7. The Big Bang.

  Osborn and Fitch had not intended to develop the site themselves. By the fall of 1904, Osborn and Fitch, unsuccessful in pursuit of other options, convinced the D,SS,& A Railroad to build a rail spur to the property.

An agreement was reached with John J. Case to open the quarry. At the time the spur was being constructed, Case had two men on the property who cut about a dozen trees in the earliest work to open a quarry and camp. They proceeded no farther as they were ordered to cease work and leave the property. Case had refused to sign a contract. Case went to work at a quarry in Lima, Peru, from where he sent Fitch a detailed bill which Osborn and Fitch refused to pay, seeing it as a fanciful representation of work not rendered.

  John L. Conlin, whose brother William Conlin managed Union Carbide's Hendricks Quarry, was then hired to operate the quarry. Fitch ordered his railroad men working on the spur to construct two logging camp style buildings starting with the trees cut by Case's men. By January, a crew had arrived, blasting commenced, and the quarry was finally started. Samuel B. Martin, a quarry man from Ohio, signed a contract to operate the quarry in March, 1905. Fiborn Quarry was named on May 23, 1905 when Osborn met Fitch in Marquette, the two agreeing that Fitch plus Osborn equaled Fiborn.

Fiborn Quarry steam shovel in operation.

8. Caves Of Fiborn.      6. Affairs Of Property.