FUN KNOWLAGE OF THE QUARRY

HOIST HOUSE

The first building on the right side of the bridge was one of 25 hoist houses in the quarry housing machinery that provided power to the derricks.  The huge sandstone mill blocks were lifted and moved with cable that ran from the boom on the derrick to the hoist.  The cable wound around a huge drum.  In the late 1890s one horse harnessed to a drum walked round and round providing power to the lift and move the mill blocks.  Hydropower from the dam tat ran an air compressor soon replaced the horse.  Later electric motors and gas powered engines ran the hoist operated by Axel Larson, Axel Anderson, Victor Gjertson, Elmer Nelson and other hoist operators who moved levers to turn the drum that lifted, lowered or guided the boom carrying the sandstone mill blocks. 

DAM

This dam was called the old dam after the new dam was built down river in 1905.  The dam provided power for the huge saw mills that cut the stone and drills that bored through the sandstone.

ENGINE HOUSE

The sandstone building was the engine house. The quarry had its own engine to haul sandstone on railroad cars one the maze of tracks running throughout the quarry.

QUARRY OFFICE 

The office next to the engine house was basically a field office.  The quarry companies also had an office in downtown Sandstone with main office in Minneapolis.

OUTHOUSE 

The small buildings right on the river bank were outdoor toilets.  When the river level rose, quarry workers boasted about modern toilets with running water.

TOOL SHED

At night quarry workers stored their tools in tool houses such as the one next to the outhouse.

POWER HOUSE

The sandstone building right on the river housed the water wheel set in motion by water running over the dam.  The turning wheel provided power to the air compressors that ran the quarry's machinery.  High water would often throw the out of plumb causing a temporary power outage.