The Granite Industry of Southwestern New Brunswick: A Historical ...

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8 The Granite Industry of Southwestern New Brunswick: A Historical Perspective Early Geologists in Charlotte County Dr. Wright cited the work of earlier geologists in his 1934 manuscript, most notably Loring W. Bailey, George F. Matthew and William A. Parks. Among the first scientists to map rocks in the St. George area were Bailey and Matthew, who visited Charlotte County in 1868, 1869 and 1870 for the Geological Survey of Canada. One of their reports (Bailey and Matthew 1872) equated the red stone to the famous granites of Aberdeen, Scotland. The glowing descriptions of the rock almost certainly helped the first granite companies to sell stock. By the time Matthew (1878) revisited St. George in the mid-1870s, the granite industry was well underway. Bailey wrote another comprehensive account of the granite industry as it stood near the end of the nineteenth century (Bailey 1898). He did not visit Charlotte County on this occasion but received detailed written information from the granite company managers. Parks spent the summer of 1911 visiting quarry operations in the Maritimes before producing the last significant pre-1930s report on the St. George granite quarries (Parks 1914). His illustrated volume contains detailed descriptions and physical analyses of the stone. Left: Loring W. Bailey (1839– 1925). PANB, P47-12 Right: George F. Matthew (1837–1923), c. 1889. NBM, 1987.17.486 Historical Overview The actual discovery of this [St. George granite] wealth is laid claim to by several parties, and, as in all other discoveries, each claimant has his devout adherents. ~ The St. John Daily Sun, November 22, 1887 The historical information in Dr. Wright’s 1934 manuscript was sparse. He relied in part on the few details provided by the earlier geological reports of Loring Bailey, George Matthew and William Parks. As well, he repeated stories told by St. George residents who, at the time, were decades beyond having first-hand knowledge of the industry’s origins. The following historical overview draws instead on evidence from newspapers of the day (Gardiner 2013) and on documents in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. It also contains, and and in some cases corrects, information from O’Halloran (1968) and Martin (1990a, 1990b, 2003). The beginnings of the St. George granite industry is a cautionary tale of two companies—one of New Brunswickers, the other of New Yorkers—that initially paralleled each other in time and activities. But whereas the American-funded company crashed in mismanaged ruins within a few years, the New Brunswick firm achieved prosperity after a shaky start and continued into the next century. We will meet the New Brunswick company first. Saint George Red Granite Co. / New Brunswick Red Granite Co. Like others before him, Dr. Wright quoted the popular tale about the discovery of the St. George granite fields in Charlotte County (Wright 1934, p. 3).
Part One — The St. George District 9 In 1872, the commercial possibilities of the [St. George] stone were recognized by Mr. Charles Ward while on a fishing trip on Lake Utopia. Mr. Ward abandoned his fishing and discovered ‘immense ledges of beautiful dark red granite’ and this led to the commencement of the industry. Mr. Ward became the secretary of the Bay of Fundy Red Granite Company, made up of New York capitalists and practical granite men. This account is only partly true. As we’ll see later, Ward did play a role in our story, but in fact the red granite had been discovered long before he took his fishing trip. Local people regularly chiselled blocks of it into hearthstones, doorsteps and foundation material. What’s more, by 1872 someone else had already cast a canny eye over the granite hills of St. George with a view to quarrying them. His name was Peter Cormack. Cormack was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and moved in 1840 at age 24 to Saint John, where he began a monumentmaking business. He originally produced gravestones using the only commercially available granite in New Brunswick, a sombre, medium-grained, pinkish grey stone from Hampstead north of Saint John (Map 1; also see Part Two). But stone fashions change. In the mid-1860s the Victorians began to prefer a glossier, finer grained stone. One day in 1868, ... [Cormack] picked up a piece of granite which was thrown out of a vessel which was discharging ballast in this city. It was a piece of [rich red] Scotch granite, and [Cormack] remarked to a young man standing near him that he would like to find a deposit of such stone. The young man, whose name was Purves and whose home was in Charlotte County, explained to Cormack that he had seen this kind of granite in his native county. The conversation resulted in Cormack visiting St. George, where he spent several weeks. ~ The Daily Sun, January 25, 1887 Cormack gathered samples of the St. George red granite during the summer of 1868 and tested them in his Saint John monument shop on Wall Street beside the Intercolonial Railway station. The stone, he found, could be buffed to a deep, lustrous red that shone like glass. He produced a few gravestones for display, and they sold at once. Thus encouraged, Cormack organized the Saint George Red Granite Co. in March 1871 with several Saint John and St. George businessmen. They included Isaac Burpee, a Saint John merchant who happened to live about 700 feet from Cormack's shop; and James Fellows, a mining entrepreneur and the passionate inventor of Fellows Compound Syrup. Left: Isaac Burpee (1825–1885). Right: James Fellows (1826–1889). Two of the founding directors with the Saint George Red Granite Co. Burpee image: LAC, PA-026396. Fellows image: LAC, C-56636
Page 1 and 2: Energy and Mines The Granite Indust
Page 3 and 4: Energy and Mines The Granite Indust
Page 5 and 6: Preface and Acknowledgements iii Ta
Page 7 and 8: Preface and Acknowledgements v Pref
Page 9 and 10: Preface and Acknowledgements vii Ac
Page 11 and 12: Part One — The St. George Distric
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Part One — The St. George Distric
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Part Two — The Hampstead District
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Appendices 93 class of stone his cu
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Appendices 95 It has long been the
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Appendices 97 Quarry 6, Map 3. View
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Appendices 99 Above left: Quarry 12
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Appendices 101 Above left: Quarry 3
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Appendices 103 Left: Quarry 46 (‘
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