In the beginning, the stone deposit was worked by many small quarrying businesses, until 1914, when they were all taken over by Basalt AG from Linz am Rhein, who proceeded to further expand the quarrying operations. In 1919, a ropeway conveyor to Altenglan was built to ensure efficient transport of the product. In 1923, the "Kolonie" was built, a workers’ settlement with roughly 50 dwelling units. In 1928, the operation had 567 employees. By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, the workforce had shrunk to 320. By the early 1950s, there were still 190 workers employed at the quarries, but by the late 1960s, this had dwindled to only 68, although productivity had nevertheless grown considerably as a result of rationalization. Nevertheless, the operation was shut down for good in 1970, not least of all because of the unfavourable transport conditions. The "Wandermusikantentum" and hard-stone quarrying were crucial for development in the early 20th century.