be introduced, Mr Fyfe as usual, always in the van of progress, being the first to erect a steam crane. I think his first one came from Kilmarnock and some time after this Sclattie got one. I understand this came from Mr Fyfe, he having replaced it by a more improved one. A description of this crane is worth oompar:irg with some of our improved modern ones. In the first place, the Boiler and Engine Shed was at some distance from the crane. "Engine Sandy” was an oracle in the eyes of us youngsters. Then there was a steam winch worked by another man. The jib and burden chains came off the barrels of this winch and ran along a platform to the bottom of the crane. Another man stood on this platform armed with a hook and as the chain came off the barrel, his duty was to pull it along until the crane could take it up through a casting in the bottom of the mast, and, as there was no slowing gear, another man was required with a guy rope to pull round the stone to the cutting bank. This meant four men to work the crane and any heavy stone took from six to eight men to pull it to its destination. I might also mention that the crane had handles and when a stone of any consequence had to be handled, steam was shut off and men put on to the handles. Steam was pretty low about that time - no wonder Kipling speaks of the time they used to mend a broken pipe wi’ tow.
Setmakers
A few words regarding this branch of the industry may be mentioned here. About this time the settmakers not only afforded their own tools, but every man had to afford his own scathie or working shed, and in shifting from one Quarry to another, it took some shifting.
Another feature of this department was that the setts, when finished, were not passed until they were carted to the shore and examined. It was no uncommon thing to see at a forthnight’s end, a number of men going in with their tools to repair stones that had been condemned. It was amusing to see the carters getting instructions about keeping the best looking heads on top for Johnnie Barclay getting the first sight.
Carters
Tbis was another class of men wbo played a very important part in the granite industry. Not unlike the quarriers, they were a distinct class by themselves, clad mostly in white moleskin trousers and sleeved waistcoat - they looked sometimes a rough lot.
“Honour or shame from no condition rise,
Act well your part, there all the honour lies.”
These men, although sometimes a bit uncouth in manner, and not refined in speech, acted well their part. As a rule, their first consideration was their horses. I remember Talmadge saying in a sermon he would not give much for a man’s religion unless his cat and dog were better for it. I think these men exemplified this in the care and pride they took in their horses, and some of them had horses that took some looking after. I am certain about this period there were a lot more vicious horses than there are now, and most of them found their way into stone carts, generally their last home, and it was astonishing how soon they came to be useful beasts. About this time about forty carts would be driving from Sclattie three times a day on average, and taking Persley, Cairns, Tyrebagger and Clinterty, the North roads were always thronged with carts. Rubislaw on the Skene road was something similar.. From Queen’s Cross to the Quarries the road was lined with carts. It was quite a sight on all the roads pair after pair of stone carts, and every other beast with a kicking strap. Some of these men would have been termed “rough diamonds”, but it was wonderful to see the affection they had for their horses, and how the most vicious of them responded to good treatment. As a rule these carters had a pretty hard life, out in mostly all weathers “from early morn till dewy eve”, and it was little wonder though some of them now and again took a wee drappie too much. Even the horses used to excuse them, and if a carter was like that, the horse seemed to know it, and would be on its best behaviour and be as quiet as a lamb, whereas when sober, the man had to take care of himself.
About this time, 1870, the writer went into the Building Trade in Aberdeen, but was still in touch with most of the local quarries. Prior to this there were not many important buildings about the City with the exception of the Militia Barracks in King Street, the “Tartan” Kirk and one or two houses about Union Street and the West End. About this time the Municipal Buildings (which were all Kemnay), the Imperial Hotel, the Masonic Hall and many other important buildings began to spring up.
Up till now there were very few monumental yards - McDonald in Constitution Street, Wright in John Street and Keith in King Street, but from this time, they began to spread over the town and develop into an important branch of the industry.
The School Board Act came into existence about this time, which called for a lot of new schools and extensions, in consequence of which all the local quarries were booming and a few new ones started and old ones re-opened. Cairncry, which had not done much for years, was opened by James Leith, and was at that time a good building and sett quarry with a few monumental blocks occasionally, Rosehall, Cummin’s Park, Burnside, near Kintore, and Tillyfourie were also opened at this time.
This was before foreign granite was coming in. The principal polishing stone was Rubislaw, while for white cleaned work Kemnay took the lead. Machinery by now was coming more in vogue and nearly all the quarries were being equipped with steam cranes, and a few Aberdeen Builders were going in for Hand Derricks instead of the old system of backmen carrying the stone on their backs.
Charity does not begin at home. Although for a long time Aberdeen had been shipping to London setts and kerb, her own streets were very badly paved, only Market Street, Union Street and part of George Street being decently paved. Now came a period of activity among Street and Sewage Contractors, notably among them Barney McDonald from Ireland and his brother, Peter, who used to say his brother Barney came to Aberdeen and made a whole cart load of money, and, sure, before he died, he could put it all in his waist-coat pocket.
About this time another innovation took place in the granite industry. Hand drills began to replace the cutting picks. At first this did not look much of an improvement, especially in the production of finished material, the reason being that it was mostly young boys who started the drills, and they had no knowledge of the grain of the stone, nor could it be expected they would learn it for some time. It was one thing to drive in the holes, but cutting was another matter. The man with the picks had gained their experience under skilled men and knew the run of the stone and just what it would require to cut it, and, being paid by the day, looked for good work. On the other hand the boys, as a rule, were paid by the number of holes, so it was nothing to them what work they turned out so long as they got their number of holes in. 4/-d per 100 holes was the first price paid, but this was gradually reduced to 2/6d per 100 holes. A feature of this was that it very seldom was the man that put in most holes that turned out most finished work. For my part I have never got over the time when the cutting picks were in full swing. It always seems to me the quarries were worked more thriftily, there being far less rubbish and every stone seemed to be taken the good of. It would look like clogging the wheels of progress to set this down to the advent of the drills. I have met many of the boys who started then who have risen to position of eminence in the granite trade. One cause of the altered condition of things is, I think, that about the time of the cutting picks, there was not such a rush and scramble for particular stones. Quarry-owners about that time were fewer and were all on very friendly terms, and if any particular stone was wanted and one quarry could not get it, then another would be in a position to supply it, whereas in more modern times, a rush would be made to get it, and, in consequence many stones would be turned aside as useless for the time being. No doubt the drills were an improvement, but the system of paying by the hole was a mistake. The writer had a very good example of this when supervising the quarrying and dressing of the James Watt Dock, Greenock, with a squad of fair drillers (a good few of them masons). It was a great difficulty to keep masons going, but after making an arrangement to pay the drillers so much per foot for masonwork and so much per ton for setts, it was a different thing altogether. Both drillers and masons had constant work and the production nearly doubled. This was the last time I ever had anything to do with the number of holes, as I always found payment by the result of finished work more satisfactory. This was one of the Argyllshire quarries on Loch Etive side - a very good quarry for Dock or Bridge work, although a bit mixed in colour. It was not popular for setts. In the same hill is a very fine sett quarry, Bonawe. The setts and crushed stone from this quarry are very popular. This quarry and other two on Loch Fyne side were worked mostly by mines. I could not bring myself to approve of this method of quarrying. At Bonawe the mine did not so bad, but at Crarae and Furnace they were not always so satisfactory. There was one mine at the former which had most disastrous consequences. It was what was termed a ‘monster blast’. I think there was 7 tons of powder which was deposited in two chambers and was intended to turn over a very large portion of rock, but a clean joint that had not been seen let the stone out, and with the result that the whole of the dislodged stones were flung clean out of the quarry and landed in the Loch, at the same time sweeping a number of workmen’s houses into the Loch, The steamer "Lord of the Isles" had a miraculous escape. A number of the Glasgow Town Councillors had come out to view the monster blast and quite a number of very large stones were falling all round the steamer. Some years later at the same place, after a very heavy mine, a number of visitors went to inspect the result and were rendered unconscious for some time by the fumes of the powder. Fortunately on neither occasion were there any lives lost, but it showed the uncertainty and danger of this method of quarrying.
"It's a far cry to Loch-awe”, but about the time that the Greenock Dock, Govan Dock, Forth Bridge, Putney and many other contracts were going on, masons were coming from Ireland in dozens. It was no unusual thing for squads to travel over the Black Mount from Loch-awe to Kemnay and the Forest or vice versa. I remember rather an amusing escapade about this time. Three men were caught poaching on the Monymusk Estate. Two of them managed to escape but one was captured by two keepers. One keeper went away to got a policeman, leaving the other with a Retriever dog to watch the prisoner. As soon as the keeper was out of sight, the prisoner made a dash for liberty and the dog was sent after him. The man, however, had some rabbits in his pockets, and every time the dog reached him, he dropped a rabbit which the dog always carried back to the keeper. In this way the man got off and rejoined his mates, whereupon the three men took leg-bail over the hills via Ballater and in due course landed at Craigpoint, Argyllshire and started work.
In 1885 to 1888 or 1889 Corrennie was a very fine quarry and some very heavy rock went out of it. One contract in particular, a Mausoleum in Brooklyn, polished inside and rock faced outside. The roof stones of this, when finished measured each 16’ 0” x 6’ 6” x 1’ 8” and the ridge stones 24’ 0” x 2’ 6”. The roof stones were very heavy moulded and all were dressed by two of the best masons in the place, one of them A Watson, the present manager at Corrennie. They were all finished on the hill, ran down and landed at Brooklyn without a flaw. A large building in Toronto was shipped about this time also. The Glasgow Municipal Buildings, a Dock at Methil likewise took some very heavy rock and quite a lot of monumental stones. The two roof stones for the afore mentioned Mausoleum were cut from one stone and when lifted from the dip by a 15 ton crane, this stone measured 19’ 0” x 7’0" x 3’0”. A remarkable feature of this transaction was that this stone was lifted with a new special chain 11/8” with several blocks to ease the weight. It landed the stone on the level ready for splitting but the next lift, with a stone about 3 tons, the chain broke and was never to be trusted again. This was the last crane chain used in Corrennie, wire ropes taking their place, and proving a great improvement, being cheaper, lighter and far more satisfactory. It was no uncommon thing to see three or four men hauling a heavy crane chain through the quarry, whereas with a wire rope, one man could run round anywhere with the hook. One thing in regard to crane chains was noticeable. It was very seldom that a chain broke with a very heavy lift, but generally after a very heavy strain, it would break with quite a light burden.
There is another remarkable feature about Corrennie, viz., the red rock on this hill, while on the Tillyfourie hill opposite the rock was a dark blue, also all the rock below the quarry. The late Mr Fyfe was very anxious to get a blue quarry here, and the writer tried hard to get a good one, but ultimately had to give it up. Every place that was tried looked very promising to begin with, but all were failures, the rock lying in ridges - the good rock with a heavy head, the bad rock very small at first but gradually spreading out till when down a distance, it scooped out the good rock altogether.
I think most practical men in the granite trade will agree with me that with all the modern devices and labour-saving appliances that have been adopted, the rock is not the same as it was years ago. The writer’s opinion of some of the quarries round Aberdeen is that they resemble an egg set with the thick end at the top. The rock, like the small end, is small at the top and gets heavier and better towards the middle, until, on nearing the bottom, it gets smaller again like the top. Cairncry was a very good illustration of this. Some very good rock was got at a moderate depth, but towards the bottom, it went into shells, just like the top.
“East is East and West is West,
And never the twain shall meet.”
It may be worth while giving my readers a brief review of the granite trade in Hong Kong and the methods of working.
Leaving the Royal Albert Docks and speeding on to the Bay of Biscay by steamer -
“There many a vessel foundered lies,
There Ocean holds full many a prize.”
The writer has crossed the Bay several times since then and it has always been on its best behaviour.
I got rather a surprise on going into Port Said when a big burly Arab came on dock and addressed me quite familiarly with “Man, dinna ye ken me, I'm Jock McPherson frae Aberdeen.” I found that this was quite common, the Arabs using the Scotch by way of trade, and it was astonishing how they could single out Scotsmen. Another would pick out a group of Englishmen and he would style himself Billy Mitchell from Lancashire, the outcome generally being that they did some trade selling their wares. Crowds of these Arabs would surround the steamer and dive for coins, etc., and even along the Suez Canal, they kept running along the banks ready to dive for anything. After a few days in Colombo inhaling the balmy breezes of Ceylon and a few days at Singapore, we are sailing up the Lymoon Pass to the entrance to Hong Kong. Going along this pass we can see the granite rocks towering in grandeur. It reminds one of Argyllshire - very like Arran. The Contract to which the writer was going was for a Graving Dock and Sea Walls. The quarrrying and dressing of the granite was ultimately fixed with two Chinese Contractors, Chan-a-Tong and Ip-Lam-Shan. The former's quarries lay along the Lymoon Pass and the latter's on the opposite side - Sok-i-wan, along by Quarry Bay.
I got a great surprise on the occasion of my first visit to the quarries. The tools were a puzzle to me, being of the crudest description. No-one but a but a Chinaman could work them. In cutting, for instance, small wedge holes were put in along the line and only one wedge was used in driving it. The wedge was put into one hole and struck with a big hammer. The wedge would fly up in the air. It was then stuck into the next hole and so on until the end, but the stone was such a fine quality that, by the time the wedge was half along the line, the stone was split. The tools they used were not steel, but simply lumps of iron with a tongue of steel welded on to the point and the same on the head, and the hand hammer was a round lump of iron, not unlike a freestone mallet but very unshapely and a rough piece of wood forming the handle. The large driving hammer was even more unwieldy being about 30 lbs. in weight, with a very fine hazel stick for a handle fixed in a round eye about an inch from the head. It was simply marvellous how they did the work. In dressing the stone a Chinese mason sits on top of the stone like a tailor and works down the side with head hanging down, a position no other man could put himself into. The writer thought he was going to make a revolution in the granite industry here and got quite a lot of cast steel tools made, with hand and blocking hammers, etc. The natives used neither chippers nor chisels but simply punch on an edge with their heavy punches. After getting these tools out, I had a stone lined up and started to chip for an edge. As soon as I commenced the whole population of the place turned out (these quarries are like villages) shouting and firing off crackers. The men, women and kiddlies flying about, the little youngsters with pig-tails holding up one finger and shoutirg "Number one can do". I am sure it was the first time they had seen a European handling tools. After doing a bit of work, I handed over the tools to their No. 1 man, and told him to get his men to work them and I would find them more. In a day or so I went back, along with our Chief and the Superintending Civil Engineer of the Admiralty who were both anxious to see the result. The tools were all lying where I had left them, but there were a few stones marked off for me to start on. As soon as I struck the first blow, the same performance was gone through, shouting and firing crackers. The Chief and the Admiralty C.E. thought it was to be a great success and that it was going to revolutionise the trade. I thought so myself, but 'Alas, the best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft agley’. I never could get them to touch the tools. They were always keen on me working them but the weather got too warm for me working and I had unwillingly to abandon my idea. I talked this matter over with a Mr. Brown Jones, a Yankee who carried on a monumental yard along with an Undertaking business, and he told me he had tried his hardest to get his stonecutters to work modern tools. He got quite a lot of all the best tools over from the States, but, like mine, they were all lying in a store. He explained to me that it was their Guilds, similar to our Trade Unions, and that they were very strong and were bound to stick to the tools their ancestors had used for generations. There was another thing against my improvement. Our firm paid the Contractors so much per cube foot and these Contractors in turn sub-let to the quarry people, who would have been the only parties to benefit by the improvement. I found that these families had held these quarries for hundreds of years and the tools worked by their forefathers were held with all the Chinese reverence. I must say it was marvellous the work they did with the tools they had. Another thing I never saw them use was a square or straight edge, and in passing hundreds of stones, I never got one off the square. I came to the conclusion that all Chinamen had particularly good eyes, not only in building stone but with cornice or other fancy stone. They used no mould or profile, but simply a stucco model to look at, and they made good looking work.
There was no machinery about these quarries - just men and bamboos. Most of the quarries were on the sea front and the junks used to come in with the full tide, get loaded at ebb and out with the next tide. It was wonderful the size of stones the coolies carried on board with their bamboos. Some of the quarries were further up the hill and the method used for taking them down was rather ingenious. A hollow channel was dug out and filled with clay made wet and slippy. A wooden sledge was shaped like the channel and loaded with stone and run down to the level of the sea front. Small stones were all broken by women with hand hammers and were cheaper than we could do it with our crushers. Labour was so cheap at that time. I remember taking an estimate from Chan-a-Tong to build a bungalow for some of the English staff on the landward side of Hong Kong. Our Chief asked me what offers I had got. I told him I had got an offer, but that I thought it impossible to quarry the stone for the money, let alone dress and build it. Our Chief had more experience of Chinese than I had, and he said to let Chan-a-Tong have it, but not to be too hard on him so long as he made it strong enough. The outcome of it was the Contractor was quite well pleased and the bungalow substantially built of stone and lime with sitting-room, dining-room, eight large bed-rooms, Chinese cook-house and servant’s quarters. When finished the whole cost did not exceed £130 in English money.
Regarding workmen, I have heard them many times reviled as unreliable, but my experience was the reverse of this, as I found them always honest and faithful workers. One might be inclined to question this after reading about the Boxer riots and the pirates on the West River, but China is a very large country and environment and circumstances play an important part on its population. An instance of this might be given here. A police inspector, who hailed from Tomintoul, had two Chinese prisoners marched into his Station. One was an old offender but the other was a young chap and a stranger to Hong Kong. On searching this young chap, the Inspector found a letter from the boy’s Father from a neighbouring province, giving him some very sensible advice and specially advising him to be honest. Gordon, the Inspector, showed him the letter and asked what his Father could think. The boy asked if he could be hanged or get his head chopped off. Gordon jokingly said they would chop off his head and the boy said “That more better”. When the Court came on, the old offender got six months, but the boy, who had only been influenced by the older man, got only one month’s imprisonment. A few days after his time was up, the boy was again marched into the Station, being caught lifting some little thing off a meat stall. Gordon again referred to his Father’s letter, whereupon the boy burst out in pidgin English, “You tell me get head chopped off, then me no need chow chow. No get head chopped me need chow chow. Up Top Side (prison) plenty chow chow - me wantee go back”. Gordon then locked him up and came round to me and asked if I could give the boy a start to work, as it was starvation that made him steal to get food. At that time there was about 200 yards of a road leading up to the bungalow had been washed away by a rain storm. The boy was started to put this road in order and he made a splendid job of it, facing up the bank with stone and building retaining walls in a most tradesmanlike manner. When he had finished, one of the Admiralty C. Es took notice of the great improvement on the road and I explained the circumstances. The C.E. asked me to give him the boy for something he had to do and he would give him a chance, so he was installed among the Admiralty staff. Shortly after this I was away from Hong Kong for about a year, and when I got back, among the first to greet me in the Blockyard was this lad smartly dressed in European clothes and speaking good English - a full fledged inspector over the Chinese workers in the Naval yard. I can only think that but for Gordon's intervention this boy must have drifted into a life of crime.
This was about 1902, and it is possible there may be some difference in working the granite since then, but I very much doubt it, as the natives were very bigotol and inclined to stick to the traditions of their ancestors. The granite is there in abundance and of fine quality, and it would be a great boon to the country if by native labour it could be worked in an up-to-date manner. Apart from this bigoted craze of the tools, I found the workers a steady, industrious lot. and on the small wage of 4d. per day, it was wonderful how they lived and even saved money.
My next experience in the stone trade was in Malta where S. Pearson & Son had a large contract including two Graving Docks and a Breakwater. The granite for the docks came mostly from Sardinia, and the Breakwater stone came from Trani - a clean hard stone. In addition to this we had quite a lot of dimension stone from Gozo, where we had five crushers running. A fleet of hulks and two tugs were kept going, taking stone to Malta for the docks, a distance of 22 miles. Gozo is an island of 13 miles by 7 miles and is mostly rock. What ground there is, however, is very fertile. Oranges, figs and grapes grow in abundance and quite a lot of wine is transported. The peasantry keep large flocks of goats and sheep and do a big trade in cheese. The stone in Gozo is of two or three different kinds. What we used for the docks was the hardest. A strange feature of this stone was that it had no regular bed and to get dimension stone, it was necessary to cut a channel right round the block and then put in a series of holes about four feet apart and fire them with a battery. This cut a clean bed and the stone could then be cut to the required sizes. Inferior rock had to be blasted and broken up for the crushers. There were other quarries on the island composed of soft stone used in house or church building. This stone was very easy to work, and, when built, looked quite durable. The climate was in its favour, but I doubt if it would have stood the frost of our winters.
The Maltese are very good workmen. All the Gozo men were splendid quarrymen and had a good knowledge of the different kinds of stone. A very hardy race, they would climb on the rocks and walk among chips barefooted. Most of the quarrying and crushing was done by the piece, but about the time we went there, 8d. to 10d. per day was an average wage. The stone for crushers was quarried, broken, put through the crushers, loaded into wagons, run down an incline and loaded into hulks all under 1/-d. per cube yard. Another feature of Gozo was its sand. There was only one small part of the island where this could be got, and all the sand used on the docks and breakwaters had to go from here. It was blown in from the sea when the wind was Westerly. A week of a West wind in this Bay Ramea used to fill up the fore-shore and blow quite a layer of sand up the hill for about a quarter of' a mile. All the other parts of the islands, both Malta and Gozo, have nothing but rock. It is about 22 miles from Gozo to the grand Harbour at Malta, but only about 5 miles from land to land. At one time both islands had been connected. St. Paul’s Bay where St. Paul was wrecked, is the nearest point in Malta to Gozo. At the time St. Paul was wrecked it was named Melita and was inhabited by barbarians. The size of Malta is 35 miles by 18 miles. Both islands are densely populated and the people are a very thrifty, industrious race of a very kind disposition under their own vine and fig trees. They are all Roman Catholics and very staunch and true to their faith. There was no Sunday labour except for the Church. If an emergency came, such as a jetty unfinished on a Saturday, and it was necessary to work on the Sunday, we had to go to the Parish Priest and explain matters. He would call a meeting and then we could have got the whole island to work if required. Of course Sunday labour was paid double and the Church got half their earnings. The natives are a bit superstitious and cling to the belief that when St. Paul was stung by the viper, and, to the surprise of the people, did not fall down dead, he took the poison out of all the snakes on the islands, and what strengthens this belief is the fact that, though there are a lot of snakes on the islands, none of them are poisonous.
"Oh why does the white man hang on my path
Like a hound on the tiger's track.
Does the flush of my dark skin waken his wrath
Does he covet the bow at my back?"
The above lines were suggested to me when comting to Stone Mountain, Georgia. Tradition has it that this huge mountain of granite with the surrounding estate, was bought first from the Red Indians for a shot gun and afterwards traded for a mule. At the time the writer had the management of these quarries, the Estate was owned by the Venable Brothers. It was practically a solid mountain of granite about seven or eight miles round. The granite was a very fine light-coloured stone and was worked by the most up-to-date machinery. It was raised by air, and when the front and one end was channelled open, any size of stone could be got. Some very fine buildings were dressed there, among them the Atlanta Post Office, also some large buildings in New Orleans and other towns, as also quite a lot of monumental stone. All the stones were cut by air drills. If anything went wrong with a compressor it was difficult to get anyone to work a hand drill. The work in the quarries was all done by niggers, and there were also a good few niggers making setts, but the stone cutters were all white men belonging to the Union. In some parts of the ledge you could get stones only 6 inches thick any size. These came in very handy for slabs, vault tops, etc., and saved an amount of sawing or cutting.
The derricks were all worked by air and were very easily shifted along the ledge when required. There was a 25-ton traveller on rails which ran along the front and when shifting a derrick, the guy ropes were coiled up and the derrick lifted by the traveller and set on its new base.
There is another place near Stone Mountain, called Lithonia where there is quite a Scotch Colony, most of the people owning their own quarries and doing quite a good business in kerb and setts. Scotsmen had a great name here about in Atlanta. I met quite a number of men, some of them who had never seen Scotland, and they all had a true veneration for the Home-land and were most patriotic. The memory of Burns and Scott were held sacred and honoured on every occasion. In the Burns’ Association there in Atlanta was a Dr. Jacobs, a very wealthy man - a Jew by birth, but a Scot at heart and a great admirer of everything Scotch. This Dr. Jacobs on the occasion of a visit to Scotland took an architect friend with him and took a plan and drawing of Burns' Cottage, and on his return he bought 40 acres of ground on the out-skirts of Atlanta built a facsimile of the original cottage and presented it to the Burns Club along with 20 acres of land. It took some time before a man could be got to thatch the cottage, but ultimately a joiner who hailed from about Cults was able to put on the thatch similar to the original. I found many instances here of Scotsmen who had risen from the ranks to positions of wealth and eminence. Whatever they took hold of, they stuck to. It reminded me of an incident related by Carnegie when surveying for the Grand Trunk Railway. A party of pioneers were out and one of their number got attacked by a bear and saved himself by catching the bear's tail and swinging it round, at the same time shouting to his comrades to help him to let go. Carnegie said they knew by this that the man was not a Scotsman, as there would have been no let go with him - he would have been in with that bear as long as it chose to go round.
"The Don shall run to Carsinoon and Criffel sink in Solwav
One of the finest granite quarries I have seen is on Criffel."
At the time I first visited this quarry it had been newly discovered by some settmakers and was worked by them for a few years, mostly for setts. It was very heavy rock, too heavy, in fact, for this class of work, but they did a good business for some time and ultimately sold it to Somerville and Dean of Liverpool. I think this quarry was an ideal one as far as working facilities were concerned. It stood out on a shoulder of the hill and on the occasion of my last visit, a single hole had dislodged an enormous quantity of rock. This is easily understood as the quarry had two open ends owing to the position of the hill. It was a bit distant for railway traffic, but quite near for a sea freight, an arm of the Solway coming quite near, and everything could be shipped quite handy. A very fine feature of this quarry was that there was not a vestige of tirr on it and the rock was of good colour to the very top, the only blemish I could see being when cutting with the bed, some of the stones showed some black spots. This would have been a blemish for monumental work but could be obviated by cutting stones for monumental purposes across the bed, showing only the small grain of the stone.
Looking at the amount of unemployment in this country and the quantity of foreign granite coming in, it seems to the writer that something might be done in the way of opening up new quarries or developing some of the abandoned ones around Aberdeen or in Argyllshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. In the latter there is mountains of rock between Dromore and Creetown lying alongside the railway that, with a little outlay, might be made remunerative and at the same time give work to large numbers of unemployed.
Irish granite has never been very popular in this country and my only experience with it was in a place Costelle in the Conamara district in County Galway. A Manchester gentleman who originally belonged to that district bought an Estate there. About 600 acres of it was clean bare rock - no tirr on it. This man wanted this granite tried up with a view to forming a Company. I spent a few weeks trying up the rock, as also taking soundings round about as to where steamers could be berthed. The rock is close to the public road, 25 miles from Galway. The sea at high tide came close up to the road and small smacks about 16 tons could be loaded, but it was about 2 miles to a pier where steamers could be loaded. This was before the War and the Company was formed and power got to run an electric tramway to the pier, but the War upset all the arrangements and I expect the whole thing is done away with. It was quite a good clean granite and at that time labour there was very cheap, good labourers being paid at the rate of 10/-d. per week.
“He is gone on the mountain, he is lost to the Forest,
Like a summer dried fountain, when our need wax the sorest".
The passing away of the late Mr. John Fyfe was a great blow to the granite industry in Aberdeen. Many a large contract came to Aberdeen through his influence. One instance in particular. The Glasgow Municipal buildings were designed to be built of granite which was to come from Argyllshire, but after consideration it was found that this would cost too much money. The building committee consulted Mr. Fyfe, who, with his ready foresight, suggested that the Basement flat might be made in red granite, also cornice and other principal entrances. The result was that quite a lot of Corrennie granite was prepared and dressed in Aberdeen. A breakwater in Sunderland was another instance. This was specified concrete from foundation to coping till Mr. Fyfe suggested to the committee that by facing it with granite the concrete would be saved from the action of the salt water. This meant a number of years work for quite a gang of men. These and many similar contracts were landed in Aberdeen through the untiring energy of Mr Fyfe.
“Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
Princes and Lords may flourish or may fade
A breath can mar them as a breath hath made
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride
Once lost, can never be supplied.”
These lines of Goldsmith's seem applicable to the Aberdeenshire granite industry. In all the granite centres of America you find the Aberdonians in the front. Barre Vermont has been built up by them. Could nothing be done to keep some of these pioneers at home? Baxter of Leeds once said that Aberdeen was the most difficult place in which to sell crushers, because the people were so hard-headed they crushed their own granite. If some hard-headed business man would only see his way to re-open some of the quarries round about Aberdeen, or go further afield and open up some new quarries, it would save the native industry. Before the days of the railways when there was only the Road Bridge across the Tweed they charged one half-penny for foot passengers. An Englishman coming over tendered a half-crown to the Tollman, who said that he had no change but that he could be paid as the Englishman returned. A scotsman waiting to go across had heard the conversation and when it came to his turn he also said that he had no change but that he would pay as he came back. "Na, na," said the Tollman, "ye're the kin' that disna came back, ye'll pay me noo”. In like manner a great many of our best and thriftiest granite workers are the kind that do not come back and the man who could give a new boom to the granite industry and keep men like these at home would well deserve the name of philanthropist.
No doubt concrete has taken the place of granite to a great extent on public works. The million pound dock at Shieldhall is all concrete. If this had been 30 years ago, all the concrete blocks would have been faced with granite and would certainly have resisted the action of the salt water much longer. Aberdeen granite has a well merited reputation all over the World and I hope we are not going to see the Granite City desecrated by the building of concrete and steel houses.
It may surprise some of my readers to know that the first harbour built in Aberdeen was made of granite from Queens-ferry. The local quarries got the chance to tender for the job but thought they would each get a share as they had been in the habit of doing, but Johnstone of Queensferry put in an offer for the whole contract and got it. If it had not been that Mr. Fyfe had so much interest in Aberdeen when he supplied the stone for the Forth Bridge, he could have quarried almost all the stone in the vicinity and saved a lot of money in freight.
Some years ago I remember one of the principal Aberdeen Sculptors saying that if we only had Creetown on Clifton Road, we would be independent of all other granites. Well, the mountains won’t come to Mahomet, so the next best thing is for Mahomet to go to the mountain and get the granite. With all the up-to-date facilities for working, it should not be difficult to check the amount of finished work coming from Germany. as far as building houses is concerned, surely the hand of the Aberdeen mason has lost its cunning when good substantial granite houses are being replaced by concrete, wood and iron.
Over £90,000 worth of finished monuments coming from Germany last year looks like a severe blow to the granite industry here, and I think it is time that everyone in the trade should have a conference, both employers and employees, with a view to saving the industry. We won the War and surely the Germans could be beat at this game if everyone in the trade made up their minds to do what they could, instead of standing idly by and seeing the granite industry going to pieces.
“Must we but weep o’er days more blest
Must we but blush, our Fathers bled.”
I see by the papers that in the Shipbuilding and Engineering Trades great stress is laid on the Germans working longer hours and at lower wages. I do not think that is the cause of their supremacy. I can remember the time when Aberdeen adopted a nine hours day and it was fairly proved that more work was done in nine hours than in ten, and in America at the present time the stone-cutters turn out more work in eight hours than they used to do in ten hours. My policy would be, wherever practicable, to go in for piece work, giving every man the value for his labour. The reputation of Aberdeen granite is maintained all over the World as to quality, and it is up to the British workman to produce quantity. There is a mistaken notion among many tradesmen and Trade Unions that the cure for unemployment lies in the restriction of output. The sooner this idea is abolished the better it will be for the country. My task is nearly finished and I have touched on some things I had no intention of doing. My main object was to explain the difference in the working conditions of the granite trade as regards tools and facilities. When we think of the many improvements - electric blasting, steam power, air drills and all the other inventions for labour saving, both in the quarrying and dressing, one is inclined to think that the output should be trebled, but, as far as I can see, it is even less than it was in the days when man was the motive power. What makes the difference is that in the old days from the humble little nipper to the General Manager, it was one combination to have the work done, each one trying to excel.
So much then for the granite industry in the past, and if the future can be made to excel the past, so much the better. One thing I hope is that we will not see the Granite City obliterated by rickles of brick and concrete houses.