Tyndall Stone was first used in the construction of Lower Fort Garry in
1832, just north of where Winnipeg now stands. Other buildings still standing
as a testament to the durability of this stone are St. Andrews Anglican
Church, the oldest active stone church in western Canada, built in 1845
and the Captain Kennedy House built in 1865. Gillis Quarries Limited is
now the largest and longest running company to quarry and process Tyndall
Stone, and is now into its fourth generation of family management.
The founder of Gillis Quarries Ltd., August Gillis emigrated to Canada
in 1905 with his two sons Charles and Joseph. A mason by trade, August came
to Winnipeg and set up shop fabricating Tyndall Stone in a building at
the corner of McPhillips Street and McDermot Avenue. The company at this time
was under the name August Gillis and Sons. By 1913, they had outgrown their
first location and built a larger shop at Spruce Street and Richard Avenue. With
strong steady growth the purchase of the first quarry in 1915 was possible.
An existing quarry on a forty acre lot was purchased from John Gunn, a
farmer who in 1896 while trying to drill a well discovered the large Tyndall
Stone deposit at Garson, Manitoba where it is still quarried today.
In 1922 August died, leaving the company to his sons Joseph and Charles. The company was then incorporated under
the name Gillis Quarries Limited. The company grew strong enough to survive
the depression, and shut down from 1934-1936 due to a lack of work. As
work started to boom at the end of the thirties business was again interrupted
by the outbreak of World War II. In 1954 Charles died leaving the company
to his three sons Charles Jr., Bruce, and Frank. Now into its fourth generation
of family management, operations are run by Bruce's children Donna, Douglas and
Keith Gillis.
Gillis Quarries Ltd. has the ability to supply for any size job with
over 1800 acres of quarryable land and mineral rights.
A new plant was built at Garson in 1968 with a final consolidation of the
production operations at Garson in 1977. A recent addition in 2003 brings
the production facility to almost 45,000 square feet. The plant has eight
primary saws, three flow through production lines, six gantry saw stations,
four splitting machines and more. Constant updating of machinery,
often custom built, has allowed Gillis Quarries to achieve a high level
of productivity, so when it comes time to deliver we can. Gillis Quarries is committed to
maintaining and improving customer satisfaction with sound quality management
principles based on the ISO 9000 standard.
Throughout the years, Tyndall Stone has proven to be a quality building
limestone that harmonizes very well with other building materials; lending
itself to innovative home and commercial designs. Tyndall Stone graces
the Manitoba Provincial Legislative Building (acknowledged as one of North
America's finest buildings). The Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, the Canadian
Museum of Civilization in Hull (referred to as Canada's Sydney Opera House),
the Empress Hotel in Victoria, the Lied Centre for the Performing Arts
in Omaha, and the Walsh Centre for the Performing Arts at the Texas Christian
University campus in Fort Worth Texas, are just a few examples of where
Tyndall stone has been used to beautify construction projects.
Since the 1890s, the unique stone has been quarried in Garson, a small
community 37 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. The Gillis Quarries have
been in operation - and owned by the same family - since 1910. Donna, Doug, and
Keith Gillis, fourth generation, will continue to further the legacy of Gillis Quarries
and Tyndall Stone.
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Some of Tyndall Stone's applications include:
Cut stone panels for walls, columns, sills, steps, platforms, copings,
and flooring.
Random facing for buildings, homes, fireplaces, chimneys, planters, retaining
walls, and flagging for walks and patios.
Special uses have included: Mausoleums, table tops, roof tiles, and
incorporation into souvenirs as a distinctively Manitoban product.
Please take some time to examine some samples of available textures and
finishes.
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At the present quarry location, the Tyndall Stone deposit lies in layers
or beds, with the top layer located from eight to fourteen feet below the
ground surface. After the top stone layer is exposed, vertical parallel
cuts are made with quarry saws. These saws run on one hundred foot tracks
and use both eight foot circular diamond tipped blades, which cut up to three feet into
the stone, and ten foot long continuous belt blades, which are able to cut twice
as deep through multiple layers or beds. After the saw cuts are made, the stone is raised from the layer
with wedges and is then split into six or eight ton blocks using drills
and wedges. Front end loaders move the stone for storage or to the processing
mill.
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In the mill, the Tyndall Stone quarry blocks are sawn to the desired
proportions using computer controlled diamond tooth circular saws. Saw
blade diameters range from fourteen inches to eight feet, and cut to twelve
inches of stone per minute. Finishes are ground on the Tyndall Stone using
rotating carborundum drums or diamond discs. The saws and grinders require
vast quantities of water for cooling and dust control. The water is recirculated,
with the grindings and cuttings settling out in a sediment pool. Stone
shapes and mouldings are cut by planers or lathes similar to those used
for wood or metal. To create the Split Face Random Ashlar, stone slabs
are run through a hydraulic shear known as the "guillotine".
This machine breaks the stone with pressure thus producing the irregular
"rock-like" finish. Stone slabs and blocks move about the mill
on conveyors or overhead cranes. Trucks furnished with special unit lift
equipment deliver the finished stone to local job sites. Long distance
trucking companies and rail facilities are used for out of town shipments.
Overseas shipments are carried by truck, rail, and ocean liner inside of
intermodal containers.
Stone production by its very nature - that of dividing a natural deposit
down to usable sizes - has the lowest energy consumption of all building
materials, and the energy used is mainly renewable hydro power.
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Tyndall Stone is quarried at Garson, Manitoba, about thirty miles north-east
of Winnipeg. Geologically, it is referred as the Upper Mottled Limestone
of the Red River Formation of the Ordovician System. This is equivalent
to the Trenton Formation of eastern Canada and the United States. However,
the decorative mottling "like frost ferns on a window pane",
characteristic in Tyndall Stone is unique among building limestone, and
as a result, the stone is sometimes called the "tapestry stone".
No satisfactory explanation can be given for the formation of the mottling
which intersects through the mass like a sponge network giving structural
reinforcement to the stone.
The fossil content of stone is used for assigning geological age, and
throughout Tyndall Stone there are many interesting fossils of ancient
marine life. The most common fossils found are the corals, particularly
the sunflower corals. Also found are brachiopods, gastropods, and cephalopods.
Fossils of snails and nautiloids can sometimes reach giant proportions.
The trilobite, the three-lobed crab-like creature that is the dominant
form of the lower paleozoic is only occasionally found.
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