Neat Peltier Story

[IowaMarble]

An excerpt from "Grandma, You Did What?" A Memoir By Carol J. Almson

We decided to cross the overgrown bottom of the canal and sneak up on Peltier’s Marble Factory. If we got though the fence, we could scurry around Peltier’s lot and find about a gazillion marbles. From the outside the building was creepy, with missing red bricks, some windows covered in wire mesh, and others broken out. The roof was gone in some places. If Mr. Peltier showed up, we’d have to escape, but it’d be okay ‘cause he was from France and didn’t know English. Anyway, we filled our jeans’ pockets with the most beautiful marbles I had ever seen and just sauntered away. Easy.

Later that day we go the idea to go back to the canal. We’d never been there at dusk before. A freight train was parked near the marble factory. As we approached the first car, we could see it was filled almost to the top with pure white silica sand. That’s why Ottawa had two glass factories. Silica sand is everywhere!

[Al Oregon]

Neat - thanks for sharing!

[Steph]

Fun!

I see from her biography that the rest of the memoir may not be so very fun. But this is still cool.