Work Archives | Page 5 of 6 | Bedrock of Beachville: The History of Our Limestone Quarries

Tramway Cars

After being blasted from the quarry wall, stone is loaded into cars. The cars are brought to the crusher incline by the locomotive. They are pulled to the […]

The Derrick on its Tracks

This image shows the derrick in action in 1910. The boom arm lifts full buckets of stone into a waiting freight car at the north edge of the […]

Early Quarry Pits

This image shows a team quarrying on land owned by John Downing. This land was east of the main road, known then as “Monroe Sideroad” and now County […]

A Close-Up of a Piece of Limestone with Fossil Traces

On large fragments of limestone, referred to as armour stones, it is easy to detect the radiating patterns marking out marine creature remnants. Armour stones are often used […]

Innerkip Lime and Stone

This image shows the gas-fired kilns at Innerkip Lime and Stone Company in 1939. This company started with 2 coal-fired kilns in 1929. These were likely built in […]

The Erie Steam Shovel

William Smith Otis (1813-1839) invented the “steam shovel” in 1836 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a revolutionary invention for the aggregate industry. Before Otis’ invention, almost all excavation projects were […]

Stelco’s Pit

This image above is part of an album compiled by Marion Kilcup in 1995. The album features photos beginning from the 1850s. The image depicts a sizeable pit […]

Transportation by Team & Wagon

This image shows a work crew and a team of horses at the Downing-Bremner quarries east of Monroe Sideroad (now Oxford County Road 6). Records from early quarries […]

The Transition to Trucks

Beachville’s roads were paved in the early 1920s, which sparked the introduction of trucks being used at the quarries. Trucks became useful at the pits and plants since […]

Tracks in the Pit

A faded black and white photograph of a work crew outside looking down on a group of horses attached to wooden carts along a track.

The Great Flood: Gypsum Lime

This image shows a quarry building and conveyor under water at Gypsum Lime and Alabastine after the Great Flood in 1937.

Pumphouses

Whether these pools of water result from heavy rainfall or digs towards groundwater reserves, the pumping station on the right is set up to direct the water out […]