From Egypt’s pyramids to the Panama Canal, granite has been one of mankind’s first choices for creating enduring legacies in stone. Granite is one of the most abundant rocks in the earth’s crust, making it easy to find---but quarrying and working granite has never been easy.
Granite is exceptionally hard, durable, and resistant to the elements. For these reasons, and for granite’s natural beauty, it has long been regarded as a material that is worth the hard work required to quarry and finish it.
Granite rocks are igneous rocks formed by slowly cooling pockets of magma trapped beneath the earth's surface. Igneous rocks form from molten rock which is either ejected at the surface of the earth or cools underground. Igneous rocks make up 95% of the rocks of the earth's crust. They are also some of the oldest rocks found at the surface of the earth. Igneous rocks are classed on the basis of where they form and the composition of the molten rock. Magma originates from the melting of the earth's crust and upper mantle. This melting occurs about a depth of 60 to 200 km. As pockets of magma cool slowly underground, the magma becomes an igneous rock. This molten rock is less dense than the solid rock, so it rises towards the surface. Molten rock that cools before it reaches the surface hardens to become intrusive igneous rock. Because it forms deep beneath the earth's surface, it has more time to cool and develops large crystals. Intrusive rocks include granite.
The minerals which make up granite are composed of silicon and oxygen. Granite is made out of big crystals; you can easily see them with the naked eye. This is because the granite cooled slowly underground, shielded by the rock surrounding it so that its great heat could escape slowly. Granite is made out of feldspar and quartz, plus minor amounts of other minerals. Feldspar and quartz are light minerals. Therefore, when hot molten rock is coming up from the mantle, some minerals grow crystals and then later, others form. If the magma (liquid rock) keeps moving, those early crystals are left behind, until finally what are left are mostly the ingredients for feldspar and quartz. The result: granite.
The South Carolina State Stone, Winnsboro Blue Granite, is unique to the Midlands and the Piedmont region of our state, where granite can be found in abundance.
Often referred to as Winnsboro Blue Granite or simply Winnsboro Blue, this light-blue or gray-colored stone was quarried in Fairfield County between 1883 and 1946. Granite is an igneous stone, meaning that it was formed when magma (or molten rock) was trapped beneath the surface of the earth. There, it intermingled with other stones and particles (in this case, flecks of mica and quartz), cooling very slowly and then crystallizing.
South Carolina has historically been one of the nation's top producers of granite. Granite weighs approximately 180 pounds per cubic foot, so transporting it by rail was the most efficient means. The Rockton and Rion Railway, based in Fairfield County, allowed large quantities of stone to be transported all over the country, where it was then used in building construction.
Buildings from Columbia all the way to Philadelphia were built from the stone quarried at the Winnsboro mine, pictured below. Local granite companies and the Rockton and Rion Railway made it possible for this small farming community to jump headfirst into the Industrial Revolution.
This Earthcache is located at the Bob Campbell Geology Museum on the campus of Clemson University. The above coords will take you there. This Earthcache can be completed WITHOUT entering the museum, however, the museum is very well presented and you should enjoy it.
Museum Hours
Wednesday - Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM
Sunday 1 PM - 5 PM
Closed for Clemson University Holidays and home football games.
Entrance Fees
Adults - $3 Donation
Children under 12 - $2 Donation
To log this cache you must email us the following information/answers:
1. As you walk from the parking lot to the museum there are more than twelve rock displays along the path. Name any five of them.
2. At the front door of the museum there is an object made of South Carolina Blue Granite. What is it?
3. What is the large structure called at the coords where you are to take the picture?
Photos are fun and additional proof that you were actually there. If you desire, upload a photo of you and/or your group OR a photo with just your GPSr visible at the above listed coordinates.
NOTE: Each cacher is required to send the required information and not rely on another cacher to provide it. Failure to follow this procedure will result in a deleted log. It is not my job to keep track of your group.
I ask that you email your answers to me on the same day that you post your log. (This does not have to be the day you visit, just the day you log the find on the computer.) I also ask that you do not log a “found it” log unless you have actually visited the earthcache site and sent the answers to me. The only person who really benefits from your visit is YOU.
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We became Platinum Earthcache Masters on September 17, 2007.
We were the first to request and receive on July 2, 2011 the Emerald Discovery Award for finding 500 or more Earthcaches.
We received the Diamond Discovery Award on June 17, 2012 for finding 1,000 or more Earthcaches.
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