The failure of these two Utopian experiments left John Baldwin and Henry Sheldon in deep debt. However, Baldwin had since 1838 been making grindstones from sandstone in the creek bed of the Rocky River. In the 1840s, Henry Sheldon began selling them via the Erie Canal in New York State. This was the beginning of the Berea quarrying industry. After the Big Four Railroad was built from Cleveland to Cincinnati, Baldwin built a railroad to connect his quarries to the Big Four Depot.