Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1896 — Large Block of Granite. [ARTICLE]

Large Block of Granite.

Recently a block of granite weighing 1,217 tons was used as the pedestal of the equestrian statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, having been transported four miles by land over a railway and thirteen miles in a caisson by watpr. The railway consisted of two lines of timber furnished with hard metal grooved, between which grooves were placed spheres of hard brass about six inches In diameter. On these spheres the frame with its load was easily, moved by sixty men, working at the capstans with treble-purchase blocks. Another large block, measuring 30x10x14 feet, was a few months since taken out at the Craigneth quarries, near Dalbeattie, Scotland. Ifs weight was estimated at 050, tons.