In the United States limestone is used principally as crushed stone for road material, railroad ballast, concrete, and cement, as fluxing stone for metallurgical purposes, and in the manufacture of lime. Minor uses are as building stones, paving blocks, curbing, flagging, rubble, and riprap; in alkali works, sugar factories, paper mills, and glass works; and for agricultural purposes. For the making of cement, in metallurgical fluxes, and in most of the manufacturing and agricultural uses, both limestone and lime (limestone with the CO_2 driven out by heating) are used. Lime is also extensively used in the making of mortar for building operations, in tanning leather, and in a great variety of chemical industries. The total quantity of limestone used for all purposes in the United States nearly equals that of iron ore. Nearly every state in the union produces limestone, but the more important producers are Pennsylvania (where a large amount is used for fluxing), Ohio, Indiana, New York, Michigan, and Illinois.
Closely associated with limestone in commercial uses, as well as in chemical composition, is calcareous marl, which is used extensively in the manufacture of Portland cement.
Chalk is a soft amorphous substance of the same composition as limestone. The main uses of chalk are as a filler in rubber, and as a component of paint and putty. It is also used for polishing. The principal producers of this commodity are England, Denmark, and France, and the chief consumer is the United States. The United States depends upon imports for its supply of chalk for the manufacture of whiting. Before the war two-thirds came from England and a third from France. During the war importation was confined to England, with a small tonnage from Denmark. No deposits of domestic chalk have been exploited commercially. A somewhat inferior whiting, but one capable of being substituted for chalk in most cases, is manufactured from the waste fine material of limestone and marble quarries.
Marble
Marble is limestone which has been coarsely recrystallized by metamorphism. The marble of commerce includes a small quantity of serpentine as quarried and sold in Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, and also a small amount of so-called onyx marble or travertine obtained from caves and other deposits in Kentucky and other states. The principal uses of marble are for building and monumental stones. Of the twenty-two states producing marble, the leaders are Vermont, Georgia, and Tennessee.
A small amount of marble of special beauty, adapted to ornamental purposes, is imported from European countries, especially from Italy. Marble imports from Italy constitute about two-thirds, both in tonnage and value, of all stone imported into the United States.
Sand, Sandstone, Quartzite (and Quartz)
Sand is composed mainly of particles of quartz or silica, though sometimes feldspar and other minerals are present. Sandstones are partially cemented sands. Quartzites are completely cemented sands. To some extent these substances are used interchangeably for the same purposes.
The principal uses of sand in order of commercial totals are for building purposes—for mortar, concrete, sand-lime brick, etc.,—as molding sand in foundries, as a constituent of glass, in grinding and polishing, in paving, as engine sand, as fire or furnace sand, in the manufacture of ferrosilicon (a steel alloy), and in filters. Reference is made to sand as an abrasive and in the manufacture of steel in Chapters XIII and IX. Almost every state produces some sand, but for some of the more specialized uses, such as glass sand, molding sand, and fire or furnace sand, the distribution is more or less limited. The United States Geological Survey has collected information concerning the distribution of various kinds of sand and gravel, and serves a very useful function in furnishing data as to supplies of material for particular purposes. Fine molding sands have been imported from France, but during the war domestic sources in New York and Ohio were developed sufficiently to meet any requirements.
The sandstone of commerce includes the quartzites of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, and the fine-grained sandstones of New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, known to the trade as "bluestone." In Kentucky most of the sandstone quarried is known locally as "freestone." The principal uses of sandstone are for building stone, crushed stone, and ganister (for silica brick and furnace-linings). Other uses are for paving blocks, curbing, flagging, riprap, rubble, grindstones, whetstones, and pulpstones (see also Chapter XIII). Sandstone is sometimes crushed into sand and is used in the manufacture of glass and as molding-sand. Most of the states of the union produce sandstone, the principal producers being Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.