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Quarry
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Portland Quarries
By Jack Dillon, April 1999
The history of the Brownstone Quarry operations is long
and interesting, and begins when the shoreline of Portland was known as
the East Banks of Middletown.
To appreciate the longevity of the quarry, it is
necessary to first place it within a time perspective.
When George Washington was born on February 11 or 22,
1732 (depending on your calendar, be it Julian or Gregorian), Portland
Brownstone had been excavated for almost a hundred years! The property
belonged to Middletown at the time.
In 1665, the governing body of Middletown, fearing that
this natural resource was of a limited, exhaustible supply, voted
"that whosoever shall take or raise stone at ye rocks on the east
side of the river for any without the towne, and said digger shall be none
but an inhabitant of Middletown and shall be responsible to ye towne
twelve pounds per tunn of stone that he or they shall dig for any person
without the towne."
If any person reported someone from "without
the towne" taking the stone illegally, the culprit would be fined
twelve pounds and half of that amount would go to the informer!
Perhaps this was the original designation of the term "block
watch" (only kidding).
For the Town Fathers to have enacted this 1665
ordinance, there must have been significant usage of brownstone that they
were trying to curtail. Even at this early date, considerable stone was
shipped to distant places. It was a marketable material which also served
as ballast in the hold of sailing vessels (stabilizing the hull to
counteract the effect of wind against the vast square footage of sail
topside).
I won’t pursue the chronological progression of the
quarry businesses that thrived here in Portland. Such information can be
acquired through numerous records available elsewhere. I will focus,
instead, on the socio-economic environment that was prevalent during the
boom of the Portland Brownstone. The human element is always more
interesting than dry facts and figures.
After much investigation, I have come to understand and
appreciate the everyday lives and concerns of the average quarry worker,
his family, and also his employer.
The work was labor intensive, involving hundreds and
sometimes over a thousand workers in any given year.
The men who mined the quarry came from all walks of
life and educational backgrounds (although most had very little
schooling). Their human needs were very basic compared to standards of
today. All they required was a decent wage, housing, and enough food to
support their families. To supplement their incomes, many nurtured small
gardens and raised domestic livestock.
According to records I examined, the quarry employers
had no problem with workers who, for whatever reason, did not show up for
work. Individuals who were absent for a day or even a week were welcomed
back without question and assigned to their old crew. They did not get
paid during such absences, of course. Others picked up the slack so that
work continued on schedule. The attitude suggested that: if you can afford
to lose a day’s wages, that’s your business.
A hand-written time-ledger, in my possession, shows
notations regarding the reasons that various workers did not show up for
work, giving us a picture of their personal lives. Some took days off to
slaughter pigs, to plant and harvest crops, or take their families to the
circus across the river. There were a few who had reasons that were, well,
less responsible. Scribbles noted that so-and-so was absent due to
a "bender," "jollification," "spree," or
more to the point, "downright drunk." One such reference showed
that a man lost a week’s work because his wife was on a jollification.
After spending some time atoning for their sins at the Town Farm, they
would return to working at the quarry as if nothing had happened.
It’s difficult to encapsulate the socio-economic
structure that the quarry provided in Portland during a period that lasted
almost three centuries. I spent years acquainting myself with the many
"personalities" involved, and feel as if I almost know them
personally. I sometimes imagine that if we ever met face-to-face, we would
strike up a conversation like a reunion of longtime friends.
In the spirit of sharing our common heritage, I will be
submitting different episodes of quarry history in future editions of Portland
On the Move. It is my hope that they will whet your appetite for
more information about our communal roots, and history in general.
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