You can tell a lot about a masonry stone by looking at it through a magnifying glass. A simple 10- or 15-power hand lens particularly reveals a lot with sandstones. The photos shown below were shot with good lighting and a macro camera lens; however, a similar view, if not quite as clear, is possible with a hand lens.

Click any image below to see a full-screen view.

Frontier_® Sandstone

We quarry the Frontier Sandstone in the rolling plains of central Montana. From it we make a beautiful variety of paving stones and wall stones. Up close, you can see the sand grains tightly bound together with calcium carbonate cement.

Flatwillow Moss Rock_TM

Flatwillow Moss Rock is a fieldstone that we quarry in northern Montana. Up close, you can see that Flatwillow is composed or coarse, angular sand grains consisting of a variety of minerals, some of which oxidize (rust) to give the stone its characteristic weathered brown tones.

Eagle Moss Rock_TM

Eagle Moss Rock is often light colored on freshly broken surfaces, as shown above.  However, this sandstone also contains dark iron-rich mineral grains that rust when exposed to the atmosphere.  This gives Eagle Moss Rock a mostly tan and brown color once it has weathered for a year or two.

Homestead Fieldstone_TM

Homestead Fieldstone predominantly consists of quartz grains; however, it also contains iron-rich mineral grains that rust when exposed near the surface.  It is the rusting of these iron-rich minerals that gives Homestead Fieldstone its characteristic reddish-brown color.