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131-459: With the growing national economy and civic and community pride spurring the construction of many granite public buildings, the company flourished in the years around 1910. Changes in architectural styles and in building techniques during the following years greatly harmed the market for architectural granite, and the company's coarser-grained stone could not compete with competitors' finer-grained granite for carving monuments and gravestones, nor could

262-501: A Bennington woolen mill. He went on to become a director of the Waltham Watch Company and a holding company for streetcar operations. The textile business was cooling, and the two were looking to diversify their investments. The reorganized Woodbury Granite Company was capitalized at US$ 150,000; its officers included Holden as president and Holden's son-in-law, George H. Bickford, as secretary and treasurer. Bickford

393-601: A mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont and are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains . The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately 250 miles (400 km) from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec , Canada . The part of the same range that is in Massachusetts and Connecticut is known as The Berkshires or the Berkshire Hills (with

524-421: A physiographic section of the larger New England province , which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian physiographic division. [REDACTED] Green Mountains travel guide from Wikivoyage 44°47′30″N 72°34′58″W  /  44.79167°N 72.58278°W  / 44.79167; -72.58278 Hardwick and Woodbury Railroad The Hardwick and Woodbury Railroad (H&WRR, or H&W)

655-918: A benchmark and industry standard. That name and others were trademarked by the WGC. A point of particular pride was the construction of Hardwick's Memorial Building (dedicated 1913), built by the company of local stone cut by local stonecutters. The company grew rapidly: it employed 132 people in 1900, which became 500 in 1905, and 800 in 1911. By 1914, WGC had a total of 1,400 employees in multiple quarries in Woodbury and Bethel and cutting and finishing plants in Hardwick, Bethel and Northfield. As of 1911, it had four million dollars of unfinished work on its books and had begun subcontracting work to other granite companies in Hardwick as well as to companies as far away as Concord, New Hampshire , and Westerly, Rhode Island . In 1912,

786-529: A conductor and built in Lyndonville . It was built on a single long truck and was quite effective. The railroad’s busiest years were 1906 through 1916, and its revenue peaked (at approximately $ 65,000) in 1913. At the height of its operations, it had about 30 employees, including two train crews, one based at each end of the line. As might be expected from a small workforce, the employees performed many duties that did not align with their positions on

917-553: A contract, it assumed complete responsibility for a project, turning architectural drawings into designs for hundreds of cut stones, producing the stones, and sending crews to construction sites to assemble the stones. That same year, the company won a contract to build the Forest Lawn Memorial Park mausoleum in Maplewood, Minnesota . The showpiece of this structure is a 20-foot (6 m) wide bas-relief carving of

1048-563: A deposit measuring some 2 1 ⁄ 2 × 4 1 ⁄ 2 miles (4 × 7.2 km)) in nearby Woodbury in the 1870s, but transportation limitations prevented much development of the industry. The construction of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad (later the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad ) to Hardwick in 1872 made it possible to ship granite in quantity from northern Vermont to

1179-400: A good partner for Bickford. An experienced producer of finished granite for both monumental and building uses, he brought stonecutting know-how to the partnership; Holden and Leonard were silent partners in this enterprise as well. Bickford served as general manager of the company and directed the construction of an important granite finishing facility in Hardwick. This originally consisted of

1310-443: A halt when the ground froze, and the first rails were laid thereafter. Wooden trestles were built to span gorges along the right of way. In a process that continued until 1904, the trestles were subsequently replaced with "grout" or waste stone, which was used to fill the ravines. The fill was "fine" grout from the cutting sheds, as large blocks falling could have destroyed the trestle structures. The largest—and last filled—of

1441-423: A large column of rough granite from the quarry to Hardwick (a distance of 6 miles (9.7 km) or more, depending on the route), after which 20 road culverts needed to be rebuilt. Such a team might be followed by a one-horse wagon loaded with axes, shovels, peavies , and other tools to repair the damage. Transportation was somewhat easier in the winter, as the frozen ground would not give way, and snow allowed

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1572-521: A large linear shed (Shed No. 1) as well as a semi-circular shed (No. 2). The first shed was 200 feet (61 m) long. The sheds were located near the H&;W RR tracks between the electric generating station at the southern edge of Hardwick village and the railroad's junction with the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad at Granite Junction, near the northwest corner of the village. Bickford, More & Co.

1703-586: A month. Service was restored with a loan from the state to the parent railroad. The years 1930–31 saw 11 local quarries go out of business. Operation of the railroad by the St.J.&L.C. continued until abandonment of the line south of Buffalo Crossing was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission in October 1934. The abandonment was immediate, being completed on October 17. The Woodbury Granite Company ceased operations

1834-454: A nearby town. The WGC, looking to expand its capacity, proposed to lease and operate the municipal power plants; the offer alarmed the owners of the other, smaller granite companies, but the management abilities of George Bickford were well known to the Village government, which approved a management contract in 1912. Fearful of the company's influence, the "old guard" of the village allied with

1965-431: A notice that carriage was "subject to the right to suspend operations upon statutory notice" from December through March. However, the railroad did not close for the winter throughout its operation although there were some shorter closures late in its existence. As a result, snow was an issue for the railroad. The railroad's first snowplow was built by the railroad’s first engineer; it had to be removed and attached to

2096-515: A rail link to the competing Barre quarries raised the spectre of the local industry’s being out-competed. The St.J.&L.C. was asked to extend the Hardwick Branch to the quarries in Woodbury but, already in a weak financial condition and facing unfavorable economic conditions , declined. Faced with lack of interest from other quarters, the quarry owners decided to build their own railroad. The Hardwick and Woodbury Railroad Company

2227-517: A result of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, granite became a very popular building material for commercial and government buildings. While the finer-grained granite of Barre was preferred for monuments and gravestones, the coarser-grained Woodbury stone found a market in "architectural" uses such as buildings and paving. As demand grew, the granite-finishing operations in Hardwick began to look farther afield for sources of

2358-668: A second and larger finishing shed at Bethel. Seven years later, in 1913, the company bought the E.B. Ellis Co. white quarry in Bethel and its cutting plant in Northfield after the Ellis company went bankrupt as a consequence of poor estimating on a bid. The Ellis company's auditor, George James, became WGC's assistant general manager and secretary-treasurer. Riding on its fame after the Pennsylvania Capitol success, WGC won

2489-856: A set of large building contracts, including the Cook County (Illinois) Courthouse (1906), the Wisconsin State Capitol (1907), the City Hall-County Building in Chicago (1908, including 36 columns 75 feet (23 m) high and 9.333 feet (2.845 m) in diameter—at the time the world's largest Corinthian orders ), and the Bankers Trust Co. building , built in 1910 on the most expensive parcel of land in New York City. Woodbury Gray granite became

2620-412: A shift in construction techniques. In early stone buildings, the walls supported the whole weight of the structure. However, when land values in metropolitan areas rose, landowners were motivated to build taller and taller buildings. As the buildings grow taller, it becomes increasingly impractical to build bearing-wall buildings, because of both the cost of additional material and labor and on account of

2751-423: A short-line industrial railroad to move blocks of soapstone. A railroad modeler based a quarry railroad layout on the Hardwick & Woodbury. He particularly noted the railroad's use of "three Shays for motive power." The E.H. Blossom well-deck car has also been modeled. The small size of the railroad led to a number of jokes about it. As early as 1902, W.H. Fullerton, a director of the H&W, contacted

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2882-572: A single company-owned building on the entire route. Despite the railroad’s name, the track did not extend to Woodbury village. The directors of the railroad promised equal treatment of all local granite companies and free construction of siding tracks during 1897. Soon, branches extended to the "Blue" and "White" quarries of the Woodbury Granite Company and the Fletcher quarry. Woodbury’s "Gray" quarry atop Robeson Mountain

3013-1162: A state of arrested decay . There are plans to revive it as a community center. Buildings and structures built with stone supplied by the Woodbury Granite Company include: Iowa State Capitol (steps and platforms) Kentucky State Capitol (base course and interior polished columns) Pennsylvania State Capitol (1903) Wisconsin State Capitol Michigan State Capitol Idaho State Capitol Kansas State Capitol City Hall-County Building , Chicago, Illinois Cleveland City Hall , Ohio Des Moines City Hall , Iowa Hartford City Hall , Connecticut Youngstown, Ohio , City Hall Essex County Court House, Newark, New Jersey Mahoning County Court House, Youngstown, Ohio Post Office, Court House, and Custom House , Providence, R.I. Post Office , Grand Rapids, Michigan Post Office , Minneapolis, Minnesota Post Office, New Bedford, Massachusetts Post Office, Hamilton, Ohio Green Mountains The Green Mountains are

3144-573: A trail through the hillside pastures, which have reverted to woods . A portion of the roadbed leading to the quarries is now Fletcher Quarry Road and Quarry Road in Woodbury, serving the one Robeson Mountain quarry still in operation. Decades after the abandonment, some of the right-of-way, from near Buffalo Crossing to the Woodbury Town Forest, found a new use as the Hardwick-Woodbury Rail Trail (also known as

3275-560: A way rarely seen before. While the finer-grained granite of Barre was preferred for monuments and gravestones, the coarser-grained Woodbury stone found a market in "architectural" uses such as buildings and paving, for which the Barre stone was too expensive. In addition, the northern stone had greater compressive strength than Barre's, making it preferable for construction of larger, heavier structures such as buildings, bridges, and mausoleums. The Voodry & Town granite quarry, located on

3406-611: A wilderness hiking trail that runs from the southern to northern borders of the state and is overlapped by the Appalachian Trail for roughly 1 ⁄ 3 of its length. The Vermont Republic , also known as the Green Mountain Republic, existed from 1777 to 1791, at which time Vermont became the 14th state. Vermont not only takes its state nickname ("The Green Mountain State") from the mountains, it

3537-414: A year. Woodbury Gray is promoted as being good for building stone and monuments, as well as such modern uses as countertops, sinks, pool coping, sills, ornamental stone, walls, floors, paving, and design projects. The last surviving granite shed, Woodbury Granite Company's Shed No. 4, still stands in Hardwick. All of the others have been lost, principally to fire. Shed No. 4 has been empty for decades, in

3668-570: Is named after them. The French Monts Verts or Verts Monts is literally translated as "Green Mountains". This name was suggested in 1777 by Dr. Thomas Young , an American revolutionary and Boston Tea Party participant. The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College is referred to as UVM, after the Latin Universitas Viridis Montis (University of the Green Mountains). The Green Mountains are

3799-469: The Barre & Chelsea Railroad , arrived in mid-1897. The new locomotive was in poor condition, requiring some re-working to get it serviceable. It was given the number 1 and re-named "E. H. Blossom" in honor of the H&W’s General Manager. The last few miles of track were difficult to build as they ascended Robeson Mountain to the quarries through the series of switchbacks and tight turns, that kept

3930-540: The Great Depression , the railroad ceased operations and abandoned its track in 1934. The rails were removed in 1940, and little trace remains of the railroad today. The Green Mountains of Vermont have long been known for the quantity and quality of their granite and marble, but the weight of the stone combined with difficulty of carving granite largely prevented the development of a stone-cutting industry in northern Vermont until some marble quarries opened in

4061-480: The Laconia Car Company of New Hampshire to carry slabs of stone up to 13 × 17 feet (4 × 5.2 m), 18 inches (460 mm) thick, weighing 20 tons. The car had a 36-foot (11 m) platform and a 20 by 4 feet (6.1 m × 1.2 m) "cradle" or "well" in the center. On each long side of this opening ran three long timbers, one above the next, parallel to the long edge of the car. Each stack of timbers

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4192-620: The Lamoille Valley Railroad Company , successor to the St.J.&L.C., although it had not been used for some years. The spur was railbanked , but is not included in the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. The railroad’s first locomotive was the 4-4-0 Hinkley rod locomotive it leased from the Boston & Maine. When this engine outlived its usefulness (largely because it could not ascend

4323-495: The Last Supper in the style of Leonardo da Vinci's painting in the pediment . Four weeks were devoted to making the models for the piece, which was done by Purdy and his principal assistant. Another five weeks were consumed by the rough carving, and the faces, hair, hands, and clothing took ten weeks, although some of that time overlapped with the roughing-out. Also overlapping was the final carving with pneumatic tools, which

4454-459: The Midwest , to come to Hardwick and take charge of all of the company's carving business, likely as an independent contractor . By 1912, the company had built an addition to the carvers' shed. In the period from mid-1915 to mid-1918, Purdy employed nearly two dozen carvers, many of them Italians trained in the sculpture schools of their homeland. As the granite industry grew, it began to outstrip

4585-540: The New England/Acadian forests ecoregion . Three peaks—Mount Mansfield, Camel's Hump, and Mount Abraham—support alpine vegetation . Some of the mountains are developed for skiing and other snow-related activities. Others have hiking trails for use in summer. Mansfield, Killington, Pico, and Ellen have downhill ski resorts on their slopes. All of the major peaks are traversed by the Long Trail ,

4716-505: The Pennsylvania State Capitol . By 1909, the line had rolling stock of about 50 cars, including flatcars, hopper cars , dump cars, a well car , a snowplow, a flanger , and three flat cars equipped with passenger benches. It borrowed two passenger coaches for special outings. In 1914, it was reported to have 57 flatcars alone. The 24-foot (7.3 m) long flatcars could carry 40,000 pounds (18,000 kg), while

4847-409: The St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad had already built the 1.7 miles (2.7 km) Hardwick Branch track to serve the granite sheds on the west side of Hardwick, construction of the new railroad began at the end of that spur, which was leased from the St.J.&L.C. for one dollar per year. The St.J.&L.C. also provided 56-pound (per yard, or 27.8 kg/m) rails, spikes, and ties for

4978-552: The St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad ) enabled the shipping of quantities of northern Vermont stone to the outer world and facilitated the growth of the local granite industry. Though it had limited granite of its own, Hardwick became a granite-cutting center hosting a dozen sheds finishing granite by 1890. Rough-cut granite was brought from the quarries to and through the town in heavy horse-drawn wagons, which caused congestion and damaged roads and bridges. In 1892, after pressure from both civic leaders and quarry owners,

5109-409: The brakemen had the most dangerous work on the railroad, and several were killed or injured. The first operational fatality was in 1901 (another had occurred during construction ). In July 1904, three flatcars, loaded with grout, ran down the mountain, crashing into the engine house and wrecking Locomotive No. 2, a flatcar, and the engine house; this appeared to be the work of vandals who released

5240-424: The 36-foot (11 m) cars had a 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg) capacity. These cars, largely purchased from other railroads, weighed 10 to 15 tons each and had mechanical brakes , limiting their use to the H&W, as the federal Railroad Safety Appliance Act , which required such equipment as air brakes and automatic couplers after 1900, applied only to interstate commerce. Larger flatcars (up to 80,000 pounds ) and

5371-449: The 870-foot (265 m) long stone yard; an overhead traveling crane allowed 16 railroad cars to be unloaded and loaded simultaneously. With the confidence and backing of his father-in-law, Bickford was able to make the needed investments to undertake and complete execute large projects. The company made major investments in machinery and tools for its finishing sheds and quarries. To power them, it built its own hydropower facility, supplementing

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5502-515: The Carter and WGC quarries at Robeson Mountain) to the stone finishing sheds in Hardwick and the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad. Although enough capital was raised to begin construction of the H&W Railroad in 1895, the money ran out before the railroad was completed. Ernest Fletcher, the new owner of the Carter quarry, attempted to persuade the Town of Hardwick to buy railroad stock to fund

5633-1015: The Connecticut portion, mostly in Litchfield County , locally called the Northwest Hills or Litchfield Hills) and the Quebec portion is called the Sutton Mountains, or Monts Sutton  [ fr ] in French. All mountains in Vermont are often referred to as the "Green Mountains". However, other ranges within Vermont, including the Taconic Mountains in southwestern Vermont and the Northeastern Highlands , are not geologically part of

5764-471: The Green Mountains. The best-known mountains—for reasons such as high elevation, ease of public access by road or trail (especially the Long Trail and Appalachian Trail ), or with ski resorts or towns nearby—in the range include: The Green Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains , a range that stretches from Quebec in the north to Alabama in the south. The Green Mountains are part of

5895-523: The Hardwick & Woodbury was typical of most short line, single-industry railroads. Built as an industrial road in 1895–1897, the line never grew beyond the granite industry, and its fortunes largely followed those of the Woodbury Granite Company , its principal customer and plurality shareholder. With the slump in demand for architectural granite, and especially large stones, caused by changes in building construction techniques and then

6026-472: The Hardwick area in the middle of the 19th century. The first "finishing shed," where the rough-hewn stone was cut, shaped and polished, was built in Hardwick in 1870. Granite quarries opened on Robeson Mountain in nearby Woodbury , Vermont’s largest deposit of building granite, in the 1870s but transportation limitations prevented much development of the industry. The construction of the Portland and Ogdensburg Railway to Hardwick in 1872 (it later became

6157-433: The Hardwick end of the railroad and the local granite industry became concentrated there. Hardwick became an important granite center and its population mushroomed; town boosters proclaimed it to be the "building granite capital of the world." As might be expected of a railroad built for an industrial purpose, the H&W’s business was dominated by freight. Passenger revenue was less than 1% of freight revenue. In 1899,

6288-603: The Hardwick-Woodbury Recreation Trail). The postcard photograph of Locomotive No. 3 pulling a trainload of granite blocks saw continued life in other forms. The picture became something of a " stock photo " in the 1920s and was reproduced—typically without attribution —far from Vermont. This included such circumstances as stock certificates of, for example, the Virginia Alberene Corporation (see photo), which used

6419-469: The St.J.&L.C. for special excursions. At other times, passenger benches were fitted on flatcars for fair-weather excursions. Passengers were likely carried in the cabooses on most occasions. The general manager of the Hardwick & Woodbury, Edward H. Blossom, designed a special car for shipping large granite blocks. As reported by the Railroad Gazette in 1899, this car was built by

6550-453: The WGC struggled in competition with the established monument granite companies. The company was reorganized in 1927; W.C. Clifford was its president. The next year, however, F.L. Hardy became the company's president, and corporate headquarters were moved to Bennington. The final blow was the Great Depression , which saw a collapse in the economy in general, but in the market for luxury goods (such as mausoleums) in particular. Building granite

6681-402: The WGC to "express our great satisfaction at the manner in which you have handled your work, and think we can safely say, so far as the execution of the granite work is concerned, it was the quickest piece of work ever done." The WGCs reputation was made. George Bickford was both an excellent salesman and a competent administrator, notes Wood. He selected able managers who could be trusted to run

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6812-471: The age of 45 after appendicitis surgery. He was succeeded as general manager by William C. Clifford, manager of the Bethel branch, who shifted the focus of the company from Hardwick to Bethel and eventually bought the company. The loss of its highly competent manager and ace salesman set the stage for the decline of the WGC. The same year, World War I broke out. While the United States stayed out of

6943-400: The building granite market declined, the WGC shifted to monuments and mausoleums. This put it in direct competition with well-established monumental granite centers, such as Barre . While the WGC had opened its Woodbury "Blue" quarry in 1911, and promoted that stone as "Imperial Blue Granite for high-class polished monuments" and "The blue that never fades", it did not succeed. In 1924, however,

7074-518: The capitol contract can be surmised by comparison to the value of Vermont's combined granite output in 1909: $ 2,811,744. In less than eight months, finished stone began arriving on site in Pennsylvania. In the second year of the contract, thirty one-piece columns, 30 feet (9.1 m) high, were quarried, finished, and delivered. The entire contract was fulfilled in 22 months—two months early. The general contractors, George F. Payne & Son, wrote

7205-481: The cars’ brakes. Derailments were a frequent occurrence on quarry, mine, and timber railroads because of the light rails, sharp curves, and scanty ballasting often used in their construction; the H&W saw multiple derailments. Rerailer frogs , essentially ramps to get a derailed car’s wheels back on the track, were always carried on trains. With the completion of the railroad, the quarries developed rapidly. Additional granite-finishing facilities were built around

7336-514: The closed Woodbury quarry in the 1950s. The quarry was later reopened to supply stone for an expansion of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex . Woodbury Gray granite is still marketed under that name. Thanks to a revival of interest in granite furnishings, particularly in residential use, the Woodbury quarry (Latitude 44.4392°, Longitude -72.39391° (WGS84)) produces about 500,000 cubic feet (14,000 m) of stone

7467-500: The company compete with the established actors in that market. The company went into decline, which was exacerbated by the Great Depression, and ceased operations in 1935. The Green Mountains of Vermont have long been known for the quantity and quality of their granite, marble, and slate, but Vermont's remoteness, transportation problems, and difficulties in carving the hard stone (in the case of granite), largely prevented

7598-557: The company reopened the Blue Quarry and instituted an aggressive promotional campaign through retailers. The company produced catalogs and brochures to help sell gravestones and monuments and instituted the "Memorock" brand for memorials, monuments and mausoleums. Other granite cutters boasted that they used Woodbury stone, and the company was big enough that two of its products, Woodbury Gray and Bethel White, were used as comparisons in advertisements for other granite companies. However,

7729-464: The company signed 117 new building contracts—one every three days—including for 32 office buildings, 19 mausoleums, 14 banks and post offices, and five railroad stations, as well as hotels, courthouses, and private residences. The same year, it opened its White quarry in Woodbury, allowing it to sell a wider range of stone. "Hardwick White" became another of its brands. The last day of 1912 saw WGC's stone-setting crews working on these projects throughout

7860-513: The company while he was away selling its products. In 1903, the same year as the Pennsylvania Capitol contract, WGC began work at its Bethel White Quarry (still in operation) and also built a finishing shed in Bethel . Bethel White Granite, described as the world's whitest granite, is also one of the physically hardest and thus most difficult to obtain (the white stone is so reflective that many quarry workers would wear dark glasses). In 1906, WGC built

7991-425: The condition of the railroad, particularly its safety features, in their 1899 inspection report, it was allowed to operate because it was designed and intended to be a low-speed freight handler. Despite official concerns, there were no train collisions on the railroad, and its injury and fatality record was better than the Vermont statewide average. However, the railroad’s use of link-and-pin couplers meant that

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8122-420: The demand for granite, but on at least one occasion the profits were sufficient to justify paying a 6% dividend on common stock and 12% on preferred. Railroad operations were of three varieties: main line hauling, quarry switching, and yard switching. Main line hauling involved running trains up and down the mountain, bringing supplies up, and stone down. Quarry switching was moving loaded and empty cars among

8253-478: The development of a cut stone industry. In the early 19th century, Vermont granite was used locally for building. Originally, granite was collected from exposed outcrops and "boulder quarries"; only later did it become necessary to cut stone from the ground. The early granite industry in New England was dominated by coastal companies, which were able to ship their products by water. This situation lasted until

8384-827: The eastern United States: the Washington, D.C., Post Office; the Wisconsin State Capitol; the Miners Bank Building (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania); the Turk's Head Building (Providence, R.I.); the Northwest Mutual Life Building (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); and Soldiers & Sailors Memorials in Wichita, Kansas, Bloomington, Illinois, and Princeton, Illinois. In 1913, the Woodbury Granite Company was the largest granite business in

8515-404: The engineer. The Shay locomotives used considerable amounts of water, which could be replenished at three points along the route: the stream by Buffalo Crossing, a low spot between Burnham Hill and Foster Summit, and a tank at the quarries. The yard area around Buffalo Crossing had such facilities as a coal pit, a car repair shop, a sawmill and electric power plant. A coal trestle served both

8646-469: The façades of buildings. The A.T.&T. building in New York, constructed in 1922, was the last large building the company built. After Bickford's death, his successors seem to have lost interest in carving over time. Despite the promotion of monuments, Frederick Purdy's carving sheds were listed as vacant in 1922, although it appears that he was working elsewhere in Hardwick for some time afterwards As

8777-465: The floor. On March 26, 1901, Blossom was granted U.S. patent No. 670,529 for this car, specifically its well bottom and adjustable support rods. The first finished stone shipped on this car was for a mausoleum in Chicago, and it seems likely that the car was designed with that sort of shipments in mind. This design was widely copied. The abandonment and removal of the railroad's track left

8908-434: The gorges took 6,600 carloads of grout. Varnum & Gilfillan, a St. Johnsbury-based contracting concern, was hired for culvert construction and trestle filling. This company brought Italian immigrant labor from Boston, preferring this source to the local farmers who also had farms to tend. A number of them stayed and worked in the granite finishing shops, becoming pillars of the community. Five miles of new track

9039-512: The grade of the track below a maximum of 7%. The average grade of the last two miles was 5%. The end of the line, at the Fletcher quarry, rose 1,740 feet (530 m), about 1,000 feet (300 m) above the railroad’s origin in Hardwick. Construction of the main line was completed to the Woodbury quarry around October 1, 1897. The total cost of construction was reported to be $ 50,691.69 (equivalent to $ 1,856,532 in 2023). There were 16 miles (26 km) of track in total (counting

9170-453: The importance of carved stone (as opposed to simply cut blocks and shapes), in 1906 the company built a shed to be occupied by carvers and sculptors alone. This shed had roof doors, which allowed a derrick to deposit stone directly at the carvers' work stations, eliminating the need to move the stone by hand through side doors (a process known as shedding in). By 1910, George Bickford had recruited Frederick A. Purdy, an established sculptor in

9301-615: The industry saw these terms as impossible to meet. The shareholders of the company pledged their personal fortunes to guarantee the company's performance, and the Woodbury company was awarded the contract. "Hardwick To Boom!" boasted the Hardwick Gazette on March 26. "$ 2,000,000 contract is secured for the Pennsylvania Capitol Building, Woodbury Gray Granite to be finished in Hardwick. Two years' work, Hundreds of new employees will be needed." The size of

9432-473: The later purchase of stock by the new owners of the Woodbury Granite Co. allowed them to take control of the company . The board of directors was controlled by directors affiliated with the Woodbury company in 1902, with only two directors representing other quarrying interests. By 1908, those two had left the board and the company was firmly in the control of the WGC. The railroad’s growth

9563-481: The leased span), only 9 of which could be called main line. Originally, there was no way to turn around a locomotive on the entire line: a crew would need to travel over the St.J.&L.C. track to Morrisville to use the turntable there. A wye was built at Foster’s Summit, and later another wye was installed near the H&W engine house in Hardwick. The main line passed thirteen listed "stations" functioning as waypoints for calculating shipping costs but not

9694-546: The line, and then was the railroad's only service locomotive for several years. Locomotive No. 2, also a Shay, was purchased in February 1901; it was completed 1902 and named John S. Holden for the president of the railroad. A larger and heavier machine than its predecessor, it enabled the railroad to run longer trains from the quarries to the finishing sheds. It had three trucks with twelve 32-inch (81.3 cm) drive wheels and weighed 46 tons. A third locomotive

9825-405: The local granite industry in Hardwick and Woodbury. In addition, the ability to transport heavy machinery to the quarries allowed the cutting of larger blocks of stone, which could be taken away by the railroad. While the WGC had previously sold rough quarry blocks, Holden, Leonard, and Bickford chose to expand into manufacturing finished building granite. With a quarry railroad at their disposal and

9956-425: The local power supply. Although the WGC owned its own generation plant, it also bought electricity from the Village of Hardwick. In 1911, the electric lights in the village began to flicker at night; an investigation blamed the municipal generating station and proposed damming a nearby creek to provide a steady supply of water. At least one granite company, concerned about the reliability of the electric system, moved to

10087-579: The loss of floor area and windows in the valuable lower stories because of the increasingly thick walls needed to support the much heavier building. The steel-framed " skyscraper " was—and still is—the solution. While granite was frequently used for the outsides of prestigious steel-frame buildings, the stone blocks of facing stones ( ashlars ) were 4 to 12 inches (10 to 30 cm) thick—much smaller than those used in bearing-wall construction. These required much less stone, so demand for granite fell. In addition, other, lower-cost materials were increasingly used for

10218-471: The middle of the 19th century, when some marble quarries were opened in the Hardwick area. The increasing affluence of the United States in the 1880s and 1890s created a market for marble and granite that sparked the development of the industry in northern Vermont. The first "granite shed" (stone trimming and finishing facility) was completed in Hardwick in 1870. Granite quarries were opened on Robeson Mountain (Vermont's largest deposit of building granite, with

10349-421: The mountain, and consisted of a conductor, engineer, fireman, and two brakemen (one at each end of the train). This crew typically made two round trips a day between the quarries and Hardwick. The locomotive was always placed at the downhill end of the train, where its braking power could be used to slow the whole train. Flat cars had manual brakes, which would be set and released by the brakemen on orders from

10480-474: The need for one crewman. The railroad’s first caboose was known as a "bobber", as its two axles caused it to bob and sway on the uneven track. Other, larger cabooses followed. The train crew had quarters in the caboose. Although some records indicate that the railroad owned two passenger coaches, these are believed to be inaccurate, as too few passengers were carried to justify owning multiple passenger cars , although coaches were rented or borrowed from

10611-468: The new company to begin construction of its main line. The H&W rented some flat cars and a locomotive—a 4-4-0 Hinckley —from another regional railroad, the Boston & Maine , which was affiliated with the St.J.&L.C. A wooden derrick and rail header (track-laying crane) were built on one of the rented flat cars. This arrangement allowed two rails to be laid every nine minutes. The route

10742-517: The next year and sold its assets. When the H&W stopped operating it owed the St.J.&L.C. a substantial debt. The St.J.&L.C. resumed control of the spur that had been leased to the H&W, which remained in service as long as there was a need to ship granite by rail. The rails south of Buffalo Crossing were removed in August 1940 No buyers could be found for the remaining locomotives, so they were scrapped, along with some 40 flat cars,

10873-462: The next year, many repairs of equipment and track had taken place, and plans were made to replace some of the old cars. In addition, the railroad made quarry owners responsible for the cost of maintenance of their sidings. Also in 1927, the WGC was reorganized with the same president. However, the Great Flood of 1927 caused extensive track damage that November, disrupting traffic for more than

11004-416: The other end of the locomotive at each switchback. Around 1900, this plow was replaced with a plow obtained from a timber railroad. This proved unsatisfactory, and a second-hand plow was bought from the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain when that railroad obtained a new one. This third plow served the H&W for the rest of its existence. For lighter snowfalls, the railroad had a "flanger", designed by

11135-422: The outside world, opening new markets. The railroad later built a short spur, the Hardwick Branch, from Granite Junction (near the northwestern edge of Hardwick village) south through the stonecutting district along Cooper Brook, toward Woodbury. Hardwick became a granite-cutting center, although much of the granite finished there was actually from elsewhere, such as Woodbury, the town some six miles (10 km) to

11266-401: The payroll. In 1916, the railroad was reported to have 3 steam locomotives, 54 freight cars, and one caboose. Limited by the switchbacks, train length averaged ten to fifteen cars in the busy years; the largest train was reported to have been 22 cars long. The largest single load carried was a 61-ton stone from the "White" quarry of the WGC. The railroad’s earnings varied widely with

11397-464: The power plant and the locomotives, which remained below the trestle on a loading siding, allowing their tenders to be loaded with coal from the coal cars above using gravity. Locomotives were repaired in the engine house in the West End. Other facilities included a track scale, which allowed car weights—and thus shipping charges—to be calculated. The business arc of the Hardwick & Woodbury

11528-522: The prospect of electric power (Hardwick Village had approved a municipal power plant in July), they decided in 1897 to locate granite finishing facilities in Hardwick village. in 1898, George Bickford moved his family to Hardwick. Bickford, More & Co. was incorporated in 1899 to finish the granite quarried by the WGC. Charles H. More owned a large and successful granite company in Montpelier , and made

11659-510: The quarry railroad, and cutting plants, as well as the water rights , hydropower, and steam electric generating plants to power them, timberlands and a sawmill, a bank, piece-setting crews, and branch sales offices in New York, Chicago, and Washington. By controlling each step of the process, it could assure its ability to meet contract deadlines and estimate costs accurately—which further enabled it to win contracts and assure predictable profits. The company did not design buildings, but upon winning

11790-578: The railroad built the Hardwick Branch, also known as the Quarry Railroad, a spur from Granite Junction near the western edge of Hardwick village to Buffalo Crossing by the southern fringe of the village. This eliminated granite-carrying wagons from the village’s central streets. Over time, it also concentrated the granite industry in five clusters along the Hardwick Branch at Lower Wolcott St., at West End, at Woodbury Granite Co., at E.R. Fletcher Granite Co., and at Buffalo Crossing. Largely as

11921-405: The railroad carried only 712 paying passengers; by 1906, this was down to 448, accounting for just $ 111 in revenue. Freight, in turn, was dominated by granite: in 1898-99, granite accounted for 99.37% of the total freight transported. Small amounts of lumber, merchandise, household goods, coal, and "miscellaneous items" accounted for the rest of the freight. The freight tariff for ca. 1896-1899

12052-407: The railroad owned three locomotives from 1909 to 1917, it employed only two engineers and two firemen, so it is likely that Engine No. 1 was kept as a spare during that timespan. A photograph of Locomotive No. 3 hauling a train loaded with stone was printed on contemporary postcards. The railroad bought 38 flatcars in 1904, after the Woodbury Granite Company secured its first large contract, for

12183-417: The railroad ran one train per day in each direction, six days a week. The number of trains declined to one per week, and the workforce was cut until only three employees were left. As the railroad slumped, the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad assumed responsibility for operations and the remaining employees in 1925. The company was re-organized in 1926, with W.C. Clifford as its president. By

12314-586: The railroad to cease operations from December through March, although this did not happen. The corporation’s initial capital was set at $ 50,000, with an option to increase the amount "if necessary." The larger local granite companies and many of their officers bought stock, as did a number of townspeople. By 1902, the Fletcher Granite Co. owned one-third of the railroad’s stock. The new company held its first regular meeting in March 1895. As

12445-418: The railroad to insure its construction to the quarries. With their purchase, control of the railroad passed from Fletcher and his allies, and the WGC became its plurality shareholder. People in Woodbury, especially, were concerned with this shift of control, but the railroad gave assurances of equal treatment of all local granite companies, and agreed to provide free switch connections in its first year. By 1897,

12576-404: The railroad was completed to the top of Robeson Mountain and the Woodbury quarries. Bickford replaced Daniel Holden as superintendent of the WGC in 1898. The quarries developed rapidly, and Woodbury Granite's success was secured. The availability of reliable, inexpensive transportation of granite from the hillside quarries to the Hardwick finishing sheds was vital to the growth and development of

12707-406: The railroad’s expenses. Sagging or loose rails were a constant problem, and the track needed to be reballasted every year from 1903. Locomotives were repaired by an engineer in the engine house in Hardwick, while car repairs were performed at the car repair shop at Buffalo Crossing. Although the original directors of the railroad were largely aligned with the Fletcher quarrying interests,

12838-401: The rails, and some other equipment. Just one flat car was taken by the St.J.&L.C. The proceeds from the scrapping were used to repay the St.J.&L.C. Company records were mostly discarded. The last remaining portion of track, the spur built by the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain (and then known as the Hardwick and Woodbury Connecting Track), was formally abandoned in 2004 by

12969-433: The raw stone. While some quarries had been opened in nearby Woodbury, transportation of the stone to the finishing sheds was problematic: it was slow and difficult, and caused significant damage to the roads. The limitations of horse-drawn wagons would prevent much further growth in the local industry. Ordinarily, a horse was needed for every ton of granite hauled by wagon. It once took an 18-horse team three days to move

13100-433: The rest of the construction of the line, but in three successive votes, the town declined, amid a consensus that the quarry owners, not the town, would benefit. In July of the same year, John S. Holden and Charles W. Leonard purchased the Woodbury Granite Company; this event would greatly affect Hardwick and Woodbury. The company had not been enjoying great success simply selling rough quarry blocks to others for finishing;

13231-705: The side of Robeson Mountain in Woodbury, was opened in 1880. Charles A. Watson, George O. Woodcock, and W.H. Fullerton incorporated the Woodbury Granite Company (WGC) in 1887. In 1888, after buying the Voodry & Town quarry, the WGC began operations there; this quarry came to be known as the Gray Quarry for the color of its stone. The quarry yielded a supply of large, defect-free slabs of uniformly-grained, medium-gray granite, which were well-adapted for building. The company sold these rough-hewn stones to other companies, which finished them by trimming, cutting, and polishing

13362-401: The sidings at the quarries, and composing them into trains. Yard switching involved moving cars to, from, and within the yard, and especially the finishing sheds, assembling trains, and exchanging cars with the St.J.&L.C. at Granite Junction. The company had two train crews, a main line crew and a yard crew. The main line crew performed the quarry switching as well as the runs up and down

13493-435: The smaller granite operators, and a purchase option was struck from the management contract. When the contract expired in 1917, the world was a different place, and it was not renewed. In 1917, the WGC was capitalized at one million dollars, more money than the next seven Vermont granite companies combined. The company owned or controlled each of the elements of the chain needed to produce and deliver its product: quarries,

13624-539: The south. Largely inspired by the World's Columbian Exposition (and especially its " White City ") in 1893, granite became a popular building material for commercial and government buildings and other structures. In the era of the robber barons , the Beaux Arts style imparted to public buildings a sense of grandeur that invited proud governments and wealthy patrons to demonstrate their wealth and public benevolence in

13755-409: The steeper grades beyond Burnam Hill ), the company bought a Shay locomotive (whose gear drive enabled it to handle steeper track) from the Barre & Chelsea. This was given the number 1 and named E.H. Blossom for the railroad’s general manager. It had two trucks and eight 32.5-inch (82.5 cm) drive wheels, and weighed 40 tons. This locomotive was used for the rest of the construction of

13886-556: The stone. In time, Ernest Fletcher, who owned the first Woodbury Quarry, acquired much of the Woodbury Company's stock. The increase in demand for architectural granite ran up against bottlenecks in the supply chain , particularly in the transportation of quarried stone to cutting houses. By 1894, the Hardwick and Woodbury Railroad (H&W RR) was incorporated to transport granite from the Woodbury quarries (in particular

14017-415: The sudden death of George H. Bickford, treasurer of the railroad and secretary-treasurer (later general manager) of the granite company, in 1914. During World War I, granite was a low priority, and new granite-working equipment was difficult or impossible to obtain, leaving companies to make do with old equipment. A shift to concrete and steel-frame construction (which used granite only for façades) after

14148-581: The track—main line and sidings—between Buffalo Crossing and Granite Junction. The yard was sometimes called Woodbury Station. The finished railroad had 43 curves with a maximum curve of 21 degrees . Stub switches were used throughout. The two main-line switchbacks were dubbed the Thomas and Fletcher switchbacks. There were nine unprotected grade crossings of roads. Although the State Railroad Commissioners were critical of

14279-565: The use of sleds, which encountered less friction. The incorporation of the Village of Hardwick in 1891 and the new government’s interest in improving the community’s infrastructure, including its streets, intensified the interest in an alternative means of transportation for the granite. Meanwhile, the Village’s establishment of piped water, a fire department, and an electric department allowed for further growth of industry. The opening of

14410-476: The value of its product was likely too small, and the difficulty of transporting it too great. Holden had owned a Pennsylvania oil refinery that he sold to the Standard Oil Co.; he reinvested the oil proceeds in textile mills and succeeded there as well, so he had considerable money to put into his next venture. Leonard was a businessman with a number of interests, and had been a partner with Holden in

14541-414: The village's plant. According to historian Paul Wood, the company's name was made when it won the contract to provide finished granite for the new Pennsylvania State Capitol building in 1903. The contract, at the time the largest building granite contract in history, called for the delivery and setting of 400,000 cubic feet (11,000 m) of finished stone in the extraordinary span of 24 months. Many in

14672-436: The war until 1917 , the turning of American manufacturing towards production of war material and the low priority of granite in wartime meant that new cutting and finishing equipment was nearly impossible to obtain. Building with granite slowed, and the Hardwick branch of the company became less active; in 1917, it suspended operations for a few months. The most significant factor in the company's decline, however, arose with

14803-401: The war led to a decline in the market for architectural granite. As demand for the sole product slumped, so did the fortunes of the railroad. Improved roads allowed for transportation by truck, and the smaller pieces of granite that were increasingly becoming the industry norm did not require railroads to move them. The railroad suffered years of diminishing traffic and cutbacks. By 1923,

14934-404: The well car, with air brakes and automatic couplers , could be used for interstate traffic and on other Vermont railroads. Hopper or gondola cars were used to transport such small-sized materials as crushed stone, paving block, and coal. Side-dumping grout cars were used to fill ravines and for dumping grout into piles; the dump mechanisms were operated with compressed air, eliminating

15065-467: The world under a single management. In 1914, its annual payroll was reported to be more than one million dollars. That year, the company published a booklet of photos of "some of the buildings and monuments" built with its stone, opposite accolades from architects, contractors, and owners. By 1917, the company had supplied the granite for seven state capitol buildings: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Kentucky , Michigan , Iowa , Idaho , and Kansas . Recognizing

15196-448: Was a short-line railroad serving the towns of Hardwick and Woodbury, Vermont . Built to serve the local granite industry by bringing rough stone from the quarries to the cutting-houses, the railroad was about 7 miles (11 km) long, plus leased track, extended to about 11 miles (18 km) at its greatest extent. It connected with only one other railroad, the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain , in Hardwick. The business arc of

15327-521: Was a total loss because granite sheds were built almost entirely of wood; once a fire became established, it was nearly impossible to extinguish. A few small-scale granite businesses continued to operate in Hardwick after 1952, but the loss of Woodbury Shed No. 1 marked the symbolic end of the town's granite industry. Although at least one Robeson Mountain quarry continues to operate, there are no operating granite finishing facilities left in Hardwick. The Swenson Granite Works, of Concord, New Hampshire, bought

15458-431: Was about 6 cents per ton-mile, so shipping cost only about 4% of the value of the stone: the quarry owners’ bet was a good one. Built quickly and cheaply, and for heavy freight, the railroad was more expensive to run than many of its contemporaries, as the heavy cargo tended to overpower the light construction. Frequent maintenance and repair work were needed; repairs and tie replacement accounted for about one-third of

15589-484: Was an immediate success. Beginning with small monuments and architectural details, the company expanded into small buildings. With the construction of the second shed, additional workers were hired and more equipment purchased. A powerhouse was built in an annex. In 1902, Bickford, More & Co. was merged into the WGC, which became an integrated company that could both quarry the stone and finish it. The newly-consolidated WGC moved quickly to build its capacity. Shed No. 1

15720-402: Was an unattainably extravagant product for nearly everybody, and the company had nothing else to sell. In 1935, the Woodbury Granite Company closed its operations and sold its finishing plant and its quarry facilities to John B. Hall & Associates. The company had been in business 48 years, and its decline had taken some two decades. In 1952, the company's Shed No. 1 burned down. The building

15851-436: Was chartered ("for the purpose, and with the right, of building a railroad . . . from some point on the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain R.R. in the town of Hardwick to the mountain quarry of the Woodbury Granite Company in the town of Woodbury" ) by an act of the state legislature November 23, 1894, with the stipulation that construction must begin within two years, and be completed in five. The company’s charter permitted

15982-431: Was constructed to a point known as Burnham Hill in Woodbury by 1896. By then, the rented B&M engine had reached the limit of its usefulness, and money ran short. Work wound down until the new owners of the Woodbury Granite Company (John S. Holden and Charles W. Leonard ) bought enough stock in the railroad to become its principal (although not majority) shareholders and a Lima Locomotive Works Shay , bought from

16113-401: Was done for six weeks, with the final hand carving by the highest-paid carver lasting two weeks. The work was carved in four sections, which were crated, shipped, and installed in the front of the building between two smaller side pieces. Wood notes that four factors can be seen to have combined to cause the decline of the Woodbury Granite Company. George H. Bickford died unexpectedly in 1914 at

16244-422: Was enlarged and two more straight sheds (Sheds 3 and 4) were constructed nearby. Boxing shops, air compressor houses, boiler and grinding rooms, gang saw and surfacer sheds, and carpentry and machine shops were constructed. In 1906, the company built an additional circular shed (No. 5) to house carvers whose work included column capitals, panels, ornamentation, statuary, and lettering. Eight railroad spurs ran across

16375-508: Was held together—and to the platform of the car—by six vertical rods, which descended to eight inches (20 cm) above the heads of the rails. Each pair of these rods supported an oak bar, 4 × 6 inches (10 × 15 cm), running the width of the car (approximately 8 feet or 2.5 m). These six oak pieces were trussed together to form the floor of the well, which supported the granite slab on its edge, its upper part braced on each side by seven timbers (see photo), whose lower ends were fastened to

16506-421: Was largely driven by the success and growth of the WGC, particularly once that company won the contract for the granite for the Pennsylvania State Capitol in 1903. The 30-foot columns specified in the contract could not have been transported practically without a railroad. The railroad company’s charter allowed it to suspend service in the winter, and the front page of the local freight tariff always included

16637-466: Was purchased in 1906 and delivered in January 1909 It was first named Charles W. Leonard (vice-president of the railroad ), then George H. Bickford (the railroad’s treasurer and son-in-law of John Holden ), and finally Charles A. Hubbard (an engineer ). Larger than either of the others, with three trucks and twelve 36-inch (91.4 cm) drive wheels, engine No. 3 weighed 52 tons. Although

16768-425: Was surveyed in the summer of 1895. As local labor was used as much as possible, the actual work of grading the roadbed was delayed until the haying season was over. Much of the roadbed was cut from the sides of the hills, and grading was done with hand tools, wheelbarrows, and horse-drawn carts. Five miles of roadbed were graded in 1895, and the remainder was graded in the summer of 1896. Grading work came to

16899-452: Was the end of the main line. The larger quarries were served by multiple sidings ; the Gray quarry had at least six, but these were removed and rebuilt as convenient to serve the quarrying areas. At the other end of the line, in Hardwick, sidings extended to the granite sheds; no less than seven sidings served the Woodbury Granite Co.’s facilities. The railroad’s " yard " comprised all of

17030-401: Was the only one of the three who was actively involved in the running of the company; the others were "silent partners". Holden's brother, Daniel, was assigned to the quarry and set about modernizing it; the new owners quickly installed two 75-ton derricks. After both Hardwick and Woodbury declined to help fund the completion of the H&W RR, Messrs. Holden and Leonard bought enough shares in

17161-418: Was typical of most short line, single-industry railroads. The H&W was built to transport rough granite, and never had another industry of significance along its tracks. As a result, the railroad’s fortunes were inextricably tied to those of the granite industry, particularly its dominant local operator, the Woodbury Granite Company. It is possible, notes Wood, that the decline of both companies began with

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