Sorry, no winners so it is time to reveal the answer. A few of you were HALF right, but you needed both answers to win fair and square. I wish I could talk all scientist-like, but alas, in the words of Prof. Pratt of Elmira College: The bedrock taken from the quarry [at Quarry Farm] is not slate, which is a metamorphic rock formed when shale is heated under pressure deep within the earth. Such conditions have not existed in the Southern Tier. Rather all the stone in the quarry that I have found to date falls into two categories of sedimentary rock: 1. *siltstones *characterized by a slightly gritty texture and 2. *fine-grained sandstones* with a somewhat more granular/gritty feel. Harold K. Bush, Ph.D Saint Louis University