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View of the Art of taking Slates out of Quarries, Slitting, and Cutting.
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Men at work using various tools, deep inside a quarry hole.

Credit: Collection of the Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society

Just like snowflakes and fingerprints, no two slates ever share the exact same grain pattern. Created 400 million years ago as sediments compressed on the primordial ocean floor, slate is still quarried with the simple tools of chisels, hammers, and steel bars. Even today, slate is split by hand, as nothing can match the experienced eye of a skilled slate craftsman.

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