Extracting Wealth - Part 3 Limestone

Lime Rock Quarry Rockland, Maine c1915 - click to enlarge
Photo: Maine Historical Society via www.mainememory.net

  With all of the granite and slate quarried, there was a need for cement to hold things together and Maine had an answer.  Limestone.
  In the Rockland - Thomaston area (they are adjoining towns) limestone was found in abundance, it's still being quarried and "cooked".  At one time Maine was the nations fifth largest producer of cement, that's not true today.  Limestone that is not "cooked" in a kiln is agricultural lime, and that is fast being replaced with faster acting agents.

The Creighton Kilns c1930 - click to enlarge
Photo: Thomaston Historical Society via www.mainememory.net

The interior of a lime kiln c1900
Photo: Thomaston Historical Society via www.mainememory.net