We stopped for a break and a cup of coffee at the Quik Mart in Redgranite, Wisconsin. A local farmer began a conversation and asked if we had seen their quarry.
A little town at the location was called Sand Prairie until the discovery or a large deposit of red granite in the 1880s caused a boom that brought miners from as far away as Europe. The Post Office name was changed to Redgranite in 1895. The granite was used for paving blocks in Chicago. By the 1920, as with many mines, it eventually became uneconomical. The chief reason was concrete and asphalt began to be used for streets and highways.
The local economy suffered for many years until 1999 with the construction of the Redgranite Correctional Institution, a medium security prison.
We found the quarry behind the Post Office. It was interesting, but we found it far more interesting to talk to the farmer and his wife who followed us there. Now retired, he leased out his land to grow soybeans and corn. He once grew peas and other vegetables. I asked him why he quit. His reply was “when did you last see peas on the menu at McDonalds?” We like peas, but I am sure the economy of scale is not there for large farms.
Continuing down the road, we found a much prettier park in Montello. A family operated a red granite quarry there for four generations. Its hard fine-grained stone was also used for grave markers and was chosen for President U.S. Grant’s sarcophagus in New York City. The family sold the quarry to a man named Daggett who sold off parts of the land and endowed a park complete with artificial waterfalls.
It is unlikely we would suggest you go out of your way to Redgranite, but we enjoyed our talk with the farmer and his wife. Had he not spoken to me at the gas station, we would have never seen the red granite quarries either there or in Montello.
After a few days more, I found myself looking for the polished red granite tombstones in cemeteries. I mentioned it to Alie and she said she was doing the same thing.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Date of our visit: 28 Oct 21
RalieTravels 
We too often find the people in places we visit more interesting than the places themselves. A few years back for instance, we visited a little town in the outback east of Perth (in Western Australia), a little smaller perhaps than Montello. It had a small, unremarkable aviation museum, but whose curator was an interesting eccentric, far more memorable than his collection of exhibits.
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Now that you mention it, when I look back, the highlight of our visit to Columbus, New Mexico was our conversation with the son of a man who rode with Pancho Villa. https://ralietravels.wordpress.com/2020/04/10/foreign-troops-invade-u-s-soil-columbus-new-mexico/.
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Beautiful park and waterfalls. It’s curious that it’s no longer economical to quarry. Granite is not cheap.
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The principal use at these quarries was street paving blocks. They may also have had problems with ground water, but I too wondered about it. My immediate thought was that the polished granite was beautiful and that was confirmed when later research showed it was used in Grant’s tomb.
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It’s helpful to talk to locals at the places we visit. Their recommendations and personal insights provide views official guides usually lack.
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