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.
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 RockTM
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 RockTM
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 FieldstoneTM
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.