Quarrying History and Use of the Buena Vista Freestone, South-Central Ohio: Understanding the 19th Century Industrial Development of a Geological Resource

Abstract

The Buena Vista Member of the Mississippian Cuyahoga Formation is an economically valuable freestone that is homogeneous with almost no sedimentary structures. The Buena Vista was one of the earliest clastic rocks quarried in Ohio. Early quarries dating at least back to 1814 were located in the hills on the north bank of the Ohio River near the village of Buena Vista, south-central Ohio. By the 1830s, quarries had also opened up along the route of the Ohio & Erie Canal in the Portsmouth area to the east; followed by quarries that opened along a railway line that ran north up the Scioto River valley. Waterways transported the Buena Vista to many cities and towns, including Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and Evansville, Indiana, on the Ohio River, New Orleans on the Mississippi River, and Dayton and Columbus on the Ohio canal system. Later railways transported this stone further afield to Illinois, Wisconsin, and Alberta. Census reports, industry magazines, and other historical accounts document the use of this stone across much of the eastern US and into Canada. Historically, it has been used for a variety of items, including entire buildings, canal structures, fence posts, and laundry tubs. Some 19th-century structures built with this stone remain in cities where it was once commonly used. Literature reviews, field observations, and lab analyses are here compiled as a useful reference to both the urban and field geologist in the identification of the Buena Vista Member, a historically important building stone, in buildings and outcrops, respectively.