Working in the mountains, rock is an everyday occurrence that you get used to and sometimes take for granted. While planning for the croquet expansion, I did not put much thought to the rock that we would need because its everywhere and we had a supplier that I knew could provide the necessary boulders. However, at the insistence of our rock supplier, I visited the quarry where all of our boulders are coming from.
 |
| Sheer wall of granite at The McNealy's Company quarry. |
 |
| Granite quarry. Note how small the VERY large bulldozers are. |
 |
| Drill machine drilling holes for explosives. |
With the rock wall for the croquet expansion reaching 20' at the highest point, just any old rock would not work. The boulders for the wall need to be relatively flat and very large. As I found out at the quarry, large flat boulders are actually a mistake in the blasting process and need to be individually picked out of the rubble. It's a time consuming process that yields the best boulders for our situation.
 |
| Each large flat boulder must be individually picked out from the piles of blasted rock. |
 |
| The new wall for the croquet expansion. |
With about half of the boulder wall now finished, I feel good in that we have selected the best supplier for rock as they are taking the time to give us the best material for our job. After, viewing the mining operation at the quarry, I won't be taking rock for granted anymore.
