Elberton, Ga.-Area Economy Feels Crush of Foreign Granite.

Byline: Lee Shearer

Apr. 9--Elberton calls itself the granite capital of the world, with good reason: nearly 300,000 cemetery monuments were shipped out of the Elberton area last year, about a third of all the gravestones sold in the United States.

Granite, harder than steel, is the backbone of the area's economy.

About 45 quarries are dotted in and around Elbert County, mining a vein of high-quality granite estimated to be six miles wide, 25 miles long and two miles deep. In those gaping rock holes, some more than 100 feet deep, men use torches to cut out great slabs of granite, the noise so loud they must communicate with sign language, then explode a mere three ounces of black powder to pop the two-million-pound slab loose.

Then they cut it again into smaller chunks, mostly to send to dozens of other businesses in Elberton where more workers use big saws, grinders and polishing machines to smooth and shape the rough rock into objects such as benches and granite countertops -- but mainly grave markers, or monuments, as the industry calls them.

Other companies sell abrasive wheels and such machine parts, or employ blacksmiths to make …