An Occupation

[Bill Kibbel]

...that employed many Welsh Americans for about 140 years.

[Chad Fabry]

Did you carve that Bill?

[Bill Kibbel]

No. I just found him standing beside the road.

[Inspectorjoe]

In my area, it employed a lot of Italian Americans, too.

[Bill Kibbel]

In my area, it employed a lot of Italian Americans, too.

There's lot's of stories about which specific jobs could be held by each nationality at the quarries. The splitters were usually Welshmen. The Welsh were also known for their experience and eye for reading the slate beds. When Italians were brought in, production increased. They had the experience and ability cutting and moving the big blocks and shaping the large slate building materials.

[kurt]

And they probably did 6 day weeks @ 12-18 hours per day.

Processing stone by hand without benefit of modern machinery....those guys were latter day vulcans, hammering at mountains of stone.