GENERAL37456

• Permit No: M1989065
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 5/10/1996
• Doc Name: CASTLE ROCK QUARRY APPLICATION TO DOUGLAS CNTY FOR USE BY SPECIAL REVIEW PERMIT
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

I=+ COLORADO Tf .4GAZI\E
a quarter of beef or a case of eggs balanced on his shoulder. One
da: a bmtch of men Rere sitting iu front of the general store
Rhere a large chunk u1' rock salt bad just been unloaded on the
platform. It Retched 3PU lbs. The store ke=per thought it a
bogy jut;e tc offer it to anyone e}:o could c:']rr~' it &+ca.-. :Tian}-
tried in tutu. but of cuw_e tome could so much as budge it. Just
then Gus \c•lson dra;e up «ith a team'and a light Ragor.. The
s+orr ]:caper shouted, "He}'. Gus, coo can bare this eLunk of salt
for your cattle if rust can poi it i•t }'cur Ragou.'• Gtts Rrapped
the lsn carefully about ti+e chip-stack. descended slc+yl•• from the
seat. a.icat;cad upon the block of salt. ;+re;.ped his great arms
about it, an<i s+cuug it slo+r]}' from the plaifc•rm to the ~ccgcn bed,
climbed tack to tLe Ragon lest and started fur Lct¢e Rith his
prize. That Ras ffie Gus Kefsun Re knell."
lit June. ]545, the tcriters of this article ubtaitted the follo+cing
inten-ierc frrim Dir. Gus Xelsou, print to his death in September
of that .-ear:
"ln 1596 Jonathan Thowa; ram? to me at•the upper O'Brien
camp and asked me to take charge of the Santa F4 yuen7-, Rest of
Castle Rock \C'hen +ce muted un to the quarry. Rhere Re Rere to
remain fur ten }-ears, +se found a boarding house, a small office
building, a bunk hose fur the men. and an srtesiau ReU. Alts.
nelson loch charge of the boarding Louse. I started to Rork that
summer tcith a cre+r of wen. but it Ras almost impossible to get
out wuch rock, due to the 2a to ~0 feet Ia}-er of dirt and flue rock
wearing the stone. I rtes discouraged and Ras considering giving
up my contract. Rhen Jonathan Thomas visited the quarry. He
persuaded me to sta}-, oflerine to pay me X4.50 Rages, as Rell as
au}-thing I might make ou c•outracted stone during the period of
time requited to strip tl+e outcrop. That Ras big Rsges in those
days and the Rife acrd I decided to put the Rhole 84.50 aside each
day in a separate fund torcard the cattle ranch Re Loped some dac
to otcu. It took R months to complete the stripping.
"~',-e made our living from the boarding house. Dfost of the
time I ran a creR of 12 to 15 matt. but so»tetimes R-e Rorked es
high as thirty. Afr. Slagel Ras manager for D;-. TLomas. He had
a small office building at the quarr•}• and trat•eled about the state.
soliciting orders for building stone.
"After Khe stripping Ras done. +re follorced the cracks or
seams in the lava stone, breaking out the rock Rith a creR-bar.
R-hen this Ras impossible, a hole Ras drilled by hand to a depth
of 15 or 20 feet. This Rould take the men on au average of a dac
and a half. I acted es ponder-man most of the time. The hole
v: as filled retch black ponder end the fuse ignited. The rock blott-a
oat in this fashion Ras thou squared off by the stone masons, and
;-
1
I

7'HE QL'ARRIE$ OF 7'HE CASTLE ROCK AREA 1_5
lorded into the tram cars for its trip dotctt From the quarr' to
the railroad spur. Rhere it Ras reloaded on the gat cars.
" Iu the quarr}- Re used a derrick to load the largest pieces
of stone. R'hct•ever possible Re ran atram-track over the fluor
of the ¢IlA1'7T to the section in Rhicb Re Rere taking out ruck.
Sometimes Rc had to use smal: broa&Rheeled earls pulled b}- molts
to react: the more remote yat•uet•s. The mules Rere used cn top
the quern- in the stripping process end in operating the derrick.
Diost of the stone RL'S shipped in pieces neighing about 100 lbs.
and loaded bc- derrick. R'e shipped lots of rough stone Loo. and
some rubble.
"\Cheu the stone reached its destination it Ras cut to blockc of
the•drsired size and squared cff o» lice sides b}• stone tttasons.
The sixth side Ras left rough a»d plastered over on the inside
of the building. The dressing of the stone at the building site pas
an art in itself. The best stone-cutters I ever knell Rere Ramse}-
Lips and Charlie Herbs of Castle Rock.
"I paid the men tr+-o dollars a day. R-e Rocked six dais a
Reek end that Rere long days-from seven to seven. The Rork
Ras hard cad it Ras diffic•tilt to get good quarr}• men. I Rould go
into Dancer on Saturday and come back Rith five or sic pall
hands.- -The}• stayed at the boarditg Louse and ate their heat s
off, over the Reek-cud. Ou Dfonday morning Re Rere luekc if even
tR-o of them sltorcerl up for Rork at the quarr}-. They enjc•y-eri a
Rell-fed Sunday end departed by box-car for Deut-er or Puebla
oa Dlonday. Hotrever I Lad one yuarn-mau Rho sta}'ed on the juL
for ni»e Fears. and another for eight tears.
"At the e»d of the first rear of operation, Rhett I Landed a
check for X1.000 to DU. Thomas, he looked at it tR'ice, shook Lis
Lead sort of doubtfully cod said, 'This is the first profit I bare
ever received from m}• quarr• lauds.'
"As for mcself, after I paid all Rages, settled for the blark-
poRder, etc., I cleared about $500 a tear. In the let] veers Re op•
crated the quarry Re laced 84,000.
"Chen Re Rorked a full creR R-e took out about six carloads
of stone a de}-. \Ce shipped rock tp Colorado Springs, Denver, ~~-
braska. Pueblo and %ansas Cit}•. It Ras Ridel}- used by the rail-
roads for bridges and depots. Denver Ras our best market.
"I^ ]906 the stone business Ras almost finished, due to the
Ride use of concrete. So Re took our $4.000 savings apd bought a
cattle ranch in Jerre Can}-on, just abot•e Sedalia. I operated it
for tears, making a good ]icing rultuiug cattle. Df}- son Harrc
]lets there poll but the ranch still provides us Rith a good income.
R'e Lave lava rock to thank for the realization of our dreams, a large
cattle reach of our omt."