"Seven basalt cobblestone rock quarries lie on the floodplain of the Columbia River approximately two miles north of Ridgefield, Washington. The floodplain here exhibits a rolling topography, characterized by basalt knolls surrounded by low areas of alluvia silt which are seasonally flooded. The quarries are located in the sides of these knolls, and a rock road of the same material connects the quarries with Lake River. The only visible remains of the quarry operations are the quarries and their associated piles of tailings, and the two sections of rock haul road. The walls of several of the quarries have fallen in, and they are overgrown with trees and brush.

One quarry and part of the rock haul road have been inventoried on an Archaeological Site Survey Record as 45-CL-113. This site is an extensive quarry located at the northeast end of a large meadow. A rock road runs across the meadow from the quarry to Lake River. ...

The Columbia River basalt outcroppings, which are Miocene to Pliocene in age, provide moderate relief ranging from zero to 40 feet. Thus, most of the knolls rise well above the high water line.

The knolls are covered with Oregon white oak savannah, while willow and other emergent and submergent marsh plants grow in the alluvial areas. A narrow belt of Oregon ash defines the high water line in some areas. Douglas fir grows on the highest ground at the eastern edge of the area.

Refuge management objectives on this unit are to preserve the natural Columbia River floodplain and to provide habitat for migrating waterfowl. The only active management within the nominated area is limited summer grazing by cattle. The area was probably being grazed at the time the quarries were in operation, since other parts of the unit have been farmed for over 100 years. Except for a limited amount of fencing and some jeep trails, the land retains its natural character.

Public use of the Carty Unit is generally limted to wildlife observation, hiking, fishing and berry picking. A self-guiding interpretive trail lies on the east end of the unit, partially within the nominated area and passing by one of the quarry sites. The area along the trail and around the south end of the nominated district is used extensively by school groups for environmental education.

Statement of Significance, 1880-1910.

The Basalt Cobblestone Quarries represent a significant technological period in the development of Portland, Oregon and other American cities, and a turn of the century industry in Ridgefield, Washington.

As Portland grew from a frontier village into an urban and commercial center in the second half of the Nineteenth Century, some sort of street improvements quickly became imperative. The rainy winter climate of Portland turned dirt streets into impassable muddy quagmires, while in summer the streets dried out into dust bowls.

Several different materials, including wooden planks and macadam, were used in the search for a satisfactory paving material that could withstand the extremes of Portland's climate. Beginning about 1880, basalt blocks were quarried near Ridgefield and barged upriver to Portland for use as paving material. The basalt was chipped into brick-shaped pieces of a standard size, called Belgian block, and laid on the streets. Sewer blocks were also cut from the quarries.

By 1885, three miles of Portland's streets were paved with Belgian block (1) and eventually the paving may have covered as much as 30 miles of streets (2) before its use was discontinued. It was used in both east and west Portland.

The stone was hard, and when it was evenly laid it made a firm - and noisy - street. Constant use created problems, however, because the corners of the blocks wore down. They formed a cobblestone surface that was slippery when wet and water froze in the joints during cold weather. Horses pulling heavy loads could not get traction on the slick surface. The unfirm ground on which the blocks were laid caused the paving to warp, and the constant lifting of the blocks for sewer and water line repairs (Portland doesn't have alleyways for utilities) and the installation of street car tracks also contributed toward an uneven surface. The Belgian block paving eventually proved as unsatisfactory as the other paving materials in use at the time.

Much of the cobblestone, or Belgian block, is still intact under the streets of Portland, having been covered over with asphalt. A survey by the city engineer's office estimates that there could be as much as 4.8 million square feet of the stones (3).

While most of the stones came from the Ridgefield quarries, the crosswalks were originally ships' ballast. Crosswalks of the streets were made of slabs of granite a foot wide and four to five feet long, laid treble. The granite was brought from England or China in ships as ballast (4). On the return trip, the ballast was replaced by cargo from the Pacific Northwest. This explains the presence of Chloris radiata, a hardy, tropical grass native to Jamaica, in Portland. It is unknown anywhere else in Oregon, but it can be found in Portland pushing up through the asphalt that covers the old cobblestones (5). Apparently the grass seed was on a cargo from a tropical port and became attached to the ballast, which then was used for street paving.

Portland City Ordinance No.139670, passed by the City Council in 1975, calls for the preservation of cobblestones excavated during construction and maintence activities on city streets. The cobblestones are warehoused by the City and are meant to be reused in appropriate civic historic restoration projects. In 1977, the City estimated it had 60,000 cleaned stones and 200,000 uncleaned stones on hand (6).

The stones have been reused in a number of park projects including a short path in Washington Park, curbs along the Rose City Golf Course, fill in around street tree plantings, and under benches in Pettygrove Park.

Although they represented a significant industry in Ridgefield, very little is recorded about the quarries from which the cobblestones were obtained. The James Carty family owned the land and John (Jack) McKie operated the quarries, apparently leasing the sites from the Cartys. McKie worked under contract to the Portland Contracting Company and employed many Ridgefield residents. ...

Work book pages in the possession of the McKie family indicate that the quarries were still in operation in April 1903, and the oral family history states that the contract expired in 1909 (10).

Although the local significance of the quarries was short-lived, they played a significant role in the economic and cultural growth of Nineteenth Century Portland and Ridgefield. Since Portland was not the only American city searching for a satisfactory paving material for its streets during the Nineteenth Century, on a national level the quarries represent an important technological experiment in the evolution of American cities."


(1) H.W. Scott, History of Portland, Oregon, (Syracuse, N.Y. 1890), p.206.
(2) The Sunday Oregonian, 19 May 1974.
(3) Oregon Journal, 15 July 1974.
(4) Scott, p.206.
(5) The Sunday Oregonian, 19 May 1974.
(6) Doug Bridges, memorandum to Bob Gustafson, (City of Portland, Oregon: Bureau to Planning), 15 June 1977.
(10) Mrs. Allan McKie, letter to James E. Carty, 28 May 1975.


Source:    Steven E. Thomsen, Bureau of Street & Structural Engineering, 1983, Report on Belgian Block Paving, City of Portland, Oregon, April 1983, and taken from the National Register of Historic Places, Inventory -- Nomination Form, "Archaeological Survey of Lower Lake River and Bachelor Island Slough, Clark County, Washington", September 1975, and "Cultural Resources Assessment of the Carty Unit, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Clark County, Washington.", October 1980.

"IN THE LATE 19th CENTURY, Portland's dirt streets kicked up dust in summer and turned to muddy ruts in winter. With the city's growth as a commercial center, Portland scrambled to improve the road system. In the 1880s, seven basalt quarries were established near here to meet the city's needs. John McKie leased the quarry land from the Carty family, the landowners at the time. McKie hired local workers to blast the basalt with dynamite, chip the rock into uniform bricks by hand and load them onto barges to be floated upriver to Portland. The city paved over 30 miles of streets with the blocks. The quarries were abandoned in 1909 as newer road building techniques came into fashion."


Source:    Information Sign, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Carty Unit, Ridgefield, Washington, 2014.