MINERAL
INVENTORY FILE NO.
868
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
PRODUCT
Dolomite
NTS AREA
62I3NW
REF.
DOL 2
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
NAME OF PROPERTY
Stonewall Quarry Park
OWNER OF
OPERATOR ADDRESS
Stonewall Quarry Park
200 Main Street
Winnipeg,
Manitoba
OBJECT LOCATED
Dolomite Quarries (7)
MINING
DIVISION
__________
Latitude
50°08'30"
Longitude
97°19'15"
Uncertainty
(m)
50 Meters
UTM Zone
619725E 5555425N
Easting
_______
Northing
_______
L.S./Quarter
Section
___
Section
30, 31, 36
Township
13, 13
Range
2 EPM 1 EPM
DESCRIPTION OF
DEPOSIT
The dolomite at Stonewall is obtained from horizontally bedded
dolomite of the Stonewall Formation that caps a low circular mound,
nearly 1.5 km in diameter, on which the town of Stonewall is built. The
Stonewall Formation, once thought to be of Silurian age, is now
considered to be, at least in part, of upper Ordovician age. Recent studies
suggest that the Ordovician-Silurian boundary may lie within the formation at a
level above the section in the quarry. The Stonewall Formation comprises
an upper 4 m section of massive microcrystalline light grey dolomite, 2 m of
light grey and red arenaceous and argillaceous dolomite and a lower 3.3 m
section of mottled light yellow-grey vuggy to reefoid dolomite. This lower part
of the formation is exposed in the quarries which form a semi-circle around the
north and east of Stonewall.
Chemical Properties: CaC03 ranges from
52.36% to 55.48% and MgC03 ranges from 41.43% to 44.98%. For chemical analysis
see Wells (1913), and Goudge (1944).
Physical Properties: See Parks (1916)
for standard tests for building stone.
Uses: For high-magnesium lump and
crushed lime for plaster, mortar, and sulfite pulp; crushed stone for flux;
rubble; dimension stone; fettling furnace bottoms. Used by Gypsum Lime and
Alabastine, Limited in their Winnipeg plan for conversion to hydrated
lime.
ASSOCIATED
MINERALS OR PRODUCTS OF VALUE
Stone (dolomite).
HISTORY OF
EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The quarries are located in l.s. 1 and 8, Sec. 36, Tp. 13, R. 1 EPM,
and in l.s. 4 and 5, Sec. 31, and l.s. 12 and 13, Sec. 30 of Tp. 13, R. 2 EPM.
Stonewall is about 30 km northwest of Winnipeg.
1880: John Gunn began
quarrying on 16 hectares in Sec. 30, Tp. 13, R. 2 E.
1882: Enoch Williams
began quarrying in Sec. 31, Tp. 13, R. 2 E and later opened another quarry in
Sec. 36, Tp. 13, R. 1 E across the road. Andy Patterson also quarried on a
property in the southwest corner of Sec. 31, Tp. 13, R. 2 E.
1905: Five
quarries were in operation. Irwin's quarry was the westernmost quarry in Sec.
36. It was owned and operated by Peter Irwin and Sons who had recently started
operations. The output of rubble in 1905 was 725 m3 per month, but in a battery
of pot kilns was being erected. Fullbrook's quarry (also in Sec. 36) was east of
Irwin's quarry. It was owned and operated by J.W. Fullbrook, but would soon be
controlled by The Winnipeg Supply and Fuel Company, Limited. The working face of
the quarry was about 3 m thick. The quarry had 2 pot kilns, 1 draw kiln and a
crushing outfit delivering the product to flat cars on the railway siding. 60 m3
of rubble and 96 m3 of crushed stone were produced daily and 2,100 hectolitres
of lime were produced a month. The Williams' quarry (in SW1/4 Sec. 31) was still
being operated by E. Williams and Company. It had a working face 3.3 m thick.
The quarry had 2 pot kilns and a crushing outfit. The stone was crushed for
concrete and the fines were used for roofing material. Monthly production was
1,100 m3 of rubble and crushed stone and 2,100 hectolitres of lime. Patterson's
quarry (also in SW1/4 Sec. 31) was owned and operated by A. Paterson &
Company. The working face of the quarry was only about 1.5 m. Once pot kiln was
in operation. 22 m3 of rubble per day, as well as 1,400 hectolitres of lime per
month, were produced. Gunn's quarry in sec. 30 (operated by John Gunn &
Sons) had a working face of 2.4 m. The crushing plant had not yet been installed
but lime was produced by one pot kiln one draw kiln. Self-dumping mine cars
carried broken stone from the quarry over trestle-work to the top of the draw
kiln. There were railway tracks on two sides of the kiln so that wood could be
brought in on flat cars and unloaded near the fire box while the lime coming
from the bottom of the kiln could be shovelled into box cars on the other
track.
1910: The Winnipeg Supply and Fuel Company purchased Pattern's
property. They had already bought Fullbrook's and Irwin's interests.
1916:
There were two companies in operation: Winnipeg Supply and Fuel and Manitoba
Quarries, Limited (made up of the Gunn and William interests). Winnipeg Supply's
No. 1 quarry (the old Irwin quarry) was 270 m by 120 m and 3.3 m deep excluding
overburden. The No. 1 quarry property was north of Kinsey Street, between Anna
Avenue and Jackson Avenue, south of the CPR tracks (see diagram). Their No. 2
quarry (the old Fullbrook quarry) was 90 m by 90 m and advancing east and south.
The property north of Lilly Street was 300 m by 150 m. Winnipeg Supply's No. 3
quarry (the old Patterson quarry) is about 180 m by 180 m. It is 3.7 m deep
excluding the 1.5 m of overburden. The property (8 hectares) had 400 m frontage
on Young Street and 490 m on Hickey Avenue. Winnipeg Supply operated five draw
kilns, 1 jaw rusher and 1 rotary crusher.
Manitoba Quarries, Limited held the
block of land east of Winnipeg Supply's No. 1 property and north of their No. 2
property on which the second Williams' quarry was situated. They also held the
property east of Hickey Avenue between Rothwell Street and Young Street on which
the old Gunn's quarry was situated. On their first mentioned property two
quarries were opened. Each was about 180 m long, 90 to 120 m wide and about 3 m
deep. Their opening on the second property extended north and south from Young
to Higgins and extends as far west as McDonald (see diagram). The quarry was 2.5
m deep. They had two drawn kilns, and a crushing plant which was not in
operation. Prior to 1916, the uppermost 3 m of dolomite, in places in beds as
much as 0.9 m thick, had been used as a building stone (e.g. Land Titles Office
in Stonewall) as noted in Parks (1916), pp. 79, 80 and P1. XIX.
1927:
The Winnipeg Supply and Fuel Company was not the only company operating. Stone
was being extracted from the two quarries, one on either side of Hickey Avenue.
The overburden was removed by 0.3 m3 electric shovel. At the quarry east of
Hickey the stone was blown down to the floor then loaded into horse-drawn dump
carts and hauled either to the kilns or to the crusher. At the quarry west of
Hickey Avenue, the stone was loaded into skips on horse-drawn trams. The plant
consisted of a battery of 3 kilns at the west quarry and two kilns and a crusher
at the east quarry. The maximum production was 850 hectolitres of lime a
day.
1930: Winnipeg Supply still operated the five lime kilns and the
crushing plant. It marketed the quick lime in lump form but part of the output
was taken by Canada Gypsum and Albastine, Ltd. who hydrated it at their Winnipeg
plant and put it on the market in that form. The old Gunn quarry was now owned
by Winnipeg Supply although it was idle. Only a road (Young Street) separated it
from their east quarry. The Gunn pit was 600 m long and averaged 120 m in width.
It was operated for dimension stone for heavy construction and also for making
lime. The quarry face was only 0.5-1.5 m high on the east side.
1944: By 1944
Winnipeg Supply owned all the quarriable high-grade dolomite remaining on the
outskirts of the town. In 1944 the workings were on the north edge of the town.
The quarry face was about 460 m long extending in an arc from Hickey Avenue West
to Jackson Avenue. It was 2 m high and being worked towards the north where it
was decreasing. (In the southeast corner the face was 4.2 m high). The east and
west quarries were joined across Hickey Avenue by an underpass and were operated
as a unit. Overburden was stripped by an electric shovel and loaded into trucks
for disposal in a nearby dump. Jackhammers were used for drilling, and the rock
was loaded by hand onto 0.8 m3 steel skips set on trucks that were hauled by
horse in trains of 4 over a narrow-gauge tramway to the west quarry where the
skips were lifted from the trucks by a derrick and were dumped into the kilns.
The plant on the west quarry receives its stone by trucks. Three of the five
kilns at the two plants were in operation in 1944. Lump lime and crushed lime
were shipped. Adjoining the east plant was a small crushing plant in which stone
too small for making lime was crushed and screened for use as flux.
1946: The
quarry produced 32,260 tonnes of dolomite, 29,550 tonnes of which were
calcined.
1948: The quarry operated for 365 days during the year and all five
kilns were in use. Lignite, sub-bituminous coal, and cord wood were used in
firing the kilns. Production was 38,420 tonnes of dolomite, 30,880 tonnes of
which were calcined.
1963: By 1963 the old Irwin quarry had been
rehabilitated and converted to a recreation area (Kinsmen's Park).
1965: The
west quarry measured 300 by 300 m (maximum) with a 3.5 m face. It has not been
worked since 1963. The east quarry measured 390 by 270 m (maximum) with a 3.5 m
face. Work had also ended in it. The south quarry (old Gunn quarry) was 600 m
long, 275-300 m wide with a 2.7-3.6 m face. The dolomite reserves were depleted
in 1965.
1967: The kiln operation was supplied for a time from the company's
quarry at Lillies' Farm, but the kiln operation was shut down in 1967. See M.I.
card 62 I/3, DOL 2 for description of Lillies' Farm Quarry. Commercial quarrying
ceased in 1967 with the depletion of high quality reserves of stonewall
formation limestone.
1996: This site remains nonoperational. It is now called
Stonewall Quarry Park, a tourist site with an abundance of
fossils.
Note: Although Stonewall Quarry Park has not been in
operation for some time the Stonewall East quarry, which is approximately
5 km northeast of the park, is operational and is producing dolomite and crushed
stone/dolomite.
HISTORY OF
PRODUCTION
1880: John Gunn began quarrying east of Stonewall, in Sec.
30.
1882: Enoch Williams opened a quarry in Sec. 31, north of John Gunn's and
later another in Sec. 36. Andy Patterson also quarried in Sec. 31.
1905: Five
quarries were being operated: Irwin's quarry produced 725 m3 of rubble per
month; Fullbrook's produced 60 m3 of rubble and 96 m3 of crushed stone daily and
2,100 hectolitres of lime each month. Williams produced 1,100 m3 of rubble and
crushed stone for concrete and roofing material and 2,100 hectolitres of lime
per month. Patterson's produced 22 cubic m of rubble a day and 1,400 hectolitres
of lime a month, and Gunn's quarry which produced lime.
1910: The Winnipeg
Supply and Fuel Company, Limited owned Patterson's Fullbrook's and Irwin's
quarries.
1916: There were two companies in operation, Winnipeg Supply and
Manitoba Quarries, Limited which controlled the Gunn and Williams'
interests.
1927: The Winnipeg Supply and Fuel Company was not the only
company in operation. Stone was being extracted from two quarries, one on either
side of Hickey Avenue. Maximum production was 850 hectolitres of lime a
day.
1930: Winnipeg Supply still operated their 5 lime kilns. They marketed
their quick lime in lump form only but part of the output was taken by Canada
Gypsum and Alabastine Ltd. who hydrated it and markted it in that form.
1944:
By 1944 Winnipeg Supply and Fuel owned all the quarriable high-grade dolomite
remaining on the outskirts of the town. Three of the five kilns were in
operation. Lump and crushed lime and crushed stone for flux were
shipped.
1946: The quarry produced 32,260 tonnes of dolomite, 26,490 tonnes
of which were calcined. The balance was used for metallurgical flux, road
ballast, etc. Four of the five kilns were in operation.
1947: 38,220 tonnes
of dolomite were produced, 29,550 tonnes of which were calcined.
1948: The
quarry operated for 365 days during the year and all five kilns were in use.
Production was 38,420 tonnes of dolomite, 30,880 tonnes of which were
calcined.
1965: The dolomite reserves were depleted in 1965.
1967: The
kiln operation was supplied for a time from the company's quarry at Lillie's
farm, but the kiln operation was shut down in 1967.
1967-1996: The quarry has
remained closed during this time.
Shipping Point:
Stonewall
Distance from mine: 30 km to Winnipeg
Material Shipped:
Lime, Stone
Destination: Mainly Winnipeg Area
Carrier:
C.P.R.
REFERENCES
Annual Reports
Manitoba Mines Branch:
19th, p. 85; 20th, p. 106;
21st, p. 93.
Baillie, A.D.
1951: Silurian Geology of the Interlake Area of
Manitoba; Manitoba Mines Branch Publication 50-1, pp. 9-13, 15-16.
Bannatyne,
B.B.
1971: Industrial Minerals of the Sedimentary Area of Southern Manitoba;
Geological Association of Canada Special Paper No. 9, p. 245.
Davies, J.F.,
Bannatyne, B.B., Barry, G.S., and McCabe, H.R.
1962: Geology and Mineral
Resources of Manitoba; Manitoba Mines Branch, pp. 136, 170.
Goudge,
M.F.
1944: Limestones of Canada, Their Occurrences and Characteristics, Part
V: Western Canada; Mines Branch, Ottawa, No. 811, pp. 36-39, 42.
Goudge,
M.F.
1930: I. Preliminary Report on the Limestones of Northern and Western
Ontario oand of the Prairie Provinces; Investigations of Mineral Resources and
the Mining Industry, 1928, No. 710, Mines Branch, Ottawa, pp. 5-6.
Industrial
Minerals Geologist's Files, Manitoba Mineral Resources Division.
Parks,
W.A.
1916: Report on the Building and Ornamental Stones of Canada, Volume IV;
Mines Branch, Ottawa, pp. 77-82.
Wallace, R.C. and Greer, L.
1927: The
Non-Metallic Mineral Resources of Manitoba; Industrial Development Board of
Manitoba, pp. 32-33, 44.
Wells, J. Walter
1905: Preliminary Report of the
Limestones and the Lime Industry of Manitoba; Mines Branch, Ottawa, Report No.
7, pp. 43-47.
Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Recreation
1985: The
Stonewall Quarries
Bamburak, James, Bezys, Ruth
1995: Capital
Region Study, Quarry Description 1995.
MAP REFERENCES
Map 12, Industrial Minerals Producers (Index), Sc. 1:1,000,000,
Manitoba Mineral Resources Division.
Map 62 I/3, Stonewall,
(Topography), Sc. 1:50,000, Surveys & Mapping Branch, Ottawa.
Figure 4,
Sketch map showing quarry properties at Stonewall, Sc. 1:9,600 -
accompanying Publication by Parks (1916), Mines Branch, Ottawa.
Map 50-1, The
Inter-Lake Area, (Geology), Sc. 1:506,880 and cross-section - accompanying
Publication by Baillie (1951), Manitoba Mines Branch.
Argyle
AN34
Geological Highway Map of Manitoba (1994), Sc. 1:1,000,000, Manitoba
Mineral Resources Division.
Mineral Map of Manitoba (1994), Sc. 1:1,000,000,
Manitoba Mineral Resources Division.
URL
N/A
REMARKS
The early history of the quarries is recorded in the book "Rockwood
Echoes", a history of the municipality.
The boundaries of the built-up part
of the town of Stonewall virtually coincide with the extent of the
quarries, sterilizing remaining reserves.
DOL 1: previously referenced as DOL
2
UQI: 1Q/01/36/13/01E1
NOTES
N/A
Compiled/Revised
by:
NLL KH
Date
07-78 05-96
