ERIE COUNTY OHIO - Bio History of Kelley's Island - The Quarries *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 May 15, 1999 *********************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio The Kelley Family Book compiled by Hermon Alfred Kelley 1897 And Then They Went West by Darlene E. Kelley 1998 *********************************************** The first man to open a quarry on the island, then called Cunningham's Island was John A.Clemons. This was before the purchase of the island by the Kelley Brothers. This quarry was located close to the north shore of the island. At the place selected, the rocky ledge rises abruptly about twenty-five feet, forming a miniature cliff. The water comes to the foot of a cliff and deepens rapidly so that it was not necessary to build a long dock to get to the depth of water sufficient for the small boats of that time. The dock must have been substantially built, for it endured for many years, notwithstanding the fact that it was not within a shelter of the bay, but was some distance to the west of it exposed to the fury of tremendous northerly storms that roll up seas almost equal to those of the ocean. From this dock, the first shipments of stone and cedar are said to have been made in 1833 and 1834 by Datus and Irad Kelley. Just how long it was after the purchase of the island that stone was taken out of this quarry, it is now impossible to ascertain; but not for long. The quarry was practically abandoned after 1835 until 1872, when the company was sold to Calkins & Company. In the meantime. other quarries were opened near the south and west shores of the island. A quarry was opened near the shore of the West Bay by John Titus who purchased eighty acres along the west shore in 1842. Mr. Titus also built a small dock from which he could ship the stone. Owing to the fact that that the south shore of the island is nearer to the mainlad and affords a better shelter for boats, it was the first and most obvious place to be selected by first comers for settlement. The north shore was not settled until many years later and remained a wilderness, inhabited only by the many birds and animals of the island. The north qarry consequently was not worked, after it was found that equally good stone could be obtained by opening quarries close to the south shore. Small quarries were opened by George Kelley at several places. One on Division Street, which had to be abandoned, because it filled with water and now a pond and has been the famous play spot for the children for many years. William S. Webb opened a quarry which he sold to George Kelley in 1854. In 1855, Mr. Kelley employed Mr.Andrew Cameron to enlarge the quarry which was called the Upper Quarry. A dock was built and a road laid out from it to the quarry. Kilns were also constructed and lime was burned and shipped. The dock is now called the upper Dock or Coal Dock. Mr. George Huntington also opened a quarry on his property nearby and commenced a dock in 1854. The little ravine which was on his property was utilized for a passage way. It afforded an easy grade and Mr. Huntington laid a railway through it from the quarry to his dock. The track ran out to the end of the dock. The loaded cars ran by gravity and the empty cars were hauled back by horses. This was the first railway constructed on the island. There is no record to be found of the date it was constructed but it was before 1860. Mr. Huntington's office was located on the bank overlooking the dock. It was a well made little buiding and was afterward moved to another location and was used by Norman Kelley and the Kelley Island Lime and Transport Company for many years. In 1856, Mr. W. S. Webb purcased 32 acres of adjoining land to Mr. George Kelley's quarry and soon opened another quarry, where he also built a dock about one hundred and fifty rods east of Geo. Kelley's dock. Charles Carpenter also opened a quarry about 1860 from which he shipped stone to Cleveland. He was fortunate enough to receive some large contracts for stone for the U.S. Government piers there and elsewhere. An interesting account of his Scow Elmina was found in the " Islander, " Vol. 7, No. 6, written by George Bristol, under the date of January 17,1867. He said: " A few years ago the scrow Elmina, owned by Mr. Carpenter, started for Cleveland loaded with a cargo of stone. The weather became foggy for two days ad nights and she sailed and drifted until it cleared. When the Captain found himself in Maumee Bay about nine miles from Toledo." Mr. Carpenter discontinued the stone business in 1863. Mr. George W. Kelley's stone business, including quarry and dock, was purchased in 1857 by his brothers, Franklin and Norman Kelley. In 1865, they acquired the quarry opened by Mr. Webb and also his dock. They also purcased Mr. Huntington's quarry anddock and thus became owners of all the commercial quarries and all the docks on the south shore, except Mr. Carpenter's. Franklin Kelley, having previosly acquired the steamboat dock at the foot of Division street, sold a half interest in it to his brother and partner, Norman Kelley. In 1869, Franklin Kelley's interest became sole owner of all the above mentioned properties, although his cousin, Alfred S. Kelley, who had been associated with Mr. Webb in the latter's quarry, retained an interest. Thereafter the business was conducted as N.Kelley & Company. The dock formally owned by Mr. Webb was enlarged from time to time, as the business required. At first, the stone was sold for building purposes. During the time that navigation was closed, the building stone was hauled to the dock and piled in orderly manner close to the waters edge. The schooners and scows engaged in the business in the early days rarely were over three hundred tons in burthen. They carried 50 to 60 " cords " of stone. Stone was sold then by the cord, which weighed 5 1/2 tons. The deck of the largest boat then going to island for stone was about on a level with the top of the dock to a man stationed by a hatchway who tossed it into the hold. But soon after Norman Kelley took charge of the business, he made a contract with the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company to supply it with flux stone to be used in the pig iron furnaces. Larger boats were employed and more rapid methods of loading became a necessity, This lead to the most important development of iron sheathed "shoots" for loading and to building an upper deck to the dock from which the stone could be "shot" from wagons directly into the ship's hold. We quote from an article in the "Islander" of January 1874 the following: "This branch of stone trae ( flux stone for blast furnaces) has been rapidly increasing for several years and is now perhaps as important a feature of stone business as the lime or building stone. It is but a few years since our stone has been intoduced to any extent for fluxing purposes. The demand for surface stone having been confined almost entirely to filling government piers and breakwaters at different harbors on the Lakes. The demand for stone for the manufacture of lime is most uniform and is steadily increasing year after year. The Island limestone having the reputation of being superior to any in the market is sought for and is shipped to almost all points on the lakes, from Dunkirk, N.Y. to Duluth, Minn., and Chicago, Ill. Many interior towns in New York, Pennsyvania, Ohio, and. Michigan are using our limestone. The building stone trade is not as uniform as is that of either the flux or limestone. For several years past, increasing each season, a great want has been felt for better facilities for handling stone and loading the larger class of vessels running in the trade. This want has been at length in part supplied by an elevation erected on the 'middle dock' ( so called ) formally owned by Mr. W.S.Webb. The structure was suggested and planned by Mr. N. Kelley under whose general superintendence it was built during the months of last July, August, and Sept. The principal feature of this structure where it varies from other docks erected for loadng vessels, is the application of movable platforms, so that carts can be backed over the vessel's deck before the load is dumped into shoots or sprouts." The excellant quality of limestone found on Kelley's Island attracted the attention of G.W. Calkins & Company who purchased some land in 1866 at West Bay. Calkins & Company owned lime kilns in Cleveland where the stone was shipped and burned. In 1872 Messrs. Calkins & Company purchased of W.D.Kelley 1171/4 acres of land on the North Bay. Mr. Calkin's partner Mr. J.T. Clark then sold his interest to a new firm composed of G.W. Calkins, M.C.Younglove and Charles Hickox . This firm acquired other holdngs about North Bay and old lot no.13 which includes all of Long Point. In the very early days, James Watkins had lived on the Point and had burned lime there in a small way. The ruins of his small kiln is still there over grown by vines and bushes. It is near the west shore, about 2000 feet frm the north end of the Point. The firm of Calkins, Younglove and Hickox, still called G.W. Calkins & Company, made many improvements on the north side in 1872. They built a new dock in the bay, erected lime kilns and a cooper shop where barrels were made in which to ship the lime. Tenements and a boarding house for empoyees were built besides many other improvements. They also had a steam barge built at the shipyards at Black River( now Lorain, Ohio). This was christened " Charles Hickox" and was employed in carrying lime and stone from the island. In 1874 Hughes Bros. and Bangs took some ston for the Soo Canal from N. Kelley & Company quarries. In 1876 ( centennial year) the contractors Baker, Van Bleck & Company were engaged in building the first large American Lock at Saulte Ste Marie ( The Soo). They contracted with Calkins & Company for block stone to be used in building the lock. They took charge of the work of getting out the blocks and employed a force of about one hundred and fifty men for about a year. In 1891 The Kelley Island Lime and Transport acquired the properties of E.R. and E.T. Collins and N. Kelley & Company and other properties have since been purchased , which have put the Company in possession of practically all the good stone land on the island. They increased the lime production at the North Bay and it became a beehive of industry. The business of the Company grew rapidly and it made rapid developments in many directions. The Marblehead quarries eventually were acquired and kilns were constructed at Duluth Minn. Thus how ever, resulted in closing the island kilns in 1909 and in the reduction of the force employed there. It is not my plan to write a history of the Kelley Island Lme and Transport Company except that as it effects the history of the Island. It took its name and its beginnings from the island , but its interests in other parts of the contry are so much greater than its island holdings, that the island is now a comparatively small item in its scheme of things. In 1912 there were 546,922 tons of stone shipped from the island in 459 Boat loads . In 1924, all the quarries except the Norh side quarry are merged into one immense opening extending from the west bay to the east for fully a mile. All the shipping is now done by the stone company from the west bay dock which has been so enlarged and improved by pockets and conveying belts and etc., that the cost and time of loading ships has been reduced to the mnimum. A seven thousand ton ship can now be loaded in less time than it took to load a 300 ton ship in the seventies. A great net work of moveable railroad track covers the floor of that great quarry and long trains of dump cars drawn by steam engines instead of horses take the stone to the dock or the crusher. In the eary days, the stone was blasted out with black powder and long fuses put into holes drilled by men with sledges and hand drills. Today, the holes are drilled by machines driven by compressed air and the " shots " of dynamite are set off by electricity. Then, the large pieces of rock were broken by sledges in the hands of the workman and loaded by hand in the wagons. Today the rock after blasting is loaded onto cars by a steam digger and crushed by machinery. ***********************************************