Stone City and Maquoketa Caves

Stone City is a small community located about thirty minutes northeast of Cedar Rapids. The remnants of quarrying glory and Artists' inspirations provoke strong nostalgia even today. Practical people live nearby and frequent the Stone City General Store, a patron-friendly establishment with deep connections to the quarry industry. The Weber Stone Company provides year-round employment and a glimpse into Iowa's geologic history.

Directions: Getting to Stone City - North on Iowa Hwy 13 to County Home Road (E34). which becomes Friendship Road in Viola. East about nine miles to Co Rd. X 28. North three miles to Stone City. Mt. Hope quarry is to the west about a half mile at the bottom of the road at the Wapsipinicon River. The active quarry is to the east through the village and on the north. An excellent stop for refreshment is the General Store.
From the Weber Stone Company website:

Geological Information

Anamosa Limestone, a Dolomitic limestone, is a prominently laminated magnesium limestone that was deposited regionally approximately 420 million years ago across the Midwest in the Silurian interval of geological time. Numerous independent lines of evidence confirm that, at that time, Iowa lay in the tropics south of the equator. This distinctive stone forms part of the Gower Formation, the youngest Silurian strata in Iowa. It represents the accumulation of lime extracted from seawater by animals and plants for support of their soft body tissues. Soon after deposition, the calcareous limestone was altered by infiltration of magnesium from the seawater to form dolomite. Crinkly laminations reflect the geometry of thin algal mats on the sea bottom, and planar laminations likely formed in response to seasonal or periodic changes in water chemistry. Alternations of lime mud and sand document the history of calm water interrupted by periodic storms. The rarity of most fossil groups reflects the biologically hostile marine environment. Identical laminated dolomite strata are found associated with thick rock salt deposits in the Silurian of Michigan, and scattered evidence of the former presence of gypsum salts is also noted at Stone City. In shallower water areas adjacent to the sites of Anamosa Limestone deposition, corals, brachiopods and other marine invertebrates built spectacular contemporaneous reefal mounds that are now prime sources of concrete aggregate at other Iowa quarries. Storm erosion of these mounds provided the source of interbedded lime sands locally seen within Anamosa beds, although very few fossils are present in the Anamosa Limestone quarried at Stone City."