Queenston Bluestone Cache Traditional Cache
CacheDrone: I have not received any reply to my last inquiry. Based on that this listing has been archived. The owner may contact me through my profile should they wish to discuss restoring this listing however this must be done within one month and the listing needs to meet the current guidelines before unarchival can be considered.
CacheDrone - Volunteer Reviewer
Queenston Bluestone Cache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Welcome to the Queenston Quarry and your hunt for the Bluestone cache.
The Queenston Quarry opened as a building stone quarry on the edge of the escarpment in 1837 by John Brown, a Scottish stone-cutter and masonry contractor. At the final days of it operations, Queenston Quarry was one of Canada's longest continuously operating quarries. For years it was mined for blocks of the "blue" dolomite quarried from the Gasport Member of the Lockport Formation. Most limestones are more or less pure forms of calcium carbonate. A dolomite is the same sort of limestone, changed into a more marble-like rock by the magnesium salts in the salt water seas, of which it was once a sea bottom.
Building stone cut from the quarry was sought after for prestigious stone buildings, historic homes and government buildings throughout southern Ontario. Notable uses include the Niagara-on-the-Lake Court House, Brock's Monument of 1840 and the present monument of 1856, culverts, tunnels and bridges of the Great Western and Grand Trunk Railways, Table Rock House and Administration Building, Queen Victoria Park, the 2nd Welland Canal, stone towers of the Lewiston-Queenston Suspension Bridge, New York State Artpark, Canada House in London England, east block of Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, gate and fence at the Governor-General's residence , McMaster University, Hamilton and Queen's University and recent restoration at the Ontario Legislative Buildings, Queen's Park.
The most attractive feature of this stone is that it tends to become whiter as it weathers. Indiana Limestone, a competitive stone mined in Indiana is not as hard as Queenston’s stone and tends to weather darker with time and is subject to peculiar surface softening. In late 1978 the supply of building stone from the Gasport layer dwindled to the point that further quarrying of this stone was uneconomical. Thereafter, further quarrying concentrated on production of crushed stone aggregate for construction and road building.
The flat area you are standing in use to be full of large blocks of Bluestone waiting processing. Today almost all of the Bluestone has been sold and taken away, only a few large boulders still sit on the staging area. You can see the drill marks still in the quarry walls and in the rock strewn about the site from when the quarry was active. Take your time watch your footing and explore the area it’s a great place to spend an afternoon.
The container is a ammo box in a pile of rocks. It has a few items in it that are blue to go with our bluestone theme, so feel free to trade but please try to trade blue items!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
orarngu gur qevyy ubyr, whfg ernpu va
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures