During the mid-1800s this serene place, known
as the old ’Public Quarry’, was once a cacophony of
sounds and a bustle of activity. Quarrying and stone cutting
operations work done here was the source of the Cedar Valley
Limestone foundation stone blocks that was used to construct many
of the great University of Iowa buildings, including Schaeffer
Hall, Seashore Hall, Old Brick Church, and Iowa’s first
‘permanent’ state capitol building, the Old Capitol.
The Cedar Valley stones are quite variable in appearance ranging
from an abundance of ‘birds eyes’ of fossil corals to
barren laminates.
This laminated limestone, though
having the elegance and beauty of marble when polished, proved to
be an inferior building material compared to the stone found in the
State Quarry. The State Quarry was located on the banks of the Iowa
River ten miles to the north near North Liberty. Failures of walls,
using ‘Public Quarry’ stone, during construction of the
Old Capitol caused schedule delays and the need to seek an
alternate source of dimensional stone for the new ‘Old
Capitol’ building. State Quarry Limestone was used to replace
the failed walls and for most of the rest of the project.
The shift in the sourcing of
materials did not yet hail the end of work at the ‘Public
Quarry’. Polished slabs of the beautiful
‘birds-eyed’ limestone, which became known as
‘Iowa Marble’, quickly became popular for use in
decorative stone work such as fireplace mantels and shelf curios.
Processing of this ‘Iowa Marble’ continued here until
late in the 19th century.
Your Quarry in the Quarry is to find a micro-sized container
without losing your ‘Iowa Marbles’.
The old ‘Public Quarry’ is easily
accessible by bicycle or foot from the west side of the Iowa River
via the Hancher Pedestrian Bridge, or the on the east side of the
river, by the multi-use path that traverses the river via
pedestrian bridge’s east end and crosses the southern end of
the quarry area.
Be sure to replace the container
properly for the benefit of the next cacher in the query.
As always, have fun!
A view of the Old Capitol Quarry from the late 1890s or early
1900s
Old
Capitol Quarry image provided courtesy of the University of Iowa
Digital Library’s “Calvin Photographic
Collection". http://www.uiowa.edu/~calvin/calvin.htm