A rainy day early last spring presented good conditions for pondering opportunism by man and nature on the granite face of Halibut Point. I was drawn to the viewing conditions where details of familiar features stood out more conspicuously than usual, both with abandoned iron hardware so arduously driven into the stone, and the adventitious lichen prospering in the rain. These two intrusions coincide 'ironically' on many quarry ledges.
Diffused light on such a day brings out the craftsmanship of the industrial artifacts. The cool moist air also adds luminescence to the lichen colonies.
Every quarrying relic suggests the scale and care and stubbornness of the business.
Towering derricks were secured by these holdfasts. The rigging makes a prodigious if untold part of the story.
As durable as they once were the iron fabrications are dissolving to rust while lichens extend their claim on surrounding surfaces.
The lichens are the first stage of vegetation pioneering over the remnants of enterprise.
Soil-building processes support the advance of the organic life.
Today we can only imagine the ingenuity of the quarrymen, the sophistication of their calculations, the network of forges and suppliers they relied on in engineering their trade.
Easier to grasp is the design of feathers and wedge that puts pressure effectively within the mass of a stone rather than spalling its surface when splitting granite by hand.
Certainly the stone workers tried never to waste a blow or a mechanical advantage in their labor.
Very interesting. And, you have "such a way with words"!!! Sandy B.
ReplyDeleteHi Martin, all the artifacts make me think of the quarry workers that hammered those hooks into the stone. I feel a connection to all of them.
ReplyDeletePat
So interesting to feature the "ironworks" amid the Grout Piles.
ReplyDelete