Egan's Pit EarthCache
Hidden : 12/2/2009
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:



Congrats to bergmannfamily on getting the FTF!

History

More than 100 years ago, this site was home to a village named Mount Royal (the area is also referred to as Little Stony Mountain) and a stone crushing operation which was the first limestone quarry of the city of Winnipeg.

The Pits themselves have names: the Northern pit "Municipal" after the R.M.of Rosser and the Southern Pit called "Egan," named after a contractor who lived on the first stretch of the Winnipeg and Hudson Bay Railroad in 1886 known as "Sutherland's Forty".

Northern Municipal pit


Southern Egan pit

The first recorded use of the area was made by Rev. D.T. Jones, he was one of the early Protestant Ministers that served at the Red River Colony. During the disastrous flood of 1826 the ice had held firm until April when the water lifted the ice in a solid mass nine feet above its previous level. As it continued to rise, the settlers fled to higher ground. The places of refuge were Little and Big Stony Mountain, Bird’s Hill and Silver Heights. Jones, his staff and school boarders fled to Little Mountain. The settlers couldn’t return to their homes until June 12th.

The Quarry Village 1898 -1905

In 1896 the City of Winnipeg purchased 80 acres of property from Lord Strathcona for the development of Little Stony Mountain Quarry ( as it was called at that time ), under the direction of Colonel H.N. Ruttan.

The City of Winnipeg was using the crushed Limestone for it's development of it's streets at a price of $ 1.30 per cubic yard. Under the first superintendent, Mr. C.P. Kelpin the quarries went into full production and became the first municipally owed quarry in North America.

The unincorporated Village of Mount Royal laid claim to mayor, 2 blacksmith shops, post office, general store operated by Mr. L.P. Brault, a dance hall. A boarding house run by a Miss Ford, pool hall and of course, everybody's favorite person, the bootlegger (long,cold winters).

Unable to afford room and board many summer workers found shelter by excavating into the banks of the quarry. They used timbers and ties from the railroad line to make some kind of weather proof dwelling. The railway spur line connected to the present day Moore siding has long disappeared, some cleared sections of the stone bed still can be seen . The Municipal Pit, (north side of the road) owned by the R.M. of Rosser was reopened briefly during the 1930's to help local residents deal with employment during the Depression.

Records have shown that according to the Fort Garry Horse Museum ,the people of the village of Mount Royal (Little Stony Mountain) have also seen military action. As early as 1876 the area around Little Stony Mountain was being used as a training ground for the Winnipeg Field Battary. The camp was in service during the summer months up to 1903, some troops that trained there may have seen service in the Boer War in Africa and the First World War.

The Post Office (1906 - 1920)

The Post Office was opened in 1902 and remained open until 1920, situated in the general store (Owen by Mr.L.P. Brault). He was payed a sum of $ 34.00 a year for the use of the space in his store. Being the Postmaster was quite an honor and a seat on the council, however it was the housewives job to make the run to Winnipeg three times a week to pick up and drop off the mail. A frontier town was not known for it's neatness so there was an endless track of muddy floors that needed to be cleaned. The post office remain on site from 1906 to 1918 when it moved to Stony Mountain.

During the First World War the railroad employed many foreign works, it was the responsibility of the post office to stamp their identification cards. It was not uncommon to have twenty or more at a time crammed into the small store.

The School

During the height of production the number of school children swelled to 25. This proved to be to much for the small Mount Royal school to handle. Acting on a suggestion by Mr. W. MacWilliam, the children were moved into the dance hall in the village. The raised stage became the class room for the small community.

Geology

Limestone is a SEDIMENTARY ROCK largely or wholly composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Carbonate rocks, and in some cases marble, the metamorphosed near-equivalent of limestone, are important to the CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY as building stone and aggregate, and as the primary component of portland CEMENT and lime. Limestones are also used in glass manufacture, as fillers, abrasives and soil conditioners, and in the manufacture of various chemicals. Quicklime is formed by the process of calcination, in which limestones are heated to the dissociation temperature of the carbonates (402 -898°C), and held there long enough to release carbon dioxide. Although the term "lime" in some cases is used to refer to pulverized limestone, it refers more correctly to quicklime (burned lime) and its products, slaked or hydrated limes (Ca[OH]2). Dolomitic quicklime (CaOMg0) is produced from dolomitic limestone.

Slaked lime is quicklime combined with water; this hydrated lime is then sized to meet customer specifications. Lime is used principally in the steel, pulp and paper and mining industries, where its chemical qualities are required as a flux (promoting ease of melting), for digesting liquors and as a neutralizing agent. Water and sewage treatment and removal of sulphur dioxide from smelter-stack gases and thermal power-plant emissions have recently become more important. The use of lime in construction (eg, in mortar and sand-lime bricks) has been greatly reduced in recent years.
(source: www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com)

Limestone itself is most often a by-product of marine organisms. Areas that are rich in limestone deposits, at one time were under water. These marine organisms would secrete shells that would settle on ocean floors. These shells were the primary source of calcite which would mix with varying amounts of silica, clay, sand and silt. Areas where the amount of sand or mud was low were ideal places for the formation of Limestone. As massive layers of this sediment occur over time, the weight from above squeezes the water out of the spaces between the particles in a process called compaction. Minerals that form between the deposited particles act as a cement to hold them together in a process called cementation.

Manitoba Limestone

Limestone in Manitoba was formed in two stages and two layers. The first layer was formed between 200 and 500 million years ago when much of North America was under sea water. The second layer was formed after the last ice age when the Glacial Lake Agassiz covered most of Manitoba and parts of North-western Ontario, Saskatchewan, Minnesota and North Dakota. This massive fresh water lake was larger than all of the five great lakes combined.

TASK

#1 – What is the approximate quantity of limestone in metric tonnes that was removed from this quarry?

To get this information, you’ll need to get information such as the circumference, length, width and depth. For depth, use your GPSr's elevation reading. For the water, you can use 15 feet average. (Ice if you visit in winter!) But you'll still have to measure from the water surface to the top of the quarry.

I was not able to determine, through records, the density of the limestone deposit here. So I estimated that it was a medium density with a weight of 2160 kg/cubic metre.

#2 – At location N 49 57.618 W 097 14.647, how many visible layers can you see?

#3 – Take a photo of you and/or your group on those limestone layers at the location for task #2. (This task is now optional, according to gc.com, but still appreciated.)

Description of Deposit

Little Stony Mountain is a low ridge running north-south. The city of Winnipeg quarry is on the eastern side of the ridge, and Egan's quarry is a short distance farther south. The city quarry was sunk through 0.3-2.5 m of overburden, 1.5-5 m of finely crystalline dolomite of the Gunton Member and 1.2 m of yellow mottled argillaceous dolomite of the Penitentiary Member of the Ordovician Stony Mountain Formation.
Chemical Properties: Ca C03: 49.09-55.87%, Mg C03: 45.06-40.24%. For chemical analyses see Goudge (1944) and Wells (1905).
Uses: Crushed stone for street paving, curb stones, lime, dimension stone.
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