Petrified Potatoes Upset Housewives

Having just returned from my first trip to New York City, I have since been obsessed with the idea, and the entity, that is the New York subway system. I've seen it in the movies. I knew it was big, and fast, and even dangerous. But there is nothing like the actual thing. It is immense. Multi-leveled beneath the surface of the earth, and in places beneath rivers, it is at some points almost 200 feet deep. And as old as it is, it works, well.

In October of 1912, while portions of the subterranean tunnels were being excavated, an article ran in the New York Times about potato rocks. Workers and pedestrians were finding round rocks that resembled petrified red potatoes. Children would get there hands on them and place them with the grocer's real potatoes. Women would then buy the rocks, take them home and either ruin a meal or break a dish, and promptly return to the store fuming. I found this interesting as one of the many random stories regarding the construction of the subway in New York City.