Connemara Marble Demand — Orders from Sculptors in Chicago — Improved New Methods
Connacht Tribune, 1930
There is a consignment of 10 tons of green Connemara marble, valued at $120, being sent from the Streamstown quarries, near Clifden to the firm of De Fryne in Antwerp. At the present time 8 men are employed full time in these quarries and early in the new year it is anticipated that a staff of about 24 men will be employed. Orders for Connemara marble have been received from firms form various countries. Several orders have been received from firms in the United States, particularly from firms of sculptors in Chicago. One order for a very large consignment has been received from a Galway man named Connolly who carries on the work of sculptor and church decorator in Toronto, Canada.
Several Irish firms of repute, including that of Messrs, Glenville and Sons, Dublin, and Purdie and Millar, of Belfast, have also placed orders for substantial amounts. This latter firm has taken delivery of very large quantities of the marble during the year and St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, which is now nearing completion, is built almost exclusively of green Connemara marble.
About six months ago, the present manager, Mr. Kearney, discovered a new vein of white marble and this has proved to be of such good material that several orders for this quality of marble have since been received. Three different colours of green and two different colours of white marble are to be found in the quarries at Streamstown and Letternoose. These shades of colour are peculiar to these quarries, and are to a great extent accountable for the large orders now received. Another factor which tends to the success of the marble industry in this district is the new and economic method adopted for the hewing of the "winning", as it is called of the marble. The old system of winning the marble was to blast it by means of powder, but this method had a very deteriorating effect on the material procured as the explosion shook the rock so much that when the slab was afterwards placed in the frame—saw for panelling the marble all fell to pieces. An air drill is now used for hewing out the slabs, with the result that all the block thus "won" are in no way damaged. This method is also very economical as a block of marble value $60 can be "won" for an expenditure of about $12.
A grinder and crasher with fine crushing rollers are due to arrive at these quarries at an early date, and then for the first time, the marble will be crushed and converged into terrazzo and marble.