LB2016.15.919

LB2016.15.919

Ox-drawn, wheeled, Galamander granite lifter shown with a team of two oxen and the driver Found near the Harvey Robertson Quarry at Franklin, Maine. It was used to transport heavy blocks of granite." The Robertson Quarry Galamander is a four-wheeled, horse or oxen drawn wooden vehicle approximately 18 feet long and 6 feet wide. One of two intact examples known to survive in Maine, the Robertson Galamander is a specialized granite hauling vehicle once common in Maine’s quarries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A strong tradition indicates the vehicle originated on Vinalhaven, where an extensive granite industry existed. Galamanders could vary in size but they are a specific type of hauling vehicle, distinct from ordinary wagons or stone carts. Their derricks or levers, when combined with a block and tackle, could lift large pieces of stone and transport them, underslung, between the wheels. "244"