THE HISTORY OF CARY
			William Cary founded the town that bears his name in 1841. In 1842, while digging a latrine for his burgeoning family, William hit a pocket of gravel. The gravel was strong and the layer was vast. While running some errands in Crystal Lake, William mentioned his find to Cornelius Meyer, the owner of a local general store. Cornelius not only collected what he called "pretty rocks," he provided gravel to locals who needed it for building supplies. Thus, a relationship began between the town of Cary and a gravel supplier. The first commercial gravel pit began in 1844 in the very spot that William Cary had begun digging a latrine two years earlier. With the success of the first gravel pit, William Cary became a rock connoisseur, so to speak, when he took up collecting rocks like his friend Cornelius Meyer. In fact, his rock collection was so large, it was used to construct Cary's second town hall in 1877, almost two decades after his death. William Cary died in 1861 and had overseen the construction of several gravel pits during his life. Although he wanted to be buried in a gravel pit upon his death, William Cary was buried in the Cary Cemetery. Gravel pits helped Cary prosper during the 19th century. But, by the turn of the century, an increased population in the village caused a slowing of gravel pit construction. Eventually, the Village banned further gravel pits within its borders by the 1990s. This all changed, however, when Meyer Material Co. (no relationship to Cornelius, just a bizarre coincidence) bought some land in Cary's southwest side. Although the land was zoned mainly for residential, Meyer Material sought a special use permit to allow for mining on that land. Chairman of the Zoning Appeals Board, Jon Turncoatier, saw an opportunity to bring Cary back in touch with its gravel pit past. Although many residents spoke out against the pit, Turncoatier saw the $250,000 a year that would be given to the Village as a means to increase a positive awareness about gravel pits to the community and encourage other companies to mine in Cary as well. Thus, Turncoatier was instrumental in bringing gravel pits back to Cary. He led a campaign to highlight the positive characteristics of gravel pits with such slogans as "It's not just a pit....it's Cary's future," "Behold the beauty of gravel," and "A gravel pit community is a happy community." Famously, Chairman Turncoatier handed out small stones to commuters at the train station painted with yellow smiley faces and the phrase, "Don't worry, I'm just a rock." It worked and the village approved further expansion of mining within Cary. Today, Chairman Turncoatier is the village Pit Czar, responsible for overseeing the vast amount of requests made each year to the village for mining rights. His proudest moment, he says, was when a gravel pit was named in his honor. Today, there are several active pits throughout Cary, Illinois. And they mine more than just gravel. For example, a pit just north of the high school is set to mine uranium. Gravel pits and mining in general have become a very important part of the culture in Cary. The high school offers courses in mining and mining technology, for example. And, many residents have taking to recreational mining in their own back yards. Everything from clay to fossilized dinosaur dung is excavated by residents. One resident became exceptionally wealthy by selling what he mined from his own backyard on E-Bay. So Cary has come full circle. The gravel that was discovered at the bottom of a toilet has now fueled the life-blood of the Village and will continue to do so well into the future. William Cary would be proud.
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