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.
