Sandstone was a particularly suitable building material. The supply was close at hand along the Bow River escarpment, and while soft and easily carved when quarried, sandstone hardened with age and exposure. The stone was sufficiently varied in appearance and texture to permit identification of the particular quarry in which it had been mined. At the quarry the stone was cut by mechanical saws, shaped into rough blocks and then offered for sale at about twenty dollars a cord (3.62 cubic metres). For construction the larger blocks were cut to desired size and then left rough-faced or made smooth, as are the window sills in this photograph. Most buildings were constructed with various combinations of smooth and rough-cut stones, and elaborately carved cornices and pediments.
Between the late 1880s and World War 1, when stone construction was prominent, stonemasons comprised one of the more numerous skilled trade groups in the city. Frequently working a six and one-half day week and earning from about $1.50 to a little more than $2.00 for a ten-hour day, stonemasons were paid more than carpenters and about twenty-five percent more than general construction labour, making them the highest paid of all skilled artisans in the city. The stonemason's predominance, however, was not long-lived. Stone construction gradually gave way to brick and concrete which required less manual labour and hence was less expensive. By 1915 none of the larger stone quarries in or near Calgary was operating. Still, the stonemason's legacy remains a highly visible reminder of that buoyant era that preceded the Great War.
