Streets Paved with Jasper.

Streets Paved with Jasper.

Within two years, says the Dakota correspondent of The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, the jasper industry has been developed, and there are now four quarries, employing nearly 1000 men, in operation about Sioux Falls. The market extends from Chicago to Kansas City. Sioux Falls’ streets are paved with jasper and her four-story buildings are constructed of it. The stone is susceptible of a high degree of polish, and when finished looks much like the red granite of Missouri. The pioneers in the jasper industry discovered not long ago that the dust of the jasper, which is half as hard as diamonds, would polish the famous petrified wood of Arizona, and make of it table tops and ornaments more beautiful than agate or oynx. The petrified wood is now brought from Arizona to Sioux Falls by the carload and cut and polished in a variety of forms. To her jasper industry the city has added the manufacture of chalcedony. If these enterprising people do not find all of the precious things mentioned in the Book of Revelations it will not be for the want of searching.

There is a scientific mystery about this so-called jasper. Practically it is all right. Its utility has been established, but geologically there is no little uncertainty about it. Those who know the most are the least positive in discussing its character. Some of the scientific men who have looked at it call it a red quartzite. Professor Winchell says it is the hairiest stone in the United States that has been used for building purposes. The grain is very close. The only element to which it succumbs is fire. It will stand a good degree, but crumbles like limestone and sandstone under too intense heat. In the last day, when all the elements melt with fervent heat, the Sioux Falls jasper will have to go.