Middlefield soapstone quarries (Metropolitan Soapstone Co. Quarry), Middlefield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USAi

Regional Level Types
Middlefield soapstone quarries (Metropolitan Soapstone Co. Quarry)	Group of Quarries
Middlefield	Town
Hampshire County	County
Massachusetts	State
USA	Country

These were the first commercial soapstone quarries in Massachusetts, opened in 1811 or 1812. Holland (1855) gives the following information about operations in the early 1850s:

"One of the largest and most important soapstone quarries in the United States is in Middlefield. It has been known and worked for several years by several companies, all with more or less profit, and to a considerable extent. During 1853 it was purchased by a New York company, chartered as the Metropolitan Soapstone Company, with a capital of $300,000. General Charles B Stuart is the President of the company. This Company are now quarrying this rock in immense quantities, and conducting operations in a more systematic and scientific manner, than has ever been done before at this quarry. The bed is several hundred feet in length, and has an average width of thirty feet, and, in most parts of it, is of an uniform gray color, although, in some places, it is slightly variegated, which is the best and handsomest quality for building purposes. There are two mills at Middlefield for sawing this stone, and grinding a portion of it into powder, and a yard in New York city, at No. 260, West 13th Street, occupying an acre of ground, with a steam engine, an iron building, and machinery necessary for the working of the stone. During the year 1853, 1000 tuns of this stone were quarried at Middlefield, 600 tuns of which were taken to the New York market, and there sold for firestones in coal furnaces, at an average price of $12 the tun. During 1854 the Company quarried and worked up at least 100 tuns the week."

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