“Dunnville Sandstone is finer-grained than other sandstones,” Dunnville Cutstone Company owner Aaron Koepple explained. “That makes it easier to work with because it’s not as hard on tools as the coarser stone. It also resists the weather by forming an outer shell or crust that protects it from deteriorating. Weathering actually helps it to harden up.”

The historic quarry was one of four original quarries that supplied stone to many historic landmarks. The other three quarries are now owned by the Department of Natural Resources, making Koepple’s quarry the only one offering this historic rock.

The features of the stone that attracted builders to use the stone more than 100 years ago are basically the same now that the quarry has reopened.

Along with the grain, another appealing characteristic of the stone is its color. Local architects in the mid- and late-1800s and early 1900s seemed to prefer it. The Mabel Tainter Theater and the Louis Smith Tainter House in Menomonie are two of the more prominent examples of the stone’s visual appeal.

Old quarry logbooks show that the stone was shipped to build schools and libraries in Eau Claire, Shell Lake, Bloomer, Osceola, Granton and even as far away as Conde, S.D., Virginia, Minn., (railroad depot) and beyond.

Once the railroad spur was laid along the river in the 1880s, Dunnville sandstone could be shipped all over the country. East Coast architects took a liking to the stone’s lasting qualities for projects big and small.

It was the stone of choice in 1910 for St. Thomas Cathedral in New York. Stone carvers on that project were quoted as saying it was the finest sandstone in the world. It was also used to construct many of the much-photographed old “brownstone” houses that still line residential streets of the city.

Building the future

The new company is currently supplying stone for a summer home in Grand Rapids, Minn., which Koepple calls a “$10 million cabin.” With three stone fireplaces, stone pool coping and an exterior stone veneer, the home shows Dunnville stone to its best advantage. (The project will be featured in an article about the company in the October issue of the industry trade magazine, Stone World.)

Dunnville Cutstone is also now supplying stone for office complexes in Menomonie (Broadway Square) and in Sioux Falls, S.D. Other local projects include the Menomonie post office and an addition to the Rassbach museum. The company also provided a stone sign and several truckloads of loose stone to the new Winona Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minn.

The stone being blasted off the sandstone shelf the crew is working on this mild October day is destined for the Sioux Falls job. After the blast, it will be a huge block 75 feet long, 10 feet high and five feet wide. Then a series of smaller blasts will cut it down for shipping.

“We ship blocks sized 5 feet by 5 feet by 8 feet,” Koepple explained.

At 115 pounds per cubic foot, such a block would weigh 23,000 pounds. Heavy as that sounds, Koepple said this is the lightest stone he is aware of on the market.

Such a block would sell for $2,500 to $3,500, he estimates. After quarrying about 1,000 tons of dimensional stone since reopening the quarry, he expects that they will ship another 1,000 tons by the end of the year.

Dunnville Cutstone Company currently operates with four employees in addition to Koepple.

“These guys have a lot more years in this business than I do,” Koepple readily admits. “But we’re all still learning. And when we find a better way to do something, we do it.”

That applies to the method they employ to fill bore holes using a patented polymer gel known as B-Gel.

“We are in the process of trying to buy the company that makes it, because it works so much better to get a clean fracture of the stone,” he pointed out.

With such innovations, the company is also building a solid reputation for contract drilling under the name Dunnville Drilling.