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Show THE TEMPLE QUARRIES. We lately paid a visit to the Temple quarries in Green Canyon, and were much interested in what we saw and heard respecting the methods of working them, &c., &c. (etc., etc.). We stopped for a short time at the first quarry. Here some half a dozen men were working. In this quarry the manner of loosening the stone so that it may be handled is this: A hole is drilled down to a certain "bed" or seam which separates the strata. The stone, by the way, lies in strata at an angle of about 45 degrees, and these strata are separated by seams, more or less open. When a hole has been drilled to a sufficient depth and down to a seam, a small quantity of powder is poured into it. This powder finds its way into the seam at the bottom of the hole, and when it is exploded, raises the stratum of rock slightly, and thus makes room for more powder. A larger quantity of powder than before is next poured down and exploded, and this operation which is called "squibbing," is repeated until the seam at the bottom of the hole has been sufficiently increased to admit a large quantity of powder. From one to two kegs will then be poured down the hole, when it rattles down the seam, which has a pitch of about 45 degrees, to a considerable distance. When the last charge of powder thus put in is exploded, it loosens immense quantities of stone, which is subsequently taken out with crowbar, &c. (etc.). The upper quarry is about half a mile beyond the first one. Here is where the rock for the Tabernacle was obtained, and at this quarry is a comfortable log house, the home of the quarrymen while they stay. Here Brother Wm. (William) Poppleton and wife have charge of commissary matters, and a warmer hospitality than that which they urge upon the wayfarer, is rarely met. The men who work the lower quarry "bunk" here, and altogether a company of nearly twenty men sat down for supper. Soon after supper a rushing sound was heard outside, and on going from the house to the quarry it was found that an immense slide of rock had taken place, a quantity amounting to thousands of tons having slid down the steep incline of the bed of the quarry. Luckily no object that could be damaged was in the way. After an hour spent in social chat with the men, we mounted our horse and rode home by moonlight, firmly convinced that the men in the Temple quarries are a right jolly set of fellows, who can crack large stones or good jokes with equal facility. We desire to pay a compliment on their excellent taste for reading matter for they nearly all subscribed for the Leader. |