Sandstone for San Francisco

Well... this is cool... there is an old sandstone quarry on this island.

You can see a bunch of rejected blocks in the background. Neat.

 Oh, and a little squirrel who is checking out crevices for a new home... maybe... or a forgotten stash of acorns!

"Newcastle Sandstone - A Winner". Huh...

Apparently, this sandstone was used for the construction of the United States Mint in San Francisco! Builders appreciated the "flawless nature, unusual strength and weather resistant qualities" of the Newcastle Sandstone. Go figure... just hope they didn't build anything near saltwater cause it might have gotten holes in it through the salt erosion!

What's this story? Ohhh... one of the sailing ships transporting the sandstone, The Zephyr, sank off the coast of Mayne Island in 1872.

And... a few years back... some people went in and got one of the sandstone columns that the ship was carrying out of the deep and transported it back to the island.

There it lies... a piece of history that never made it to SF but came back home.

Cool... beary cool.

And we end this post with a warning to be careful not to bite off more than you can chew... this seagull is trying to chow down on a starfish (hopefully not our little friend from two posts ago!)... but I'm not quite sure who's going to win this match!