Ron Bell

Early History of Indiana Limestone Ron Bell

This book is taken from early newspaper reports about the events that occurred that changed the limestone of Bedford Indiana from an occassional quarried item that was hauled to market by ox team to thousands of train carloads of limestone being sent to locations all over the eastern part of the United States. The time period covered is from 1850, when all quarrying was accomplished with labor intensive hand tools, to 1900, when the industry was mainly operated by steam power and heavy duty machinery. Some discussion is made of early jobs that help "make the industry". These include the Chicago City Hall, Chicago Court House, Indiana State Capital, Vanderbilt Mansions, and stone shipped for use at Ellis Island and the Library of Congress. The book also cronicles some of the day to day problems, wage scales paid and improvements made in methods and machinery as they occurred in the industrry.